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New York

Metropolitan

Growing Up New York

Growing Up New York

Highlights

  1. Photo
    Fanta Diop of the Bronx calling her mother after arriving in Manhattan on her way to school.
    CreditCaitlin Ochs for The New York Times

    What Makes a New York City Kid?

    To answer that question, we talked to a dozen young New Yorkers, who told us their stories and shared videos shot on their phones.

     By Andy Newman

    1. Photo
      “When Eli was 6 and we were walking to school, he turned to me and said, ‘Nomah (what he calls me) are most pigeons homeless?’” wrote Lea Forant, 61, of Hell’s Kitchen.
      CreditThomas Slater

      Growing Up in New York, the City That Never Naps

      The New York Times asked readers to recall a moment when their child, or a child they knew well, said or did something that made them think, “This is a New York City kid.” Here is a selection of those responses.

       By Amy Zerba

    2. Photo
      Nellu Mazilu, about 8 or 9, with his mother, Christiana, meeting Mayor Edward I. Koch of New York in 1985 during his re-election campaign.
      CreditFamily Photo

      New York City As a Kid

      The Times asked readers to send in photographs from their own New York childhoods. The New York in these images is a world without fear and with all of life in front of it.

       By Amy Zerba and John Leland

  3. Photo
    Harsh Crowd this month in Manhattan. From left, Dea Brogaard-Thompson, Willow Bennison, Lena Faske and Rihana Abdulrashid-Davis.
    CreditYana Paskova for The New York Times

    Harsh Crowd: Indie Rock Veterans at Age 14

    Mature beyond their years, the four teenagers in this New York band are forging a feminist pop-punk sound all their own.

     By Laura Barcella

  4. Character Study

    Photo
    Kai Victor, a high school senior at the Dalton School, scanning the trees for birds in Central Park.
    CreditDemetrius Freeman for The New York Times

    Rare Find in New York: A Teenage Birder

    Kai Victor, a high school senior, grew up next to Central Park and has been fascinated with birds since infancy.

     By Corey Kilgannon