I was born in Florida and raised in Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio. I discovered New York City in my teens and fell in love right away. However, I did not move here until 1998. I discovered that native New Yorkers were disdainful of transplants like me. However, they reluctantly allowed us to call ourselves “New Yorkers” after we lived here for at least a decade.
In their calculation we could gain a year’s credit for surviving a NYC traumatic event – such as 9/11, the 2003 and 2019 blackouts and Super Storm Sandy in 2012. So I officially became a New Yorker in 2006!
I’m not the official scorekeeper but I’m assuming that the 2020 pandemic counts as a NYC traumatic event with so much shut down and so much fear. So if you are counting up your New Yorker creds, congratulations.
Side note on developments from our governments. Our state and city government have presented daily and cogent updates. As noted recently I have been disappointed with the response of the federal government. Friday’s announcements are a step in the right direction, but late. I am hopeful we are finally moving in the right direction. Rachel Maddow put together this helpful guide to the previous mixed messages of the administration. Hopefully they are getting their act together now. We need it.
As always you can find more at http://www.walterthinnes.com and on Twitter @walterthinnes
Walter Thinnes 