As Most New Yorkers Have Done, I

I Thought Of A High School Report I Did On The Belgian Artist Rene Magritte And A Quote I Once Read From Him, Something About His Favorite Walk Being The One He Took Around His Own Bedroom. He Said That He Never Understood The Need For People To Travel Because All The Poetry And Perspective You're Ever Going To Get You Already Posses. Anais Nin Had The Same Idea. We See The World As We Are. So If It's The Same Brain We Bring With Us Every Time We Open Our Eyes, What's The Difference If We're Looking At An Island Cove Or A Pocket Watch?

We've Come To Expect So Little From Online Privacy Measures That Public Displays Of Concern About The Matter Are More Or Less For Show. Being Devastated To Discover You've Been Tagged In Somebody Else's Photo Has An Air Of The Melodramatic About It At This Point.

I Now Know My Right From My Left And My Up From My Down. Unluckily, My Terrible Sense Of Direction Remains. For Me, To Live In New York City Is To Never Be Able To Meet Someone On The Northeast Corner. It Is To Never Ever Make A Smooth Entrance, Always To Get Caught Looking Lost On The Street.

The Nursery Rhyme Ends When A Spider Comes Along And Frightens Miss Muffet Straight Off Her Tuffet. I Have Wondered About What Kind Of Lesson This Is For A Young Girl. If You're Eating Your Curds And Whey And A Spider Comes Along, I Don't Think There's Anything Wrong With Picking Up A Newspaper, Smashing It, And Going Back To Your Breakfast.

I Don't Really Think Of My Essays As Being About Myself. I Know It Sounds Insane, But I Just Don't Think Of Them As A Memoir. They're Essays; They're Not An Autobiography.