junk made ill

JMI, or “Junk Made Ill,” performed live on Sunday at The Highline Ballroom for a crowd of over 500 people.  JMI was invited to play by a venue representative who had seen JMI perform at The Bowery Poetry Project on November 19^th. 

JMI at The Highline Ballroom 12/12/2011

For Jaime Lynn, lead singer and songwriter, the performance marked a beginning, but it also marked the end of a near decade-long struggle for recognition.

Lynn moved to Queens in the winter of 2002 from Connecticut determined to pursue music.  She moved from band to band in search of artists who shared in her taste in sound, genre, and aesthetic; bands like: Crucial, Spin Low, and Forminster Because.  None of these still exist.

“I was anxious.  No.  I was desperate to find the right band,” said Lynn. “I got excited and jumped into every situation that I thought could have worked.”

After six months in New York, Lynn had run out of money: her savings spent, and no job.  But Lynn had a knack for people, and she sustained herself financially by working five nights a week as a server at [bar here] on 14^th street.  At times, Lynn considered forfeiting her music career for a more reliable one.  She even enrolled in classes at Hunter College to pursue writing.  Lynn continued to allot time every week to practice her music. 

“I was pretty distraught after four years of nothing musically,” said Lynn. “Even when I told myself I was done trying I would still sneak in a few sessions to practice and write music.”

This roughly three-year period of trepidation ended when Lynn met Spencer Gabor, her current boyfriend.  In the spring of 2007, Lynn met Gabor at one of Gabor’s shows.  Gabor had been playing shows around the city as DJ.  Lynn felt that they were compatibly musically, and so they began working together to produce what has evolved into JMI.

In between bartending shifts, Lynn would travel to Long Island City in Queens to see Gabor. 

“Our first practice together was all I needed,” said Lynn. “I knew we were going to be a match musically.  He complemented my sound.”

Initially their relationship was strictly professional, but as they continued collaborating the line between platonic and romantic was confused.  For Lynn, Gabor’s erratic behavior was keeping her from pursuing a relationship.  Gabor was constantly without a job and used drugs to cope with his manic depression.  Lynn was determined to build a band, however, and stuck by Gabor during this particularly turbulent time in his life.

“I tried to get him out of it: the drugs,” said Lynn. “But that how it goes with people like Spencer.  It’s hard for them to stop abusing drugs once they get back into it.”

Gabor entered rehabilitation in 2009.  When he was finished, he and Lynn decided to move in with each other.

“I don’t think I would have gone to rehab if it wasn’t for Jamie,” said Gabor.  “It’s been two years now and things are starting to happen for us.”

The Highline Ballroom has certainly been fuller: a space with a capacity of over 1000 persons, the room was far from packed.  But for JMI, it was a major step towards recognition.  The attendees did not consist of solely family and friends, but of fans who had made the trip to Chelsea to listen to live music they liked.

“We were so nervous all week,” said Lynn. “We may have messed up a few times during our set but no one noticed right?”

“I love their sound.  Its funky, a bit jazzy, and definitely electronic,” said Ryan Tawilian, who began managing the band in September.  “I can’t wait to see where they go from here.” 

CAUTION: WET PAINT AT KELLEN

If one were to have walked into the Town Hall meeting at the Kellen Gallery an hour late, one would not have missed anything.  Within seconds, one would ascertain most of what had been talked about due to the redundant nature of the discussion.

One of the few issues that were discussed was Adam Rodriguez, his demands, and how, with the help of the nearly two hundred in attendance, The New School was going to compensate him for the damage he experienced as a result of the gallery’s occupation.  For twenty minutes he stood affront the seated audience and described the horror of repainting the walls, and the fear he underwent in trying to budget the next three weeks of life without a job.  Fortunately his supervisor was in attendance, and twenty minutes into the meeting, after allowing him to articulate his gripes, she informed Rodriguez that he was still to be paid regardless of future occupations.

After a brief interruption from an angry student, who insisted on calling the student senate out for their shortcomings as mediators, the meeting was opened up to other concerned students and faculty.  One student stated that The New School needed to consider how to move forward.  The next suggested that The New School move forward responsibly. 

After a brief interruption from the same angry student – who was promptly cheered off stage – the student senators insisted that the crowd take a vote on where to host future occupations if not at the Kellen Gallery.  Six people and thirty excited fingers wiggled in excitement, but this gesture soon proved to be insufficient. 

A certain faculty member suggested that not enough people remained in attendance to take a vote: she insisted that a vote would be a misrepresentation.  This last suggestion to schedule another town hall meeting specifically to discuss new spaces for possible future occupations was the most successful and productive moment of the meeting.   

The President and Provost were in attendance, and said nothing. 

The Bronx-Whitestone Bridge was a major step towards Robert Moses’s Beltway Park system, which was meant to circumvent the more trafficked areas of Brooklyn and Queens and provide additional congestion relief for the Triborough Bridge.  Its main function, however, was to connect the borough of Queens [and Long Island] to the Bronx; it allowed for motorists to get to Long Island while avoiding Manhattan.

After spending so many hours with The Power Broker, it was easy for me to look past the Whitestone Bridge as one of Moses’s many, but not necessarily outstanding, achievements.  It goes without say that the bridge is of great importance to the city, but as someone who does not own a car, and as someone who spends most of his time within city limits, an easier route to Long Island isn’t of great concern to me.  A structure like the Triborough Bridge, on the other hand, is very relevant for the city dweller.  More commuters undoubtedly use it, and its sheer size and cost draws so much attention to it.

Yet on visiting the site, my previous notions of the Whitestone Bridge disappeared.  Its size is impressive: even from where I stood at Francis Lewis Park – a distance of hundreds of yards – the structure completely dominated the panorama.  The bridge is tall enough and wide enough for ships to pass underneath (of course, this is what is expected nowadays, but when it was built back in 1939, not all bridges had these capabilities).  But I was not only impressed with its size, but also with its practicality.  I toured the bridge with a friend of mine, and asked her how the bridge functioned within the Whitestone community where she lives.

“I don’t know what I would do without it!” said Denise Boneta.  “I have used that thing everyday since I can remember.  It’s the easiest way for me to get back home from almost anywhere.”

Aside from the rising cost over the years of using the bridge, Boneta was content with its function.  Having done a bit of research on the bridge, I know that it has cost a fortune to maintain over the years; however, it is my assumption that the good the bridge has accomplished far outweighs the cons.  A toll of over 5$ per car ensures that whatever future repairs the bridge may need will be covered.  No problem!

#4 Train Stops Suddenly Under East River

A reported 457 Brooklyn-bound commuters were trapped for nearly two hours on Monday night between the Bowling Green (Manhattan) and Borough Hall (Brooklyn) subway stations.  Passengers onboard the #4 train described what sounded like an explosion followed by a sudden halt of the fast moving train.

“I’ve never experienced anything like it,” said Jaime Verroccio, who has made the daily inter-borough commute since 2006. “I’m never surprised when something delays the train, but this! and underwater!”

The tunnel in which the train was stopped filled with smoke immediately following the explosion sound.  Train conductors attempted to keep passengers calm, using the intercom system as a means of communication.  Their voices, however, went unheard due to poor, static-like sound quality.  According to Verroccio, the messages being   communicated from the intercom speakers were “impossible to make out.” 

Some of the smoke entered the cars through the ventilation systems, which had turned off when the train stopped, and through the front and rear doors, which were being opened and closed continuously by uneasy passengers and MTA conductors. 

“…I don’t think it was the amount of smoke that worried people,” said Timothy Robbins, Verrocio’s boyfriend. “At least for me, it was the idea that I was in the middle of…a terrorist attack of sorts that scared me most.”

The MTA has, since, released minimal information regarding the incident.  Although the FDNY was called upon to investigate the scene beneath the East River, no official statement has been produced addressing the cause of the explosion sound and subsequent smoke. 

An MTA spokeswoman told The Village Voice: “Last night at approximately 9:24 p.m. a smoke condition occurred on a number 4 train, just south of the Bowling Green Station… The cause is still under investigation..”

The vagueness and lack of information angered not only passengers onboard the 4 train, but New Yorkers who find the subway system to be unreliable. 

“That’s one thing I don’t miss about New York,” said Alex Amini, former student (2011) at The New School.  “When I heard about this it reminded me of all those times in the train when I had to wait and had no idea what was going on because they wouldn’t tell us anything.”

After FDNY concluded their investigation, the train was removed from the tunnel and normal #4 service resumed at 11:18 p.m.


VIDEO TAKEN FROM YOUTUBE. 

RE: Councilman Daniel Garondnick: the Masonic District EDITS

City [UPPER CASE] councilman Daniel R Garodnick[,]OMIT COMMA was born in raised on the East Side, and elected to the New York City Council on November 8, 2005.  Located in the East Village and the Lower East Side, Garondnick’s district is known as the 4^th Manhattan Masonic District. SHOULD THIS LAST BIT OF INFORMATION BE IN QUOTES?

[NEW PARAGRAPH] With a background in education advocacy and civil rights, Garodnick was a representative for the Partnership of New York City in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit.  Before he joined the city council, Garodnick was the director of New York Civil Rights Coalition's "Unlearning Stereotypes: Civil Rights and Race Relations Programs" in 42 different public schools in Manhattan.  [Here] WORD CHOICE he taught students non-violent [ways to fight back] USE MORE SPECIFIC LANGUAGE against racial discriminations and how to use government to affect social change.  Additionally, Garodnick represented 13 same-sex couples in search of marriage equality in the state of New York and sought and received funding to rebuild African-American churches in Georgia and Virginia burned by racially-motivated arson.

            Within Garodnick’s first year in council, the New York Times praised him for being a “champion of smarter redevelopment along the East River and a fighter for increased funding for the city’s public school students.”  In [just] OPINIONATED one year of being on the Council, Garodnick had established himself as the head-front in the fight for more affordable housing in Manhattan.  With a $4.5 billion tenant-backed bid, Garondnick’s first sign of success what his purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. YOU ESTABLISH RACE AS CENTRAL/THEMATIC IN YOUR PIECE. I WOULD BE CURIOUS TO KNOW THE COUNCILMAN’S RACE AND MAYBE SOME BACKGROUND ON WHY HE IS SO INVESTED IN THESE CAUSES. GOOD QUOTE IN THIS GRAPH.

            Latley, Garondnick has been working on the increase of food venders at the city’s street fairs.  Responding to a Daily News report about the three “street fair kinds” who run two-thirds of the city’s fairs, Garondnick said:

“There’s a value to lett[er]OMIT ing pedestrians take over the streets, but there should be more for residents than row after row of vendors selling the same thing” 

            Proposing a package of bills in an[d] OMIT effort to force the fairs to change their acts, Garodnick’s bills requires all street fairs to draw at least 20% of their venders from the local community.  Any fair operators who exceeded the 20% minimum would receive a discount on city fees.

            In addition, [the bills aim to improve] AWKWARD the way the city announces street closers, and outlines a program to test fairs with booths running [down the cent] ??? of the street. I LIKE THIS SPECIFIC DETAIL. IT STRENGTHENS YOUR PIECE.

            “We’ve got to ask ourselves what we’re getting out of big corporate street fairs,” Garodnick told the Daily News, “and unfortunately, the answer is not enough.” THIS LAST QUOTE WOULD BEST SERVE THE PIECE IF IT CAME SOONER. ALMOST SEEMS TACKED ON HERE AT THE END.

Occupy Times Square

On Saturday the 15th, the Occupy Wall Street movement temporarily demonstrated in Times Square.  This slideshow video is meant to illustrate the chronology of the demonstration, beginning with a sitting few to cheering hoards.  Talia Pulcina, from Long Island is pictured in the first photograph, and said, "This is a peaceful demonstration in a place that is symbolic for a number of reasons.  Just check out the Bank of America sign behind me, and over there The Nasdaq." The atmosphere was cheerful.  It was my observation that the occupation was not meant to instigate the police, but that it was rather a celebration of the momentum which the movement has gained since its inception over a month ago.  Roughly two hours after it began, however, police (many mounted) surrounded the crowd in great numbers, eliciting a riotous response from the crowds.  I say crowds because there were several different islands of crowds: one which surrounded the red steps at the north end of Times Square, and others (ie, a crowd that had marched from downtown), separated by temporary barricades and streets.  

ORDER NUMBER 129

The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936.  They were passed by the US Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  The programs were responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform.  (WIKI)

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Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior and Administrator of the Public Works Administration, acting on direct order from President Roosevelt, demanded that Mayor La Guardia dismiss Robert Moses from the board of the PWA (Public Works Administration). He told La Guardia that he would not approve new Triborough requisitions until Moses resigned. 

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Moses publicly compares this situation to the film, "The Old Homestead." The villain (Roosevelt) uses the power of money (federal relief funds - NEW DEAL) to force the Mayor to perform dishonorable acts. 

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Al Smith publicly disapproves of the stalemate.  He believes that "The Triborough Bridge is the key tot he success of the whole system." He points out that attempts to hinder its completion were "ridiculous." 

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Public opinion favors Moses.  Roosevelt and Ickes attempt to "save face" by denying their true motives.  Robert Moses, only months after falling from grace, regains favorable public opinion. 

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Roosevelt hesitantly attends the opening of the Triborough Bridge.  

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Area Code 666

Wireless phone service became available in six Manhattan subway stations last Tuesday the 27^th.  The MTA been working since 2004 with phone carriers AT&T and T-Mobil, as well as with Transit Wireless to make underground communication a reality.  Transit Wireless is a consortium of wireless providers incorporated specifically to provide service to those in previously unreachable zones.

What is meant to make commuting safer and more productive, however, is being met with some resistance. 

“It’s annoying, but I don’t think it’s my right to tell someone they can’t be on the phone just because it may annoy me,” said Albert Cotugno, NYU student body president.  “All I care is that I’m not in some way paying for their phone calls and texts.”

Providing those with wireless service is affordable as it comes with no expense to wireless customers, although this is under the assumption that the project’s costs are not already built into price. 

But someone most certainly did pay for it.  Transit Wireless alone invested 200 million in start up costs.  AT&T and T-Mobile contributed to the initial costs; it is estimated that these carriers will spend a combined $46 million over the next 10 years to the MTA.  The MTA is already considering incorporating additional carriers, enabling more New Yorkers to take advantage of this feature.  This extra revenue, which comes with nearly no overhead, could mean good things for New Yorkers, whether or not they are AT&T or T-Mobil users.

“If this means the MTA is going to lay off for a few seconds and stop raising the price of my monthly card then I am happy,” said Alex Amini, daily Brooklyn commuter.

MTA Chairman and CEO Jay Wilder said to The New Yorker, “…whether you’re checking your email, calling your kids or looking for emergency assistance, wireless service will bring the conveniences we’re used to through our lives into the subway system.”

Convenience is vitally important for many New Yorkers, but is it really a matter of life and death?

“It just seems logical to me that if someone were trying to bomb the subway, that cell phone reception would make it easier,” said Amini. “Is that a risk we’re willing to take?”

The MTA has made no official statement regarding the potential of a terrorist attack.  Although only six Chelsea stations are up and running, the MTA plans to expand coverage to all subway stations over the next four years.  It is implicit in the expansion of the program that terror is a risk all New Yorkers are going to have to take.


According to the MTA, the expansion is projected to cost anywhere from $100 million to $200 million.  

JUMP! JUMP! JUMP!

            Peaceful demonstrations in lower Manhattan turned violent over the weekend, most notably when NYPD officers attacked a small group of female protesters with pepper-spray, temporarily blinding two. 

The Police Department’s chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, however, said the police used the pepper spray “appropriately.” (source: NY Times).

Videos of the incident and videos like it are fueling public interest and providing for it the publicity it needed to become nationally recognized.

            “I hadn’t even heard about it until this weekend when The [New York] Times covered it,” said Carmen Melo, daily Manhattan commuter.  “The videos that I’ve seen are utterly shocking.”

            Unlike most organized protests, the occupation of Wall Street is unique in that it is without specific demands. 

            “Our goal is to expose the inequalities of the American financial system by exposing ourselves,” said Mitchell Mora, disgruntled Lang student.   

            There is shared sentiment among organizers that Wall Street folk are not taking the peaceful protests seriously enough.  On Friday, Mora recalls workers toasting the crowd from their fourth floor offices.  This gesture was followed with outrage from the crowd, which screamed, “Jump! Jump! Jump!” to the mocking silhouettes above. 

            Mora believes that the demonstrations are just beginning and that more of the “99%” need to get involved, specifically the New York student population.  Mora became aware of the occupation at The New School when he saw a student-made flier advertising the event (the flyer was unaffiliated with The New School and its organizations).

“I think it’s relevant for New School students to participate,” said Mora.   “Anyone who cars for social justice should be taking this personally and very seriously.  All we’ve experienced so far is mocking disrespect.”

            While New Yorkers are beginning to pay more attention to what is happening downtown, the nation is also beginning to take note as similar protests are taking place in other major US financial centers.

            “We know people are starting to organize in Seattle and all the West Coast,” said Mora.  “We are secure in our purpose and confident that others will understand our disposition.”

The Highline Park

The Highline Park – public, and elevated, and located on the west side of Manhattan – nearly doubled in length this past June, leaving homeowners and business owners unsure of what to expect.

The Highline Park is a vestige of the NY meatpacking industry; its function was to provide for the transportation of cattle between coastal ports and the slaughterhouses further downtown.  Today, however, it has a much different use.  It has become a very popular attraction for tourists and New Yorkers alike, who flock to the urban structure to experience its beauty and unlikely location. Its inconvenience forces many people to travel much further west than they otherwise would consider doing, thus increasing pedestrian traffic.

“We were expecting more people, of course, but we weren’t expecting this many tourists to come into the restaurant on a daily basis,” said Kendrick Greer, manager at The Half King Pub on 23^rd Street.  “I can’t say the wait staff is too thrilled, but I know the owners are happy with the new revenue.”

Yet while local business is thriving, The Highline has also facilitated an increase in property value along the Meatpacking/Chelsea corridor.  This estimated 10%-14% increase in property value translated into higher tax revenue for the city of New York, but for some residences, the park comes as an annoyance.

“I’ve lived here for almost fifteen years and I pay enough for my home,” said Mike Hoffer, local resident. “I’m just waiting for someone to come knocking on my door to reassess its value!”

Well over a year into its opening, The Highline Park experiment has become precisely what its designers and the city intended it to be: a modern, urban, open space uniquely integrated into the industrial neighborhoods near the west coast of the island.  Objectively speaking, the city has successfully turned the abandoned and decrepit train tracks into a busting park for the thousands to enjoy.

Esu Manulah, 25, who lives directly above the park, said, “I miss waking up in the morning and not having anyone around.  Now I have to look at French and German families taking pictures all day, but I guess it was bound to happen….”

9/11

Elizabeth Verrochio, 54, will never forget 9/11.  Verrochio, resident of the East Village for more than two decades, had just arrived to work in SoHo when she heard the plane flying low overhead. 

“There have been few moments in my life when I can really say I was afraid,” said Verrochio. “But when 9/11 happened, I was afraid for myself, I was afraid for my family, and I was afraid for this country.  None of us knew what was going on.”

Verrochio was born and raised in Boston, and most of her family lived in New Haven, Connecticut during the time of the attacks.  No one in her family, however, was in lower Manhattan at the time. 

Yet, ten years later she continues to relive the fear she felt as the buildings fell to their destruction just blocks from her.  Verrochio feels that she was changed by her experience.

            “I have bad dreams all the time,” said Verrochio.  “I still do.  Most of them have nothing to do with what happened on 9/11.  But I know I never used to feel anxiety the way I feel it now.”

            Verrochio’s life has changed considerably in the past decade.  She no longer works as a graphic designer, but instead invested her savings into a private yoga studio in Fort Green, Brooklyn.  Today she teaches classes three days a week and rents the space out during the time she is not there.  She finds that yoga keeps her balanced and relaxed.  She had practices yoga prior to 9/11, but her enthusiasm grew in the years following the attacks.

            “I think that New Yorkers were affected differently than the rest of the country,” said Verrochio.  “I know, for me, it put certain things in perspective.  Like that I didn’t want to be working in graphic design.”

            Verrochio is content with the changes she made in her life. Yet she is almost certain that she will never leave the city.  Like two people who together experience something profoundly intimate and life changing, Verrochio feels that she is bound to the city.  New York has become an integral part of her identity because of 9/11. 

            “…I wonder what I would be doing with my life had 9/11 never happened,” said Verrochio.  “Maybe I’d still be working downtown here in the city.  Maybe I wouldn’t even be here.”  

MY BLOCK

On most nights there are only two men on the block: the quiet homeless man, who sleeps adjacent the Baruch College freight entrance, and the stout, uniformed security guard, who, at midnight, kicks the sleeping bundle of rags awake in anticipation of miscellaneous goods.

But this 26^th street block isn’t always a sleepy no-man’s-land buffering the bustling and bussing 3^rd Avenue and Lexington.  Weekend mornings provide for it pedestrian traffic from the neighboring cities of Kipps Bay – yes, home of the movie theatre New Yorkers journey to when Union Square Regal runs out of showtimes – and Murray Hill. 

The typical passerby is the modern New Yorker: well dressed, well-groomed, well fed, and well on his or her way to work.  Most of them will walk to the 28^th Street, Met-Life subway entrance and take the 456 downtown.  Later, they will take the same route home and disappear into their respective homes until the next morning. 

Some of the passersby, however, don’t take the train on most days.  The tiny neighborhood of Rose Hill is home to a thriving community of Indian families.  Their presence gave birth, many years ago, to what is known to most New Yorkers as Curry Row, or the Real Curry Row and not the one on 6^th Street with the bright lights.  The variety of foods from almost every region of India draws a hungry lunch crowd, and a more local, family friendly dinner crowd.  “These places are famous, and people travel from all over the city for a taste,” says Miles McDonald, 26^th Street resident.  

Just southeast of this pocket of India lies the only business on the 26^th street block: a small, family-run Thai restaurant whose main source of business is the extended members of that very family.  The New York Times reviewed the restaurant almost a decade ago when it opened and described it as “…a little pocket of Thailand,” (NY Times need a proper citation).  But today the place is near derelict and without the charm of its early years; if there is even a threat of rain, the owners will be seen breaking down the modest window display and shutting its doors to the world. 

Regardless of the weather, after the sun falls behind the tall buildings of Madison Square, the same man in tattered clothes will make his way from Lexington to the freight entrance and resume his position for a few uninterrupted hours.