5 Years & Counting

This past weekend (officially Monday, 3/23) I celebrated my 5-Year NYC Anniversary!

An excerpt from my latest NYC scrapbook, "DWM in NYC: Years 4 & 5":

What’s Next? / Why NYC?

Why do people move here? Some to escape, some to hide, some to blossom, some to dream, some to compete, some to succeed, and many to find love. My two main objectives were to escape from my conservative Southern roots and blossom as much as humanly possible. In the words of Brian Kinney, I moved here to become the best homosexual I can be. And by pursuing my dreams in this competitive landscape I feel as though I have in some ways succeeded.

Why do people stay? We stay because to not “succeed”, for the moment, is merely to lose the battle; to leave is to lose the war. And although I don’t believe the man of my dreams resides on this island, or even in this city of nearly 10 million (1 million of which are likely homosexual), I believe that he may some day in the future live here or be passing through and cross my path. And that’s something to look forward to.

Why do I want to be here right now? Because I don’t want to be there (Mobile) or anywhere else; because the air here is dense with both smothering smog and unrivaled electricity; because the people, no matter how fucked up they are, make me smile on a daily basis; because I can still not see myself living in another American city; because I’m not ready to leave the states, and I’m afraid that my next geographical move will have to involve crossing an ocean. In a way, I am hiding from some things that lie outside of this city, but I’ve found a home in NYC. And to hide in my own home is a privilege I believe I have earned.