holy oblivious, batman.

i, um, had no idea that a steam pipe under a street near grand central station, just seven blocks from my office, had erupted like a fucking volcano yesterday afternoon until i read it five minutes ago in a news feed. there was an unintelligible announcement on the subway this morning about there not being service to somewhere, and someone in the hallway mentioned being late because of "roadwork," but if i weren't the sort of girl who reads the news i'd probably never have known. i was still in manhattan when it happened, only three miles from the scene, and there was no indication of anything having gone wrong. this upsets me, because three miles is not so far, and people were hurt and frightened, and when things are exploding in my city--or any city--i would like to know about it. this is the price i pay, maybe, for not having a television. but for no one, not a single person, to be talking about it this morning, or asking if everyone was all right, if everyone they knew was all right . . . i mean, what the image of a dust-covered, rubble-strewn new york street must have done to some people, regardless of context . . . *sigh*

is everyone all right?