A lot of people at Andrews are from the east coast. So when I meet an individual and they say they're from New York, or New Jersey, I'll say I used to live there.
And they'll ask where I lived in the town,
and I'll say Queens - Sunnyside neighborhood, not far from Jackson Heights.
Where do you live now?
Seattle. I lived in New York for five years, then I moved out west.
So Seattle is pretty much where you grew up.
Yes, I suppose. But I'm still a Yankees fan, and I'll always identify with the city.
And they'll say, That's good
- offering their appreciation for the loyalty I have for Gotham.
Growing up in the northwest, I've tried my best to stay loyal to New York. I childishly bragged to my friends I was a New Yorker, wearing my Yankees cap around as if I knew the game. In fourth grade my teacher jovially wrapped my desk in black paper after the Yanks lost to the Red Sox after when they had won the first three games in the
ALCS. Besides baseball, I pronounced the word
roof with a long
O like in
moose, whereas my classmates pronounced it like a barking dog -
ruff or something like that. I was holding on to east coast pronunciation. Still, it didn't feel like I was truly a New Yorker.
But what really prevented me from identifying with New York was September 11. I was away from the city, away from the pain and suffering. I was absent from the grief of a connected community, and I could not feel the sorrow of they who truly experienced that day. Now I look back and I know the day will mark the coming of age of my generation. Sure it changed the direction of America and the world, but I just
cannot feel emotion from it. I know
there are others, just as American, who (don't) feel the same.
I remember a few years after September 11 (strange how that date will usually contextually correspond to 2001), I visited New York with my father. We stopped by the site, and paid our respects as best we could. He once told me that we visited the towers when I was young and could barely walk, and that I found a coal and drew there along a concrete wall. I've thought about that, and I realize there is a piece of me there.
Said the French,
Nous sommes tous Americains. Nous sommes tous New-Yorkais.
