With each passing year our financial stress expands while our freedom is compressed. Where are the fearless members of society that once represented the good of the nation and not the goods of our merchants?
Farmers would raise their pitchforks and veterans would march to the beat of a different drum. We used to protest when treated unfairly and fight for our freedom, we used to let the government know through boycotts and other means that we would not support companies that didn’t support us. Should we revert to revolution in order to lengthen the distance that our voices can travel? It seems, we have no choice.
Our country has is set in our constitution that they can use the military to quell rebellion. Martial law was once used for all the right reasons in Arkansas during the desegregation era when white students in Little Rock refused to allow minority students access to school and in doing so forced the hand of President Eisenhower to send in the National Guard and Federal soldiers to iron fist and enforce this new law. That was set up by people strong enough to gather millions and march. The country defended us then and they’ll defend us now. Pride was our number 1 consumer, and our main import was change. Tourism was extravagant and sexy in our cities, now it’s all flashy lights and no heart.
We are being taken advantage of. Our kindness is being confused for weakness, and our strength for not strong enough. The ties that bind us together aren’t democrat or republican, they’re not issues and propaganda, and they’re not hard hitting documentaries. The band that aids lies in the fact that we’re all individuals. So ask your neighbors, despite differences, what changes should be made and it will finally be quite clear of the commonalities that we share. The U.S. Government has so much faith that it’s people will not rebel that it pushes the limits of how much they can get away with.
A $13 dollar toll between Brooklyn and Staten Island is ridiculous. For thirteen bucks a ride it better have an elevator, bottle of wine, gourmet cheese and a window washer at the end of it. 190,000 vehicles cross the Verrazano Bridge everyday. Cut that number in half and multiply it by 13. Once you have that number multiply it by 365. It’s numbing to believe that this toll price is even conceivable and further mind stretching to try and figure out where all of this money is going. There was an article in the Staten Island Advance about how a high ranking member of the EZ Pass company was directly related to the mafia and mobster families. It seems the story didn’t make the 10 o’clock news. In fact it never made any waves in N.Y.C. The journalist who wrote the piece for all we know, was never heard from again.
How, during the middle of a financial recession, when people have the least amount of money would the MTA keep putting us on track to run us over with their trains? They take away our high school students’ metro card, they hike the prices of our daily commutes, they reduce services, and make lay offs. Yet we do nothing but appear on the news and tell them how unhappy we are. New Yorkers take 2.6 billion trips a year via public transportation. At $2.50 per ride it equals a figure that can only be expressed in scientific notation. This number doesn’t even include 5 dollar express buses, interstate transit, or the Long Island Rail Road.
How did they get away with this clear taxation without representation? The answer is quite clear, it’s because you and you and everyone out there let it happen. All of the residents of Staten Island and Brooklyn, moped, cried, and frowned but then went about their day as usual. Nobody bothered to fight it or to defend us against it. Our leaders are weak and unless the people form a union of our own we will continue to be treated as if we really were the ant sized humans that they look down at from their private jets. Realistically not all of our leaders are miserable. Politicians like Ruben Diaz Jr. the Borough President of the Bronx, rolled up his sleeves, got his hands dirty and protested right beside us as we tried to protect our public schools from closing.
We try to ban guns but powerful lobby groups such as the National Rifle Association shot that down. We made scientific advantages in inventing the first electric car which would run 90 miles per hour for up to 120 miles on full charge without using any fuel and ironically Texaco bought the rights to the battery and the electric vehicle was thereafter sentenced to death. We emerged from the last depression by making alcohol legal and doing away with prohibition, yet the Food and Drug Administration refuses to admit to the profoundly positive financial and medical effects that legalizing marijuana can have for this country.
The same year that Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city would be laying off teachers and closing schools he also announced the building of a fifteen million dollar waterfall over the Hudson River. New York City has no shortage of artists or architects so why hire Olafur Eliasson a Danish-Icelandic artist to complete an art project here? Granted that the money for it was donated by private art funds, it still stands lifeless because it doesn’t speak for the people of this great city, and yells at us as part of the problem. The waterfalls represent money flowing from the over privileged into the brown swamp waters of the Hudson as a means of toilet decoration. Sure it looks nice, but it still stinks. We might as well have built an artsy fartsy fireplace to incinerate what little worth our currency has left.
We need trials and convictions of the culprits who killed the electric car, put Trolls on our tolls and outsourced our nationalistic artwork. If I was an American artist I’d build a bridge into a train station with a toll at the end of it holding a sign that says “The train is free today but donate to the red cross, public schools and the liberation of Staten Island.” Our students now, will be the future of this nation in times to come. Our last resort is to breathe life, liberty, and motivation into the next Martin Luther King Jr.’s of our time because right now, we all know we need them.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday, February 15, 2010
The Lonely Dragon
February 14h Chinatown, NYC
This Valentine's day brought some sexy back to our great city. In China Town, however the celebration of love was untied to what average awestruck Americans do on Feb. 14th. No red heart price tags or cupid arrow sales. It was everyday Chinatown with one key detail that brought love nonetheless. The lonely Dragon.
Somebody in Staten Island remembered the Chinese New Year this "V Day" and brought their pet dragon to dance on the streets of Chinatown among the people. A crowd followed it as it roared across Canal St. with glorious war drums announcing the approach of greatness.
The party poppers went wild at 1:00pm on Chrystie St. when the Staten Island Lions rode into town with the beast, a chariot and the spirit that only the coming year of the tiger could bring. The 100s of car stopping followers enjoyed watching the dragon stop at a seafood market and flip oranges between the owner and the audience.
Groups of people followed as the dragon wandered the streets and grew from a group to a gaggle and from that to a gathering. A new holiday took Chinatown by storm and set the stage for all of the other dragons that would follow suit and tear down the streets in this lower portion of Manhattan later on in the day.
The Staten Island Lions had a dragon, a fierce and talented dragon and this dragon... this dragon walked alone. He in sighted a riot and in doing so sparked the official start of the Chinese New Year in Chinatown 2010.
From poverty to paradise... on the shoulders of the dragon.
This Valentine's day brought some sexy back to our great city. In China Town, however the celebration of love was untied to what average awestruck Americans do on Feb. 14th. No red heart price tags or cupid arrow sales. It was everyday Chinatown with one key detail that brought love nonetheless. The lonely Dragon.
Somebody in Staten Island remembered the Chinese New Year this "V Day" and brought their pet dragon to dance on the streets of Chinatown among the people. A crowd followed it as it roared across Canal St. with glorious war drums announcing the approach of greatness.
The party poppers went wild at 1:00pm on Chrystie St. when the Staten Island Lions rode into town with the beast, a chariot and the spirit that only the coming year of the tiger could bring. The 100s of car stopping followers enjoyed watching the dragon stop at a seafood market and flip oranges between the owner and the audience.
Groups of people followed as the dragon wandered the streets and grew from a group to a gaggle and from that to a gathering. A new holiday took Chinatown by storm and set the stage for all of the other dragons that would follow suit and tear down the streets in this lower portion of Manhattan later on in the day.
The Staten Island Lions had a dragon, a fierce and talented dragon and this dragon... this dragon walked alone. He in sighted a riot and in doing so sparked the official start of the Chinese New Year in Chinatown 2010.
From poverty to paradise... on the shoulders of the dragon.
Platinum
I’m not saying hip hop shouldn’t have ever went platinum. I’m saying there’re other ways out of the hood than rapping. Like taking action, being classy and actually going to classes.
So listen fools and losers, kids listen to your music. Stop selling drugs on the mic and being their bad influence. Representing a life that they can’t have without a nuisance.
If you got talent then use it, to kids it’s confusing, because their moms are telling them something and you’re telling them something…stupid.
At first I understand the, “Beast” was trying to sick you, but I beg and plead don’t take the projects with you. I don’t get you, I’m not saying forget where you’re from. That’s dumb. I’m from Red Hook where you gotta be crook and thug and sell drugs ok I see but since you made it out so why be you so grimey?
If the hood are your people then why leave them condemned.
Aren’t they the ones that showed you love and support. You’re off living the good life loving your tour. Let’s take a look at the projects that you blame the government for. You think republicans gave you that gun to run in the store?
No, you created your own “Beast” and trapped yourselves on your own streets. For some reason you’re thinking that nonsense rules. Did you know they have great teachers in project schools. I’m tired of hearing about your logic of cops in blues, it’s impossible cuz they have a job to do too. So if you think how you’re spitting or how you’re living is cool, to me you’re just criminal ripping my youth. I could care less if you’re a crip in all blue or blood in all red because all in all we’re all dead, cuz you taught our future to sell drugs and bust led.
The only led I bust is in my pencils, from writing so hard I get blisters between my thumb and middle fingers from written scriptures of wisdom or religion hoping the kids listen. To me the best M.C’s were Jesus and Ghandi and the prophet Mohammed peace be upon him.
Some of it’s worse than Osama Bin Laden terrorizing the children’s minds when you preach that nonsense. You’re garbage is a nuclear weapon. Musicians need to step up and question. Don’t commercialize for us who were born with this present, and if you do commercialize it, at least do so with a message.
Thank You,
Michael Cruz
So listen fools and losers, kids listen to your music. Stop selling drugs on the mic and being their bad influence. Representing a life that they can’t have without a nuisance.
If you got talent then use it, to kids it’s confusing, because their moms are telling them something and you’re telling them something…stupid.
At first I understand the, “Beast” was trying to sick you, but I beg and plead don’t take the projects with you. I don’t get you, I’m not saying forget where you’re from. That’s dumb. I’m from Red Hook where you gotta be crook and thug and sell drugs ok I see but since you made it out so why be you so grimey?
If the hood are your people then why leave them condemned.
Aren’t they the ones that showed you love and support. You’re off living the good life loving your tour. Let’s take a look at the projects that you blame the government for. You think republicans gave you that gun to run in the store?
No, you created your own “Beast” and trapped yourselves on your own streets. For some reason you’re thinking that nonsense rules. Did you know they have great teachers in project schools. I’m tired of hearing about your logic of cops in blues, it’s impossible cuz they have a job to do too. So if you think how you’re spitting or how you’re living is cool, to me you’re just criminal ripping my youth. I could care less if you’re a crip in all blue or blood in all red because all in all we’re all dead, cuz you taught our future to sell drugs and bust led.
The only led I bust is in my pencils, from writing so hard I get blisters between my thumb and middle fingers from written scriptures of wisdom or religion hoping the kids listen. To me the best M.C’s were Jesus and Ghandi and the prophet Mohammed peace be upon him.
Some of it’s worse than Osama Bin Laden terrorizing the children’s minds when you preach that nonsense. You’re garbage is a nuclear weapon. Musicians need to step up and question. Don’t commercialize for us who were born with this present, and if you do commercialize it, at least do so with a message.
Thank You,
Michael Cruz
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Red Hook Brooklyn
Red Hook was established by the Dutch as a village in the late 1630’s. It was one of the earliest settlements in Brooklyn. It was named Red Hook or (Roode Hoek) because of the type of red clay soil and the fact that it was the premier import peninsula from the East River. At the Waterfront Museum located on Conover St. in Brooklyn there is a map from the mid 1700’s that shows Red Hook as one of the only inhabited villages in Brooklyn at the time. By the mid 1800’s the ports of Red Hook were not only the most prosperous in New York but for the entire country.
The projects were originally built for longshoremen and dockworkers. At one point Red Hook housed approximately 21,000 people. At the present time 8,000 people live in and around this tiny town hidden to tourism. Since Red Hook was officially created in 1936 the neighborhood has seen its ups and downs. It is now presently under major improvement and is already a lost paradise for those who choose to peruse through it.
Some of the super celebs of our nation once lived or began as residents of this haven. It’s the place where Al Capone got his start as a small time criminal and Carmello Anthony once lived in the projects and played basketball at Tee and Coffey Parks as a kid. Yolanda Vega, Ellen Cleghorne, Angie Hall, Matty Rich and Yvette Jarvis are just a few of the many stars that have emerged from this urban utopia.
Red Hook has become an isolated Eden due to the building of the Gowanus expressway and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the mid 1950’s. These new additions to Brooklyn ran along Hamilton Avenue cutting Red Hook off from the rest of the borough. It has since changed very little in terms of development. It was once a tourism hot spot and has now become a neighborhood of history frozen in time. Almost completely untouched there are still cobble stoned streets and even trolley tracks embedded in the back blocks.
The unique structure and size of this community give it too much scenery to soak in on one visit. It holds 8,000 tenants, nine baseball diamonds, four piers, two elementary schools, mosaics, artistic structures, waterfront views, historic and patriotic elements, a recreation center fully equipped with a gym and public Olympic sized pool which anyone can access for merely 50 dollars a year, a community farm, bird feeders, a football field, a professional running track, a Snapple factory, a recycling center, both fire and police departments, four public parks with all of the amenities, a soccer field with turf instead of grass and much more. The pictures despite their beauty fail to capture anything compared to a visit. If a picture is worth a thousand words than a nice walk around this neighborhood is worth a novel.
Most of the major changes to this wonderland of history have come in the last decade. Ikea has provided an avenue for tourism by busing Brooklynites from all over the borough to browse and also making free ferry trips from Manhattan to Red Hook starting at 9:00am every morning free of charge.
The fields and parks have all been upgraded, the gym facilities have done away with the boxing ring that was in place since the 1960’s. It was replaced by a more professional style gymnasium with salsa, martial arts classes and even community discussion groups. The schools have amazing yards for the children to play. All of the piers are now almost breathtakingly beautiful and the arts and crafts have become historical and meaningful for residents and outsiders alike.
Every year on the waterfront there are festivals and shows for tourists, artists and residents. The Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition exhibits, Red Hook Jazz festival, Red Hook Film Festival and the Young People’s Performance Festival are just naming a few of the extracurricular activities that have arrived in Red Hook post revival.
When people see Red Hook off to the side of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway most see a behemoth abandoned beauty of a building called the “Gray House” by the residents. This building is the Port Authority Grain Terminal that was originally constructed in 1922 as a means of importing and processing shipments of grain. Now it stands as a landmark and representative structure to the enduring history of change that has touched our borough for centuries. Red Hook has more Civil War warehouses than anywhere else in all the 5 boroughs.
The Louis Valentino Pier is one of the most attractive areas in all of Brooklyn. Located in the outskirts of the projects on the Coffey St. dead end or “the back” it has been rebuilt from wooden to wondrous yet kept it’s old world appeal in tact. If you took a photo on this pier you might catch an unexpected woman in the background of your picture. Her name is Lady Liberty and a clear view of her statue can be seen from Red Hook’s Valentino pier which adds to its remarkably majestic appeal.
If exploring our New York is an option then take a trip down Brooklyn’s memory lane and come across to the other side of Hamilton Avenue where the scenery is sure to surprise any and all bystanders who were once afraid to tour by rumor of slum and shanty. Walk or drive on cobble stones, see the trolley tracks, peruse the many piers and warehouses, fish, shop, play, exercise, photograph, write about and enjoy this secluded and stunning section of our city because it’s not poverty, its paradise.
Extra Special Thanks to:
Patrick Hickey Jr. of www.ReviewFix.com
Water Front Museum in Brooklyn
All of the employees of the Parks Department currently working in Red Hook as well as the entire staffs at Public School 15 and the Red Hook Rec Center and pool.
Also thanks to all of my followers. Please keep following as I will be updating once a week. It's still a debate as to which location to visit next so if you have any ideas or insights please feel free to post them here. Also for photos of the wonderful views and sights that Red Hook has to offer please visit the facebook page for Poverty or Paradise.
The projects were originally built for longshoremen and dockworkers. At one point Red Hook housed approximately 21,000 people. At the present time 8,000 people live in and around this tiny town hidden to tourism. Since Red Hook was officially created in 1936 the neighborhood has seen its ups and downs. It is now presently under major improvement and is already a lost paradise for those who choose to peruse through it.
Some of the super celebs of our nation once lived or began as residents of this haven. It’s the place where Al Capone got his start as a small time criminal and Carmello Anthony once lived in the projects and played basketball at Tee and Coffey Parks as a kid. Yolanda Vega, Ellen Cleghorne, Angie Hall, Matty Rich and Yvette Jarvis are just a few of the many stars that have emerged from this urban utopia.
Red Hook has become an isolated Eden due to the building of the Gowanus expressway and the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the mid 1950’s. These new additions to Brooklyn ran along Hamilton Avenue cutting Red Hook off from the rest of the borough. It has since changed very little in terms of development. It was once a tourism hot spot and has now become a neighborhood of history frozen in time. Almost completely untouched there are still cobble stoned streets and even trolley tracks embedded in the back blocks.
The unique structure and size of this community give it too much scenery to soak in on one visit. It holds 8,000 tenants, nine baseball diamonds, four piers, two elementary schools, mosaics, artistic structures, waterfront views, historic and patriotic elements, a recreation center fully equipped with a gym and public Olympic sized pool which anyone can access for merely 50 dollars a year, a community farm, bird feeders, a football field, a professional running track, a Snapple factory, a recycling center, both fire and police departments, four public parks with all of the amenities, a soccer field with turf instead of grass and much more. The pictures despite their beauty fail to capture anything compared to a visit. If a picture is worth a thousand words than a nice walk around this neighborhood is worth a novel.
Most of the major changes to this wonderland of history have come in the last decade. Ikea has provided an avenue for tourism by busing Brooklynites from all over the borough to browse and also making free ferry trips from Manhattan to Red Hook starting at 9:00am every morning free of charge.
The fields and parks have all been upgraded, the gym facilities have done away with the boxing ring that was in place since the 1960’s. It was replaced by a more professional style gymnasium with salsa, martial arts classes and even community discussion groups. The schools have amazing yards for the children to play. All of the piers are now almost breathtakingly beautiful and the arts and crafts have become historical and meaningful for residents and outsiders alike.
Every year on the waterfront there are festivals and shows for tourists, artists and residents. The Red Hook Waterfront Arts Festival, the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition exhibits, Red Hook Jazz festival, Red Hook Film Festival and the Young People’s Performance Festival are just naming a few of the extracurricular activities that have arrived in Red Hook post revival.
When people see Red Hook off to the side of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway most see a behemoth abandoned beauty of a building called the “Gray House” by the residents. This building is the Port Authority Grain Terminal that was originally constructed in 1922 as a means of importing and processing shipments of grain. Now it stands as a landmark and representative structure to the enduring history of change that has touched our borough for centuries. Red Hook has more Civil War warehouses than anywhere else in all the 5 boroughs.
The Louis Valentino Pier is one of the most attractive areas in all of Brooklyn. Located in the outskirts of the projects on the Coffey St. dead end or “the back” it has been rebuilt from wooden to wondrous yet kept it’s old world appeal in tact. If you took a photo on this pier you might catch an unexpected woman in the background of your picture. Her name is Lady Liberty and a clear view of her statue can be seen from Red Hook’s Valentino pier which adds to its remarkably majestic appeal.
If exploring our New York is an option then take a trip down Brooklyn’s memory lane and come across to the other side of Hamilton Avenue where the scenery is sure to surprise any and all bystanders who were once afraid to tour by rumor of slum and shanty. Walk or drive on cobble stones, see the trolley tracks, peruse the many piers and warehouses, fish, shop, play, exercise, photograph, write about and enjoy this secluded and stunning section of our city because it’s not poverty, its paradise.
Extra Special Thanks to:
Patrick Hickey Jr. of www.ReviewFix.com
Water Front Museum in Brooklyn
All of the employees of the Parks Department currently working in Red Hook as well as the entire staffs at Public School 15 and the Red Hook Rec Center and pool.
Also thanks to all of my followers. Please keep following as I will be updating once a week. It's still a debate as to which location to visit next so if you have any ideas or insights please feel free to post them here. Also for photos of the wonderful views and sights that Red Hook has to offer please visit the facebook page for Poverty or Paradise.
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