-- By Tom Phillips
One by one, the lights are going out in Morningside Heights, as restaurants close, grocery stores and pharmacies limit the number of customers inside, and other businesses stay open, but with reduced hours and only to hand things off at the door. For the first time ever, customers have to line up outside West Side Market... and live without the late-night luxury of Koronet Pizza.
Suddenly, we know several people sick with the coronavirus. One is in a hospital in Brooklyn. Her daughter is not allowed to visit.
Tom's Restaurant is closed for the duration. The Hungarian Pastry Shop went dark today. Everyone with a second home or children in the countryside has left town. A young couple in our building were packing their vacation gear and their big dog in a car Saturday, hoping to head for the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beaches there are closed, but you can't really close a beach, right? I don't know, I said. But driving with New York plates, you might get pulled over and quarantined. Rhode Island is already doing it. Who knows where they'll crack down next?
The rest of America finally has a reason to persecute New Yorkers. We may replace Asians in the role of chief scapegoats, reviled and spat on in the streets, or locked up until we prove ourselves healthy. Only because Fox News is itself based in New York can we be confident that what they call the "Chinese Coronavirus"won't turn into the "New York Coronavirus" on Fox TV.
For non-toxic television, New Yorkers are flocking to Governor Andy Cuomo's daily briefings. Cuomo is having his moment, filling the vacuum of national leadership, showing how government can actually work. In the words of a former aide, "he's built for this."
Cuomo was reared in government, growing up while his father Mario served three terms as governor from 1980 to 1992. His former adviser quotes Andrew saying the way to get bureaucrats to produce for you is "grab them by the balls and squeeze -- hard." If this bears a resemblance to a famous quote of the president's, chalk it up to their childhood roots in Queens.
Still, Cuomo's former aide says the governor has no designs on the president's job, no scheme to steal the Democratic nomination from Joe Biden. He's done none of the things a potential candidate would need to have done by now -- no feelers to allies or funders.
Instead he's scoring points for compassion -- another stark contrast, one that goes back to his early training and education in the Roman Catholic Church. For millions of citizens distraught over the sudden wreckage of their lives, the governor plays a priestly role -- putting suffering in perspective, taking the long view, reminding us of the essential goodness of creation. Cuomo does this as naturally as Rudy Giuliani, another Catholic boy, did it after 9/11.
On Saturday his final bullet point was "Look for silver linings." By the end of the day, they were hard to find.
Not wanting to line up in the street, I went back to West Side Market at midnight, to pick up some fruit and chocolate. I wound up in a long line inside the store, trying to stay away from others. As I neared the checkout counter, a middle-aged guy popped out of a side aisle and cut in front of me.
I lean in and say -- Excuse me, the line ends back there.
He gets mad, shouts -- I've been here longer than anyone!
-- OK, I didn't see you.
He tells me to get six feet away. I comply.
The checkout aisle now has a plastic shield between customer and cashier. Change drops from his glove into mine.
Outside a homeless woman, a regular on the block, is begging from shoppers coming and going. Earlier I told her to wait until I came out, but now I just want to leave. She turns aggressive, demanding payment, says she's already placed an order in the store. She chases me down the sidewalk, followed by a young man in filthy clothes, a stranger egging her on. I dig in my pocket and drop the change in her outstretched hand, on the run.
-- He don't give a shit! shouts the young man.
All this takes place under a stately flowering pear tree, and a magnolia bursting with pink and purple blossoms. Nature in her cups, as people sink further into our vicious, viral spring.
--Copyright 2020 by Tom Phillips
One by one, the lights are going out in Morningside Heights, as restaurants close, grocery stores and pharmacies limit the number of customers inside, and other businesses stay open, but with reduced hours and only to hand things off at the door. For the first time ever, customers have to line up outside West Side Market... and live without the late-night luxury of Koronet Pizza.
Suddenly, we know several people sick with the coronavirus. One is in a hospital in Brooklyn. Her daughter is not allowed to visit.
Tom's Restaurant is closed for the duration. The Hungarian Pastry Shop went dark today. Everyone with a second home or children in the countryside has left town. A young couple in our building were packing their vacation gear and their big dog in a car Saturday, hoping to head for the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beaches there are closed, but you can't really close a beach, right? I don't know, I said. But driving with New York plates, you might get pulled over and quarantined. Rhode Island is already doing it. Who knows where they'll crack down next?
The rest of America finally has a reason to persecute New Yorkers. We may replace Asians in the role of chief scapegoats, reviled and spat on in the streets, or locked up until we prove ourselves healthy. Only because Fox News is itself based in New York can we be confident that what they call the "Chinese Coronavirus"won't turn into the "New York Coronavirus" on Fox TV.
For non-toxic television, New Yorkers are flocking to Governor Andy Cuomo's daily briefings. Cuomo is having his moment, filling the vacuum of national leadership, showing how government can actually work. In the words of a former aide, "he's built for this."
Cuomo was reared in government, growing up while his father Mario served three terms as governor from 1980 to 1992. His former adviser quotes Andrew saying the way to get bureaucrats to produce for you is "grab them by the balls and squeeze -- hard." If this bears a resemblance to a famous quote of the president's, chalk it up to their childhood roots in Queens.
Still, Cuomo's former aide says the governor has no designs on the president's job, no scheme to steal the Democratic nomination from Joe Biden. He's done none of the things a potential candidate would need to have done by now -- no feelers to allies or funders.
Instead he's scoring points for compassion -- another stark contrast, one that goes back to his early training and education in the Roman Catholic Church. For millions of citizens distraught over the sudden wreckage of their lives, the governor plays a priestly role -- putting suffering in perspective, taking the long view, reminding us of the essential goodness of creation. Cuomo does this as naturally as Rudy Giuliani, another Catholic boy, did it after 9/11.
On Saturday his final bullet point was "Look for silver linings." By the end of the day, they were hard to find.
Not wanting to line up in the street, I went back to West Side Market at midnight, to pick up some fruit and chocolate. I wound up in a long line inside the store, trying to stay away from others. As I neared the checkout counter, a middle-aged guy popped out of a side aisle and cut in front of me.
I lean in and say -- Excuse me, the line ends back there.
He gets mad, shouts -- I've been here longer than anyone!
-- OK, I didn't see you.
He tells me to get six feet away. I comply.
The checkout aisle now has a plastic shield between customer and cashier. Change drops from his glove into mine.
Outside a homeless woman, a regular on the block, is begging from shoppers coming and going. Earlier I told her to wait until I came out, but now I just want to leave. She turns aggressive, demanding payment, says she's already placed an order in the store. She chases me down the sidewalk, followed by a young man in filthy clothes, a stranger egging her on. I dig in my pocket and drop the change in her outstretched hand, on the run.
-- He don't give a shit! shouts the young man.
--Copyright 2020 by Tom Phillips
A really good piece.
ReplyDeleteHenry and I just read this. It was such a clear picture, I think, even if you don't live there, as we actually do. Great voice, Tom.
ReplyDeleteNo Samad bench. eh?
Love, Betsy
Samad is still open. He says business is bad .. "really bad." But the bench is out there. Stay well.
DeleteThank you, Tom, for sharing. Love
Delete