Manhattan, Friends.
I just had the best trip to NYC I’ve had in years. I’m trying to figure out why. Let’s break it down.
There was absolutely no reason for me to go other than I wanted to go. That was probably the biggest difference from most of my trips. I just needed to be in a city, THE city, the best city, really. I already knew that my spirit is fueled by Manhattan and I need to fill up a few times a year. That happened, but there was still something different about this trip.
I realized that I do love my house in LA. I don’t even mind LA right now because there’s water and the weather hasn’t really been as apocalyptic as elsewhere. I can spend all day at my house just doing shit. There’s always shit to do. I distract myself by doing little shit. It’s not a complete waste of time because most of it needs to be done. A lot of it I do to counter the anxious business of my brain. The problem is, I am still alone doing it most of the time. I don’t feel part of something. Some massive, organic, multi-faceted beast that I can become part of and lose myself in. That beast is NYC.
I found that it has a Ritalin effect on me. My brain interfaces and is dwarfed and appropriated by the city. I level off. I relax by being part of it, engaged.
I realized this trip that if what I am working toward is spending part of my life, what’s left of it, enjoying it by being thoroughly engaged in living it, body and spirit, NYC is the only place for me.
Aside from being one with the city in a general way, there are also people all over I can engage with. Friends, strangers, performers, artists, weirdos, tradesmen, and on and on into some Whitmanesque list.
I just came here wide open and I spent many hours talking with friends, seeing art, doing comedy, eating. All without making plans ahead of time. It’s a short trip everywhere and the journey is engaging. I can be spontaneous about engaging with the most interesting people I know and seeing the best of what art and life is about.
I don’t want to live in the fucking country. I don’t need to be in the woods. New York City is a big part of me. Always has been. I should just figure out how to be here more, as much as possible, as I get older. Enjoy my life.
Today I have an amazing conversation with Alex Winter about his new doc The YouTube Effect, along with his other docs and his life. Thursday I talk to Adam Conover about his career and about his work on the negotiating team for the WGA.
Enjoy!
Boomer, Monkey and LaFonda live!
Love,
Maron
The Only Place for Me.
