Since 9/11, I have been mistaken rather regularly for a terrorist. These misunderstandings — and I assure you they are misunderstandings — occur not in airports, but on the streets of Manhattan. There I am, standing in front of some dull and innocuous building, taking video footage of it in order to aid my memory so that I can write articles like this one. More often than not, some concerned citizen starts observing my actions with a greater than ordinary interest. People are still uneasy seeing someone videotape, or even look, at any building above street level, because maybe the person — in this case, me — is casing the joint in order to bomb it at some later date. Who could blame them, when the building in question could have no other possible attraction to anyone with a recording device? And it is true enough that all too many new developments in Manhattan live up — really down — to that cynical appraisal. more
255 East 74th Street
