When I was little girl I dreamed of great adventures in space and read Isaac Asimov's novels by Mirena Rhee

Now on a quiet Sunday evening I look at vast surfaces of Mars on my computer, I'm watching SpaceX launch crew8 to the Space Station, I have a letter from NASA's boss on my shelf, I recall with much warmth my work on Star Wars, and I have a giant painting of Mars panorama in my room near my bed, which I'm going to continue working on tomorrow, I'm sampling various lovely science fiction books that I'm listening to on my phone, I never gave up on the dream.

And I imagine one day many centuries from now a young person is going to be sitting on a little Sunday in their little spaceship somewhere near small nebula in the vastness of space, scrolling through tales of Earth. Oh shit.

Needles of Culture. 3500 years old Cleopatra's needle, a dash of airplane and a skyscraper, this is New York City for you by Mirena Rhee

Needles of Culture intersect from my point of view in Central Park.

New York City is more than a graduate school, you never graduate. All you have to do is get out of your house and you have everything you need to know about the world, if only you know to look and learn how to see.

New York City is also a teacher of the fleeting, it is a teacher of eternity, and the human condition, of the momentary, of the acquisition and subsequent discardment of objects. Whatever was in the best of shops ultimately ends up in the landfill.

New York City also teaches the value of things, a churro is $3, but 200 meters south it is $4. And the value of a homeless person is zero.

In its great galleries and museums I saw the best the world can offer, priceless works of art money can't buy.