violet lyon knows the city's secrets

( and if you don't love me, let me go )

I don't often post on my personal blog, but I've given my holo contact out to so many new friends this past week that I thought I ought to update - verify my holo-existence, that sort of thing.

So hello to everyone I met at the Storytellers' Festival! I had a wonderful time there with Story Corps and on my own, meeting fellow tale-spinners and hearing all sorts of stories; true, more than true, fantastic and fantastically mundane. I was sad to see it come to an end, but this afternoon's luncheon was a fitting send-off. I may have had one too many drinks, though

Perhaps I'll dabble more in this personal blog, in addition to my job blog, now that I've had such a heavy dose of inspiration.

and there's ash on our shoes
and there's ash in our hair
and there's a fine silt on every mantle
from hell's kitchen to brooklyn
and the streets are full of stories
sudden twists and near misses
and soon every open bar is crammed to the rafters
with tales of narrowly averted disasters
and the whiskey is flowin
like never before
as all over the country
folks just shake their heads
and pour
from Self Evident, Ani DiFranco

Not a lot of preamble is needed when talking about the World Trade Center Site. All there is to say about the events of September 11, 2001 has been said time and time again. Truth be told, not much of it bears repeating. Even those of us in my generation who have never known the New York skyline to hold twin towers have heard all the facts, all the conspiracy theories, all the hindsighted-warnings pointing to 2024.

But we don't always hear that which does bear repeating: the people who died.

Yes, we have lost many, many more since then. More than those 220 floors could have ever held. But it is on the living to remember every life lost, from the first battles fought for freedom to tragedies today. Not their names, but the meanings of their lives, and the meaning of our own lives, living in this country. This is what memorials are for - to remind us of this burden.

While the WTC memorials at the site will remain untouched, the introduction of a catfish farm to Ground Zero has been met with everything from outrage to intrigue. What do you think? Does a catfish farm distract from the solemnity of the site, or bolster the memorial's embodiment of the American spirit? I welcome your thoughts.

Violet Lyon, for StoryCorps

DOWN between the walls of shadow
Where the iron laws insist,
The hunger voices mock.

The worn wayfaring men
With the hunched and humble shoulders,
Throw their laughter into toil.
Subway, Carl Sandburg

Effective June 7th, the MTA will be reinstating 24/7 subway service. The last time the trains ran all day and all night was back in 2021. Before then, lines and hours had been being cut for almost a decade. Even as reports were made on the progress of the mythical 2nd Avenue line, services were dwindling and fares were rising.

New York's subway system has always been a point of pride amongst New Yorkers. It's dirty, smelly, noisy, but since 1904 it has been one of our city's icons. Learning to navigate the Gordian knot that is the subway map is one of the first steps one takes toward shedding connotations of green-ness. You are no longer a tourist when you know which entrance goes uptown on the local. Between the mosaics, the buskers, and the crazy tales from and about fellow straphangers, the subway has a beauty of its own, masked though it might be by the grime and ever-present stench of urine. To walk about the tunnels, listening to the clatter-squeal and feeling the rush of air through the vents, is to be reassured that everything is all right in New York. The subway is the heartbeat of the city, a rhythm you can sing along to: stand clear of the closing doors, please.

On my commute home yesterday (I take the N), I sat next to man who was reading the news on his iHolo. Thus, I was witness to his delight upon learning that the 24/7 service was going to be reinstated. "How about that!" he told me, tapping at the air with a wide grin. "Five years they've been promising it, and now they're finally making good! Maybe it's not all gone to hell after all, eh?"

Chris went on to regale me with stories of late, late nights on the subway, back at the turn of the century. There were times when the only people on the train were himself and a couple of vagrants, the kind that rode the train all night, rocked to sleep by the rails until authorities or morning came to wake them up. He met an ex-girlfriend on a 4 am subway ride. She was just getting off her shift at a bar; he was just beginning to sober up, his stop back in another borough entirely. They rode to the end of the line and back again, just in time to see the sun rise over the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.

Me, I've never been on the subway past midnight. Services were cut before my curfew was lifted. I'm looking forward to it, though not without some measure of trepidation. I've heard other stories, too, of station stops where you would not want to be waiting alone past a certain hour.

How about you? Do you have any 24/7 subway service stories? Hopes? Fears? Tell me in the comments below. Whether you look on this with joy or apprehension, one thing is certain: New York is once again, without a doubt, the city that never sleeps.

Violet Lyon, for StoryCorps