Eyes on the Street (or what I considered calling this blog)
Eyes on the Street is a reference to two of my favorite things.
The notion of eyes on the street was part of Jane Jacobs’s theory about the safety of the big city. It was a prominent part of the History of the City of New York course I took during college — definitely a topic for another post — and became critical to my thinking about life in the big apple. The idea is simple: when you live in neighborhoods which are densely populated, where people sit on stoops, look out windows and hang out on the corner (yes, the drug dealers at the end of your block are part of why this cruise ship we call Manhattan doesn’t sink), there are literally eyes on the street. And those eyes, someone always watching, is what keeps us all safe. Had I not learned a little something about this line of thinking, I might never have lived in my very favorite-est of my New York dwellings. Permanently stationed on my corner was a team of tough looking fellows and their revolving door of canine companions — one pit bull connected to a chain-link leash after another. But they were a comfort to me. After all, while I was practically invisible to them, I thought it unlikely that anyone else would give me trouble while they were watching.
Besides my nerdy thinking about the metropolis, eyes on the street — to me — evokes images of my favorite pastime: people watching. Indeed, my eyes are on the street every chance I get. So, there you have it. I’m winding up a twelve-year stint in NYC and readying myself for a move west. Yep, finally taking that sage advice: this young woman is going (back) west. While I do my best to navigate the changes ahead, I’m going to enjoy my final opportunities to have my eyes on these streets before I shift my gaze to the streets of San Francisco. And as I go along, I’ll make some notes here — spill some digital ink, if you will. Hence, (and thanks to a certain little bro), I offer Spilled Ink — over which there is no use crying.
