🌀 Spiraling in New York City

Don't worry, it's a good thing

If you’ve ever been to New York City, you’ll know crazy things happen there.

You might meet someone dressed as Elmo on the subway, or be stopped in traffic by an unexpected parade.

It shouldn’t have surprised me then, that I went into a coffee shop with some friends in Brooklyn and met a magician.

I didn’t know what he was at first, his blue striped sweater and corduroy ball cap didn’t scream “I AMAZE PEOPLE FOR A LIVING.” He was sitting by himself at a large table covered in post-it notes, writing in a little book.

I’m a naturally, sometimes inconveniently, curious person, so despite my girlfriend’s protests, I asked him, as unobtrusively as I could, what exactly he was doing.

When he told me to guess, I knew we were onto something interesting. But when artist and playwright turned out to be wrong answers, I never – truly never ever – expected that the man in front of me would be a magician preparing for his next show at the local coffee shop.

I’m still wondering how the tricks he showed us worked, how he was able to pull them so quickly out of his head and onto the café’s elevated table, even involving the barista.

I’m also wondering if this kind of meeting could happen anywhere else.

Hello! If you’re new here, my name is Francisco. Twice a month, I recommend a few videos from the internet based on a theme. And usually, there’s a spiral photo or two.

While I lived in New York City a few years ago, I was constantly on some sort of adventure. I followed Senegalese delivery drivers on their e-bikes all over Harlem and I learned about the self-appointed Churro King from a woman on the Staten Island Ferry. Those and many other only-in-new-york experiences culminated in a 30 minute audio documentary (aka a podcast) about how long it takes to become a New Yorker, a mark I definitely have yet to hit.

The city was maybe my first introduction to, or at least first revelation of, the spirals of life: starting in one small point of understanding, and slowly expanding knowledge around that one idea in bigger and bigger circles, until you’re in a completely different place. I started out focusing just on my little neighborhood, and soon I was exploring the farthest reaches of the city, meeting all kinds of people. And unlike a circle, a line, or some other kind of path, you never really know where the spiral will take you.

It helps that New York City is also overflowing with actual physical spirals.

So when I moved to São Paulo, almost a year ago, I wanted to take the same approach. Start small, and slowly spiral outward to understand the city better. Once I got to know my neighborhood, I wanted to understand the subway lines, so my girlfriend and I walked from one end of the city following the yellow line.

Then, I met a bus driver dressed completely in pink, and followed him for two days to hear about his story.

I think it’s working. The yellow line project connected neighborhoods in my head that used to be individual points on a map. It made me feel the elevation changes beneath my feet. Rosinha, the bus driver, opened a portal into another world of the people who make this city possible. And reminded me that everyone has a story, and every story is interesting if you ask the right questions.

The Spiral Dispatch is the internet version of these explorations. I start around a theme and eventually end up somewhere I never expected, whether it’s a group of Bengali women cooking a meal for their whole village, or learning about how Parisians kept time.

I’m so grateful to the 230 of you who are subscribed, from all over the world. As all these spirals start to grow even further, I hope you’ll keep joining me on the ride. If you have any recent spirals you’d like to share, please do. In the meantime, thank you for reading.

Yours, spirally 🌀,

Francisco

A wonderful reader, CM, submitted this spiral from a museum in Mexico!

📺 What I watched:

• The Invite

  • After listening to Seth Rogen’s chortle for 40 minutes on a podcast about this film, I wasn’t sure what to expect. The movie ended up being a laugh-out-loud hilariously awkward situation that takes place entirely in a San Francisco (where else?) apartment. Based on the Spanish film Sentimental, itself based on a play.

• The Andy Warhol Diaries

  • I thought I knew Andy Warhol, you know the one with the Campbell’s soup paintings and celebrity silkscreens. I didn’t. This documentary series goes into how the artist came to New York City, his influences, relationships, and impact on the art world, reading from his many diaries.

🎧 What I listened to:

• La Rebelión - Johnny Pacheco (from Viva Africa)

  • Talk about a spiral. I found this artist at an exhibit at the MoMA about African Portraiture, flipping through a book of portraits, where I found a picture of several women from Mali holding albums. Pretty good.

• Singin’ to an Empty Chair - Ratboys

  • 🌀, at a concert in Central Park and they showed up. I like their country rock vibe, and the lead singer’s voice is mesmerizing

• Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

  • Thanks to Austin Kleon, I decided to download the audiobook from Libby and have enjoyed the first few hours of the 39 hour book. It’s surprisingly fun, even in the gym! Pro tip: listen to it read by David Case.

📚 What I read:

• James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl

  • I picked this up at a woman’s used book store because it was sitting on the shelf next to where I was sitting. Before I knew it I had read 20 pages so I bought it. If you, like me, haven’t read it, it’s kind of a dark but fun story. And it takes place, at least partially, in New York City.

• The Heart of a Dog - Mikhail Bulgakov

  • Bulgakov’s short novel is about a doctor who tries to implant the pituitary gland of a human into a stray dog. It’s funny and disturbing and brilliant.

If you made it this far, thank you again for reading! 🌀