Below The Surface, More Clatter Than Cheer

This was written around Christmas 2004, but it might as well have been Memorial Day. Dan Barry: THE songs and carols tell us that it is Christmastime in the city, with children laughing and people passing, greeting smile after smile. They implore us to say hello to friends we know, and everyone we meet. They ask us: Do you hear what I hear?

So let us accept that challenge, and set out to hear the sounds of Christmas Eve 2004 in this city. Let us meander by way of an express subway line whose symbol resembles a red tree ornament — the 3 — and rise occasionally from the bedrock to squint and listen in winter’s weak daylight.