Self Portrait with Commentary

'Diagnosed: Bipolar II, Schizoaffective, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, HIV'

'Sup, New York City? I arrived here in October of last year to escape mistreatment in my native California, to access superior services, and to make a better life for myself, a life better than before, in which I might prove myself to be more than a list of diagnoses - greater than some mere case study.

So anyway, I'm here, making a go of it, doing my best like so many here, and I have to remark on recent news: ugly violence, particularly in Queens and the Bronx... An older gentleman beaten horribly, two people wounded in a shooting, some asshole opening fire on a school... I wish it would be happier than it is.

I come from San Francisco, a city I agree is notorious for ugly behavior and inexcusable violence - muggings, rapes, too many (unsolved, no less) murders.

A place many would like to escape.

Yes, it's rough all over, I'm finding. Not really wanting to get too deep about it. I just know that I've encountered a lot of love and superiority of spirit in this, my New York. I watch the tracks passing beneath the window of the 4 train, see the beauty in the faces of those with whom I daily ride to Manhattan, and I see the New York City I saw on my television in San Francisco in 2001 - the New York that inspired by pulling together when all seemed to be coming apart.

I just wanted to say that I believe in you, New York.

Much love,

William Robert Way


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