Thoughts of a Displaced New Yorker

Sunday, March 14, 2010: First Entry

I would start by asking, “What makes a New Yorker?”, is it just the simple act of living in the big apple, scratching and surviving in the midst of down town Manhattan, or living the supple suburban life of Long Island? Well, I would think that it is much more than that, as Billy Joel said, “New York is a State of Mind”

I moved to California in 1990 for what was supposed to be a short period to care for my mother who was ill, she moved to California just 4 years prior, once out here I found myself feeling lost and without my tether to reality, the pace of living is slow and without depth, the people, albeit nice, were without solid measure, in New York, you could tell what a person was thinking, the tone and inflection of voice and body language spoke volumes and there was a sense of familiarity, you knew your neighbors, often by name, and you knew who you could trust. I would like to think that I am not just being melancholy but realistic in my memories.

To me, being a New Yorker means being a part of something bigger than yourself, a community of souls that move in and around each other in a surreal and flawless dance of expressionism. New Yorkers have that special something that makes them unique and tangible, I am going to, over a period of time try to decipher what it is that makes us what we are. I am not one to think that I am all knowing or extensively witty in my writing style, if that is what a style is these days, but I am a writer, of sorts and I will write to you this text based imagery of my life as a misplaced / displaced New Yorker, I am going to write this serial of opinion pieces, submitting them to you, via the internet for your reading and vexing.

I encourage those of you who read these entries to leave comment on my blogs http://josephtimmons.blogspot.com and http://www.rantbabble.wordpress.com after each entry, and please don’t just leave comments like “I love your work” or “Puppies and Kittens are cute” , I want real discussion and notes of what you think, and if you, like me are a displaced New Yorker, please leave a comment about your experiences.

My entries will be dated and at least one complete thought, once you see what I write about and how I write, you will see what I mean, I think you will enjoy being part of my experiment in Ranting. I am also in the process of taking these entries and responses to create articles to submit to “The New Yorker” and “The New York Times”, if I include your responses, you will be credited, however I offer no compensation, you are part of an experiment in self exposure and communications across the rift of time and space.

I will be putting together Video pieces on my YouTube site http://www.youtube.com/user/CCVisualArt , these video parts will be verbal blog entries and response to comments, I may also ask other writers to add to the mix, these writers will be displaced new Yorkers and resident new Yorkers who may give some additional insight to the idea of “ you can take the New Yorker out of New York, but you cannot take the New York out of the New Yorker” but no matter which, you can make them drink.

Until the next entry, stay east coast real.

Joseph Timmons

Artist, Writer and New Yorker.