Thanks, shag cb, for your comments. I went back to New York City for the first time
since I lived there in 2007. I enjoyed walking the streets, going to the Monthly Review office, seeing some
old friends, and giving a talk. But I didn't have the sense of excitement I once had, and I couldn't imagine
living there again. But then I tire of every place we live after a few months, and then it is time to move on.
In retrospect I can't say Manhattanites, including its leftwingers, are any more or less friendly than people anywhere else, and they have qualities I have come to appreciate (like walking fast on city streets and having a good sense of space! I find myself mumbling, "can you speed it up?" "Didn't you see me waqlking toward you?"). Plus there are people there you are unlikleyt encounter anywhere else. Probably one problem for me in NYC was that I had expectations that were unlikely to have been met there or anywhere else.
Still, though, the horrible dinner guests depressed me beyond words. I won't say directly who the author was except to say that
the author's initials are BG.