It has been one heck of a year. All of us hoboes have been up to all sorts of tricks over the past year. It's tough to document things as they're happening, or at least that's what John Steinbeck said in Travels with Charlie. I think that's true to a great extent. Like many of the Great Hoboes, I keep a journal of my adventures, thoughts, hopes, and darkest moments. As it's happening, the gravity of each moment seems equal, but taken from a bit of perspective, it's easier to winnow out what really was a big deal and what wasn't. This edition of Hobo Lifestyles is intended to do just that - show some of the highlights of the past 8 months or so. Starting with a trip to "The Gates", and ending with a trip across New York, it seems that a few things did occur...

Late last winter, The Gates came to New York. Christo, the artist who dressed the Reichstag and has done so much more in the name of art that mixed beauty, whimsy, and a certain hint of sobriety, transformed New York's Central Park into a garden of saffron drapes. Cast against the dead trees of winter, and the gray sorrow that often fills the middle of Manhattan, The Gates served to bring a touch of life back to the city. An early spring, if you will.
Rosie Valdez and I decided to make a day of it, visiting the park and taking in The Gates, and almost more importantly the reaction of the crowds to The Gates. See, that was the beauty of The Gates - it wasn't about the saffron color, the installation itself, the landscape, oh no - it was about the visible impact of the art on the faces of the crowds. From the smiling children, to the uncharacteristically calm adults, people were changed by walking under those billowing drapes.
This was a city that had seen so much hardship over the past few years. The terrorist attacks, a damaged economy, a general stress level that is unlike the tension in any other city I've visited domestically. I was admittedly skeptical that a mere art installation could affect the mass of change that I saw upon the crowds. But a carnival of color and emotion swept from the fields down to the skating rink, and along every path.
By day or by night, The Gates were bright beacons upon the scape of the park. The saffron drapes picked up the light that shone from buildings, headlights, and the people who braved the park at night to take in what was a vision of The Gates that few saw in person, on television, or even on that dang thing called the internet.