4.12.25 - The New York Public Library, Thoughts on New York, and a Book on New York
I've been writing on here more because my classes recently ended and I need to let my brain breathe before diving back into the exam grind. I often do this––take strategic pauses. You need to let your brain play. So I'm reading some old stuff I have laying around, taking longer walks in the city, listening to music. It's hard to deliberately disengage from work when you have a lot of stuff coming up but doing this keeps you sharp. Hell, I think this is why I do so much better than classmates who work "harder" than me. I keep my brain healthy and curious, turns out that's useful for being a lawyer. Otherwise it gets all calloused and dull and ugly.
Pursuant to that strategy, today I woke up, had some time in the Sauna, and started walking down town on this rainy day with my backpack and books. I'm carrying that old compilation of H.L. Mencken Essays I found on the sidewalk in the upper part of Madison avenue, Return of the King (which I've been meaning to finish), and my Kindle. I was heading towards the New York Public Library.
Since moving to New York, I've gone to the New York Public Library probably four times a week every week. This place is a Wonder of the World. Working in the main reading room is an absolute gift. The high cielings, the chandaliers, the arched windows with jsut enough view of the city that you can feel its magic without breaking teh "cozy barrier." The brass lamps with warm LED bubs and the long tables. I've never had accss to a study space this gorgeous. It's one of the many things I'm thankful for every time I use it. My undergrad had a nice library, but the nice portion just wasn't that big, and it was encased by a newer building which was frankly an abomination of plastic, vinyl, and garish colors. My Law School's library is fine, but the presence of my classmates somewhat ruins the vibe for me.
The Library also holds special meaning to me because of its proximity to my future work place. If I angle myself right in the reading room, the big glass building where I'll start as a summer associate looms over me, reminding me of the work I've done up until now to be in this position, and the work I'll be expected to do in my rapidly approaching Big Law life. It's also a critical location in one my favorite sotries from my childhood: Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002). This is where Uncle Ben dropped off Peter for the last time, and where he died (right on the sidewalk in front of the library). It's where Peter learned his hardest lesson.
Taken together, the total effect is magical. I sit at the intersection of my past, future, and present, surrounded by beauty, in a place laden with narrative symbolism. I leave and I see the Chrysler building right down the street, my favorite building. I can get a vegetarian meal form CAVA. It's just amazing.
Talking to some natives, I'm fascinated that many of them don't use this spot more often. Looking around, it seems to be mostly students. I talked to a Big Law partner who works very close to this building, closer to Time Square, and he had never even stepped foot in the building. He had been in the city for decades. Anyways, if you're in New York, the New York Public Library isn't a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Taking a step back, on the way here, I found another New York Treasure on 59th and Lexington. I had remembered it was down there because when I was trying to buy a copy of Abundance some weeks back (reviewed on this site earlier, using the term review loosely), and I called what my maps told me was the closest bookstore near me––Argosy Book Store––they told me they were an Old & Rare Book Store and didn't order new titles.
With this in my memory banks, when I approached 59th on the way to NYPL I looked up Argosy, and paid it a visit. My god it was a gorgeous shop. Apparently one of the oldest independent book stores in the city. I perused for a while and found the kind of non-committal reading material I'm trying to buy right now (because I have too many unfinished books)--an anthology of essays and excerpts on New York, compiled by Mike Marquise & Bill Harris. A nice coffee table book for when I can afford a coffee table (or a home).
I read quite few of the entries, but one caught my eye because of the author: G.K. Chesterton! I got into Chesteron relatively recently, really only this last winter break when I read "Orthodoxy" on my Kindle because Zizek had mentioned some ideas from it god knows where. Anyways, there is this very funny essay by Chesteron in the anthology, named "Meditations on Broadway."
https://www.online-literature.com/chesterton/what-i-saw-in-america/3/
It's a great, short read, and it's probably more applicable to Times Square generally today.
Anyways, I feel like this whole little entry is also a great illustration of some of the irreplicable magic of New York, the density, the chance encounters, the connections one can make living here. Something special happens when you pack people together like this, when you pack places together like this. When historical book stores are near your apartment and is on the same avenue as a historic library which is also next to your future office which is also a place where a scene from your favorite movie happened, and when the city you live in is famous enough that English authors you have just started appreciating have written reflections on that city which are in the book you randomly picked up. Also the day that I failed to pick up Abundance from 59th (one of the authors of which, I just remembered, lives in Brooklyn), I took a dump at the Plaza Hotel. Really no city like this city.
I'm going to resume enjoying this beautiful library, in this beautiful city, now turning back to some of the essays by Mencken I was reading to my girlfriend (she likes it when I read her thing before bed and always falls asleep in five minutes).
cheers,
knxnts
knxnts