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
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
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.
A NEW AGE OF INTOLERANCE
I had the privilege of assisting the Obama campaign on Election Day by serving as a legal election observer in South Philadelphia.
Family after family of first-time voters streamed into my polling location. Many brought their children, who watched as their parents participated in the most essential process and privilege of being an American. As each family walked out, I made sure to tell the children that their parents were making history.
But the undeniable promise of election night’s political events was tempered by the reality of intolerance, an intolerance that appears to be replacing racial Read more
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
THE RUNNING MAN
State Sen. Bill Perkins shows off his marathon medal at a rally to support Barack Obama after completing the Nov. 2 race. Photo By: Andrew Schwartz
DIARY OF A SWING STATE VOLUNTEER
STUMPING FOR OBAMA IN BUCKS COUNTY, PA.
By Jeff Williams
As a political junkie, one of the downsides of living in New York is that our state is never contested in presidential elections. In an attempt to do my part, I’ve made two trips to Bucks County, Penn. to knock on doors and canvass voters for the Obama campaign. My first trip in September took me to Quakertown, a small town with many working class retirees. Recently I traveled to Bristol, a more economically diverse area with both McMansion-filled cul-de-sacs and trailer parks. Read more
