CABIN PRESSURE
Chapter One
EVER SINCE I MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY IN 1991 AFTER GRADUATING FROM college, the
word "summer" lost all of its verve. Manhattan is many things-vibrant,
thrilling, propulsive-but it most certainly is not a summer paradise. It isn't
all New York's fault: Most adults have to come to terms with the fact that
summer is no longer an extended vacation. But the city rubs it in your face.
The giant skyscrapers lean over you, daring you to just try to get a glimpse of
nature. The only oasis is Central Park, but as you squeeze in on weekends to
claim a little patch of lawn, the buildings still loom around the edges like
sentries; you and your fellow parkgoers are the prisoners who have been given
a couple hours out in the "yard." Just try to swim in a pond and you'll be shot
on sight. I resented everyone's forced exuberance as they trekked from their
tiny apartments to convene in the park. It wasn't a real summer; we were just
playing summer, the way you played doctor or post office as a kid.
Through eleven years of working in the city in television production and then
in magazines, each summer I devoted at least fifte ... read full excerpt from: Cabin Pressure ebook
