Pet Rats and Train Lines: How a Globe-Trotting New York Native’s Passion for City Madness Shaped His Journalism Career.
John Surico is fascinated by cities: their labyrinthine transport systems, inventive solutions to ever-growing climate concerns, and the age-old puzzle of urban planning that is building a city that’s equitable, fair, as well as safe, and crime-free.
Growing up in Long Island with a grandfather who was a conductor for the LIRR, and a real-estate lawyer father, Surico has always had a burning desire for understanding the intricacies of bridging politics and society, as well as finding solutions to their modern problems. In journalism, he found a home that allowed him to express his voice freely, as he believes that in recent years, publications have been straying away from apathetic objectivism and instead allow writers to illuminate their views on current events as well as their suggestions for how to fix issues.
As citizens, “we have to question what our values and motivations are,” Surico explains, adding that he’s always been driven by the idea of sociopolitical mobilization and educating the world on abuses of power. Writing about cities gives him the opportunity to do just that, since dealing with their challenges feels more “tangible — people do have control over them,” while on a national or global scale these same challenges sometimes “feel unsolvable.”
Since graduating from New York University with a degree in journalism and politics, Surico has worked freelance and written for a myriad of publications including The New York Times, Bloomberg CityLab, and VICE. He also runs a monthly newsletter on urbanism, where he tackles topics like the restaurant business, race, and railroads. To enhance his knowledge on cities, he completed a graduate degree on transport and city planning in University College London.
Getting out of his town and having exposure to new places in the world was, and still is, important for Surico. Since his great-grandparents came to New York from Italy at the start of the 20th century, settling in Brooklyn and Queens, his family has established deep roots in the state. Several decades later, his parents — the first in his family to go to college — moved to Long Island to escape some of the urban turmoil of the city, and most of his extended family resides in the state too.
“This is where we’re always going to be,” he says, explaining the significance the state has had in influencing his and his siblings’ trajectory in life, as well as shaping the deep New Yorker pride that’s existed in his family for generations. However, as aforementioned — Surico wanted more, and thus took the chance to leave the continent as much as he could.
While abroad — his destinations including Florence, Rio de Janeiro, and of course London — Surico gained numerous insights into the differences in perception and behavior between the populations of each city. Since his graduate study unfortunately coincided with the outbreak of Covid-19, Surico got to see some interesting differences in how cities deal with adversity.
“New York City has a larger-than-life mythology,” he explains, adding that this means that its citizens’ solidarity and camaraderie are evident in times of crises, such as the pandemic. In London, on the other hand, he didn’t observe as much urge for unity: “I think it has to do with the fact that they haven’t had many modern crises,” while New York’s dark and traumatic past — with experiences such as 9/11 — can make its citizens feel like role models for the rest of the world: “it felt like we had to do well in this.”
He adds that a city’s historical narrative greatly informs how its inhabitants experience it, and New York has always had “a mentality of ‘we’ve gone through the worst and we’ve recovered’,” which maintains and motivates morale and mass resilience.
As heartwarming as this is, however, Surico fears that “people are becoming more disconnected from the urban fabric of cities.” He credits, among other factors, the rise of uber-convenient housing developments where one can find eateries, gyms, and recreational spaces all within one building, essentially eliminating the need “to experience the outside world.” Especially following the outbreak of the pandemic, where “we don’t have to go through urban arenas like the subway or grocery stores anymore,” Surico is worried that “the sociality of cities got lost, as there’s a lack of shared experiences,” and each of us can get disconnected in solitude for hours — something we couldn’t have done a year ago.
He is optimistic, however, that the expressive and communal nature of New Yorkers will ensure that these social connections can be rebuilt in time.
Today, Surico balances his freelance writing with teaching a capstone journalism course in his alma mater, New York University. He’s an avid believer in being a “life-long learner,” as he tries to absorb lessons from every outlet, project, and source — and hopes to impart some of the lessons he’s learned through the years on his students too. According to Surico, one of the cornerstones of journalism that he believes forms the foundation of the discipline is the fact that “we look at journalists for answers — readers are clear in that they want to hear our opinions,” especially in this era of immeasurable social turbulence. That being said, there’s a fine line with “smart subjective journalism,” as a writer must find the perfect equilibrium between being outspoken but also not crossing the line into sensationalism.
Finding his voice and figuring out his “role as a journalist” took time, effort, and bravery throughout Surico’s career. He believes, however, that through the years he’s acquired the necessary “disarming tactics” allowing him to gather the information he needs for his pieces, as well as the confidence to stay above cyber-quarrels with people who feel strongly about their tax money.
