Why the F Train Makes Me an Elitist Jerk

Riding the F train yesterday I couldn't avoid a print advertisement for Manhattan Mini-Storage, a storage company that's been operating in NYC for what seems like forever. Their print ads tend towards elitist humor in their attempts to elicit a chuckle and make the brand memorable. The ad I saw declared, "New Yorkers aren't better than anyone else. We just dress like it." An ad last year poked fun at the woeful New York Mets (left); another warned New Yorkers, "Remember, if you leave the city, you'll have to live in America."

I wish someone had warned me about that before I left New York three and a half years ago.

I never wanted to be a big fish in a small pond. I've spent my whole adult life swimming in the deepest oceans and, not surprisingly, that's what makes me feel most satisfied. Of 27 global cities ranked "Alpha", "Alpha+" or "Alpha++" by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network, I've lived in four and have spent significant time in another eight. Against that backdrop, most of the world seems like a small pond -- and some places are going to seem smaller than others. Like Las Vegas. Smaller, scummier, and with that layer of unidentifiable gray-green sludge floating on the surface of the water.

I gave Vegas an honest effort. I took some time for myself after things went to shit in early 2010, but then I gave Vegas the old college try. After a year and a half I came to the conclusion that Vegas just doesn't have what I require it to have: an ocean of amazing, intelligent, ambitious people (the main stumbling block I see to Zappos founder Tony Hsieh's ambitious plan to re-imagine and revitalize downtown Las Vegas). In that regard Vegas is at best a brackish puddle.

Is it elitist to feel that a place like Vegas doesn't offer the same depth of lifestyle, the same access to intellectual capital, that New York offers? Probably. But that doesn't mean it's not true.

And so last week I rode the F train several times. Then I rode it again Tuesday. And Wednesday. And yesterday. Today I will ride the F train. Tomorrow and Sunday I will ride the F train. And I will continue to ride the F train until someone gives me a damn good reason not to.

Having seen what's out there in the rest of America, I'm perfectly happy living on my small island off the coast of Europe. That may make me an elitist jerk, but at least it makes me a happy elitist jerk.