Watch the closing doors

NEW YORK–I grew up on the New York City subway, and I have a love-hate relationship with it: The rats, the heat, the unknown substances dripping on to my head.

The so-called "Subway Vigilante" Bernie Goetz

The old "Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" captured it back in it in all it’s gritty 1970s splendor. But that was fiction; fact is, nothing gets you where you need go faster.

You just need the psychological wherewithal to enter the belly of the beast. There is no way out, and you know it; but you try not to think about it, especially on days like today: The anniversary of the verdict in the case of the so-called subway vigilante. I thought Bernhard Goetz was guilty; but the fact that it all happened on the subway was not lost on me, or apparently on the jury, since they acquitted him of shooting four black teenagers late at night on the Downtown 2 express.

Most people thought his fear was reasonable; but even his supporters agreed that, if it hadn't happened on the subway, that fear would have been unreasonable.

Underground is just different. You feel trapped down there because you are.

But you make your peace with it, for convenience sake. (My commute is 18 minutes door-to-door. If I take the bus, it's 40. If I walk it's an hour.)

Bernie Goetz? That was a long time ago. So, it was all good until this: A new "Pelham" hit theaters, this week. Everyone's worst fears realized - terrorism underground. It’s one big giant flashback. Or is it a flash forward? Great.

Now I am back at my psychological square one: I have to start all over again, conquer my fear, step all the way in and watch the closing doors.

–Jami Floyd, In Session anchor