You can't change what won't change
A brief Big Apple return brings critical bagel reviews and a realization right when I needed it.
I spent a lot of time thinking about enshittification this week.
If you’re not familiar, it’s a phrase coined by writer Cory Doctorow to describe the way online services and products experience a decline in quality over time, often purposefully, as profitability supersedes user satisfaction.
If you’ve found yourself complaining about rising streaming service costs while endlessly scrolling because you can’t find anything worth watching while also having to sit through ads even though they promised when you signed up that there would be no ads, you’ve experienced it.
Through a series of fortunate events, I found myself prepping for a very short trip to New York City this week. The closer I got, the more I started to feel the enshittification.
I ordered some last-minute gifts for my nieces from Amazon, who promised to deliver them the day before my flight. The gifts never showed up.
I expected to book a Lyft to the airport as I usually do and saw the price had risen astronomically. I found alternative means.
After suffering from a longtime affliction of poster’s disease, I found that my recent interactions with most social media networks end quickly because the user experience is either frustrating, nonsensical, or focused on getting me to buy stuff.
People often complain about the archaic nature of New York City (much in the same ways they complain about Seattle). No doubt, there’s a lot left to be desired when it comes to infrastructure and public transit (again, like Seattle). But as soon as I arrived in the city this time, I felt a deep appreciation for the grounded reality the Big Apple provided.
My feelings about NYC are rooted in the nostalgia of my childhood and the brief moment in time I worked here. I can’t help but find charm in Manhattan’s mangled streets, worn-in neighborhoods, and archaic subway system. Yes, technology and development have changed things, but not really. Not once you’re here. The buildings might be shinier and the bright lights might be bigger, but New York’s New York-ness remains. And there’s simply no other place in the U.S. like it (sorry, Chicago).
With limited time before the rest of my trip (which I’ll get into in a future post), I zeroed in on two bagel places that I knew I needed to visit and review: PopUp Bagels and Absolute Bagels. The trendiest of trendy bagel brands and an old-school shop that is considered by many as one of the best bagels in the city.
We’ll talk specifics in the coming days, but visiting both required me to maneuver my way through Manhattan. For PopUp, I walked. For Absolute, I took the subway. Despite being here during a heat wave (again!), the journey to both was delightful.
To visit the PopUp on Thompson Street, I wound my way through side streets on a sleepy weekday morning. There’s something special about this city waking up around you before the commuters and cars take over. To experience the previous day’s intensity washing away before the next round arrives. It’s not stillness because no such thing exists here, but rather a calm between storms.
En route to Absolute, I had to take the Red Line north from SoHo. I find the ritual of the subway enjoyable even with so many stress-inducing elements. Is there enough money on my card? Why isn’t my card working? Is that train I hear pulling away my train? Wait, am I going Uptown or Downtown? What is that smell???
It’s not for everyone. And I certainly wouldn’t be waxing philosophic had I been trying to do this during rush hour in a train car without air conditioning. But there’s just something so meditative about camping out on a train during a long ride and watching the city move with you. The murals, cracking subway tiles, decaying advertisements, and months-old movie posters you pass at each station. Who gets on the train, who gets off, and where are they all going? The way the car swells and drains with humanity along the way. The sheer diversity of the people around you. I wonder who they are, how their day is treating them, and what they’re reading while we barrel northbound at 30 MPH.
The simple joys don’t end when I reach my stop. There’s that feeling of getting shot back out into the world in a brand-new neighborhood that I barely know while I attempt (often incorrectly) to get my bearings. Using the walk to the bagel shop to explore the surroundings and make mental notes about the places I see. Spotting a shaded bench in a miniature park that might make for the ideal review spot while pigeons obsessively crowd me in the hopes of tiny morsels.
It’s just the best.
It’s not that I haven’t used technology or appreciated some of the advances I’ve come across while visiting. I’m a citizen of the world in 2024. Being able to pay for a PATH ride with your phone rules. But it’s been these simple experiences and moments that I’ll take back with me. The sights, the sounds, and the smells (okay maybe not ALL the smells). The renewed appreciation for New York City and why you can’t find another place like it in America (again, I’m very sorry, Chicago).
This visit caught me at the right time. In a moment I felt defeated by the encroaching enshittification of technology and my inability to avoid it, I returned to New York to find it incapable of being changed. It’s been tweaked and improved where possible, but there’s an undefinable quality to this place that refuses to truly change, for better or worse.
Plus, I got to eat a bunch of bagels. You can’t beat that.
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