Along the West Side Highway last night, where rescue workers travel north and south -- many by foot -- crowds cheered them on nonstop. It is something beautiful to see soot-covered and exhausted-looking firefighters shaking the hands of young children and giving the thumbs up and peace signs to crowds. One particular scene that sticks in my memory is a girl offering cookies to passing rescue workers, some too exhausted to notice, some accepting the cookies, and some declining; one weary firefighter politely declined, walked a few paces, apparently changed his mind, and returned to grab some cookies with great appreciation to the girl. These workers renew one's sense in heroism and patriotism. Afterwards, Jeremiah and I went to yet another vigil in Union Square Park, just one of hundreds of vigils that grows in numbers each night. It is encouraging to see thousands of people pulling together to support the country and salute those workers downtown who are working endlessly in their rescue efforts. The cold and strong winds didn't stop us from keeping the thousands of candles in the park alight.
I must admit I have never felt so safe in New York City. Tonight Jeremiah and I walked over the intersection of Canal Street and the West Hide Highway, both the line of demarcation for Manhattan residents and a checkpoint for rescue workers, supplies, and vehicles. There are huge crowds amassed up and down the West Side Highway, saluting those workers who are risking their lives to make sense of the catastrophe downtown. I feel so proud to see all types of New Yorkers waving, saluting, cheering on, offering water, candy, and home-made cookies to dusty, exhausted-looking and courageous firefighters, police officers, and Red Cross workers. It seems everywhere you look, there are candles, flowers, and American flags on the streets, in windows, and on cars. There is a great sense of patriotism and peace in the air throughout New York City.
Downtown Manhattan has recently reopened since this week's lockdown of Greenwich Village and below. The city feels completely different, however. There is less traffic and less noise: a startling contrast to footage of the financial district downtown. There is still a distant sound of sirens; while the rain has eliminated the smell of smoke and dust in the air, it has, unfortunately, severely interfered with the rescue efforts downtown. United Artists theater at Union Square (just below the checkpoint intersection, at which military police are checking IDs of those who wish to cross below the line of demarcation) has been offering free movies and popcorn for the last few days, which Jeremiah and I took advantage of last night. Rush Hour 2 was lousy. Afterwards, a quasi-protest but pro-"peaceful" and large group vigil at Union Square Park (just above the line of demarcation) provided hours of argumentative opinion-spilling and -interruption, and, while fascinating, casted a shadow on the peaceful candle-lit and flower-adorned vigil just feet away in the park.
Late Wednesday night, a group of us trekked crosstown to the West Village to survey the emergency efforts and offer assistance. It's amazing to observe how much New York City has come together the past few days -- we participated in a sort of spontaneous candlelit vigil on 6th Avenue and Houston Streets, the group sharing food and bottled water, offering flower donations, lighting and re-lighting candles; the evening was complete with a small group folk singalong, news cameras and reporters, and overwhelming appreciation and applause for the city's rescue workers speeding by. You can't help feeling an overwhelming sense of pride while observing the manner in which Manhattan is operating -- respectful, tranquil, and responsible -- I felt so proud to find outside of the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club by 2nd Avenue a gigantic American flag draped across 3rd Street.
The people of Manhattan are amazingly agreeable to the roadblocks - literal and figurative - in the lower portion of the island. Though downtown Manhattan has shut down except a few restaurants, delis, and stores like Kmart, there's a sense of serenity and optimism in Greenwich Village -- a drastic contrast to the footage plastering televisions of the wreckage just a mile downtown in the financial district. When night falls, the city is like a ghost town -- dimmed lights, no traffic, an eerie silence with distant sirens, people ambling around in utter shock. New York City's fire, police, and rescue teams are working harder than I have ever seen (while walking downtown with Jeremiah and Devanshi at 10pm last night (we got as far as the tip of Soho before we were ordered to turn back), we spoke with an officer who has been on duty since 6:30 that morning). Be courteous!
New York City is in a state of lockdown ... basically, there's no way in or out of the city. Devanshi and I walked downtown to get photos and help out - everything is covered in soot and ash, and an absolute mess. There's nothing eerier than looking up at the skyline in lower Manhattan and there's no World Trade Center.
I saw The Others last night and was terribly disappointed. Boo! Nicole Kidman starred and Tom Cruise co-produced . . . I think instead of evil spirits being the subject of the film, Tom Cruise should have pulled his vampire get-up out of the closet a la Interview With the Vampire, invited Brad Pitt to the set, and ran around trying to scare everyone.
All your life is Channel 13, Sesame Street . . . what does it mean? (I'll tell you what it means). Pressure! - Billy Joel
Duran Duran, Pop Trash
Gary Numan, The Pleasure Principle
Cyndi Lauper, She's So Unusual
Alphaville, Forever Young
The Vaselines, The Way of the Vaselines
Juliana Hatfield, Only Everything
P.J. Harvey, Is This Desire?
The Rolling Stones, Hot Rocks
Frente, Marvin the Album
Destiny's Child, The Writing's on the Wall
The Cars, The Cars
The B-52s, Cosmic Thing
Duran Duran, Arena
The Doors, The Soft Parade Saturday Night Fever soundtrack
L7, Hungry for Stink
The Dandy Warhols, The Dandy Warhols
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
Ace of Base, The Sign
The Waitresses, The Best of the Waitresses
Belle & Sebastian, Lazy Line Painter Jane
The Fad, The Fad The New Wave: Pop Music of the Early '80s
Goodbye Girl Friday, Mr. & Mrs.
Naked Highway, Hyperbollocks
Duran Duran, Pop Trash Classic Alternatives: '80s 12" Extended Rare Mixes
Phil Collins, Hits
Genesis, Turn It On Again: The Hits
Ladytron, Light & Magic
Ladytron, 604
The Go-Betweens, Before Hollywood
Beck, Midnight Vultures
Duran Duran, Seven & the Ragged Tiger
Abba, Arrival
The Cardigans, Long Gone Before Daylight
The Psychedelic Furs, All of This & Nothing
Air, Moon Safari
The Knack, Round Trip
Blondie, Parallel Lines
The Psychedelic Furs, Forever Now
The Donnas, Spend the Night
Nancy Sinatra, California Girl
Tatu, 200 KMH in the Wrong Lane
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Organisation
John-Manuel Andriote, Hot Stuff: A Brief History of Disco
Bret Easton Ellis, The Rules of Attraction
Tom Wolfe, The Bonfire of the Vanities
Jean Kilbourne, Deadly Persuasion
Nick Hornby, High Fidelity
Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho
Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation
