New York Neighbors

 "And I always heard people in New York never get to know their neighbors."

-Paul Varjak "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

Occasionally I have a flashback of some of my silly experiences here in NYC...It was the year 2007 and I had graduated from college the previous year and was substitute teaching in Harlem and South Bronx while studying for a Master of Education degree online. I'll never forget the day that I gained all new respect as the token white girl in my entirely Dominican Harlem neighborhood. I got a phone call that Sunday evening : "Hey Trinity! We're downstairs." said the man's voice. I went downstairs,walked outside of my apartment building and headed for the black car waiting on the corner. The Brand-new glossy, black Lexus with 24 inch rims and dark black tinted windows was waiting and I slid in the backseat. There was Stephon Marbury, point guard of the New York Knicks at the time and his sweet daughter Stephanie in the passenger seat. We were doing a quick in-person interview after speaking on the phone a couple times about tutoring Stephanie in her schoolwork as she was just entering middle school at the time. The three of us shared some laughs, had a great chat for 20 or 30 minutes and set up a time for our first tutoring session that coming week before they headed downtown to drop Steph at her mom's apartment. As I stepped out of the backseat and walked back to my building I realized that people were staring at me and as I looked at their faces I realized the expressions consisted mostly of fear and awe. Though slightly confused at first, I realized that they must've concluded that I was involved in the Washington Heights/Harlem Narcotics trade somehow and that I must have some pretty powerful connections they knew nothing about... The thought really made me chuckle under my breath as I thought about how shady that little interview must've looked to my neighbors! lol. From that day forward, in addition to my time hanging out on my block discussing life and God with the local drug dealers, we all became friends and I suddenly acquired a couple dozen neighborhood bodyguards. If a stranger on my block even looked at me sideways my new friends (who were outside 24/7) would call out to me: "Don't worry Neighbor! We got 'chu! He won't bother you." Some of the other guys on the block whom I didn't know as well would say "Good Day Officer" sometimes as I walked by thinking I was an undercover cop. I couldn't convince them otherwise... I had never felt so safe in my life.

This was just one of those "Only in New York..." stories that still makes me laugh to this day.