With sincerest apologies to Walt Whitman, who wrote the words from which I take the title of this blog, I am challenging myself with this writing venture. As of this moment, two years into my relationship with the great city of New York, this pin-cushioned spit of land, thrumming with creativity, I find myself feeling rather expectant. Waiting to see whether I'll celebrate this anniversary with paper (jury duty?) or with cotton (a found vintage t-shirt at the consignment shop?). Waiting for a leap forward in my job (more research projects, please!), or maybe just a move to an office with a view.

And, of course, waiting, with that deepest of aches, to meet someone. With a close friend moved away last month, the loneliness drummed up by this most social of cities feels deeper now.

But after two years here, I feel different, too. I'm starting this blog to finally give voice to the tremendous love I feel for the people of this city, to share the outrageous encounters and the small terrors (a shovel on the subway tracks, early morning rat encounters), a welcome hazard of life in this city. And to chart the strong drive I feel to mitigate the inequality on display here in New York, as clear and striking as the rushing traffic and stunning shop windows. In the rest of his poem, Mannahatta, Whitman writes about the many thousand immigrants arriving in New York by the week - though Whitman's New York and mine certainly have their differences - (fewer Citibikes, at least) the crucial role immigrants play in building the character of the city has not changed. And ensuring the civil rights and social needs of immigrant communities speaks to my heart and inspires my work.

So my writing might meander from personal reflections, to political questions, to poetic wanderings. I hope all will focus somewhat on New York, a not-so-quiet force in my life these last two years. I wonder often how I have changed from living in this absurd place and where it might take me. With that, I embolden myself to try to write again - and see what flows forth.