I walked into the explosive sights and sounds of New York City five days ago and was swept into another dimension--where time never rests, where the imagination is bombarded constantly by stimuli,like a gargantuan arcade. From the moment I left the Staten Island ferry and ventured into the deep canyons of Manhatten's skyscraper forest, it was "sink or swim." In all eighty blocks, from lower Manhatten's Wall Street district to Central Park, I was swept along in a river of three-piece suits, briefcases, shopping bags, and loud tape players hanging from the shoulders of gyrating teen-aged boys.-- Letters From Steven book, pg.15