For Roe v. Wade Supporters, Silence is No Longer a Choice
By Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Last Sunday, we marked the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision that guarantees a woman’s right to choose. Reproductive freedom is at greater risk now than at any time since Roe was handed down in 1973, and family planning is under attack. Women can no longer afford to be silent. Read more
With PCBs, Kids Can’t Wait 10 Years
The city adminstration is aware that nearly 800 public schools in all five boroughs contain lighting ballasts that leak polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which pose serious threats to the health and safety of our children, teachers and staff. Despite the magnitude of the threat and the simple solution available, however, the best response the city can muster is a 10-year plan focusing on meeting legally mandated energy efficiency upgrades, with the peripheral effect of gradually replacing these toxic lighting ballasts. Read more
The Dangers of Hydrofracking
Gas extraction process presents hazard to New Yorkers health
There are many disturbing facts about the drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or “hydrofracking,” all of which point to one clear overarching message: Hydrofracking is simply too dangerous to allow in New York.
In my work as a member of the New York State Assembly Committee on Environmental Conservation and a long-time advocate for our environment, I’ve met with advocates, attended hearings, corresponded with regulatory agencies and two governors and questioned the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and the natural gas industry regarding the environmental damage and health impacts of hydrofracking found in other states and nations.
In all of the information I’ve received over the years that hydraulic fracturing has been studied and disputed, scientists, legislators and state agencies have found neither proof nor assurance that hydrofracking can be done properly without harm to citizens of New York, our environment and our health.
To obtain natural gas contained in shale rock deep below the earth’s surface, the hydrofracking process uses millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals—many of them toxic or carcinogenic—to blast open the rock and bring the natural gas-hydrofracking fluid combination to the surface. However, a large percentage of this noxious mixture—some reports have said a large majority—remains underground, possibly migrating into nearby water supplies. The fluid that does come to the surface is toxic waste, and there currently exists no method to properly deal with this liquid.
The clearest evidence of this danger came to light very recently. Dec. 8 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a targeted study that stated there is a likely link between contamination of water supplies and nearby hydrofracking activity in Wyoming. This is the first time this connection has been made so directly, but I have no doubt it will not be the last. In an earlier letter to Gov. Cuomo on Nov. 7, I called on the governor to halt the DEC permit process in New York until the EPA had finished its comprehensive study examining the process. I believe the recent development underlines the importance of this study.
The dangers of hydrofracking are indeed grave: compromised water and land, decreased property values, industrial pollution, increased seismic activity and a deterioration of residents’ health due in part to increased levels of known carcinogens.
If hydraulic fracturing is allowed to occur in New York State, it will affect all of us. This issue is not one that is limited to the major cities, which get their fresh water from upstate aquifers, and it is certainly not limited to more rural areas where the drilling will take place. These citizens will face long-lasting damage to their land, their water sources and the industries that support their livelihoods, not to mention their personal health.
This is an issue that all New Yorkers must be concerned about, for our health, our state and future generations. I will continue to fight against hydrofracking as I have in past years to protect our great state from this potentially devastating practice. I encourage all others in our community to do the same.
Daniel O’Donnell is the assembly member for the 69th District, which includes parts of the Upper West Side, Manhattan Valley and Morningside Heights.
Looking Forward to Tricks, Treats and Deindividuation
By Kristine Keller and Marisa Polansky
Downtown doesn’t really need a designated day devoted to dressing like Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga or Danny Zuko, but just because we don’t need it doesn’t mean we won’t embrace it. It’s human nature to dream of being someone else entirely. The popularity of Halloween isn’t the candy, the creepy or even the costumes. It’s the freedom we acquire from shedding the old and becoming the new.
One night, tired of looking at our white walls and inspired by Penélope Cruz’s infectiously bold performance in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, we interpreted Jackson Pollock through wide and talentless fingers and threw paint at our walls. The next morning, we wordlessly and collectively decided the only thing worth keeping from the night before was our memories.
At Home Depot, in the midst of choosing between eggshell and sand, a plucky associate checked our paint-stained hands and said, “Painters huh? Let me show you where we keep our good brushes.” We purchased an entire set. We knew, of course, that one painting does not a painter make, but something about having this stranger believe it made us believe it, if only for a moment. Halloween is like that moment 1,440 times in a row.
As many a good parent would say, the only thing that matters is what you think about you. However, as many a person living in the real world would say, what other people think about you matters a whole hell of a lot. Just ask the participants of the notorious Stanford Prison Experiment. The study made a roar in the ’70s when social psychologist Phillip Zimbardo selected 24 psychologically healthy males and randomly assigned half to play the role of “prisoner” and the other half to play the role of “guard” in a simulated prison.
Though there were no discernible differences between the two groups of participants before the study, once they were given labels and costumes and placed in a prison context, their fictitious entities soon became a frightening reality. The guards took their position to the extreme and showed a flagrant disregard for the rights of the prisoners with verbal assaults, public humiliation and a total lack of scruples. In concordance, the prisoners succumbed to their new roles as well. Each prisoner was stripped of his birth name and only given an ID number to be used throughout the study—prisoners became emotionally drained and riots ensued. The study was terminated after only six days.
Though the experiment raised eyebrows and ethical concerns everywhere, it brought forth a powerful notion: the theory of deindividuation. This theory is usually used to describe the feeling of anonymity and loss of self-identity that individuals take on when given a certain label or name in the context of a sizable group. When placed in a group setting, individuals are less accountable for their actions and have the opportunity to relish behaviors that they would not have ordinarily been able to commit.
On All Hallow’s Eve, deindividuation occurs the moment you put on a Native American headdress and do a synchronized dance next to a construction worker and policeman. With the right costume and attitude, anyone has the opportunity to become who they’ve always wanted to be, whether it’s a painter, prisoner, princess or president. Not only do you get to dress like a fantasy, but your behaviors, actions and emotions are predicated on that new idea of yourself. This new identity gives the identifier the courage and ammunition to behave the way the costume necessitates. Moreover, the more we are treated like a naughty secretary, Michele Bachmann or a WWE wrestler, the more we inhabit that persona.
In previous years, we’ve witnessed witches fly, cheerleaders shout affirmations and sailors open doors, but we can’t help but wonder if it’s not just the magic of Halloween but rather the magic of New York City. After all, there is no place better suited for maintaining your anonymity than the 917. Freedom comes from reinvention and the notion of possibility is paved into the sidewalks of this city. There’s no one to tell you that you can’t be who you want to be. Don’t wait for someone to give you a label.
We say, why not take a cue from Oct. 31, have the fortitude to be who you dream and let New York be your mask? Of course, our brushes have been long forgotten behind dust and dish detergent and we haven’t painted a thing since that fateful night, but we just may have thought of this year’s costume. Or better yet, a new career.
A Kipling-Sized Hole in My Heart
By Jeff Nichols
I am a Hungerford; yes, I wince when I volunteer that this is my middle name, but I feel I must to make a point. Only a Hungerford who lives on Park Avenue (qualifier: I took over the rent-controlled apartment from my mother and share it with a 52-year-old Sleepeezee mattress salesman) would have a complete (26 volumes) signed collection of Rudyard Kipling’s works (Bombay edition, leather bound) accumulating dust on a shelf.
Read more
Clarence Kept Me Young
I met the ‘Big Man’ at a now gone UWS spot
I suppose everyone has a moment when they know the days of their youth are over.
Graduating college. Getting that first job. Marrying the girl. Having that first kid. Tearing an Achilles. Being checked out by the mom, not the daughter. Squinting at the menu because it’s too dark. Waking to pee twice every night.
Read more
Hell’s Kitchen Salutes the Seasons
As neighborhoods go, Hell’s Kitchen, where I’ve lived since the ’90s, is the poster child for urban grit. The setting for some of the great noir films of the 1940s, it was once the turf of the Westies, a notorious Irish gang. The Capeman Murders happened in a nearby schoolyard. Last fall, in a club across from an Eighth Avenue restaurant where I regularly eat, a man murdered a woman because she wouldn’t dance with him.
Read more
The Big Lies About the Budget
“A kiss is still a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh…” and a bald-faced, spit-in-your-face lie is still what it is. It is not raining and Republicans have been expectorating in our kissers for years about more than a few things, the latest of which are the “true” causes of our recession and what needs to be done about them.
More Women Need to Run for Office
By Julie Menin
As I watched the saga enveloping Congressman Anthony Weiner, and the ones surrounding Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, there is a frequent chorus I hear from women: Where are the women on this list?
Read more
Finding Shelter From the Storm
Temporary shelter for homeless is useful, but permanent housing is needed
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the David B. Skinner Shelter at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. It is a milestone we plan to recognize this fall, honoring the volunteers who host 12 homeless men every night and keep the shelter running 365 days a year.
Read more
