to be young, angry, and on the subway.

pUsH iT. pUsH iT gOoD. this is why i bought another bike. this is precisely why i bought another bike. not only is the act of being pushed, shoved, and smooshed into an overcrowded subway car absolutely and undeniably miserable, but the atmosphere of palpable and misplaced anger is enough to have sent mother theresa on a murder spree. there is so much raw, misguided, uncontrolled hatred and anger coming from an alarming percentage of the passengers on any given subway car at 7:45am. it baffles me. come on, it's not even 8 o'clock in the morning yet, how could you possibly be this worked up already? how could you even be awake enough to feel with such vehemance? i'm still working on keeping my eyes open and standing upright. you are yelling at people and hitting them intentionally with your baby stroller. i know hipsters use babies (like small dogs and white belts) as accessories, factions of social climbers use them as status symbols, and certain corporate manufacturing pigs use them as cheap labor in third world countries, but as a weapon on a subway during the morning rush hour? this is taking it too far.
this morning there was a young mother with her 9 month old son in his stroller in the car i was hurled into by the force of the swarming mass behind me at the lorimer subway stop. she had set up camp in front of the doors opposite me. by the time we had reached the bedford stop she had lost her sanity completely. the doors she stood squarely in front of no sooner opened than she was screaming obscenities at the top of her lungs. fuck you this and fuck you that.........at one point she actually shouted, "i have a baby in a stroller here so don't you be squishing all up in my shit. no fucking way. assholes..." telling anyone and everyone left and right to fuck off, wait for the next train and on and on. wielding the stroller around the limited space like a psycho waiving a gun to scare his hostages. the stroller containing her son. the doors had closed and we were on our way towards first avenue and she was still going. clearly a need for attention and a lot of pent up frustration and resentment and not necessarily given circumstances were fueling this tirade or she would not have been lighting into imaginary passengers. when she finally stopped cursing, the momentary silence and return to peace was broken by another passenger who decided that getting into it with this woman was a good idea. i mean, why not? she certainly seems calm, rational, and open. i'm sure she will listen to what you have to say and respond appropriately. so the rest of the trip from bedford to first avenue was filled with an argument about whether or not she should have her baby in a carrier, like this misguided vigilante had done with his son, as strollers are illegal on the subway and whether or not yelling at people who were just trying to get to work in the morning was a reasonable move. the poor kid in the stroller finally couldn't take the yelling anymore and did what the rest of us on the train would have loved to, and started to cry. so this young angry angry mother watches the guy who called her out get off the train with his now school-age son at first avenue, looks down at her crying son, momentarily takes in the crammed, weary passengers around her and decides to tell her son "it's okay, rafael, you go ahead and cry as loud as you want." i mean, first of all, you are the reason he is crying, honey. and, second of all, you are the reason he is crying. stop looking at the rest of us like we've done something to your son. and, for the love of god, shut your mouth.

today i will get a new lock for my new bike, tomorrow i will part ways with the subway until bike season ends, and i will not for one moment miss these lovely morning subway commutes.