Thanksgiving, America’s national bird genocide holiday, is many things to New Yorkers. It’s the No. 1 day for rolly suitcases on the subway, it’s a molten volcano spewing angry crowds at Port Authority and Penn Station, it’s a two-day visit to your family in New Jersey or Long Island that makes you remember why the hell you got out of there in the first place, or it’s a day to stay at home in the city and be thankful you don’t have to argue at the dinner table with a Nazi Grandpa who lives in a town where Starbucks is the center of liberal culture.
Today, before we close up for the holiday, Brokelyn is taking a minute to recall the things we’re thankful for in NYC. Please refer to this this weekend when you’re trapped at your parents’ house, watching movies on your phone in your childhood bedroom while your parents say things like “but wait, are Jews actually people?” in the next room:
A humpback whale has taken up residence in the Hudson River https://t.co/VR4YbU2Ve6 pic.twitter.com/CSAzTPscfg
— The New York Times (@nytimes) November 23, 2016
The Hudson River’s very own humpback whale.
NYC drinking water, the best in the nation, so pure and refreshing that traveling anywhere else for a glass of water tastes like drinking moldy sulfur.
Smoke shops, a frequently-occurring neighborhood haven for all the weed paraphernalia, cigarettes, and chewing gum you’re going to need to soothe your anxiety.
The Brooklyn Public Library, really, truly, a great place that has the goal of making everyone a little smarter.
The Gowanus Canal, is a lava lamp of eerie beauty when you stare at it that (slightly) slows gentrificaiton in a morass of pollution. Also it’s full of literal shit, a constant reminder of the shitty things we’ve done to the environment and that we should stop doing in the future.
The new wave of high-class vegan food in the city, which means those of us who don’t eat dead animals can participate in New York’s asshole foodie scene too.
I stand here — a descendant of people who were enslaved and the granddaughter of immigrants #AlwaysNewYork pic.twitter.com/ORQhm9KH1L
— Chirlane McCray (@NYCFirstLady) November 21, 2016
The #AlwaysNewYork hashtag.
The cast of Hamilton showing more backbone than many elected officials (we still can’t get tix though).
The mechanical efficiency of our borough’s busy bagel shops on a Saturday morning.
The way the city has huddled together in shock after the election to help each other out.
Reductress, one of the only Good sites on the internet.
Showtime dancers that actually make you take out your headphones and pay attention.
Countdown clocks on train platforms. They don’t actually make the train come faster but they make the minutes of waiting in underground purgatory less amorphous.
Beer and shot deals, the happy meal of the NYC bar scene.
This video, and Luke Cage on Netflix in general.
Teens. Yes, some teens are terrifying, especially when on a rush hour train right after school. But they’re also creating world-spanning memes, turning water bottle flipping into a sport and righteously booing villains. When we were teens, we were just burning shit in the woods out of boredom.
Bodega cats, and the city that rose up in righteous indignation to protect them.
We named a park after a Beastie Boy and then rallied en masse when someone spray painted hate messages in it.
The New York Times, well worth the $3.75 a week.
DNAinfo, doing the important work of local journalism that’s well worth your time every day.
Graffiti on subway ads, mini works of art that channel our frustrations at terrible advertising before we even register the full ad.
We’ve still kept Walmart out of NYC.
The new Tribe Called Quest album, which arrived with almost eerie prescience.
Independent bookstores in Brooklyn are thriving.
The 31-hour anti-Trump comedy marathon coming to Brooklyn, organized by a Muslim who’s not gonna take it anymore.
Green-Wood Cemetery, a beautiful peaceful place for reflection full of old white guys who keep their opinions to themselves.
Add your own in the comments — Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be good to each other because maybe that’s all we got left.
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