Etymologists have done their best to trace the factual origins of the term "Big Apple" to New York City. Some say it had to do with a horse racing reference. The prize for the horse being an apple, and in the 1920's, with so many race tracks in New York, it was referred to as the "Big Apple" -- the city that jockeys and trainers aspired to conquer. It was Gotham, the Empire City, the City that Never Sleeps, the Melting Pot, the Capital of the World, a city "so nice, they named it twice." After all, when a place is world-class in finance, culture, and media, it's difficult to sum up your grandeur in one easy name. Though, the Big Apple works pretty well. Also "New York City."
How do eight million people function, live, work, and even thrive on top of each other? It's mind-boggling if you think about it too much. And for those of us who do live here, it's best not to ponder the enormity of it all. We're in too much of a hurry.
But forget the monuments, the glass towers, the arenas and theaters of New York, it is the people who made the city. It's the place to prove yourself; to "make a brand new start of it"; and where "if [you] can make it there, [you can] make it anywhere." And it's the people, and their vast unique contributions who keep the city thriving. Whether they are from Ireland, Italy, West Africa, France, Israel, Pakistan, Mexico, Haiti or Manhattan (Kansas), it's that mix of people and cultures that have always been the most solid foundation of the city.
The variety and diversity that has always been New York's trademark seems to form a collective unifying and feisty spirit that is essential to the city's character. Build a fence around New York and keep people out? Are you kidding me? That would be like sucking the lifeblood from the streets -- the city would wither and die! No, here in New York, our arms remain open to the world. It's what has made us great in the past and will continue to do so.
