Young Team

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I decided I would never want to be a kid in this city. Not that I've ever personally met any city kids, but I can imagine. I see them in the parks, on the streets, everywhere. Just the other day, I sat across from one on the train ride home after work. He appeared to be about 8 and as though he was unceremoniously placed on Ritalin a few weeks ago. I guess the drug wears off in the early evening and the kid begins an hour-long phase of manic, uninhibited hyperactivity. His eyes were like a plastic googly set, the pupils just constantly, rapidly, arbitrarily rattling around in psychotic-looking orbits. Everybody was staring.


I think the issue is that these kids are never allowed simply to sit and be bored. Everything in a small town/suburban childhood is insulated by stasis. I remember sitting with Kelley Anne - and all of my other little double-named friends - for eight hours on a summer day, selling over sweetened lemonade to anybody who would pay attention to us. But it seems like each 15-minute interval of these Manhattan kids' lives is scheduled. Left without a clear destination or goal for more than ten minutes, they lose their heads. The fuckers don't need another school activity, they need some boredom.