Greetings from Mamdanistan!
Wish you were here
This is the most utopian I’ve seen New York City. A photo diary.
It’s true. This June, New York City felt like the center of the country, and not in its usual, self-centered, annoying way. I’d actually never felt this in NYC before. It’s not optimism, that’s too naive. It’s more like civic pride meeting defiance, and it has been both thrilling, chaotic, yet somehow calm.
Last August, I wrote that the city felt like it was about to pop. It was so close to the mayoral election, the city was buzzing with anticipation and nervous energy. After its endless winter, it popped, all right, all over our faces. The historic Knicks win, a seismic Democratic Socialist sweep, the World Cup, a feral Pride, and stunning weather all turned the streets into a playground for all kinds of folks. So many New Yorkers in a good mood talking about how good of a mood other New Yorkers were in.
Above all, this June felt like a repudiation: the city daring to prove that multiculturalism, and not fearing our neighbors, is America.
As the city enters July, heading into the kind of brutal heat wave that separates the haves and the have-nots, we’ll see how long this solidarity lasts.
But for now, many New Yorkers are proclaiming June 2026 one of the greatest months in recent memory, and I have to agree. I have never seen her so tender and excited, as if she remembered who she was.
Some of my favorite shots among throngs of New Yorkers this June.
