Of Love and Terror

Bomb Squad truck on Second Avenue

"Honey, we live in Manhattan. Probably all of us are more likely to be killed by a terrorist than to find love -- or a cab at five p.m. for that matter."
Carolina Aguilera, In the Shadow of the Lighthouse

Super 8

Jane's Carousel and Manhattan Bridge

"Brooklyn is the past recorded in faded Super  8. It is innocence, childhood, family, community, a safe place. Brooklyn is Rosebud, Camelot, Atlantis. It is the state of grace that exists solely in memory or fantasy. Brooklyn is the precious thing we've lost."
Donald Margulies, Brooklyn Boy

Genius

Nikola Tesla bust

"New York has become the Florence of the sixteenth century. Genius in every corner."
John Guare, Six Degrees of Separation

Stone Desert

Flatiron Plaza

"New York is the great stone desert."
Israel Zangwill, The melting-Pot

Metaphoric Home

Brooklyn Bridge Park

"Brooklyn is the metaphoric home to anyone who has ever seen himself as an outsider, who has ever been torn between the powerful, atavistic tug toward the traditional and familiar and the magnetic allure of the unknown."
Donald Margulies, Brooklyn Boy