Every weekday I commute about an hour to work and an hour home. I walk a total of approximately 9 blocks and I take three subway trains.
When I hold this in contrast to my former commute, driving 22 miles each way, it’s amazing how much has changed. The solitude of driving is so different from the crowdedness of public transit. It’s funny that when I would drive, I would feel so alone, listening to NPR in my station wagon. But as soon as I tuned back in to the highway I was on, I would see all the other drivers believing that they were alone in their sedans and SUVs and delivery trucks. As if you could isolate yourself just by keeping your windows up… Hello!? They are windows! Transparent!
In my current public transportation commute, there’s no denying the connection to everyone around me. Often, I am literally touching them. And I’ve started to notice the others whose patterns overlap with mine. I’ll just give you a glimpse of the morning:
Each day, I leave the house around 7am.
A woman and her son stand on the street corner waiting for his school bus.
A teenage girl who wears mismatching Converse All-Star high tops (I’ve deduced that she has at least 3 different pairs that she mixes, I will continue to look and see if there are more) walks very fast and focused to the train station.
In the train station waits another teenage girl with dark hair and a school uniform pleated skirt, she will also be on the train home on many days.
The man who I think works in an office and keeps his hair buzzed short is reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter (a book I just finished a week ago).
After getting off the second train, a man with a tall beanie (I assume it holds dreadlocks) will be walking nearby me in the sea of people that are making the same transfer. He has a construction helmet attached to his backpack, and I constantly wonder if he just puts it on top of his dreads in the hat, or if he lets them down at work.
There will be a woman on the third train, in the same car in which I usually ride, who gets off at the next stop in her security guard’s uniform.
I always fight to stay fully awake, as I ride uptown on the express train.
As I walk from the final train station stop to my place of work, I will see a pair of golden retrievers walking together with their people.
I will pass either mom or dad (never both) with her three teenage boys wearing brightly colored yarmuklas.
A certain doorman will wish me a good morning on the last block before I turn to get to work. And then another doorman will nod at me as I pass by.
These are the kinds of things I notice. Maybe you think it’s creepy, but it’s who I am. I studied anthropology! I’m interested in what people do. Each and every person is not there every day, but I like the consistency of it. I like the routine. It makes me feel much more connected to everyone around me.
If this entry had a picture, it would be of a local train passing an express train, from the inside of the express train. I love watching the local trains pass by. It’s amazing to see the world of the other train. Just like the world of other drivers on the highway.
