8/21
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| upper manhattan from the roof |
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| street fair graffiti |
The booming bass of the street fair dj makes its insistent way through my window. It’s another weekly effort to close the street, register voters, provide some kids' activities and music to dance to. The crowds have not been big.
Meeting at the French African patisserie Des Ambasassades for coffee and pastries. Talk about the still unsettled plan for reopening the New York City schools. The union is determined not to go back until they feel safe related to Covid measures. Talk about family conversations on race and privilege. Struggling with our own culpabilities. The uncomfortable conversations we all have to have. And the growing awareness that Ulysses S Grant was not only a good general but also a good man who actually worked to use his Presidential power to expand participation of black Americans in our national life. And his assessment that Robert E. Lee was not a hero, but a traitor.
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| on he roof |
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| street singer |
Walk to visit my friend Beppe. Their building is now allowing visitors on their roof patio. I notice all the Spanish restaurants on Amsterdam have live singers with guitars and romantic baladas romanticas. We sit on his roof enjoying the view. Did you see the closed off streets between here and 110? he asks. The street bars, cafes, restaurants, The tainting lights. The music. The life…It’s like Paris, he says. I listen. And from his rooftop I hear the sounds of the Mister Softee trucks mixing and dancing with the canciones de los cantantes melodicos. Something special about the cool of the evening and the peaty taste of single malt. I walk home pausing to take in the street life. Now some bandas rumbas and bandas nortenas have joined the fiesta de las calles. The older Caribbean and newer Mexican neighbors mixing like music in the air. In late August 2020, in the midst of covid19, there is beauty and life in the streets of New York City.
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