Just moments after hearing about the tragic shootings in Arizona today, I saw the following scrawled on the subway wall at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn subway station here in Brooklyn. Regardless of the outcome or reason behind today's events, they seem an appropriate response to the mindless violence.
People who seek to execute those they disagree with are the enemies of democracy and free speech, regardless of what party they align themselves with. People commit such atrocities, apparently, when they're incapable of articulating or defending their beliefs. Either that or they're seriously, mentally disturbed.
At least six people died in these attacks. May they rest in peace.
I was proud recently to participate in Razorfish New York's own "It Gets Better" video, part of the series initated by Dan Savage's effort.
I had some notes I referred to and understandably, with so many involved, a lot had to be edited out for the video to be edited tightly. I'm posting them here in case they help anyone to see that you can change your mind on this issue. My notes then, somewhat updated for clarity's sake:
- I grew up within a belief system that wasn't very tolerant to gay people or gay rights - In my early 20s, I attended a very conservative college where these beliefs were reinforced, daily - I was talking with a friend one day when I made a very nasty remark about gay people - It was so inappropriate, I don't even want to repeat it today - He replied, you mean people like my brother? - That really took me back because I was confronted with the reality of his brother's existence instead of whatever stereotype of a gay person I had in my head - That began a process of thinking for me and as the years went by and after a lot of reading, I became a supporter of gay rights - If you're watching this and you disagree with me about gay rights, please do challenge yourself to read up on the subject - and especially challenge yourself to read the thoughts and opinions of people who disagree with you - If you're watching this and you're a young gay person, please know that people can and do change their opinions on this issue. I did - Also, I know many gay people who grew up in environments that were unkind to gay people and they're doing fine now. I work with many such talented and intelligent people every day - Things really do get better
I also wrote a post several years ago, which tells the story I allude to above more explicitly. I ain't proud of it.
If I could make one suggestion to Dan Savage to add his project, it'd be this: How about a channel for straight people, explaining why they concluded they were wrong about their beliefs and how they came to be gay rights supporters.
To behold actual human zombies Simply stand at the edge of a New York City subway platform Then watch them shamble towards you Hurrying to insert themselves between you and the oncoming train Arms flailing, legs awkwardly flapping They must. Reach. The vessel. As the doors slide open, they crash by you And into the carriage ahead of you Collapsing through the exiting citizenry To seize a seat or a position To be first Pity the frail human in their way
10/18/10
*this is my first subway poem actually published to the Web from the subway: as the B train crossed Manhattan Bridge
The right music can really help me get into flow while on working on something, especially when wireframing. Here's some of the stuff I listen to the most when wireframing, hand-picked to be less intrusive, but not all of it falling into ambient territory. Somewhat verified by my Last.fm profile. And in no particular order ...
1. Burial 2. Brian Eno 3. Hans Zimmer - Inception Soundtrack 4. Underworld 5. Cinematic Orchestra 6. Massive Attack 7. LCD Soundsystem 8. James Newton Howard - Michael Clayton Soundtrack 9. Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV 10. Sigur Ros
Also: Fujiya & Miyagi, Hot Chip, UNKLE, Four Tet, Boards of Canada, Free Association - Code 46 Soundtrack
What are some of your favorites? Add 'em in comments.
Our descent slower than normal
Since the sky swarmed with planes
The houses of Queens blanket
The ground rising beneath us
Our craft thick with travelers
Accented voices burbling
German, English, Indian, Arab, Latin
A supple sampling of our boroughs.
When finally we fell to the ground
And began a long crawl to nuzzle the dock,
Manhattan's delicate silhouette
Stretched westward for miles
Haloed by the flush of the setting sun
Though clouds lowered high above
Waiting perhaps to descend.
And to the north,
So many aircraft lined up,
Drifting jaggedly towards earth
Like bright, white flares
Falling from the heavens.
The D train stopped aloft the Manhattan Bridge
Just up the Brooklyn side of the hanger
A young woman slumped to the floor
A police officer on board would stand before her
As one woman traversed the carriage,
Looking for an emergency alarm
While another yelled, "Forget about it! Just forget about it!"
And there you had it
The entire human condition
Encapsulated in a steel tube
Hovering, hesitant over the East River
I just saw the most astonishing thing I've seen in over 4 years riding the New York City subway.
As I boarded the train, one guy was yelling obscenities at and threatening another seated guy for 5 minutes; the rest of us staring on in amazement, me hoping security would arrive to interrupt him. The guy next to me sat with his head in his hands, seemingly to block out the noise. Finally, the first guy comes and sits down across from us with one of his friends, both of them drunk, still talking loudly and swearing.
Finally, the guy next to me looks up and speaks up. "Your day could be worse, you know. I just found out I have cancer." It's clear he isn't joking.
The two guys across from are silenced, literally dumbstruck. "I'm sorry, man," one of them eventually mutters.
"It's OK," says the guy next to me. "I'm just saying, your day could be worse. I went to the doctor today and he told me I probably have cancer." His eyes are red: he's been sitting there, hiding the fact that he's been crying. As he speaks, his voice starts shuddering, then his whole body is shaking and he's weeping. This was not remotely an act. It was pure, visceral emotion.
Both men across from me were completely silenced now. The train stops at 34th Street and the two get off, but not before each lays a hand on the guy's shoulder and says, "I'm sorry, man."
"It's OK," he says. "Just remember, your day could be worse."
He got off at Union Square. I followed him off. We went our separate ways.
After I linked to the twitter feed for the Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan, where the center responds to its critics, a friend on Facebook asked me to explain "why the mosque SHOULD be built in this location as opposed to somewhere else, when clearly whatever side you are on it is a divisive thing?" My response follows.
I think it should be built there for a number of reasons:
Because it's not a mosque and it's not at Ground Zero, it's 4 blocks away
Because some folks have drummed up fear around this being a Mosque (false) at Ground Zero (also false) where it needn't exist, so why cave into them? The community center location wasn't a controversy until some very radical anti-Muslim individuals began to paint this fictitious version of what it is to be (more on the real origins of this debate here on Salon)
Because although saying it's insensitive and divisive for it to be there may be the most civilized argument being offered against it, that argument still sort of tacitly conflates Islam as practiced by this really pretty liberal Imam with the radical ultra-violent Islamicists, who attacked us on 9/11, as much for political reasons, as religious
It's not really insensitive for Rauf to place his community center there (even if it were a mosque) because he's been working in the Tribeca area of Lower Manhattan for about 20 years, a long time before 9/11 - this fact is never mentioned by the folks trying to describe it as a "victory mosque" or whatnot because it would undermine their theory about why it's being built in the first place
Rauf is precisely the sort if Imam Bin Laden *wouldn't* want building a mosque near Ground Zero because he stands against the violence of Bin Laden and actually encourage communication among the world's religions in ways Bin Laden would despise and denounce (read more about him here)
The Constitution - specifically freedom of religion and freedom of speech. It's precisely because we don't want to become like Saudi Arabia that we allow a religious center to be built near Ground Zero (along with all the other religious centers, shopping centers, bars, sex shops and strip clubs), even tho we may not agree with every single thing that's going to be said there. In this way, we say, Bin Laden, no, you don't win.
Many Muslims died in 9/11. They have as much right to grieve and memorialize the 9/11 event, as the rest of us Americans - a listing of Muslim victims on About.com
It's a sensitive subject, I know, so I appreciate that my friends on Facebook were able to engage in a civil conversation about it. But I think it's also a great opportunity for us all to engage in a great dialogue on the subject. It's the folks comparing Imam Rauf's building a community center to Nazis placing a sign at the Holocaust Museum - those folks aren't helping. (Looking at you New Gingrich!)
I think all the arguments above, by the way, can be made irrespective of political party or religious background.
So, in short: I don't think the center has to be built there either. But "there" isn't Ground Zero. And it ain't a mosque, but if it were, no big deal. We believe in freedom of religion. We don't throw in the towel or chuck out the Constitution because a bunch of nutjobs attacked us on 9/11. What an opportunity to prove that to the world.
I decided to post my thoughts on this subject here because I think this event has become a touchstone for so much of what's going on in the United States right now - especially in regards to 9/11, terrorism, and hostility towards Muslims and people of other religions and ethnicities - and I'd like to track my own thoughts on the subject.
Standing at one end, looking down the morning train, as it emerges from its tunnel onto the sunsplashed Manhattan Bridge.
The faces of these travelers, largely calm, impassive, as they align this carriage, their bodies gently wavering, like so many grassy stems in a subaquatic passage.
Congratulations to all those who have fought so hard for human rights in California and around the United States. This is truly an exciting and historic milestone.
Red riding hood sits slumped on the F Train,
No longer little nor lithe
That hood definitely protection
Against whatever wickedness she's weathered
Via the wolves of the world
Her eyes shut against the elements
Us
I know some outsiders found Jeff Greenspan's New Yorker/Visitors sidewalk lanes obnoxious but try working in Times Square and navigating the sidewalk crowds at lunchtime, and you'll be wanting your own lane too!
Although Improv Everywhere eventually helped with a prominent 5th Avenue version, Greenspan was eventually revealed as the original creator.
