Hello readers! How have you been? It’s been a while since we’ve talked.
Since finishing my internship at Beaufort in May, I’ve been busy. I completed my last round of undergraduate exams and (virtually) graduated from college. I repainted and redecorated my room, finding a permanent home for some of my favorite dorm-room photos. I applied for what felt like millions of jobs, heard back from few, and interviewed with even fewer. To my delight, I eventually received an offer, and before I knew it I had a company-issued laptop and was training and working from home.
But above all of these things—aside from the little joys and the frustrations and the change—I have been busy dreaming of going back to New York City. As a born-and-raised New Jerseyan (Jerseyite? Jerseyer?), NYC has always been on the horizon. And I mean that literally: there is even a spot in town where you can even see the upper quarter of the city skyline. But since being sent home from college and with the potential of a second lock-down looming overhead, the idea of actually being back in New York feels more like a far-off dream than a reality.
I recently finished Ling Ma’s novel Severance, which follows a young woman as she flees New York to escape a deadly pandemic that is ravaging the world. Timely, right? While the book’s greater focus is on identity and loneliness, I couldn’t help but be drawn to the scenes where Candace, the main character, walks around the city. Ma’s depiction is one of desolation and complete destruction: store windows have been smashed, sidewalk carts abandoned and overturned, taxis crushed into one another. Candace is alone on the streets aside from a handful of armed guards outside of banks, museums, and other wealthy institutions, but even they disappear eventually.
While I know that our real-life pandemic situation looks vastly different from the one Ma offers, it’s sometimes tempting to think of New York in this way. With all the statistics, warnings, and safety precautions, the city can feel like some far-off, dystopian danger zone that you would have to be crazy to visit at the moment. But at the same time, I’m wishing I could be back every second of the day. I want to spend sunny afternoons reading in Central Park, wander around and inevitably get on the wrong subway train, and stare at the skyline as it changes from block to block. I can’t wait to find a coffee shop close to my new office and stop in every morning, even though it will probably make me late more often than not. The reality is that walking around NYC has always made me feel like the main character in an upbeat YA novel, either about to bump into my soulmate or land my dream job. As corny as it is, that’s the feeling that New York gives me: a feeling of excitement, opportunity, and joy.
Hopefully I will be getting back to the city soon, but in the meantime, wear your masks, wash your hands, and read some well-written books!
Until next time,
Charlotte Beaurontё
Tags: Beaufort Books, blog, New York City