NYC Hasselblad
This city was huge.
I am having the hardest time deciding how to start talking about my trip to New York; it was overwhelming to every one of my senses in all of the best ways. Sarah and I were scheduled to visit Japan last summer, but Covid had other plans and we stayed in exotic Northwest Missouri instead. It was a pretty big bummer in general, so I rerouted all of our travel vouchers, coupons, and credits and I surprised Sarah with a trip to New York for her birthday. Even though I returned only days ago, already the experience is mushing into one big, busy, ethereal dream.
I’ve decided to try and break the trip down by activity type instead of linearly for continuity’s sake, and what better place to start than with art. I loaded up my trusty Hasselblad and off we went. Because we are old fuddy-duddies now, we decided to visit NYC’s hopping museum scene. We visited The Met, MoMA, and the American Museum of Natural History, and had an absolute blast. I had a special love for the painting of blue lines and anything Monet. The hairy cheese gave me a chuckle, and the giant Amethyst was otherworldly. A quote hung on the Natural History Museum: “You do not inherit the earth from your parents, it is lent to you by your children”. I pondered that as I got lost in art.
You can click on any of these thumbnails and see a full sized image.
In the Museum of Modern Art there are many incredible pieces of art, but there was one section that haunted me and likely will forever. An artist named Käthe Kollwitz created a collection of 7 woodcuts called “Krieg” (War in German). Her son Peter was killed in combat just 2 months after joining and these pieces depict the absolute devastation felt at home due to the effects of war, with the pieces titled “The Sacrifice” and “The Volunteers” depicting her son Peter directly: both as an infant and as a young man being led by death with his countrymen. Years later she also lost her grandson of the same name (Peter) to WW2. The weight of these depictions has a gravity that drags tears from my face every time I look at them, even now writing this I am crushed at her sense of loss. Absolutely crushed.
“While I drew, and wept along with the terrified children I was drawing, I really felt the burden I am bearing. I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate.”
-Käthe Kollwitz
It is hard to recover from something that powerful, but we ventured back out into the behemoth city and were quickly awash in the bustle and noise; the overwhelming smell of street food clouding our memories. On to food we go.
Over the course of the trip we hit most of the recommended spots, and a few that were long-time dreams. There was: Pizza Suprema, Katz’s Deli, Russ and Daughters Bagels, Momofuku, Jacob’s Pickles, Gregory’s Coffee, Best Bagels, Halal Guys, Joe’s Pizza, and so many more. New York has some of the best, most varied food of anywhere I have ever been and you should absolutely go if only to eat there. There is literally something for everyone.
Last but not least - the city itself. What a Leviathan, almost incomprehensible in size! We barely ventured out of Manhattan, and everything we saw was only a fraction of what was there. It was so beautiful in some parts, so ugly in others; but that only contributed to its overall charm. The city breathes with or without approval, it just moves on taking everyone for a ride on its completely unique journey, its utterly charming chaos. We went to a baseball game, experienced lots of public transportation, saw mental health problems, homelessness, Central Park, cathedrals, skyscrapers lost in clouds, and met so many incredibly kind New Yorkers.
If there was a takeaway to be had here in conclusion, it is this: New York could quite literally be the center of the universe. I have heard it said a thousand times and smirked, but the sheer amount of life happening at any one moment in that city is staggering. The people are kind, the food is good (most of the time), and I would go back in a heartbeat. I hope you had some fun, and I’ll see you next time.
