I used to be a host at a restaurant in Brooklyn. It was the wildest job I’ve ever had. The way we popped bottles of prosecco behind the bar–constantly–just bottle after bottle–the people wanted mimosas. It felt like the roaring twenties. It felt like Rome. Like the center of the world. Sorry I might have […]
Category: Cities
New York City
I was going to write a bunch of posts to send myself off. Stories about all the people I met here. All the crazy things that happened. Bikes oceans mountains buildings basements rooftops. How wild it was. How I never really meant to end up here and the whole first year I felt like I […]
Sx
This year S was my best friend. I’ve had many best friends in New York City and most of them are still good friends. But the “best” part–or whoever’s number gets written down in the emergency contact space–is about timing; whoever happens to be circling with you in the eddy of New York City. It’s […]
This version of you is my favorite version
In the park I practiced handstands against a tree. People passed by with their signs, Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police, on their way to the protest. Someone in a full Spiderman costume asked if I could teach him how to do handstands. At the vigil people handed out candles and neighbors gave each […]
An empty page
In honor of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor.
Characters
I took an intro to creative writing class with Sidney Offit a few years ago. He gave us an assignment. “Write the first chapter of the story of your life.” A student asked, “Does it have to be real?” Sidney shrugged. “You are all characters to me.” There is: a man on the first floor […]
Parents and guardians: keep your kids out of the bike lane
September evening, Manhattan dinner date. I put on a dress and took the bike route that led to the Williamsburg Bridge. It was a refreshing post-summer night and I was listening to music and having a GREAT TIME. The Williamsburg Bridge has completely separate paths for cyclists and pedestrians to cross. Pedestrians enter the bridge […]
Dating vignettes: New Year’s Eve
I present: a story from the before times. When the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2020 my roommate and I popped a bottle of sparkly wine on a city bus (we were late to the party but oh well). We had only just decided at 8pm that evening: I put on a witchy dress, […]
The bike hug (for reference)
I thought I wrote a post about this a long long time ago, but actually I did not. The bike hug: a very slow bike crash that results in something more like a hug than an injury. Example: One day, in a far away land a long time ago. (Crown Heights! Last year!) I was […]
Paradoxical thoughts
Today a kid riding his BMX bike on the sidewalk almost ran into me. I froze, deer-in-headlights and waited–hoped–for him to look up and see me (which he did). But in that brief moment I had a flash of a thought: please don’t look up. Please run me over.* I want this to be over. […]
Anne Foster 