Shortly after I began attending my first and only meditation training class, my teacher began a session by claiming meditation could be done anywhere; the ‘meditator’ should not worry about finding the best or the correct place to do ‘sits.’ Sit anywhere; find a support for your back so you can sit upright; but ifContinue reading “Mindfulness On The New York City Subway”
Tag Archives: new york city
Resilience In The Face Of ‘Terror’ Is Not Just For New Yorkers
Yesterday morning, an incompetent wanna-be suicide bomber almost blew himself up in an underground passageway connecting New York City’s Port Authority and Times Square subway stations. His crude home-made pipe bomb did little damage; indeed, it failed to even kill the would-be kamikaze; it did, however, cause some understandable, instantaneous panic among the many commutersContinue reading “Resilience In The Face Of ‘Terror’ Is Not Just For New Yorkers”
A Simple, Memorable Act Of Kindness
In a pair of posts which cast a wistful glance back at my running days, I made note of a graduate school summer in which I brushed up against the edges of genteel poverty: I had no financial aid from graduate school and no regular employment (I worked hourly as a waiter once in aContinue reading “A Simple, Memorable Act Of Kindness”
The Pleasures Of Providing Directions To The Lost
A short while ago, as I alighted at the New York City’s Herald Square subway station, I was approached by a Chinese gentleman seeking directions to Penn Station; he needed to catch a New Jersey Transit train to, well, New Jersey. I was already ‘late’ for my weekly Tuesday stint at the library, but IContinue reading “The Pleasures Of Providing Directions To The Lost”
On Not Living In The ‘Real’ America
I live in Brooklyn, in New York City, but I don’t live in ‘real’ America. I’m surrounded by artifice and fantasy; specters and ghosts walk the streets. The sidewalks beneath my feet are insubstantial; it is a miracle they are able to sustain my corporeal weight. The buildings around me have been plucked straight fromContinue reading “On Not Living In The ‘Real’ America”
The Subway Car’s Daily Dose Of Culture
My train ride into Manhattan today reminded me that yesterday’s lament about the possible lack of adequate ‘cultural consumption’ in my life in this city was sorely missing one aspect of my urban experience: the culture that this city’s residents experience and ‘live’ by the mere fact of being in this city. This morning, IContinue reading “The Subway Car’s Daily Dose Of Culture”
A Persistent Reminder Of A Hardened Heart
A few weeks ago, as I approached the entrance to the subway station I use on my way back home after a trip to the gym, I noticed a familiar figure standing by its stairs: a man of indeterminate age who stands at the top step, next to the door for a deli, asking forContinue reading “A Persistent Reminder Of A Hardened Heart”
Memo To NYPD: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On Your Way Out
Over the past few days the NYPD, offended by protests against their policing, and still in a huff at New York’s mayor, Bill De Blasio, for daring to suggest they might need reform, has gone on a work-stoppage of sorts, refusing to carry out arrests or hand out parking tickets or miscellaneous traffic summonses. Meanwhile,Continue reading “Memo To NYPD: Don’t Let The Door Hit You On Your Way Out”
Memo to Blasio, Bratton, Lynch: Ixnay On The Suspension Of Protests
On Saturday, a lone gunman with a history of violence, Ismaaiyl Brinsley, shot dead two New York City policemen. Before he did so, he proclaimed on his Instagram page that the killings were revenge for the choking to death of Eric Garner by the NYPD. After he shot the policemen, Brinsley killed himself at a nearbyContinue reading “Memo to Blasio, Bratton, Lynch: Ixnay On The Suspension Of Protests”
The Deadly Self-Pity Of The Police
In 1997, as a graduate teaching fellow, I began teaching two introductory classes in philosophy at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Many of my students were training for careers in criminology and law enforcement. Some hoped to join the FBI, yet others, the New York City police force.Continue reading “The Deadly Self-Pity Of The Police”
Samir Chopra 