Gold Is Beautiful
Musing race complexities in the age of Obama
By Susan Braudy
Years ago, I took the A train to Harlem to speculate about living in a refurbished brownstone with thick walls. But that night I dreamed about losing my long view up Central Park and awoke homesick.
In Harlem, I strolled into the Studio Museum on 125th Street, one of the first to give artists workspaces. I love the hard-edged, locally-made African designs on bark cloth in the museum shop. This street pulsates like no other. Strangers laugh together. Six women teased me into buying a hat with a wire brim that the vendor twisted into every style (honestly). Back home, I couldn’t work the hat’s magic. It sulkily awaits a prince’s kiss to revive its mojo. Read more
Talk Ain’t Cheap
Let there be peace on earth. If only saying it made it so. But just saying it can get you a Nobel Prize.
A lot of people are still up in arms because President Obama was rewarded, not for accomplishing peace, but for simply talking about how he’d really like to make that happen. I think many of the disgruntled probably don’t live here, because in New York, talking up (as opposed to actually accomplishing) your agenda is a common way of getting recognition.
Take for example, our Real Housewives, who will return soon—God help us—to represent New York City to the rest of America. Read more
Feedback on ‘Run, Carolyn, Run’
To the Editor:
The State Legislature, under Sen. Charles Schumer’s Albany allies Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, selected Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the seat of former Sen. Clinton.
Now we have Schumer lobbying the White House. This resulted in President Obama calling a potential 2010 Democratic Senate primary contestant, Long Island Rep. Steve Israel, and asking him to drop out even before he declared his candidacy! Quickly following, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer also gave up. Long Island Congress Member Carolyn McCarthy and Manhattan’s own Carolyn Maloney will soon receive phone calls from Read more
A LETTER TO OBAMA
Dear Citizen Obama,
’Twas not too long ago you were roaming the country fearlessly expounding on the wrongs wrought by the right and telling all within earshot what you were going to do to restore our country to its honorable place among the nations of this earth. At least some of the populace voted for a Congress they thought would bring the thugs, thieves and killers who had been ruining the country to trial. But the spineless, sniveling Democrats in the person of their leaders, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, announced that impeachment was “off the table,” confirming that law, justice and the Constitution were also off the table.
You, Citizen Obama, pounded podium after podium with your message of change. Well, sir, banks make change without changing anything. What we need is progressive thinking. Read more
STIMULUS MONEY MUST BE USED WISELY
There is Obama frenzy in the land. People are feeling positive, with each of us projecting some hope or aspiration onto Obama.
Congress has begun to give him the billions of dollars he needs to start making things better. Naturally, “bailout” is a very bad word in the minds of many Americans. Most little people don’t get bailed out. When their businesses go under, they go under.
Obama’s problem will be that when the government starts to give out billions of dollars to get the pump running, some bad ideas and some bad people will rise to the surface. Read more
SCHUMER, NADLER PRAISE OBAMA STIMULUS
Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Jerrold Nadler are touting the stimulus package Congressional leaders and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is drafting as a boon to the state’s fiscal woes. Facing a historic budget gap in the state and MTA budgets, the federal legislators said they are pushing to have at least $20 billion of new funding devoted to investing in the country’s mass transit systems. That money would help keep the MTA from implementing a draconian budget that severely cuts service and raises fares. The $1.2 billion budget gap at the MTA puts long-term capital projects, including the Second Avenue subway, at risk of being shelved.
“This stimulus could be a life-saver for New York’s mass transit system,” Nadler said in a statement. “Federal stimulus funds are absolutely critical.”
OBAMA TEAM TO DISCUSS HEALTH CARE
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition project is coming to the Goddard Riverside Community Center to hold a discussion group on how health care in America can be reformed. The audience is invited to share stories and concerns in dealing with health care and insurance. The Obama team will hold the event on Dec. 30 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Goddard, 593 Columbus Ave. and West 88th Street, on the lower level.
SECURE THE BLESSINGS OF LIBERTY
For the first time since the creation of the world, the sun rose on the United States of America at night. That was the triumphant night of Nov. 4, when despite the desperate prayers of flocks of evangelical Christians, God made Barack Hussein Obama, a black man, the 44th president of this benighted country.
Eight years ago, an election was stolen by the most malignant, malevolent, evil gang of terrorists and thugs ever to hijack a country. With all the accoutrements of technology and under the cover of fundamentalism, they robbed us of our rights under the Read more
INAUGURAL LOTTERY
Since Barack Obama was elected on Nov. 4, Sen. Charles E. Schumer’s office has received nearly 100,000 requests for tickets to the inaugural ceremony on Jan. 20, 2009.
Last Sunday, Schumer’s office announced it will be conducting a statewide lottery to distribute inauguration tickets.
“The inauguration of a new president is always an exciting event,” Schumer said. “After an historic election season and the extraordinary nomination of Barack Obama, it is time for America to celebrate the bright future that is ahead of us. Although I wish all of America could attend the inauguration, there is only so much space, which is why we need to distribute these tickets fairly.”
Tickets are only provided through Congressional offices and are free. Schumer’s office will distribute a total of 350 tickets.
The lottery will take place during the first of December. Interested constituents must submit requests before Sunday, Nov. 30 either online at www.schumer.senate.gov or by fax to 202-228-3027. There is a limit of two ticket requests per person.
HOLZER PRESENTS HIS MEMO TO THE PRESIDENT-ELECT, VINTAGE 1860
On the subject of Abraham Lincoln, Harold Holzer—like Lincoln himself—is largely self-taught. In fact, Holzer remembers that his Civil War professor at CUNY did not even like him.
“I decided then that I wasn’t going to be a history academic. I was going to get into it my own way,” he said.
Decades later, Holzer is one of the country’s leading Lincoln scholars. He has written and edited more than 30 books on Lincoln and the Civil War, has toured the country giving lectures and is co-chair of the U.S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission. Read more
