Tag: #NYC

  • Coronavirus and Belief over Facts

    The coronavirus is in New York, and I am not really surprised. Whatever the issue might be, it will eventually show up here. I’m not too worried. A little worried, yes, but more like keeping my guard up, worried.

    I haven’t started hoarding masks, or latex gloves, or toilet paper. We have the normal amount of food that we would have for a Tuesday.

    We have gone to sporting events, parks, museums, and plan on continuing to do that.

    I’m not very confident in the City, State and Federal government working together on this, but if I had to pick a big city to be in when a pandemic hits, I will still go with New York. This town seems to handle disasters rather well.

    The one thing that I started to notice on social media are the anti-vaxxers making statements about how they will not be contracting coronavirus because their kids never received any vaccinations. At least that is what an old high school friend just posted. (Heard immunity, I know, they should look it up…) Somehow, not getting a vaccination is their plan to survive this.

    Selective science people fascinate me. I had a girlfriend once who swore up and down that evolution was fake and the world was only 5,000 years old because the bible said so… but at the same time, she was in college to become a nurse, and that meant medical science was completely real and to be trusted. I would point out that geology and biology and all the sciences used the same scientific method, and also used peer review to verify results. Didn’t matter, God had “told” her and nothing could dissuade her. (Yes, we did break up.)

    That is what makes me nervous about people and this virus; going off of what they believe to be true, and not what the facts are.

  • Who Can Afford That?

    I can admit that two weeks ago, I didn’t think the coronavirus would be something that we in the United States would have to worry about. The world had done a very good job at containing Ebola, and with the outbreak in China, a nation not known for caring about the rights of its citizens, it would be quarantined just like they had done with SARS.

    So, I was wrong.

    At least in the sense that we here in the US need to prepared for the possibility of an outbreak of the disease within our boarders. I don’t see that as a fearful reacting, but more a matter of being logical.

    The one thing that has jumped out at me from the NYC and NY state press conferences (I won’t even get into the ridiculousness of Trump’s press conference) is that both the mayor and governor were telling people that if an outbreak happens, “just stay home, and don’t go to school.”

    Clearly, we should all do that.

    And…

    Clearly, half of us out that can’t afford to do that.

    Half of the people out there is this city and state live paycheck to paycheck, and if they miss a day of work they fall behind. Are landlords going to let people pay their rent late? Are banks going to let mortgage and credit card payments be late? How about internet and cable companies? (I know ConEd doesn’t care, coz they don’t shut off power to anyone.) Are all those bills going to wait until the threat is over?

    There is a domino effect here when large groups of people don’t go to work and don’t get paid. I see the how the world economy is grinding to a halt just by the way the stock markets are beginning to fall off a cliff.

    Again, who is thinking about the people that are just hanging on to the edges of this economy?

  • Fats Waller

    I’m working today, and I needed some music to help me get through a rather mindless task that was going to eat up several hours.

    What was that, Spotify? You think I should listen to Fats Waller due to my recent selection of Art Tatum and Thelonious Monk? I will go with you on this, as I do know a little about Waller, at least what are his most popular songs, and his ability to stride on the piano.

    And then I thought I should look him up on Wikipedia…

    Did I ever mention that I used to live in Harlem? I used to live in Harlem USA, and I loved it. The community and the neighborhood were awesome.

    Of the many things I loved about Harlem was that I was surrounded by so much great an important history. Culturally, so mush of who where are as Americans came out of Harlem. Music, theatre, thought, literature, and social consciousness. It is such a vital and vibrant place.

    I’m missing Harlem today.

    And I was reading up on Fats Waller, thinking about my old neighborhood, I saw that the first place he played professionally was the Lincoln Theatre at 135th Street and Lennox. Not only did I know where that theatre was, I also knew that it was still standing, even though it no longer functions as a theatre, but is a church.

    I don’t know, but there was something very satisfying in knowing that I walked down the same street as someone as great as Waller. We might have been separated by 80 years, but he was there. The man who made all that great music.

    I don’t know. Just missing Harlem today.

  • Adjusting

    Today was my first day of a little depression. With the huge Camp Fire burning to the north of us, we have been covered in smoke, so we can’t go outside as the air is unbreathable. The wife goes to work, the kid goes to school, and I am at home looking for a job, and trying to write.

    It was fun for the first few days.

    Today, clearly, I hit a wall.

    I felt unmotivated, and couldn’t get going on anything. I mean, I got groceries for the family, but then I couldn’t do anything else.

    I watched the news, and just spent the day thinking about everything that could be happening to me in New York. Social media doesn’t help, because I can see what all of my friends are doing in NYC. And that kicks in the “fear of missing out.”

    But they are in there, and I am here, and 3,000 miles separates us.

    Another part of this is that I was talking to an old college friend last night, and he was asking me about how I was doing, and why I moved to California. It wasn’t in an accusatory way, more along the lines of “help me understand your decision so I can support you.”

    Why did I move?

    Well… I wanted a better life for my kid. I wanted to go on an adventure and try something new. I wanted to focus on writing. But as I was talking to my friend, I found myself saying something that I hadn’t expressed before, which was I was becoming the type of person who couldn’t celebrate other’s successes without trying to pull them down. The theatre world isn’t very nice, and I was beginning to take part in the bitter middle-aged actor stereotype. And to be that person made me a crappy father and a shitty husband. Maybe that was New York’s fault, but it was really my fault.

    I needed to change things.

    I needed to reinvent myself.

    Today was a day that I started to doubt that decision.

    Not that I am changing my mind.