How to Make a Subway Map with John Tauranac
Hear from an author and map designer who has been creating maps of the NYC subway, officially and unofficially, for over forty years!
Ever wonder where people on the subway came from and where they are going? The Downtown Doodler draws “Stuart” and creates a whole back-story for him.
Stuart
6 train, Downtown
5:29pm
Stuart just finished spending his Tuesday at The Metropolitain Museum of Art. It was part of his usual Tuesday routine since his wife Martha passed. He started the day at Essa-bagel, on 20th and 1st, with a coffee and a bagel with vegetable cream cheese and a cup of tea. He never drank the tea though, that was for Martha. While walking to the train he planned out his day, he was definitely going to see the Egyptian exhibits, but not the Modern Wing, he saw that last week. Oh and he had to stop by the American Wing to see the Edward Hopper paintings, they were Martha’s favorite. She used to love staring at them and making up stories for those forlorn characters.
Oh how he missed Martha. She was the light of his life, and his only family. Martha and Stuart tried to have kids for years, but it wasn’t in the cards. They filled their years traveling to the far corners of the earth. Egypt, France, New Zealand, Peru, they even went to Madagascar once. Meeting new people, enjoying exotic food and hearing foreign tongues filled their lives with joy. The even learned some Latin one year, relishing in the fact that it was essentially a dead language and since they knew it, it was almost like their secret code.
As Martha’s dementia stole her memory as well as the light from her eyes, Stuart’s Latin fell into disrepair. After she passed Stuart didn’t have the heart to travel alone. But the Met was a great place to spend Tuesdays. He could travel without ever leaving New York. Stuart also picked up Latin again, because you may never know when you will need it.
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