New York City. The Big Apple. The center of everything since forever. Now I live in Miami, but for the first 8 years of my life, Manhattan, New York City was my home. I used to live in the downtown area, in a district called Tribeca. Why was it called that? I have no idea. I lived in a loft with my parents on a street called White St. every time we set foot in that apartment, we could hear the New York traffic rumbling about 3 stories below us. We only had one bathroom, but that was okay, because there were only three of us. My room was under the stairs. Sometimes, late in the night, I would hear the stairs creaking. I went to school every week day at a public school called P.S. 234. My mom and my dad both worked on Wall Street, my mom as the Vice-President of the trading floor at Meryl Lynch. My dad was working as an analyst for a company whose name I cannot recall. Since my parents were not home when I came home from school, my parents hired a nanny by the name of Claudy. Claudy would walk me to and from school, help me with my homework, and set up playdates. While we’re on the subject, let me tell you about my journey to and from school. When I was ready to leave for school, Claudy would take me down and we would start walking together. We walked past the small park with the birds chirping and the squirrels soundlessly watching us with jittery stares. We walked past the subway station, with its rumbling of the train tracks, the screech of its brakes, the smell of trash. We walked past the deafening traffic, stuffed with taxis and bikes. We walked past the pedestrians, most of them businessmen or women, others visitors. We walked past the homeless people on the street, covered with thin blankets, until we finally got to the school. The drop-off was in the play-yard in front. I’ve met famous astrophysicist and science communicator Neil Degrasse Tyson many times here to pick up his son, Travis, who was one of my best friends. On the way home, we would usually go to the park near my school, where all the other kids from my class would be. The park had everything. It had a garden, a big field, places to play games, and a playground. There I heard the creak of the swings, the laughter of the children.
As you can probably tell, living in New York was one of my favorite experiences in my short life so far.
Programming, Ascended 