The thing I like most about Philadelphia is the way people greet each other on the street. There’s never any question—you make eye contact and say hi. In New York I was never sure when to say hello or not—on the crowded sidewalks in Manhattan, no, but in my old neighborhoods, in Park Slope and Williamsburg? Sometimes? If I knew the person? If I didn’t want to make them feel offended? What I always felt was awkward, and there were periods of time when I just looked down at the sidewalk whenever I was out because at least that way I didn’t have to deal with it. I wasn’t being rude—I was just depressed and antisocial! It ended up being self-fulfilling. By the time we left, I routinely went for days and days without going outside.
This is what I do on Friday nights
This is what I do on Friday nights
This is what I do on Friday nights
The thing I like most about Philadelphia is the way people greet each other on the street. There’s never any question—you make eye contact and say hi. In New York I was never sure when to say hello or not—on the crowded sidewalks in Manhattan, no, but in my old neighborhoods, in Park Slope and Williamsburg? Sometimes? If I knew the person? If I didn’t want to make them feel offended? What I always felt was awkward, and there were periods of time when I just looked down at the sidewalk whenever I was out because at least that way I didn’t have to deal with it. I wasn’t being rude—I was just depressed and antisocial! It ended up being self-fulfilling. By the time we left, I routinely went for days and days without going outside.