New York is a city of characters. The Green Thumb, whose community garden in a Brooklyn housing project shows children that eggs do not come from eggplants. The Dictaphone Doctor, last of a dying breed. The Jury Clerk, who says ‘Good morning’ 200 times a day, and means it. The Teenage Mother. The Tabloid Photographer. The Iraq Veteran. The Walking Miracle. Throughout 2009, the Times introduced 54 such individuals in sound and images, ordinary people telling extraordinary stories—–of passions and problems, relationships and routines, vocations and obessions.