The New Yorker Presents (2015) s01e07 Episode Script
Episode 7
1 [yowl.]
[laughter.]
- I like that.
- Yeah.
Is this the one in which all of them - have already come in? - Yeah.
Okay, number 10.
[laughing.]
Yeah.
"I didn't exactly plan for retirement.
" - "What? You don't like my piercings?" - [laughing.]
"You should see what the sixth guy looks like.
" - What's that? Oh, I see.
- He's got five things in his back so he was beaten by five guys.
How many animal rights letters did we get about this one? Um Oh, this is great.
- "This is not funny.
" - [laughing.]
Yeah.
That's a really funny caption.
We should have printed "This is not funny.
" Okay.
"This is not funny.
" "I see nothing funny in this panel.
" The top one was "I didn't mean your day wasn't hard, too.
" [laughing.]
I love you, I hate you, I'm on the fence It all depends whether I'm up, I'm down I'm on the mend, transcending all realities.
I like you, despise you, admire you What are we going to do When everything all falls through? I must confess I've made a mess Of what should be a small success, but I digress At least I've tried my very best, I guess Put me on a pedestal, and I'll only disappoint you I always wanted to start a band since I was in high school.
I grew up listening to what my older brother listened to, so it was a lot of Nirvana and and Guns N Roses, Jimi Hendrix.
for you Figuring out what what your purpose is in life is is just one of those big pressures of what are you going to do with your life, what are you going to do when you grow up.
I sleep in late Another day Oh, what a wonder Oh, what a waste It's a Monday It's so mundane That rock star thing it's I mean, it's bullshit well, from what I've experienced.
- shaky - It is kind of a job, and I treat it I treat it like a job but a job I really enjoy.
You know, I started my own record label and focusing on all that 'cause I hated working for someone else.
I just wanted to work for myself and make a living out of what I love doing.
Tell me when you get bored, and I'll leave I'll not do any further chain around your feet I'm sorry for all of my insecurities But it's just part of me Envy isn't in me I started the collection a little bit as a joke 'cause I had a bunch of disposable cameras on tour to take, like, behind-the-scene wacky photos.
As a band, we joked a lot about how you kind of remember places based on the green room or backstages, and we always ended up coming back to comparing showers in different places.
So this one, it looks like I jumped in the shower 'cause the water's on, and then I was like, "I'm going to take the photo now before I forget.
" It was just making this beautiful kind of shape, and I just like that one.
You know, a postcard is normally like a beautiful landscape or whatever, and it's like, "Wish you were here.
" These are just kind of ugly, boring [chuckle.]
showers.
But it conveys the same message.
[chuckle.]
Now we've got that percolator Never made a latte greater I'm savin' $23 a week Most of my work is kind of focusing on the smaller moment like something that happens in the street.
There's a lot going on in the world.
[chuckles.]
It's kind of easy to ignore it, but I try to take note of it all.
[guitar.]
Then I see the handrail in the shower A collection of those canisters For coffee, tea, and flour And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam [no audible dialogue.]
Sometimes I I'm kind of self-conscious [laughing.]
and I think a lot of the time I prefer to kind of read a book.
[laughs.]
I think I'm more of an introvert, but I can pull out the extravert when I'm on stage.
Aren't you fast? I'm too boozed up For there you are I think a lot, but I feel like I-I don't understand what I'm thinking a lot of the time, so it's hard to convey how I'm feeling, which is probably why I'm a songwriter.
[cheering.]
(Girl) Hey, Mom, want me to do your eyes? I think this is how we always did it.
[chuckling.]
Okay.
(Boy) Hey, Mom.
(Woman) So you tell me what I told you last night on food.
Uh, you said at 01:00 I need to start the crock pot on low heat, and then, when I get back from class, I need to put the rice in, let it cook.
There are seasoning packets in there, so make sure those go in with the rice.
Okay.
(Man) And what's your plans for the day? I will be in Groves this morning and have a visit up in that area, and then I will be back in Beaumont this afternoon, but the day might go late.
- Okay.
- So between you and Chris, if y'all could kind of communicate and figure out who's got Chloe from school, how's Chloe's getting to church.
Awesome.
I'll make sure it gets handled.
All right.
Thank ya.
(Woman) So let's talk about caseload for just a little bit.
Where are you caseload-wise? Nicole? 26, and 26 moms, 22 babies.
Um, people keep having babies, - like one after the other.
- Wow.
Yeah.
Um, God, this last month has just been boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
In this type of setting, yes, you're getting that nursing.
You're getting that medical part, but you're treating more than the body.
You're treating more than the mind.
You're treating this person that's got all these different dimensions.
The Nurse-Family Partnership Program has been one of the most important programs in the health department a program that truly impacts young mothers.
The nurses go into their lives for that two years and just get them some information and encouragement that literally changes their lives, I believe, forever.
My name's Nancy Crooks, and I live in Orangefield.
I'll be 19 in October.
We have a lot of pets.
I'll show you Fiona.
Like to get back over here? Hey, come here.
[smacking lips.]
Come here.
It's okay.
We've had her since she was an itty-bitty baby.
She fell out of a tree.
She's not a typical raccoon.
I met Nicole when I was, like, two, three months pregnant.
I like Nicole.
I do.
She's open.
She's honest.
When I need somebody to talk to, she's there.
- [baby coos.]
- All right.
Let's see.
His little soft spot I felt it earlier.
It felt fine, um, s but sometimes, when they get dehydrated, it can start to really sink in.
Have you Have you felt his soft spot before? - No.
- No? - I don't know even where it's at.
- Okay.
Well, I saw you rubbing, so it you just right up in here.
Right there? You feel that? It's soft.
You can feel, like, his little skull bones, - but then you can feel that little - It'll hurt him if I touch it? No.
I mean, if you're if you're doing this, you're going to cause some issues, but if you're just rubbing over it, just trust your own instincts - Mm-hmm.
- as a mom.
Okay? [chuckle.]
That was a very short little catnap.
Good morning, pig.
My name is Catalina.
I'm 16 years old.
My daughter's name is Kylie.
She's amazing.
When I got Catalina on my caseload, she was 15.
I knew she wasn't in school, like going to school, but she was doing an online K-12 kind of thing.
- God.
- (Nicole) She's a child, really, and that's not something at 16 years old you are responsible for keeping up with.
You usually give that to your parents.
Um, but with her mom gone her mom, um, being in jail right now you know, there's nothing she can do.
(Catalina) Nicole's fun to be around.
At first I was shy to start, but now I trust her, and so I tell her everything.
Okay.
So fill me in on what's going on with you and Louis.
And now he's talking about moving to Atlanta, - so - For what - what's his plan? - He said he wants to start a new life.
That's a pretty faraway place to start a new life.
What's his thoughts about Kylie? He did say he was going to take her, but I told him no.
My advice would be to go ahead and and just start working on custody.
I'm not saying taking custody from him.
- Yeah.
- Working on a shared - custody with each other - Mm-hmm.
so that both of you could be a part of her life 'cause she needs both of you.
- Oh, yeah? - So Your goal as a parent is to teach them what you expect and what you want them to do versus always telling them what not to do.
Macy, she's always kind of being told a lot of what she's doing wrong and not a whole lot of what she's doing right.
I never knew what being a mom meant till, like, I had and held this little girl, and, like, there's not anything I wouldn't do for her.
[baby calling out.]
Hey! [laughing.]
We're going to try to pay attention to how many times we use a negative on her.
And a lot of times, when you use the word "we" versus "you," you're telling her, "Hey, we're in this together.
" So, Briella, when we come in the house, we put our shoes right here.
So you change what you can say in a negative way and turn it and say, "This is what we do.
" I don't want her to just feel like she's, like, constantly in trouble.
- Right.
- Because that's not that's not okay, like So good job on that because you have that ability to regulate her.
- I got - [Briella laughs.]
I can't imagine having Nicole gone from my life.
Like, even though the program will end, I know that, like, she's going to be there for me and Bri.
And I'll always be there for her, too, like, she's like a sister I never had, like, someone who actually cares and values what I have to say.
It's really hard to expect someone to flourish and be this great mom when you're telling her what she's doing wrong all the time.
I think that's a little bit why I can empathize with Macy because I didn't have that, uh, really close relationship with my mom.
Um that's why I do this: because when I got pregnant and I made that phone call to my mom, her first response to me was "And what are you going to do about that?" And I can look at Macy's situation, and I remember being that young mom that just wants to do right, and you constantly got someone telling you you're wrong and you're no good, and they nitpick at you, and so I see myself in her, and I think she's an amazing mom.
She's a awesome mom.
So I want her to know she is good, and she's doing a really great job, and, you know, maybe not everybody recognizes it or but I do.
This is my room, my bed, and that right there is where I put my baby's stuff.
This is my cap and gown from when I graduated high school.
I just never put it up.
I don't want to fold it because, I mean, it's memories, something that I just walk in here and I look at every day to know that I accomplished something I graduated high school.
(Nicole) Monique was one of those where she'd just delivered her baby.
She was not back to work yet.
She was not receiving child support.
She had nothing.
[Monique chuckles.]
Our goal last week that you were going to keep on putting in some job applications.
- Yes.
- Any news? Ah, one of my old co-workers, well, she works at a restaurant as a waitress.
- Okay.
- And she said that she can get me on.
- Oh.
That sounds good.
- Yeah.
I'm happy too.
- Yeah.
- All righty.
So talking a little bit about separation and respecting his ability to separate our emotions.
- Yeah.
- When we're upset or we're mad - or we're angry or we're sad - Yeah.
- They know.
- Yeah.
They sense when Mom is not fine.
I've It happened with Karan plenty of times.
- As parents - Mm-hmm.
that's what we think we need to do: - we need to hide that - Mm-hmm.
because we want to protect them - from our emotions.
- Yeah.
But it's okay for Karan to know - Mommy's sad right now, or Mommy's mad.
- Mm-hmm.
- Mommy's frustrated.
- Mm-hmm.
- And to give those words to him - Yeah.
- That's okay.
- Mm-hmm.
I just wish I had my parents.
like, 'cause I know they would want to see him.
I'm 21.
It's like my parents died when I was young, so it still kind of effects me 'cause I just want them here with me [crying.]
to see my son.
[sobbing.]
[sniffles and sobs.]
I am so, so, so proud of you.
[sobbing.]
You know that, right? I am so proud of you.
I know that doesn't doesn't take the place of your mom or your dad.
[sobs.]
I think you're awesome.
[crying.]
Your mom is a rock star, huh, Karan? We came in this program to be a nurse, but that is far from what we are sometimes.
But to think that I could even get up and just walk away and act like they haven't made an impression on me or that, because the program's over with, you know, lose my number never ever ever.
You got to be really mindful of your words and mindful of your attitudes.
One thing I've heard my pastor say is you don't judge someone.
You don't judge where they're at because such could we be.
And I look at my girls and and say "You know what? Such could I be.
" So I You know.
I could be right there with them.
[muttering.]
[traffic noises.]
[Man vocalizing.]
(Man) Seems like we're playing a lot of things slower now.
How did that feel to you guys? Sweaty.
This? Da-da.
Or [vocalizing.]
I guess you need Ah, that's true.
- [vocalizing.]
- Let's just do it again.
Let's do it again.
Yeah.
[vocalizing.]
[drum beat.]
[vocalizing.]
(Man) New Yorkers have avoided Times Square for at least 20 years because it has reached its zenith in tourism.
So the trick is: how can you allow that world to exist yet allow New Yorkers to be in control of their own city? That's what we have been hired to do.
When the Europeans first arrived, Times Square was a fairly remote area that was generally avoided because it was the concentration of four streams leading to a low point, making a kind of a swamp.
So, in fact, Broadway and 45th are tracing the lines of those old creeks.
There are two particular things that make Times Square different.
One is the amount of electrical energy literally pulsating through the marquees.
The second thing is the unusual geometry, this kind of very narrow bow tie X configuration.
It's just filled with energy.
As you move closer and closer to the center, the crowds become more intense.
And even if there isn't a crowd, your brain is thinking compression.
Because it's so dense and intense, it's hard to manage new spaces and new characteristics.
We immediately assume that we should just clear everything out, make more space.
However, in the bigger scale of what such a space is, if you remove everything, it becomes an alien space to people.
They don't know how to move.
There are no parameters.
There's no way for you to react.
Behavioral activities are shared amongst many, many creatures, and that's because much of our behavior is unconscious, so we carry with us these abstract movements and decisions that we're not really aware of.
I looked to cross the main hall of Grand Central terminal, and this kiosk, I realized, was dead center in the room, exactly where you'd think you shouldn't put it.
The people, they seem to kind of move around it like fish swimming around a rock, and nobody seemed to be upset.
This kiosk was creating a great deal of comfort.
We discovered that actually placing some things in very key locations would allow people to manipulate their movements in a way that's actually more comfortable than if they had nothing to navigate around.
When you're moving around another person, you're looking at them in a way as a competitor.
And that this is something that you're going to have to make an agreement with.
You're going to have to negotiate with them.
But an inanimate object you can't have a conversation with, and it's always going to win.
It's not going to move.
The limitations are so pronounced that the decision-making process is removed so we feel a little bit free.
So we created these very large benches and some small topographies in the ground plane in which people actually suddenly find themselves with a dilemma of how to move around this object.
It creates a natural feeling of camaraderie, and it creates a sense of comfort.
We feel certain that the cynical New Yorker one day will come there with the worst grimace on their face, stop for a minute, and go "Hey, this is all right.
" [chuckles.]
We will have succeeded.
[laughter.]
- I like that.
- Yeah.
Is this the one in which all of them - have already come in? - Yeah.
Okay, number 10.
[laughing.]
Yeah.
"I didn't exactly plan for retirement.
" - "What? You don't like my piercings?" - [laughing.]
"You should see what the sixth guy looks like.
" - What's that? Oh, I see.
- He's got five things in his back so he was beaten by five guys.
How many animal rights letters did we get about this one? Um Oh, this is great.
- "This is not funny.
" - [laughing.]
Yeah.
That's a really funny caption.
We should have printed "This is not funny.
" Okay.
"This is not funny.
" "I see nothing funny in this panel.
" The top one was "I didn't mean your day wasn't hard, too.
" [laughing.]
I love you, I hate you, I'm on the fence It all depends whether I'm up, I'm down I'm on the mend, transcending all realities.
I like you, despise you, admire you What are we going to do When everything all falls through? I must confess I've made a mess Of what should be a small success, but I digress At least I've tried my very best, I guess Put me on a pedestal, and I'll only disappoint you I always wanted to start a band since I was in high school.
I grew up listening to what my older brother listened to, so it was a lot of Nirvana and and Guns N Roses, Jimi Hendrix.
for you Figuring out what what your purpose is in life is is just one of those big pressures of what are you going to do with your life, what are you going to do when you grow up.
I sleep in late Another day Oh, what a wonder Oh, what a waste It's a Monday It's so mundane That rock star thing it's I mean, it's bullshit well, from what I've experienced.
- shaky - It is kind of a job, and I treat it I treat it like a job but a job I really enjoy.
You know, I started my own record label and focusing on all that 'cause I hated working for someone else.
I just wanted to work for myself and make a living out of what I love doing.
Tell me when you get bored, and I'll leave I'll not do any further chain around your feet I'm sorry for all of my insecurities But it's just part of me Envy isn't in me I started the collection a little bit as a joke 'cause I had a bunch of disposable cameras on tour to take, like, behind-the-scene wacky photos.
As a band, we joked a lot about how you kind of remember places based on the green room or backstages, and we always ended up coming back to comparing showers in different places.
So this one, it looks like I jumped in the shower 'cause the water's on, and then I was like, "I'm going to take the photo now before I forget.
" It was just making this beautiful kind of shape, and I just like that one.
You know, a postcard is normally like a beautiful landscape or whatever, and it's like, "Wish you were here.
" These are just kind of ugly, boring [chuckle.]
showers.
But it conveys the same message.
[chuckle.]
Now we've got that percolator Never made a latte greater I'm savin' $23 a week Most of my work is kind of focusing on the smaller moment like something that happens in the street.
There's a lot going on in the world.
[chuckles.]
It's kind of easy to ignore it, but I try to take note of it all.
[guitar.]
Then I see the handrail in the shower A collection of those canisters For coffee, tea, and flour And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam [no audible dialogue.]
Sometimes I I'm kind of self-conscious [laughing.]
and I think a lot of the time I prefer to kind of read a book.
[laughs.]
I think I'm more of an introvert, but I can pull out the extravert when I'm on stage.
Aren't you fast? I'm too boozed up For there you are I think a lot, but I feel like I-I don't understand what I'm thinking a lot of the time, so it's hard to convey how I'm feeling, which is probably why I'm a songwriter.
[cheering.]
(Girl) Hey, Mom, want me to do your eyes? I think this is how we always did it.
[chuckling.]
Okay.
(Boy) Hey, Mom.
(Woman) So you tell me what I told you last night on food.
Uh, you said at 01:00 I need to start the crock pot on low heat, and then, when I get back from class, I need to put the rice in, let it cook.
There are seasoning packets in there, so make sure those go in with the rice.
Okay.
(Man) And what's your plans for the day? I will be in Groves this morning and have a visit up in that area, and then I will be back in Beaumont this afternoon, but the day might go late.
- Okay.
- So between you and Chris, if y'all could kind of communicate and figure out who's got Chloe from school, how's Chloe's getting to church.
Awesome.
I'll make sure it gets handled.
All right.
Thank ya.
(Woman) So let's talk about caseload for just a little bit.
Where are you caseload-wise? Nicole? 26, and 26 moms, 22 babies.
Um, people keep having babies, - like one after the other.
- Wow.
Yeah.
Um, God, this last month has just been boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
In this type of setting, yes, you're getting that nursing.
You're getting that medical part, but you're treating more than the body.
You're treating more than the mind.
You're treating this person that's got all these different dimensions.
The Nurse-Family Partnership Program has been one of the most important programs in the health department a program that truly impacts young mothers.
The nurses go into their lives for that two years and just get them some information and encouragement that literally changes their lives, I believe, forever.
My name's Nancy Crooks, and I live in Orangefield.
I'll be 19 in October.
We have a lot of pets.
I'll show you Fiona.
Like to get back over here? Hey, come here.
[smacking lips.]
Come here.
It's okay.
We've had her since she was an itty-bitty baby.
She fell out of a tree.
She's not a typical raccoon.
I met Nicole when I was, like, two, three months pregnant.
I like Nicole.
I do.
She's open.
She's honest.
When I need somebody to talk to, she's there.
- [baby coos.]
- All right.
Let's see.
His little soft spot I felt it earlier.
It felt fine, um, s but sometimes, when they get dehydrated, it can start to really sink in.
Have you Have you felt his soft spot before? - No.
- No? - I don't know even where it's at.
- Okay.
Well, I saw you rubbing, so it you just right up in here.
Right there? You feel that? It's soft.
You can feel, like, his little skull bones, - but then you can feel that little - It'll hurt him if I touch it? No.
I mean, if you're if you're doing this, you're going to cause some issues, but if you're just rubbing over it, just trust your own instincts - Mm-hmm.
- as a mom.
Okay? [chuckle.]
That was a very short little catnap.
Good morning, pig.
My name is Catalina.
I'm 16 years old.
My daughter's name is Kylie.
She's amazing.
When I got Catalina on my caseload, she was 15.
I knew she wasn't in school, like going to school, but she was doing an online K-12 kind of thing.
- God.
- (Nicole) She's a child, really, and that's not something at 16 years old you are responsible for keeping up with.
You usually give that to your parents.
Um, but with her mom gone her mom, um, being in jail right now you know, there's nothing she can do.
(Catalina) Nicole's fun to be around.
At first I was shy to start, but now I trust her, and so I tell her everything.
Okay.
So fill me in on what's going on with you and Louis.
And now he's talking about moving to Atlanta, - so - For what - what's his plan? - He said he wants to start a new life.
That's a pretty faraway place to start a new life.
What's his thoughts about Kylie? He did say he was going to take her, but I told him no.
My advice would be to go ahead and and just start working on custody.
I'm not saying taking custody from him.
- Yeah.
- Working on a shared - custody with each other - Mm-hmm.
so that both of you could be a part of her life 'cause she needs both of you.
- Oh, yeah? - So Your goal as a parent is to teach them what you expect and what you want them to do versus always telling them what not to do.
Macy, she's always kind of being told a lot of what she's doing wrong and not a whole lot of what she's doing right.
I never knew what being a mom meant till, like, I had and held this little girl, and, like, there's not anything I wouldn't do for her.
[baby calling out.]
Hey! [laughing.]
We're going to try to pay attention to how many times we use a negative on her.
And a lot of times, when you use the word "we" versus "you," you're telling her, "Hey, we're in this together.
" So, Briella, when we come in the house, we put our shoes right here.
So you change what you can say in a negative way and turn it and say, "This is what we do.
" I don't want her to just feel like she's, like, constantly in trouble.
- Right.
- Because that's not that's not okay, like So good job on that because you have that ability to regulate her.
- I got - [Briella laughs.]
I can't imagine having Nicole gone from my life.
Like, even though the program will end, I know that, like, she's going to be there for me and Bri.
And I'll always be there for her, too, like, she's like a sister I never had, like, someone who actually cares and values what I have to say.
It's really hard to expect someone to flourish and be this great mom when you're telling her what she's doing wrong all the time.
I think that's a little bit why I can empathize with Macy because I didn't have that, uh, really close relationship with my mom.
Um that's why I do this: because when I got pregnant and I made that phone call to my mom, her first response to me was "And what are you going to do about that?" And I can look at Macy's situation, and I remember being that young mom that just wants to do right, and you constantly got someone telling you you're wrong and you're no good, and they nitpick at you, and so I see myself in her, and I think she's an amazing mom.
She's a awesome mom.
So I want her to know she is good, and she's doing a really great job, and, you know, maybe not everybody recognizes it or but I do.
This is my room, my bed, and that right there is where I put my baby's stuff.
This is my cap and gown from when I graduated high school.
I just never put it up.
I don't want to fold it because, I mean, it's memories, something that I just walk in here and I look at every day to know that I accomplished something I graduated high school.
(Nicole) Monique was one of those where she'd just delivered her baby.
She was not back to work yet.
She was not receiving child support.
She had nothing.
[Monique chuckles.]
Our goal last week that you were going to keep on putting in some job applications.
- Yes.
- Any news? Ah, one of my old co-workers, well, she works at a restaurant as a waitress.
- Okay.
- And she said that she can get me on.
- Oh.
That sounds good.
- Yeah.
I'm happy too.
- Yeah.
- All righty.
So talking a little bit about separation and respecting his ability to separate our emotions.
- Yeah.
- When we're upset or we're mad - or we're angry or we're sad - Yeah.
- They know.
- Yeah.
They sense when Mom is not fine.
I've It happened with Karan plenty of times.
- As parents - Mm-hmm.
that's what we think we need to do: - we need to hide that - Mm-hmm.
because we want to protect them - from our emotions.
- Yeah.
But it's okay for Karan to know - Mommy's sad right now, or Mommy's mad.
- Mm-hmm.
- Mommy's frustrated.
- Mm-hmm.
- And to give those words to him - Yeah.
- That's okay.
- Mm-hmm.
I just wish I had my parents.
like, 'cause I know they would want to see him.
I'm 21.
It's like my parents died when I was young, so it still kind of effects me 'cause I just want them here with me [crying.]
to see my son.
[sobbing.]
[sniffles and sobs.]
I am so, so, so proud of you.
[sobbing.]
You know that, right? I am so proud of you.
I know that doesn't doesn't take the place of your mom or your dad.
[sobs.]
I think you're awesome.
[crying.]
Your mom is a rock star, huh, Karan? We came in this program to be a nurse, but that is far from what we are sometimes.
But to think that I could even get up and just walk away and act like they haven't made an impression on me or that, because the program's over with, you know, lose my number never ever ever.
You got to be really mindful of your words and mindful of your attitudes.
One thing I've heard my pastor say is you don't judge someone.
You don't judge where they're at because such could we be.
And I look at my girls and and say "You know what? Such could I be.
" So I You know.
I could be right there with them.
[muttering.]
[traffic noises.]
[Man vocalizing.]
(Man) Seems like we're playing a lot of things slower now.
How did that feel to you guys? Sweaty.
This? Da-da.
Or [vocalizing.]
I guess you need Ah, that's true.
- [vocalizing.]
- Let's just do it again.
Let's do it again.
Yeah.
[vocalizing.]
[drum beat.]
[vocalizing.]
(Man) New Yorkers have avoided Times Square for at least 20 years because it has reached its zenith in tourism.
So the trick is: how can you allow that world to exist yet allow New Yorkers to be in control of their own city? That's what we have been hired to do.
When the Europeans first arrived, Times Square was a fairly remote area that was generally avoided because it was the concentration of four streams leading to a low point, making a kind of a swamp.
So, in fact, Broadway and 45th are tracing the lines of those old creeks.
There are two particular things that make Times Square different.
One is the amount of electrical energy literally pulsating through the marquees.
The second thing is the unusual geometry, this kind of very narrow bow tie X configuration.
It's just filled with energy.
As you move closer and closer to the center, the crowds become more intense.
And even if there isn't a crowd, your brain is thinking compression.
Because it's so dense and intense, it's hard to manage new spaces and new characteristics.
We immediately assume that we should just clear everything out, make more space.
However, in the bigger scale of what such a space is, if you remove everything, it becomes an alien space to people.
They don't know how to move.
There are no parameters.
There's no way for you to react.
Behavioral activities are shared amongst many, many creatures, and that's because much of our behavior is unconscious, so we carry with us these abstract movements and decisions that we're not really aware of.
I looked to cross the main hall of Grand Central terminal, and this kiosk, I realized, was dead center in the room, exactly where you'd think you shouldn't put it.
The people, they seem to kind of move around it like fish swimming around a rock, and nobody seemed to be upset.
This kiosk was creating a great deal of comfort.
We discovered that actually placing some things in very key locations would allow people to manipulate their movements in a way that's actually more comfortable than if they had nothing to navigate around.
When you're moving around another person, you're looking at them in a way as a competitor.
And that this is something that you're going to have to make an agreement with.
You're going to have to negotiate with them.
But an inanimate object you can't have a conversation with, and it's always going to win.
It's not going to move.
The limitations are so pronounced that the decision-making process is removed so we feel a little bit free.
So we created these very large benches and some small topographies in the ground plane in which people actually suddenly find themselves with a dilemma of how to move around this object.
It creates a natural feeling of camaraderie, and it creates a sense of comfort.
We feel certain that the cynical New Yorker one day will come there with the worst grimace on their face, stop for a minute, and go "Hey, this is all right.
" [chuckles.]
We will have succeeded.