Times Square
Avoiding Times Square can be both a survival instinct and a minor source of pride for New Yorkers. Until this week I'd followed suit and I'd never drawn there. It always seemed too intimidating. All that color and activity. All those eyes on your art. All those Elmos. The sheer onslaught of visual stimuli.
I decided to try it out yesterday from the top step of the TKTS Booth. It was fun to be still in the midst of that energy. Thousands of people walking by. Hundreds of cabs and delivery trucks passing below. Billboards flashing. Tourists taking selfies, posing for photos. Others just stopping to rest and take it all in.
Two teenage girls darted to the top of the steps, pressed play on their phone and belted out New York State of Mind. "If anyone asks, that's not my kid," one of their mothers said.