Fifty Years of Paying Attention

I met Ian Frazier at a six-way intersection in the South Bronx, where Prospect Avenue, Westchester Avenue, Longwood Avenue, and 160^th Street chaotically meet. It was forecast to reach 96 degrees on this August day, and the street already felt like the inside of a rice cooker. Above us, a 5 train pulled into the elevated station with a roar; I could also hear cars honking their horns, trucks rattling and squeaking on their shocks, a bus heaving a sigh as it settled into a stop, an airplane flying low on approach to LaGuardia, a police siren, several jackhammers, and a guy shouting “Morning, fellas!” as he walked past.