The local paper for the Upper West Side MY PANDEMIC HAIRCUT ◄ P.6
WEEK OF JULY
2-8 2020
DR. MASK MONITOR
PUBLIC HEALTH Screenshot of 10th Congressional district debate, with (clockwise from top left) moderator Errol Louis of NY1, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Jonathan Herzog and Lindsey Boylan. Nadler claimed victory on election night; Boylan tweeted, “Who is served by your premature declaration of victory ... when most of your constituents votes have not been counted?”
THE LONGEST PRIMARY NIGHT POLITICS
Counting of absentee ballots begins this week as tensions flare BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
New York’s primary election took place one week ago but the results likely won’t be known until July, exacerbating tensions between candidates in close races. This year, New York received an unprecedented number of absentee ballots as thousands of voters elected to vote by mail rather than their local precinct amid the coronavirus pandemic. All of those absentee ballots have yet to be
counted, and are not expected to be counted until Wednesday of this week. The delayed process has left candidates in tight races hanging, most notably in New York’s 12th Congressional District. Rep. Carolyn Maloney is holding onto a lead of just 648 votes over challenger Suraj Patel after the initial count on Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press. There are about 31,000 absentee ballots yet to be tabulated, with 23,000 coming from Manhattan, 6,400 from Queens and 1,300 from Brooklyn. Pundits believe the breakdown of ballots looks good
CONTINUED ON PAGE 9
An Upper East Side pediatrician chronicles facecovering failures on her Facebook page
I believe if something is simple and it works, use it.” Dr. Laura Popper
@WestSideSpirit
Voices City Arts
6 10
50% Lemon
18% Citrus flower
WHAT SCENT SHOULD THE SUBWAY BE? Poll: We asked our readers what scent of coronavirus-killing cleaning product they would prefer. p. 3
A NIGHT OF VIRTUAL LAUGHS
Feed the Frontlines supports comedians through a Zoom comedy show. p. 2 Dr. Laura Popper. Photo courtesy of Dr. Laura Popper
century way to use a smartphone and social media to fulfill what she describes as her role as “medical town crier” on behalf of public health. This began in the early days of the outbreak when, like many New Yorkers, she found herself walking everywhere, particularly to her practice in the East 60s. To break up the monotony she began keeping a count of people as they
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WESTSIDE SPIRIT.COM
19% Pine
13% Mint
BY MICHAEL ORESKES
She calls it the Peter Pandemic: “I Won’t Grow Up. I Don’t Wanna Wear a Mask.” Few people have more right to throw this shade than Dr. Laura Popper, a prominent Manhattan physician, critic of government leadership (that is, the lack thereof), Mount Sinai Medical School professor and, in recent months, chronicler of how way too many of us are failing to follow instructions to wear a mask. “The only way to save America is for everyone to wear a mask,” she said the other day. “That’s the new government position. I was saying that before when the government was saying ‘don’t worry, don’t wear a mask.’ It’s a simple, simple thing. I’m a simple person. I’m a pediatrician.” Popper also has found a 21st
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passed: “Mask, no mask.” The latest data projections say that coronavirus transmission can be cut by a third if most people wear a mask, as happened in Hong Kong. Popper’s census was coming up disturbingly short of that. “I started walking and being so sad,” she recalled. But sadness began transmut-
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THEY WRITE POSTCARDS, DON’T THEY?
Markers for Democracy creates postcards to send to Democratic voters across the country. p. 6
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A NIGHT OF VIRTUAL LAUGHS COMMUNITY
Feed the Frontlines supports comedians through a Zoom comedy show BY SAMI ROBERTS
On Tuesday, June 23, Isabella Di Pietro was inside her family’s restaurant, Taralluci E Vino, on the Upper West Side, watching people sit outside and enjoy the first days of outdoor dining in New York as the city entered Phase Two of reopening. Back in March, when Mayor Bill de Blasio issued the order for all restaurants to close for indoor dining, Di Pietro’s father had to close four out of five locations of his restaurant, Tarallucci e Vino, and had to let go of 95 of 102 employees. “You can imagine being in this business for such a long time and, you know, these are people who’ve been working
with my father for oftentimes over 10 years, some of them since the very beginning,” Di Pietro said. “Not knowing when you’d be able to rehire people again, that was awful.” But on March 21, Di Pietro and her family had a temporary solution to help the restaurant stay afloat and eventually help other restaurants bring their employees to work for a good cause: Feed the Frontlines NYC. A donation-based organization, Feed the Frontlines NYC organizes restaurants to prepare quality meals to be delivered to frontline heath care workers at local hospitals in New York. As well as being able to rehire restaurant workers, Di Pietro said the best part was “going out and handing over hot food to people who are in the hospitals who had up until that point, I think been feeling really forgotten.”
Taking a Hit This has continued for
months, and Di Pietro said her whole family has been working without a day off to get new restaurants involved, organize where the need is in their area, and respond to outreach from areas that needed it the most. In the spirit of bringing causes together, this past week they supported another industry that has taken a hit in the pandemic: comedy. Like many other live performances, comedy shows were jettisoned when New York shut down, leaving comedians out of work. On Thursday, Feed the Frontlines NYC hosted a virtual comedy show, “A Night of Laughs,” featuring six comedians: Ray Ellin, Tom Cotter, Ophira Eisenberg, Brian Scott McFadden, Chuck Nice, and Tony V. The $25 tickets and any additional donations compensated the comedians for their work as well as provided 250 more meals for communities in need.
Comedian Ray Ellin in a virtual comedy show on Thursday to benefit Feed the Frontlines NYC. Photo courtesy of Feed the Frontlines
“I think there’s a sense that everyone, I think, can use some humor right now,” Di Pietro said. Humor is what they delivered at the Zoom comedy show, featuring many of the
comedians’ quarantine anecdotes and virtual crowd-work with audience members around the country. Of the $7,500 goal, so far $5,753 has been raised through tickets and donations.
As the need for meals slowly moves from frontline workers at hospitals to other vulnerable communities, DiPietro said the organization will continue to deliver meals as the city, and hopefully res-
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Seeing the Subconscious: Mindfulness, Psychology, and the Road to Healing Racism
SUNDAY, JULY 5TH, 7PM Think Olio | livestream only | www.thinkolio.org Become mindful of mindfulness as Taoist healing and meditation arts practitioner Darryl Aiken–Afam leads unconditioning ($20; proceeds to Black Lives Matter).
It Was a Heck of a Year! Green-Wood Residents in 1872
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8TH, 5PM Green-Wood Cemetery | livestream only | green-wood.com Encounter the final resting places of many of the luminaries in Bill Greer’s A Dirty Year: Sex, Suffrage, and Scandal in Gilded Age New York; Greer discusses his new book with Green-Wood’s Historian Jeff Richman ($5).
Just Announced | 92Y & Topic Present: Rough Draft Live with Reza Aslan
TUESDAY, JULY 14TH, 8PM 92nd Street Y | livestream only | 92y.org Pulitzer Prize–winner Lawrence Wright talks writing and The End of October, his “eerily prescient novel about a devastating virus that begins in Asia” (free).
For more information about lectures, readings and other intellectually stimulating events throughout NYC,
sign up for the weekly Thought Gallery newsletter at thoughtgallery.org.
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taurants, reopen. “It just depends on what the greatest needs are at any given moment. We try to adjust based on that,” Di Pietro said. “It’s about honoring the commitments that we’ve made to partners that we worked with far, but also continually understanding how needs are shifting.” The full video of “A Night of Laughs” can be viewed on the Feed the Frontlines NYC website.
Health care workers receive food through Feed the Frontlines. Photo: feedthefrontlinesnyc.org
WHAT SCENT SHOULD THE SUBWAY BE? We asked our readers: What scent of COVID-killing cleaning product would you prefer on your commute?
The MTA is focused on keeping the subways clean. Right now, they’re using a lemon-scented product, but said they’d be open to other
options. We asked our readers to weigh in. Here are the results:
19% Pine
50% Lemon
18% Citrus flower
GET HELP. GIVE HELP.
13% Mint Graphic: Liv Cosgrove
G
hi Li C
Join a community of neighbors helping neighbors here in New York. With AARP Community Connections, you can find online mutual aid groups to stay connected, share ideas and help those in need. Just need to talk? Ask for a friendly phone call from a trained volunteer if you or a loved one is feeling anxious or overwhelmed. AARP and your community are here for you. Request a friendly phone call at 1-888-281-0145 or get connected at aarp.org/coronavirus
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Useful Contacts
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DR. MASK MONITOR CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
ing to anger. She thought about her patients and their families. She thought about her medical colleagues in ICUs and emergency rooms, lifting dead bodies out of ambulances. She began seeing all these unmasked faces as a direct assault on her friends and colleagues. “I just started to take pictures.”
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A public health reminder. Photo: Dr. Laura Popper
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Omnipresent Image Her portfolios, posted on her Facebook page, form a visual chronicle of Manhattan in the time of COVID. There is the young man without a mask bouncing a soccer ball off his instep. The two women, one smoking, as they stand on the sidewalk in front of a Lenox Hill Hospital banner. Or the four teenage cyclists, straddling their bikes at a corner, not a mask among them. One omnipresent image: the many masks that can be seen doing anything except covering nose and mouth, as doctors instruct. A man in gray shorts and a Boston Red Sox cap (ahem!) seems to be pulling his mask to his chin as he strides straight at the doctor/photographer. Two men and a woman cross a street with New York purpose and their masks pulled down over their chins. Those two women in front of the hospital banner are wearing their masks to protect their throats. “I believe if something is simple and it works, use it,” Dr. Popper said. “I am a great believer in the commonweal given where we are, without any central direction - that we individuals become the firewall.” She dubbed herself the Mask Monitor.
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In front of a Lenox Hill Hospital banner. Photos: Dr. Laura Popper
“I Was Criticized” Popper says she has heard from people all over the country about those who are not wearing masks. “I convinced and educated a lot of people.” But not everyone. “I was criticized and snarked at several months ago when I began my Mask Monitor of the World role,” she posted on Facebook Saturday. “We Maskers persisted and it is now FACT – we were right from the beginning.” One acquaintance had a more particular complaint. “She was disturbed. She said, I was shaming people,” Dr. Popper recalled. “That’s not my goal at all.” Why doesn’t she just stop people and talk to them, instead of taking their picture? “I’ve done that. It doesn’t work. And I don’t want to get hit. It came to me one day. I just wanted to show it.” So she continues to shoot pictures with her phone, usually in ways that her subjects don’t even notice. She has added a portfolio dubbed “New Yorkers at their best,” which shows people faithfully wearing their masks. While her photos are all taken on the East Side of Manhattan, they are source material for the most important pubic health argument in the country right now as we struggle to keep coronavirus under control.
At the moment, the tools are limited. It turns out, after some false starts, that one of the most effective tools is to wear a mask. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington recently integrated the effect of wearing masks into its projections of COVID-19 deaths. The difference for the country is stark. Universal adoption of maskwearing across the United States will save more than 30,000 lives between now and October 1, according to the projections, which are based on data from various communities, including New York, that adopted stringent mask rules. The projections for New York aren’t as dramatic about 100 fewer deaths by October 1 if we all wear our masks. But that is because, at the moment, the epidemic is more or less under control here. A vigorous regimen of mask-wearing, handwashing and social distancing, along with a successful system of finding and isolating those who are infected or may have been exposed, is the way we keep it that way until a vaccine or effective treatment arrives Popper thinks that may be further off than some leaders seem to suggest. Meaning we will need these simple disciplines for some time. Of those who go barefaced or defy other rules, Popper says: “The part I’m gobsmacked by is why people think they know better than epidemiologists.”
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MY PANDEMIC HAIRCUT VIEWPOINT
BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
I would be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it. I thought about it every time I felt the heft of my hair hot on my neck, or when I noticed how the ends of my brown locks had gone brassy and dead. I would look in the mirror, at the unwieldy mop on my head, which seemed to me to have doubled in volume over the course of three months, and think: what if I just shave it off? That’s dramatic — but so is a pandemic. I often put things off to the point of necessity, and by the
time New York locked down, I was already overdue for a haircut. In March, I was slightly annoyed with myself; by May I was full of regret, wishing I had been pro-active for once in my life. Because, you see, the thing about my hair is: there’s a lot of it. If you grab a fistful in your hand it’s like you’re gripping a rope. Any time I go back home to visit, my mother practically follows me around the house with a vacuum to collect the hair I shed because, as she says, my hair is everywhere. So, watching as my hair continued to crawl farther down my back, and my inability to do anything about it, certainly added to the misery
of quarantine. I, of course, was not alone in this. I noticed that hair, and managing it, became somewhat of an obsession for people. In one display of pandemic dramatics, people protested outside state houses across the country, demanding the government reopen the economy so they could get a haircut. Others took matters into their own hands, grabbing clippers or a pair of scissors and hoping for the best. I watched one of these athome haircuts play out live on Instagram. Soccer star Megan Rapinoe enlisted her girlfriend, the WNBA’s Sue Bird, to cut her hair, which she did with the help of Rapinoe’s hairdresser providing in-
JULY 2-8, 2020
Voices
which in addition to outdoor dining, included the reopening of the city’s salons and barbershops at partial capacity. I eagerly called and booked an appointment as soon as I woke up on that first day of the new phase.
Nervous Energy
The author after her salon visit. Photo: Emily Higginbotham
structions over video chat as more than 9,000 people watched online. It was one of the most enthralling and anxiety-inducing events I’ve seen broadcast live, not unlike a high stakes sporting event. But Bird rose the occasion (just like she did in the 2018 playoffs), and after an hour,
Rapinoe’s trademark hairstyle was restored. I didn’t go through with shaving my head or chopping off the end of my ponytail, which is also something I thought about. I just waited … and waited … and waited … until finally, last week, New York City began Phase Two,
This venture out into the world was significant, as I’ve successfully adopted a hermit-like lifestyle in quarantine. The only company I keep is my roommate and her cats. I leave my house rarely, and when I do, I wear a mask. And only recently have I started taking trips to the park, which have made me feel a little more normal and a little more scared. So the prospect of being in an enclosed space with several strangers, even with masks on, made me nervous.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
THEY WRITE POSTCARDS, DON’T THEY? ACTIVISM
BY MICHELE WILLENS
About a year or so ago, I walked into Le Pain Quotidian on Lexington and 88th, and noticed a long table filled with women. They were busily reaching into cups of colorful magic markers and then writing on cards. I figured it was a school-related thing, but there were no kids anywhere. I asked what they were doing, and that is how I met the Markers For Democracy. In 2018, a quartet of NYC women were feeling incredi-
bly anxious about what was going on politically in the country and decided to take action. Ellen Bender, one of the “founding mothers,” says she grew tired of watching Rachel Maddow, growing angrier by the moment, and feeling helpless. “Instead of throwing the remote at the TV, I decided to pick up a marker,” she says. To start making magic, they began meeting two or three times a week at LPQ, as it’s often called, to write postcards — remember those? The cards were addressed to Democratic voters around the country whose districts were
facing upcoming elections. Since then, some 55,000 cards have been authored by MFD members, as well as generating a newsletter, book groups, a Facebook page, copycat groups in other states, and more. “Postcard writing is ‘entry level activism,’ says Bender, “a way to reach not only voters but to inspire volunteering in their communities. It is also something that those of all ages, from all places can do. My mother and her friends are in their 80s, and they are writing away.” Obviously, much changed when Covid-19 hit, but MFD has not only veered virtually,
Rep. Lucy McBath (upper right corner) was a recent visitor to Markers for Democracy Zoom meeting. Photo courtesy of Markers for Democracy
its impact has been expanded. The writing continues, but it takes place while the women Zoom with candidates or political persuaders (such as Square One, which seeks out and endorses potential candi-
dates) who no longer have to travel to New York. Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia, and Rep. Haley Stevens, of Michigan are among recent visitors. These are not fundraisers, per
se, but the chat room always advises where to send contributions. As one example, MFD contributed some $30,000 to help flip Virginia’s legislature. “You guys give me hope and
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
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YOU READ IT HERE FIRST PANDEMIC HAIRCUT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
March 21, 2020
June 3, 2020
THE VITAMIN D QUESTION SCIENCE
New studies report a correlation between COVID19 death rates and D deficiency BY MICHAEL ORESKES
Why has New York City been slammed so hard by COVID-19? There are almost as many theories as lights gone dark on Broadway. But one obvious factor does not seem to draw the same blame as our crowds, our subways, our leadership or our location at the crossroads of the world. Which is odd, since New York doctors all know about it. Vitamin D deficiency is, well, epidemic among New Yorkers. And in just the past few days three separate studies, from the US, the UK and Indonesia, have reported a strong correlation between death rates from COVID-19 and vitamin D deficiency. “Our analysis shows that it might be as high as cutting the mortality rate in half,” Professor Vadim Backman of
vent a patient from contracting the virus, but it may reduce complications and prevent death in those who are infected.” The strong correlation does not prove causation, of course, and the researchers recommended further studies. But health professionals say there is no reason to wait to reduce the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, which has been well known for years. “Vitamin D is typically much lower in New Yorkers,” said Dr. Eric Ascher, who has offices in Chelsea and on East 76th Street, around the corner from Lenox Hill Hospital Northwell Health, where he is affiliated. “Buildings are so high, everybody’s working indoors.” Vitamin D deficiency is so prevalent here that Ascher says, “I’m more shocked when a patient has a normal vitamin D level.” Ascher says he regularly prescribes vitamin D supplements and urges patients to consume dairy products and get more sun.
Public Health Actions A vitamin deficiency may seem trivial against the dra
Hopes for an end to the lockdown have rested heavily on a scientific or medical breakthrough. A vaccine or effective treatment will be welcome. But increasingly experts are pointing to the importance of basic public health actions. They say these can both reduce the spread of the coronavirus, through testing, tracing and sanitary measures, and the severity of COVID-19, by reducing conditions that make patients more vulnerable. “We are only as healthy as our most challenged residents,” said Dr. Oxiris Barbot, New York City’s Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene. “It is inevitable that we are going to have a second wave and so we need to not only prepare for that but really look toward seeing this as an opportunity to re-imagine what it means to live in a world where we support people’s total health.” This involves everything from improving overcrowded housing to alleviating concentrations of chronic disease in communities of color, she said. S l h i di i
March 5, 2020
March 13, 2020
THE PASSION OF ST. BERNARD’S Forty Years at the Blackboard
EDUCATION
Parents, alumni and donors at a private Manhattan boys’ school are in an uproar over the planned departure of the beloved longtime headmaster BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
It was a fleeting moment the “Old Boys” will never forget. At least 200 all-male alumni of St. Bernard’s School on the Upper East Side descended on East 98th Street on Jan. 16 for a joyous event known as the Old Boys Dinner. From all over the country and all over the world, they come to Carnegie Hill on the third Thursday of every January to exult in a tradition dating to 1916 – and featuring a healthy dose of wine, liquor and camaraderie. But before the bonding, networking and singing of the “Old Boys’ Song” got underway that evening, the former classmates – as young as 21, as old as 90 – would hear from Stuart H. Johnson III, the headmaster they all seemed to revere. His very first words brought a gasp and nervous laughter, followed by a loud ovation: “It’s a great opportunity to be able to preside at your own funeral,” Johnson said, according to separate accounts from three Old Boys in attendance. “Graceful gallows humor,” is how one witness described the episode in the school’s first-floor auditorium. “Funereal words spoken in funereal times,” another said. “A cri de coeur, a cry from the heart, to everybody in that room,” a third offered. All three requested anonymity. If the Old Boys’ English usage seems particularly eloquent, it’s because St. Bernard’s has taught them very well indeed. And it may sound corny, but as they belted out h i “Si f fi
A sea change is coming to St. Bernard’s, an elite, private school that currently enrolls 365 boys, from kindergarten through ninth grade, who stand out in their navy blue blazers, Oxford shirts and khaki trousers. Founded in 1904, the school boasts an enviable record of placing its graduates in top private day and boarding schools. Since 1985, with Johnson at the helm, the school’s character, prestige, and pedagogical excellence has been enhanced, while its diversity has been boosted – students hail from 52 countries, Armenia to Vietnam, and speak 24
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Oct. 19, 2018
COMMUNITY New Yorkers talk tricky tenses, punctuation passions and more at Ellen Jovin’s UWS pop-up table BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
dole out complimentary (with an “i”) pointers, guidance and emotional support to all comers, from devoted syntacticians to the downright grammar-averse. “Hi, this looks lit,” a young woman said on a recent afternoon as she approached Grammar Table (lately Jovin has been trying out the name without the definite article). The woman introduced herself as
At-home cut: Megan Rapino and Sue Bird. Photo: Emily Higginbotham
tected in her voice was probably more suited for someone about to scale a dangerous mountain than give an overdue haircut. I could only manage to respond with an affirmative sigh. Irina went to work, taking sections of hair between two fingers and snipping off inches at a time. I typically don’t love watching my haircuts, because I don’t like staring at myself in the mirror for an hour, but the mask remedied this a bit. And more than that, it was so satisfying to watch these long locks of hair fall to the floor. I could feel my shoulders relax a little more with each clip. She quickly blew it dry and handed me a mirror to look at the back. Though I was pleased with how it looked, my only thought was: “It’s gone.” I ran my fingers through it and it
felt healthy, light and soft. I could have cried. It’s been nearly a week since the haircut and I’ll admit that I’ve been a bit paranoid that even with all of those precautions, I could have somehow contracted the virus during the 30-minute salon visit. I woke up a couple of times with a tingle in my throat and feared the worst. My broken quarantine brain always jumps to the worst possible outcome. But I feel fine, and the experience is proving to be more reassuring than anything. It’s given me hope that if we all wear masks — and that’s proving to be a big if — we could find some normalcy. We could get haircuts and go to the park and visit with friends. If we all wear masks, it could even start to feel like we live in New York City again.
Along with resistance in the streets, another movement that has been revived is Grassroots, and the old adage that all politics is local. Barack Obama’s first major talk a few weeks ago was on exactly that subject. It hit home with the post-carders. “We may have started with national races,” says Bender, “but we have written cards for school boards in Virginia, tax commissioners in Florida and so on. We’ve been educated to the idea that it is the mayors and city council members who have the most impact in our daily lives.” One who was convinced is Susan Tilson, who had just quit a job when she first learned about MFD. “I was looking for
ways to get involved,” says the Harvard-educated lawyer and mother. “I went to one of their events, to hear about how critical local and state elections are, and I was inspired.” Now, Tilson is the zoom “techie,” muting and unmuting all the meetings. “We have moved seamlessly into this new platform,” she says. Alice Scovell, a lawyer and writer, joined the weekly meetings in 2019. “It just felt so good to be doing something at this time of Democratic crisis,” says Scovell. “The women are all educated, accomplished, and politically active and we’ve become a supportive caring community. MFD has made this time much more bearable for me.”
Nov. 20, 2018
‘GRAMMAR ZEN’ IN VERDI SQUARE
Are you prepositionally challenged? Hesitant around hyphens? Undergoing a comma crisis? Simply enraptured by the beauty of a well-placed ellipsis? Ellen Jovin wants to talk grammar with you. Jovin has become familiar to Upper West Side word lovers in recent weeks as the face and founder of Grammar Table — a public forum for open-ended discussion of all things language. Armed with a folding table and an array of reference books and style guides, Jovin sets up shop near the northern entrance to the 72nd Street subway station on Broadway to d l li ( ih
I was full of that nervous energy as I made the 10-minute walk from my apartment in Astoria to a salon I had been to one other time since I had moved to the neighborhood last October. As I passed by some of the newly opened curbside dining establishments on the way, I saw masks resting below the chins of servers and clear violations of social distancing protocols. This did not instill confidence in our ability to adapt to our “new normal.” I was put at ease, however, once inside the salon. Everyone was wearing a mask, and only half of the chairs were occupied by customers. My stylist, Irina, greeted me and sprayed my hands with alcohol. She sat me down and asked what she could do for me. Over the blast of a blow dryer, I told her to cut off all the dead ends, at least three inches in length, and to please, for the love of all that is holy, thin it out. Everything after that happened fairly quickly. Irina washed my hair, not waiting for the water to warm and skipping the scalp massage. Then she began combing through my long, wet hair and started to really analyze it. “It’s been a long time since you’ve had your hair cut,” Irina said with raised eyebrows, seeming to realize just how much hair she had to deal with. The dread I de-
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POSTCARDS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 let me know I’m not alone,” said Desiree Tims in her recent Zoom appearance this. An African American who comes from a family of sharecroppers, Tims is a leading candidate for Congress in a formerly red district in Ohio. “Postcards are indeed an effective way of making a point,” adds New York City Council member Ben Kallos, who Zoomed with the women to discuss a future run for Borough President. “The normalizing and popularizing of virtual meetings have created a whole new group of activists who are very effective. Makers For Democracy is one of those groups.”
JULY 2-8, 2020
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RE-OPENED FOR BUSINESS Published as a Public Service of Straus News
Screenshot of NY1 primary debate with (clockwise from top left) moderator Errol Louis, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Peter Harrison, Suraj Patel and Lauren Ashcraft. Patel has accused Maloney of voter suppression; Maloney called Patel’s tactics “out of Donald Trump’s playbook.”
PRIMARY NIGHT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 for Maloney, who performs well on the Upper East Side, whereas Patel did better in Queens and Brooklyn. But Patel has accused Maloney of voter suppression, saying the 14-term congresswoman planned to “challenge every ballot” during an interview on MSNBC over the weekend. “We’re prepared to fight to the last tooth and nail to get every single vote counted,” Patel said during an interview with journalist Alex Witt. “Voter suppression is a real thing. And it’s not just real in Republican states. It’s also real in the Democratic Party.” In return, Maloney compared Patel’s rhetoric and tactics to that of President Trump. “Today, one of my opponents made an outrageous and baseless accusation of voter suppression before a single absentee ballot has even been counted,” Maloney said in a statement, adding that the accusation jeopardizes both her integrity and the integrity of electoral system, and comes “straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook.” “This is a serious charge and a cynical abuse of voter confidence, and I will not stand for it,” she said.
Claiming Victory While Maloney’s fate hangs in the air, another longtime Manhattan member of Congress seems to be cruising to a 16th term in the House. Rep. Jerry Nadler, who represents New York’s 10th Congressional
District, is leading both of his challengers with 62 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press. After the initial count, Nadler tallied 19,411 votes to opponents Lindsay Boylan’s 7,886 votes and Jonathan Herzog’s 3,923 votes. Nadler claimed victory on election night, but on Twitter, Boylan, who used to spearhead the state’s economic development program, called the congressman’s proclamation premature, noting that 87,000 absentee ballots from the district had yet to be tabulated. Of those, 76,000 come from Manhattan and 11,000 from Brooklyn. “I don’t want to gloss over this question: who is served by your premature declaration of victory, @RepJerryNadler when most of your constituents votes have not been counted?” she wrote on Twitter. Incumbents in the state legislature so far have been holding leads over their primary challengers, with a couple of tight races across the board. One of the most dramatic and litigious matchups of the primary season has been between incumbent Assembly Member Dan Quart and political newcomer Cameron Koffman. The two waged a months-long court battle over the validity of Koffman’s candidacy, which was questioned after it was revealed that Koffman had been casting votes in Connecticut during his time studying at Yale University. The court ultimately sided with Koffman, which cemented his place on the Democratic primary bal-
lot for the 73rd Assembly district. With absentee ballots yet to be counted, Quart is leading Koffman 2,673 votes to 1,757, according to the Associated Press. In other Assembly primary races, incumbent Robert Rodriguez, who represents the 68th district that covers parts of the Upper East Side and Harlem, has a slight lead over challenger Tamika Mapp. Rodriguez has earned 4,681 votes to Mapp’s 3,519 votes. Downtown in the 65th Assembly district, Yuh-line Niou holds a comfortable margin over challenger Grace Lee with 4,440 votes to 2,741 votes. Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright’s seat in the 76th District is also up for reelection, but she did not appear on any primary ballot. A paperwork error is preventing Seawright from running as a Democrat, and she plans to make a bid as an Independent in November. If she doesn’t make it onto the ballot, Republican candidate Lou Puliafito will have an uncontested claim to the seat. In the state Senate, the incumbents are holding strong leads over their opponents. In the 27th district, which covers Chelsea and parts of Midtown, Brad Holyman leads Elizabeth Glass 11,914 to 6,210 votes, according to the AP. In the 31st district, Robert Jackson holds 77 percent of vote, leading Tirso Pino 13,144 votes to 3,909 votes. The Board of Elections will begin counting absentee ballots on Wednesday.
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JULY 2-8, 2020
‘DO YOUR OWN TIME AND PLACE’ EXHIBITIONS
Faith Ringgold, the AfricanAmerican artist-activist-storyteller, speaks to the moment in MoMA’s Virtual Views series BY VAL CASTRONOVO
One of the most striking aspects of the rehang at the new Museum of Modern Art is the juxtaposition of two works on the fifth floor, created more than a half century apart — Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” (1907), alongside Faith Ringgold’s “American People Series #20: Die” (1967), the latter inspired by Picasso’s “Guernica” (1937), which used to hang at MoMA before it was returned to Spain in 1981. Both are colossal paintings, featuring overlapping figures of roughly life-size proportions. Ringgold’s “Die” depicts a violent interracial street riot, while Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles” employs radical Cub-
ism to produce disjointed, fractured female figures, two with mask-like faces. Things are falling apart, and it isn’t pretty. When the museum reopened last fall, New York Times art critic Holland Cotter called the pairing “curatorial genius.” Now Ringgold, who was born in Harlem 89 years ago, is in the spotlight again, this time for making art that speaks to the moment, 2020’s remarkable Black Lives Matter moment. In her decades-long career, she has prided herself on being in touch with the zeitgeist. “I became fascinated with the ability of art to document the time, place and cultural identity of the artist. How could I, as an African American woman artist, document what was happening all around me?” she has said about the creation of “Die,” which resonates so strongly today. “I wanted to show a kind of abstraction of what the fights were really all about. And it had a lot to do with race and class. It was to make sure that certain people on the bottom don’t get to the top. This was
Installation view of Around Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (Gallery 503), The Museum of Modern Art, New York. © 2019 The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Heidi Bohnenkamp
Faith Ringgold. American People Series #20: Die. 1967. Oil on canvas, two panels, 72 × 144 (182.9 × 365.8 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Acquired through the generosity of The Modern Women’s Fund, Ronnie F. Heyman, Eva and Glenn Dubin, Lonti Ebers, Michael S. Ovitz, Daniel and Brett Sundheim, and Gary and Karen Winnick. Photo: Jonathan Muzikar
going on then, it’s happening now.”
Spinning Narratives Call her an activist artist who creates brilliantly colored paintings, posters, soft sculptures, story quilts and children’s books — some 17 in all — beginning with the beloved “Tar Beach” (1991). She is a master storyteller and social commentator, spinning narratives across mediums with results that are both visually appealing and consciousness-raising. MoMA’s made-for-the-pandemic Virtual Views series presents a video Q&A with the artist and senior curator Anne Umland, poetry inspired by “Die,” Ringgold’s playlist (she shares some of her favorite music to paint by), a reading of “Tar Beach” by the author, and a wealth of children’s activities. After earning two degrees in art education from City College in the 1950s, Ringgold taught in the public schools and devoted her spare time to establishing herself as a professional artist. When she approached a gallerist, Ruth White, with her landscapes and pretty flowers, her efforts were scoffed at. “You can’t paint like this,” Umland recalls White saying to the artist in the video Q&A, meaning she should paint her experience — her experience as an African-American woman living in 1960s America, bearing witness to the historic struggle for civil rights.
“American society just keeps repeating itself ... Art should, too … Being impressed, being inspired by the times we live in. Ruth White’s gallery was right: You can’t do this. Do your own time and place,” Ringgold says. “American People Series #19: U.S. Postage Commemorating the Advent of Black Power” (1967) makes the point, with the aspirational slogan “Black Power” splashed along the painting’s diagonal, but, tellingly, only 10 black faces (in a sea of 90 white faces) are discernible. It “shows you how little power that was,” Ringgold says of the patent disconnect between the rhetoric and the reality on the ground.
“Hate is a Sin” She became a feminist and demonstrated outside the city’s museums in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, lobbying for more representation (“50%!”) of women and black artists in programming. During a protest at the Whitney, a bystander directed the N-word at Ringgold, in the presence of her two daughters. In 2007, she recorded the incident in a subversive print of the Confederate flag, emblazoning the words “Hate is a Sin” across the face of the flag and detailing the episode in an inscription along the border. In 2018, the Whitney owned the offense, quite literally, when it purchased the
screenprint and displayed it. This artist is especially revered for her story quilts, which mostly focus on the experience of African-American women. The first, “Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima?” (1983), imagines the original mammy character on the pancake box as a full-fledged human being with a real-life story, told in words and pictures on small squares. She has a family and a job as a restaurant owner; she’s an entrepreneur. As Umland says, “You took something that was controversial and degrading and turned it into something inspiring and beautiful.” And she did it nearly 40 years before Quaker Oats announced on June 17 that it was dropping the Aunt Jemima logo and image — the latter updated but based on a racial stereotype — and rebranding its products in response to the recent Black Lives Matter protests. A viewer asked Ringgold during the Q&A what her artistic response to the demonstrations would be. Her answer: “I’m gonna do some work on it. I have to see which way I’m going exactly. This is a very difficult time for me. It’s gonna take me a while to see it, and feel it, and do it.” “Virtual Views: Faith Ringgold” at MoMA: https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5233
JULY 2-8, 2020
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METRO THEATER TO BE TURNED INTO RETAIL Owner Albert Bialek A famous movie theater that was built during the Great Depression will soon be transformed into retail. In June, a developer filed plans to renovate the Metro Movie Theater, 2626 Broadway, which has been shuttered since 2006. The theater originally called the Midtown Theater, opened in 1933 and in 1989 was named a landmark by the
Landmark Preservation Commission. At that time it was one of the rare art deco style neighborhood movie theaters and one of the only pre-WWII theaters that lined the UWS. “It will not just be another building, it will be something very special to the UWS,” said owner Albert Bialek. Bialek told the West Side
Rendering: Gilman Architects
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It will not just be another building, it will be something very special to the UWS.”
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Art deco building shuttered since 2006 to attract UWS businesses
Spirit he could not reveal the specifics of his plans yet, but said big things are coming. On June 5, plans were filed to begin work on the ceiling, mezzanine, roof and the first two floors. Bialek said he has already spoken with numerous businesses that are eager to come to the old theater. He stressed no demolition will take place and the plans are dependent on the LPC and Department of Buildings. According to Bialek, the LPC likes what he is doing with the building and construction is expected to last eight to nine months. “We are sensitive to the history of the building,” he said.
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YOUR 15 MINUTES
Check out our website to read about other people who have had their “15 Minutes”.
CATCHING MORE NEW YORKERS WITH HONEY BOOKS
A new memoir by our city’s most beloved beekeeper makes for an educating and entertaining summer read BY ANGELA BARBUTI
The Big Apple is sweeter because of the work of Andrew Coté. A fourth-generation beekeeper who maintains close to 100 beehives and millions of bees in Manhattan alone, he is New York City’s leading expert on all things bee-related. His beehives are abuzz on the grounds of the United Nations, Bryant Park, the roof of the Waldorf Astoria and Brooks Brothers’ flagship location, where there are four hives, one for each of the original brothers. One summer, he even installed a colony as part of a sculpture at MoMA, the first-ever there to employ the use of live animals. To say the Connecticut-nativeturned-Upper West Sider is a busy bee is quite the understatement. His resume is replete with positions such as being the founder of the New York City Beekeepers Association, through which he teaches urban beekeeping classes, and starting the nonprofit Bees Without Borders, where he travels to places like Haiti,
Andrew Coté with his bees. Photo: Paulo Anjou
Kenya and Iraq to help alleviate poverty through beekeeping. And when beekeeping became legal in New York City in 2010, Coté was the beekeeper the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene consulted with on best practices, and the professional they still turn to with their bee concerns. His new memoir, “Honey and Venom,” released on June 9, regales readers with stories sometimes illustrious - shooting a commercial with his beehives for New York State directed by Spike Lee, and oftentimes arduous - responding to a call to remove a swarm on the roof of One Times Square. Every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, you can find him at the Union Square Greenmarket, where he sells honey from the beehives he tends to around the city. Each jar of Andrew’s Honey is labeled with the neighborhood where the bees lived that produced it.
I gave your book five stars on Goodreads. It’s so interesting and entertaining. Where did you get all your bee knowledge?
Book jacket of new memoir by Andrew Coté.
Well, I’ve been keeping bees for over 40 years and certainly in that time, I’ve read quite a few books and attended many meetings and
Jars of Andrew’s New York City Honey. Photo: Paulo Anjou lectures. And also, I had a friend of mine, Larry Connor, who’s a beekeeper with a Ph.D. in entomology who specializes in honey bees, read all of the text about the bee facts, just to make sure I didn’t have something wrong.
Explain your family’s history with beekeeping, your father’s role in mentoring you in the field, and how you’re carrying it on to your son now.
Our family began keeping bees in Quebec in the 1800s and it has filtered down all the way to me, but we have not only been beekeepers, and by that I mean it has not been our sole means of support. My father taught me beekeeping and his mother was also a beekeeper, although there was a disconnect when they left the family farm in Canada and moved to Connecticut. My son is not yet five, but during COVID, he has been with me pretty much 24/7 and has been in many a bee yard and rooftop apiary since March. So he has had a trial by fire of beekeeping.
It took you 10 years to get your honey into the Union Square Greenmarket.
That’s right; it took me 10 years to get into the Saturday greenmarket, and I only got in because one man retired. And he died a year after, so it
was a lesson to me not to retire. We have a very limited supply of honey from the New York City neighborhoods and we label by neighborhood. So, for example, the bees that I have over the Highline, we write “Highline,” on the lids of those jars, so people know exactly where the honey comes from. We used to have bees on top of the MoMA, and we labeled that “Midtown,” for example.
You started teaching beekeeping classes in 2007, which became so popular they are now always at full capacity.
We generally have them in February and March. Because of COVID, we only had one session this year. We had to cancel our second session because our venue was closed. We limit it to 75 participants per session, and sometimes 50, it just depends on the size of the room. They generally sell out, which is very nice. It’s a real crossroads for different types of people. I have cultivated friendships with people from groups I really wouldn’t think I would have anything in common with, but not for the beekeeping that pulled us together.
Tell us about one of the memorable swarms you had to take care of in Manhattan. Well, one day I was downtown and
got a few alerts that there was a swarm in Times Square. I don’t really take swarm calls too seriously until they land and I get a photograph, because people don’t always know what a swarm is, and a few bees can be a swarm to somebody. I received enough reports about it to head up there. The swarm ended up affixing itself to the very top of One Times Square, which is the building where the ball drops every new year. It was on the end of a beam that hung out over the top of the roof. So it was a little tricky, but we hooked ourselves up to the harness window washers use to cheat gravity, and then shimmied out onto the beam to pick up these 25,000 or so bees with a small vacuum and then placed them in another hive. It turned out we were up on I think it was the 17th floor, right across from the Reuters’ offices. So while we were doing this, it was being very well documented in photographs that were disseminated all over the world. To learn more, visit AndrewsHoney.com and follow him on Instagram @AndrewsHoney
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P Q Z O Z Q T F Q J R V N S R
52
9
WORD SEARCH by Myles Mellor
I M G L Z C I Q V N Y V N T E
51
3
M N Y I H T Z M N L E M Z N T
50
1
8
E D C E S S E N I S U B G E N
49
48 Be liable 49 “As __” (letter closing) 50 Metallica: “Where the Wild Things ___” 51 It may be in sight 52 Lab-maze solvers 53 Early morning phenomenon
42
47
48
Across 1 Profit by 4 “___ Torino” Eastwood film 8 Primeval 11 “Yes” signal 12 Snarling, say 13 Fork over 14 Catch stealing 15 Prow and stern, e.g. 16 Potato spot 17 “Oberon” is one 19 Move ever-so-slightly 21 Hockey stick wood 23 Center-to-quarterback transitions 26 As a preferred alternative 30 Organ knob 31 Circus item 32 Tahiti’s island group 34 Stable enclosure 36 Jupiter, e.g. 37 Orange skin 39 “Cut” and “paste” 43 Shirt or sweater 45 Still-life centerpiece 47 Have a little lamb?
41
6
P F C O U R X K T G X T P M I
46
40
3 2
4
B K S Y M H E R T G Z H V Y C
45
39
8
7 2
Level: Medium
7
8
S C S L N E I Y L W U X M A K
44
38
9
Z V B F U N G S R M R W S P N
43
5
33 36
35 37
1 7
8
X D Y J E C N A N I F H E Z V
32
34
30
29
31
25
9
B G T D B F F T O Z V B Z U J
28
24
2
E
27
23
3
7 8
4
E W
26
22
5
A R
21
20
3
D
19
18
5
53
17
3
S
16
7
R
15
8
T
14
9
E
13
Each Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9X9 grid that has been subdivided into nine smaller grids of 3X3 squares. To solve the puzzle each row, column and box must contain each of the numbers 1 to 9. Puzzles come in three grades: easy, medium and difficult.
V
12
10
A
11
9
E
8
R
7
52
6
D
5
N
4
E
3
SUDOKU by Myles Mellor and Susan Flanagan
by Myles Mellor
O W E
2
CROSSWORD
51
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