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The Paper of Record for Greenwich Village, East Village, Lower East Side, Soho, Union Square, Chinatown and Noho, Since 1933

January 7, 2016 • $1.00 Volume 86 • Number 1

In New Year’s tragedy, aspiring rapper is killed by Grand St. elevator BY YANNIC RACK

Bronx man was crushed to death by a faulty elevator in a building on the Lower East Side moments before the rest of the city joined to ring in the new year. Stephen Hewett-Brown, 25, an aspiring rapper, was reportedly heading to a

New Year’s Eve celebration in the building when he stepped into an elevator at 131 Broome St. shortly before midnight on Dec. 31. When the elevator suddenly got stuck between floors, Hewett-Brown helped one of the tenants in the building, Erudi Sanchez, get out of it ELEVATOR continued on p. 11

Poetry and all that jazz; Soho’s Steve Dalachinsky on a life of feeling the flow BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC

on’t tag poet Steve Dalachinsky as a poet. “I don’t even like being called a poet — it’s a big label,” Dalachinsky said. “I don’t think anyone should be pigeonholed.” Dalachinsky, who has been a maker of verse since he was young, has written

books of poetry whose subjects range from free jazz to being a superintendent. A moment later, he reconsidered. “O.K., let’s put it this way, I’m a poet,” he said. “Or let’s put it more succinctly. What I’ve done for the better part of my life — besides DALACHINSKY continued on p. 8

PHOTO BY Q. SAKAMAKI

A kiss, confetti and a selfie-stick photo of it all made a New Year’s Eve complete in Times Square.

The fight for fifteen BY AMANDA MORRIS

ozens of silver police barricades lining Centre and Lafayette Sts. barely contained the crowd of hundreds of protesters that gathered in Foley Square on Nov. 10. The boom of activist speakers’ voices reverberated throughout the streets of the Financial District. “How can we thrive if we are unable to survive?” Rahel Teka, a young female activist, thundered over the loudspeaker. “Without us,” she said,

getting louder, “there is no America, so it’s up to America to make sure that we survive!” The crowd roared their approval and hoisted their signs higher into the air. Among them were the tall purple banners of the 1199 SEIU healthcare workers union and the small blue circles of the Hotel Trades Council. The biggest of these signs, however, was a massive yellow lighted sign surrounded by Teamsters 804 UPS union members. Working together, the members hoisted their 5-foot-tall sign into the air and sud-

denly a bright 15 rose above everyone’s heads. This 15 served as an emblem for the continuing Fight for Fifteen movement, which is pushing for a $15 federal minimum wage. The protesters had been standing in the cold, dark, rainy weather since 4 p.m., but three hours later, the party had just begun. A full marching band played upbeat music and walked up Centre St., followed by two dancers decked out in sparkly silver pants, and a slew of minimum-wage workers FIGHT FOR 15 continued on p. 10

Clerics unite against Muslim bashing..........page 4 Coney Polar Bear plunge in pictures...........page 6 The colorful world of Mr. Peeps...page 19

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THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET: Backing up his tough words against Assemblymember Deborah Glick in recent years, District Leader Arthur Schwartz has finally bitten the bullet. An article in the New York Observer last week announced that he has decided to challenge the longtime incumbent in this September’s Democratic primary election. Keep tuned for our coverage of this Village political throwdown in next week’s issue. CANCEL RUNNING? District Leader Alice Cancel was nominated to run for Assembly at the Three Kings party at Southbridge Towers on Wednesday evening, with her co-District Leader Pedro Cardi making the initial announcement at the party. That would pretty much lock up the key County Committee members from the Lower East Side Democratic Club, who are the coveted swing votes to pick the nominee. Despite repeated rumblings that Cancel would be running, her husband, State Commiteeman John Quinn, had repeatedly told us that she wasn’t interested...but, well... . “If my community wants me to serve, I’ll serve,” she said Wednesday night. From the sound of it, Cancel would also be a favorite at Grand St.’s Truman Club, where District Leader Paul Newell is still on the outs for running against Shelly Silver back in 2008. And yet another candidate has thrown his hat into the ring for the special election in the 65th Assembly District. John Bal, a longtime resident of Kenmare St. in Little Italy, says he wants to succeed the deposed Assembly Speaker Silver in representing Lower Manhattan. A former new York City police officer and Queens community board youth services coordinator, Bal ran against Silver about 25 years ago and said he got about 1,000 votes. Like others, he

PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY

District Leader Alice Cancel with her granddaughter Olivia at Wednesday night’s Three Kings party at Southbridge Towers.

said he’s very dissatisfied with the County Committee process that is unfolding to pick the Democratic nominee for the expected April 19 special election. He called us from, of all places, Thailand, where he said he hopes eventually to help out the locals. First, however, he is learning Thai in order to do that. “This is how I spend a lot of my vacations,” he said of his altruistic globetrotting. In addition, a meeting on Thursday about the County Committee process, which we’re told was to be closed to everyone except the eight local district leaders and the hopeful candidates, has abruptly been canceled — perhaps due to outrage that it was so closed and secretive! Meanwhile, another possible candidate, Don B. Lee, back from a trip abroad — apparently not Thailand! — told us he is still testing the waters. The Battery Park City resident assured us that, despite rumors, he was not once a registered Republican. “I never was — that’s just a myth,” he said. “I’ve been labeled worse.”

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John Bal ran against Shelly Silver 25 years ago — and now wants his former seat.

CORRECTIONS: The original version of last week’s Villager article “The dark side of Purple” contained a photo of a young woman who was identified as Anne (a.k.a. Eve No. 2), the mother of Adam Purple’s son, Adam David. The shot was of her in a photo booth with Adam Purple. However, while the woman in that photo was an acquaintance of Purple’s in the 1970s, she was not Eve and not the mother of his son or of any of his children. She did not give permission for the photo’s use. The photo has been removed from our online edition. The Villager apologizes for the error. Also in last week’s issue, an article on the Community Board 3 monthly meeting referred to a spokesman for the public advocate as Tommy Lin, but should have said Adam Chen. A Tommy Lin may have worked for Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum a few administrations ago! TheVillager.com

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January 7, 2016

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‘We support you,’ pol, clerics tell mosque BY LINCOLN ANDERSON

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Muhammad Shahidullah, center, was joined by state Senator Brad Hoylman, right, and local religious leaders at Madina Masjid, at E. 11th St. and First Ave., for an interfaith service.

January 7, 2016

ocal religious leaders and state Senator Brad Hoylman joined an interfaith service at the East Village’s Madina Masjid last month to show solidarity with Muslims in the face of the angry rhetoric coming out of the Republican presidential campaign. Muhammad Shahidullah of the E. 11th St. mosque led the service. Anthony Donovan, an advocate for forging ties between the neighborhood’s religious communities, said the area’s spiritual leaders had come there to show their support. “In these times [with] this injustice and the words that we hear, know that we are together,” Donovan told the gathering, as they sat listening on the mosque’s floor. “We stand up together with you. This is not your challenge. It is not a Muslim challenge. It is our challenge. It is something that we are all working against.” “We have our neighbors,” Shahidullah said. “They’re always with us when we face this kind of calamity.” He noted that Islam has been in America since the beginning. “If you trace the history…Muslims served in Washington’s army and they fought against the British colonialists,” he said. “This country is the land of the immigrant.” Shahidullah said he was happy that

members of a nearby church had led the push to take down an ad on the corner that showed a lot of skin and offended local worshipers. “Some of our sisters from another church, Seventh St. I believe — you see that commercial on the side on the corner,” he said. “Three years ago there was a commercial that was almost naked. These sisters came forward to call the company to take it down. Since then we don’t see any nudity on the commercial on the side.” Hoylman in his remarks blasted efforts to restrict immigration based on religious grounds. “We talk about religious texts, I’m going to talk about another text, the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “We’re all Americans, and the strength of our nation, our city and the East Village, lies in the diversity and talents of each and every one of us. We need you. We support you,” he told the Muslim congregants. “You are the essence of our strength. We will continue to surround you with love, support and most of all, solidarity.” In a follow-up statement, the senator said, “It’s important during this time that New Yorkers show their support for religious and ethnic diversity, which has helped make our city great, and in particular our Muslim community, which is being targeted by hatemongers for partisan political advantage.

I’m outraged that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump would suggest a religious test for immigration into our country. It’s unconstitutional and runs directly counter to the founding principles of our nation.” Bud Courtney from the Catholic Worker noted he had just fed scores of people at the group’s East Village soup kitchen before coming to the interfaith service. “We pray for peace, We pray for love,” he said. “This country once was great and can be great, if we learn to love one another.” Other religious leaders at the event, most of whom also spoke, included Rabbi Larry Sebert of Town and Village Synagogue; Fathers Christopher Calin and Michael Suvak of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral Protection Holy Virgin; Father Sean McGullicutty of Holy Redeemer / Nativity Catholic Church; Rabbi Gavriel Bellino of Sixth Street Community Synagogue; Reverend Chad T. Pack of Middle Collegiate Church, and Father David Kossey of St. Mary’s Church. In addition, in another interfaith event, members of various local religious congregations will gather on Sun., Jan. 31, for the Seventh Annual Spiritual Sounds, a free concert, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery, at 131 E. 10th St. at Second Ave. TheVillager.com

Of heartbreak and hope; We can’t lose Theatre 80 TALKING POINT BY ALAN KAUFMAN

ast April, a broken heart brought me back to the East Village. While on a book tour in Europe I had met a Berlin writer with whom I fell deeply in love. Trapped in a dead marriage, she flew to me in San Francisco where for months we lived warmly together and made plans to relocate to Manhattan. But at the last possible moment, without warning, she returned to her loveless Berlin life and I, completely shattered, landed here alone. That month, a gas line allegedly illegally tapped by a greedy landlord exploded on Second Ave. and E. Seventh St., killing two people and injuring 140 others. The media called it “The East Village 9/11.” Each day I walked past the ruins where locals stood in shock, some weeping. In a way,

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the building’s charred remains resembled my own torched insides. I knew that the only chance to get free of my pain was to try and help those who had suffered loss greater than my own. I went to Lorcan Otway, owner of Theatre 80 St. Mark’s, with the idea to hold a relief benefit concert for the East Village fire victims. Without hesitation, he agreed. In five furious days I organized the event. On all sides of me help appeared: Jim Storm, Clayton Patterson, Isaac Hindin-Miller, Roderick Romero, Jackie Rudin, Jennifer Pugh and so many others. On April 12, to a sold-out audience in Theatre 80 St. Marks, Patti Smith and a broad array of local talents, including David Peel and The Lower East Side, Jesse Malin, Chris Riffle, Mollie King, On-ka Davis, The Bowery Boys, Tammy Faye Starlight and others, performed a historic concert, to which everyone from Sting and Yoko Ono to Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam and Gertrude Stein of The Boris Lurie Foundation donated close to $50,000. It all went to GOLES (Good Old Lower East

greedy developers were to build in its stead yet another faceless and unaffordable glass-and-steel condo-hive, peddled off to overseas investors who will purchase them for their kids to drop in on two weeks of a year for epic vomitous drunks on Avenue A. Such tenants leave the flats empty for the rest of the year. That’s how San Francisco has been made into a ghost town. I know: I’ve lived through it. New York is fast getting there. To lose Theatre 80 would not be just one more sad tale of the way in which developers have made the East Village unrecognizable to itself, but a death blow for this still culturally dynamic district. Theatre 80’s demise would be the downfall of not only a great legacy but of ourselves. Each day that we would pass this wonderful venue’s ruins we would see ourselves mirrored in its destruction. Each day that we would note its absence, we would know that we too are expendable, as individuals, as families, as a community, as a history, and it would be as though we had never been here at all.

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Side) to assist the very worst cases affected by the disaster. And what did Lorcan get? Not a cent. He got what I got: a bettered heart. What he helped me to do, with the devoted help of his lovely wife, Jeannie, was to allow community to respond creatively to tragedy. What he did was to offer his stage for healing to occur for all of us. He upheld a belief I share that New York City really is and always will be about being one big crazy family where talented people somehow help each other to go on, endure, creatively thrive, live their dreams. I know that Lorcan fights each day to keep his theater’s doors open, despite the radical changes going on around it. For he knows that so many individuals depend upon his efforts. He has turned the place into a humane communal hub for Off Broadway theater, recovery meetings, a congenial tavern for after-hours fellowship and even a Museum of the American Gangster. (Before becoming Theatre 80, the building had been a mobster hideout.) Imagine if it were sold off, if

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PHOTOS BY MILO HESS

Thrills and chills — brrr! — to start the year About 2,000 people took the Coney Island Polar Bear plunge to start off 2016. Although the air temperature was in the 40s, the water was a bit warmer.

January 7, 2016

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Connie Robins Romano, 82, poet, art historian and teacher OBITUARY

onnie Robins Romano, a writer and Soho resident for more the 40 years, died in her home on Dec. 8. She was 82 years old. She was born July 31, 1933, in New York City. Robins was a poet, art historian and widely published art critic, and a teacher. According to the art historian Joan Marter, “Robins wrote one of the most important books about art of the 1970s,” referring to “The Pluralist Era, American Art, 1968-81.” Romano was determined to include many women artists, African-American artists and abstraction, and to discuss various art forms with precision and enthusiasm. Robins was fully engaged and devoted to the world of art. She was a member of the International Association of Art Critics. A passionate and dedicated teacher, she taught art criticism and art history at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, as well as at the School of Visual Arts. In her later years, Robins turned from writing art criticism to poetry. She has published five books of poetry (three of them published by Marsh Hawk

Conversations that matter... What does it mean to be transgender?

ONE BODY: Towards Full Trans Inclusion in Faith Communities A Trans Awareness Panel Connie Robins Romano.

Press), including “Facing It,” “Marble Goddesses With Technicolor Skins,” “One Thousand Years,” “Today’s Menu,” and her last book, “Facing It Again,” a collaboration with her late husband, the artist Sal Romano. She wrote under the name Corinne Robins. Robins was the coordinator for the Poets For Choice reading series at Ceres Gallery in New York City; at her poetry readings, she presented with emotion and gravity, and held the attention of her audience. She is survived by her sister, Phyllis Kronick, and her daughter, Joyce Romano.

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Life in the flow and mix of words, music and art DALACHINSKY continued from p. 1

complain and be rude to people — is write poetry. I write poetry, you know? That’s what I do.” For two hours, Dalachinsky, 69, talked with The Villager about his life, work — both poetry and collage — and influences at his jam-packed Spring St. apartment, where he has lived since the mid-’70s. Dalachinsky grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn, and said his parents were working class. “Where I grew up was O.K. I had some friends. It was a very Italian and Jewish neighborhood. I had more Italian friends than Jewish friends. I always had this class-consciousness thing, which I still have, unfortunately,” he said with a laugh. Even though he went through “heavy stuff” as a kid, Dalachinsky said he remembers always writing and being involved in art. He started taking art lessons and ended up with a mini-scholarship to the Pratt Institute. For 18 months he tried his hand at painting, but soon turned full-time to poetry. “I was probably never successful at poetry, but the poetry kept continuing and continuing,” he recalled. “I have notebooks that go back to — the

January 7, 2016

PHOTOS BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC

Steve Dalachinsky reading from one of his works in his Soho apartment.

earliest notebook that survived is between the age of 13 and 15.” At one point he dropped out of high school and he said he was “very involved” with drugs in the ’60s. “I’m not an academic; I didn’t go to school,” he said. “I went to Brooklyn College for about 30 seconds.” However, during this period, someone gave him copies of Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s “A Coney Island of the Mind” and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” — and it changed his writing style. “[Ginsberg] gave me the license in

A collage by Steve Dalachinsky.

his work,” he said. “Ferlinghetti gave me the license to say things like, when he wrote a poem, ‘Christ climbed down from his bare tree.’ I wasn’t Christian, but very into the whole Jesus myth and I’m saying, ‘Wow, I can say derogatory things about religion?’ I can do whatever I want.” Dalachinsky counts Franz Kafka, Albert Camus, Ezra Pound, Delmore Schwartz, Federico Garcia Lorca, e.e. cummings and William Blake — especially his “Auguries of Innocence” — among his influences. He depicted his writing process as “spontaneity mixed with a conscious pushing.” “The process for me is both the forced intention of wanting or needing to write a poem mixed with the free flow of writing a poem,” he said. “I try to subvert a lot of linearity intentionally because I’m so bored. I’m a romantic writer.” This is perhaps best exemplified in his book “The Final Nite and Other Poems: The Complete Notes from a Charles Gayle Notebook 1987-2006.” Gayle is a free jazz saxophonist who also plays piano, bass, drums and bass clarinet. The collection started in the ’80s — that’s when Dalachinsky said he wrote poems while listening to live music. For 19 years, he went to Gayle’s performances and created poems on scrap paper. “It’s a chronicle. It’s in chronological order of all the venues he ever played in — two-thirds of which don’t exist anymore,” he explained. Many of Downtown’s free jazz spots, like Ray Taylor’s Living Room on the Lower East Side, are now gone, he said. Dalachinsky has written hundreds of liner notes for albums and currently collaborates with musicians, such as Eighty-pound Pug and The Snobs.

He also lends his artwork — dense collages — for CD cover art. But Dalachinsky doesn’t only create poems connected to music. He also released a collection called “A Superintendent’s Eyes,” which focused on his time as a super at the Spring St. building. The Unbearables — a “loose collective of noir humorists, beer mystics, anarchists, neophobes and passionate debunkers,” according to its Web site — published the collection. Both Dalachinsky and his wife of more than 30 years, Yuko Otomo, have been connected to the Unbearables for some time. A scribe as well, Otomo has written four novels in Japanese and much art criticism. “I mean, she’s the real brilliant one in the family and that’s for sure,” Dalachinsky said. Dalachinsky knew one of the Unbearables founders, Ron Kolm, who used to work at the New Morning Bookstore on Spring St. At that time, Dalachinsky was selling books and records on the street. Another Unbearables member invited Dalachinsky to one of the group’s gatherings and eventually he went. “I said then and still say, I’m not an Unbearable, but what happened was I did get into one of their anthologies,” he said. Later on, Otomo and Dalachinsky were asked to art edit “The Unbearables Big Book of Sex.” “Now we’re all friends,” Otomo said. Ever the contrarian, Dalachinsky said, “I still hate a couple of them. But we have a good relationship.” Steve Dalachinsky will be part of a music and poetry event put together by Marc Sloan on Tues., Jan. 14, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at KGB Bar, at 85 E. Fourth St. Go to kgbbar.com for details. TheVillager.com

POLICE BLOTTER Church gym job Police are seeking the public’s assistance in locating and identifying six suspects wanted in connection with a burglary at the St. Anthony’s Church gym, at 145 Thompson St. On Thurs., Dec. 24, at 12:22 a.m., the suspects entered the gym. They then entered an office and removed $15 and a check made out for $100. The suspects fled in an unknown direction. A video of the suspects, who all look to be around their teens, shows them all wearing hoodies over their heads to try to conceal their identities. Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department’s Crime Stoppers Hotline, at 800-577-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted by logging onto the Crime Stoppers Web site, www.nypdcrimestoppers.com, or by texting them to 274637(CRIMES) and then entering TIP577.

Doggone violent Things got a little rowdy at the Papaya Dog at Sixth Ave. and Cornelia

St. on Sun., Jan. 3. A man was working at the franks-and-juice joint at 1:20 a.m. when he got in a verbal altercation with a female customer. The woman allegedly struck the victim with her closed fist on the side of his face, causing substantial pain and swelling. Police said the woman then kicked a window and broke it, causing more than $600 worth of damages. Police arrived and arrested Cyre Miller-Kelley, 22, for felony criminal mischief.

Ganged up on cop An off-duty police officer was attacked in front of the Brass Monkey bar, at 55 Little W. 12th St., on Sun., Jan. 3, at 1:42 a.m., police said. Five perpetrators reportedly struck the victim in the face and body causing serious physical injury while six people witnessed the incident. The victim was a new police officer who recently graduated from the Police Academy. Police arrested five men for felony gang assault: Matthew Tacktill, 23; Luke Burggraf, 22; Louis Orte-

ga, 25; Enrico Magliocchi, 22, and Thomas Gagliardi, 23.

Head over heels Catching a cab can be dangerous. A man got into a verbal dispute with another man and a woman in front of 255 W. 14th St on Fri., Jan. 1, at 4:40 a.m., as they were vying to get a taxi. Police said the man struck the victim multiple times in the face and head, causing bruising, swelling and pain. He also allegedly put his arm around the victim’s neck, causing him to lose consciousness. Meanwhile, the woman struck the victim in the head multiple times with her high-heeled shoe, causing a large laceration. The victim received 14 staples on the back of his head at Lenox Health Greenwich Village. Edwin Sanchez, 33, and Krista Zuniga, 24, were arrested for felony assault.

Not on his bucket list

man in the face with an ice bucket at STK Bar, at 26 Little W. 12th St., on Fri., Jan. 1, at 12:35 a.m. The victim suffered substantial pain as well as multiple lacerations to his forehead, police said. Jonathan Gonzalez, 25, was charged with felony assault.

Caught in the act Police caught a man with paint marker in hand while he graffitied an abandoned building on Fri., Jan. 1, at 1:20 a.m. at 40 10th Ave., in the Meatpacking District. Police searched the man’s vehicle and found nothing. After seating the arrested man in the van and then bringing him to the precinct, however, they found multiple Xanax 2-milligram “bars” in the vehicle. Police said they may have fallen out of the man’s pockets or the man placed them there. According to cops, the guy’s graffiti tag name is German. Francisco Vargas, 27, was arrested for misdemeanor making graffiti.

Someone had a rough beginning to the new year. A stranger struck a

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Crunching the numbers: A look at the Fight for 15 FIGHT FOR 15 continued from p. 1

from all different professions bopping along to the music. “What do we want? Fifteen!” they chanted. “When do we want it? Now!” The march concluded at Bowling Green roughly two and a half hours later. It coincided with protests in 500 cities nationwide to be the biggest Fight for Fifteen demonstration yet, according to the effort’s eponymous official Web site. What started two years ago in New York City as a fast-food worker movement for higher wages has now blossomed into a multi-industry minimum-wage worker alliance. This new alliance is pushing for a federal minimum wage, as well as more union rights across various job fields, according to Madeline Kaye, who works at BerlinRosen, the official public relations firm for 1199 SEIU. “Nov. 10 was about flexing their political muscles — taking the victories in New York and using it to leverage it for victories elsewhere,” Kaye said. The protest was timed to be held exactly one year before the 2016 presidential elections, and minimum wage has been one of the issues that various candidates have focused on throughout the campaign. In both the Republican and Democratic debates, candidates have been asked about their position on minimum wage. In New York City last spring, the Fight for Fifteen had what Kaye called “a big win,” when Governor Andrew Cuomo and a wage board increased wages for fast-food workers to $15 an hour in New York and later extended this wage increase to cover state workers, as well. Fast-food workers’ first wage increase, to $10.10 per hour, will come on Dec. 31. In even bigger news, this week, Cuomo said he backs a $15 minimum wage statewide, and Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the wage would apply for 50,000 city workers. Still, for some, these wage increases aren’t coming fast enough. Kenya (not her real name) is an outgoing 22-yearold cashier from Brooklyn who works at McDonald’s and frequently has trouble paying her bills on a minimum-wage salary. While attending to her fussing 2-year-old daughter in the background, Kenya sighed over the phone during a recent interview. “I have to choose between putting Pampers on my daughter’s back, food on the table or paying my mortgage,” she said. Kenya is only able to work parttime to make roughly $500 per month. Yet her mortgage is $431 per month. Often she doesn’t pay her mortgage and is constantly in debt. “I haven’t been able to save any

January 7, 2016

PHOTO BY YANNIC RACK

Members of N.Y.U. SLAM (Student Labor Action Movement) at a protest last October.

money,” she said. “I don’t even have a bank account because I always end up using my money for something.” Before dropping out of the Borough of Manhattan Community College, Kenya aspired to become a pediatrician. However, after a surprise pregnancy forced her to find any job she could, her current dream is just to be independent. “I’d rather have it together for myself so that I don’t have to depend on anyone,” she said. She is pushing for a union because she depends on her job for survival. “I really need a union for protection from being injured out of my job or fired,” she added. Others, such as Yvette Frazier, a low-wage worker/activist in the NYC Communities for Change organization, which advocates for a range of social and economic justice issues, believe that unions are necessary to make sure that workers are getting fair hours. According to Frazier, one tactic that some companies may use is keeping workers just under the 40-hours-perweek mark in order to classify them as part-time workers, who get fewer benefits. “I know people who aren’t allowed to do overtime anymore,” she said. “I know people who can’t even get paid

for 40 hours a week like they deserve.” Frazier currently works as a patient escort (she drives patients around), but previously she worked as an in-home helper for patients, which meant feeding, dressing, cleaning and looking after them, for $10 an hour. As a live-in, Frazier was paid for 13 hours a day, despite extra hours that she often put in. “I had patients who would keep me up all night but I only got paid for 13 hours,” she said. “It’s not fair. We just want more rights. Fifteen dollars an hour is a drop in the bucket for the work we do. We do the hardest work for the least amount of respect and we get the least pay.” The potential for workplace abuse grows even greater with undocumented workers, such as in the case of Myungsoon Choi, 58, who came to the U.S. 10 years ago from South Korea and currently works as a cook at a Korean restaurant in Flushing, Queens. “The biggest challenge that I face is the fact that I am undocumented,” Choi said through her daughter, Jung Rae, who acted as translator. “I am not qualified for health insurance, unemployment insurance or retirement plans. Limited language capacity and undocumented status make it hard for me to find work that pays well.”

Since Choi’s ability to find work is limited, she previously was forced to work jobs in which, she said, she was, “required to work overtime during holidays with no extra pay rate as mentioned in labor laws.” At her past jobs, Choi, a single parent, made minimum wage and had difficulty supporting her son and daughter. Now, at her current job, working 10 hours a day, six days a week, Choi makes more, roughly $2,400 a month. But that’s still not enough for her to make ends meet. “My current wage is not enough to cover living expenses,” she said. “Sometimes I have to get physical therapy for elbow pain out of my own pocket as I do not have health insurance.” However, raising the minimum wage isn’t the only battle that low-income workers have to fight. Raising education standards, while dropping tuition, may even be more crucial, some think. New York University senior Robert Ascherman studies social movements and gave a speech at the Nov. 10. rally. Ascherman works closely with the Fight for Fifteen movement and serves as the president of the Student Labor Action Movement, or SLAM, activist organization at N.Y.U. SLAM has been pushing for higher FIGHT FOR 15 continued on p. 11 TheVillager.com

After saving others, man dies in Grand elevator ELEVATOR continued from p. 1

and into a hallway. But when he tried to follow her himself, the elevator suddenly dropped, pinning him between its ceiling and the floor. “When I got into the elevator, I felt it dropping and I thought my feet would get caught in the gap but the man pushed me out and said, ‘Happy New Year,’ ” Sanchez told The New York Post. “I saw he was trapped and the elevator was crushing him. It was awful,” she said. Residents reportedly tried to rescue the 25-year-old in vain. A spokesperson for the New York Police Department said officers from the Seventh Precinct responded to a 911 call shortly after midnight and found Hewett-Brown unconscious and unresponsive, still pinned by the elevator and severely injured. He was brought to NewYork-Presbyterian/ Lower Manhattan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police. According to news reports, the party that Hewett-Brown had hoped to attend continued until the wee hours. Residents at the building, which is part of the Grand Street Guild complex and whose apartments are for low-income tenants, have reportedly complained for years about faulty elevators. The building owners, Grand Street Guild East HDFC, were slapped with two Environmental Control Board violations last year, and Department of Buildings records currently list three open violations dating back to a 2012 inspection. Jay Yablonsky, the director of property management at Wavecrest Management, which operates the property, said the company was working FIGHT FOR 15 continued from p. 10

wages for students in order to make education more accessible. The average four-year public school tuition, according to the 2015 College Board report, is currently $9,410, with the total cost rising to $19,548. For a private school, the costs are even higher, and at N.Y.U., some students work to try and pay off their loans. “Students are trying to work two or three jobs to get through school when they’re supposed to be doing homework or studying,” Ascherman said. “It’s just not possible to make it work.” Ascherman added that the barrier for education is higher for low-income families. “People can’t afford to stop working and go to college to get a better job if they constantly have to work to survive,” he said. This is a problem that Choi has faced in attempting to learn English. “Because she works six days a week, it is virtually impossible for her to find an English class that fits her schedule, which creates a barrier for her to learn English,” her daughter, Rae, said. “Tutoring or English schools are also expensive for workTheVillager.com

Stephen Hewett-Brown, 25, was killed in an elevator accident on New Year’s Eve at one of the Grand St. Guild buildings.

with D.O.B. and police to determine the cause of the fatal accident, but wouldn’t comment on the complaints or violations. “The safety of our residents is our paramount concern,” he said in a statement. “The elevators underwent a complete modernization in 2011, and are regularly inspected and serviced by a licensed elevator maintenance and inspection agency.” In the meantime, Hewett-Brown’s mother has set up a gofundme page that is trying to raise $15,000 for the young man’s funeral. “I’m not surprised that he would commit this selfless act,” Miranda Brown wrote of her son in a

ing-class immigrants.” However, raising the minimum wage might actually do more harm than good, according to N.Y.U. economics professor Christopher Flinn, author of the book “The Minimum Wage and Labor Market Outcomes.” While Flinn agrees that education should be more affordable, he doesn’t believe that raising the minimum wage is the best way to increase access to education. “Fifteen dollars is not nirvana by any means,” Flinn said. “It’s not going to get them out of poverty. The only way to break the cycle is to raise the skill level of workers.” According to Flinn, having a higher skill level will allow workers to transition into higher-paying jobs. “If you don’t raise skill level then employers are doing charity work at some level,” he noted. Flinn believes it’s unfair to pay $15 per hour to a low-skilled worker, arguing that minimum-wage jobs were “never intended for supporting a family, nor thought of as a career.” The long-term fix, according to Flinn, is to raise the skill level of high school graduates by fixing America’s public K-through-12 education system. “The real culprit is a bad schooling

Residents say they have long complained about elevator problems at the Lower East Side highrise complex.

post on the fundraising Web site. “He was a good person, he would help anyone [and] even give you the shirt off his back if he had to.” As of press time, two days after it was created, the page had attracted around $7,500 in donations, with contributions steadily coming in. Residents of 131 Broome St. are meeting at 7 p.m. on Thurs., Jan. 7, to discuss elevator safety at their building.

system,” he said. Even more to the point, Flinn suggested that the biggest change would come from creating better affordable pre-school and early-education programs. “By the time kids are five years old, there’s already a huge difference in their prospects just based on their family and school environments,” he said. Flinn added that the raising minimum wage is only a short-term fix that will actually end up causing more unemployment. Using mathematical models, he has predicted that if the minimum wage were to almost double to $15 an hour, roughly 50 to 60 percent of the affected jobs would go away. These assertions are supported by the 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, which predicted that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would reduce employment by about 500,000 jobs by the second half of 2016. “Companies are going to react like they did in Sweden,” Flinn said. “They’re going to hire less workers and have more automation. You’ll go into McDonald’s and order through a kiosk.” Ascherman pushed against this

argument, though, believing that McDonald’s and other corporations have money to spare. “I find that the C.E.O.’s have just made less money in other instances where minimum wage has been increased,” he said. “McDonald’s C.E.O.’s can afford it. They paid a $30 million stock bonus for all stockholders last year.” Despite Ascherman’s argument, Flinn said that McDonalds is not obligated to redistribute profits equally. “McDonald’s is not a welfare organization, it’s a business,” he said. Despite often being ignored, millions of minimum-wage workers like Kenya refuse to give up. Every day, Kenya gets up, goes to work and tries to get someone to listen. “I just pray that somebody will help me,” she said. In the past, it’s been easier to overlook the struggles of these workers, but now they refuse to go unnoticed. The movement has grown and pressure is building on both politicians and businesses to accommodate these workers. However, $15 an hour isn’t going to accomplish the American Dream. Minimum-wage workers may be able to survive on $15 an hour but it’s unlikely that they’ll be able to thrive. January 7, 2016

A toast to New Year’s resolutions — and to toast! RHYMES WITH CRAZY BY LENORE SKENAZY

eaders: Right about now, you may be feeling bad about the resolutions you’ve already broken, crushed into a million pieces and washed down with a pint of Banana Chocolate Swirl Talenti. But there’s no need to hate your ice-cream-addicted, never-get-ahead, willpower-of-a-gnat (who doesn’t exercise) self. No, indeed! A year-long resolution is simply too hard! The trick is to clear your mind and resolve to spend just [ital] two hours [reg] as the new you. All you need is a new “Post-New Year’s, Two-Hours-Only Resolution.” It’s easy! Here’s how I did it. As of Jan. 4, 9:30 a.m., I re-resolved that: • I will not eat a second breakfast, right down to the extra buttery toast, with the excuse that, “I get my best work done right after a satisfying breakfast!” • But … buttery toast. Mmm… • No, no, no! They say that after

you do something for 30 days, it becomes a habit. So if I can just spend the next two hours being good, that’s like 30 days on Mercury, right? • And then I’ll be trim and healthy and positive! • Positive I need more butter-slathered toast. • No! Positive about life! And health! And exercise! Like, I am positively glad I just joined the gym for a full year starting, um, let me check … Saturday?! I’ve already wasted almost a week of this ridiculous overpriced gym filled with torture equipment and people who look like they should be doing Dasani ads? • When all there really was was me, walking around the exercise room right before New Year’s, checking it out, imagining me so buff I’m no longer about to pass out on 63rd St. when the escalator isn’t working up from the F train (ahem, M.T.A.). And then I decided, “Yes! I’ll join for the free January and then be stuck paying through the nose for the next 11 months.” • O.K. Reset. The joyous exercisers are not “them.” They are me. I will become one of them. Hello, yoga for beginners! • Although, are there actually any yoga beginners left, besides me? I

remember trying yoga once so long ago, it was before some cynical yogi came up with the idea of yoga mats — something you have to buy to do something that about a billion people do every day who live on lentils. Do you suppose they scrimp and save so that one glorious day, God willing, forget about replacing the dead goat, they can buy a yoga mat? • Or yoga pants? • Can you believe that stupid gym? Filled with sweaty hypocrites who can’t stop gulping water, wearing pants that cost more than a micro-loan that could give the children fresh goat milk every day and lift the entire family out of poverty? No way am I going there! For exercise, I’ll just start getting off the subway one stop earlier. • A stop with a working escalator. • I will also quit reading my e-mails when I should be — Wow, this prince in Nigeria needs help securing his insurance windfall! — concentrating. • What’s more, I will spend at least part of my day at my desk standing, since sitting is the new smoking. • Or maybe I just won’t start smoking. Or even vape. Because vaping is the new smoking, too, except no one can agree if it’s going to kill you or just make someone want to kill you

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR You wrote my story To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): Lincoln, thank you for putting together the pieces of the story so well. Even though almost all of it was already known to me, I was stunned to see it in print and with photos. I especially appreciate that you remind readers, at the end of the article, to consider my father as a whole person,

not a monster or hero, just a man who lived life according to his values. Yes, he hurt some people along the way, but don’t we all? A correction: My sister Lenore was never able to maintain employment longer than a few months at a time due to crushing and untreated anxiety and psychosis. She began recovery about 15 years ago, has a stable and comfortable life, and continues to grow beyond the abuse and into love...as have I. Love is the reason the story was revealed...love

IRA BLUTREICH

Cuomo and de Blasio’s cold war. 12

January 7, 2016

because you’re such a poser. • Question: How hip is it to smell like a grape Tootsie Pop? • Resolve: I will not keep drifting off topic! I will concentrate on eating better, exercising more, and focusing on my toast. • Work, I mean! Focusing on my work! I will also read more books, call my relatives, write thank you notes and — OMG! Notes! • I will mail out my holiday cards! • O.K., yes, yes, I will also write them first. Jeez. And put them in envelopes. What am I, Superman? I suppose you think I should find a bunch of stamps, too? Which would mean digging through the stationery drawer, which no one has successfully dug through since stamps came in a roll and you had to lick them. They had prices on them, too. Speaking of which, how many 37-cent stamps does it take to mail a holiday card around mid-January? • Presidents’ Day is a holiday too, you know. I’ll just say, “Happy Presidents’ Day” on them. It’s my personal toast to our presidents. • TOAST!!! Skenazy is a keynote speaker and author and founder of the book and blog “Free-Range Kids”

and compassion for myself and for all the other children whose spirits were (and are) crushed by cruelty, objectification, neglect, violence and abandonment. This story is not uncommon. Atrocities are committed against children every moment. Doesn’t everyone already know this? Yet, who ever hears about the damage done to them? How does the damage manifest in the child’s life as it matures and enters the adult world? Our society doesn’t ask and doesn’t tell. Children are released (or escape) into the world with wounds that are not recognized or acknowledged, wounds that can fester and cause an entire lifetime of misery and misunderstanding. I am appalled by the lack of education in this country about mental health and mental illness. In our society and within the mental health system there is ignorance, misinformation and stigma. How is a hurt child/adult supposed to find the way back to wholeness without information and guidance? Most don’t. I began therapy at age 15 and continued it all my life until recently. I first encountered the mental health system as a psychiatric patient in 1998. The story of abuse was in my files, yet no one connected the abuse with what I reported in therapy: the strange behaviors, the interpersonal difficulties that confused me, strange sensations that I later realized were episodes of disassociation. Over the years I was tagged with various diagnoses: major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder. How were these diagnoses made LETTERS continued on p. 14 TheVillager.com

We need to go to the mat vs. ultimate fighting TALKING POINT BY DEBORAH GLICK

fter years of spending substantial time and money lobbying to overturn a state ban on caged fighting, Ultimate Fighting Championship expects that Albany’s upcoming legislative session will bring them success. But to ensure their efforts, they filed suit against New York State to overturn the ban on ultimate fighting. Part of their message in Albany has been to rebrand caged fighting to Mixed Martial Arts, which sounds much more mainstream. The notion that MMA is a sport is difficult for me, and many others, to accept. I am a big sports fan who follows several sports, including professional football. Of course people who play sports can get injured and we are learning more every day about the long-term health implications of even minor concussions. But the goal of these sports — whether it is scoring points by hitting a ball with a bat, throwing a ball through a hoop, or shooting a puck into a net — is not to punish one’s opponent but to win the match. But “winning” in “Mixed Martial Arts” is predicated on physically beating up one’s opponent. On that basis alone, I believe that New York State should not repeal its ban on this activity. The attempt to sanitize MMA is betrayed by the facts. According to a recent study in the March 21, 2014, issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine, about one-third of professional MMA matches end in a knockout or a technical knockout. A technical knockout occurs when a fight is stopped by a referee who determines that a fighter is no longer able to defend him- or herself. This study indicates that there is a higher incidence of brain trauma in MMA than in boxing or other martial arts.

In no-holds-barred UFC fights, combatants try to punch, wrestle, knee, kick and elbow their opponents into submission.

MMA is caged fighting, a no-holds-barred fight using punches and kicks, as well as wrestling holds and moves from judo, boxing and kickboxing, with the fighters wearing fingerless gloves and no head protection. The cage itself adds to the reality that this is a more violent iteration of the familiar boxing match held in a ring. In a fight that goes to a knockout, repeated blows to the head are common. In other contact sports, such as football and ice hockey, which are referenced by proponents of MMA to demonstrate that all sports are dangerous, significant protective gear is utilized, and even this protection doesn’t prevent frequent severe injuries. In response to increased understanding of the dangers of repeated concussions, the NFL has instituted a “concussion protocol” to monitor head injuries. If there is any question, an independent doctor on the sidelines can remove a player from the game. But in these other sports, we see teams

engaged in the effort to score points. In MMA, the combat is one-on-one, with the only goal being to disable an opponent. Aside from the potential long-term physical damage to young fighters, legalizing this type of fighting as a sport is a negative, even destructive message to young people. As larger questions are being asked regarding contact sports like football, some high schools have suspended their programs, and many programs are actively working on new techniques to reduce potential injuries, such as changes in tackling tactics. What is the rationale for New York to legalize a new and more violent “sport”? Proponents of MMA claim that New York State is missing out economically because of the ban, which prevents matches from being hosted by local venues. But we don’t know if the long-term healthcare costs to New York will outweigh the benefit to New York venues. There is no question that it will greatly enrich UFC, but is that the reason to eliminate the ban? New Yorkers need to ask whether this “sport” is so important to New York’s future that we will change the law and risk fighters’ exposure to greater long-term healthcare and long-term disability costs. The recent NFL settlement is roughly $1 billion, to be paid out over the next several decades to players who suffer from specific debilitating conditions that are recognized to be a result of their playing football. Is UFC, a much newer entity, going to be in a position to provide the same level of compensation? Or will New York find itself providing for fighters who face long-term care needs that they and their families cannot afford? New Yorkers need to ask their representatives how they stand on this issue and whether their state legislators support eliminating the ban on cage fighting and why. Glick is assemblymember, 66th District

A very warm Christmas Day in Hudson River Park

PHOTOS BY MILO HESS

Flora and fauna along the Hudson River on Christmas, when the temperature was around 70 degrees. Perhaps the dog was using the Force to channel its inner Sith for the new Star Wars movie? TheVillager.com

January 7, 2016

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Continued from p. 12

without adequate information about my experiences, behaviors or symptoms? The teacher in me is open to conversation with professionals who would be interested in my recovery experiences. In plain language, I can explain how the symptoms of complex PTSD manifested in me, and how I was able to overcome them. I don’t believe I would have survived to age 60 if I had not worked in the mental health field for 15 years. During that time I taught Dialectical Behavioral Therapy and illness management skills. I learned how to manage symptoms of bipolar disorder in myself and to recognize symptomatic behaviors in others. It’s not that complicated or difficult to understand mental illness, but for some reason the information is not getting to the public in any effective way that I know. Lincoln, when we spoke I told you that education was my motive for sharing the story and documents about my father with you. I could not have written this story; I’m too worn out from living it. You did an amazing job of organizing and putting together all the information. You wrote my story. Thank you. Thank you. May all beings be free from suffering. Jenean

Respect for family To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): I’d like to clarify a couple small points. First, I don’t know the specifics of my aunt Lenore’s life, work and history. I was speaking in generalities, which was careless. Furthermore, what I meant by being “more together” has to do with the arc of my life relative to others — I was not directly affected by my grandfather David [Adam Purple] and enjoyed the privileges of a more or less “normal” upbringing. David’s children have done truly amazing things with their lives. Adam David [Adam Purple’s son] and my mother, Jenean, are remarkable human beings, and my statement in the article appears casually disparaging in retrospect, which was not my intent. Steve Mason

Purple praise To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): This is the best piece of local journalism I’ve read in years. Thanks to Lincoln Anderson for taking the time to cultivate it. Thanks to Jenean, Lenore and Steve for having the courage to speak. Jim Flynn

False icon worship To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): I hope the children find peace after all this and it sounds like they have. Unfortunately a lot of people who are “icons” and are worshiped are, in reality, total strangers to the people who hold them in such high regard. But it’s nice to be thankful for the good things that he did with his life later on. Eden Brower

Why didn’t we know? To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): Thank you for a very good story. I had no knowledge about Adam’s dark side. This story should have come out much sooner. I always thought he was an extreme eccentric but otherwise harmless. Adam’s garden was a beautiful garden but its canvas was too big — 149 low-income apartments too big. Valerio Orselli Orselli is executive director, Cooper Square Mutual Housing Association

Lower East Side stories To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): This is probably from a journalistic viewpoint the best piece of work Lincoln Anderson has ever written for The Villager newspaper. It is very sad that Adam

Tough stuff, well done To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): I don’t think I have ever written a journalist before after reading an article they wrote but I was so impressed with your recent interview / coverage of Adam Purple’s daughter. Tough stuff but I commend the fact you took on the issue. Really tremendous work. Well done and thanks. Thanks for your ongoing coverage of our community. Jeff McMillan

January 7, 2016

David Lloyd Wilkie a.k.a. Adam Purple in a photo attached to his immigration papers when he moved with his family to Australia in 1964.

Purple’s legacy will be forever changed by this article, but his children clearly wanted this to come out and I applaud Lincoln for writing this. One of the anonymous quotes is mine. Guess which one. Re “Seeing the LES plainly for what it really was” (talking point, by Elliot Jager, Dec. 31): The neighborhood, despite drugs and crime, was a haven for the working poor and for artists, musicians and others who had little money but were able to afford to live indoors in apartments on the LES. Look at the number of people, especially children, living in shelters now. They are from families who used to be able to rent apartments in the neighborhood. There is a class war invasion now and the poor have totally been defeated by landlords and real estate developers. Jager’s conclusion supports the rich in the class war. Oh, and I am sure he can write another column in 10 years and mention how nice the “East Village” is since all the Puerto Ricans have been gentrified out. John Penley

Fatherhood unnatural To The Editor: Re “The dark side of Purple” (news article, Dec. 31): It is often the case that heroes or role models have dark pasts. This is undoubtedly the reason they re-devote their lives to helping humanity. Being a father or stepfather is basically an unnatural act. The role doesn’t really exist in nature, where paternity is an unknown. (Male animals usually have to be kept away from their offspring.) Human patriarchal society puts men as fathers in an impossible situation. All that power without a decent framework to operate within. Once they gave up on religion and middle-class values, the hippies were basically improvising with whatever imprinting they were left with as children. I’m not forgiving Purple for his sexual abuse of his children. I certainly didn’t know anything about it. I do commend Adam for reinventing himself and creating something else much better to remember him by. There has to be a balance between cynicism and hope that allows us to admire the good things that this man did. Carl Hultberg

Rigged election process To The Editor: Re “Arcane process to pick Silver successor favors district leaders” (news article, Dec. 31): Thanks to The Villager for opening a discussion that needs to see the light of day. Ever since the September primary in the 65th Assembly District for judicial delegates, I have been concerned enough about electoral politics to independently request from one of my district leaders and Cathleen McCadden, executive director of the Manhattan Democratic County Committee, a current list of the Democratic County Committee members. That neither my district leader nor Ms. McMadden is forthcoming, either to the press or to me as an elected Democratic County Committee member, and that Ms. McCadden now declines to respond to my polite e-mail requests, Continued on p. 23 TheVillager.com

Do androids dream of Village East?

Fest brings Philip K. Dick’s themes to the screen

COURTESY THE FILMMAKERS

The Mongolian Emperor becomes obsessed with the Sea of Tranquility in “Genghis Kahn Conquers the Moon.”

BY SEAN EGAN

hile most may only know Philip K. Dick for the plethora of big-budget spectacles based on his writings — often loosely, and inconsistent in quality (see “Blade Runner,” “Minority Report” and both versions of “Total Recall”) — he has long been a titan among science fiction fans, and for good reason. “I was absolutely taken aback,” Daniel Abella recalls of his first time reading Dick’s work. “Something about Philip K. Dick almost hit me as sort of a gnostic sci-fi writer, someone trying to answer the funTheVillager.com

damental questions that, basically, many western philosophers have tried to deal with for all these thousands of years.” After Abella’s fandom inspired the organization of a small screening in 2011 that was very warmly received, and after he realized Hollywood adaptations never quite captured the heart and themes of the author’s work, he recalls thinking, “Well this is an opportunity to show the other side of Philip K. Dick.” The result was the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival, of which Abella serves as Festival Director. Now in its fourth year, the four-day fest boasts 80 films from all over the world. While the con-

tent and format of these features, shorts and documentaries vary wildly, there’s an underlying ideology to the selections. “We like films that are not just splashy and visually attractive,” says Abella, “but with a story — particularly, stories that really challenge and ask who we are as humans, where we’re going. It’s not just about action films, and Tom Cruise jumping from rooftop to rooftop. It’s about something more interior, more internal, a little bit less dramatic, but nevertheless very important. This is what really gives us a sense of purpose.” This much is clear in a number of short films on the schedule. “The Fu-

ture Perfect,” a time-travel narrative, is able to prod at questions about love and the value of human life by using little more than one on-screen actor, a sparse, futuristic set, and the disembodied voice of Zachary Quinto (putting his Spock monotone to good use). The central figure in “Requiem for a Robot” is a robot constructed primarily from cardboard boxes, but manages to consider artificial intelligence and interpersonal relationships seriously. Meanwhile, even those that have more of an emphasis on visual effects use them as an aid to exploring headier ideas, as is the case in FEST continued on p.16 January 7, 2016

Games, talks, flicks honor and invoke P.K. Dick FEST continued from p. 15

“Bears Discover Fire” (based on the Terry Bisson story), and the at-once loopy and meditative “Genghis Kahn Conquers the Moon.” In addition to shorts, the festival includes the NYC premieres of three narrative feature films: “The Incident,” starring Raúl Méndez (of Netflix’s “Narcos” and “Sense8”); “Chatter,” a film concerning a Homeland Security agent monitoring a couple’s video chats and discovering their home is haunted; and “Counter Clockwise,” a dark comedy/mystery involving time travel and familial murder. Three feature documentaries will also be shown, including one on Philip K. Dick himself. The judges of this year’s films are sci-fi luminaries David Brin, David Hartwell and Paul Levinson. “The central focus of the festival is film, but then we also have panels and new media,” notes Abella — one example of the latter being a demo of the Dick inspired video game, “Californium.” “One of the things that ran through Philip K. Dick is [that] reality is not as solid as it appears

COURTESY THE FILMMAKERS

A rural community is rocked when “Bears Discover Fire,” in a Terry Bisson adaptation.

to be,” observes Abella — and the first-person game gets to the heart of this, as players control a writer navigating a shifting, 3D California landscape. “It’s not just a game where the objective is body count,”

THE NEW SOUND OF

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Abella notes. “It’s about entering multiple realities.” The idea of a fluid reality and multiple points of view extend to the festival’s panels — which have, in previous incarnations, included discussions on ethnic diversity in science fiction and a talk on time travel from University of Connecticut professor Dr. Ronald Mallet. “It’s a way to not just see a film, but to interact, and get a little sense of what scientists are bringing,” Abella explains. This year, he’s most excited for the panel on UFO experiences, which follows the NYC premiere of “Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton,” a documentary examining an infamous 1975 UFO abduction. The panel is a further expansion of the festival’s mission to provide a space for open, mind-expanding dialogue, touching on any and all subjects, no matter how out of the ordinary. It’s the kind of thing that deeply interests Abella, who be-

lieves that science is not nearly as cold and calculated as it is often made out to be, but intertwined with creativity and spirituality, and that examining different planes of existence is a worthwhile endeavor. For freethinkers, as well as those who fear ridicule from a wider public, “Our festival is at their disposal,” he offers. “We’re looking to create a community of people, of like-minded people,” Abella concludes. “Just bring people together, get a sense of belonging, a space where they can share experiences without being judged as lunatics, or weird, or strange. But no, this is part of who we are as human beings. I think Philip K. Dick would have felt at home.” The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival runs Jan. 14 –17, at Village East Cinema (181-189 Second Ave., at E. 12th St.). Tickets: $20 per program. For a full list of programs, visit thephilipkdickfilmfestival.com.

WITH