Traveling With Strangers

I'm sitting on a bus right now, and as i've mentioned before, when I travel by bus or by train, it makes me think a lot. Looking out the window, you see so many buildings, cars, people. iPod on shuffle, I put trust in the pocket-size DJ and hope it will properly soundtrack my mood, my trip, this fragment of my life, of time itself. So far so good, just as we got onto the bridge, Explosions In The Sky's "Your Hand In Mine" came on. Traveling with strangers can be interesting. It's not even that you're traveling with them in the sense that you're all going to different locations in the end, but it's a group of people that you've never encountered before and you're essentially in a really big car with them. You're taking a roadtrip with people you don't know, but in a socially acceptable way. It's cloudy today but it's not the depressing kind of cloudy.

I want to start traveling more often. I have tentative plans to go to Greece this summer with one of my closest friends. I think it's one of those things that could definitely work out, but only if you act on it. I have to make things happen and stop waiting for them to come on their own. The man in front of me is fidgeting and it's annoying. He's done now. If I do go to Greece I want to look into how difficult/expensive it is to travel to Egypt for part of the trip. I've always had such a fascination with Egypt. Ancient Egypt. The pyramids, the sphinx, all that stuff. I think it's all beautiful and mysterious and rich in history and culture and almost mystical in a sense. I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art last weekend and saw a ton of Egyptian artifacts and art, but I think the thing that impressed me most was just the fact that all of this culture and history and beauty was in one place.

Not only was there all of this artwork and antiques and artifacts from all over the world and all different time periods, but it was in a building that I can walk to from my apartment. That's something I love about New York. Everything in one place, the world is there in front of you, should you choose to be exposed to it. This weekend is an emotional time for me, because of the reason I'm on this bus in the first place. I'm going back to Rhode Island. I think I'm allowed to say "going back" because I did live there for a year. A lot of the time I had spent there I wanted more than what I had. I wanted to be in a different location and I wanted more out of school than what I was getting there. The friends and connections I made there though... some of those I know I'll have for the rest of my life. Some of my best friendships were established there and that's more important than being bitter about, well about anything at all really. I'm spending the weekend with some of my best friends, one of whom is celebrating a birthday tomorrow.

How fitting that this weekend will be a celebration of life itself. Isn't that what every weekend should be about though? This is not my attempt at sounding like a self-help profiteer, or a delusional optimist. It's mearly a statement on life, and how we rarely think about it for what it really is. So tonight we will toast to each other, we will toast to ourselves, the people and places and things that make us who we are, we will toast to life.

Katrina Now and Then

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans and began to carve its devastating path of destruction. Within the next two days, eighty percent of New Orleans was flooded; some areas were under as much as fifteen feet of water. Although the majority of the hurricane itself missed the city, the levees surrounding the city started to breach due to the immense amount of water coming toward the city from all the wind and flooding. According to a 2007 study conducted by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the breaches in the levees were the most prominent cause of the flooding that occurred in the city of New Orleans1.
With the devastation and the evacuation of roughly ninety percent of the residents of southeast Louisiana, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina received the nation’s attention. Due to the severe weather and destruction, countless homes were damaged or destroyed. Many victims that did not escape the disaster in time were forced to seek refuge in their attics, or in some cases, on the roof of their flooded homes. Some were lucky enough to get into the Superdome, which was used as the main location for victims to take refuge if they hadn’t left the city in time.
Many of the local residents whose homes were destroyed by the hurricane lost everything. New Orleans’ Ninth Ward was drastically impacted by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The repair efforts for the destroyed homes are still slow and unsteady. Many residents are still waiting for insurance money and/or government aid that has yet to come. Without this money, the residents can’t make the necessary repairs to return to living in their old homes. A surprising number of people are still forced to live in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) trailers or other areas and sometimes-harsh living environments.
One of the key factors that affected the severity of the damage was location. Depending on the location of the homes, some areas were wiped out, while others were only slightly damaged. North of Claiborne Avenue, which is part of the lower Ninth Ward, the current average number of residents that are fortunate enough to have a repaired home to come back to is about one person per block2. With such a lack of normalcy and without having a place to call home again, the money-tight people of New Orleans have few options.
Another major issue is the number of schools and businesses that were destroyed by the hurricane. Many businesses and jobs were lost, and children were left without a place to learn. The amount of time and money that it takes to rebuild and repair all of the damage that was done makes it very hard to move forward, and the residents are stuck in these unfortunate circumstances. Without the money coming in from the insurance companies and the government, the local people are being suppressed from any kind of economic or societal growth.
The cause of Hurricane Katrina is not the fault of the New Orleans residents, and they deserve the money that they are entitled to so that they can pick up where they left off and start their lives again. Another group that has been under much scrutiny regarding the true devastation of this tragedy is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who established the very levees that burst, causing the flooding of New Orleans in the first place. Numerous coastal engineers and scientists that warned of the lack of protection the levees were providing before the events of Hurricane Katrina have spoken out against the repair jobs that the Army Corps did3. The argument is that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is using the same materials and systems that were used pre-Katrina.
Reports were conducted after Katrina to try and identify the exact issues the Army Corps may have been responsible for. It was concluded that many of the areas of the floodwalls were built on soggy soil and were ultimately left as flimsy barriers3. Between bad engineering and poorly conducted analyses, the floodwalls were sure to fail. Once the hurricane itself had died off, the media lost interest in the story, and ultimately the American people moved on to the next story; however, the destruction was still very real.
On September 12, 2005 Mike Brown the director of FEMA, resigned. He had come under much scrutiny by the critics in the media over the way he handled a lot of the situations regarding the Katrina aftermath. In a news release, Brown said, “As I told the president, it is important that I leave now to avoid further distraction from the ongoing mission of FEMA.4” Another big issue holding back the progress of New Orleans is the lack of trust between the people and organizations.
As Michael Grunwald of CNN states in his Katrina anniversary article, “The Threatening Storm,” “But in the long run, recovery plans won’t much if investors, insurers and homesick evacuees can’t trust the Corps to prevent the city from drowning again.” I think that if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did a poor job protecting the city, leading to be a big cause of the gravity of Katrina, and they haven’t taken any significant efforts to revise their practices, then another organization needs to step in and take over.
Independent research needs to be conducted to ensure that every possible safety measure is put into place to avoid ever having a disaster like this happen again. According to hurricane experts like Ivor van Heerden, of the University of Louisiana, Katrina was not the worst possible scenario, and natural disasters like this could happen again. We need to be prepared for another hurricane, and we need to have the confidence that the residents will be safe and structures will hold. Hurricane Katrina needs to be taken as a warning and as a learning experience so that the safety and well being of the people of New Orleans isn’t threatened like this again.

Slumdog Millionaire

The newly Oscar Winning movie, "Slumdog Millionaire" has raked in well over $125 million in the United States alone, since its November 12th release. I saw the movie personally and thought that it was very well done, in terms of acting, cinematography, and writing. The film follows the story of Jamal Malik, played by first-time silver screen actor Dev Patel. Jamal is a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and essentially the film is a visual representation of the significant events in his life thus far. Each question that he is asked sparks a different memory of his childhood and young adult life. 

Jamal, an 18 year old orphan from Mumbai, is playing to win a possible 20 million rupees, as the entire nation spectates from their televisions. The basic premise of the movie is that the Mumbai police are under the impression Jamal has cheated and they are interrogating him to find out the truth. As they watch a video tape of the show, he tells the story of each of his life experiences behind the questions he answered correctly one by one. The film depicts vivid retellings of Jamal's childhood, from witnessing his own mother's murder, to harrowing recollections of mistreatment by local gangs, to finding true love. 

There are many children that can be seen in the film, which was actually filmed in India (Agra, Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai, Maharashtra.) According to some reports, these kids have been compensated by some sort of a trust fund, and a promise of a regular education, with another payment after the completion of school at the age of 18. The children were flown out to the United States for the Oscars ceremony and a complimentary trip to Disneyland, but were then flown back to home to India. It is unfortunate though, that after helping to tell the story of such poverty and poor quality of life, these children are expected to get a little taste of "The American Dream" and then fly back home to the heart breaking conditions depicted in the film.

This is not the case for all of these children however; Azharuddin Mohammed (age 10), and Rubiana Ali (age 9) who appeared in the movie have each been given an apartment to live in with their families, courtesy of the state housing association. Some may think that these kids' lives will be totally different now, but this is really not the case; Rubiana's mother had left for five years, and suddenly returned one day after the movie to try to forcefully take Rubiana from her father. Azharuddin's mother has to live with only one eye, and his father has tuberculosis.

This is not to say that Fox Searchlight or any other company is to blame for these living conditions, but it raises a lot of ethical questions.

Why is it that we don't think twice to make a movie with a production budget of $15 million that reveals the true lives and hardships of human beings, young and old, who live in extreme poverty and just get by one meal at a time, but then continue to accept it? "If you're not part of the solution then you're part of the problem." This film is still earning more money every day, and as of yesterday its total domestic gross was $125,441,000. That kind of money could change so many lives of the people of the country of India, and even our own, but the majority of it is going to major corporations and businesses that already have more money than they need.

Hipsters: The American Postmodern Culture

The dictionary defines a hipster as, “someone who rejects the established culture and advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle.” Hipsters are often compared to the hippies during the 1960’s. Similar to the Haight Ashbury generation, hipsters tend to reject mainstream culture and create their own subculture. The focuses of the culture relate to art, music, literature, film, and nonconformist principles. It is generally thought to be a liberal society, more often than not, rejecting Republican politics, especially that of Conservatives.
The most prominent place to find hipsters would be New York City; more commonly Manhattan and Brooklyn; particularly Williamsburg, Wicker Park in Chicago, and the Mission District in San Francisco. In places like the West Village you can often find hipsters in cafés, bars, record stores, art galleries, and thrift stores. Thrift stores are where they get the majority of their clothing, for a few reasons. The culture generally rejects the idea of big corporations and would rather not be part of the zombie-like social norm of supporting and accepting big businesses. They also tend to take extreme pride and effort into finding unique and individual fashions that no one else is wearing.
Hipsters frequent places such as The Salvation Army and Goodwill, Urban Outfitters and American Apparel. The hipster fashion has become more and more recognized lately and stores have been gearing more towards those needs. If you go to either of the Beacon’s Closet locations in Brooklyn you’ll find almost only second-hand clothes that would pass the hipster test. Scarves have little to do with keeping you warm, and hairstyles are often messy, unique, and androgynous.
Each hipster tries to be individual and innovative with his or her wardrobe, but there are a few essentials. Most at least own a pair of dark rimmed glasses, or horn-rimmed sunglasses and layers up with different articles of clothing that wouldn’t be the most typical get-up on a West Side yuppie. A hipster would define a “yuppie” as a “young urban/upcoming professional, who enjoys to flaunt their money and designer clothing, and like to think that they gentrify affordable areas of the city.” Once they take over those areas, that part of the city often becomes unaffordable for most of the people that are not actually yuppies.
Hipsters like to live more simply, not spending exorbitant amounts of money on much of anything. The most the typical hipster would pay would be their monthly rent, or while buying a new acoustic guitar, or incredibly vintage leather jacket. They are often misconceived as unintelligent or undereducated, but often hold a liberal arts degree and have strong analytical capabilities and senses.
It is common for a hipster to base attractions on intellectual levels and personal interests. The more affluent societal focus is on physical appearance; many hipsters reject these ideals as oppressive and misogynistic. A lot of mainstream people and companies reject hipster fashion, but unwittingly copy their trends. When you walk into an Abercrombie & Fitch or American Eagle today you will find more jeans with rips and holes than anything else. Hipsters who bought their jeans more-than-gently used in thrift stores originated this style.
Although hipsters have become for prevalent and culturally rich in postmodern society, they are often alienated and thought of as some sort of anti-American societal plague. This view really couldn’t be farther from the truth, and is often fueled by conformist “average” members of society who are often culturally deprived and view intelligence and eclecticism as wrong and a threat to masculinity.
Even putting aside the fashion, music, and literature, the common hipster ideals could really benefit society if practiced regularly. The idea of acceptance of all groups of people in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, background, socioeconomic status, and a focus on the importance of cultural awareness and diverse knowledge of the world around should be incredibly important to everyone. There is no reason why these values should only be practiced or recognized by a frizzy-haired, American Apparel wearing, organic tea-drinking hipster.
The popular literature among the hipster culture can often include a sundry array of titles, but there is a definite emphasis on the Beat Generation’s Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs. Books, theatre, and poetry are all vitally important to the hipster culture. Music can really vary, but there is a strong prominence of unreleased records, underground mixtapes, and frequently attending live performances in smaller intimate venues.
The more common medium for acquiring music is either purchasing every album you can possibly get in vinyl or getting tracks through music blogs and mix CD’s passed around through groups of friends. Hipsters typically take pride in owning unreleased and rare tracks from their favorite artists, as well as obtaining old songs from their previous bands which most had back in high school or college. There is a common tendency for hipsters to prefer the music of artists that are not very mainstream. There is a common stereotype that hipsters “know bands that don’t exist yet.”
Another common interest among the culture is independent film. Obviously you can find hipsters going to the local AMC theatre to see Slum Dog Millionaire, but the more common hipster movie experience would be finding a smaller theatre that has the maximum of a handful of screens and shows independent and foreign films. These films often contain more substance than the typical high budget silver screen films that depict the action hero or awkward high school underachiever. These films often relate to people on a more personal and human level and pertain to cultural and ethical issues.
The hipster culture is looked at in many lights throughout American society. Some people have never even heard the terminology, and others wish that they hadn’t, but overall it is a vast and diverse society with rich cultural and innovative offerings in music, literature, art, and politics. They hold to a strong set of ideals that many Americans could really benefit from in comparison to certain aspects of the current “social norm.”

The above photograph is from Brooklyn Vegan. Visit Brooklyn Vegan at www.brooklynvegan.com

Update on Gov. David Paterson

Last month, I gave you my side on New York Governor Paterson's politics, so I thought it would be appropriate to give you an update. After his office handled the appointment of Hillary Clinton's Senate seat so poorly, Paterson's approval ratings have continued to plunder. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is more or less convinced to take another stab for the Governor seat partially because of all the mess Paterson is now in. In a recent Quinnipiac poll, Cuomo beat Paterson 55% to 23% in a primary match-up. In comparison to GOP opponent Rudy Guiliani, there was a dead tie of 43%, but Cuomo still won over Guiliani 51% to 37%.

At a press conference on Tuesday, when asked about plans for the future, Paterson contended that he still plans to run again in 2010 and blamed the low ratings on bad publicity in the media. Yes, Dave, I'm sure it has nothing to do with you and your administration's pitiful attempts to handle the budget deficit, exorbitant number of job cuts, and hypocritical misspending of government funds on Turkish rugs. 

After the appointment of Kirsten Gillibrand to Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, more and more information has leaked, adding increasing suspicion to the ethics of not only the appointment but the way in which Paterson acted to avoid backlash. This is to say that there was a last minute push by Chuck Schumer, which has been viewed as another Paterson attempt to spread the blame.  So far her achievements include alienating the majority of her New York colleagues on issues such as amnesty for illegal immigrants, gun-control, and presenting a balanced-budget amendment that, if left unchecked, could have bankrupted the state, according to a recent article in New York Magazine. 

Another enemy that Paterson and Gillibrand now share is Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. This is personal for her, too, because she fought to give Paterson a chance to speak at the Democratic National Convention in Boston back in 2004. Another issue raised is whether or not there will be an attempt to retain Gillibrand's seat in 2010, which we can only imagine will not be a strongly advocated issue. The Obama administration isn't a fan either, based on the humiliation that Paterson and his politics have put Caroline Kennedy through.

At this point it's pretty obvious that Paterson isn't going to have a change of heart and become any more human or willing to point an ear in the direction of the people of the state of New York, but maybe all of this outside pressure will make him at least change his course, even if only to preserve his image. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

On a Personal Note...

The following is a message that I saved on my phone to later be added to the blog and am uploading now:

I'm sitting on a train heading back to New York and I could probably rip apart a phonebook right now. My train was delayed over 2 1/2 hours and I spoke with the person at the ticket counter and she started making analogies about airports and I responded "this is not an airport, you do not work for an airline, I am not trying to take a flight, I am trying to take train, which I already paid for and expected to be here when I was told it would be, so let's talk about that." Her ever popular answer was "talk to my supervisor." When I spoke to this supervisor I asked if I could get a new ticket on a different train and she said "sure, if you pay for it." So I politely explained that I'm trying to get home and I don't have the additional $60 that I would have to pay, and even if I did I wouldn't pay a cent extra strictly on principal. 

She said I could call the Amtrak phone number, so I did, and a very nice woman said that she felt for my situation but could not upgrade my ticket but I could try to talk to customer service. She transferred me and wished me a good day, and I proceeded to listen to 10 minutes of Beethoven. Now if I were sitting on my train on my way home looking out the window and admiring the trees and lakes and bridges I would love to have Beethoven as the temporary soundtrack to my life, but The only view in sight was of a big board of numbers and destinations and the capital letters next to my incredibly late train reading DELAYED. 

As I sat down and put my head in my hands after hanging up on Beethoven, I looked up and Dustin Hoffman was standing in front of me. In times of great stress and upsetment the human mind can often create eccentric illusions, but this was not one of those times. Dustin Hoffman really was standing right next to me, and I didn't even know what to say, so I just looked at him as he was looking back at me and smiled. For those of my readers that may not know me personally, I am an actor, and so this experience went beyond just seeing a famous person, it made me feel like there was a reason for my train being in the end a total of 3 hours late, and

Dustin Hoffman gave me some strange bit of reassurance. Now I'm sitting on the train somewhere in Rhode Island and watching beautiful landscapes go by my window while listening to music to calm me down from the first half of my day, and no, it's not Beethoven.

Invisible in America

There is a pressing issue that everyone is aware of, but most choose to completely ignore or deny, and that is poverty in America. In his 2005 book, "The Working Poor," David Shipler states that "in American atmosphere, poverty has always carried a whiff of sinfulness." This statement unfortunately bears a lot of truth. As Americans, both from within our own country as well as from outside foreign viewpoints, we are expected to fit a certain mold. 

We are said to be this land of opportunity where the streets are paved with gold, but even the most diehard "patriots" have to realize by now (although some will never admit it) that there is a whole lot of poverty and misfortune in our sweet land of liberty. However, instead of addressing these issues head-on and dealing with them, we put people into categories, creating a class system within society. The average are thought to be the middle class; not poor like the forgotten blue collar workers, but not rich like the fantasy lives we see on TMZ. The poor are often regarded as lazy and as living tarnish on the American name. 

When we see a homeless person on the street, we call them a bum or laugh, or give them condescending dehumanizing looks. We deny them the dignity that we give a man in a suit and tie holding a $6 cup of coffee. Someone doesn't have a 9-5 desk job so they must be a drug addict, or unworthy of living a comfortable life. In reality there are so many good people that just don't have the opportunities that others are blessed with. The roles just as easily could have been reversed, which is far too often forgotten.

In reality, we don't know these people's stories, because we don't know them. There are many men that sit behind a desk all day and have a Blackberry surgically attached to their face, and quite a few of them live cold, closed-off, meaningless lives. The people that they walk by every day whether on the busy streets of Manhattan, or the windy avenues of Chicago are the forgotten souls that are not even given as much as a nod. This is not to say that there are not thousands, maybe millions of people that are living within communities like yours and mine that are struggling to make ends meet but still have the great privilege of owning their own home. These are the people that clean hotel rooms all day long, but can not afford to spend a night sleeping in it. These are the people that wash cars for 8 hours a day and can not afford to drive their own. These are even the people that go off to war and fight in the name of our country and come back to live on the streets. I'm not suggesting that there is an easy fix to these problems, but even the smallest actions can speak volumes. Next time someone asks for even 25 cents, just give it to them. Maybe you paid for part of their dinner that they wouldn't have been able to have otherwise.

Whenever I'm in New York City, I often am approached by those who are less fortune, many of whom seem to most likely be homeless, and they ask for anything that I can spare, and if they are kind and seem like they could really use the money, and I don't think they're just trying to score their next hit, I give them some money. Almost every time that I do so, I get an instant response of "God bless you" or "you're a good person" or "you're really helping me out." Hearing those words are instant gratification and it feels really good to help other people. It's also very easy to do. There are so many other ways to help though. You don't have to give money, you can buy something from a food stand for them if you're afraid of where the money would end up going. Most people that have resulted to begging for money are doing it because they really need it. Be the change we want to see in the world.

The above picture is graffiti art from the urban artist Banksy, you can check out more of his artwork here.