Center of the Universe

New York City's ubiquity in pop culture definitely contributes to its draw as the location of my post-graduate service.  From classic songs to new "favorites" (ahem, that's better), songs about specific places or events, and songs where it's just the backdrop to life, New York has inspired and frustrated musicians for decades.  It's become an extra character in countless movies and televisions shows, including some of my personal favorites, and authors can't seem to stop placing their characters in the five boroughs (but mostly Manhattan).  It's even pretty common in commercials.  Living here makes all that even more relatable, which is probably part of the point.  Millions and millions of people have been to New York City, which makes it an easy way to quickly connect with a wide audience.  Besides just being a clever marketing tool, New York does have to be genuinely, uniquely inspirational to these people in a way that other places (say, Iowa, just for a random example) isn't.  I always got excited at the few and far between cultural acknowledgment of the piece of the world that's my home, the place that I know first hand, but it hasn't worn off too too much here.  I guess it's a nice bonus to be "in" on a few more of the off hand references, throw away lines, and inside jokes that take a little inside knowledge of the inner workings of the biggest city in the country.  Obviously it wasn't my only consideration (that would be crazy), but my curiosity as to what has drawn so many people over the years overwhelmed my aversion to the cliche (and really, what's more cliche than graduating and moving to "the big city" especially NYC).  And I take comfort in the fact that, even in the center of the universe, I still manage to live in the middle of nowhere, and the looks on people's faces when I say where I live in the city is not unlike the look I get when I say where I'm from originally.  I guess some things never change.