Sunday, August 16, 2015

hot child in the city

the dog days of august...and it's hot...it's a 10 on the frizz alert...my natural waves will look like shit...but i will stop...i will not break my vow made earlier this summer...i will not complain...but schvitz in silence...this summertime sadness is for my city...even if i no longer am technically a resident...i did grow up as a young child in brooklyn...then onto staten island...almost manhattan - nyu student (albeit commuter)...years in queens before the move to the "island"...but to this day...for all things that feed my soul and creative core...i am a child of the city...and i bet all who read this would agree...any pangs of nostalgia for city days gone by...whatever your current age...they do not revolve around those times in the seventies...you know...dark, dank subways...garbage piled high...hey, wait a minute...now when i walk around i don't need a flashback...it's here...the city is overrun with homeless...i read a very good editorial about this that had homeless divided into three categories...one, those who are not homeless at all, but find humor in shaking down people for money and seeing what their daily haul will be...think this isn't true...take a good look outside penn, port authority...somehow, i'm not laughing...two, the mentally ill...there is not enough time in this blog to address, without raising my pressure to unsafe levels, how we treat mental illness in this country...and then, three, those who have fallen through the very large cracks...i don't want to be insulted any longer by mayor dumblasio or other statisticians...this is their city...and these are offices they ran for, wanted , and won...so this is their inheritance...responsibility...and so i challenge them all to just walk the city...and pay attention...sit alone in any fast food establishment and wait...someone will approach you...ask you for money...aggressively...those minimum wage employees won't help you...foot police...that's a memory...what's left is your conscience, street savvy and divine intervention...then i challenge them to walk in any subway station...in any borough...and breathe deep...especially in august heat...then hit the ground running...and think of the best minds your administrations can bring to the table...rome in the twenty-first century...and the lions are hungry

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