A twenty-year magical realism retrospective
So I have been an adult for a while now. Decades, actually. I would like to share with you a few specific memories from November and December 2005.
But first, the HOW:
There is this book, published in 1999, I also read in 1999 as a high schooler. It was adapted into a movie with the star of Cruel Intentions and the late-90s revival of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s not a book I would recommend now, but how the story was told always stuck with me. And, just so you know, the text itself has seemed to age very well considering certain media also from that time period has not. I tried to reread the book four years ago, in 2021, but didn’t finish it for a few reasons.
The story is not narrated sequentially. It’s random events, literally chapters, throughout the character’s life, like chapter 1 takes place in her 30s and the second chapter takes place when she was 14 growing up in the Jersey Shore. Something like Chapter 13 out of 30 takes place in her 70s, etc. I think you get the idea. I don’t have the patience nor time to connect the dots if the random sequence has a meaning, and to be honest, I don’t really care that much. The way the book ends is very poignant as it takes place in the middle of an event that the reader was introduced to in the middle of the book if memory serves.
I would like this blog to follow that book’s lead, of telling stories from different parts of my life not in chronological order paired with magical realism.
Anyway, back to holiday season 2005:
I was living in Astoria, New York. For those not familiar with geography, Astoria is a neighborhood in the borough of Queens. Prominent baby boomers IN MY LIFE grew up in New York State, three of them in the borough of Queens. So in a way, it was like following in the footsteps of the boomers in my life.
I was following my dream. Ever since I started reading Ann M. Martin’s Babysitters Club series in the late 80s, I’ve always wanted to live in New York City. One of the characters, Stacey, is from NYC. The series takes place in Connecticut. Some people may remember the BSC early 90s TV series and 1995 movie. I was finally following my dream in 2005.
I found a very residential rental via Craigslist and I had a roommate who was 3 years older than me. She worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I don’t remember her name. My rent was half of my paltry publishing salary (I just realized writing this that even my career choice at the time was cliche for my age). Unlike people my age living in NYC, my parents weren’t funding my rent, life’s necessities, or lifestyle. As a result, I went into debt that I paid off about 4-5 years later. This also a time when housing and life’s necessities were much more affordable than they are now.
I remember I was partying the night before Thanksgiving (priorities) and walked home before the Macy’s Day Parade was scheduled to start. I spent the night at a female friend’s place. I think I had my stuff all packed so I went straight to Grand Central Station to catch the train to upstate. My extended family picked me up from the train station and then we drove to western Mass for Thanksgiving.
My uncle at the time worked for a major metropolitan railroad commuter line that serviced upstate New York and Connecticut. He gave me his business card with a “free pass” on the other side. I would show it to the conductor when they came around punching tickets. One of the staffers was a good friend of my uncle’s and he invited me to go the cab to observe the Hudson River and the snowy banks. So I joined him (nothing sus happened, don’t worry) as he was steering the cab. I will always remember the beautiful vistas of the snowy banks as the train moved along the Hudson River. It’s one of my favorite memories in this lifetime.
A few weeks later….
This was about December 21 or 22, 2005. It definitely wasn’t the 23rd nor the 25th. It was after I walked home from work on Madison Avenue to Astoria, Queens, during the MTA strike of 2005*, where no transit services were operating. Maybe it was the 24th? I was flying out of LaGuardia to Chicago Midway. I remember the flight was so empty, not sure if it was the time of the flight or that 9-11 was four years prior. I have not been on an empty flight like that since. I laid across the seats and took a nap during most of the short flight. I remember the pilot gave the most thoughtful December holiday season greeting from the cockpit as we were landing where he mentioned the three December holidays observed in the U.S. at the time, and I will always remember him saying, “a blessed Kwanzaa” in the most gentle tone.
*Here is further reading about the 2005 MTA strike.
Photos of commuters walking home over the Queensboro Bridge.
So this is what 20 years later feels like.