Apr 12, 2025 4 min read

Contagion

All photos taken by me on Saturday, April 12, 2025.

Been giving a lot of tours lately.

Business is kinda booming, despite uh, everything. It's weird. But like the weather in this city... who fckn knows. Life's only guarantee is tofu.

On Monday I had a couple on a tour wearing masks. By the end they had dropped them. They might have had good reason for them, but it got me thinking about the idea of contagion, particularly in the context of New York.

To walk around here is to accept the possibility of contagion. You can get punched in the face, or catch a minor illness, or ruin your shoes, or have someone say something you wish you didn't hear.

But you can also learn things you never knew, witness moments of beauty and kindness and spirit, and laugh with people you never even met.

It seems to me that people over-index on the possibility of negative contagion, and under-index on the possibility of positive contagion. I offer no sources but I'm pretty sure the research would back me up on this. We're 2x more focused on avoiding pain rather than seeking pleasure.

Manhattan is stolen land. If you're tired of hearing it, you need to hear it.

Each of us is constantly running our own contagion analysis. How willing am I to risk getting slimed, poisoned, or killed to have this experience?

Myself, I believe in honest, blunt, indecorous talk. I believe in appreciating the work people are doing, because almost nobody gets enough credit. I believe in sloshing beer when you cheers and shared joints and handshakes and hugs and eye contact. The world is stronger when we risk a little more contagion from each other. When we lean in to hear what our neighbor on the train is saying.

This piece by Aaron King is at Post Times on Henry Street. It's grass on the bottom, a lawn-mower blade above it, then lights and water on timers above. Once a week you cut the grass and it gives off a grass smell. I want one for my apartment.

Not everybody who comes here feels that way. They'd rather see it behind glass. They'd rather consume it than experience it.

I get these people on my tours. Not the people with the masks, they were lovely, but I do get people who seem to be unable to express any thought or emotion.

I'm sympathetic, sometimes this place is a lot. Sometimes you get your contagion matrix wrong and you find yourself somewhere your body doesn't want to be (aka around a lot of other bodies, or cold, or wet, or full, or hungry or whatever).

But then there's something else too.

If you come to New York to visit or to live, you make a choice about how much you're going to let the place affect you. You're going to do a contagion analysis. And set your level to zero-contagion, I think that is a big miss.

Our only hope for the future is to be close enough to 'contaminate' each other, for good and bad. If we hide behind walls we are lost.

Whether you're here for a few hours or the rest of your life, let New York change you. This city is full of teachers.

Go hug somebody.

Morgan

P.S. Doing a Big Wander on May 5th at 11am as part of Jane's Walk. Register by clicking below. 👇

BONUS: Today on the train I was reading Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television by JERRY MANDER and here's some non-chronological screen caps I took. (Thanks Jerry, you're a legend.)