Workin’ 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin’, indeed. It’s September and, whether we like it or not, the post-Labor Day life has arrived. With it comes the start of the school year and a renewed focus on work, i.e., no more summer vacation, no more summer Fridays, no more summer, period. (And don’t forget what likely will be a bruising final countdown to the presidential election...) Welcome to the New York “Back to the Grind” State of Mind.
As with every State of Mind, there are many interpretations. Putting one’s nose to the grindstone is generally metaphorical, but also can be quite literal, especially in New York. In the mid-1800s, Rochester became known as the “Flour City” due to its renown as the country’s largest flour producer, and today, just an hour’s drive south in Penn Yan, The Birkett Mills proudly owns and publicly displays the griddle used in 1987 to make the then-World Record [Largest] Pancake.
This is far from the only example of how the state's 19th and 20th century industrial traditions — of grain milling, fruit pressing, gemstone and slate mining, leather-working, blacksmithing and metalworking — live on, and are flourishing with new interpretations.
We invite you to learn more about the unique New York grind by reading our Magazine stories, published throughout September, and also by shopping everything you need to get back to the grind on NewYorkMakers.com. It’s all about that hustle, cause haters gonna hate but (New York) makers gonna make.
From New York City,
Christine Murphy
Co-Founder, COO and Editor in Chief
[Illustration by Lizzie Niemczyk for New York Makers.]