The Unbearable Banishment: random nyc pic / born into the right circumstances

Thursday, July 2, 2009

random nyc pic / born into the right circumstances

This is the view out my office window. I work on the 7th Floor and this overlooks Lexington Avenue and 47th St. It’s a beautiful, old stone building with bold 2-story columns on the façade and ornamental turrets on the four corners.


A closer inspection reveals that this is a residential building, which is an anomaly in this neighborhood. This area, just north of Grand Central Station, is populated with office buildings. Some of the apartments in this building have beautiful French doors that open onto spacious outdoor decks that wrap around the corners.


During my workday, I occasionally stop to watch a woman carry a baby outside, put him/her in a swing and tend the garden. Here, she feeds the baby breakfast.


This kid is growing up in rarefied air. People who are this wealthy, who can afford to live in such splendor in midtown Manhattan, usually have more than one home. This kid will never have to worry about how to pay for college. I never went to college because I was broke. I think most folks believe that a college education is their God-given right. Well, it isn’t.

This kid will never know want. That’s not to say he’ll be trouble-free. But he’ll never know the financial struggles most of us have to endure.

* * *

The café I’m posting this from just played the Annie Lennox cover of Bob Marley’s I Don’t Want to Wait in Vein. I’m generally not a fan of covers—the original is almost always better—but once in a while someone gets it right. The way she sings it, Annie sounds like she's hurting for someone. I wish I could give her a hug right now.

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10 Comments:

Blogger Leah said...

Oh yes, I posted such a rant on this exact topic a few weeks ago...I ranted to such a degree that I had to edit!

My nabe in Brooklyn is just such a rarefied one as what you describe, and I was sort of literally "grandfathered" into it...but it's quite a scene, man, if you know what I mean.

July 2, 2009 at 9:42 AM  
Blogger Jason Quinones said...

thanks a lot UB!

i now have this uncontrollable urge to murder spoiled brat babies!!!

when i fry...ima gonna blame the intraweb!


annie lennox can't go wrong singing most anything!

July 2, 2009 at 11:33 AM  
Blogger Barlinnie said...

Nice arhitecture, but even better if you can snap any ladies sunbathing for the next post!

July 2, 2009 at 2:42 PM  
Blogger Ellie said...

I want to live there.

July 2, 2009 at 4:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the tribe of the uber-wealthy... i get a glimpse every now and again and am in awe... but then, i know there are folks who see my world as alien as well. point of view...

annie makes pretty songs. love her voice...

July 2, 2009 at 5:32 PM  
Blogger The Unbearable Banishment said...

Leah: I've been there. Mrs. Wife and I lived on Clinton St. in the LES. Saw it go from a drug slum to a place I cannot afford to live in anymore.

Jason: You seem predetermined to hate people with money. They're not all bad. Mostly, but not all. Annie Lennox's voice doesn't have great range, but she makes up for it in style.

JB: That happens! It's a bona fide sport in midtown Manhattan office buildings.

Ellie: Yea. Me too. Big time.

Daisy: F. Scott was right. They ARE different than you and I.

July 2, 2009 at 6:17 PM  
Blogger Jason Quinones said...

@ UB-

i'm just premediataed to hate people with money just cuz i don't have any. as soon as i hit it big i'm sure i'll change my tune. haha!

actually my crabbiness as of late is more than likely work related.

it's all too much to explain in a few lines so i won't bother...

July 3, 2009 at 11:29 AM  
Blogger Blues said...

Maybe it's a relative of Mrs. Tovar.

July 7, 2009 at 3:48 PM  
Blogger A Free Man said...

I wonder what it is like to grow up in that kind of luxury. I find it so foreign.

July 10, 2009 at 8:41 AM  
Blogger Please Don't Eat With Your Mouth Open said...

Money doesn't mean that kid's going to grow up happy. Privileged, yes, but still subject to the ways of the world.

July 10, 2009 at 2:34 PM  

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