The best metropolitan diary of 2023: the readers speak
The winner
Valuable tips
Dear Diary:
A few years ago I was taking a walk through the Wall Street neighborhood when I decided to enter a deli.
I ordered a sandwich and started chatting with the owner while he made it. Our conversation eventually turned to the store’s location.
I asked if his time in the Financial District ever led him to dabble in the stock market or if he picked up valuable tips from knowledgeable clients.
He stopped making sandwiches, put down his knife and looked at me in bewilderment.
“These realtors come in here every day,” he said. “They get their bagels, sandwiches, donuts, coffee, cigarettes…”
He paused again and pointed to the door of his shop.
“…and every day they stand on the sidewalk and push and pull against a door that clearly says ‘pull’.”
–Steven Schaff
The finalists
Subway sandwich
Dear Diary:
I got on the Q at 96th Street. I was heading to Hell’s Kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat before watching “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
A woman got in on 86th Street and sat next to me. She was probably in her fifties, with a full head of curly blonde hair, and got a call because she was about to lose her shift.
As we approached 72nd Street, the woman searched her bag and pulled out a sandwich: smoked salmon on rye bread.
The train was packed, but she was determined to eat this sandwich. As we approached 63rd Street, she started rummaging through her bag again. This time she pulled out a pepper mill.
Apparently oblivious to everyone around her, she took the sandwich apart, ground some fresh pepper on the salmon and put the grinder back in her bag. Then she started to eat.
Now everyone was staring at her. Some people chuckled to themselves.
“Wow,” a man said to the woman. “That was quite an experience. You’ve never seen that before.”
She cleared her throat and smiled.
“This is New York City,” she said. “I always have my pepper mill with me. You never know when you’ll need it.”
– Lala Tanmoy Das
Birthday
Dear Diary:
It was July 23, 2010, and I was in the labor and delivery unit at Beth Israel Hospital giving birth to my son.
My then-husband and I were excited and nervous. My mother was visiting from Montana – taking a big city vacation to meet her first grandchild.
I had been induced earlier that morning and my labor was progressing slowly. We spent the day joking around, looking at the baby names we had chosen, waiting for the action to really start.
By mid-day my contractions were getting stronger and more frequent. Late in the afternoon my midwife decided it was time to take things up a notch. She described the next steps: She would break my waters with the aim of strengthening contractions and speeding up labor.
“But first,” she said, “I have to move my car.”
– Jenna Pike
Blue football
Dear Diary:
On an early morning walk in Brooklyn Bridge Park with my daughter Ella, I noticed a blue soccer ball on the sidewalk next to the artificial turf fields at Pier 5.
A quick look around the area revealed no players who had kicked a ball that far out of bounds. Ella asked if we could keep the ball and after a brief moral dilemma I picked it up and brought it with me.
When we got home, I cleaned the ball with a cloth in the sink. When I did, I discovered a name and number in a faded marker. I texted the number, explained that we had found the ball and offered to return it.
“Save it,” the reply text said. “My children lost that ball on that field seven years ago. They are all grown up and don’t need it anymore. I hope your daughter enjoys it as much as she does.”
– Brian Price
Whale watching
Dear Diary:
My friend Tom runs a popular whale watching cruise from Sheepshead Bay. Recently, Buddy, an avid whale watcher and good friend, passed away. One of Buddy’s wishes was that Tom would scatter his ashes over the ocean he loved so much.
So one beautiful summer evening, Tom canceled his usual overnight cruise and organized a private memorial service. More than 80 of Buddy’s friends and family members came to say their final goodbyes.
Among the passengers was a serious-looking young woman sitting quietly alone. None of the other people, including the crew members, knew who she was.
The boat took off and the service went very well, with lots of laughter, a few tears and people telling their favorite stories about Buddy.
When the boat returned to the dock in Brooklyn, Captain Tom spoke to everyone as they sailed. When the young woman approached him, Tom thanked her for being there and said how happy he was that they had had such a wonderful evening.
“Honestly,” she said, “this was the worst whale watching trip I’ve ever been on.”
– Phil Nicosia
Read a Metropolitan Diary editor’s note And the illustrator’s reflections on working on the column was a useful anchor in her life in 2023.
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Illustrations by Agnes Lee