The One Place In The World

I sat down at my kitchen table this morning intending to write a blog post. But as I settled down to do so, with my tablet open and my fingers poised and ready to type in the title box of my new post section, I found myself at a loss. After a few minutes of mentally flipping through files in my head, I came up empty and decided to hit up Google. (Naturally)
I searched, "What should I blog about?" (Google  is, after all, the kind of guy you have to be straighforward with from the start.) and clicked on the first link, a Blog topic generator. I flipped through the categories, and settled on "World". The first few topics it generated weren't for me. Things like, "The Languages of Europe" and other random things I do not know enough to blog about. However, the third or fourth result caught my attention. It said, "The one place in the world that you want to live." And immediately, I knew that this was a topic I could definitely spin into a blog post. For a long time, I have expressed a strong desire to live in, you

 guessed by the photos, New York City. When I express this to people, I find myself receiving mixed reviews on the matter. Some wholeheartedly agree with me. Some vehemently oppose the idea. Some are confused. Some are scornful. All of those responses are okay. Here's the thing: how you feel about me moving to New York City someday really doesn't affect my desire to move there. Shocking, right?
Even so, some people want an explanation. For me, there are so many things that appeal to me about New York that I really don't mind explaining it. So here are my reasons.
First of all, have you looked at these pictures? They are absolutely breathtaking. I'm not really into the beauty of the area in which I live. I mean, yes, the parkway is beauiful, but...news flash: I've grown up around the parkway. It has been equally beautiful my entire life. I

 enjoy a venture along the Viaduct as much as the next person, especially when it's foggy or the autumn colors are at their peak, and I do rather like a trip to Linville Caverns every  now and then, but honestly, those places are a part of life for me. They are something I've grown up with, not something new and beautiful and exciting. New York seems to be a gorgeous place. (I'm not stupid, I know it's also dirty and criminally active and crowded.)
Another reason I want to move to New York City lies with The Alternative Travel Project. If you haven't heard of it, which you probably haven't, it is a movement founded by actress Stana Katic in 2010 to promote going car free for just one day in an effor to minimize carbon footprint and impact both yours and the earth's health. ATP promotes alternative means of travel, be it by bicycle, by rollerskates, by skateboard, by subway or metro car or by foot. I wholeheartedly support the effort, but if you live in Lenoir, you might understand my struggle. Going car free in Lenoir is next to impossible. There are very few places withing walking distance and a lot of those places are not the ones tha are vital for life here. I cannot walk to school, because it sits right on Highway 321. I cannot walk to the library, because it is too far away. I cannot walk to any grocery store, nor to any store where I might buy clothing. I cannot walk to work. I cannot walk to church from where I live currently. Lenoir, North Carolina does not have subways or metros. I rest my case. 
I'm told that New York is a filthy place where people are mean and hateful, where crime rates are sky-high and every corner is terrorizing. I thought about these stereotypes and began to wonder how much of that is based solely on the crime dramas set in New York City. So I took it upon myself to do some research into the real-life crime rates.
Turns out, these are the statistics for 2014 in simple numbers:
Murders: 333
Rapes: 1,352
Robberies: 16, 539
Felony Assaults: 20, 207
Burglaries: 16, 765
Grand Larcenies: 43, 862

And here are the simple numer stats from the year 1990 (PRE-9/11, mind you.)
Murders: 2,262
Rapes: 3,162
Robberies: 100,280
Felony Assault: 44,122
Burglaries: 122,055
Grand Larcenies: 108, 487

Percent of change from 1990 to 2014 in each of those categories looks something like this: 
Murder: Down 85.3%
Rape: down 56.7%
Robbery: Down 83.5%
Felony Assault: Down 54.2%
Burglary: Down 86.3%
Grand Larceny: Down 59.6%

So this is for those of you who say New York City has gotten more dangerous. News flash: in the last fifteen years, which include post-September 11 crime, New York city has gotten substantially safer. 

Aside from all the numbers and statistics, New York City is a beautiful place. It appeals to me because it is busy and alive, it's vibrant and bursting with energy. There are restaurants and places to shop, parks, museums, history, culture. I find myself thinking that in a small town, I would be immeasurably bored as an adult. I cannot imagine that I would get bored in a place like New York. It's risky, you say, because despite my statistics, there are still  1,352 rapes in New York City per year. I have to ask, are you aware of how many sex offenders live in Lenoir, North Carolina? 520 of North Carolina's 613 registered sex offenders live in Caldwell County. Yeah. That's 85% of the sex offenders. In Caldwell County, the ratio of residents to sex offenders is 220:1. In Manhattan, that ratio is 324,379:1. Which city sounds safer?

My point here is not that everyone should move to New York or that there's no chance of my becoming a victim of violent crime there. That would be incredibly naive. All I'm saying is that maybe, before you lecture me on the crime rates in New York City, you should consider the crime rates of where we live today. The fact is, I am more likely to become a victim of sexual assault in Lenoir, North Carolina than I am in New York City. It's a somewhat stunning revelation, but the data is here to back it up. 

I've never been to New York. There is a possibility that, when I get there, I will hate it. But somehow, I don't think so. I crave stories, as a writer. New York, for me, is a mess of people who span a massive range of cultures and backgrounds. The people of New York City make up a culturally diverse melting pot, full of stories and amazing experiences that I haven't even considered yet. And maybe this is just me being a teenage dreamer, but I want to experience New York in all it's glory; all its beauty, all its darkness, its pain, its dirt, its crime, its passion. I want it all. Just to say I've had it. 
Always, Cassie