So I'm riding up in my elevator with Dr. Mitch Rosenthal, the legendary drug and psychiatric czar of Phoenix House, and his dog Prozac - and yes that's the name author and sex crimes prosecutor Linda Fairstein has given Jesse in her books (we all live in the same building) — and on the way to the 17th floor I told him how anxious I was these days. His response was that most New Yorkers feel exactly the same way. Phew. Glad to know I'm not alone.
So then I trudge off in my snow boots to Michael's for lunch and run into Jamee and Peter Gregory, who are very social and popular and she tells me everyone in the city is admitting to taking antidepressants. (Maybe we should go back to the martini lunches I remember so well from the 70's and 80's when we bounced off the tables at "21" and spent the afternoon in some hotel suite with an author or celebrity in town on a promotional tour. Gosh that was fun and naughty and I so miss naughty.)
I always take the pulse of New York at Michael's where Cobb salads cost a leafy $38 and an iced coffee is $9 - to make up for it I steal a couple of packages of Sweet 'n Low for my morning coffee. Bruce Wasserstein seems to be the only banker willing to hang in public on a regular basis these days but you still get Tom Freston and Mayor Mike's elegant and delicious girlfriend, Diana Taylor. Michael's may not be as euphoric as months past but these are my people and from the moment you enter the door, you're back in your own expensive womb.
I believe we need to band together these days and support our friends and show up for each other. The worst thing you can do is isolate yourself and think you're all alone in your misery. There are only so many hours of CNBC I can watch by myself before that cloud comes in over my head.
I had tea with Marra Gad, one of Chicago's best connected entrepreneurs, in town to discreetly deal with real money. We discussed how you may feel the emotional and financial depression more in New York because we're on the streets walking around looking at stores where there are For Rent signs and of course, we palpably feel the losses from our very own Wall Street. But we all know, New York will be back and this can be a great time for creativity and reinvention. Keep saying that to yourself as you help yourself to every free make up sample at Sephora.
I don't think shrinks are getting the business they once had but if you've got a good one who understands you'll be back when the markets rise and more than happy to discuss your mother again, he'll still phone in the Xanax order — generic please — even though it looks like you just refilled it.
Better living through chemistry has to be good for the drug stocks and maybe it's best to ride this out in a pharmaceutically induced fog. Or you can go to Michael's and drink martinis to help the liquor industry. See there's good in all of us!