I didn't know a soul when I got to New York, and I felt really displaced. The first week I was euphoric, and then I realized how isolating the city can be.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The spirit around leaving New York, for me, was that I just felt I needed to do something really outside of my comfort zone. And I really couldn't tell you at the time why I needed to do it. It wasn't like I was running from something dark; it was a desire to shake things up.
I felt that I had been influenced by being in the city enough and I wanted to go off by myself to see what was going on. I remember going out there and looking in the mirror and thinking I wasn't anything.
I am more of a New Yorker than ever and just actually, sometimes I fantasize about living somewhere else, where it's maybe not quite so crowded or stressful, blah, blah, blah and after September 11th, I guess I could just not imagine living anywhere else.
And I went to New York and died; for 10 years I walked those pavements. I can't think of New York without feeling uncomfortable and feeling like a failure.
There is something about New York City that in and of itself is so theatrical hat I use to think... I use to feel when I walked out of my apartment on the way to school or anywhere that I was walking out on stage.
New York is the only city that I have ever lived in that I have felt at home.
I've spent my whole life in Chicago being asked where am I from, so that I have a sense of displacement that also is very psychologically disorienting.
When you live in New York, one of two things happen - you either become a New Yorker, or you feel more like the place you came from.
Where a city is only focused on one aspect, it becomes a city without a soul, not a city people want to live in.
I've always considered myself to be a travelling soul. I've never felt out of place anywhere.