Moving Forward .X Photos disapeared , X OO

Hello everyone,

   The six months since I sublet my studio apartment in the Village, came to an end and I moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, into a lovely specious apartment, on the Tenth Floor of an impressive building, overlooking the Hudson River... I shared it with two Israeli roommates, bouth guys. One was Avi; who said he was working as a 'Gard' in the Israeli Consulate (I suspected he was actually an Agent   of the Israeli Secret Service) We never talked about it; even though I was "Dying to know!" My other roommate was Ariel; a young twenty one years old student, right after his Military Service in Israel who was now a Freshman at N.Y.U.

   There were many people coming and going, through this large and bright apartment... I was delighted    to leave behind me the Self-Imposed isolation, which I created for myself in the Village... The "Bulimia" cleared completely and my Entire Being' was sparkling with 'Joy of Life!'...  I was discovering again the    the pleasures of stimulating company, making new friends and most of all, delighted to get over my 'Self Imposed' months of loneliness, in my small Studio Apartment in the Village... The new apartment was known as the "Social Gathering Place' for Israelis who visited or lived temporarily in N.Y... We cooked dined and celebrated the Holidays and had many"Meaningful Discussion', until the 'Late hours of the Night'...We listened to popular records of the Beatles; Bob Dylan and Peter Paul and Mary singing X"Where have all the flowers gone" with other popular songs of the time...

    It was there, that I had my first 'experience' with Marijuana... In Israel of those days, Marijuana was looked upon as one of the drugs only criminals use... My new friends tried to convince me, that there is "Nothing Wrong" with smoking a little pot... But I strongly refused! After six months, they finally were able to convinced me to take a few puffs... After choking and coughing, I found myself laughing and was  unable to stop... It seemed as if my senses, were going through some kind of 'Amazing Awakening'! I felt as if I was a child again, who is discovering the world around her, for the first time... It almost seemed as  if I was walking in the footsteps of our Biblical Eve, after taking the First Bit, from the Forbidden Apple... However, as incredible as this experience was, I decided that if I smoke it again, I would only do so with the next man I love...  I was also beginning to wonder, if I will ever meet another man,whom  I would be able to love, as much as I loved Paul...

   In those days, Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera, in addition to Broadway and other Small Theaters, gave 'Leftover Tickets'  to Foreign Students... Ariel, who loved classical music, as much as I did made sure to get tickets for the best performances and the two of us, were busy going to many concerts and shows, we had time for, between our classes and work... Our relationship reminded me, of the one I developed in my short stay in Paris; with young Jacques, whom I teased and treated like a young brother (European Vacation) We also cared for one another, making sure we were O.K, as siblings would do...

Yellow "Birds"

   When I was not teaching or studying, I walked all over Manhattan, fascinated by everything I saw, as if I was looking at Pictures in an Exhibition..The yellow cabs which seemed like flocks of doves, descending and stopping to collect a few crumbs they found here and there...  Girls wearing pink and blue 'Tutus'  were climbing the old crooked stairs to the Ballet Studio of 'Igor and Madam'  on 52  St and 7th Ave. An Italian Vendor, was selling flowers on the corner of my street and was always smiling at me, as I passed, giving me a flower and saying in his thick Italian Accent: "Bella  Bellisema!"X

Pagoda Phone booth

   I liked to stroll in the crowded streets of China Town, with it's restaurants and       Souvenir Shops...The public phone booths were decorated, as if they were little Pagodas... I was walking by the United Nations Building, looking at the many colorful flags of the countries they represented, swaying in the wind... Watching  the Diplomats in their Tailored Suits, walking back and forth, along shiny corridors of the United Nation building, oblivious to the cleaning crew, which were shrinking to the side, when ever those 'Important People' walked by, then rush back to resume their work of polishing the Marble Walls and washing (again) the Shiny Floor...

The UN building

   Everything in N.Y was exciting! The different Ethnicity of the people, rubbing elbows on the busy sidewalks...The Greengrocers,who were proudly showing off their fresh colorful fruit and vegetables, neatly arranged in boxes. 'Hot Dog' stands and Horse and buggy in Central Park, next to the Plaza Hotel... The fancy stores on 5th Ave, teasing the 'Freezing people on the street, by displaying Bathing Suits and Bikinis for Cursing ... Coffee shops with Waitresses, wearing tiny white caps and pink dresses, covered with white Lace Aprons, which made them look like 'Wrinkled little girls'... I particularly enjoyed looking at the Tulips, which suddenly appeared after the snow, at the middle of the boulevards, blooming like small red flames, along Park Avenue and Columbus Circle...

Flowers vendor

    I once took the elevator to the top of the One Hundred and Twenty Stories, of  the Empire State Building; looking down, watching the Sky-Scrapers of Manhattan From such height, it is hard to see the filth and garbage ,which was not collected  the neglected children with runny noses, the drug addicts, the prostitutes and pimps on the street corners.. Everything looked lovely from where I stood .After all, the Law of Nature tells us, that all 'Small Things' are Always Beautiful: Like Babies, Puppies, Kittens and even little Hippos and baby Pigs...

The Empire
State Building

   As I was looking down, I could see a tiny Miniature of a 'Clean and Innocent Manhattan', small and vulnerable as if it could be wiped off the face of the earth by one sneeze of a Storybook Giant..."Is this how God sees our world when he looks down?" One day, after a long visit in the near by Museum, I saw a small Park, near 5th Ave and Broadway and sat on a bench, to rest my feet. Next to me on top of a Marble Pillar, stood a Life Size, bronze statue of a Seated Man. His head which was bowed down, looked so real, it seemed as if he was staring at me I noticed the lines of sadness on his face and the empty spots at the center of his head; where the 'Bronze Hair', didn't grow an was feeling sad for him: A lonley man, sitting like this day and night, month after month, summer and winter, who can not even lift his arm to chase away, the annoying birds landing on his face, arms and hand; feeling sorry for him...

   Suddenly, like a Ray of Sun appearing from behind a cloud, a thought came in to my mind... It made   me realize that I no longer have to wounder, about the content of the book, which I wanted to write! It will be about this Amazing City! I will write about Manhattan! And so I did.... I stopped my long walks and set next to the huge old desk, beneath the window of our apartment, overlooking the Hudson River and started to write ... According to Avi :"This desk should bring you luck with the book, since it served several generations of Israeli scholars and writers!... I gently passed my fingers on the smooth, dark Mahogany Wood, feeling 'a chill' climbing up my spine. I visualized my loyal 'Small Typewriter', placed  on this desk and how I begin to write about this giant city, which never sleeps... Using 'Poetic License' I wrote little stories like Rhyme-less Poems, describing the essence of Manhattan: The rhythm and  the flavors, the colors, smells and sounds, the similarities and contradictions of this city... I would write      tear up the page and start all over again; until I was finally pleased... By the end of four months, I had       a collection of fifty short stories in Hebrew...

   One of our Israeli visitors, who was going back home, offered to take my 'New born book'  to a Publishing House in Tel Aviv... To my surprise and delight, my little book was accepted for "Publication!" It would take several more months to see the light... The reviews were mixed.  One Critic praised it's "Original style", while another wrote it had "No Unity"...  About three hundred copies of my small yellow book, were sold... I guess it was not the 'Masterpiece' which I was dreaming about writing, when I was in high school, but I was      satisfied; I named it:"Crumbs from Manhattan."

With Love and Light,
Shira