People set up all sorts of barriers around themselves when they ride the New York subways; spacial, visual, auditory, etc. These are all disguised as ways to entertain oneself or stay busy while riding from point A to point B. Commonly you will see people reading a variety of books, listening to music, watching movies on their iphone. I saw my first Kindle reader the other day and that was weird.
A newspaper is one of those barriers that when fully utilized accomplishes both a physical and visual separation. Last week I saw an exceptional rendition of this block when my immediate neighbor, while on the Q train into Manhattan during a weekday morning on the cusp of rush hour, was reading his paper.
My other immediate neighbor (I was on an older Q train with the three person and two person seats rather than the more common long bench that the city is converting to) was watching a movie on her iphone in rapt attention, holding it the usual six inches away from her face and slightly slumped over it.
He was reading his paper in the most unfolded set up-a-barrier way, but in the fashion of only half of the full paperwer wide and straight up in front of himself, so that the hindge in the midddle of the long page folded away from him. He wasn't preoccupied with supporting the lenght of the paper, and in combination with the fold hindging away from him the top-half of his paper colapsed toward him, which he allowed. So the top of the page rested lightly on the top of his head.
He looked lik a child in a newspaper fort or cave. Hiding himself from the rest of us on the train; in denial that anything or one other than he and his paper existed.
