Author: Matthew Groff

  • The Weekday Morning New York

    I do the grocery shopping for my family. I sort of like it. And when I say sort of, it is a taxing errand that has to be accomplished each week. Carrying two heavy grocery bags from the Upper West Side Trader Joe’s to Harlem isn’t the easiest, even with using the subway. My shoulders and elbows hurt. The part I do like is the time to myself, and I get to listen to my music. Little silver linings but necessary ones.

    As a stay at home parent, I do all of this after I drop the kid off at school. As I observed, I am one of the younger people at the Trader Joe’s. Sure, there are some young creative professionals there, as well as the kids who work at night, but really, the store is full of retired people. I would also say that this group covers a gamut of ages too; newly retired 65’s to one guy who had a WWII Navy Veteran ballcap on which lead me to believe that he was 90+.

    And now that the world is sort of getting back to normal, and I’m beginning to relax into this new life style, I am beginning to see the different people who occupy the same space in the City, but at different times. I had worked, pretty much, a 9 to 5 existence at my day job for ten years, so that was the New York City I encountered; Professional people commuting, eating, and commuting again, Monday through Friday. My Trader Joe experience used to be with other professionals shopping on their way home from work. Now I’m with people who don’t work. Same city, but different world.

  • Yes, Of Course Facebook is Lying

    How many out there really needed the whistleblower on 60 Minutes to confirm what you already knew was true? Facebook makes money off of hate, lies about it, and drags its feet when it comes to doing something about it.

    I’m not a religious person, but this has all the trappings of a devil’s bargain; You can do something good with your technology and become rich, or you can ruin the world and become stupidly rich? (Google had the same choice, and we know what their decision was. That’s why they quietly deleted their old company moto; Don’t Be Evil.) Mark and Sheryl and a whole lot of other people chose stupidly rich and evil. We know that’s true because the documents prove it.

    So, how do they sleep at night?

    Somehow, someway, they looked at this data and said, either or both, that it’s not that bad, or it’s not my fault.

    My guess is that they went with, it’s not my fault. I bet they said that people were evil and hate filled to begin with. That people are just using Facebook and social media in general as a platform to spread their self created hate. If they didn’t use Facebook, they would just use another platform.

    Hey, maybe I’m wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.

    But, this platform is out in the world now. It’s being used to do harmful things; from destroying self-esteem, to destabilizing governments, to justifying genocide. Something needs to be done, because the fact is that they cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Autumn Traditions, Fantasy Football, and Facebook Knew

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    It’s Autumn, and not fake “I Want It to Be Autumn So I Put on A Sweater But It’s 80 Degrees Outside” Autumn. It is in the 60’s and leaves are starting to change. Which means in our home, we’re going apple picking soon! This is the cheesiest tradition we have in our house. I mean, I do love it, but it is cheesy. We drive way the hell upstate to find some out of the way farm that isn’t too crowded, and go crazy picking and eating apples. The kid can only take about an hour of it, but for the first thirty minutes, we all behave as if we are some sort of apple expert, deciding how many of each variety we want. But I love it. And this year, I promise I won’t make the same old line about how we’re paying the farmer to his job. No more of that Dad Joke.

    Just for the record, I have a pretty good team in my fantasy football league. Now, I admit that I had nothing to do with my teams’ selection, as I let the computer auto draft my players. But man! I’m like Stephen A. Smith around here! I do know everything!

    Yup, Facebook knew. We all know this. Facebook knew what it was doing; how awful social media could be to democracy, and mental health, and all of it. But we all still use social media. Will the whistleblower who will talk on 60 Minutes on Sunday, and Congress on Tuesday, change people’s behavior? Sadly, I doubt it.

  • Personal Review: “Desire” by Esther Freud

    (The short story “Desire” by Esther Freud, was featured in the September 27th, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.)

    A long time ago, when I was in college, I would join writers’ groups, and share short stories, and get and give feedback. I went to three universities and a junior college, and every group behaved pretty much the same. At some point someone would bring in a story that was… well… odd. Not good nor bad, strange but familiar, off kilter but still normal. There was no way to put a finger on what it is, but it was normal. But also, not normal.

    That is what I felt while reading Esther Freud’s “Desire.” The story, set in Ireland, somewhere around 1976, and the Bob Dylan album of the same name plays a part of the story as well. In short, the story is about a family; Mum, older sister and middle sister from one relationship, and a younger brother from a current marriage, who have left this current husband. The narrator of the story is the middle sister, and she refers to the stepfather as someone who needs to be left, but no other information is given. The family moves from the mother’s parent’s home to two additional homes for a stay or holiday or escape, and then return back to England.

    And as I said earlier, something was off with this story. The story kept referring back to songs off the Dylan album, but I wasn’t sure what the connection to the story was. I wasn’t sure what the narrator felt about what was happening. The way this family moved from place to place, by hitchhiking, and lots of waiting, which made the story feel isolated and disconnected, but I couldn’t tell you what that had to do with anything. It was just events happening. The aging parents are upset with the life decisions the Mum has made, and then the family is back off to England, and I don’t know how these disparate things are meant to work thematically. I was left feeling that I had missed something. And I don’t think that was the point.  

  • Getting Fired Over Nothing?

    So… Vaccine mandates are all over the news. And I get it. Not everybody thinks it’s a good idea to force people to get a vaccine, even though we force people to get vaccines all the time. But hey, whatever.  As the security guard at the corner CVS said to the unruly patron he was throwing out of the place, “You do you buddy, follow your heart.”

    I do find one group of people who are objecting to vaccine mandates rather odd, as their upper middle-class privilege is showing.

    See, there are some employers that are mandating that you have to get the shot by a certain date, or you will be terminated. Now some celebrities, athletes, and well, white collar workers are shocked and surprised that it’s come to this; termination for not following a company policy.

    And my first thought is, “Wow, you’ve never had a low paying job before.”

    I remember working at or around minimum wage, and you’d get fired for any reason. Two minutes late; fired. Shirt isn’t starched; fired. Forgot to shave; fired. Boss wants to hire his friend; you’re fired. Need to take a day off to stay with your sick kid; fired. First infraction; fired. No warning; fired. Poor people get fired all the time, and for no reason, or just cause.

    This is how the rest of this country works; in fear. That any day, for any reason, you could get laid off, or fired for nothing.

    And you are right middle-class white-collar workers, it’s not fair, but it is late-stage capitalism. So just go find another job…