#NYC Transit Authority

[questionableadvice]

~ New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority, 1962

[rabbitcruiser]

NYC Transit Authority was formed on June 15, 1953.

[radicalgraff]

Pasteups denouncing NYC Mayor Eric Adams, the NYPD & the Metro Transit Authority.

Yesterday cops opened fire in the NYC subway, shooting a fellow officer, two bystanders, and an alleged "fair evader" they were attempting to apprehend.

[wandanatsgf]

Masterlist

WandaNat x Reader

Sugar, Sugar AU

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 (ongoing)

summary: After losing your job, you are desperate to come up with some money. Your best friend Kate signs you up for a sugar baby app where you meet Wanda and Natasha, who eventually become your sugar mommies.

Wanda x Reader

Lovers, Vampires, Strangers Part 1 Part 2 (ongoing)

summary: this story starts in the year 1850. You and your girlfriend Wanda are happy together. You have everything you could ever want, until she secretly turns you into a vampire. After a horrible accident, you leave her and that life behind. Now 173 years later, she's come to ask you for help.

While You Were Sleeping

summary: You work for the transit authority as an attendant in NYC where you see glimpses of Natasha everyday as she waits for the subway. You slowly gain a crush on the woman and fantasize about crazy things like marrying her or being in love with her, but you know realistically that would never happen. It’s just a way for you to pass the time. One day while waiting for the subway Natasha is mugged and left unconscious, which leads to a case of mistaken identity at the hospital where they assume that you are Natasha’s fiancée. You become caught up in everything and become too scared to tell the truth. Pretty soon you're hanging out with Natasha's family, but the longer you hang out with them, the more you fall in love with them, and especially one person in particular.

Right Where You Left Me

summary: Wanda is your maid who you fall head over heels for. But like all good things, you knew it wouldn't last. You knew your life was already decided for you, but that didn't mean you couldn't enjoy your time with her while it lasts.

Why Won't You Love Me

summary: You can tell your relationship is falling apart, but maybe there's still some hope for it.

Pray and I Shall Answer Thee Part 1 Part 2 (complete)

summary: Night after night you pray to the goddess of love with no response. After years of doing so with no answer, you become an unbeliever. Only after you have forsaken her does she make you a believer again.

Family Lines

summary: Your relationship with your family has never been good, but after Wanda insists on going to see them you can't say no. You watch as she falls for their charm until their façade cracks.

Mommy's Milk

summary: Wanda tricks you into sucking on her boobs and you get a shocking surprise

Natasha x Reader

Scream

summary: After the gruesome murder of your fellow classmates, Jean and Charles, everyone is on high alert. The police tell everyone to stay inside, but your friends decide a party is just what you all need. It's not like the killer will be there, right?

If You're Gonna Lie

summary: you know she's cheating, but you'd rather hear her lies than leave her

Drunk and Needy

summary: after a night of drinking you cling to your girlfriend Natasha

Do You Like Me Baby?

summary: Natasha teases you after you lie and tell her you don’t like her

I Can Fix Her (No Really I Can)

summary: Your girlfriend catches you talking about how soft she has gotten in front of her gang members. She has a reputation to protect, so she’s determined to prove you wrong

Kate Bishop x Reader

Taking Care of Her

summary: Kate comes home after a rough mission and you take care of her

Just a Little Bit of Your Heart part 1 part 2 (complete)

summary: You know you're not her only lover, but as long as she stays with you you're content with ignoring her infidelity.

You Don’t Go To Parties Anymore

summary: Kate looks for you at her birthday party and then remembers she ruined the relationship the two of you once had

Yelena Belova x Reader

Mac and Cheese

summary: After eating mac and cheese for the past few nights, you get sick of it. Your girlfriend, however, does not.

Villanelle x Reader

Date Night & Murder

summary: What a date night between two assassins looks like

[mariacallous]

On Wednesday, New York governor Kathy Hochul shocked the state and the country when she announced she would indefinitely shelve New York City’s long-in-development congestion pricing scheme. The policy, in the works since 2007 and set to begin in just three weeks, was designed to relieve car traffic, curb road deaths, and send a billion dollars in annual funding to the city’s transit system by charging drivers up to $15 a day to enter the busiest parts of Manhattan, with rates highest at “peak hours.” (Truck drivers and some bus drivers could have paid more than $36 daily.) At heart, the idea is straightforward, if controversial: Make people pay for the roads they use.

But congestion pricing was also set to become one of the most ambitious American climate projects, maybe ever. It was meant to coax people out of their gas-guzzling vehicles, which are alone responsible for some 22 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, and onto subways, buses, bicycles, and their feet. Policymakers, researchers, and environment nerds the world over have concluded that, even if the transition to electric vehicles were to happen at lightning speed, avoiding the worst of climate change is going to require fewer cars overall.

Now, the movement has seen a serious setback, in a country where decades of car-centric planning decisions mean many can only imagine getting around in one very specific way. Just a few years ago, cities from Los Angeles to San Francisco to Chicago began to study what pricing roads might look like. “Cities were watching to see what would happen in New York,” says Sarah Kaufman, who directs the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation. “Now they can call it a ‘failure’ because it didn't go through.”

On Wednesday, Hochul said her about-face had to do with concerns about the city’s post-pandemic recovery. The congestion pricing plan faced lawsuits from New Jersey, where commuters argue they would face unfair financial burdens. Cameras and gantries, acquired and positioned to charge drivers while entering the zone, have already been installed in Manhattan, to the tune of some $500 million.

Kaufman, who says she was “flabbergasted” by Governor Hochul’s sudden announcement, says she is not sure where the policy goes from here. “If we can’t make courageous, and potentially less popular, moves in a city that has transit readily accessible, then I’m wondering where this can happen,” she says.

Other global cities have seen success with congestion schemes. London’s program, implemented in 2003, is still controversial among residents, but the government reports it has cut traffic in the targeted zone by a third. One 2020 study suggests the program has reduced pollutants, though exemptions for diesel buses have blunted its emissions effects. Stockholm’s program, launched in 2006, upped the city’s transit ridership, reduced the number of total miles locals traveled by car, and decreased emissions between 10 and 14 percent.

But in New York, the future of the program is unclear, and local politicians are currently scrambling to figure out how to cover the transit budget hole that would result from a last-minute nixing of the fee scheme. The city’s transit system is huge and sprawling: Five million people ride the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s buses and subways, almost double the number that fly every day in the US.

In New York, drivers entering the zone below Manhattan’s 60th Street would have been charged peak pricing of $15, but would have only faced the charge once a day. They would have paid $3.75 for off-peak hours. Taxi and ride-hail trips in the zone would have seen extra fees. After years of controversy and public debate, the state had carved out some congestion charge exemptions: some vehicles carrying people with disabilities would not have been charged, lower-income residents of the zone would have received a tax credit for their tolls; and low-income drivers would have been eligible for a 50 percent discount.

[racefortheironthrone]

Can we have your analysis of NY governors since Rockefeller like you did with the NYC mayors.

That's a bit trickier, but sure! (Interesting choice of starting point. No Al Smith, no FDR, no Lehman, no Dewey - that's a lot of famous NY governors out of the picture.)

Governors below the cut, because this one is going to run long.

Nelson Rockefeller (1959-1973):

Certainly a politically successful governor - the man won four elections in a row! - Rockefeller was the last of his kind, the quasi-liberal Northeastern Republican to which he gave his name. At the same time, when you dig into his record, there is as much to be ashamed of as to be proud of.

In the interests of fairness, let's disuss the positives first: Rockefeller believed in taxing and spending on a grand scale, whether that was for public works, state parks, state aid to education (SUNY grew sixfold during his tenure), low-income housing, pensions for public sector workers, mass transit, or Medicaid. On non-spending issues, Rocky was an early supporter of abortion rights, state-level civil rights legislation, the ERA, environmental conservation, and a state-level minimum wage.

When it came to the monuments that he hoped would become his legacy, Rockefeller liked to build big. Unfortunately, when it comes to the negatives of his governorship, they are of a similar scale. Chiefly, the problem was that Rocky was a pretty consistent "law and order" politician - the laws that authorized "stop and frisk" and "no-knock" warrants were passed with his enthusiastic support, state police payrolls and budgets balooned in size, and he was a consistent supporter of the death penalty pretty much until the end.

But when it comes to "law and order," two monuments stand taller than all the others: Attica and the drug laws.

On September 9th, 1971, over a thousand incarcerated men (overwhelmingly men of color) seized control of the Attica Correctional Facility in a protest over living conditions and political rights. They took 42 correctional officers and staff hostages, issued a list of 33 demands, and then negotiated for four days in good faith. Refusing to meet with the inmates and unwilling to either remove the unpopular superintendent or grant amnesty for the uprising, Rockfeller instead sent in the state police, armed corrections officers (for some ungodly reason), and the National Guard and gave them free reign.

On the morning of September 13th, troopers dropped tear gas into the main yard and then just started shooting indiscriminately. In fifteen minutes, 29 inmates were murdered - including most of the uprising's leadership, who were targeted by name for execution - and so were 10 hostages. (Often shooting blindly into the billowing clouds of tear gas with shotguns, the troopers were so undisciplined that they wounded another five corrections officers and one state trooper in friendly fire incidents.) Another 85 inmates were wounded, and hundreds and hundreds of survivors were made to strip naked, crawl through mud and shit and broken glass, and then tortured by corrections officers.

Rockefeller covered all of this up. The governor claimed that the prisoners had committed "cold-blooded killings" of all the hostages, and particularly trapped himself by claiming that the prisoners had slit the throats of the hostages - medical examiners concluded that all of the hostages were killed by law enforcement bullets. Although forced by public opinion to establish a Special Commission to investigate what had happened, Rockefeller did his level best to ensure that the truth of what happened never got out (it did eventually come out, but it took years and many couragous whistleblowers and crusading lawyers to make that happen), to ensure that not a single trooper was held criminally resppnsible, and to avoid as long as possible paying any restitution to the families of the dead, let alone the survivors.

All because he didn't want to look weak on crime.

When it comes to the Drug Laws to which he put his name, it's hard to see them as anything less than a political stunt that ruined the lives of thousands and thousands of people. Rocky had previously supported liberal treatment and social services approaches to drugs, but he wanted to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976, so he did a 180 to burnish his "law and order" credentials.

Under his laws, selling as little as two ounces or merely possessing four ounces of opoids, cocaine, or marijuana would be punished with a minimum of 15 years to life and a maximum of 25 years to life. Over the decades since the enactment of the Rockefeller Drug Laws, some 150,000 people would be incarcerated for non-violent drug offenses in New York, over 90% of whom were black or Hispanic men. It took until 2009 for these laws to be dismantled.

All because he wanted to run for president.

Verdict: like Jekyll and Hyde. Both an asshole and not an asshole, depending on the issue.

Hugh Carey (1975-1982):

The first Democratic governor of New York in almost 20 years, Carey was elected in the Democratic landslide of 1974. And like a lot of "Watergate baby" Democrats (like one Joseph Robinette Biden), Carey was an odd blend of fiscal conservative and social liberal.

This applied most immediately and most significantly to his handling of New York City's Fiscal Crisis. The city was massively in debt, New York financiers were engaging in a capital strike, the President of the United States was openly hoping for NYC's financial demise in order to punish American liberalism, and the one thing everyone knew and no one wanted to admit is that someone had to pay for a bailout.

As governor, Carey did bail out NYC - but at the cost of the city not only giving the bankers everything they had demanded (public sector layoffs, wage freezes, subway fare hikes, the closure of public hospitals, libraries, and fire stations, and the end of free tuition at CUNY), but also of surrendering the city's fiscal autonomy. As quid pro quo for state funds, Carey pushed through the creation of the Municipal Assistance Corporation (MAC) to handle the city's bonds and the Emergency Financial Control Board (EFCB) to control the city's taxation and budgets. These two unelected bodies continued in existance for decades, and set a precedent for the state government to call the shots when it came to local NYC governance, even while NYC's economy funded the state government.

All this at the same time as Carey was cutting income, capital gains, and corporate taxes for the wealthy, creating the modern suite of tax breaks for developers, and keeping state spending below the rate of inflation. On the flip side, he did build a bunch of fancy public works like the Javits Center, Battery Park City, and the South Street Seaport to attract tourists back to NYC.

However, on social issues Carey was quite progressive. On both the death penalty and abortion rights, he stopped the state legislature from rolling back reforms forced on them by the courts. He made the de-institutionalization of the mentally ill and the provision of community-based services a signature issue - although not enough to prevent a rise in homelessness among the mentally ill. Unlike Rockefeller, he tried to do the decent thing when it came to the aftermath of the Attica Rising by pardoning the rioters. Like Rockefeller, he was in favor of environmental regulation.

Verdict: Mostly an asshole. Meeting baseline expectations for a Democrat doesn't cancel out fucking over NYC for a generation.

Mario Cuomo (1982-1994):

Writing about Cuomo the Elder is difficult, because for a generation of New Yorkers and others he represented liberal ideals and aspirations tbat were ultimately unconnected to the day-to-day business of governance. This was largely due to the way he exploded into national prominence with his "Tale of Two Cities" speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, which challenged the rosy rhetoric of Reagan's "Morning in America."

The problem is that, as governor, Mario Cuomo stressed "progressive pragmatism" and tried to straddle the line between liberal goals and business-friendly methods. As Saladin Ambar put it in American Cicero, "whereas Rockefeller oversaw a period of tremendous government expansion...Cuomo was later derided for having no big policy focus. His was an era of contraction, one of smaller progressive victories."

When we look at Cuomo's record, we see he prided himself on the "largest tax cut" in New York state history and balancing the budget through cutting spending, but also on expanding Medicaid to low-income children and pregnant women. He lowered the top income tax rate, but also increased the basic welfare grant. He trumpeted $500 million in state aid to education, but also spent $500 million to build new public prisons. He spent $850 million on environmental clean-up efforts, but $300 on paying down state debt.

Ultimately, the issue that defined Cuomo had nothing to do with economic policy or social spending - it was the death penalty. His opposition to the death penalty had cost him the mayoral election in 1977, but it won him the gubernatorial nomination in 1982 - both times in matchups against Ed Koch. As governor, he vetoed 12 different bills to restore New York's death penalty. Ultimately, it would be the issue that brought him down: running for a fourth term in 1994, Pataki attacked Cuomo for his oppositition to the death penalty. Highlighting a horrible case in which a child murder who had inexplicably been allowed to plead down to one count of manslaughter, and who then became a serial killer after serving his time in prison, Pataki hammered Cuomo as being soft on crime and the incumbent ended up winning a grand total of one county north of Yonkers (and losing Staten Island in the process).

Also, I have no patience for Cuomo's "Hamlet on the Hudson" bullshit when it came to seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988 and 1992. If you're going to run, have the guts to say so.

Verdict: I'm not mad, I am disappoint.

George Pataki (1995-2005):

The great irony of the 1994 gubernatorial election is that Pataki would go on to reinstate the death penalty in his first year as governor - only to see the New York Court of Appeals declare it unconstitutional. Pataki prided himself on being "tough on crime," and ended up pushing through 100 laws increasing criminal penalties - which he erroneously claims caused crime rates to decrease.

When it comes to economic policy, Pataki was just as lousy as any other Republican - cutting income taxes on the rich and corporate taxes more than any other governor before him. This at the same time that he cut a million ooor people off of welfare. His commitment to the economic illogical of balanced budgets led him to propose significant spending cuts in 2003 even as New York was still wrestling with the economic fallout of 9/11, only to be overriden by the state legislature.

His social policies were somewhat better. There was a modest expansion of health care for the working poor through SCHIP, he supported gun control, he supported abortion rights, he was in favor of anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBT+ people but opposed gay marriage (which was fairly good for a Republican in the early 2000s), he did put some money into environmental programs. His education policy rather sucked - he was strongly pro-charter schools (boo) and micro-managed CUNY to get rid of remedial education.

Verdict: bit of an asshole, but less so than most Republicans.

Eliot Spitzer (2007-2008):

It's hard to find much to say about Spitzer's time as governor, because he wasn't around for very long. Elected on the basis of his reputation as a crusading Attorney General, Spitzer came into office saying that he would "change the ethics of Albany." He spent most of his brief time as governor feuding with the (corrupt and convicted if it wasn't for the Supreme Court) leadership of the state legislature. While a lot of his proposals were quite good, Spitzer's "steamroller" strategy was pretty much ineffective in getting legislation passed (hey, turns out the Johnson Treatment is bullshit) and it's hard to point to a major accomplishment of his tenure as governor. But what Spitzer is primarily remembered for is the prostitution scandal that brought him down. As someone who thinks sex work should be legal, my main issue with his behavior is that he was "a real weasel" about not wanting to use condoms and used his money to get his way. This is an occupational health and safety issue for sex workers, being able to insist on condom use and reject clients who refuse to use them is a labor rights issue for sex workers, and clients who try to use their wealth and power to undermine the autonomy of sex workers should be blacklisted.

Verdict: an incompetent and an asshole to sex workers.

David Paterson (2008-2010):

Suddenly thrust into the limelight after Spitzer's resignation, David Paterson's tenure as governor started extremely unluckily, as both he and his wife admitted to having extamarital affairs the day after his inauguration - something that wouldn't have been as big a deal if it hadn't been for the Spitzer scandal intensifying the level of media scrutiny directed at the personal morality of elected officials.

He then had two weeks to negotiate the state budget at the height of the Great Recession, which hit particularly hard due to the outsized importance of Wall Street to New York's economy and state finances. This was never going to be a good budget, but it was highly noticeable that Paterson's budget leaned heavily on spending cuts rather than using state reserves or taxing the wealthy, while providing significant tax cuts to middle-class and affluent homeowners.

This was rather surprising given Paterson's liberal roots as a former Dinkins staffer. It was similarly surprising that when Paterson was called upon to appoint someone to fill the U.S Senate seat left vacant by Hillary Clinton becoming Secretary of State, that he went with Blue Dog Kirsten Gillibrand rather than Caroline Kennedy (the leading scion of the Kennedy family in New York) or Andrew Cuomo (the heir to his father's legacy). This led to something of a feeling that Paterson was turning out to be something of a liberal in name only.

The main issue where Paterson's liberalism seems to have remained strong was gay marriage, where Paterson did something of an end-run around the deadlocked state legislature by ordering New York State agencies to recognize out of state marriage licenses from same-sex couples. While successful in his efforts, this didn't help Paterson win support within the state legislature for a statutory legalization of gay marriage, and the bill went down to a 38-24 defeat in the State Senate.

Ultimately, however, I think Paterson's tenure as governor was hamstrung by the deadlock in the State Senate, which was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans with no lieutenant governor to break the tie (thanks to some truly stupid decisions by state courts on the issue). While most of the chaos had to do with two truly appalling conservative Democrats going over to the Republican side in exchange for personal considerations and wasn't really Paterson's fault, it did prevent him from achieving many legislative wins ahead of the primary election in 2010 - although two late-breaking scandals really did the fatal damage to his further political hopes.

One unanswered question is to what extent Paterson was knifed by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, either/both in revenge for being overlooked for the U.S Senate and/or to clear the way for Cuomo's 2010 primary run for governor. After all, it was Cuomo who was handling the investigations into Paterson, who torpedoed Paterson's attempt to end the Senate crisis by appointing a new lieutenant governor, and presumably Cuomo who lobbied Obama to persuade Paterson to drop out. Moreover, given Cuomo's later penchant for conservative Democrats enabling Republican control of the State Senate, it's hard to avoid conspiracy theorizing that he had something to do with Monserrate and Espada's parliamentary coup.

Verdict: while Paterson was dealt the worst possible hand when he became governor, he played it badly. Kind of an asshole.

Andrew Cuomo (2011-2021):

In the interests of full disclosure, it's going to be very difficult for me to be objective about Andrew Cuomo since I was involved in several efforts to defeat him for public office and I personally loathe the man. So I'm going to try to focus as much as possible on what he did as governor of New York, because hopefully the focus on concrete actions will keep me from going off the rails.

I think the first thing to start with is that Cuomo deliberately undermined Democratic governance of the state of New York by engineering the formation of the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of conservative Democratic state senator who handed back control of the State Senate to the Republicans after Democrats won control of that chamber in the 2012 election.

Cuomo betrayed his own party and the policy agenda he nominally supported and had run for office on because he didn't want to be pressured by the left wing of the Democratic Party on progressive priorities and preferred to cut "moderate compromises" with the Republican leadership. Cuomo maintained this unholy coalition until it became a stumbling block to his hopes of winning the Democratic presidential nomination, at which point he terminated it just before the IDC's members were swept out of office by an enraged electorate.

As baseline expectations for Democratic elected officials go, I feel that supporting Democratic control of government and opposing conspiracies to hand over control of government to the Republican Party is about the minimum.

The second thing to understand about Cuomo is that while he has a long list of seemingly progressive accomplishments - gay marriage, gun control, marijuana legalization, paid family leave, and a $15 minimum wage, etc. - virtually all of them are cases in which actual progressive groups and elected officials had been pushing for years, where Cuomo had blocked their efforts either through executive inaction or outright opposition to legislation, and where he eventually took credit for compromise measures that repeatedly turned out to have regressive stings in the tail that made them much weaker.

And all of that is before he was brought down by his own manifest corruption, his total incompetence on COVID despite becoming a media darling on the issue, and his long history of sexual harassment and assault.

Verdict: the biggest asshole in New York political history.

Kathy Hochul (2021-present):

Normally, there wouldn't be much to say about a brand-new governor who was unexpectedly elevated to office by their predecessor's resignation in disgrace. For a good while, all that Hochul seemed to aspire to be was "not Andrew Cuomo" - not a bully, not a misogynist, willing to listen to everybody.

More recently, we've learned a bit more who Hochul is through how she's chosen to spend her political capital. In all but one case - building more affordable housing in suburban upstate New York - Hochul has shown herself to be a relentlessly conservative Democrat, who's willing to spend political capital in order to dismantle bail reform or try to get a conservative judge appointed to the Court of Appeal or appoint a Republican to lead the public power utility.

Except the problem for Hochul in her attempt to be Andrew Cuomo but without the misogyny is that Democrats control both houses of the legislature now, and the legislature from the leadership to the rank-and-file is no longer subservient to the governor as they were under Cuomo. When Hochul put up LaSalle for the Court of Appeals, she was repeatedly humiliated by getting stomped in committee and floor votes. When Hochul tried to appoint Justin Driscoll to the New York Power Authority, he was defeated too. And sadly, when Hochul tried to get her housing proposal by including it in the budget, suburban legislators stripped it out.

That's kind of the problem with Hochul: she's not very good when it comes to the core skills of a politician. She's not good at reading the room, otherwise she never would have nominated LaSalle after labor told her that anyone but him would be acceptable. She's not good at counting votes, otherwise she wouldn't have pushed votes on LaSalle and Driscoll and the housing package that she ended up losing by lopsided margins. And she's not very good at campaigning either, otherwise she wouldn't have needed to be bailed out by the progressives at the last minute in the 2022 election.

Verdict: an asshole, but thankfully not as good at being an asshole as Cuomo was.

[rjzimmerman]

Study: Gas stoves shorten lives by an average of 2 years (Heatmap AM)

Pollutants from gas stoves shorten people’s lives by an average of two years, according to a new study by scientists at Jaume I University in Spain. The research, which looked at households in the U.K. and EU, attributed 40,000 deaths per year in Europe to gas stoves, which leak pollutants linked to heart and lung diseases. “Way back in 1978, we first learned that NO2 pollution is many times greater in kitchens using gas than electric cookers,” lead author Juana María Delgado-Saborit told The Guardian. “But only now are we able to put a number on the amount of lives being cut short.” A separate study in May estimated that 19,000 U.S. adults die annually due to pollution linked to their gas stoves. While awareness of the dangers of gas stoves is still growing, efforts in the U.S. to transition to safer and cleaner cooktops include measures on local ballots as well as the New York Power Authority and NYC Housing Authority’s Induction Stove Challenge. Heatmap exclusively reported on Friday that the judges selected Copper, which will provide 10,000 induction stove units to help transition the city’s public housing away from gas stoves.

[theseeingsage]

8/8 ✰ lionsgate portal

gemini libra aquarius

smrv

✰ your wisdom has placed you in a position of leadership & authority. you may find yourself entering a mentor role.

✰ placing logic over emotions. remaining in touch with your heart yet learning to make decisions that make sense in the long run.

✰ blockages surrounding your heart. feeling as if you need protect yourself from others. confusion on boundaries, what should stay & what should go.

✰ transitioning from a place of financial burden. finally seeing those risks pay off & returning to your stable fortune. only gains from here forth.

✰ needing to tap more into your intuition & emotions. healing a mother wound or receiving an apology from a mother figure. finding the light in the darkness.

✰ flashbacks of what once was & people from the past return. you may be returning to an old job or source of income. second chances, try again.

✰ now is the time to go out & create your own wealth. opening your own business, getting out of your comfort zone. cat imagery. “i belong only to myself.”

✰ gifts & new discoveries. you are uncovering new talents that lead to new opportunities. more $$$. actress/actor. creative genius. nyc or la.

✰ you are not in control right now yet that how it’s meant to be. unknown forces become known & you are guided to success. this cycle will shift soon.

✰ divine forces are showing you the way to go as you are shown your purpose. roll the dice & put yourself out there. step into the spotlight, destiny awaits.

✰ the journey back to each other has been long & treacherous yet divine timing has had its say. your period of waiting is over. the wheel turns.

✰ deception & temptation from an enemy. snake energy is present. someone is being shady in a romantic situation. shedding an old relationship.

✰ a secret admirer reveals themselves. many suitors & crushes are being sent to you. don’t choose the one that gives you butterflies, rather the one that calms your mind.

✰ walking away from a love interest. breakups & endings occur during this mercury rx. separated x avant. it’s over, for good. they’ll fight for you though.

✰ someone has unfinished business elsewhere, which creates a 3rd party. realizing it’s not over with a past lover. patterns & baggage caused separation. returning home.

✰ transition & rebirth. allowing the things that have faded away to stay gone. destruction is a form of creation. nourishing & fertilizing new seeds.

✰ divine masculine. embodying this energy or encountering it externally. you are more sure of yourself & stable. sense of security & protection.

✰ good fortune is on its way to you. blessings & abundance are here after a storm. trickles of $$$$ progress into a complete downpour. drowning in $$$.

✰ feeling more grounded. becoming more rooted in your magick & finding that wealth is easily attainable. intention + action = manifestation. this is permanent.

✰ this last full moon really shifted something in your life. you may have already started noticing major changes. there’s more to come before the next full moon. all good, simply shift your perspective.

readings are open ♡ https://forms.gle/GNUWuTorbRY5JnU17

[traipseartist]

July 17-21 - A Week on Trains into, out of, and around New York City.

Your average American has a train deficiency. Exposure is limited, sometimes contrived, and is usually entirely supplemented. Either by watching Buster Keaton films, or going to one of 3.5 Major US cities with functioning intra-regional transit (or any other major city not in this god forsaken car-wasteland).

New York City and the Outlying Territories qualify, but the train experience is a bit like a bullet in a windshield. The center is dense. Dense with humans, dense with train times, dense with platforms and letters and numbers and heat in the melting time of mid-July. As the cracks in the glass spider outward, the routes become more erratic, the landscape less recognizable, hours or days separate one train from the next. Amtrak, Metro North, The Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, The Metropolitan Transit Authority, whatever the hell is going on with the multibillion dollar monstrosity that is the JFK AirTrain.

I am not new to trains as a concept of commuting--moving to NYC from the anemic public transit system that is MARTA in Atlanta (holding strong on US News's Top 10 Worst Traffic Cities in the US list since the 1996 Olympics) was definitely a shock but I... had ridden a train or two in my time! We would take MARTA to the airport in desperation! If it were the only way!

Needless to say, it took me no time to become the antagonistic New York pedestrian as depicted in any romcom trying to make New York seem like a frantic or chaotic landscape for the soft spoken. Public transit required no allegiance other than to that of speed and assimilation. Why would you drive? Why would you own a car? Where is it, exactly, that you were trying to go more slowly than the third rail could carry you?

When I moved to San Francisco I found that this allegiance was far thinner. Taking BART or Muni seemed sensical in some contexts, but truly insane in others. If you wanted to get beyond the video-game boundary that was Daly City or the Oakland Airport, well--that took a pledge. That took some dedication to the Earth or your wallet but it meant a complete disrespect for your time. My life was ruled by the CalTrain schedule from 2016-2018. My body began to pumpkin as the midnight hour approached on a Saturday night and I had to decide whether I would race sloppily down to the platform at 4th & King to catch the last train for the night or if the $100 Uber from the gin bar in The Castro back to my overpriced apartment in Redwood City was worth it. Couches were offered in pity but it always felt like an embarrassing concession to not having a spaceship-shaped Tesla of my own.

Now-a-days from my new home planet, a train for people is a memory, while trains for things rattle by soccer fields and public parks. Sometimes silently, sometimes in loud mockery of what America used to want.

Trains feel like what America used to want. And New York offers the whole range of that ancient desire.

Some of it is the red-hot impression of our post WWII golden era: knuckles holding onto subway straps and citizens rubbing the sleep from their eyes after nights in piano bars, of living out on the town. This part is rolled into New York's identity, especially. The City that Never Sleeps actually dozes on the A train, and wakes up in Canarsie by accident every now and again. But even when we're sleeping, we are moving, we are vibrating while doors clatter open and we drag air in from the Bronx and exhale it in Brooklyn.

Other parts of the American train system feel like long lost gospels lopped out of the New Testament. Where they fit into what would have been The Narrative is obvious. We live in a very big country, a country once dominated by its industry, its bubbling middle class, its desire to see the Grand Canyon and the contours of Mt Rushmore and Grandma Lola in Omaha. Yet somewhere along the line it feels like someone re-spun the tale with details that served themselves, and the story of the car and the open road sold well enough that the train bit lost bite. Like a pop star that only does well in Japan and other comparably unpredictable markets, we fell in love with the shape of the car, and the rest of the world never tried to trick themselves into believing they could always have ice cream for dinner.

--------------

I sit in the mostly empty dining car of The Pennsylvanian, it's been four hours and I have another five and a half to go. A full-faced conductor sits a few tables down from me. He wears his uniform hat--almost princely--and holds up the walkie-talkie connected to the Train's PA. He instructs us to look to our right out at Horseshoe Curve, an effective hairpin turn on the track completed in 1879 by immigrants working for $0.25 an hour. Work started in 1850 and hands turned from young to old making this grade slightly easier so that trains need not push up over the mountain to make it into Altoona, PA, dumping West Virginia coal and Pittsburgh steel at the feet of a living junction.

An old woman adds three sugars and four creams to her coffee in a paper cup and he stops his history lesson to help her carry the hot cup from the service window to her seat. For a moment I am in my country that never was, still moving across my home rectangle, in a book that got lost in the stacks of the Library of Alexandria.

[hyperrealcartography]

To fill or Not to fill: Infill Stations in NYC

Recently, the Mayor of Atlanta announced that the city would be investing in four new MARTA infill stations. MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) is one of the typical hybrid metro systems that were built after World War II. MARTA, like WMATA in Washington DC, and BART in the San Francisco Bay Area were designed as a response to urban freeways that had devastated older cities and…

[public-transportation-tournament]

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (the T), Greater Boston, Massachusetts, United States vs Worcester Regional Transit Authority, Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States

MBTA:

First subway line in North America! Fairly functional for what we ask it to do! Boston has a sort of ethereal and grungy magic which you can observe deep underneath downtown crossing.

very helpful when in boston with no car. better than nyc's subway and i say this as a new yorker

As someone who lives in rural America, it’s the only public transport I’ve ever been on and I love going on it so so much. autism loves transportation

It might be the second-best public-transit system in the United States.

WRTA: According to Wikipedia, "the WRTA is the second largest regional transit authority and third largest transit system in Massachusetts." It also "currently provides fixed route bus service to Worcester, and the surrounding towns of Auburn, Brookfield, East Brookfield, Leicester, Millbury, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Southbridge, Spencer, Webster, West Boylston. In addition to its fixed route bus service, the WRTA provides Community Shuttle Flex Van Service (limited shuttle service) to Grafton, Northbridge, and Westborough. The WRTA also provides paratransit service to a total of 37 communities in Central Massachusetts." It's also free until June 2024!

[rabbitcruiser]

NYC Transit Authority was formed on June 15, 1953.

[kenayekenz]

In 1904, Granville T Woods became one of the inventors of the NYC Subway System ~ New York City Transit Authority 🔥❤️💯

[wandanatsgf]

While You Were Sleeping

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Reader

Word Count: 6.3k

Summary: You work for the transit authority as an attendant in NYC where you see glimpses of Natasha everyday as she waits for the subway. You slowly gain a crush on the woman and fantasize about crazy things like marrying her or being in love with her, but you know realistically that would never happen. It’s just a way for you to pass the time. One day while waiting for the subway Natasha is mugged and left unconscious, which leads to a case of mistaken identity at the hospital where they assume that you are Natasha’s fiancée. You become caught up in everything and become too scared to tell the truth. Pretty soon you're hanging out with Natasha's family, but the longer you hang out with them, the more you fall in love with them, and especially one person in particular. 

Author's note: This is basically just the Sandra Bullock movie While You Were Sleeping, but with Natasha as Peter and Wanda as Jack. I made a couple of changes to speed things up and make it my own but the plot is pretty much the same.

Today was Christmas Day, a joyous time for everyone. New York was beautiful this time of year. Bells were ringing, snow was falling, and lights were glistening all around, but it’s not like you would get to see much of it because of your job as a transit worker. That is where you currently are, stuck behind a booth.

You sit behind the same booth day in and day out, giving out tickets and occasionally helping people with directions. You’re unable to see anything but the subway until you leave. It’s a very monotonous job, but it pays the bills, and you can’t complain about that.

Even your home life is rather boring. You live in a tiny, slightly run down apartment building, but at least the super is nice. You can’t say the same for his son, Leo, though, who hits on you every chance he gets. You take it though because you won’t be able to find an apartment this cheap anywhere else.

The only thing that makes your day better is her. She enters the subway station everyday at 8am to wait for the 8:15 train and then she comes back on the 5:15 train. Sometimes she stops to talk to you for a few minutes, and it always makes your day. So far you’ve learned that her name is Natasha, she works in finance, and judging by the gold ring on her finger, she’s engaged. But that doesn’t stop you from dreaming about her. It’s not like your little crush would ever lead to anything anyway.

She always has her red hair in a fashionable updo and her clothes are the latest styles. You can tell by the gold Rolex on her wrist and the tone of her voice that she is someone important, someone with money.

You like to imagine that it’s you she’s talking to in that stern voice whenever she's on the phone, you she goes home to in her, what you assume to be, lavish apartment. But you know that idea is just a fantasy that you use to escape your boring life, and you’re okay with that. It still doesn’t stop you from admiring her though.

“The things you’d give just to lay under her,” you think to yourself. The thought makes you blush and turn your head away from the redhead who is standing just a few feet away from you near the edge of the subway platform. 

You suddenly hear a scream and see two people running away with what looks like Natasha’s purse, but you don’t see Natasha. People start to crowd around the platform, looking over the edge at something. You run out of the booth you had been sitting in and you peer over the edge of the platform and there you see Natasha, lying motionless. Without thinking, you climb down onto the tracks next to her.

“Natasha,” you say, trying to coax her awake. “Come on, wake up," you say trying to wake her. A loud horn startles you, causing you to look up. A train is coming right for the two of you. You try to pull her off the tracks, but you’re too weak, so you do the only thing you can think of to do. You climb on top of her, wrapping your arms around her. You roll the two of you out of the way just in time, landing on the shoulder of the rails.

Your heart is beating fast as you check the two of you over, making sure the both of you are okay. Natasha still hasn't woken up, she must have a concussion or some sort of brain injury, you realize. With the help of some other civilians, you're able to get the both of you to safety. Pretty soon, the two of you are in your respective ambulances on the way to the hospital.

You're checked over pretty quickly and discharged. The only injury you had were a couple of scrapes, luckily. As you're being discharged, you ask the nurse about Natasha, but she says that she can't tell you anything.

"Ok thanks anyway," you say turning to leave.

"I was going to marry her," you say under your breath to yourself, referencing you silly little fantasies. You start to walk out the door when the nurse calls you back.

"If that's the case I can take you right to her," the nurse tells you. You don't have the heart to correct her and you're too embarrassed to say anything. You're not even sure why you said that out loud, but you did, and you're thankful because now you can check on Natasha.

She's laying in the hospital bed. She has a cut on her forehead and all sorts of wires and machines hooked up to her. You sit down in a chair next to her, telling her that everything will be alright, but you're not even sure that she can hear you. You continue talking to her until you hear a loud ruckus in the hallway that then enters the room.

In walks an older, tall bearded man, a shorter brunette haired woman, and another blonde haired woman, who looks to be close to your age. They all file into the room with the doctor and the nurse from earlier right behind them.

"What's going on, what happened?" the man asks at the same time as his wife asks, "What's wrong with my baby?"

"I'm sorry but you daughter is in a coma," the doctor says. All three of these strangers faces crumble. "She'll pull through. She's healthy, her brain waves are good," the doctor adds.

"Brain waves?" the blonde girl says, mostly to herself, you think.

This is when you try to make your escape. You try to leave the room unnoticed while everyone is talking, when the doctor brings the attention onto you.

"Your daughter was pushed off of the subway platform, but this girl right here saved her," the doctor says, shoving you forward.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Natasha's father asks.

"Her fiancée," the nurse standing next to him says before you can explain. Suddenly the room is in an uproar with everyone talking over one another. You try to interject and explain that this is all just a big misunderstanding, but it's no use, so you just give in.

"Fiancée?" everyone questions.

"I didn't know Natasha has a fiancée," you hear someone say. "When did she leave Maria?" another person asks.

"I guess it makes sense that we don't know these things. We haven't really talked to Natasha in two years," the mother says. Everyone accepts this answer, and for that you are grateful.

You are about to try and leave again when someone starts speaking to you. "Thank you for saving our Natasha," Natasha's father says. He embraces you and it's then that you know that you can't tell this kind family the truth, at least not yet. You let him embrace you and then the rest of the family joins the hug.

"Natasha won't be up for a while, why don't the four of you go get something to eat and then come back," the doctor suggests. Before you can even answer you are being pulled along by the family and led to the cafeteria, where they buy you some dinner.

"It's the least we could do," they say, which just makes you feel guiltier.

"So how did you and Natasha meet?" Natasha's mother, who you now know is named Melina, asks.

"We met at my job, I work at the subway as an attendant. She always takes the subway and one day we just got to talking and really hit it off," you tell them. You know the more you lie the more dangerous webs you spin, but you can't tell this family the truth now.

"What first caught your eye about her?" Yelena, who you now know is Natasha's sister, asks.

"Her smile, it's truly beautiful," you say, answering honestly.

"They're caps, 600 bucks a tooth," Alexei says under his breath, laughing to himself. You can't stop yourself from laughing too.

The more time you spend with this family, the more you fall in love with them. They're bright, cheery, and just so much fun to be around. You can tell that they truly love each other. At the same time, it makes you long for your family who is now long gone. Your mother died when you were a baby and your father a year ago, leaving you all alone. It's nice not to be alone again, and you don't want to let go of this feeling, at least not yet.

The four of you check on Natasha one last time before everyone decides to go their separate ways for the night.

"Dear," Melina says before you leave. ""Come celebrate Christmas with us tomorrow. I know tomorrow isn't Christmas but with everything that's happened today we didn't get to celebrate and we'd love to have you over."

"I'd love to celebrate with you," you tell her.

"Oh and Wanda will be there too! You haven't met her yet but I'm sure she'll love you," Yelena adds. She gives you her family's address and a hug before you walk out of the hospital and go home for the night.

The next day you are up bright and early, excited about seeing people and getting to be apart of a family, if only for a little while. You get dressed in a nice sweater and jeans and pretty soon you are standing at the Romanoff's door. You knock and a beautiful girl with auburn hair answers the door.

"Hi, who are you?" the girl asks.

"Y/n, who are you?"

"Oh you must be Natasha's fiancée. I'm Wanda, her adopted sister."

"It's nice to meet you," you say.

"It's nice to meet you too darling," Wanda tells you. The nickname sends a blush to your cheek, but you're not sure why. Wanda lets you into the house and you're quickly enveloped in a hug by the family.

"Y/n we're so glad you could make it," Melina says.

"Thank you for inviting me," you tell her. "And here's this," you tell her, handing her a cake you had purchased for them on your way home last night.

"Thank you hon this smells delicious." Melina goes and sets the cake on the counter and then everyone sits around the couch and Yelena and Wanda start to show you baby pictures of Natasha.

"This one is from when she saved a squirrel," Yelena says. "And this one is from when she won a spelling bee."

"She won a lot of those," Wanda adds, making you laugh.

The three of you look at Natasha's pictures for quite some time, but the whole time you can't take your eyes off of the girl sitting next to you. There's something about Wanda that is just magnetic, but maybe that's just a family trait, you assume.

"Family picture," Alexei yells out.

The four of them crowd around the tree and you stay seated, not wanting to ruin this moment.

"Y/n get up here," Melina tells you.

"Are you sure?" you ask, not wanting to join the photo and ruin it.

"Of course I'm sure, you're family now." Melina pulls you into the photo, having you stand next to Wanda.

"Say cheese," Alexei says, holding the camera out in order to capture everyone.

"Cheese," everyone says in unison.

"That's an amazing picture. That's going on the wall." Alexei passes the camera around and everyone agrees. When the camera gets to you, however, the picture knocks the wind out of you. You hadn't seen yourself look that happy in a long time. You're smiling and it's a genuine smile, not the smile you give to the strangers at work, but an actual smile. You looked like you belonged in this family, even if you really didn't.

The next thing the family does is presents, which you did not come prepared for.

"I'm sorry I didn't get you anything," you tell the family.

"Your presence is enough dear. You've brought this family closer and we could never thank you enough for that," Melina tells you, making you tear up.

"We did get you something though," Yelena tells you after everyone has opened their gifts. Yelena hands you a beautifully wrapped package and inside is the most beautiful jacket you have ever seen. It's burgundy with a black fur trim. It's exactly your size and style and everything.

"It's perfect you guys. Thank you," you say, tears falling from your eyes.

"You don't need to thank us, you're family now," Wanda says.

The night goes by too fast for your liking, and before you know it, it's time for you to go home.

"You can't go home in that weather y/n," Yelena says. You know she's right, it's practically a blizzard out there, but you feel like you've taken enough of their kindness for granted.

"I should go home."

"That's nonsense," Melina says. "You can stay in the guest bedroom."

"Ok," you say quickly agreeing, not wanting to truly walk out of this home, and this family's life forever. Wanda shows you to the guest room and shows you where everything is.

"Let me know if you need anything honey," she tells you before walking off. The nickname once again causing you to blush.

You quickly settle into the room, but you have trouble falling asleep. It's like no matter what you do, you just can't sleep. You get up and out of bed, deciding to go get a glass of water. You pull a glass out of the cabinet and you start filling it up when you hear some noise behind you. You turn around to see Wanda.

"What are you doing up?" she asks.

"I couldn't sleep. You?"

"I couldn't sleep either."

The two of you stand their in silence for a while, neither sure what to say to the other, until Wanda finally breaks the silence.

"So how long have you and Nat been together?"

"About a year," you say, hoping that that is an acceptable answer. A low hmm is the only response that you get. You’re not sure what it means, but you try not to think too much into it.

“What do you do for work?” You ask the auburn haired girl, trying to fill the awkward silence.

“I’m an antiques dealer. I work for the family business.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“It’s really not.” You can’t contain your laughter when she says this.

“Yeah it’s not but I think that’s still an interesting fact about you.”

“So what made you choose the transit authority?” Wanda asks you.

“Well a couple years ago my dad got sick. His bills were expensive and I just got the first job I could find. And then he died and here I am years later,” you explain. You don’t know it yet, but Wanda’s heart melts a little bit at this explanation, at how caring you are.

“I think that was very selfless of you.”

“Thank you Wanda.” Yet again a blush finds it’s way to your cheeks around this woman.

“So are you dating anyone?” You ask Wanda. You’re not quite sure why you asked her that. She thinks you’re with Natasha, but still a little selfish part of you wants to know.

“No I’m not. I’m single,” Wanda says, trying to slyly eye you up and down, but you catch her, which makes her cheeks pink. It’s a nice change of pace, being able to make her blush instead of the other way around. Wanda knows eyeing up her sisters fiancée is wrong, but it's harmless. It's not like she's going to act on her feelings.

Wanda looks away from you and moves to set her glass in the sink. She goes to walk away, when she turns around.

“Goodnight,” she says. She walks up to you, placing a light kiss on your cheek before making her way upstairs to her room.

“Goodnight,” you say back, not sure what else to say. You gently touch the place where her lips had met your skin and it brings a smile to your face.

After a while you decide to go to bed. You bring your glass of water with you and when you get to your room you set it on the nightstand. You climb into bed and drift off and as you dream, you dream of the beautiful auburn haired woman who is sleeping just a few doors down from you.

The next morning you have to work, so while the rest of the family is eating breakfast, you’re on your way out the door.

“We can’t wait to see you again,” Melina tells you while hugging you goodbye.

“I know we need to get together soon,” you tell her.

“We will,” she assures you. Alexei hugs you next, and wishes you well on your day.

After him the next person to hug you bye is Yelena, who promises that the next time you see her she will tell you plenty of embarrassing stories about Natasha, which you look forward to.

And then finally it is Wanda. “I’ll see you around,” you tell her, not quite sure what to say to her after last night.

“Yeah see you around,” she says back. She hugs you and you hug her back, neither one of you truly wanting to break off the hug, but you know that you have to.

You pull back from her and walk out the door, trying to ignore the strange feeling in your chest. You know what you’re doing is wrong, lying to this family. But it feels so nice to be apart of a family again, you don’t want to give it up. You decide to push these feelings down and make your out of the house.

Since you have a bit of time left before you have to go to work, you decide to go see Natasha. The drive to the hospital is quick and before you know it you're sitting beside Natasha, talking to her comatose body.

"Hi Natasha. I don't know if you can hear me, but I really hope you can. I'm the subway worker who saved you, I'm not sure if you remember me, but I hope you do. There's been a bit of a mix-up and everyone thinks I'm your fiancée. I've tried to explain but everything has just snowballed and I don't know what to do," you say. "I'm so sorry for what I'm doing. I hope when you wake up you can forgive me," you say. You go to stand up and leave, when a woman walks into the room.

"Are you Natasha Romanoff's fiancée?" The blonde woman asks. You assume she's a cop based off of the way she's dressed.

"Yes I am."

"I wanted to make sure her family got this," the woman says, handing you a small evidence bag that contains her wallet and keys, the two things the thieves didn't steal because they weren't in her purse.

"Thank you," you say to the woman, but you feel wrong for thanking her. You feel no better than the muggers who hurt Natasha. Because that's what you're doing, you're hurting Natasha and you're hurting her family with your lies that grow bigger and bigger everyday. But you can't tell the truth now, you don't want to lose them.

After the interaction with the cop you tell Natasha goodbye and you’re on your way to work. Your shift goes pretty smoothly, but the anxiety that has plagued you ever since this Natasha mess started doesn't go away, so you just try to ignore it. Pretty soon your shift is over and you're out the door.

Unbeknownst to you however, while you’re on your way home Wanda pays your apartment building a little visit, hoping to see you after your shift.

“Hi, do you live here? I’m looking for y/n y/l/n, this is her building right?” she asks a man who is outside working on his car.

“Yeah this is her building. I’m Leo the owner of this place,” he says, smacking the gum he has been chewing. If you had been there, you could've told Wanda that Leo was lying, that he's just the super's son, but you're not so she doesn't know.

Leo eyes Wanda up and down. The action gives her major creep vibes, but she stays rooted in her spot, determined to not let him know how he is affecting her.

“I was looking for y/n,” she explains. “I was just wondering if she’s here right now,” Wanda says, trying to keep her conversation with this man short and light.

“What do you need with my girl?” The sentence takes Wanda aback. What does he mean his girl?

“I’m sorry?”

“What do you want with my girlfriend?”

“I didn’t know she was your girlfriend.”

“Well she is, even if she told you differently,” the man says defensively. This sends alarms ringing in Wanda’s head. And it is at this time that you walk up to the building.

“Hi Wanda,” you cheerfully greet her. “Leo,” you say, unable to keep the disdain from your voice. “What’re you doing here?”

“I just wanted to see you and make sure you’re okay.”

“Well that’s very sweet of you. Why don’t you come on up?” Wanda smiles and shakes her head yes, letting you lead her into the building and into your apartment.

“So Leo is,” Wanda says, the end of her sentence trailing off because she’s not sure what to say.

“Yeah he’s weird, crazy, whatever you want to call him,” you supply.

“Yeah that,” she laughs. “He said you were his girlfriend.”

“He always tells people that.” You roll your eyes, annoyed at Leo for lying to Wanda. “I’ve turned him down like a million times but he never listens, but he’s pretty harmless.”

“I’m glad he’s harmless at least.” You nod in agreement.

“So how are you holding up?” Wanda asks, referencing Natasha. The sympathy in her voice almost makes you want to tell her the truth about everything.

“I’m alright,” you say instead. “I’m keeping busy.”

“That's good, you know my family and I are here for you. Whatever you need y/n/n, you just have to ask." Wanda's response brings a smile to your face.

"Thank you Wanda," you say enveloping her in a hug. She wraps her arms around you and you melt into her. The two of you only breakaway when Natasha's keys, that you had forgotten about until now, softly poke Wanda.

"What's that?" Wanda asks. She knows they're not your keys in your pocket because you had placed yours in a dish by the door.

"Oh they're Nat's keys. A cop gave them to me earlier at the hospital."

"Have you been over to her place since?" Wanda travels off, not wanting to truly mention Natasha's accident.

"No, not yet." You softly shake your head.

"We could go now, it might be helpful," Wanda suggests. You know you should say no. This is an invasion of Natasha's privacy, but your curiosity and desire to be with Wanda win so you say yes.

The drive there is pleasant, the two of you converse for a while before Wanda pulls into the parking garage. The two of you get out of her car and you walk into the building, letting Wanda lead the way since you have no idea were you're going.

"So how often have you been here?" Wanda asks as the both of you ride up the elevator.

"Oh just once or twice," you say, hoping to cover up the truth. A soft hmm is the only response that you get. You pray that Wanda isn't on to you. Wanda leads the way to Natasha's apartment and you unlock the door with Natasha's keys after a bit of difficulty.

Wanda eyes you suspiciously while you wrestle with the keys. You've been here once or twice, shouldn't you know which way the key goes? Maybe you're just stressed, Wanda tells herself. It would make sense because Wanda certainly is.

The two of you walk into Natasha's apartment and you stare at everything starstruck. This place is so much nicer than you could have imagined.

"Wow," you say under your breath.

"You're looking a bit starstruck y/n, you're acting like you've never been here." Wanda laughs and you laugh with her, trying not to let her on to the fact that this is in fact your first time here.

"It's just every time I come here it just gets more beautiful I feel like," you say, hoping that's a logical excuse.

"Yeah I guess it is pretty nice. I prefer something a bit more homey."

"This place is missing a bit of a personal touch," you say, agreeing with what Wanda said about Natasha's lack of homey vibes. "It's very Natasha though."

"Yes very," Wanda says, agreeing with you this time." You're about to say something else when Wanda's phone starts to ring.

"Hello," she says into the receiver. "What, really? Ok we're on our way," she says before hanging up.

"Nat's awake," she says. There is excitement written all over Wanda's face, which you try to reciprocate, but on the inside all you feel is dread. You know in a few minutes everyone will know that you're a liar and you'll lose this family that you have created.

"Come on let's go," Wanda say. "And grab Nat's car keys, I wanna take her car." You do as Wanda says and the two of you make your way to the parking garage.

You walk in the direction that you hope Natasha's car is in, praying you don't look lost.

"You know which one is Natasha's car right? You where it's parked don't you?"

"Of course I do," you say, totally bluffing. You hit the lock button on the key fob, waiting to see which car's horn goes off. As luck would have it, the black corvette stingray in front of you goes off.

You slide into the drivers side while Wanda sits next to you on the passenger side. The whole way there all you can think about is how you hopefully just passed whatever sort of test Wanda was just putting you through. You think you passed, because Wanda doesn't ask you anymore questions. Before you know it you're at the hospital freaking out over seeing Natasha.

"I don't know if I can do this," you mutter. You can feel yourself starting to freak out, your anxiety climbing higher and higher.

"Of course you can," Wanda says. "It's just Natasha." Wanda places a comforting hand on your shoulder. Unfortunately her words do not help, but her actions do.

"Thanks Wanda."

"Anytime y/n." The two of you walk to Natasha's room and soon you're face to face with the woman you have had a crush on for a while. She's laying in bed, looking rather worse for wear.

"Hey Nat, look who's here," Wanda says.

"I'm sorry who's that?" Natasha asks, sitting up.

"Your fiancée, don't you recognize her?"

"I'm sorry I don't," Natasha says. It makes sense to you because of course she doesn't recognize you, but Natasha's words make Wanda run for the doctor.

"Stay with her, I'll be back," Wanda says.

"So how long have we been together?" Natasha asks once it's just the two of you.

"A year," you say, telling her the lie you've been telling everyone else.

"Oh," is the only thing Natasha says.

"Yeah," you say, even though you have no idea what that oh means. Pretty soon the doctor and Wanda walk back in, bringing a sense of relief to you.

"Natasha what's the last thing you remember?" The doctor asks as he walks in.

"Umm," Natasha says, really trying to think on her answer.

"I think breaking up with Maria."

"Ok," the doctor says.

"And what month and year is it?"

"January 1994." That answer shocks everyone in the room because while it is currently January, the year is 1995, not 1994.

"I'm sorry Natasha, but you seem to be missing a year of memories," the doctor says before he slips out.

"I guess it makes sense why she doesn't remember you now," Wanda says.

The only thing you can think of when you hear this is how great everything has worked out for you. You're grateful that you can stay in this family just a little bit longer, but then your conscious weighs you down. You're about to spill the beans when Natasha starts to talk again.

"So I don't remember my fiancée," Natasha says to herself. "Well that's pretty shitty."

"You can always make some new memories with her Nat. Maybe this could be a blessing in disguise, you can fall in love with her all over again," Wanda says, trying to cheer Natasha up.

"Yeah maybe it can be a blessing," Natasha says. she grabs your hand, holding it, while looking in your eyes. It makes you smile, but she doesn't make you feel giddy like she used to when you'd interact with her. Instead all you feel is guilt and love, but not for her, but for her sister you realize.

You try to keep a brave face on the whole time, trying not to break down and spill the truth, but you're too far in now and you know it.

As time passes by the rest of the Romanoff family filters into the room. It's nice being surrounded by all of them, it brings you a sense of comfort, even if it is all based on lies.

"So what are you going to do about the engagement?" Yelena asks out of nowhere. "What?" she asks after noticing the stares she's getting. "I know we were all thinking it."

"I don't know," Natasha says. "Maybe we can start over?" she suggests.

"I'd like that Nat."

"Hi, I'm Natasha," she says, holding out her hand.

"I'm y/n, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," you say shaking her extended hand.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the doctor says, slipping into the room. "But Natasha, you can go home tonight. All for your tests cam back clear, except for the amnesia, but that should go away on it's own."

"Oh my god this is great news honey," Melina says. Everyone starts to celebrate and the excitement starts to wear off on you too.

"Wait where am I going to stay?" Natasha asks.

"You've got an apartment sweetie," Alexei says. "But if you don't want to be alone one of us can stay with you."

"Can y/n stay with me?" Natasha asks shyly, it's the complete opposite of the way you hear her talk in the subway.

"I can stay if you want."

"I do," she says.

"Ok that's settled then," Melina says.

After another hour Natasha is checked out and packed up and the two of you and Wanda who you need to drop off, are sitting in her stingray, you driving.

"Do you really not remember the last year Nat?" Wanda asks.

"No, I don't think so. I remember proposing to Maria, being rejected and then nothing. But clearly something happened from now to then and pretty quickly because I've got y/n and a pretty ring on my finger." You don't say anything, feeling too guilty.

Soon you're pulling into the parking garage of Natasha's building, letting Wanda out so she can walk to her car.

"Bye Nat, by y/n," she says.

"Bye Wanda," you say softly. You're sad to be watching her leave. You wish you were going with her, but you're here with Natasha.

You help Natasha into her house, making sure she's comfortable in bed, before you go to leave, but Natasha drags you back down.

"Don't go, please," she begs.

"Okay," you say, giving in easily. You climb into bed beside her, allowing her to cuddle into your side.

"Goodnight Nat."

"Goodnight y/n."

Over the course of the next few days, you spend all of your time with either Natasha or her family. The two of you spend your days getting closer and closer.

You try to ignore the nagging in the back of your head, your feelings for Wanda, the way your heart feels with the Romanoff family, but it gets harder everyday. You don't want to lose the Romanoff family and their love.

"I'm going to the store," you tell Natasha, just needing to get away and be with your own thoughts.

"Okay, hurry back baby." She leaves a soft kiss on your lips before you walk out the door. The affection brings your guilt rearing back up, urging you to tell the truth.

The trip to the store does wonders for you, and by the time you get back to Natasha's apartment, you decide that you're going to tell her the truth. Except when you get there, there's Natasha, sitting at her dining room table. A white cloth covers the table and rose petals lead from the door to your chair.

Natasha stands up and walks over to you, grabbing your hands and leading you to the table.

"Y/n, I know I barely remember you," she says as she sinks down to one knee. She pulls out a ring box, making you gasp. "But I know that I love you. I know that you mean everything to me and I don't want to lose you. Will you marry me?"

"Yes," you say, completely forgetting about your plans on telling the truth. You get caught up in the excitement.

"I want to marry you as soon as possible," Natasha says as she slips the ring on your finger.

"Okay whatever you want," you say, too happy to truly acknowledge her words right now, to truly soak in what she's saying.

"How about tomorrow? The courthouse?"

"That sounds perfect," you say, but on the inside you can think of a million reasons on why you should put a stop to this, but you don't because of your own guilty conscious.

That night Natasha makes all of the arrangements. She calls her family and some caterers for a small reception at her parents house. Pretty soon everything is in place, the only thing that's left is for the two of you to walk down the aisle tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes quickly and everything is a blur. Before you know it you're in the courtroom bathroom, Wanda putting the final touches on your makeup.

"Can you give me a reason not to marry her Wanda, anything at all?" you beg, breaking the heavy silence that had been between you two. Wanda looks away from you, saying nothing, bringing tears to your eyes. "Okay," you say before you brush past her. Your long, white dress, that you borrowed from Natasha's closet, scrapes against her side but you ignore it. You walk out of the room, ignoring Wanda and ignoring your now broken heart.

You quickly dry your eyes and meet Natasha outside the bathroom, the two of you walking hand in hand to the courtroom.

Her family, including Wanda, gather around the two of you. A few of Natasha's friends, who you had met throughout the past few weeks, are also there, you notice. There's about 15 people crowding around you. This is never how you thought this day would go, but you can't complain.

"Do you Natasha Romanoff take y/n y/l/n to be your wife?" the judge asks.

Before Natasha can answer the door to the room bursts open and an angry looking woman storms inside.

"Stop the wedding," she screams out.

"What?" you can hear people around you scream in confusion.

"What is this?" Natasha asks.

"This is me stopping your wedding. You're engaged to me Nat, remember me," the woman pleads.

"I remember. You came back to me, you said yes," you hear Natasha say after moments of silence. It looks like seeing Maria brought her memories back.

Suddenly the room erupts into chaos and you use it as your chance to escape, too ashamed to admit the truth to the Romanoff family.

The next couple of days you spend in solitude, ignoring anyone who knocks on your door. You hide out in your apartment, surviving off of delivery food, until you finally have to go back to work.

The walk to work is miserable. You have nothing to look forward to and to top everything off you've practically ruined your own life with your lies, but it's what you deserve. At least you think so.

You enter the subway station and slip into your booth, shrugging on your bright blue vest. You spend the day on autopilot, taking tokens and giving tickets, barely acknowledging the people you're helping.

A woman steps up to your booth and she drops her token into the token slot, but when you go to grab it, you realize it's not a token at all. It's an engagement ring. You look up and you see Wanda and her family, minus Natasha, the people you thought you would never see again. They're all smiling at you, looking at you with so much hope in their eyes. Wanda walks around to the entrance to your booth and you let her in. She drops down to one knee before she begins to speak.

"Y/n, over the past couple of weeks, I have gotten to know you, we have gotten to know you," Wanda says, gesturing to her family outside the booth. "And the more I think about it, the more I realize that I can't live without you. The past couple of days without you have been torture and I don't want to be without you anymore. I love you and I'm sorry it took me so long to say it. Will you marry me?"

Outside the booth you hear Melina and Alexei arguing about whether or not you'll say yes, while Yelena is chanting "say yes" over and over again. They bring a smile to your face. You don't want to live without them, and you certainly don't want to live without Wanda.

"Yes I'll marry you," you say, giddiness lacing your voice. Wanda stands up and kisses you, her hands cupping your face and it's the most perfect kiss you've ever had. It's full of passion and love. It's everything you ever thought it would be.

"I love you Wanda."

"I love you too y/n."

[mtaartsdesign]

We are excited to continue collaborating with @poetrysociety to bring #PoetryinMotion to Grand Central Madison, digitally displayed on 5 large screens in the north end of the concourse. Together, the screens create a canvas that is over seven feet high and 91 feet long, enriching commuters’ journeys with a selection of renowned poems paired with artwork from the #MTAarts collection.

Photos:

"Train Rising Out of the Sea” © 1979, 1985, 2008 by John Ashbery. Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author's estate. Duration (2017) © Monika Bravo, NYC Transit Prospect Avenue Station. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design.

Mary Ruefle, “Voyager” from Memling’s Veil. Copyright © 1982 by Mary Ruefle. Reprinted by permission of the author. Bensonhurst Gardens (2012) © Francesco Simeti, NYC Transit 18 Avenue Station. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design.

Heather McHugh, “A Night in a World” from Hinge & Sign: Poems, 1968-1993. Copyright © 1994 by Wesleyan University Press. Edges of a South Brooklyn Sky (2018) © Sally Gil, NYC Transit Avenue U Station. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design.

Aracelis Girmay, “Noche de Lluvia, San Salvador” from Kingdom Animalia. Copyright © 2011 by Aracelis Girmay. Reprinted by permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of BOA Editions, Ltd. Elizabeth Murray, Stream (2001) © the Murray-Holman Family Trust, NYC Transit Court Sq-23 St Station.Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design.

Toi Derricotte, "A nap" from “I": New & Selected Poems. Copyright © 2019. Reprinted with permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Forte (Quarropas) (2020) © Barbara Takenaga, MNR White Plains Station. Commissioned by MTA Arts & Design.

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

🦇 Artifacts of an Ex Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❝ Welcome to Heartifacts. I didn't intend to start an exhibit of my ex-boyfriend's objects, but when we broke up, it inspired me to find out what other people saved from the ruins of their relationships. Like fossil excavating, but for the lost bones of love. ❞

❓ #QOTD What items have you kept from a past relationship OR what reminds you of an ex? ❓

[ Find my review below or on Goodreads | StoryGraph | Literal ]

🦇 After moving from NYC to LA, Chloe Chang never expected her boyfriend to dump her, let alone via a box of her belongings. Instead of chucking those memories in the trash, she uses her heartbreak as inspiration and begins an art exhibit; a collection of break-up boxes from other teens. At the opening of the Heartifacts exhibit, Chloe meets Daniel, who offers to enhance the exhibit with a film reenactment of a relationship's progression, with Chloe and Daniel as the stars. Their fake dates lead to real feelings, but Daniel doesn't want to be the rebound. Can Chloe make Heartifacts successful, and prove to Daniel her feelings are real?

❝ When you're in love, you figure out how to express it. ❞

💜 On the surface, Artifacts of an Ex is a cute friends-to-lovers young adult romance. If you look beyond that, you'll find a story about healing and community through art, letting go of perfectionism, finding your tribe, and recognizing your self-worth. Chloe develops so much as a character, not only as she heals from her heartache, but as she finds a new home for herself in LA. The strongest component of the story is through the art pieces themselves. Each one conveys a different version of love--how we heal from it, how it changes us, how each person we meet and interact with becomes another paint stroke on the canvas that is our story. I also adored the friendships, how the community comes together to help Chloe's grandmother, and all the heartwarming fluff.

🦇 While this is a cute, layered debut novel, the pacing was a little exhausting. Between the fake dates, navigating her heartache, trying to help her grandmother, and curating the exhibit, Chloe stretches herself thin--which stretches the story thin as well. I also wish we learned more about Daniel outside of his passion for filmmaking and history as 'the rebound guy.' There's immediate chemistry between Chloe and Daniel, but Chloe's attraction toward him feels so immediate (thank you, mutual organizational stationery obsessions) that we don't really experience the transition from friends to more. There's a little repetition as well, which further causes the pacing to drag.

❝ You want to control everything. Plan it all out. Love isn't planned. It's messy. It's full of mistakes and stupid things you say. It's dopey as hell. ❞

🦇 Recommended for fans of cute YA romances with (sort of) fake dating! Ideal for fans of Emma Lord and Jenny Han. Get ready for some serious heart eyes.

✨ The Vibes ✨ 🫖 AAPI FMC & MMC 💌 Friends to Lovers 🩷 YA Contemporary Romance 🎨 Power of Art 🏳️‍🌈 Queer Side Characters

🦇 Major thanks to the author @jchenwriter and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. #artifactsofanex