Ford Street

At long last, Dan...

So here is my post for 2009.  It was an interesting year for me – I learned a lot at work and enjoyed it very much most of the time.  Personally, I celebrated two years with Rebecca back in May and I couldn’t be happier.

The reason that I don’t post here any more is, simply, Facebook.  Yes, it’s an awful reason, but Facebook is a very satisfying way to reach most of the people that I want to reach, in short controlled bursts.  There isn’t any room to expound, and I miss expounding, so I’m going to try and post here again on a regular basis.  Not like the old days, but still…

Here is a random snippet of Facebook updates for the year, just because it’s a unique way to look back over a year. 

 

Happy New Year, all, and thanks, Dan for nagging me.  :-)

 

What's Really Important

I work with a team of really smart, fun people.  We get along famously, because I like the way they think -- here's a good example.  About two months ago, we were stuck on a really long conference call and a couple of my colleagues decided to make a list, on my white board, of things they thought we needed for the office.  Just some basic stuff, you know, to bring up morale during these tough times.  Here is the top ten, as prioritized by one of them...

1. A lazy river

2. Puppies

3. A Masseuse

4. Mini basketball court

5. Swim-up bar w/waterfalls and cabanas

6. Yoga/pilates studio

7. Chop't (a local NYC salad restaurant/delivery place)

8. Personal TVs

9. The Harlem Boy's Choir

10. A Mediterranean bar

That's it.  Just the stuff we really need.  You gotta admire their optimism. 

That's Not What Democrats Do...

The following letter was written by a friend of  mine. 

Dear Sen. Biden-

I voted enthusiastically for you and Sen. Obama and would do so again in a heartbeat.

But I am concerned going forward about your support for the credit industry at the expense of working people. I am fine, but a very dear friend of mine is in deep financial trouble.

 

You see, she was in the process of a divorce from an abusive husband who had undergone extensive medical treatment for depression when he committed suicide in September. She is now faced with her own steep medical bills from rheumatoid arthritis, her ex-husband's medical bills and car payments and a mortgage on her home. She even has to pay off his credit card bill, which includes the gun her ex-husband used to kill himself.

 

She is in deep financial straits, yet she cannot declare bankruptcy because of the law you spearheaded to protect the credit card companies. You and Congress have found it in the country's best interest to bail out the banks that put us in this mess. Yet ordinary citizens who have been hit with more than their fair share of bad luck are suffering terribly in the meantime.

 

As a Democrat I reach out to you in your new position as Vice President of the United States--versus senator of a bank-friendly state-- to put the marginalized people of America at least on par with the banks you are striving to rescue. It's the Democratic thing to do.

It's Finally Election Day -- updated

Whew...

"We're all drinking out of the same fountain now."

-- Former NYC Mayor David Dinkins

It's Finally Election Day!

I waited nearly ninety minutes to vote.  And was happy to do it. 

I'm going to go back later and see if they'll let me do it again. 

The Kind of Man I Would Like in the White House

That's the title of an essay contest that I entered while a fifth-grader at P.S. 277 in Gerritsen Beach, Brooklyn. I am pleased to report that I won that essay contest and was entered in the district-wide contest, and P.S. 277 put together a little booklet with all of the winning entries in it. I found that booklet when I was moving recently, and read my essay again. Here it is:

The kind of man I would like to see in the White House is an honest man. A man who is kind, patient, fair, resourceful and although a sense of humor is not a must, it certainly would help any man that will have as hard a job ahead of him as the president does.

He must be a man who can get along with everyone, because the president must try to keep peace in our country. He must also be able to make friends of foes. The man who becomes president must be a man who believes in God.

Last but not least, the man who becomes president must be a concerned man, concerned about our old people, concerned about our young people, concerned about our health and environment, and concerned about our under-privileged. In short, the man who becomes President of the United States should be as concerned with our problems as he would be with his very own family's problems. While he is serving as President of the United States, he is also the father of our country.

OK, so it's a bit repetitive, and I clearly had too much on my mind for a fifth-grader, but my point is, I still agree with much of the sentiment. (I was a little judgmental there with the God thing.)

Richard Nixon was re-elected that year, easily beating George McGovern. I wonder why I was so worried about the election that year! Maybe I was able to see into the future. I don't think I can see into the future now, but I'm just as worried about the election this year. I'm in fact a little obsessed. I'm obsessed about the outcome, and I'm obsessed about Prop 8. I want it to be Election Day TOMORROW.

Four more days.

How Not to Win an Election

I am astonished at the animosity thrown at the Obama/Biden ticket by supporters of McCain/Palin.  Now, I’m not naïve; I know that the reverse is true of some people.  But it seems to me that, in my world, I’ve seen nothing but hate tossed at Obama by Republicans. 

Anyone using his middle name as a way to scare people is just simple, and more to the point, that’s insulting to a potential audience.  You’re assuming that the people you’re talking to are stupid enough to cast doubt on a man because his middle name is Hussein. 

I’ve seen Obama referred to as “Hitler” which shocked me.  Hitler?  Really?

I know that Democrats, myself included, have been having a field day with Sarah Palin.  But I feel as though fear is motivating me, not hate.  I don’t know anyone who hates Sarah Palin.  The idea of her representing this country in general, or me in particular, scares the living daylights out of me.  So, yes, I laugh my head off at Tina Fey, but mostly I’m scared, because the SNL writers don’t have to work that hard at all to produce a sketch that is hilarious and ends up, for heaven’s sake, on Meet the Press!  I can’t remember ever seeing SNL discussed on Meet the Press.  And all of the moderators giggling like little kids.  That just adds to my fear. Yes, America, it would be a very scary thing to have Sarah Palin in the White House. 

I think Tina Fey is helping people realize exactly that.  We’re laughing here in New York, which I’ll admit is its own little bubble, but people are laughing all over the country, and as they’re laughing, or sending links to their friends, (hopefully) they’re thinking, this would be a mistake…a mistake…

Of course, the people watching SNL are likely liberals anyway, so we’re not exactly reaching the intended audience.  But still.  People forwarding links…word is getting out.  Those Katie Couric interviews…in a sane world, Palin would have been pulled off the ticket straight away.  Why leave her on the ticket when she’s turning your campaign into a punch line?  I am not a professional political operative, so I’ll just wonder.  And be scared. 

But anyway.  Back to the hate.  It has been suggested to me that people sling hate at Obama because they’re racist, and I don’t believe that either.  (Perhaps because I am ever the cock-eyed optimist, and choose to think the best about people.)  It has been suggested to me that I’m a racist, because Obama isn’t exactly ringing my bell.  I am not a racist; it’s just that he’s not my ideal candidate.  But he’s smart, and I want a President who is smart.  He’s capable of leading the country, and I want a president who is capable.  He does have a certain amount of gravitas, and I think that’s important as well.  I believe he’ll be a compassionate president, because of what he’s had to endure in his life, not the least of which is people calling him Hitler, or believing that he’s evil because his middle name is Hussein.  Or believing that he’s not capable because he’s black. 

Not many candidates have the amount of economic expertise that’s ideal, or the amount of foreign policy expertise, or the amount of any kind of expertise, for that matter.  Being President of the United States is purely on-the-job training.  You want someone who can expand, or contract, as the need arises.  I don’t want John McCain in the White House, and I don’t want Sarah Palin in the White House.  I don’t want to watch the debate tonight because I fear that it will be a contest to see who can debase the other fellow more efficiently.  I lose respect for candidates when they say things like, Obama is pals with a terrorist.  And I’m tired of hearing the word “Maverick” – especially from a tired old man.  He’s probably a very nice tired old man, but I don’t want him in the White House.

Here’s an apt quote from the movie “The American President” --

“We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you, [John McCain] is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family and American values and character.“

And you imply that a man named Barack Hussein Obama is a terrorist, because his background isn’t like yours. 

Maybe, if Obama wins, that will make us all a little more tolerant.  Lord knows we need it. 

Sarah Palin Debate Flow Chart

Kudos to this guy:

Shea Goodbye

Yesterday I went to Shea Stadium for the last time. 

It was a horrible, horrible day all the way around.  I was certain that it wouldn’t actually be the last game; the stars would align, Milwaukee would lose, and the Mets would win, and we’d be playing ball in October. 

None of that happened. 

The weather was lousy; wet and humid.  On the upside, we had terrific seats, and the energy for most of the game was, well, amazin’.  When the scoreboard updated the Milwaukee-Chicago game, though, that “3-1” just shut up everyone in the house, and it got very quiet. 

The ceremony was held after the game – a spectacular lack of judgment on the part of Mets management – and that brightened everyone’s spirits just a little.  Lots of players who made names for themselves as Mets, including many who contributed personally to my enjoyment of baseball in my formative years, and of course, the ’86 team.  The whole thing was tinged with sadness, though, and I can’t help feeling that it would have been more of a celebration if it had been held before the game. 

I will always have a special place in my heart for Shea Stadium.  Just driving past it cheered me up.  I loved going to Mets games through the years, with Mike, with Dan, with Vicki, and now with Rebecca.  I went to some concerts there as well, including the Billy Joel concert this summer.  Lots of people thought it was a dump, and maybe it was a dump, but it was home.  It felt good to be there.  It felt holy to me, at times.  Magic things happened there (yes, I think magic things  happened there, even though I am a Mets fan.)  Funnily enough, I took my sister Vicki to her first-ever game at Shea, and when I got to the stadium yesterday, I wondered aloud to Rebecca where she was sitting…and she was three rows in back of me.

Another reason it was holy to me: though I never got to go to a Mets game with my father, Mike did.  We had tickets one night, many many years ago, and I didn't or couldn't go for some reason.  So Mike took my Dad.  The image of the two of them at that ball game comforts me in ways I can't explain.  It makes me tear up, even though my father died 22 years ago.  (The same year they won the World Series...coincidence?  I DON'T THINK SO.  It was my Dad that kicked the ball through Buckner's legs, and that's a fact.)   

It’s tough to have a part of your life disappear; it reinforces the passing of time and the speedy advance of age.  I will miss the bright blue stadium.  I am, of course, eager to see what the springtime and Citi Field will bring; a shiny new stadium will make me temporarily forget how much I miss Shea.  I hope they mark the parking lot somehow, as in “this is where home plate was” or “this marks the location of the crappy Carvel stand” or some such.  I hope they take the Apple with them, and the NYC skyline, complete with World Trade Center and ribbon, to Citi Field.  I’m taking all of those things with me, in my heart. 

Oh and one last thing.  I’m not calling it Citi Field.  Shea, it stays.

Photos courtesy of the New York Daily News.

Blue Skies, Mr. Newman