New York City: Air Bears

March 31, 2008
2 min read

As I’ve noted before, I’m a D.C. newbie, and while I’m loving my new home, I have to admit I always come up short when people ask me what I miss the most about New York. So, though I’ve been a bit quiet while editing all of our other great content about the city (don’t worry, I’ll add plenty in time), when Marilyn sent me this link a few moments ago I realized that this is part of what I’ve missed. It’s the spontaneous wonders you can come across at any moment, and the knowledge that though they may seem not to care, everyone in the city is equally incredulous deep down that they’re actually, physically, there. Little moments like this just help serve as a reminder. So maybe that’s reading a bit more into a plastic bag polar bear that you would expect, but it’s a little glimpse of my own version of Authentic New York.

FYI: The artist is Joshua Allen Harris, and the plastic bags are built to inflate when the subway passes under the grates. They kind of remind me of the beautiful scene in the film American Beauty, when the teen couple watch the video footage of a plastic bag floating through the air. An image of the plastic bag bear was posted on the Wooster Collective’s blog last week, and people are already smitten. You can count me among them.

What do you think?

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