I’m not a big fan of singer Chris Brown. I don’t like how he treated his girlfriend, Rihanna, but I do appreciate the pressure he’s feeling from his neighbors over an invented Urban Semiotic problem that he’s deeply invested in on a career angle. No, I’m not talking about his Graffiti album, I’m talking about his driveway.
Last night, Janna and I were rushing home after teaching in New York City, and in the middle of Times Square, I had a moment I hope I never get to repeat. I tripped — over my own two feet, or the curb, or a break in the sidewalk — and instantly fell long and hard on the sidewalk. I was stunned for a moment and didn’t quite know where I was. Janna was behind me somewhere and I remember one woman bending down to ask me if I was okay.
I work on the Upper East Side in New York City, and as part of my job take a walk — sometimes twice a day, when necessary — to the main building of Weill Cornell Medical College, to pick up and drop off mail at the mail room and to pick up and drop off any deliveries that may be needed among the various departments of the College. It is quite a pleasant walk, chiefly because of all of the sights that I am fortunate to see, and the beautiful architecture I can enjoy daily.
Continue reading → Great New York City Architecture on the Upper East Side
Heed these words well, for you never know who may be knocking at your door — be very careful when you get strange visitors that claim to be there for your benefit but really have their own profit in mind. The following is something that happened to my family recently that woke us up to this reality.
Continue reading → Beware of Strangers Knocking on Your Door
There’s a thin strip of land in the Jersey City Heights wedged between the street and the edge of the baseball field near the reservoir. A few times a year, a carnival, of sorts, will encamp in that one-block-long urban landscape, transforming the area into the saddest little carnival in the world — filled with emptiness and longing and no joy to be had anywhere for any ticket price. Even the Fire Ball circle roller coaster has no flame.
I enjoy playing online games, even though finding just the right game that suits my style can be a challenge. I have loved SuperPoke Pets in the past, and now, this week, I have a whole new endearment to endorse — SimCity — even though I have yet to play the game!
Continue reading → My SimCity Review: Even Though I Have Yet to Play the Game
On Thursday, Janna and I shared a lovely lunch at the Bryant Park Grill. I, of course, filled up on bread and made no apologies. The parsnip soup starter was delicious. The Vegan Organic entree was truly awful. If you’re going to offer a Vegan choice on the menu, you need to provide massive chunks of lots and lots of hearty root vegetables, not a chiffonade of greens with a sprinkling of quinoa and a few, limp, tiny pieces of eggplant; and you certainly don’t put the main dish star — the portobello mushroom — in a side cup chopped up like a disrespected, diced, carrot!
Continue reading → Yes, I am Filling Up on Bread at the Bryant Park Grill
I am confounded by the hatred of the Post Office by Republicans. There is nothing more American than the United States Postal Service. I don’t understand why the GOP are so willing to kill a necessary, national, institution. I love getting mail. Yes, I pay my bills electronically, but I still send and receive lots of paper letters and cards. The latest game of the 2006 GOP is being played out in August of 2013 — and the horrible result is forcing the Post Office to cease Saturday mail delivery. Email didn’t kill the mail — the fax machine didn’t kill the mail — the Republicans killed the mail.
Continue reading → The Post Office as the Last Great American Place
Ed Koch died this morning at 2:00am in New York City. He was 88. All the Manhattan television stations are plastered, pixel-to-pixel, with memories and videos from their vast archives memorializing his large life. Ed was my first New York City major, and he embodied everything you wanted in a public leader: He was brash and brilliant and caring and tough and brutal when he had to be.
I would like to make what I feel is a modest proposal that will help make the streets a bit cleaner if not entirely clean. I walk the streets every day from when I go to the synagogue in the morning, often in the dark, until I am walking back home at night. I encounter far too much trash along the way, seemingly no matter what route I choose. There is, unfortunately, only so much that I am able to pick up and relocate in the proper receptacles. We can ask ourselves why the streets are so dirty but knowing the answer today won’t make them any cleaner tomorrow.
Continue reading → A Modest Proposal: The Clean Streets Brigade
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