This month, Cacao Mag, a creative art magazine based in Sweden and Taiwan, published a brief feature by Una Ragazza about eating, shopping, playing and loving on the New York subway. Leave your metro card at home; have a ride on us.
The Times Square gateway to the underground rat kingdom
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In 2010, inspired by a certain Julie who set out to cook everything in a cookbook, and a certain Liz who ate, prayed and loved her way across the globe, a Singaporean girl decided it was time to put on paper -- or in bytes -- the adventures that life was bestowing upon her. Roping in friends with a passion for the written word, she launched eat.shop.play.love as a writing experiment to lend a voice to the millions of Asians around the world who have left their native countries to live their lives in a different place, for whatever the reasons may be.
Having lived in six countries across three continents, she writes under the moniker “Una Ragazza” (meaning “a girl” in Italian) to pay homage to the first foreign country she lived in, and quickly fell in love with.
Here are excerpts from her musings on the New York subway.
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eat.shop.play.love on the Subway
To most people, the word “subway” brings to mind a fast-food chain with a slogan to “eat fresh” sandwiches.
An informal poll among friends showed the New York subway evokes strong emotions, with locals calling it “dirty,” “germy” and “rat-infested,” and tourists preferring “overwhelming,” “confusing” and claustrophobic.”
I’ve a love-hate relationship with the subway. While it’s affordable, convenient and fast, it also drips mysterious liquids, reeks of garbage and bodily fluids, and is filled with grouchy people.
Yet, like most New Yorkers, I can’t imagine life without it. In fact, with some hand sanitizer in tow, subterranean life can be colorful.
Having lived in six countries across three continents, she writes under the moniker “Una Ragazza” (meaning “a girl” in Italian) to pay homage to the first foreign country she lived in, and quickly fell in love with.
Here are excerpts from her musings on the New York subway.
* * *
eat.shop.play.love on the Subway
To most people, the word “subway” brings to mind a fast-food chain with a slogan to “eat fresh” sandwiches.
An informal poll among friends showed the New York subway evokes strong emotions, with locals calling it “dirty,” “germy” and “rat-infested,” and tourists preferring “overwhelming,” “confusing” and claustrophobic.”
I’ve a love-hate relationship with the subway. While it’s affordable, convenient and fast, it also drips mysterious liquids, reeks of garbage and bodily fluids, and is filled with grouchy people.
Yet, like most New Yorkers, I can’t imagine life without it. In fact, with some hand sanitizer in tow, subterranean life can be colorful.
The denizens of the New York subway keep it humming
eat.
In Singapore, commuter trains are squeaky clean because eating carries a maximum fine of S$500.
Without a food ban on the New York subway, evidence of the crime is often strewn on trains, platforms or tracks.
Oh, and the smell. From the benign to the most intolerable, here’s a sampling: pretzel, hot dog, beef minestrone soup, grilled cheese sandwich, sour cream and onion Pringles, and chicken with broccoli.
Every now and then, an irate soul loses it. This spring, local media had a field day when two spaghetti-chomping girls got into a fight with a woman who said, “What kind of animals eat on the train like that?”
A ubiquitous post-September 11 subway slogan goes, “If you see something, say something.” One frustrated Brooklynite took it a step further. He created Trainpigs.com, featuring those caught with their mouths full.
Without a food ban on the New York subway, evidence of the crime is often strewn on trains, platforms or tracks.
Oh, and the smell. From the benign to the most intolerable, here’s a sampling: pretzel, hot dog, beef minestrone soup, grilled cheese sandwich, sour cream and onion Pringles, and chicken with broccoli.
Every now and then, an irate soul loses it. This spring, local media had a field day when two spaghetti-chomping girls got into a fight with a woman who said, “What kind of animals eat on the train like that?”
A ubiquitous post-September 11 subway slogan goes, “If you see something, say something.” One frustrated Brooklynite took it a step further. He created Trainpigs.com, featuring those caught with their mouths full.
Do not cross the train tracks because of the electric current. And the rats busy scurrying for leftovers!
shop.
Subway commuters are often greeted by teenagers selling candy to raise funds for a school program. Nobody blinks. Not so with a former gangster-turned-author. Last fall, I encountered a tall man in dreadlocks with a stack of 20 books under one arm, telling everyone we could read his life story for US$10. People started opening their wallets immediately. Never mind if his story’s real; start counting the profits bypassing Barnes and Noble.
Subway commuters are often greeted by teenagers selling candy to raise funds for a school program. Nobody blinks. Not so with a former gangster-turned-author. Last fall, I encountered a tall man in dreadlocks with a stack of 20 books under one arm, telling everyone we could read his life story for US$10. People started opening their wallets immediately. Never mind if his story’s real; start counting the profits bypassing Barnes and Noble.
Selling spray-paint art at the Union Square station
play.
If you’re ever stuck in the subway system and bored, you may have yourself to blame. Subway platforms are filled with buskers who work hard each year to entertain the 60-odd million tourists and locals. Performance quality is high; to play in a high-traffic subway location, street performers must first entertain the Metropolitan Transport Authority in the “Music Under New York” audition.
Even more fascinating is a secret art exhibition space that “opened” last summer. Housed in an unused and undiscovered subway station four stories below street level, the gallery features street art from worldwide artists who are secretly escorted into the space and given only one night to leave their mark.
Remy Francois, the underground subway king from Haiti, belts out a song
Broadway ads give a glimpse of what's above ground
love.
Can love be found on the subway? Apparently so. Every month, hundreds post messages on the “missed connections” page of Craigslist New York seeking the “jeans guy with salt-and-pepper hair” or the “girl with gray fingerless gloves.” Friends of mine have gone on dates after locating postings describing them.
Not me. My worst personal encounter happened on the Wall Street subway platform seven years ago. Two minutes into a largely one-sided conversation, the guy said cheerfully: “I’m an underwear model. This briefcase is full of briefs. Do you want to see them?”
Tom Otterness's little people witness every kiss and hug in "Life Underground"
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And so goes life on the busiest public transportation network in the Western hemisphere.
Game for a ride?
Getting on the subway at Times Square, the busiest station in the MTA system
The bilingual eat.shop.play.love feature in Cacao Magazine
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