Day 1 of Mamdani's New York City
My boyfriend and I decide to travel to lower manhattan for the inauguration, of our own volition. The native New Yorker in me is well aware that choosing to stand in a crowd is a terrible idea. The optimist in me is determined to be an active participant in witnessing history.
It's 27 degrees and overcast, not including the blistering wind chill from the water on either side. We are freezing our asses off. It is so fucking cold. We regret everything.
We stand on line for twenty minutes, before everyone is packed like sardines into a road waiting to get through security.
A woman in the back starts heckling at people to move, despite the fact that we cannot move anywhere, because we are in a crowd and the exit is blocked.
My boyfriend and I bond with the two women next to us in our mutual annoyance. With nowhere to move and time to kill, we end up chatting with them.
Someone raised the flag of Palestine, and the whole crowd cheered.
A parent puts their young child to stand on a barrier to scope what the security checkpoint looks like. The child can’t see anything. It is a sea of hats and coats.
After an hour of being packed like sardines, we finally make it through security, and into the barricades.
The two women that we befriended in the crowd waited for us, and we all stood together at the edge to watch the inauguration on the jumbotrons.
At this point, my boyfriend and I cannot feel our feet despite having worn boots with wool socks. My nose is running. The heavy scarf around my neck is working overtime to break the wind.
Everyone is cheering as loud as they can during each speech. A ray of sun finally appears from behind the buildings onto the avenue. We feel warm.
I immediately start sobbing when Mandy Patinkin and the Staten Island students start singing Over The Rainbow.
Every time Eric Adams appeared on screen, the whole crowed booed.
We all cried with Jumaane Williams.
The crowd listens to Mamdani's speech. The air is filled with hope and cheers, and the sound of applause muffled by gloved hands.
As soon as the ceremony was done, the four of us ran into a store to thaw ourselves and restore sensation in our bodies.
The two women mention that they are having dinner at a nearby restaurant, and invite us to eat with them.
As we walk out we see Curtis Sliwa in his red beret taking pictures next to a crowd of people dancing to "We Are Family". I can only assume that Sliwa did not take a yellow cab down to the inauguration.
My boyfriend and I had our first dinner of the New Year with strangers we’ve just met. We talked for well over an hour.
I tried Uyghur food for the first time. It was delicious.
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