59 W 12th Street . November 28, 2007 . 9:56 pm .
"The ordinary throws itself together out of forms, flows, powers, pleasures, encounters, distractions, drudgery, denials, practical solutions, shape-shifting forms of violence, daydreams, and opportunities lost or found."
Kathleen Stewart
New York City is a place constructed upon little pockets of beauty. It's not like Paris where, in my opinion, everywhere you look is beautiful. Here you turn a corner and may find a park - cross the street and get unexpectedly blinded by the sun - glimpse at a couple kissing - remember something important - come across a lonely saxophone player - get caught in a wind tunnel. You can also be woken up by screaming sirens in the middle of the night - witness random public arguments - see (by accident of course) how fellow citizens pick up after their dogs.
These very distracting but nonetheless memorable "Ordinary Affects" make it special because these "Ordinary Affects" are precisely what make it New York.
It was easy to relate to this text as it made me reflect upon the infinite layers of connections and stimulus we're submerged in. My days oftentimes feel like joyrides through landmine fields. Things "erupt" in my face all the time like Stewart describes (I'm almost used to it by now.) More stuff than ever before interests me and at the same time five-minute long conversations are sometimes a challenge. We're being distracted constantly and are masters in wasting time.
She says we're busy if we're lucky,
I say we're lucky if we're busy.
All these correlative and circulating occurrences however -insignificant like a hiccup or politically charged like a flash mob- are our lives. They're everyone's lives. Terms as ample as "capitalism" have become intimate and ordinary enough to have direct impacts on our bodies (Got Milk?) Normality indeed may not be normal anymore but I don't think anyone is to say what was "normal" in the first place.
Great book.
T
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