New York City is a Living Organism

I want to potentially use these videos to prompt the discussion that Harrison and I are leading on Friday. One thing in the reading that keeps catching my eye is the meticulous details the author works in about the city itself. The geography and feel of the neighborhoods and buildings -- how they fit in and around one another. All of these clips are from the 1998 documentary The Cruise, which follows eccentric NYC tour guide Timothy "Speed" Levitch through the city he loves so much. While he doesn't focus on Harlem specifically at any point (his tours generally cover midtown/downtown) what he has to say about Manhattan is significant and poignant. Here are some of his thoughts:


"New York City is a Living Organism"
What he says is somewhat bizarre, yes, but the idea he conveys that I want to get at is the life within the city. Himes writes about Harlem as a city in itself, and uses a number of appositives, adjectives, etc. to describe it, always as something shifting, something dark and writhing, something very much alive.


"Civilization"


"The Grid Plan"