The Ugly/The Sublime

In the "NYC is the most ugly and the most beautiful of humanity at the same time" vein,

Sunday night I was getting on the ferry and a saw a woman holding a baby reach behind her and swipe at a single-digit-year-old girl's face. Then she turned around and snatched the girl by her braids. There was a somewhat matter-of-fact way of the girl's reaction that said she was not unused to it...I was on the phone at the time...wondered aloud if I should do something.

Monday night I got onto the 62 bus (the last leg of my commute back home that involves MTA). I sat down across from a Black* man and a female toddler in a stroller. They were playing and she took a swipe at his face. He knodded his head back slightly to avoid the blow and momentarily stuck his bottom lip out in a feigned pout. The little girl reached out to hug/kiss** him in supplication.

I'm still trying to figure out which is my favorite: seeing Black fathers with sons or seeing Black fathers with daughters.

*he was about my brownyellowy tone and in this town that can mean a myriad of things, so I'm calling him Black to make it easy.

**as much as you can call her putting her wide open mouth on his cheek a kiss. They're fun when their still learning. Mmm... toddler saliva.