Last night, I went to see David Bezmozgis, Jack Dishel, and Regina Spektor perform at the Housing Works Bookstore. Spektor and Dishel sang, and all three of them read passages from Bezmozgis’s new book “The Free World.”
It was a late show for the bookstore, with the performance not scheduled to start until 10pm, but despite that, and despite the rain, the house was still packed. I’m only half Russian (and that part is really Russian-Polish, if you want to be precise), and I’m not an immigrant, but I always like listening to stories about the immigrant experience to this country. I feel fortunate to have grown up here, to have had, and to have taken for granted, the life that so many people come here for. When they asked how many Russians were in the audience, the majority of the hands shot up into the air.
I think that’s why I love this town.




