Everyone says New York is such a big, lonely city. But even when I am walking alone here, I feel so connected with the people around me. I expected to feel like a fish out of water, an under qualified college student in a city of professionals, but I didn’t, and it felt really good. The people of Manhattan move like a rolling wave, in and out, in sync with one another other. Feeling like a part of that rolling wave makes me think I could call a place like New York City my home. After observing people commuting on the subway, in restaurants, agency lobbies, and walking down the street, I realized that New York has a sense of connectivity that I have never seen before. People operate like a well-oiled machine, which I wouldn’t have seen had I not taken a step back, away from the noise and movement, to just observe and take it all in. There is so much beauty in the diversity of this city. The fact that I overheard conversations in four different languages between Fifth Avenue and Lexington is unreal. This place harvests an environment for culture to grow and be recognized. How can any other city compete with that? 

- Kiana Griffith