NYC: You can't make it here, you can't make it any where...

Do you know what glitter is made of? Before you wrack your brains for the answer, I'll tell you: Glitter is made of broken dreams. I begin with this because I've noticed that a few sidewalks in Manhattan are very, very glittery(Don't ask me where they are because I don't know the difference between upper and lower and east and west sides. Let's just say it was the rich part of town where at 1 a.m. there were Mexican workers diligently scrubbing the sidewalks).

You see, New York City or I guess more specifically Manhattan (since out-of-towners forget that the Bronx and Queens and such are part of the city too) is the promised land of the young and bored. The place where you go to "make it." Just the other day i stumbled onto MTV's True Life: I'm Moving to New York. My first thoughts upon seeing these demographically appropriate fresh-faced young Caucasians was "No, get the fuck out." It wasn't their race or anything that bothered me, it was the fact that they're competition. We all know the job market sucks now and this is especially true in the NYC. It's always been ultra-competive here, that's why it's such an honor to actually land a good job and this influx of small-town kids is seriously screwing it up for all the natives, myself included.

When you're a native New Yorker people believe you're cultured or privilaged in some way. Yes, I am privilaged to live in a city whose rent I can't afford because yuppies want to see the skyline (see gentrification in Harlem) . Yeah, I live within traveling distance of Broadway shows I can't attend and landmarks I've never been to. My public schooling was among the worst in the entire country, slave to the Regents exam, and the higher education systems that are specifically supposed to benefit me, SUNY and CUNY, get their funding slashed every year. Yes, it's great to live in NYC.

Now, with banks failing and businesses big and small closing up left and right, NYC looks like it's decaying from the inside. The rising unemployment rate plus the lack of new cops is gonna contribute to a dramatic rise in crime. One mugger a few weeks ago actually attributed his crime to the failing economy. Even welfare is being threatened with cuts and I'm sure everyone's heard of the ridiculous taxes the governor wants to impose on us (a tax on non-diet soda? seriously?).

I know I sound bitter but it's because I am. This is a horrible time to be out of college, deep in debt, and on your own while contending with the American national belief that anyone can make it. Yeah, right. NYC is supposed to be everyone's shining mecca of opportunity. I lived here all my life so shouldn't I get a chance to benefit as well? For those who haven't already succeeded, New York City is fast becoming America's city of broken dreams.