New York!!!

New York!!!

So recently, I wasn in NY with some girlfriends.  It was a blast!  New York is filled with an energy that is hard to describe.  Of course, the busy people and traffic, but also (as all places do in some form or level) New York has a deeply rooted and powerful soul!  It's filled with people from every walk of life.  The diversity is limitless on one city block!  Within any given day or week there are multitudes of things to get in to -

Something else -slightly random- is the feeling I had as a black woman in New York.  Never in my life had I seen more black women with natural hair, people with unique fashion styles (not trendy but trend setting), people who were confident with a swag in many other places that people might call "different" looking, or stare with their lip curled up! 

I've lived in a small-medium sized town, a city and a big city...in the smaller places I lived I felt oppressed as I tried to be..be me.  Never did I feel accepted - always "the other."  It wasn't until I moved to Chicago that that weight was slightly lifted.  Its amazing how society can find ways to but you in a box based on the norms of the "neighborhood" or environment - peoples expectations and the comfort zone of those living there...it's hard to break that feeling of unacceptedness.  Some say it shouldn't matter - but it does...it simply does.  

I love New York because of the HUGE-NORMOUS amount of people - that box (if there is a box) is SO big that ones comfort zone is tested on a day by day, minute by minute, second by second basis.  In this respect, I felt I was in a safe space to be me.  I felt more safe and secure than I have ever felt in most of the places I lived.  I felt like I didn't have to conform to the stereotypes of my race, I didn't have to pull my fro back, I didn't have to worry that all eyes were on my weirdness.  When a place allows one to feel that freedom, I say more power to you.  To the people that live there (and yes, I am generalizing) thank you for being you - not saying there aren't any people on FRONT street - but RA-RA-RA to all those who are REAL and help to create an environment where ALL are free to be...themselves.