For a quarter century
now, I’ve considered New York my favorite city.
There are times I detest her. I
need a break from her. She breaks my heart. But she’s always
there, her people pouring out into the streets when the sun comes out. There is a solace in the bodies of people
making their way out to play in Prospect Park, or people watch in the still honkey-tonk Coney Island, or converge for book groups, as we did this weekend, talking Malcolm X: a Life of
Reinvention, Baldwin and then wine and cheese, dinner and a few more hours watching I Am
Not Your Negro. The next morning, we made our way to the Lower
East Side to celebrate the vibrant history of the Puerto Ricans, the squatters,
anarchist gardeners and environmentalists.
I love New York for its
rambunctious people, connecting our lives and longings for something
larger. Walking through the Museum of Reclaimed
Urban Space, I looked at the posters and collective
messages of the squatting movement, Seth and Sabrina’s iconic images all over
the small gallery.
by Amy Starecheski was sitting there. Nothing
to Lose is a story about organizing and collective myth making. A fascinating piece of scholarship and
movement history, the book traces many
of the contradictions, legends, and collective ambitions of this movement that
helped expand a way of reimaging urban space. In so doing, this movement helped
cement a victory for a more sustainable model or urban living, connecting green
spaces, housing, and a model of do-it-yourself world making.
From
the Lower East Side, we made our way up to 41st to dig through piles
of manga and anime comic books at Kinokuniya, our favorite comic
store in New York. And then to
to Princeton and Garrison to visit grandparents nearby.
This is the brilliance of
the city, its mix of people and ideas, culture and comics, friends and neighboring communities.
As we speak, the president is pulling out the
Paris climate accord. It makes me sick
to my stomach to hear this. The three issues I have worked on the most for
the last decade - healthcare, environment, and unions - are all on the chopping
blocks. And i don't know what to do about it. We are being ruled by an imbecile. Doesn't he know his real estate is
not going to be worth anything if its under water?
Walking the streets, i look at the people enjoying the streets and clean skies of this global city. And i worry about them, their healthcare, our environment, and work all under duress by corporate interests. But we still have nooks and crannies of New York.
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