What New York Stands For

Financial District

"People move to New York from all over the world, drawn to what it stands for: work, success, freedom, acceptance, glamour: give me your tired, your poor, your ambitious, your determined."
Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse

Supervising Giants

"Once New York had been the very definition of a city to me, offering freedom to roam, create, become, befriend, fuck, but in adulthood it made me anxious, claustrophobic. The long, long avenues, the tall buildings leaning in, like supervising giants; how can you wander on a grid?"
Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse

The City

Entrance to the PATH train

"To those of us who grew up not in it but next to it, in its shadow, a short train ride away on the Long Island Rail Road or the PATH or Metro North, New York is the city. As if there are no others. And for the rest of our lives, our relationship to cities will be defined by New York."
Lauren Elkin, Goodbye to All That