New York Love Story
Our love story is inextricably tied to New York.
Our first date was at the iconic ice-skating rink on Coney Island in early 2001. A couple of months later, we called in sick at our respective jobs and spent a day together in Manhattan; we were in love, and it felt like there was never enough time. We strolled through Bryant Park, paused by the New York Public Library, saw from the distance a woman bringing an oversized stroller down the long library steps. “You will never have to do this alone”, he said.
We got engaged on the Brooklyn Bridge in the summer (shortly before it became illegal post-9/11 to stop a car on a bridge). Our “Love Story” – a short, somewhat fictionalized video account about the way we met, to be shown to the guests at the wedding, as then-tradition suggested – was filmed in Bay Ridge, with a stunning view of Manhattan skyline. The sun was bright, the sky was clear. Before filming, we took a few minutes to admire the beauty. By the time of our wedding in late October, the skyline of the city looked emptier then it did in our “Love Story”. Between the wedding guests’ “ooohhh”s and “aaaahhhh”s in response to our charming “Love Story”, there were also gasps, as they watched the video: “Look, the Twin Towers…”
We debated whether it is ok to go on a honeymoon, considering the situation in the world, and taking into account this somewhat-paranormal occurence we experienced around 9/11 as a trivial sidebar to what was going on.
In December, we went to our videographer’s studio to pick up the film from the wedding. He was in the middle of editing another wedding video, which was rolling on a large screen in front of him. I commented on how beautiful and elaborate that wedding looked, and on auto-pilot, compared it to ours: our wedding was more modest by design, but just as much fun as the one on the screen. I wowed at the gorgeous dresses of the bridesmaids.
“This wedding was just before 9/11“, said the videographer. “See this beautiful girl dancing? The maid of honor. She is gone; she worked in one of the towers. I don’t even know how many of these kids are still alive; a lot of them worked together at some hot-shot consulting company in the Towers.”
“What about the bride and groom?” I asked, wondering whether it was an insensitive question, as if knowing that two particular people are alive out of this beautiful crowd of hundreds would make anything better.
“They are ok, they were on their honeymoon.” He was distraught. “How do I edit this?! How can I cut anything out?!”
I am thankful for all the New Yorkers who survived, and for all the New Yorkers who share stories of those who didn’t make it, who talk about what they have witnessed, who hold space for the stories of others.
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While much of my work time is now dedicated to completing the PhD dissertation, I still love making time for coaching and consulting. If you would like to connect about working together, let’s do it. It may seem like ‘just talking’, but you already know it is waaaaay more.
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My advisor and I co-authored a chapter on Intuition for the SAGE Encyclopedia of Theory in STEM, and it has just been accepted for publication (forthcoming in 2022). It is an easy read (although long-ish), and a fair summary of what is known in academia about Intuition. Please, let me know if you’d like to read it or learn more, or just download it here.
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This year, for the Academy of Management conference, we contributed a paper on Intuitive Wayfinding, which is about figuring things out as you go, not before you go. Want to talk about wayfinding in your personal or work life? Drop me a line.
