New York, New York

Hey guys, I really have nothing to say. I've had a hard couple of weeks. My stepbrother just got out of the hospital (not as bad as it sounds, he had a minor lacrosse injury) and I've been in bed with a cold which may or may not be developing into bronchitis and/or pneumonia (once again, totally not as bad as it sounds). Basically, I'm pretty beat.

I just want to quote you guys something pretty.


"When I think of New York I have a very different feeling. New York makes even a rich man feel his unimportance. New York is cold, glittering, malign. The buildings dominate. There is a sort of atomic frenzy to the activity going on; the more furious the pace, the more diminished the spirit. A constant ferment, but it might just as well be going on in a test tube. Nobody knows what it's all about. Nobody directs the energy. Stupendous. Bizarre. Baffling. A tremendous reactive urge, but absolutely uncoordinated.
When I thinking of this city where I was born and raised, this Manhattan that Whitman sang of, a blind, white rage licks my guts. New York! The white prisons, the sidewalks swarming with maggots, the breadlines, the opium joins that are built like palaces, the kikes that are there, the lepers, the thugs, and above all, the ennui, the monotony of faces, streets, legs, houses, skyscrapers, meals, posters, jobs, crimes, loves.... A whole city erected over a hollow pit of nothingness. Meaningless. Absolutely meaningless. And forty-second Street! The top fo the world, they call it. Where the bottom then? You can walk along with your hands out and they'll put cinders in your cap. Rich or poor, they walk along with head thrown back and they almost break their necks looking up at their beautiful white prisons. They walk along like blind geese and the searchlights spray their empty faces with flecks of ecstasy." (Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer)

activism and meteorology

Maybe it's that time of the semester when everyone is feeling exhausted, but I would also echo Anthony and Sophia in saying that this city takes it out of you. I feel this all the more acutely since I just got back from Miami, where the weather was perfect. It wasn't long after getting back to New York that I was consumed by the usual pandemonium--last night there was a pretty good protest at Baruch against CUNY tuition hikes, but of course it involved a lot of racing cops on scooters, which is becoming something of a sport. Last week we got to experience CUNY police's crowd control tactics, which leave a lot to be desired (see this video, particularly around minute 3). New York feels more and more like a pressure cooker every day.

I am glad to be here right now, though. Being in Miami is like being in the eye of a hurricane; things are calm and the weather is great, but in reality there's chaos all around you that you might just not see. New York is more like the cold front that can move the storm in an unexpected direction. Ok, my metaphor is breaking down, so I'm going to quit while I'm ahead. My point being that this is a great time to live in New York.

Response to Sophia

Sophia,

Some of the same thoughts crossed my mind as I sat down to write this post. I am absolutely exhausted!!!!! This semester has been the most stressful and difficult few months of my entire life. I had so much work I needed to get done over break that I just shut down and did none of it. Had it been someone else who demanded that we start sticking to deadlines for this tutorial, and not myself, I would not have sat down to write this now. I am unsure of how I will be able to get my work done before the semester ends. Clearly, you feel that the city is a huge cause of your exhaustion. I feel that way too. This city has a way of draining the energy out of even someone as hyper as myself. However, I feel differently than you. While your now considering leaving, I am coming to the realization that I can never leave. I think it is fair to say that right now I am feeling far more miserable than I thought I ever would in college. I haven't felt this way since junior year of high school. And, I never thought i could feel it here! But, what worries me most is the thought of leaving the city behind. I would rather bear the misery I feel now for the rest of my life then be back in Connecticut living a calmer life.

Our emotions now should definitely be considered for this course because they reveal the emotions of every New Yorker before us. This city has a way of drawing people in no matter how hard on them it might be. And, it can also push people away! It is absolutely a bizarre phenomenon and one that makes this place so unique!

"Something Interesting"

I fear that I have nothing great to say right now. I've had an exhausting few days. I can't think of much to say about the city, except that I'm slowly beginning to want to leave. When I look at grad schools, I hardly consider the ones here anymore.

--

But what else? I've been watching this again, and again. I don't watch Keith Olbermann that often, but this really got to me. It's a great clip, you should watch it.

Besides that, I've been reading a lot about Occupy Wall Street (including Caitlin's amazing op-ed). I was down at Foley Square during the protest--my co-workers and I left work to march. But, I don't know if there's anything to say about that and the city. Simply that, I can't imagine this starting anywhere. It's becoming reminiscent of the 70s. But, I'm not sure if it has to do with the culture of the city and the sheer mass of people (which, I think, we only begin to get a sense of during these protests) or, as Olbermann suggests, it has to do with New York politics. I couldn't really say.

--

My research is coming along slowly. I regret not doing more during the break. My dad and I talked about ACT UP some when I was home (he was a doctor at public hospitals during the 80s, dealing mostly with AIDS patients). He said that, despite the fact that they were protesting outside of his office what felt like every day, he admires them for getting the national tone to change when dealing with AIDS.

It's called a direct action approach and despite being labeled "militant," they were so helpful to cause. I think I might like to compare their work to what is happening now.

Real Estate

So, I still need the weekend to do some research. But, I know I want to do my project on New York Real Estate. Either, Alphabet City, Stuy town, Harlem, or an area in Brooklyn like Bensonhurst. What fascinates me about the real estate world in New York City is how volatile the market is. It is a constantly changing market. One minute a minute is nice, the next a bad area, then it is being gentrified again. In order to understand the factors that are causing this transition you need to understand world events influencing immigration, countrywide events that also influence immigration or emigration from the city, and social and economic factors within the city. So, I can't give more of an explanation because I want to do more research on these areas and see what is of the most interest to me. But, for now I can say my paper will be on New York City Real Estate.

Transit Workers Union and much more

For my final paper I'd like to continue my research on the Transit Workers Union, particularly their activities in the 30s. I'd like to look at how other labor struggles--in Flint, Detroit and elsewhere--shaped their organizing. I'd then like to look at current labor struggles in New York (Sotheby's for example) and examine how they might also be unique to a moment in time, part of a broader movement. I'm not sure if this is too much to cover in one paper, but in this last paper I'd like to connect the goings-on of NYC to the rest of the country (and beyond). I think we are seeing a reawakening of class consciousness ight now from Wisconsin to Manhattan, and it is interesting to look at how the local struggles we witness are part of a bigger movement, and have been for quite some time.

ACT UP! (Fight AIDS)

Okay, so I think I want to do my final paper on the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, also known as ACT UP. They basically started in New York in 1987 because a) there was rumored to be experimental treatments that the general public was being denied and b) they were unhappy with general policies/attitude toward both the HIV-infected community and the LGBT community. It's extraordinary interesting because ACT UP has been criticized for being too "militant" but I think they demonstrate how activism and civil disobedience can lead to policy change so... something along those lines?