Gotham City Soul

This morning I walked out of my building and down the street toward Avenue A when I saw something that made me stop. Written in colored chalk on the sidewalk in front of a building a few feet from my own was this: Josephine Carlisi Age 31 Lived at 502 East 12 Street Died March 25, 1911 Triangle Factory Fire Who wrote this? It was clear by the date why it was written. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was a horrifying event; immigrant seamstresses, many of them teenagers were trapped in a blazing building with almost no way out but to jump. And many did jump from the eighth ninth floors of the building and died right in front of witnesses. The reasons for the senseless death of 146 young men and women (most of whom lived in my neighborhood and the Lower East Side ) were typical. The factory, located in the Asch Building (now the Brown Building) on Washington Place and Greene Streets—today a posh neighborhood—was a sweatshop—unsanitary, unsafe, rarely, if ever inspected, where indivi...

This morning I got an e mail newsletter from my friend and health counselor Sacha Jones telling me that over the next few years, New York City is going to be planting a million trees. That's great news on its own, but it gets better: We get to help decide where! Go directly here if you want to cut to the chase and put in your vote. I did; it took me about a minute. Wouldn't it be nice to have a new tree on your block? Not to mention the extra pollution and CO2 filtering effect and the oxygen . And the birds. Red-tailed hawks and even a Great horned owl have been spotted in nearby Tompkin's Square Park. And the shade! And the spring buds. And standing under a tree in the rain. Perhaps I'm feeling even more passionate about trees than usual because a tornado took down a huge maple tree in front of my childhood home (and still my home) in South Jersey a couple of weeks ago. If you'd like more information you can visit the Million Trees Project. If anyone out the...

It seems that my job is keeping me away from Gotham City Soul, and that Friday's are for abbreviated blogs that lift the spirit. I have so many many things to write about, and when I can arrange my time, I'll be giving you more history, and culture and soul than you'll probably want to read. Until then, this morning Cousin Taroue Brooks sent this video, the song "Sun Moon Child is by Imani Uzuri, created by Pierre Bennu. Lovely.

Time for a little levity. It's Friday and I need to laugh. Yesterday I was on youtube taking a break, looking for something to make me laugh, and I typed in the Little Rascals. I don't think I've laughed so hard or so much in a long time, and it's been a long time since I watched Spanky, Stymie, and the rest of the gang cutting up. Decades later and they are still fresh! Yeah, there is the occasional stereotype that could be offensive taken out of context. But honestly, the natural fun the kids get up to, and the interracial cast, with black actors like Matthew "Stymie" Beard (who got paid the highest when he was on the show) taking center stage makes these pretty ahead of their time. Take a look at the clip from the episode "The Kid from Borneo" then tell me you didn't laugh until your stomach hurt. I've just a clip (the full episode was pulled off by a company that allegedly holds a copyright on the clips I used to have here), but t...

In the wake of the Boko Haram atrocities, I returned to this blog entry, one of a few I've written about nations in Africa and their people. It was worth looking at it again, because I think that recognizing how we are more alike than different is a way to giving a damn. I also think we need to see good and positive and downright wonderful things about the 47 plus 6 island nations and its people. And I needed to remind myself not to wait until a movie is made or a memoir written to pay attention. This was written eight years ago, but I still resonates with me. In January of last year [2007] I caught a cab home from work. As we drove along I listened to the talk show the cab driver had tuned into on the radio, it was one of those call-in shows, and the subject was homeland security. I don't remember exactly what was said, because I really wasn't listening too hard. But the driver was. After a few minutes of the men on the radio prattling on about whether our governme...

The shortest month of the year should be the easiest, but it never is. Black History Month, coupled with the fact that my dad died in this month, make it busy and sorrowful for me. Busy and sorrowful are waters that are strange to navigate, and I for damn sure don't feel like preaching any black history today. So here is something that makes me smile every time I hear it, and I hope it will make you smile, too. Roy Ayers' "Sunshine". It's the herald of Spring, the promise of Summer. And while we're at it, to keep it Gotham, lets add Tom Browne, jazz trumpeter from Queens, with his classic "Funkin' for Jamaica (New York)".

Okay folks, I want to know: Which candidate, if any, do you think you will vote for in the primaries: Barack Obama; John McCain, Hillary Clinton; Mitt Romney; John Edwards; Mike Huckabee; Rudolph Giuliani (if he's still in the race come Super Tuesday)? I'm curious. I also want to know your race and gender and religion (if you are religious/spiritual) and approximate age. I'm reading so much about how this presidential race is about age, religion, gender, and color (as if no others were; this one is just more obvious). I want to see if there is anyone out there who breaks the demographic mold set up by (omnipresent, ever-shifting) polls. I won't try to convince you to vote for anyone, or ask you to say why you're voting for whom your voting, although I will be transparent and say if I could vote in the New York State primary (I can't because I'm not affiliated with a party: I would have had to become affiliated before the last general election) I'd be vot...