New York: A quiet, boring neighborhood in harmony?

It is said, you cannot have the cake and eat it, i.e., celebrate both a contemplative and phat Xmas. But, as a matter of fact, this proverb does not hold water in Gotham City. On Christmas Eve I commemorated the birth of Jesus, the prince of peace, and attended the midnight mass in St. Patrick’s Cathedral presided over by His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York (see supra). On the next day I went to another festive Eucharist in “my” University Parish of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village, a rewarding and reviving spiritual experience amid the almost completely secularized Knickerbocker environment.

After having had simple but delicious “Gemüsesuppe” lunch with my friend Shin Hyung from Korea and Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner with Stephan and Caro from Germany, I felt adequately prepared to join them and commit myself to the third part of this truly exceptional day—a fête noël in a fancy loft in Queens borough. Thanks to Caro’s cousin Niklas we were able to get into this tremendously strange party. Genuine New Yorkers with roots on all five continents, mostly longhaired artists, creative young writers, and other quite cool leftist agents, apparently living on the edge to illegality … DJ Niklas powered the house with handpicked rhythms and we rocked until 4 a.m. Happy Xmas!