Anthony and Gary are on the steps. We talk about the increasing number of homeless people on the steps. Pastor, I even saw someone trying to break in the door the other night, he says. I tell him that the door hasn’t been the same since. He shakes his head. You know as it gets colder, you’re gonna get more and more. I tell him that I know, that I lived through last winter. And that its colder inside.
And he asks about the boiler. Didn’t that woman, that Gale, Gale Badger? say she was going to do something about that?
Brewer, I say. She’s trying. Con Ed’s hard to work with.
You saying they don’t like Christians?
No, no way Anthony. They’re strictly equal opportunity...they’ll do this to Christian, Muslim, Jew, doesn’t matter. Anthony and Gary get up and start own the street. He looks back over hsi shoulder. You tell that Gale Badger to help you. And they’re gone.
Jeremy drops by. We’d like to work on some music for the Balcony Music Festival. I have some Christmas songs in mind. We crank up the sound system, I pull out my ipod and put on Early on one Christmas morn, by Bruce Cockburn, (http://cockburnproject.net/albums/christmas.html), complete with the ricky tick piano and guitar. And try his Mary Had a Baby and finally with his quirky Go Tell it on the Mountain. We decide to settle in and work on Early...
Come on Bob, he says, commit. Take your glasses out of your mouth and commit...And so I do. and I loosen up. And out it comes...Then we dig into Go tell it ...with its quirky resolution, not the way you exect to hear it. And that begins to feel good too.
Early to the church. The electrician needs his tools. He’s annoyed because he wants to finish the job and Chris his boss is calling him off to another emegency. He’s got no more idea than I do as to how we get through the bureaucratic morass with the boiler or what the strategy is.
While I’m watching the electrician’s car, David Grunberg, the Concertmaster of the Riverside Orchestra comes up. Helps me watch the car as we talk. He’d been to the gala Monday night. Had played in Riverside’s performance here in November. And back in the day had played with Jens Nygard of the Juoiter Symphony.
He wants to get his own chamber group back together. Give something back. Would like to do a benefit for us. Wants to know the full currrent situation, so I leave him with the electrician’s car and go get him a copy of the Westside Spirit article, which pretty much says it all. And then the electrician comes and we all three talk together and then the leave.
Most of the day is spent trying to get traction on the boiler situation. We seem to be dependent on Councilmember Brewer again. Although Ted, too has a connection. But, the lack of heat is slowing Jane’s efforts to build momentum. Even her warm and cozy office on gala night, her sense of presence, won’t hold a crowd in a cold place. And Ted is frustrated. (Almost) Ready to pull the plug on the Crafts Fair which would kill the Second Annual Balcony music festival as well. And stop us in our tracks. Ted’s got baners to hang. Cards to get out. The frustration is wearing. To say the least.
Luli is back again for Noche Flamenca. We’ve already agreed to one proposal but now she is focused on the session room and chapel which no way cold we give up access. And she seems frustrated to not get what she wants and we so want this to work. So you wirte something up, she says. Well, ok, but....we already did that.
I’m trying to get away to do planning with Jane when P_____ comes through the door. Yes, I have called the court.But no, they won’t let me talk to the judge. They said to me, we have told Ms. P_______ over and over and over...And so? Does anyone get that she may not understand wha theyAnd are sayng, even if over and over? Ironically, she makes too much money to get a legal aid atorney. And I need the judge to know that if theyeict her, she’s done. On the street. Which is great fpr the landlord, butn no one else. She follows me all the way up the street to Starbucks. Laura (WSSFSH) has recommended her to an eviction protection program. If only it’s not too late.
I wake up to find a copy of today’s West SIde Spirit. And there we are, there I am, on the front page. Preservation hurts, says the headline. I have read the story online, but it’s great to see it hard copy. (http://westsidespirit.com/2011/12/07/preservation-hurts/ )
I go to a street box and pick up a bunch of copies. Take them in to show Danielle and Sarah. Sarah is ecstatic. To follow up on the story, she wants to use the white helium balloons, place them around the neighborhood to attract attention, spread the story. Solicit help.
P_____ has come in. I tell her about Sandy, try to find a way to get them together
to talk.
We’ve got to count up the champagne bottles, settle up with Paul. There’s 28 empties and two full. Looks like six disappeared along the way. Heather the lighting designer is moving her equipment out. Sarah shows her the picture of the play in the Spirit. Check out the lighting, she says with a smile.
The cocktail tables are being moved out. A plumber and an electrician are hard at work in the basement. I remember how upsetting it was minutes before the gala to take RL downstairs to look at the ready to go boiler and find another leaky pipe, which I almost get stopped. That almost did it, he says.
That’s all I can do tonight, I said.
Hemade a complex comment filled with non-sequitirs about the church and his relationship to it. Sounds like there’s a song in there, I say.
Well it would take Patrick Sky to write it, he says, and I ain’t him. (Ah another 60‘s/70‘s era obscure songwriter...)
Gotta get the show on the road, I said, And he gave me an Indian shaman blessing, sent me on my way back upstairs.
Blessing. When I got the homeless steps occupiers to break camp, the scraggly haired guy said, with a touch of sarcasm, anger at being moved, You have a good day.Then, No, a blessed day. A God blessed day. But really, i think we bless ourselves, not God blesses us. Then there’s the devil. And as he breaks his camp, and heads down the street, I hear him continuing to mutter to himself about God and the devil, God and the devil.
The big iron gates have been removed from the chapel. Berik and Leila are filling the chapel walls with art from artists from their New York Realists group. I do an interview with a union journalist on the Sweat Shop Free campaign. Why it’s important, matters to the church. It’s time to head out and see if I can find Hope and Tracy on the picket line.
There is mad activity all over the church. Cases of champagne arrive from Paul at the St. James Gate. Balloons, tables, DJ equipment, arriving. Last minute cleaning going on everywhere. Hope, Marsha and a full crew from Occupy hard at work. Amanda and Teddy are creating a sign. She had wanted it to say: Gala Benefit $125 per ticket, Artists and Vagrants Free....but after consulting with Sarah, it changed to:
Benefit Tonight: $125 Suggested Donation,Artists, Activists and Occupiers Free
Teddy hangs the sign
Even at that, Hope had questions. What was our message?Were we separating people on the basis of money? How as a church, we had to be clear about welcome. For Sarah, the message was clear: if you are a member of this community who can afford it, you are expected to contribute money. And every other contribution needed as well.
Hanging the sign
The boiler is still not on. Frantic calls being made to various offices at Con Ed. Finally contact achieved. A frustrating circle between Con Ed and the plumber begins. Where is the work order? Where is Blue Card from the Department of Buildings? Finally at 4:30, we give up. There will be no boiler tonight. Mim is taking Danielle to get diesel to fire up the temporary heater. My frustration about falling into a bureaucratic morass is boiling over, but I have to let it go.
A group of Chinese women have come in to promote their upcoming cultural event. I think they may be connected to Falun Gong, but don’t know for sure, but it is sure not a good time to talk. Which is what I’d said on the phone before they came anyways...
The Mexican evironmental entrpreneur is asleep on the steps, his overflowing shopping cart nearby. I try to wake him. Mi hermano, se conoce que no es permiso a dormirse duriente el dia. Y esta noche hay una programa muy importante.Necesitamos a tener las escaleras limpias, las puertas abiertas. Mi hermano, por favor.... Nothing works. It’s too late for Outreach. So ultimately I call the precinct. They come and gently remove him.
Actors have arrived early and are being put to work. Folding napkins, lining up champagne glasses. The dancers have arrived. Sarah asks me to tell them the history of the church, so I do. My Sweat Shop Free Campaign Workers have arrived. Sarah has set up a dinner for all the participants on the third floor above Mc Alpin, Martin Bard of the Times Square Playwrights as head server. Singers, actors, dancers, church people, organizers, occupiers, all together.
Dinner is served
WIll anyone come?
The doors are open. People streaming in. The lights go down. I stand to give the welcome. Look out. And it looks good. And I welcome everyone to Honor the Past, Celebrate the Future. And then Bella Poynton’s two person play, Not by Might, Not by Power, but by Spirit, tells our story.
And dancers lead people into the building where every room has something different going on...Amanda has organized musical performances in the chapel, Jane is in her office, people are making birthday cards for the elderly with Dorot, The Westside Campaign Against Hunger and Doreen Wohl are writing letters about food policy, Times Square Playwrights are presenting one act plays, Sweat Shop Free is holding a meeting, Laura’s performance art piece Threads is being presented along with Jack Salazar’s photos and Nick Etre’s paintings. In Mc Alpin, there are carrot cake cupcakes from WSCAH and champagne and sparkling cider. And DJ Nomad (Dan from Occupy) spinning vinyl and most exciting, Rachel performing high in the air on the fabric.
Andrea is concerned that too many aren’t getting it and heading too quickly to Mc Alpin, champagne and home. I talk to Sarah. People are starting to figure it out, engage. It’s working. And when the dancers lead everyone to Mc Alpin for the final moment, it’s a good crowd.
I look around. Longtime friends like John and Annie up from Atlantic City. George, my mentor, one of the true saints. A couple who visited from New Jersey a few weeks back for worship and just had to come back. (Bringing homemade pimento cheese with them.) Octogenarian peace activists. Our circle of friends, people like Chloe from the Interfaith Center of New York City, Ray from More Light, Doreen from WSCAH, Bernardo from El Taller, Emily from Stony Point, my friend Aaron from Woodshed...This is us.
I have Ray speak first with a letter from Michael of the national More Light movement. Then Gale Brewer reads the city council proclamation. And finally I give my you need us, we need you speech. It was beautiful....but I could have said, Open up those check books now if you want to see us here in January...we’re that vulnerable. My neighbor Rick, who's great at this, said I’m getting better, but have to be more direct. That’s me...
Then it was time to honor Sarah and Danielle...who were amazing and made it happen...
The formal part is over, Rachel is in the air again, people dancing to Dan’s vinyl. I take a glass of champagne, look out over the room. This is who we are. This is good.
Walking, carefully, down Amsterdam with Mim, my longest walk so far after surgery. Feeling very vulnerable. First time to see the steps this week. The steps from the street to the door seem daunting. But I take them one at a time. And realize what Hope has told to tell me about no rail to hang on to when you reach the top.It takes some maneuvering. I’m seeing a lot of things from a different perspective.
Inisde, Hope, Danielle, Mim and I are talking about the boiler. This is the pricnciple issue in front of us. We’re on the verge of losing committted rentals if we can’t gaurantee heat. I don’t know what we have to do to get a response from our city council member. It’s been six weeks since our community meeting, we feel stalled. Jammed up.
The green solutions seem to rquire having something to replace, not starting from scratch. Does the asbestos have to be abated before work begins? Can it simply be encapsulted? Is it possible at all to fire up one of the old ones, just for this winter? (Doesn’t seem to be.) We need to figure out the most efficient, cheapest way to do this and move forward. And where will the money come from? This is it right now. This is the challenge.
Mim asks if I want her to wait to walk me home. I think for a minute. No, I’ll try it on my own. I think I 'm ready.
It’s getting late. Time to pull together our service for the 10th anniversary of 9-11. Trying to figure out what’s possible with limited resources. Jane and Jeremy will be there to help. How much do we recreate from that first Sunday after’s experience? How much do we look back, and how much forward?
I talk, Danielle types. Enough for today. Time to go. Danielle offers to go with me. I thank her. And head back up Amsterdam, on my own. One step at a time.
