Manhattan—My City

“Baby, out in the street,

I walk the way I wanna walk,

Baby out in the street,

I talk the way I wanna talk…

When I’m out in the street, girl,

Well, I never feel alone,

When I’m out in the street, girl,

In the crowd I feel at home…”

                                                                              

                                                                 “Out in The Street,” Bruce Springsteen

     When my feet touch down on the streets of my city, I know I am home.  Iron scaffolding surrounds many of my buildings, in a skeletal embrace, and I wish my arms could open as wide so that I may do the same.  I take in the architecture, buildings broad and grand, ancient and antiqued with history, new and shiny as if just unwrapped, twisted spirals, art deco camp, dome-capped, aerial-topped, swooping tidal waves of buildings, and not one I can say is non-descript.  I know the dirty-water dogs I eat here taste better than more ornate feasts I’ve had, and a hot pretzel with mustard makes my tongue tingle before it even hits my mouth.  I walk these streets like I own them—because I do, as they own me, for no other place in the world can claim me, define me, disturb or delight me like my city. 

    

     To those who know me from their different places, I am “The Brooklyn Bridge,” and just today I got to marvel at it, having seen it at least a million times, and yet, it is always new to me.  My heart fans out like the wire-iron ropes that create the art that spans more than boroughs, but worlds inside and outside of me.  There is much in the mortar between the stones of its arches.  I am in the mixture John Roebling fashioned for the web it holds that always catches me and holds me, suspends me, if you will.  Near completion one hundred years before the Summer of Love, the year I attended my first concert with my mother, my cousins, Maria and Susan, and my sister, Ann, at Central Park where Gary Puckett and The Union Gap played, flowers painted on our faces by Maria, love beads she made around our necks, even my mother’s—who, incidentally, took the Bell and Howell movie camera (no audio and grainy film only making its production more precious to me, and was the same camera that we snuck into an Elton John concert in 1974, when John Lennon came out, and Elton surprised him by bringing out Yoko, and, yes, we got the footage)—while my father parked the boat-like ’63  Impala that took us there somewhere nearby and waited patiently for us, well that year, one hundred years before, I did not know what I know now, and  I thank John Roebling for spinning his web of glory, knowing he gave his life in its making, having been injured in 1867 in an accident that brought on the tetanus that would kill him.  Mr. Roebling, here is your living memorial.

     Today I had a doctor’s appointment, which was more like a reprieve from the debt debate (I will not start, I promise, BUT, just one thing I gotta say, because I’m reveling  in my city and I can talk the way I wanna talk:  Tea Party Congressmen, ANY and ALL Congressmen, Senators, too,  you are servants, WE are the masters.  I say you give us your health care benefits, your retirement benefits, your free gym memberships, your expense accounts—because, after all, WE have paid for them for you— and no more of your bullshit.  Masters are not to have less than servants, after all. (please no nasty emails; I am not into that kind of class thing, and I only get joy from letting loose on our “legislators,” with whom I “pull rank” every chance I get.  This week, I called our congressman for a donation of 100 pocket Constitutions to give students, which I could not pay for because THEY cut the education budget, and lectured an office staffer to tell our congressman that when you vote against funding for education you are threatening our national security because idiots can’t run a country—like we are learning everyday.  Today the congressman’s finance director called me to say I have a package of 100 Constitutions waiting for me to pick up any time.  Ok, a confession: so I told the staffer I have leverage with voting-age students en masse, and that I would be sure to let them know what their congressman would or would not do for them.  Whatever.)  And, back to you, our elected ones:   remember, no constituent put you where you are to destroy our economy and our stature in the eyes of the world, so STOP lying –Congressman Walsh, you hear that?—and serve us for the betterment of our country.  And, Obama, are you kidding me?  Cuts from everywhere it would hurt us, and no revenue? GE didn’t pay any taxes this year, but you didn’t even go for some closing of corporate loopholes?  Not even the jets?   I just do not understand you.  Ok, I can feel myself going on a tear, so I’ll stop here. BUT, I hate them. Not so much Obama, but he PISSED me off, royally).

      So, I had this doctor’s appointment, got 11 shots in between two lumbar spine disks, and my torn up shoulder—hurt like hell—and, upon walking out, we stopped to answer questions from two elderly people waiting to go in.  They said this was their first time in a long time into the city. They asked about my doctor—told them I loved him—and my meds, which strained them to hear because they do not have much, and Medicare, which will be cut, does not pay for all they need.  They said they were from Staten Island, and were going back on the last Access-A-Ride stop.  My girlfriend and I were going to take them home, but they had a wait ahead of them, and we had our Emmie at home waiting for us. I wish we had, though, but, I exchanged information with them, having to write for them because they were too feeble to hold the pen, and, telling them to ask the doctor about supplements, I offered to put together a care package for them on me.  Their eyes lit up like mine would have if Reid and Obama didn’t cave before the Republicans.  They will be calling me to tell me if the doc said it’s ok. When we got out in the street, the church across from the office struck its bells, sonorously announcing the hour.  I stood still, looked up, and I could feel a smile come on.  I guess holding pens, offering rides, making care packages, crossing bridges of all kinds make moments that make days and places holy.  Like my city.

 Helen and Joe, I hope you call.  If you don’t in a few days, I will be calling you.  Expect me, with a care package.  And, I just wanted to say, meeting you today made a moment that made a day holy, like my city, and I just wanted to thank you.  And, if you ever need a ride, I’ll be right outside in the street.

           

Nike? Just don’t do it…

 Nike?  Just don't do it...

“…If you've ever seen a one trick pony then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street?
If you've ever seen a one-legged dog then you've seen me

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?...”

                                                                                                  The Wrestler, by Bruce Springsteen

 

            Ethics is becoming the main theme around which I am writing these days.  Ethics.  I do not believe many, perhaps not even a few, in business and politics and athletics are ethical.  Usually, it is all about the bottom line: what is profitable, not profitable, what can bring in the medals, trophies, titles.  So, it comes as a slight surprise that Nike could believe that they will be more profitable if they made Michael Vick their spokesperson.  Michael Vick.  The dog killer.  Michael Vick.  The criminal.  Some say Tiger Woods was no longer deserving of the status.  Let me be clear:  Tiger Woods cheated on his wife, his family.  He did not kill.  Understood?  Now, to those who know me, they know I am the world’s greatest Tiger fan.  I freely and fully and proudly admit it.  He did more for the sport of golf and African-American participation in it than any golf figure before him.  He is, quite simply, the greatest to ever play the game.  And, Tiger loves dogs. Where the hell does Nike get off replacing him with Michael Vick?  Go on and read the details about what Vick did to dogs.  I cannot bear to write them here.  If you do not already know of his crimes, by all means, treat yourself to the literature about it. 

            Making Michael Vick the desirable image for their brand makes me angry.  Because they are betting on most of the world to be idiots.  Yes.  Idiots.  Assuming we will not know Vick as the slime that he is, and what, admire him for….?  For running around with a football and getting announcers to jerk themselves off with the accolades with which they adorn him.  To anyone who knows the sport, know this:  Michael Vick spent most of the season out with an injury.  I wish I were on the opposing line of any team opposing him.  I would look at the bastard and try to plant his head in the turf, every single play.  I am angry.  Very angry.  When I get angry like this, I have to think of a way to legally avenge my feelings, and hurt the assailant.  The only way to hurt Nike, as any other business that upsets your ideas of what is ok and what is, most decidedly, not is to do one, more, or all of the following:  Stop buying their merchandise.  Write letters to the corporate officers.  Get a petition, have A Lot of people sign it and send it in, with the note that all the signatories pledge not to buy anything Nike makes or Vick endorses.  When we wanted to show L’Oreal that we would not stand for animal testing, we did just this and, guess what?  It actually worked.

            Nike could have chosen any other more worthy athlete, or being, to represent them.  Try Adam Bender, a 10 year old cancer survivor who lost a leg, and plays soccer, baseball, and football.  Maybe Ralph Green, a one-legged, world class skier, who lost his leg when just a boy, when he was shot on a Brooklyn street at the age of 15, who is a participant on the U.S. Paralympic Team would make you shine a little brighter, eh, Nike?  And there’s Bethany Hamilton, the world class surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack.  Since your sympathies seem to go a certain way, if I were you, just for pissing off people like me, I would make Faith, the dog born without front paws, left to die, taken in by those with more sense than you, Nike, and have this little miracle walking around, making everyone around her happy, yeah, I would make Faith your representative.  Bet she would make you more money, Nike, because, you see, I want to bankrupt you rather than let you get away with this.  Oh, man, there are soooooo many who are better role models, who are more inspirational, who are worthy.  And you pick Michael Vick, Nike?  Shame on you.  And, now you will feel some pain from those who will prove not everyone is an idiot, that no one can stand dog killers, and that your criminal instincts have led you astray. 

For the dogs who could not defend themselves, who left this world with less than they had before…for all the blood they shed as he smiled when they hit the floor…for the kids who deserve better idols than a celebrated sadist, who is about to cash in on his bloodlust… I can ask for more. You don’t even have a one-trick pony, Nike.   Or a one-legged dog (more worthy than your pick).  And, yes, I can ask for more from you.  In fact, I think the whole world can. 

I hope we all just do it.

Please, send this to everyone you know and tell them to stop supporting Nike.

What Is Worth Knowing, Remembering...

        Republicans would like to bust unions.  Many say that unions do not protect workers so much as they hurt business.  Business should be unfettered; laissez faire sounds nice, don’t you think?  We ought never sacrifice our “sacred cows,” our businesses; for, why should a CEO not make tens of millions a year?  Why, don’t you know—you, meaning us, the ignorant—that they—meaning the rich, the corporate crusaders—create jobs?  Unions have ruined our country, the Republicans say.  No good, after all, has ever come from giving power to the many, the “minions,” they say.  No; like the slaves before the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th amendments, and women before the 19^th amendment, we must let wealthy, empowered interests—slaveholders, men—do the thinking, talking, and legislating.  “Negroes,” (and I use this term to show the retrenchment of progress back to a time when such a word would roll off just about anyone’s tongue), immigrants, and women need not apply—not our gifts, for we have none; not our voices; for, we cannot say anything of consequence, and should not wish our voices to join the voices of those who know better; no—Republicans say—for, we have no gifts, and, to see or say otherwise is just more proof of naivety.   

     The irony is that Republicans belong to one of the most elite unions ever created and abused.  Let’s see…what other examples might I be able to give to illustrate my point: Hitler headed the Nazi union, Mussolini headed the Fascist union, but, yes, war did disabuse us of them.  Could it be that we must “go to war,” throw a revolution and see who comes?  Maybe, maybe.  As I recall, I believe we have that right.  Yes, “…the right to alter or abolish government…” when it no longer serves the needs of the People.  (See the Constitution of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence, the philosophy of Enlightenment philosopher, John Locke, from whom our Founding Father’s got this idea).

     And, these guys who made up all that stuff about, “a more perfect Union,” and a “government by, of, and for the People,” well, call me ignorant, but I just don’t see them going for corporate blackmail, the sacrifice of the greater good, the fawning over of the few at the cost of the many, or the tyranny of the minority.  Let me note the Munich Agreement of 1938—better known as the appeasement of Hitler:  how did that work out for England?   Can we call the bowing to corporate interests appeasement?  I think so.  And, so far, it has not worked well for any person lacking deep, ponderous pockets—not here in the USA, not in Greece, not in the Middle East…hmm…search my mind as much as I might, I just cannot think of one country today that is not suffering from this delusion that you can sacrifice the many for the interests of the few.  Let us talk facts now:  unemployment is a world-wide phenomenon, at over 9% in the USA, almost 16% in Greece, almost 20% in Syria.  (See “The Economist,"  June 2011).  There is widespread rioting and protesting in the Middle East, where most countries’ median age is less than 24 years, and there are no jobs, no public schools, no public welfare programs—no satisfaction of the many.  (But, civilian death, torture, imprisonment, and rape as an accepted punishment of women are on the rise).

     I don’t know about anyone else, but I like Child Labor laws and collective bargaining.  I like fairness--what an ideal!  Safety in the workplace is good, too.  Pension plans and job security get all my dogs barking.  Labor unions got us and give us these things.  The corporate culture would take decisive aim for my head over my philosophy, so, they can have a party--the Republican one.  Unions ruin that party, they say.   Taxes are bad enough, but unions?  Unions, like taxes, are insidious, they say.  Taxes.  Ok.  Let's take that one on, just a little.  Republicans tell me that we are Taxed Enough Already--the TEA Party in particular loves that phrase.  But, wouldn't it be a grand old party for everyone if things were fair and level?  Republicans tell me I am stupid, that the more the government raises corporate taxes and taxes on the wealthiest, the more we will pay for everything.  Well, we have had an extension of tax breaks for those few and we are paying more, getting less.  So, your point?  And, to the rest of us, how's that been working for you?   Now that they have robbed the narrative, gotten the ear of the elderly and others through fear, taxed the many too much and the few too little, are we going to let this group of wingnuts take away our unions?
    
      You see, I know that cutting taxes on the top 2% of Americans (who hold about 95% of all our wealth) does not create jobs.  It creates greed.  It creates a 24% pay raise for the country’s CEOs, who are earning, on average, approximately 700 times what one of their average workers makes (not including bonuses), and who, while seeing their pay fall approximately 9% in 2009, saw their retirement packages increase by 23% in that same year, when recession was deepest.  But they made up for that in the ensuing two years, mostly by downsizing—cutting their workforces, improving their own pay, and making existing employees work many times harder for their daily bread--and outsourcing U.S. jobs to places where they can pay people less than what might even be a living wage, and increasing their profits.  More for less.  Profits.  Well, just what are those businesses with great profit margins doing?   Do you think they are giddy with the idea of hiring others?  I don't think so, or unemployment would be down.  No, cynic that I am, I say that they are prospering even more from their profits, and are giddy from knowing there is this Grand Old Party celebrating their greed (because some of it will end up in the pockets and PACs of Republicans; for, what goes around comes around).  Now, isn’t one yacht, three houses, and a chauffer or two enough for any one person?  I know, I know…silly me.

     All sarcasm—I prefer to call it levity—aside, I think unions and the power to meet power on a more level field is important.  I firmly believe there is room in our Union for unions.  I do not believe any of us would like to put up Chinese drywall in our homes, or buy cheap things made in sweatshops.  Sweatshops.  Would you want to work in one?  Sweatshops.  Like the Triangle Shirtwaist factory downtown New York.  The one consumed in a conflagration that led to new labor legislation, after it took 146 lives.  But, you see, those lives were worth very little:  after the owners were acquitted in criminal court, 23 families sued, and received $75 each.  Most of those who died were trapped by a door, opening inward, that was locked to prevent the stealing of cloth scraps.  Those women and men labored 12—14 hours a day, some seven days a week, for a set salary of $6 a week, plus overtime, when it could be had.  On March 25, 1911, it could be had.  The workers, mostly women, mostly young, mostly immigrant, ignored the bell that ended the workday at 4:45 p.m because they needed the money.  At the time, the details were not attended to:  locked doors—opening inward, the lack of fire-fighting apparatus such as fire extinguishers or sprinkler systems, the over-crowded conditions—the sweatshop conditions no one would dream to complain about because, after all, they had jobs, and must be grateful for that—were not even thoughts to be reckoned with when one wanted to maximize profit and minimize compensation, or maybe just wanted to eat and keep sheltered. 

     Some of those who worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company were members of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, or ILGWU.  The union was founded in 1900, and had brought about the “Great Revolt” of 1910, when 60,000 garment workers went on strike for better wages and working conditions.  The union gained formal recognition as a legitimate union after that protest, but was still in its nascent stage at the time of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire.  More to the point, thinking about protection of workers was also in its nascent stage, but, the women and men who died on that fateful day, one hundred years ago, did not die in vain, to be sure:

* “As a result of the Triangle fire, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union (ILGWU), the union to which some of the Triangle workers belonged, stepped up its organizing efforts and fought to improve working conditions for garment workers. Also a public outcry prompted the New York State Legislature to appoint a commission to investigate the causes of the fire. The commission's investigation, and union organizing, eventually led to the introduction of fire-prevention legislation, factory inspections, liability insurance, and better working conditions for all workers.”

     Please see:

          

* The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/trianglefire. Editors: Hope Nisly and Patrizia Sione; Editorial Assistant: Melissa Holland; Photograph Editor: Paulette Manos; Web design: David DeMello and Linda Fisher. The Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives at Cornell University in cooperation with the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, AFL-CIO (UNITE), 1998.

     I know, I know.  Who wants a history lesson on a hot summer’s afternoon?   Call me crazy, but I think this stuff is important to know.  You see, I think it is important to remember, as we come to the celebration of our nation’s independence, its birth, its development and advancement toward greatness, and more greatness still, that people die so that others can have a better life.  People like the soldiers who gave their lives in our fights to be free, and those who came here, worked hard, and died in tragedy so that others might be spared the same fate, might have it better.  They were not CEOs, not wealthy, not privileged. 

They were:

           

NAME  OF FIRE  VICTIM                         AGE                            COMMENT

Aberstein, Julia                                                  30

Adler, Lizzie                                                    24

Altman, Anna                                                  16

Ardito, Anna                                                    25

Astrowsky, Becky                                           20

Bassino, Rosie                                                 31

Belatta, Vincenza                                               16

Belotta, Ignazia                        unknown-  Father identified by heel of shoe.

Benanti, Vincenza                                               22

Bernstein, Essie                                                  19

Bernstein, Jacob                                                 28

Bernstein, Morris                                                19

Bernstein, Moses                                       unknown

Bierman, Gussie                        22 -  Parents complained body stripped of rings.

Binevitz, Abraham                                              20

Brenman, Rosie                                         unknown

Brenman, Sara                                           unknown

Brodsky, Ida                                                     16

Brodsky, Sarah                                                  21

Brooks, Ida                                                       18

Brunette, Laura                                                  17

Caputta                                                    unknown

Carlisi, Josep                                                      31

Caruso, Albina                                                   20

Carutto, Frances                                                17

Castello, Josie                                                    21

Cirrito, Rose                                             unknown

Cohen, Anna                                                      25

Colletti, Antonia (Annie)                                     30

Costello, Della                                          unknown

Crepo, Rose                                                       19

Denent, Grances                                                 20

Dichtenhultz (Fichtenhultz), Yetta                        18

Dockman, Dora                                                 19

Dorman, K                                  unknown- Identified by registered letter.

Downic, Kalman                                                24

Eisenberg, Celia                                                 17

Feibush, Rose                                          unknown

Feibush, Rebecca                                    unknown

Feltzer                                                               40

Fitze, Mrs. Dosie Lopez                   24- Survived jump for 1 day, then died.

Forrester, May                                                  25

Franco, Jennie                                                   16

Frank, Tina                                                        17

Gallo, Mary                                                     23

Geib, Bertha                                                    25

Gernstein, Molly                                                17

Gittlin, Celina                                                     17

Goldfield, Esther                                       unknown

Goldstein, Esther                                      unknown

Goldstein, Lena                                                 22

Goldstein, Mary                                                11

Goldstein, Yetta                                                20

Gorfield, Esther                                                 22

Grameattassio, Irene                                         24

Harris, Esther                                     21- Broke back coming down elevator chute.

Herman, Mary                                                  40

Jakobowski, Ida                                      unknown

Kaplan  (woman)                                              20

Kenowitch, Ida                                                 18

Keober                                                             30

Kessler, Becky                  unknown - Tag read, “B Kessler, call for her tomorrow.”

Klein, Jacob                                                      23

Kupla, Sara                                   24- Jumped. Survived for five days after fire.

Launswold, Fannie                                             24

Lefkkowitz, Nettie                                             28

Lehrer, Max                                                      19

Lehrer, Sam                                             unknown

Leone, Kate                                                       14

Lermack, Rosie D.                                             19

Leventhal, Mary                       22- Identified by gold-capped tooth.

Levin, Jennie                          19 -  Attractive woman who died with folded arms.

Levine, Abe                                             unknown

Levine, Max                                            unknown

Levine, Pauline                                                  19

Maltese, Catherine                      unknown-  Mother of two victims below.

Maltese, Lucia                       20 -   One of three bodies identified by her brother.

Maltese, Rosalia                                                 14

Manara, Maria                                                  27

Manofsky, Rose                                   22- Died at Bellevue Hospital.

Marciano, Mrs. Michela                                    25

Mayer, Minnie                                          unknown

Meyers, Yetta                                                   19

Miale, Bettina                                       18- Identified by ring on her finger.

Miale, Frances                                                   21

Midolo, Gaetana                                                16

Nebrerer, Becky                                                19

Nicholas, Annie                                                  18

Nicolose, Nicolina (Michelina)                  unknown

Novobritsky, Annie                                            20

Nussbaum, Sadie                       18 - Lower half of body consumed by flame.

Oberstein, Julia                                                   19

Oringer, Rose                            unknown -  Died at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

Ozzo, Carrie                                                       22

Pack, Annie                                                        18

Panno, Providenza                                               48

Pasqualicca, Antonietta                                        16

Pearl, Ida                                                             20

Pildescu, Jennie                                                    18

Pinello, Vincenza                                                  30

Poliny, Jennie                                                        20

Prato, Millie                                                          21

Reivers, Becky                                                     19

Rootstein, Emma                                         unknown

Robinowitz, Abraham                                  unknown

Rosen, Israel                                  17-   Sister identified body by ring.

Rosen, Julia (widow)                      35 -  $842 found in her stocking.

Rosen, Mrs Leob                                                 38

Rosenbaum, Yetta                                                22   

Rosenberg, Jennie                                                 21

Rosenfeld, Gussie                        22- Last body to be identified.

Rosenthal, Nettie                                                  21

Rother, R                                                              25

Rother, Theodore                                                 22

Sabasowitz, Sarah                                                17

Salemi, Sophie                            24- Identified by a darn in her stocking.

Saracino, Sara                                            unknown

Saracino, Serafina                                                 25

Saracino, Tessie                                                    20

Schiffman, Gussie                                                 18

Schmidt, Mrs. Theresa                                          32

Schneider, Mrs. Ethel                                  unknown

Schochep, Violet                                                   21

Schwartz, Margaret             unknown- Named victim in criminal case.

Selzer, Jacob                                                         33

Semmilio, Mrs. Annie                                            30

Shapiro, Rosie                                                       17

Shena, Catherine                                                    30

Sklaver, Berel                                                        25

Sorkin, Rosie                                                         18

Spear                                                           unknown

Sprunt                                                          unknown

Spunt, Gussie                                                         19

Starr, Mrs. Annie                                                    30

Stein, Jennie                                                           18

Stellino, Jennie                                                        16

Stiglitz, Jennie                                                         22

Tabick, Samuel                                                      18

Terdanova (Terranova), Clotilde    22 - Only victim to die on tenth floor, jumped.

Tortorella, Isabella                                                 17

Ullo, Mary                                                             20

Utal, Meyer                                                            23

Velakowsky, Freda (Freida)            20- Survived jump for 3 days, then died.

Vivlania, Bessie                                                      15

Vovobritsky, Annie                                                20

Weinduff, Sally                                                       17

Weiner, Rose                                                          23

Weintraub, Sally (Sarah?)                                       17

Weintraub, Celia                                           unknown

Welfowitz, Dora                                                     21

Wilson, Joseph                   21 -  Found by fiance; to have been wed in June.

Wisner, Tessie                                                        27

Wisotsky, Sonia                                                     17

Wondross, Bertha              unknown-  Died of internal injuries at St. Vincent’s.

Zeltner                                                                    30

AND, they were better…

Joan Reale

First Cousin (twice removed) of Jennie Franco, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire victim, age 16, to whom I dedicate this writing.  I will remember you…

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