Toes Take Times Square: Colette Copeland’s Midnight Moment
January 2026 | Brandon Zech
I arrived in Times Square about 20 minutes before midnight. I wasn’t sure how crowded it would be.
How foolish.
Of course, even on a cold, early January night, it was customarily packed. The throng, throughout the entire multi-block area, was standing, looking up. Not at anything particular, but instead at the performativity of the flashing, scrolling, hectic ads moving across the screens. It is worth stating the obvious, which has no doubt been driven into the ground by many a better essayist — Times Square is a weird beast. New Yorkers try to avoid it at all costs; tourists swarm to it like moths to a flame (rightfully so); and, at the same time, there’s nothing really to see.
