Archives4

2001

the subway chronicles: life in the new york city subway system

12/26/01: there have been a variety of random incidents on the subway in the last few months, but none has been compelling enough to document. in lieu of leaving this empty for the rest of the year, i would simply note that the Q trains have been coming more promptly than ever. this will not stop my search for an apartment in manhattan, but it does make the commute from brooklyn slightly more palatable.

10/26/01: a very random incident on the F train friday night: i sort of half-watched a guy pick something green off his sleeve and examine it closely. at some point, the woman sitting next to him caught my eye and smirked. it took me a second to realize that she was watching him, too--and that the green thing was a little inch worm. she and i watched him let this tiny worm inch along his hand until, i suppose, he tired of its antics, and set it on the ground. how a bright green inch worm made it onto the subway and where it went from there are mildly troublesome questions.

10/2/01: i was waiting for the train at prospect avenue when i saw an asian woman crouched down, holding a little girl (she looked to be about 2 or 3 years old) extremely close to the edge of the platform. i wondered if this was some sort of homicide in progress, and debated whether i should get up and see what was going on before the woman pushed the girl off the edge.

this went through my mind in about 15 seconds--there was no train approaching at the moment--and suddenly this woman looks up at me with a sheepish grin on her face. at first i thought they must be playing some kind of game, when suddenly the woman yanks the girl backwards and i see that (a) the little girl's pants are down, and (b) there is a little puddle where she was just crouching. of course, i realized then that the woman had been letting the girl pee, and i suppose she thought it would be less gauche to do it near the platform edge.

at some point i had to formulate an opinion about this, and i guess i came to the conclusion that there really is nothing you can do if your toddler has to pee in the subway, and you don't want to create a half-hour delay--and possibly catch ebola--by asking to use the subway bathroom. i laughed a little and the woman continued to smile sheepishly. no one else saw.

9/4/01: i sat in an N or R (i forget which) with its doors open at prospect avenue for about 20 minutes this morning. they kept announcing that there was a problem around court street--i never figured out precisely what--and there was a huge backlog of trains. many people got out and started walking to the F at 4th avenue, but i clung to the hope that the train would leave soon.

at some point, about 5 minutes after i'd promised myself to leave and walk to 4th avenue, the train left--and then took another 10 minutes to get to the next stop. the conductor told us we should all get off and take the F train, so i did. i'm not sure why minor problems--i believe this one was related to signalling--can cause entire lines to run out of service, but it occurs to me that the mta should be prepared for these types of incidents, and plan accordingly.

8/27/01: count on me to get involved in a huge argument with a woman on the subway my first day of work. this woman jabbed me, i pushed back, and it escalated into a verbal showdown once we both exited the subway at rockefeller center. the argument part started when i happened to look over at her as we were exiting and saw her mouth moving; i turned down my walkman and asked if she was talking to me. she was--and proceeded to call me every name in the book. i responded in kind.

the hilarious thing about this incident was that, since i didn't know precisely how to get to my job--the rockefeller center stop is a maze of underground entrances, exits, stairwells and escalators--i just kept walking with her. we walked together, arguing, for about 4 blocks, and i followed her above ground around 50th street, several blocks from where i wanted to be. shortly before we exited, i realized how ridiculous the situation was--two strangers walking side by side, arguing about nothing important--and started laughing. i told her she was the most hilarious person i'd met on the subway, and turned my walkman on. i'm not sure if she continued to argue with me, but i pretty much ended my part in the convo.

the good thing about this incident is that it really helped focus my attention on how silly it is to put energy into these minor confrontations. it's also a waste of energy, which energy could be directed (positively) elsewhere. since it happened on the subway, though, i duly report it.

8/17/01: when my new job starts, my new stop will be rockefeller center, on the F train. i don't have any scintillating comments about it at this time, but i'll be sure to keep you posted about service. my experiences with the F train heretofore have been relatively positive, but i have little experience taking it that far north.

8/1/01: there have been a lot of incidents on the subway lately with folks panhandling. one guy recently got on and was almost unable to give his speech, because a passenger was talking loudly over him--sometimes about him. he was saying things to his companions like, "do you smell fish in here?" and making general conversation ("did you say you're going straight home tonight?") in a loud way, obviously designed to drown out the guy asking for money. yesterday, one guy came through the train and almost caused the entire car to vomit. i'm not sure if he was asking for money--i had my walkman on and he was mouthing something incoherently--but he was obviously mentally ill and was one of the worst-smelling people i'd ever encountered. the whole train was filled with a thick, overwhelming stench of body odor, urine, feces and god knows what else for about 7 minutes after he'd left.

i should have a philosophical comment here, but i really don't. the folks asking for money on the trains vary wildly: some sing or play music, some seem functional, some are obviously barely subsisting, some are mentally ill--the list goes on. formulating one's own opinion--and subsequent actions (whether to give, and if so, to whom)--about it is hard.

also, fyi: the N/R downtown trains are now finally stopping at 23rd street again.

finally, i was wrong about the B, D and Q project (mentioned below on the 7/11/01 entry). it has affected my life positively, as i am now able to jump from pacific street in brooklyn to union square with only two stops on the Q or W (i'm still not sure which one). figuring out where they go beyond those stops is still problematic, but i feel, at least at the moment, as though they may help my commute.

7/11/01: i guess multi-year construction projects which detour entire lines just became acceptable at some point. the B, D and Q are going under construction 7/22 for the next three years. lines are changing and being rerouted. this constructions doesn't entirely ruin my life, but it affects it in a negative way, i assure you.

6/23/01: i'm not sure why 23rd street isn't an express stop, but it should be, i can assure you. about 100 people get off there--per train--in the mornings. it then takes us all 10 minutes to shove our way past each other, through the turnstiles and up the steps. this is just one of the many stops i'm sure we've all experienced--ones that were probably made local years ago, but which now should be express due to changing living patterns. if you've got my back on this, let me know and i will spearhead a strike team to get 23rd street (on all trains) made express.

6/8/01: why is it that no one in the subway system wears deodorant and/or bathes regularly once the temperature goes above 60 degrees? i would like an honest answer to this question.

4/20/01: it's become clear to me that not one normal fucking person rides the 6 train.

4/3/01: for some reason, every person getting off at the prospect avenue subway stop, every weeknight, is in a hurry. tonight, like 5 motherfuckers were taking the steps two at a time. me included.

4/2/01: here's a classic: i'm trying to get home from salsa dancing friday night, and run downstairs to the N/R at 34th street. it's about 10:45 p.m., and the train pulls right into the station. lucky me! i'll be home in half hour, what with the skipped stops under construction and all.

we get to canal street, and the train inexplicably goes out of service. everyone gets off. the next train comes about 7 minutes later, and we all get on. so far, so good. not the end of the world.

we then get to pacific street, when it is announced that NO trains will be making locals stops between pacific and 36th (my stop is a local stop between those two). we're told to get on a B train. i get off and go upstairs to find a clerk to talk to. she tells me that in fact the B train will NOT be stopping at any local stops--that i have to take the N/R to 36th street (past my stop) and then take a subway back to my stop. in case i'm not explaining this clearly: that means i (and a bunch of other people) should have just stayed on the train we were on in the first place.

so, i wait for the next N/R and take it to 36th. whereupon i am thrust into a half-hour period--with about 40 other people-- as we wait for one goddamn train to take us back uptown to local stops. at least three trains came into the station during this period: two kicked everyone off and one just zoomed by.

classic new york finale: the last train to kick people off pulls into the station. the conductor comes through banging a stick to make everyone get off, and in the car right in front of me (i'm standing on the platform), there's a guy doubled over, either drunk, asleep, passed out or all of the above. the conductor is banging the stick all over the place, yelling at him to get out. we can all see that there's another train waiting behind this train, but the train won't pull out because this guy won't get off. so people start complaining: one woman yells, "take him to the terminal!" and everyone starts muttering. a guy who looks like cedric the entertainer looks through the window at the guy inside the subway and yells, "fuck that motherfucker! i've got to get home! i've been trying to get home since 11, and went all the way to 95th street and back!" i look at him and i mean, his forehead is covered in huge beads of sweat. at this point, the doors close and the train just leaves with the guy in it, and cedric the entertainer yells, "bon voyage!" it was pretty fucking hilarious.

postscript: i got home at 12:15 a.m.--15 minutes late for an appointment--after 1 and 1/2 hours, for a ride that should have taken 30 minutes.

3/19/01: this woman on the R this morning made a big show of moving her legs when i crossed mine--after she'd spent half an hour taking up my leg space--and i could see her lips moving. i turn my walkman off and say, 'what?' and she says something about moving my legs. keep in mind, this is the subway--we're all cramped in, and i hadn't said a word about her encroaching on my turf. so i says, ' i can't do it' and she says, 'what can't you do?' in a really nasty tone. this, of course, prompts me to say, 'move my leg' with special emphasis on each word. she says, 'you can't uncross your legs?' upon which i say, 'i can, but i won't.' she says, 'well! have a nice day then!' and jumps up and moves.

i felt bad afterwards but the thing is, learn to ride the subway. mainly, though, the problem was her attitude. if she'd just asked me....but to huff and puff and make a scene--especially after she had taken up so much room for most of the ride--was just too much for me to bear.

3/18/01: the N and R start skipping downtown stations at midnight tonight. this means that for 3 months, i won't be able to catch the subway at 23rd street. for the past 2 months or so, the N and R skipped the uptown stations, so i couldn't get to work without 2 or 3 trains. it's not the end of the world, and now that the weather will start getting warmer, i can just walk to 14th street to get the subway home, but still, i'm sick of this shit.

i started writing blurbs on things i experienced in the subway in 2001, in an attempt to move away from the online journal i'd pursued for the past few years. the subway shtick sort of ran its course by the end of 2001, but the entries for the year are below.