Well, here we are, nearing the end of the old year and welcoming a new one.
I’m trying to finish my 2024 reading, with carry over into the next year, in addition to making final charitable donations.
Gothamist had a post by Hannah Frishberg on December 18, 2024, on the popular books of 2024 of the NYC public libraries.
I still appreciate the NPR Books We Love; the 2024 edition has quite the curation.
Have a happy and healthy New Year to you and yours! — ssw15
We’re about to say goodbye and good riddance to 2020, the fire in a dumpster year. Of course, who’s to say that 2021 won’t bring on its own madness?
The year in review stuff hadn’t been much to impress me, because the year from March onward was dominated by the pandemic, racial injustice, and the presidential election. On the one hand, thank goodness Joe Biden won. On the other hand, let’s get to the inauguration and realize that there is so much hard work to do and to face. If we can commit to take better action, maybe there is still hope?
Do take a moment to reflect on those we lost this year, how we maintain and cherish the relationships we still have, and how we may still have much to hope for.
I’m re-sharing the link that I had shared back last year, December 31, 2019, on Facebook: “Start Fresh: 6 Tips For Emotional Well-Being In 2020” over at NPR. Why didn’t I follow these ideas in 2020? Well, I renew so-called resolutions for awhile now. These are still good ideas.
I took off from work today and spent much of it trying to do my last day of the year donations to all my causes. So, consider this the annual reminder that, if you can, don’t forget to do this before the year’s ends in a few hours. And, apparently, the CARES Act or whichever bill it was that had been passed is trying to encourage more donations. Donations might not be the solution, but at least we’re trying? And, anyway, consult a tax professional for the correct details on tax implications.
On a much lighter note: the year in pop culture was a mixed bag. NY metro area sports were a bust. The movies I did not see – well, so that goes. I did get to see the virtual offerings of the Asian American International Film Festival! And, Team Triscribe did enter the 72 Hour Shootout! Oh, I think that we forgot to blog about either of those items, so… maybe we should blog more in 2021…
Looking through my e-mails, I was almost impressed by this Williams Sonoma e-mail for their big warehouse sale. They’re selling a Star Wars Instant Pot/pressure cooker, which in in the same of R2D2. So cute! And, not cheap but on sale. I have no need for it, but really cute… Oh, goodness, they even have an R2D2 toaster…
Meanwhile, it’s 2021 already for some parts of the world! I still remember how 2000 was the year in which a lot of the TV channels went with a time zone to time zone celebration. There was something really amazing about that (granted, that was when the Internet wasn’t what it has become; check that out, kids). Sometimes I wish that we keep holding on to that feeling of amazement (the good kind of amazement, not the “WTF” bad kind).
I’ll likely post again later to note what I read during 2020. The pandemic ended up not being all that conducive to my reading habits, let alone my exercising habits or much else. But, here’s to hoping for all the best for 2021! Maybe? Uh… 🙂
Because this is triscribe and we are New Yorkers:
The passing of Mayor Ed Koch. See here for the NY Times obituary. The news was a sad one to hear on 1010 WINS first thing in the morning, and the realization that the quintessential New Yorker – even if you disagreed with him – is no longer physically among us. The mayor of our youth and the road to the New York City that we know now. Koch would be remembered for his “How’m I doing?” and his legacy – while complicated (since history is never easy) – cannot be ignored.
I’d read Koch’s movie reviews once in awhile; this NY Times item shared a couple of his hilarious reviews. And, Koch’s curiously amusing and fascinating post-humus video interview with the NY Times, released after he died per his request, done in 2007 and how he wanted to be remembered. He was Hizzoner. (apologies to the NY Times, with its nice editorial and all, but I remembered reading about Koch in the hometown paper of the tabloidy Daily News).
An interesting overview and clips from Metro Focus on Channel 13 on Koch. I couldn’t help but like the photo of Koch in front of the city landscape – with the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in the background – the past and time passing. Different times!
No, I’ve never seen the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” – somehow, the idea of NYC wrecked in a new Ice Age (and this movie probably came out some time after the bad snowstorm of 2003) didn’t appeal to me and I wasn’t in the mood for the emoting of Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal.
And, according to imdb, there was a 1983 tv movie with the title “The Day After” (something about a nuclear fallout and starring a bunch of big names and familiar character actors like Jason Robards, John Lithgow, Steven Gutenberg, JoBeth Williams, and John Collum); I have no memory of that one. And, based on the summary on the imdb page, it sounds really depressing. We’re no where near that close to world dissolution.
Count your blessings! Breathe!
But, the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy incurred a bunch of mixed feelings. The headline of this NY Times’ article by James Barron and Ken Belson, “Hardship Strains Emotions in New York,” works for me because there has been so much going on. I think it was from the NY Times somewhere, maybe a Thomas Friedman column (don’t hold me to it!), where it was said that the nation was in post-traumatic stress since 9/11/01, and I often feel that’s the case in New York City; the stress of the hurricane’s aftermath only emphasizes that to me.
Dazed, since one never imagines that this much damage would happen to the tri-state area; persistence, since one can’t just give up; maybe even inspiration, since so many have risen to action. We’re pulling through; we’re getting there. (almost a personal motto of mine as it is).
There has been a lot of impatience – I wonder if the Internet and social media, and cell phones, only increased the feelings and expectations of instant gratification? Or that we’ve become so dependent on electricity? (easy for me to say, when my neighborhood in Brooklyn was minimally effected). Then again, a lot the craziness could have been avoided with a lot more planning and better communication of what happened and what expectations to have and why things will be.
There’s the sense of question for what works in the context – what respects the community? (such as it is, since in a dense urban context, sometimes “community” is hard to find). For example: do we hold the marathon or not? Unlike 9/11/01, we did not have have a six-week odd to deal with stuff; we had only days. I consider the marathon to be a great NYC thing, and I look at Meb Keflezighi as an American inspiration for being an American elite marathoner (not too many of those for quite awhile), but there was just not enough time for the NYC Marathon. We could have civil conversation, but the controversy itself became a distraction from moving forward and helping each other out.
How do we balance interests and feelings and needs and wants?
Everybody feels forgotten, and Manhattan looked like two cities, with the half/third of the island in darkness (even described as a “dead zone”) and the north end looking no worse for wear. You got to feel empathy for Staten Island, Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn, and the Rockaways and Breezy Point in Queens, and there was so much going on.
But, there are reasons for everything: gas shortages are because the port was closed; the port needs electricity; there are places with no electricity; etc.
Gas? Well, we’re getting there…
Electricity? In Manhattan – almost there! So looking forward to near normal MTA service; MTA is doing quite a job! (amazing that I’m even saying that).
Semblance of normality is near. In the meantime, see how you can help. There are a lot of possibilities. Brokelyn has a good list, wnyc has been a great resource (see here for wnyc’s list of ways to help; also, their tumblr page is terrific), and the libraries are open (NYPL, BPL, and Queens). NYS Bar Association announced a storm relief effort.
Oh, and FC is so right on the mark on Facebook: NY1 has been on it and has done a great job.
I’m not forgetting NJ. I’ll be out there again soon, I’ve no doubt.
Don’t forget Eastern Standard Time; we fall back an hour tonight.
Don’t forget to vote next Tuesday. The Civil War didn’t stop Election Day; our legal rights should still be exercised. Hell, you can still vote by paper, if necessary (not that I’m suggesting that it has to be, but that depends on your district’s situation). Check your district/board of Election/county clerk’s office.
So, hang in there, friends!
Because the summer hit won’t completely go away, and because the conductor of this orchestral/choral version of “Call Me Maybe,” is an APA, of course I’ll share this (saw this on Facebook via a friend). As the linked article by Edwin P. Sallan notes,
What should make this version of particular interest to us is the fact that its conductor, 22-year-old Arianne Abela is actually a Filipina, a niece of noted stage actor Bart Guingona. Arianne’s parents migrated to the US before she was born and she also has a 14-year-old sister named Krista who actually edited the video.
In a 2008 article published by the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Arianne was born with physical disabilities brought about by a rare condition called amniotic banding syndrome, which caused her left leg to be amputated. Some of her fingers on both hands are either missing or fused together and there are toes missing on her right foot.
Thankfully, those physical defects didn’t stop her from pursuing a career in music successfully as she went on to graduate at the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music.
Very cool!
FC shared this interesting item over on Facebook: Rachel L. Swarns writes in the NY Times about how second or third generation Americans try to hold on to their heritage via food. It’s a fascinating and bittersweet article – we want to remember what our grandparents or parents made, but assimilation is hard to fight and maybe we can’t quite get the food to taste the same or it gets Americanized (or we might have even grown up with Americanized versions of the food because of lack of ingredients or whatnot).
As we did last year.
Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh, so mellow.
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain was yellow.
-“Try to Remember,” from The Fantasticks.
(cross-posted over at sswslitinmotion.tumblr.com)
Take a moment to think about those who served and are currently serving.
Some APA Heritage Month items, as the month winds down:
Recently, coverage on two APA lawyers:
Yul Kwon, on “Tell Me More” with Michele Martin,about being an APA Game Changer, i.e., that he was the first APA to win “Survivor” – and without totally backstabbing everyone – thereby being a pretty positive APA image on tv and undermining lawyer stereotypes to whatever extent; and once named to People magazine’s list of “Sexiest Men Alive.” (he certainly got to be one of the sexier ones on PBS with the America Revealed series).
Additionally, Stuart Ishimaru, an out-going EEOC Commissioner, was on “Tell Me More,” to discuss his new appointment to the the Office of Women and Minority Inclusion in the US’ Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to monitor diversity in the banking industry.
FC shared this on Facebook, and I’m forwarding it along on triscribe: coverage on NY1 on APA’s – specifically the aging and growing Chinese population in Brooklyn.
Additional NY1 items include:
a story on how APA’s in government from Flushing came about because of a city council member’s insensitivity,
the development of the Pakistani population in Brooklyn, the expansion of Chinese demographics in Staten Island, and
FC and I had also checked out “Revisiting Vincent,” a performance/talkback/reception on the Vincent Chin case, co-produced by our favorite Asian American Bar Association of NY (AABANY), the Asian American Arts Alliance and the Museum of Chinese in America (MoCA). The performance was just great, thought provoking stuff by professional actors, adapting the AABANY project led by Judge Denny Chin and Dean Frank Wu (the two of whom also did a great Q&A at the end). AABANY posted a photo and the AABANY intro by Executive Director Yang Chen at the event.
Photos from Asian American photographer/icon Corky Lee were presented and even available in a silent auction.
The AABANY blog also shared that Jeff Yang at Wall Street Journal’s blog did a shout-out of the “Revisiting Vincent” event.
All great stuff. Keep it going.
… and Probably Should Get the t-shirt to express the survival.
Thankfully not so bad; we fared okay.
New Yorkers insist on grumbling, of course.
Look, I’m not going to second-guess the order to evacuate the coastal areas of the city or whether MTA didn’t need to shut down service. Hurricane Irene could have been a disaster and we got lucky. And, I’m glad to not have to hear about people trapped in Battery Park City or Coney Island or the Rockaways, or stuck in flooded subways or blown away on the elevated lines. Better to be safe than sorry – I’ll agree with the mayor on that.
Check MTA for subway service updates for Monday. Looks like service is expected to be up by 6am.
Pretty amazed – fascinating footage from AP, via NPR’s news blog. So the island of Manhattan was pretty unscathed; downtown was gushing with water during the height of Irene, but Times Square still glittered w/ lights, even if a people-less. Ah well.
At least the hype (hopefully hype) is exciting. I even got kicked out of the office early, but I work in Zone A, which got ordered a mandatory evacuation and the building’s landlord was turning off the electricity at 5pm.
The following embedded video was from a friend of mine, MW. I share it as a mild form of hokey entertainment for us Triscribers. Better that than to freak out.
Hope for the best, after all!
In case you (still) need to check what zone you’re in: check the interactive map.
As I note over at my other blog, all the libraries in the city are closed this weekend.
Also, no subways after 12pm on Saturday (check the MTA on that). Of course, this means that, on the bright side, the mayor’s not going to tell us to take on a Broadway show. Stay safe! (and dry?)
Oh, and don’t forget – have a manual can opener, if you’re going to have all that canned food this weekend. Just sayin’.
Last Friday: saw Kung Fu Panda 2. Great movie – entertaining; great art. I thought it was missing a scene (plot-wise), but otherwise fun. However, I do wonder if 3D is going to be everything…
Emil Guillermo posts on the AALDEF blog about the retirement of Shaquille O’Neal (recalling the anti-Asian problems of Shaq) and the possible side effects of Goodwin Liu’s withdrawal; Guillermo notes:
I’m concerned for the young legal minds out there who may take D’Affaire Liu as the way not to act. Speaking out on behalf of the generally silent community? Against the nomination of Samuel Alito? Against the nomination of John Roberts? Â What? And jeopardize my career?
But I’m also concerned for Asian Americans in general, who have trouble enough being what I call “Public Asians.” Voting? You mean taking a stand in a private booth?
It’s too easy for Asian Americans to lay back and do nothing. So when a Goodwin Liu stands up and loses, you’ll inevitably hear someone mention that age old quote about the nail that sticks out. The virtue of docility. You never get hammered.
But you never get to nail anyone either.
Dare to be the nail.
Hat tip to Angry Asian Man: the passing of Matt Fong, the first Asian American Republican elected to state-wide office in California; see also the obit in the L.A. Times.
Korean grocers are slowly decreasing in the demographics of NYC, as they decide (or their kids decide) not to continue the family businesses; as the article by Sam Dolnick notes, this is similar to the dilemma faced by other demographics of NYC-immigrant communities, such as the Italians and the Jews.
Last but not least: New York’s night court drama (particularly in small claims court) shall continue, despite cutbacks.