Call it a return to IRL (In Real Life). New Yorkers are experiencing a bracing resumption of the physical experience of living in the city, four years after the onset of the pandemic upended routines, pushed people online and left much of the population, as in so many places, wondering if normality would ever return.
Uptown, police have broken up student protests on the Columbia and City University campuses condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza. Downtown, a furious Donald Trump is commandeering attention from the courthouse on the edge of Chinatown, snarling up traffic as his motorcade travels to and fro. President Biden’s fundraising trips to the city to fund his re-election are having a similar effect.
