On a section of Canal Street East of the Manhattan Bridge, an area with a bustling restaurant/bar scene that has come to be known as ‘Dimes Square,’ a man is carrying a mattress on his back. He is walking slowly down the middle of the street, his eyes fixed straight ahead, his face bereft of expression. The mattress is attached to his back via straps, and the bottom drags on the ground behind him. My first thought: this is a performance piece. Several years ago a student at Columbia famously dragged a mattress around campus in an endurance-based feminist performance. Could this gesture be somehow related? If so, why has the man chosen this particular stretch of Canal Street, known for its nightlife and trendy shopping, as a backdrop? There’s something undeniably poignant, almost tragic, about the man’s presence on a street whose sidewalks are packed with outdoor diners. Perhaps, I speculate, his intent is to call attention to the issue of housing scarcity in an area famously populated by trust fund kids. A part of me wants to continue watching this man’s solemn march (as well as the reactions it elicits), but I’m late to a friend’s reading, so I continue walking. Half a block further I encounter a young woman pushing a shopping cart stacked high with an air conditioner, bags of laundry, and a framed picture. For a split-second my brain tries to link these two people in a broader performance piece, one that expands on the domestic and economic themes; then, slowly, it dawns on me that I’m merely witnessing a couple in the midst of a DIY apartment move.