Bruce and the 59th Street Bridge, ICE Out of New York, and Other October Moments.

Pics by robert croonquist

Pics by Diane Greene Lent

BS Ice out of NY - Pic by Donna Aceto

Bruce and the 59th Street Bridge, ICE Out of New York, and Other October Moments. 

"We spent many an afternoon hunting rug knots. Many an evening drinking wine," said Mom at the memorial of our friend Bruce on Oct 26 at Café Boulud - Maison Barnes, 100 E 63rd St, in a posh goodbye. One of Mom's oldest friends from decades ago when mom and dad moved to Princeton, we all met at this  elegant French restaurant and caught up, shared stories of knowing Bruce, of his pipes and watches, his dandy ways, and good looks, his love of French restaurants and Cape May NJ, his friends from the Hajji Baba Rug society, his trips to Russia with mom to look,  only to escape from an extortionist cab driver, his towering propriety and Brown alumni ring, his transitions and openness, his warm greetings through the years with a bottle of bubbly, his secrets and often repeated laments, his ill-begotten understanding that the system is out to get us, running away with his last legs, eluding controls.  And so we toasted him. And said goodbye, walking down to the East River, below the 59th Street Bridge, watching the whirling tides and currents below, pulling in one direction and then another, reading poetry, recalling the fates of all of our bodies.

“That's a lot of Bruce," said his grandson as Bruce's ashes whirled into the air, out to the river.

We all read from:

"White Owl Flies Into and Out of the Field," by Mary Oliver

“maybe death 

isn't darkness, after all,

but so much light 

wrapping itself around us —

as soft as feathers —

that we are instantly weary 

of looking, and looking, and shut our eyes, 

not without amazement,

and let ourselves be carried,

as through the translucence of mica,

to the river…”

With the 59th Street song in my head, I walked into the night, thinking of all those nights, about the city, about the ashes flowing into the East River. 

A full day it had been, walking around the old park, to Judson, where Rev. Silke Radosh-Hinder & Rev. Micah Bucey led us in a dialogue, on curiosity and Hannah Arendt’s notion of political friendship. 

Says Hannah Arendt in The Life of the Mind:

“Action, in which a We is always engaged in changing our common world, stands in the sharpest possible opposition to the solitary business of thought, which operates in a dialogue between me and myself. Under exceptionally propitious circumstances that dialogue, we have seen, can be extended to another insofar as a friend is, as Aristotle says, ‘another self.’ But it can never reach the We, the true plural of action.”

Can we extend that dialogue?

What happens when we do?

Do we ever really reach “the We, the true plural of action” ?

Listening to the dialogue, I thought of the history of friendship I’ve tried to understand, wondering about Aristotle’s notion of friendship as noble civic engagement, 

The ways friendship changed, became more transactional, commodified, like all our bodies in capitalism, the ways friendships inform processes in social change, as Foucault understood. 

And back my mind took me around to Arendt’s notion of political engagement, back to Aristotle.

But what of our differences, our conflicts, our personality clashes, ambitions and aspirations, through time, the Reign of Terror and purity tests, the ways we rebel or separate, severing that dialogue between we and me. 

The conversations about what to do, how we live that leave George Orwell and  Alex Comfort, disagreeing. 
The poems and dialogues that stick with us. 

At Judson, the dialogue turned to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran pastor, and anti-Nazi dissident, who spoke about about anti fascist action, emphasizing that Christian faith requires costly, active commitment, who has become an influential model for political action against injustice. Rev. Silke Radosh-Hinder and Micah Bucey worry his antifascist message is being blurred, and re-claimed by the right. 

The propaganda is everywhere. 

Every day, all the time. 

We’d been out in the street all October. 

We’d talk about it at Judson, outside Federal Plaza at Foley Square, at the CUNY graduate center. 

By way of an October Diary, about political friendship, books, actions, ways to be smart while engaging, through time, the following are a few notes along the way. 

October 9th

Full night of the surreal, we find out our AG Tish James is charged in the vindictive clown show, the tragic stories from Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, back in Brooklyn. I'lll say this, nyc loves Tish James. She was at Aunt Judy's funeral, at City Tech, at Andy's funeral. She's a home town hero. We have her back.

October 10th

Rally at Foley Square

New York says, hands off Tish!!!!

Yes to democracy!!!

The rally was my second time at the square all day. 

Court in the morning for the Trump UN zap a few weeks prior. 

Not everyone stuck around for the post court photo. But needless to say it, our day with Ron Kuby was entertaining. Greetings comrades, with his typical glasses and long hair pulled back. Thank you for being here on time, said Kuby inside the court room. While I know some of you might rather destroy the system, this isn't the place. These are maybe not your targets. Onward, we watch  cases dismissed. Young black men charged with crime after crime. The lefties sit watching the wheels of injustice churn forward, one bust at a time.

Sitting with me was Kate, telling stories about Youth Education Life Line Zaps at the Board of Education, years and years ago, the action she took the day her mom died, when the security guard at the Board of Ed, who’d seen her weekly for ages, saw something was wrong.

In observations of an activist, Barnhart wrote an entry aptly titled, “Court” about the court date that says it much better than I could:

October 11, 2025

“Yesterday was a marathon ... .We had a court date for the UN protest where once again some of us had simply not been entered into the computer, raising the question of whether the NYPD is even more spectacularly incompetent than they used to be or whether there's a secret solidarity happening. I was not in the system last time, but this time I was, so Ben and I settled on a bench halfway back, chatting while we waited for the judge to take the bench. The impression that the NYPD are incompetent was reinforced as case after case was called, and almost all of them were dismissed for "facial insuffiency" - the failure of the police to fill out the paperwork correctly. Our big group took up half the seating and we were conspicuously older and whiter than the other defendants, and when our lawyer, Ron Kuby, also fairly old and white, addressed our group, the other people were not sure whether he was addressing them as well. I saw some bemused smiles at Ron's quirkiness, and some people who were clearly wondering what we did. When they began calling us to stand up one by one, reading out the disorderly conduct charge, I could feel the curiosity in the room increase. I thought about the time a bunch of us were at 100 Centre St for court, and someone asked Elizabeth Meixell, who was the picture of an elegant older woman, what we had done. She didn't miss a beat "Public Urination," she replied, leaving me desperately trying not to laugh so hard that I got kicked out of the courtroom. In the end, we wound up with 30 days of staying out of trouble,a good deal for those of us who remember when it used to be 6 months or a year, but disappointing for those who were hoping for 15 days or an outright dismissal. Later, Ron Kuby wrote that "our judge was not the greatest ever seen in Anglo-American jurisprudence." By 11am, we were all done, and as I made my way to Broadway to do some banking for a client, I thought about my years working for CASES at 346 Broadway, which was then a court building and is now luxury apartments. I thought about the many young people who were part of my peer programs and groups at CASES, the ones who successfully completed the program and the ones who got sent back to prison…..”

ACD this time. But who knows. Next time they might not be that fortunate. We’ve seen faculty losing jobs for joining Palestine Protests. Others face death threats. Our silence won’t protect us, but we have to be smart about it. 

October 11th

Walking along the Gowanus, on the way to Principles of GI Coffee shop, we stop to pause, take in the reflections, an oil slick, colors splattered, secrets below the surface, moods, pollutants, dreams, residue of past disasters find their way to the surface, toxic residue,  yesterday's aches and pains, conflicts that remind me, plans for road trips, into new stories, piles of new novels, on a Saturday morning, reading materials on a lazy Saturday morning at our favorite coffee shop. 

Every day a story, a conversation in French to the left, bike parts and repair materials by the bathroom, where bike posters and messages fill the walls, brad's bridges of Gowanus behind us, a piano in front,  a coffee and a cloudy Saturday, chuckles in the air.

By one, we walk out for tacos and conversation, with the teenager, after running into Brad, out to    Build it Green, thrifting, the Red River classic with Al, out to DetoNation Rat Cabaret at the Theater for the New City, 155 First Avenue, with Lower East Side buddies, baseball playoffs watching with VV, discussing the play which felt like Jesus Christ Superstar meets HAIR, a full day in the life...

October 12

RIP Diane

Annie Hall lives!

With a storm in the air, Ray and I met at Washington Square Park, where we made it short, a chat about the fries, the rats and rascals, outrageous fortunes and stories we still don't understand. Judson a lovely flash and greetings, trying  to beat the storm. Out to NJ, where Mom and I talked about the altarpiece that is the centerpiece, the lamb that people kept trying to steal... the Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, the centerpiece of a 12-panel polyptych painted by the van Eyck brothers. Mom's favorite work, has been stolen and targeted for theft more times than any other artwork, with incidents ranging from religious conflicts and wartime requisitions to an unsolved theft in 1934. Back home before the storm, raindrops on the road...

October 13

Down the street from us, there's a little disco called public records with multiple floors and an active community. You can hear the music from the Sunday tea dance a block away. Inside, music pumping from the Nursery, full of people dancing to Detroit style house music. People from everywhere joining ... and then out yo big tiny for a bite... as fall turns... NYC still rolls…

A little sleep and off to take the kid back to school.

The rituals of fall are many. The late nights, no sleep, out to yoga, off to Chinatown with the teenager, catching the bus from Chinatown to Boston, talking about writing and activism, gestures of solidarity and repression,  the road between Chinatown and questions to grapple with your whole life, looking out the window, on the way out of town.

October 14th

Walking by the water, I smell the toxins below, the pollutants which linger, never going away, no matter how many shiny buildings they build around them. They always come back, reflections of ourselves.

That afternoon, Housing Works reported:

BREAKING: 30 AIDS activists, alongside Housing Works CEO staged a civil disobedience at U.S. Senator Susan Collins D.C. office. 5 staff were arrested this morning at 11am.

In a coordinated effort, mock bodybags delivered to Collins' Portland office. Their message: lives are at stake. Collins must hold Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Vought accountable for blocking HIV funding.

One of the activists faces more changes than others. 

We hear different explanations each time about how much time we’ll face.

October 14/15

Barbes on 9th Street.

HONK Opening night at Barbes. Sad, sorrowful, uplifting, sweet, low-down brass tunes. "I will...See you again"... call and response. Tuba and accordion, bass drum and trumpets, a chorus of trombone reminding us... jazz sounds into the night, across the globe. #HonkNyC #SLAVICsoulParty

Sarah Valentine wrote:

"It's started! I'm happy! That was so much fun! YAY!" I don't know if I've ever said that to myself after opening night but I sure did at 1am this morning. What a glorious community gathering that was! I don't know why we aren't at Barbes every week for SSP! 

From the Beacon Theatre  to the Market Hotel... NYC conversations.  Second night of the HONK Brass extravaganza. Frank London Brass Band with Yana and company...

We are flying stars ... rising ... rising... horns in motion. Drums sharing a story. Thus spoke zarathustra... we sang along with the band. I'm gonna be happy...  sang the band. The feeling was contagious. The all day conversation continued on the G train home into the night .

October 16th

A goodbye for a colleague. 

45 years later. Adios #citytech! Adios #cuny Thank you Dr Ayala!!!

Off to Brussels escaping the world for a few days. 

See last entry. 

No kings was marvelous. People talking about playful, ludic activism again, that it feels good to be out in the streets together. 

As Kate wrote:

“I have no voice left and my legs have had it, but the march was massive and beautiful, over 100,000 people peacefully and creatively displaying their opposition.

I am someone who generally prefers civil disobedience to marches but I think these massive and widespread marches are important to demonstrate  how widespread the opposition is and also to let people see that they are not alone and give them the hope necessary for continued resistance of various forms.”

October 20th

NY Magazine article on the nightmare a Federal Plaza

Pictures of families being torn apart, 

Portfolio: The Trap at 26 Federal Plaza

https://nymag.com/.../26-federal-plaza-nyc-immigration...

October 21

Baby C and I walked out into the city, ideas whirling, controversies and skyscrapers, gardens disappearing, secret histories unfolding about us, polluter water, old stories, fall baseball, a gust of wind....

Son Mun posted a note about a raid taking place on Canal Street:

“Around 3PM today we had the largest ICE raid thus far in NYC near Chinatown on Canal and Church Street. This happened two days after a right wing influencer from Turning Point USA “discovered” that everyone goes to Canal street to buy fake designer purses from immigrants.  Screenshots of Twitter post are below.  In the past the sellers were mostly Chinese immigrants and now especially in the area targeted by ICE, the area is where mostly African migrants congregate and sell the purses. The raid was technically in Tribeca not Chinatown as reported in mainstream media and those arrested are mostly young African immigrants. 

There have been smaller ongoing ICE raids in Brooklyn and the Bronx and recently in front of a Manhattan shelter.  Now people are scared to stay in shelters because of ICE and it will be harder to get people off the streets in winter.

I just got home because I can’t risk arrest because I have to do something early in the morning.  There are still protestors near 26 Federal Plaza but small numbers as well as outside of 1 Police Plaza for jail support.

I was heartened to see that earlier in the day, New Yorkers did stand up for our newest New York neighbors. I needed to see that because I was pretty disappointed that the largest city in this country known to be  city of immigrants couldn’t turn out in massive numbers tonight. I was grateful to see some familiar faces including my friend Robin Alperstein who was there tonight as well”

This is New York. While we were meeting, calling for the DEC to designate the hyper polluted site at 459 Smith Street a super fund site, as the plan is to house the poor on this most polluted site without really cleaning it, Chinatown was being raided by ICE, out terrorizing our neighbors. Yes this is our time. Oh my. See ya at Foley Square.@voiceofgowanus

October 22

Rally at Foley Square

ICE out of New York emergency rally  after the ICE raid on Canal Street the day before. Immigrants are welcome here, say the signs. The cruelty has to be matched with our hearts.... police line up to monitor the diverse coalition out to defend that part of our hearts, our city, that still cares.

The best part, catching up with friends from my union, from Rise and Resist....

#repost with @thecityny

————-

Chaos erupted in Lower Manhattan Tuesday afternoon, as dozens of masked federal agents targeting street vendors on Canal Street were met with droves of New Yorkers who joined in a spontaneous protest of the arrests.

It’s unclear how many street vendors the federal agents ultimately detained, though video and eyewitness accounts suggested as many as four — and likely several more.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request from THE CITY for comment.

THE CITY watched one street vendor being detained on the corner of Canal and Church street. Several eyewitnesses said they knew the man as a vendor who’d sold merchandise on the block for more than 15 years. The man pleaded with federal agents in English if he could call his mother. They handcuffed him and put him in a car and sped off from the scene....

October 23

I biked over to 26 Federal Plaza to join Rise and Resist Thursday, October 23, 12noon-1PM

(Worth St. entrance between Bway and Lafayette St.) for their Immigration Vigil outside the Federal Bldg. where the Immigration Courts and DHS/ICE offices are located. Here families are being torn apart.  ICE Agents, and more ICE Out Of NYC say the signs. More and more people are taking part in the vigils.

On Tuesday, ICE sent out a press release saying there would be a raid on Canal Street, where vendors have long sold merchandise. It's an international bazaar, selling knock offs at a discount rate. And this is why it's being targeted.

On Wednesday, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News that New York City will see an "increase in ICE arrests" because there are "so many criminal illegal" immigrants.

"You will see us making those criminal arrests to make New York safe again. It's definitely intelligence driven, it's not random," Lyons said. "We aren't pulling people off the street. There was a specific reason based on criminal intelligence and criminal activity that we showed up on Canal Street,"

October 24th

An eventful week in the city. Word about the raid on vendors at Canal Street on Tuesday, the rally on Wednesday saying enough, ICE out of New York City, the night popping with energy, and then the peaceful witnessing at the silent Immigration Vigil at 26 Federal Plaza, with Rise & Resist, NYC. We know more is coming.

After the rally, I biked up to St Marks Place to drop off some books at @villageworksnyc greeted alley the cat,  @damian_paul_bielak showed me the show at the store,   How Do We Reclaim this Place? 50 years of a City.

Curated @damian_paul_bielak

Back home for class, friends. 

October 25

I call this one Ray and the tomato, and other stories from an afternoon in the park. There's a lot to figure out these first gorgeous days of fall. Gossiping, looking about,  thinking about the city and our friends.  

In Princeton, Mom told me about her white 1961 Porsche she used to drive around Georgia. Police would pull her over just to see the car. Dinner, chitchat. And a late night movie.

"Under the thinning fog the surf curled and creamed, almost without sound, like a thought trying to form itself on the edge of consciousness."

Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep

Humphrey  Bogart and Lauren Bacall starred together in four feature films: To Have and Have Not (1944), The Big Sleep (1946), Dark Passage (1947), and Key Largo (1948). We've seen three of them.

October 26th

Hi Mom, Hi Will...early voting on a lovely Saturday.

Ron Kuby and some of the Rise and Resist arrestees after court.