Thursday, March 31, 2005
First visit to the reopened MOMA
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This is an easy trip to T&V Country people, take the BMT R&N line to 57th Street, exit at the rear on 55th, walk two blocks east to 54th below 6th Avenue, to the new entrance to the reopened Museum of Modern Art.
At the new MoMA, the immense clinically light, industrial-looking lobby feels like the Grand Central station turned upscale, with masses of people, standing still or purposefully moving in all directions. New York has really turned into an art town. But the crowds, ugh (it was a Saturday during school break, I admit). Hemmed in and directionless, I turned to an attendant, who advised to go to the 6th floor and start there
This notion of being surrounded persisted on all of the six exhibit floors, people in streams on the escalator banks, moving to exhibit areas and to the crowded cafeterias – there are two, on the 6th (coffee $3, baked goods and view) and 2nd (coffee $2, sandwiches, salads and pasta). Quite a few stopped to gasp and capture the breathtaking atrium views, at strategic wall break points, showing each floor open, all the way down to the ground floor.
On the 6th floor, a wall announced Contemporary Voices, works from the UBS art collection. What, are the thrifty Swiss into modern art? It turned out to be the collection assembled by Donald B. Marron, former CEO of PaineWebber (absorbed by UBS), who has also been the president and still is a vice chairman of MoMA.
It is a comprehensive collection, destined to enhance MoMA’s own holdings with art from the second half of the past century. Upon entrance all the icons and the forgotten nihilist messages of the 1960s New York School greet you – a Robert Rauschenberg, charming in its Klee-like simplicity, a Claes Oldenburg cartoon of an exploding Nelson monument, a Roy Lichtenstein mirror of doom. Andy Warhol’s James Cagney is a gangster, the placard of Ed Ruscha, the Pop art pioneer, spouting nonsense phrases, Cy Twombly’s scratches, barely discernible as words. An industrial panel of cogs by Donald Judd, looking like rosewood, turns out to be metal, painted with Harley –Davidson paint (he gets his art built by a factory). The old-timers, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston and Jasper Johns, offer some dignity, as do Chuck Close’s self-portraits, and Frank Stella’s winged aluminum wheelbarrow.
Masses of messages: Joseph Beuiys’s letter, illustrated with gold- painted dollar-bill like panels, Anselm Kiefer’s angry slogans (lots of other German contemporaries there, Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, and the late Blinky Palermo) Bruce Naimann’s crossed READ/REAP banners, Jenny Holzer’s proclamation of impending doom.
More of the bizarre: Kiki Smith’s hanging hands, and the Brits’ epater le bourgeois bits, with Richard Ney’s Avon mud on paper and Damien Hirst’s provocatively titled spun disk of colors. Of the younger generation, Susan Rothenberg’s six-panel series of dancing figures in motion, done in 1988 for the Pine Webber corporate dining room, is impressive (I doubt the bankers chose her other piece, of dogs tearing up a rabbit). Lucien Freud’s self with dog is almost refreshing in this company, as is a coy Cindy Sherman photo, and David Selle’s half nude, half pegboard panel
Another exhibit on the 6th floor, Groundswell, 29 urban architects’ designs for landfills (Staten Island), industrial waterfronts, war-torn areas (Beirut), exemplifies MoMA’s other missions, of showing developments in architecture (and furniture, industrial design, drawings, prints, stage designs, photography and films). This brought back memories of the old MoMa, founded in 1929 by Lillie Bliss, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and five other trustees, who gave their fine family collections and money to stock a neat museum on 54th Street. As donations grew, it expanded onto the first six floors of a residential tower, acquired an annex in 1984, and in 2002 moved to MOMA QNS (still an annex), to ramp up for the current giant structure, reopened in November 2004.
Exhausted, we managed to run through the 5th floor, crowded to capacity, where the old favorites, 20th century greats, were on view. Picasso’s stubby Demoiselles of Avignon, Matisse’s explosive Red Studio, stood out among the masses of their contemporaries. Young people were trying to decipher the ying-yang of Joan Miro’s symbolism, the spiders and strange fruit, and of Salvador Dali’s limp watch. The European Expressionists – Ernst Kirschner and Vasily Kandinsky, tube-like people of Ferdinand Leger, a murder mystery by Giorgio de Chirico, the interlocked squares of Piet Mondrian, all had masses of enthralled spectators, with telephone rods in hands, avid to hear the docents’ words.
By contrast, the 4th floor, panting and sculpture of 1940 to 1970, was quiet. The quality art covers a lot of the names shown in the UBS collection. The Minimalists, pre- and post-Minimalists (a new name for Abstract Expressionists), Shaped Canvas and Pop art leaders are present, with the added pleasure of Jackson Pollock’s splattered best, and Barnett Newman’s wall-long statement.
The 3rd floor, with a special photography show, and the prints and contemporaries, on 2nd floor, will have to wait for another occasion. I regret not visiting the Sculpture Garden on 1st, the favorite of my youth, but better weather will come soon.
There are also two theatres on basement floors.
This is an easy trip to T&V Country people, take the BMT R&N line to 57th Street, exit at the rear on 55th, walk two blocks east to 54th below 6th Avenue, to the new entrance to the reopened Museum of Modern Art.
At the new MoMA, the immense clinically light, industrial-looking lobby feels like the Grand Central station turned upscale, with masses of people, standing still or purposefully moving in all directions. New York has really turned into an art town. But the crowds, ugh (it was a Saturday during school break, I admit). Hemmed in and directionless, I turned to an attendant, who advised to go to the 6th floor and start there
This notion of being surrounded persisted on all of the six exhibit floors, people in streams on the escalator banks, moving to exhibit areas and to the crowded cafeterias – there are two, on the 6th (coffee $3, baked goods and view) and 2nd (coffee $2, sandwiches, salads and pasta). Quite a few stopped to gasp and capture the breathtaking atrium views, at strategic wall break points, showing each floor open, all the way down to the ground floor.
On the 6th floor, a wall announced Contemporary Voices, works from the UBS art collection. What, are the thrifty Swiss into modern art? It turned out to be the collection assembled by Donald B. Marron, former CEO of PaineWebber (absorbed by UBS), who has also been the president and still is a vice chairman of MoMA.
It is a comprehensive collection, destined to enhance MoMA’s own holdings with art from the second half of the past century. Upon entrance all the icons and the forgotten nihilist messages of the 1960s New York School greet you – a Robert Rauschenberg, charming in its Klee-like simplicity, a Claes Oldenburg cartoon of an exploding Nelson monument, a Roy Lichtenstein mirror of doom. Andy Warhol’s James Cagney is a gangster, the placard of Ed Ruscha, the Pop art pioneer, spouting nonsense phrases, Cy Twombly’s scratches, barely discernible as words. An industrial panel of cogs by Donald Judd, looking like rosewood, turns out to be metal, painted with Harley –Davidson paint (he gets his art built by a factory). The old-timers, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston and Jasper Johns, offer some dignity, as do Chuck Close’s self-portraits, and Frank Stella’s winged aluminum wheelbarrow.
Masses of messages: Joseph Beuiys’s letter, illustrated with gold- painted dollar-bill like panels, Anselm Kiefer’s angry slogans (lots of other German contemporaries there, Gerhard Richter, Georg Baselitz, and the late Blinky Palermo) Bruce Naimann’s crossed READ/REAP banners, Jenny Holzer’s proclamation of impending doom.
More of the bizarre: Kiki Smith’s hanging hands, and the Brits’ epater le bourgeois bits, with Richard Ney’s Avon mud on paper and Damien Hirst’s provocatively titled spun disk of colors. Of the younger generation, Susan Rothenberg’s six-panel series of dancing figures in motion, done in 1988 for the Pine Webber corporate dining room, is impressive (I doubt the bankers chose her other piece, of dogs tearing up a rabbit). Lucien Freud’s self with dog is almost refreshing in this company, as is a coy Cindy Sherman photo, and David Selle’s half nude, half pegboard panel
Another exhibit on the 6th floor, Groundswell, 29 urban architects’ designs for landfills (Staten Island), industrial waterfronts, war-torn areas (Beirut), exemplifies MoMA’s other missions, of showing developments in architecture (and furniture, industrial design, drawings, prints, stage designs, photography and films). This brought back memories of the old MoMa, founded in 1929 by Lillie Bliss, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and five other trustees, who gave their fine family collections and money to stock a neat museum on 54th Street. As donations grew, it expanded onto the first six floors of a residential tower, acquired an annex in 1984, and in 2002 moved to MOMA QNS (still an annex), to ramp up for the current giant structure, reopened in November 2004.
Exhausted, we managed to run through the 5th floor, crowded to capacity, where the old favorites, 20th century greats, were on view. Picasso’s stubby Demoiselles of Avignon, Matisse’s explosive Red Studio, stood out among the masses of their contemporaries. Young people were trying to decipher the ying-yang of Joan Miro’s symbolism, the spiders and strange fruit, and of Salvador Dali’s limp watch. The European Expressionists – Ernst Kirschner and Vasily Kandinsky, tube-like people of Ferdinand Leger, a murder mystery by Giorgio de Chirico, the interlocked squares of Piet Mondrian, all had masses of enthralled spectators, with telephone rods in hands, avid to hear the docents’ words.
By contrast, the 4th floor, panting and sculpture of 1940 to 1970, was quiet. The quality art covers a lot of the names shown in the UBS collection. The Minimalists, pre- and post-Minimalists (a new name for Abstract Expressionists), Shaped Canvas and Pop art leaders are present, with the added pleasure of Jackson Pollock’s splattered best, and Barnett Newman’s wall-long statement.
The 3rd floor, with a special photography show, and the prints and contemporaries, on 2nd floor, will have to wait for another occasion. I regret not visiting the Sculpture Garden on 1st, the favorite of my youth, but better weather will come soon.
There are also two theatres on basement floors.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
New Takeout food resource, Whole Foods Market
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Whole Foods, World's Leading Natural and Organic Food Supermarket, has come to our area with a bang, occupying three floors in the old Bradlees (likewise Mays and Ohrbach's) building on the southwest edge of Union Square. Opening with a benefit for the Union Square project, they will continue with another for the Greenmarket, trying to disprove the rumors that the newcomer will try to capitalize on the latter's fresh greens and fruit enthusiasts.
What is most visible is that the main marketing thrust is directed towards the quick lunch and dinner trade, takeout and eat-in variety. Upon entering, you can pick up some bagels and apples and a pack of sushi for lunch and be done, or go on to two heavily laden salad bars, with offers ranging from mesclun to orecchio pasta, or to a third, with hot Indian/Mexican dishes (shag paneer, refritos, salsa and chili), all for $6.99 a pound. In back of the salad bars are the Kitchens, long deli cases and operators with sharp knives and hot plates, ready to fill your order for complex hero sandwiches ($7) or sizzling dishes. Cold deli also abounds, by the pound, followed by Italian specialties, whether it is eggplant ptarmigan ($7) or shrimp scampi ($25) that you crave. There are loaves of long pizza, looking just like the Mediterranean variety, sold by weight, and soups (cioppino was noted). If the varieties of exotica have exhausted you, stop at the hot roasted chicken cabinet and pick out one ($3.99/lb). Low display cases offer freezer soups by the pint, cheeses, cut meats and wraps, whole meals, lasagna and salads, also of the take-home variety.
If you are ready to eat your lunch in the upstairs, Picnic Area, get in the short under 10-checkout line; if your shopping was more comprehensive, catch the regular line. Both are managed by traffic directors, and the wait is short, with 32 checkout counters. The store has 600 employees. The chain was organized in Austin TX 25 years ago by John Mackey and two partners, who believed that organic and other natural food - free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fat - was ready for super-market distribution, and he's been right. In the early 1990s we shopped at and liked Whole Foods in Cambridge MA, after they took over Anthony Harnett's Bread and Circus, a huge and much acclaimed store organized on similar principles.
Now for the Picnic Area, a flight up (the narrow elevator and the escalators had recently gone down, and repair folk were on strike), with a full view of Union Square, one of the store's most attractive features. The eaters eager for the window exposure sit at five raised bars, on high stools. The area seats over 100 diners, and has already gained popularity with local moms and au-pairs with strollers (one had come from the Cornell Hospital area of the Upper West Side, presumably also to shop at Filenes's Basement, DSW shoes and Forever 21, the other tenants of the building) as well as local lunchers. You have a choice of utensils, metal or plastic. Recycling is king.
In back of the dining area is a Coffee Bar, with enough macchiato and latte varieties to please any Starbucks devotee, and a Juice Bar, packed with Power Fuel (their Muscle Up had cranberry and citrus juices reinforced by a protein shot), Smooth Getaways (mango bango and such), Very Juicy (High C, carrot and citrus) and Turbo Shots (soy and protein mixes). Side display racks are loaded with bagels, pastries, muffins, scones and packaged energy bars (they probably fit the Whole Foods concept by being purely vegan). Bottles of water, and fruit and other natural drinks were available for the lunch crowd, also racks of hiker and biker and other nature magazines (for sale).
The drinks were also in profusion on the ground floor, a store that appears to be designed for the in-and-out lunch or takeout crowd. For more basic shopping one has to descend to the largest, the basement store, its space uninterrupted by checkouts.
At the bottom of the staircase are racks of perfect fruit and vegetables, uniform in size and color, set in terraces or pyramids; pull one out and the stack collapses (a repair squad is always on hand). But there is no need to touch and squeeze, all the apples, oranges and green and red peppers are preternaturally uniform.
The fruit and vegetable racks are variously marked Organic and Conventional, and the lettuce and carrot displays are treated to a fresh shot of sprayed water (automatic) every five minutes. In the long Butcher Shop, the meats are precut but not packaged, and the fish are identified by source - salmon are farm, Irish or Alaskan. Although much of the grocery store is conventional, cans and packages, the contents fit the organization's definition of natural foods.
Whole Foods, World's Leading Natural and Organic Food Supermarket, has come to our area with a bang, occupying three floors in the old Bradlees (likewise Mays and Ohrbach's) building on the southwest edge of Union Square. Opening with a benefit for the Union Square project, they will continue with another for the Greenmarket, trying to disprove the rumors that the newcomer will try to capitalize on the latter's fresh greens and fruit enthusiasts.
What is most visible is that the main marketing thrust is directed towards the quick lunch and dinner trade, takeout and eat-in variety. Upon entering, you can pick up some bagels and apples and a pack of sushi for lunch and be done, or go on to two heavily laden salad bars, with offers ranging from mesclun to orecchio pasta, or to a third, with hot Indian/Mexican dishes (shag paneer, refritos, salsa and chili), all for $6.99 a pound. In back of the salad bars are the Kitchens, long deli cases and operators with sharp knives and hot plates, ready to fill your order for complex hero sandwiches ($7) or sizzling dishes. Cold deli also abounds, by the pound, followed by Italian specialties, whether it is eggplant ptarmigan ($7) or shrimp scampi ($25) that you crave. There are loaves of long pizza, looking just like the Mediterranean variety, sold by weight, and soups (cioppino was noted). If the varieties of exotica have exhausted you, stop at the hot roasted chicken cabinet and pick out one ($3.99/lb). Low display cases offer freezer soups by the pint, cheeses, cut meats and wraps, whole meals, lasagna and salads, also of the take-home variety.
If you are ready to eat your lunch in the upstairs, Picnic Area, get in the short under 10-checkout line; if your shopping was more comprehensive, catch the regular line. Both are managed by traffic directors, and the wait is short, with 32 checkout counters. The store has 600 employees. The chain was organized in Austin TX 25 years ago by John Mackey and two partners, who believed that organic and other natural food - free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners and hydrogenated fat - was ready for super-market distribution, and he's been right. In the early 1990s we shopped at and liked Whole Foods in Cambridge MA, after they took over Anthony Harnett's Bread and Circus, a huge and much acclaimed store organized on similar principles.
Now for the Picnic Area, a flight up (the narrow elevator and the escalators had recently gone down, and repair folk were on strike), with a full view of Union Square, one of the store's most attractive features. The eaters eager for the window exposure sit at five raised bars, on high stools. The area seats over 100 diners, and has already gained popularity with local moms and au-pairs with strollers (one had come from the Cornell Hospital area of the Upper West Side, presumably also to shop at Filenes's Basement, DSW shoes and Forever 21, the other tenants of the building) as well as local lunchers. You have a choice of utensils, metal or plastic. Recycling is king.
In back of the dining area is a Coffee Bar, with enough macchiato and latte varieties to please any Starbucks devotee, and a Juice Bar, packed with Power Fuel (their Muscle Up had cranberry and citrus juices reinforced by a protein shot), Smooth Getaways (mango bango and such), Very Juicy (High C, carrot and citrus) and Turbo Shots (soy and protein mixes). Side display racks are loaded with bagels, pastries, muffins, scones and packaged energy bars (they probably fit the Whole Foods concept by being purely vegan). Bottles of water, and fruit and other natural drinks were available for the lunch crowd, also racks of hiker and biker and other nature magazines (for sale).
The drinks were also in profusion on the ground floor, a store that appears to be designed for the in-and-out lunch or takeout crowd. For more basic shopping one has to descend to the largest, the basement store, its space uninterrupted by checkouts.
At the bottom of the staircase are racks of perfect fruit and vegetables, uniform in size and color, set in terraces or pyramids; pull one out and the stack collapses (a repair squad is always on hand). But there is no need to touch and squeeze, all the apples, oranges and green and red peppers are preternaturally uniform.
The fruit and vegetable racks are variously marked Organic and Conventional, and the lettuce and carrot displays are treated to a fresh shot of sprayed water (automatic) every five minutes. In the long Butcher Shop, the meats are precut but not packaged, and the fish are identified by source - salmon are farm, Irish or Alaskan. Although much of the grocery store is conventional, cans and packages, the contents fit the organization's definition of natural foods.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
DR. Paranoia explains the Social Security problem
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Spring is only days away, and there are new shoots in Gramercy and Stuyvesant Square Parks. The election in Iraq was successful, the new Palestinian government is getting rid of the enemies of peace, Sharon is moving towards an agreement by de-Arabizing Israel, Syria has given up Saddam's terrorists, the Saudis are demanding that Assad withdraw his occupants from Lebanon, and Mubarak in Egypt is advancing a more democratic presidential election policy. Our risk-taking President's stubbornness in foreign affairs seems to have some hopeful paybacks.
Into this pleasant quiescent environment comes a message from Dr Paranoia, "Aren't you worried?"
He is, mostly about the President's re-casting of the Social Security system. To quote him, the risk factors are clear - the Americans' lifespan has risen from 62 years to 79 during 1935-2004 period, the SS recipients number 53M, a 10% growth since 1995, and the US civilian labor force is 140M, after discounting 8M unemployed. It takes 2.8 workers to support a SS recipient, their numbers are growing (baby boomers are coming) and the ratio will get worse. Something has to be done to avoid enslaving future generations into paying for their elders' livelihoods.
A sane solution, already enacted, is to advance the retirement ages of Americans, with the current law already raising it to 67 for those born in 1960 and after. For the desk dwellers that is rational, it provides not only a savings in SS outlay; carryover of core competencies supplied by the elders in the business world is valuable in this environment where employees come and go, terminated as the economic cycle turns, without developing company loyalties and skills. For people in physically demanding jobs this is harder, but society can work out the provisions. Cops and firemen have broken the path.
Now, the President's plan. Our contributions to SS and Medicare, including those of our employers, amount to 15.3% of pay (of which 2.8% for Medicare). Bush wants to enable you to contribute up to 4% of your pay to a private account, which will grow through investments. Of course, that will mean reducing your SS income by a corresponding percentage, say 32%. The present and immediate future recipients are protected - but at which age point will this be plugged in? Will a present 30-year old's accumulations by his retirement age be adequate to replace the amount presently guaranteed? Will the investment withstand the economic cycle? What if he has to withdraw monies for emergencies? To what extent will the citizenry have to contribute, to replace amounts lost due to the business cycle, or emergencies? The risks are substantial insuch a fixed-contribution environment, compared to the fixed -amount SS system.
Is this a Bush-generated plan? Not quite, Barry Goldwater in 1964 wanted to make SS voluntary; Ronald Reagan in 1975 did the same, but once elected, in 1983, under Alan Greenspan's guidance, he bolstered the SS by raising payroll taxes. Bush41, in 1997 advocated privatization, Clinton in 1998 vaguely looked towards " harnessing the returns from private markets to help SS." Greenspan, who in 2001 wanted to cut taxes "to avoid paying off too much federal debt," now worries about an unsustainable rise in federal debt, due to foreseeable huge budget deficits, and wants to cut SS, Medicare and Medicaid.
SS has been there before. Established in 1935, the OAI (Old Age Insurance) did not collect dues until 1937 and did not pay benefits until 1942. Instead, the parallel OAA (Assistance), state-based, took care of the indigent, with expectations that it would disappear with the diminishing of the original group. It did not, SS added Disability and Survivor coverage (OADSI), and, under Nixon, a Family Assistance Program (FAP, partly replacing OAA), which in 1974 turned into SSI (Supplemental Security Income). The SS benefits kept getting adjusted, and indexed for inflation in 1977. Medicare and Medicaid became part of the family in 1965, under LBJ.
Since Greenspan's 1983 SS reform, increasing the payroll tax and imposing taxation of up to ½ of the benefits, the SS surplus funds have grown to $1.7T (that's trillion), invested in US Treasury bonds, held by the SS Trust Fund. That's huge, SS is secured for most of the century. When President Bush says that SS is in financial trouble, he is wrong - it the US government that is in trouble and broke, since they will be squeezed to repay what they owe SS, and cannot afford the interest. And Medicare is in trouble, aided by his profligate prescription drug bill. Someone should tell him.
So, what's the answer? Dr. P. offers a group of measures, starting with raising the retirement age to 70; raising upper limit of SS taxable income above the current $90K; taxing benefits on a sliding income scale; reforming the Medicare drug bill that will cost $600B plus and pays full price to the drug companies. And taking back some of the tax cuts for the wealthy.
In the long run SS will have to rescue this free-trade US government, which cannot stop destroying US industry by letting the Wal-Marts buy Chinese goods on the cuff, and slept at the switch, letting the textile import restrictions die on Jan.1.
Spring is only days away, and there are new shoots in Gramercy and Stuyvesant Square Parks. The election in Iraq was successful, the new Palestinian government is getting rid of the enemies of peace, Sharon is moving towards an agreement by de-Arabizing Israel, Syria has given up Saddam's terrorists, the Saudis are demanding that Assad withdraw his occupants from Lebanon, and Mubarak in Egypt is advancing a more democratic presidential election policy. Our risk-taking President's stubbornness in foreign affairs seems to have some hopeful paybacks.
Into this pleasant quiescent environment comes a message from Dr Paranoia, "Aren't you worried?"
He is, mostly about the President's re-casting of the Social Security system. To quote him, the risk factors are clear - the Americans' lifespan has risen from 62 years to 79 during 1935-2004 period, the SS recipients number 53M, a 10% growth since 1995, and the US civilian labor force is 140M, after discounting 8M unemployed. It takes 2.8 workers to support a SS recipient, their numbers are growing (baby boomers are coming) and the ratio will get worse. Something has to be done to avoid enslaving future generations into paying for their elders' livelihoods.
A sane solution, already enacted, is to advance the retirement ages of Americans, with the current law already raising it to 67 for those born in 1960 and after. For the desk dwellers that is rational, it provides not only a savings in SS outlay; carryover of core competencies supplied by the elders in the business world is valuable in this environment where employees come and go, terminated as the economic cycle turns, without developing company loyalties and skills. For people in physically demanding jobs this is harder, but society can work out the provisions. Cops and firemen have broken the path.
Now, the President's plan. Our contributions to SS and Medicare, including those of our employers, amount to 15.3% of pay (of which 2.8% for Medicare). Bush wants to enable you to contribute up to 4% of your pay to a private account, which will grow through investments. Of course, that will mean reducing your SS income by a corresponding percentage, say 32%. The present and immediate future recipients are protected - but at which age point will this be plugged in? Will a present 30-year old's accumulations by his retirement age be adequate to replace the amount presently guaranteed? Will the investment withstand the economic cycle? What if he has to withdraw monies for emergencies? To what extent will the citizenry have to contribute, to replace amounts lost due to the business cycle, or emergencies? The risks are substantial insuch a fixed-contribution environment, compared to the fixed -amount SS system.
Is this a Bush-generated plan? Not quite, Barry Goldwater in 1964 wanted to make SS voluntary; Ronald Reagan in 1975 did the same, but once elected, in 1983, under Alan Greenspan's guidance, he bolstered the SS by raising payroll taxes. Bush41, in 1997 advocated privatization, Clinton in 1998 vaguely looked towards " harnessing the returns from private markets to help SS." Greenspan, who in 2001 wanted to cut taxes "to avoid paying off too much federal debt," now worries about an unsustainable rise in federal debt, due to foreseeable huge budget deficits, and wants to cut SS, Medicare and Medicaid.
SS has been there before. Established in 1935, the OAI (Old Age Insurance) did not collect dues until 1937 and did not pay benefits until 1942. Instead, the parallel OAA (Assistance), state-based, took care of the indigent, with expectations that it would disappear with the diminishing of the original group. It did not, SS added Disability and Survivor coverage (OADSI), and, under Nixon, a Family Assistance Program (FAP, partly replacing OAA), which in 1974 turned into SSI (Supplemental Security Income). The SS benefits kept getting adjusted, and indexed for inflation in 1977. Medicare and Medicaid became part of the family in 1965, under LBJ.
Since Greenspan's 1983 SS reform, increasing the payroll tax and imposing taxation of up to ½ of the benefits, the SS surplus funds have grown to $1.7T (that's trillion), invested in US Treasury bonds, held by the SS Trust Fund. That's huge, SS is secured for most of the century. When President Bush says that SS is in financial trouble, he is wrong - it the US government that is in trouble and broke, since they will be squeezed to repay what they owe SS, and cannot afford the interest. And Medicare is in trouble, aided by his profligate prescription drug bill. Someone should tell him.
So, what's the answer? Dr. P. offers a group of measures, starting with raising the retirement age to 70; raising upper limit of SS taxable income above the current $90K; taxing benefits on a sliding income scale; reforming the Medicare drug bill that will cost $600B plus and pays full price to the drug companies. And taking back some of the tax cuts for the wealthy.
In the long run SS will have to rescue this free-trade US government, which cannot stop destroying US industry by letting the Wal-Marts buy Chinese goods on the cuff, and slept at the switch, letting the textile import restrictions die on Jan.1.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Community Boards 5 and 6 met in January
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
This write-up will give you the details of the first-of-the year full board meetings of our Community Boards 5 and 6, under the leadership of their new chairs, David Diamond and Carol Schachter. The report deals only with the issues affecting our direct area, approximately south of 34th Street. The basic sources are the Minutes, which are published roughly a month late, after they have been reviewed and adopted by the next monthly Full Meeting.
CB5's first monthly Full Board Meeting took place on the 11 of January, at the FIT, 227 W. 27 Street, Building "A" 8th Floor, at 6 PM. It was an easy meeting, with no heavy issues noted, except for the 55th Street community complaints in the Public Session, about the negative impact of the new enlarged MOMA structure, and the diesel fumes of its idling delivery trucks. Assembly member Dick Gottfried's representative spoke of his opposition to the West Side Stadium, Congress member Carolyn Maloney's - of her activities on the East Side Access Ventilation project.
In the Public Session, Committee on Consents and Variances recommended approval of Les Halles' at 411 PAS (28th Street) request for the installation of a sidewalk café of eight tables and 16 chairs. Likewise, Earth Day New York's request for an Earth Day Expo on Vanderbilt Avenue, between 42 & 44th Streets on April 22-23 (Fri-Sat).
The committee also approved Philippines Independence Day celebration on Madison Avenue between 23 and 28th Streets, along the east side of Madison Square Park, an event that has been successfully held in the same area for 15 years. The date is Sunday, June 5, and there will be a limited area of sidewalk vendor tables, and music. This was a joint consent, with the Parks Committee.
The Landmarks Committee approved storefront changes to the individually landmarked Everett Building, on Northwest corner of PAS and 17th Street. This involves four bay windows, replacing the four plywood transoms behind the awnings with mullioned frosted glass, and the old awnings with new, landmarks-appropriate canvas (black and white striped awnings were deemed too strident). The 16-story structure, dubbed a Chicago style commercial building, was designed by Goldwin Starrett and Van Vleck and built in 1908. [The Landmarks Preservation Commission on January 25 sent the plans back to the drawing board,]
The Transportation Committee approved the NYCDoT request to install bicycle racks on sidewalks. Those in the neighborhood are: 27-33 W 23rd street (5-6th Avenues); 10 E. 21st Street (Broadway-5th Ave); 11 E. 26th Street (5-6th Aves); 31 W. 27th Street (Broadway-6th Ave).
The next CP5 monthly meeting is on Thursday, March 10, at which the minutes for the February meeting will be approved and released for publication.
CB6, responsible for the East Side, 14th to 59 Streets, east of Lex, had its Full Board January 12 Meeting at the NYU Medical Center, 550 First Avenue
In the Public Session, Sen. Liz Krueger appeared in person, to report on the status of the Senate's position on government reform, which covers a broad range of legislative and budgetary reform issues, such as instituting a nonpartisan budget process (sure, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus), requiring members to be physically present in order to vote, allowing bills and resolutions to be open for sponsorship by any member, requiring consent by three-fifths majority to limit or end debate on a bill. We wish you luck, Liz.
Assembly member Jonathan Bing also appeared in person to report that the legislature's last year's report on legislative reform, recommending more openness and accountability to the public, has been partly ruled on by the State Assembly. He also stated that some changes have been made to the Rockefeller Drug Law, addressing the first time non-violent offenders who have received unfairly long sentences.
Representatives of Sen. Thomas Duane and A/M Dick Gottfried reported on their activities in opposing the West Side Stadium (as did Sen. Krueger); Cg/M Carolyn Maloney - on the passing of the 9/1 Recommendations Implementation Act; C/M Margarita Lopez - on the tsunami relief, C/M Eva Moskowitz - on her Heat and Hot Water Act (holding landlords accountable).
In the Business Section of the meeting, District Manager Toni Carlina reported on discussions with the Baruch people about creating a campus look (trees are it); with DOT and others about the impact of the renovation of Gramercy Park Hotel, including the removal of an old oak willow and its replacement by a young one. The hotel has also given the Dept of Parks and Recreation $20,000 for 40 street trees, the use of which in this district cannot be guaranteed. CB6 has a traffic detour plan for this emergency. [In case you missed out on the news, Ian Schrager now owns the property, is gutting it and building 30 luxury ($3.75-20M) apartments and 180 hotel rooms. The west annex will be raised up.]
In the various committee reports, Parks, Landmarks and Cultural Affairs reported progress in the Robert Moses Park mitigation and replacement - this pertains to the new United Nations office building. Housing and Homeless Committee updated the status of the Homeless Service Center on East 30th Street, the former Bellevue Psychiatric Building. Human Services Committee had an update on the 23rd Street VA closing and CARES Commission issue.
The Transportation Committee reported no objections to the request from the Players Club on East 20th Street to extend their front no-parking zone. Business and Governmental Affairs Committee supported the applications of five bars and restaurants for on-premises liquor licenses, all well north of our area.
Next CB6 Full Board meeting is on Wednesday March 9, 7PM, NYU 550 1st Ave, Classroom B.
This write-up will give you the details of the first-of-the year full board meetings of our Community Boards 5 and 6, under the leadership of their new chairs, David Diamond and Carol Schachter. The report deals only with the issues affecting our direct area, approximately south of 34th Street. The basic sources are the Minutes, which are published roughly a month late, after they have been reviewed and adopted by the next monthly Full Meeting.
CB5's first monthly Full Board Meeting took place on the 11 of January, at the FIT, 227 W. 27 Street, Building "A" 8th Floor, at 6 PM. It was an easy meeting, with no heavy issues noted, except for the 55th Street community complaints in the Public Session, about the negative impact of the new enlarged MOMA structure, and the diesel fumes of its idling delivery trucks. Assembly member Dick Gottfried's representative spoke of his opposition to the West Side Stadium, Congress member Carolyn Maloney's - of her activities on the East Side Access Ventilation project.
In the Public Session, Committee on Consents and Variances recommended approval of Les Halles' at 411 PAS (28th Street) request for the installation of a sidewalk café of eight tables and 16 chairs. Likewise, Earth Day New York's request for an Earth Day Expo on Vanderbilt Avenue, between 42 & 44th Streets on April 22-23 (Fri-Sat).
The committee also approved Philippines Independence Day celebration on Madison Avenue between 23 and 28th Streets, along the east side of Madison Square Park, an event that has been successfully held in the same area for 15 years. The date is Sunday, June 5, and there will be a limited area of sidewalk vendor tables, and music. This was a joint consent, with the Parks Committee.
The Landmarks Committee approved storefront changes to the individually landmarked Everett Building, on Northwest corner of PAS and 17th Street. This involves four bay windows, replacing the four plywood transoms behind the awnings with mullioned frosted glass, and the old awnings with new, landmarks-appropriate canvas (black and white striped awnings were deemed too strident). The 16-story structure, dubbed a Chicago style commercial building, was designed by Goldwin Starrett and Van Vleck and built in 1908. [The Landmarks Preservation Commission on January 25 sent the plans back to the drawing board,]
The Transportation Committee approved the NYCDoT request to install bicycle racks on sidewalks. Those in the neighborhood are: 27-33 W 23rd street (5-6th Avenues); 10 E. 21st Street (Broadway-5th Ave); 11 E. 26th Street (5-6th Aves); 31 W. 27th Street (Broadway-6th Ave).
The next CP5 monthly meeting is on Thursday, March 10, at which the minutes for the February meeting will be approved and released for publication.
CB6, responsible for the East Side, 14th to 59 Streets, east of Lex, had its Full Board January 12 Meeting at the NYU Medical Center, 550 First Avenue
In the Public Session, Sen. Liz Krueger appeared in person, to report on the status of the Senate's position on government reform, which covers a broad range of legislative and budgetary reform issues, such as instituting a nonpartisan budget process (sure, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus), requiring members to be physically present in order to vote, allowing bills and resolutions to be open for sponsorship by any member, requiring consent by three-fifths majority to limit or end debate on a bill. We wish you luck, Liz.
Assembly member Jonathan Bing also appeared in person to report that the legislature's last year's report on legislative reform, recommending more openness and accountability to the public, has been partly ruled on by the State Assembly. He also stated that some changes have been made to the Rockefeller Drug Law, addressing the first time non-violent offenders who have received unfairly long sentences.
Representatives of Sen. Thomas Duane and A/M Dick Gottfried reported on their activities in opposing the West Side Stadium (as did Sen. Krueger); Cg/M Carolyn Maloney - on the passing of the 9/1 Recommendations Implementation Act; C/M Margarita Lopez - on the tsunami relief, C/M Eva Moskowitz - on her Heat and Hot Water Act (holding landlords accountable).
In the Business Section of the meeting, District Manager Toni Carlina reported on discussions with the Baruch people about creating a campus look (trees are it); with DOT and others about the impact of the renovation of Gramercy Park Hotel, including the removal of an old oak willow and its replacement by a young one. The hotel has also given the Dept of Parks and Recreation $20,000 for 40 street trees, the use of which in this district cannot be guaranteed. CB6 has a traffic detour plan for this emergency. [In case you missed out on the news, Ian Schrager now owns the property, is gutting it and building 30 luxury ($3.75-20M) apartments and 180 hotel rooms. The west annex will be raised up.]
In the various committee reports, Parks, Landmarks and Cultural Affairs reported progress in the Robert Moses Park mitigation and replacement - this pertains to the new United Nations office building. Housing and Homeless Committee updated the status of the Homeless Service Center on East 30th Street, the former Bellevue Psychiatric Building. Human Services Committee had an update on the 23rd Street VA closing and CARES Commission issue.
The Transportation Committee reported no objections to the request from the Players Club on East 20th Street to extend their front no-parking zone. Business and Governmental Affairs Committee supported the applications of five bars and restaurants for on-premises liquor licenses, all well north of our area.
Next CB6 Full Board meeting is on Wednesday March 9, 7PM, NYU 550 1st Ave, Classroom B.
Takeout food, a new prposition for air travelers
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Air travel has taken a new turn. While we all read about the increased security regulations, this article will try to update the T&V Country flyers about changes in the short-distance in-flight services.
In this era of air travel deregulation the established airlines are the heavy losers. Saddled with expensive union contracts and retirement payrolls, they have to fight off upstart competitors who grab the lucrative routes, such as New York - Miami, and underbid the regulars, who have used the income from these moneymakers to pay for the essential low-volume small market services. Traditional airlines are fighting back by cutting prices and services. That's why you have difficulties getting live reservation clerks on the phone, all traffic is slanted toward automated services and the Internet. Travel agent air reservation services are also getting to be history.
While the passengers are reaping the benefits of lower airfares, the in-flight services we once relished are fading. On short trips do not expect much beyond soft drinks and a bag of pretzels or peanuts to sustain the body. You can sometimes buy a premade sandwich, but the more knowledgeable travelers (that's us, the T&V Country bunch) will either pack a brown bag or buy food at the expanding airport food service franchises. Take-out airplane food, if you will.
At LaGuardia Airport, the entrance to Dock D, gates 1-10 serving mostly American Airlines, has a food galleria, a dining area with several name brand vendors circling it.
There's Au Bon Pan, with the customary fare of coffees, pastries and sandwiches, slightly marked up, as are all airport goods aimed at the traveler, vacationer or business.
Wendy's, a chain we respect, offers its standard 99 cent goods - a baked potato with sour cream and chives, a burger, a Caesar salad - at a minimally marked up $1.50, and a muffin with cheese and sausage at $2.20, excellent filling meals at the price.
Famiglia, an Italian food vendor, serves pizza, pasta and salads. Here you can buy a small slice for $2.29-2.69, a bagel at $4, garden and fruit salads for $4 - 6.50, and a Caesar salad at $4.49.
The galleria also features a Sunglass Hut, airport sine-qua-non, a Sprint PCS office selling nearly instant phone services for the forlorn traveler, a Hudson News stand with periodicals and newspapers at standard prices (save your NYTimes, it costs $2.50 in San Juan and a whopping $4.75 in the Virgin Islands, if at all available; don't look for a newsstand in the Old Town of Charlotte Amalie, where only diamond dealers and boutiques can afford the rent). If you would prefer to bring a noodle dish or other Oriental delicacies on board, a nearby Thai shop will pack a plastic dish for you.
There are also signs directing you upstairs, to a standby dentist's office (hours unknown), and Volunteers of America, to help travelers in distress.
Once you pass the security gate and enter the actual Dock D, servicing gates 1-10, more takeout food purveyors are at your service.
To feel you back at home, there's Figs, Food and Drinks, a branch of Todd English's Olives, the restaurant at the W Union Square Hotel. There the Weather Channel keeps the bar trade up to date while sipping beer and munching sandwiches (they will wrap 'em up for you as desired, here as well as at the sit-down Figs restaurant at Dock B).
Newsbreak, another sandwich bar stands ready, to provide you with warm or cold meals for the trip. Twenty ounce bottles of water are available everywhere, to supplement the canned sodas, seltzer and fruit juices the impoverished airlines still provide, along with a bag of peanuts or chips, during the flight.
There are stores for all the other essentials a vacationing traveler should desire. A miniature Brookstone's stand teases the passersby with a talking pedometer ($25), wristwatch with an MP3 player ($200), electronic games for playing poker, and the perennially popular Russian-invented Tetris, also boards with accessories for backgammon enthusiasts, binoculars that take color pictures and movies ($200), beepable luggage tags (I'm told; did not actually see one), neck pillows and comfort slippers (I still carry mine, from a trans-Pacific trip, handed out by a benevolent airline with instructions to take a walk once in a while, to avoid deep vein thrombosis. This instruction applies also to long-distance car riders). Their goods include a mysterious noise cancellation machine, and a portable air purifier (alas, too hefty for the average traveler's lap), for the worriers concerned about the germs in recirculated air.
Duty Free Americas has a major shop on Dock D, providing such luxuries as Godiva chocolates, Chanel and Isey Miyake cosmetics and, for international travelers only, Glenlivet and Laphroaig single malt whiskeys, two for $50. Another Hudson News offers books as well as periodicals. There are also snacks, candy bars and gum.
Air travel has taken a new turn. While we all read about the increased security regulations, this article will try to update the T&V Country flyers about changes in the short-distance in-flight services.
In this era of air travel deregulation the established airlines are the heavy losers. Saddled with expensive union contracts and retirement payrolls, they have to fight off upstart competitors who grab the lucrative routes, such as New York - Miami, and underbid the regulars, who have used the income from these moneymakers to pay for the essential low-volume small market services. Traditional airlines are fighting back by cutting prices and services. That's why you have difficulties getting live reservation clerks on the phone, all traffic is slanted toward automated services and the Internet. Travel agent air reservation services are also getting to be history.
While the passengers are reaping the benefits of lower airfares, the in-flight services we once relished are fading. On short trips do not expect much beyond soft drinks and a bag of pretzels or peanuts to sustain the body. You can sometimes buy a premade sandwich, but the more knowledgeable travelers (that's us, the T&V Country bunch) will either pack a brown bag or buy food at the expanding airport food service franchises. Take-out airplane food, if you will.
At LaGuardia Airport, the entrance to Dock D, gates 1-10 serving mostly American Airlines, has a food galleria, a dining area with several name brand vendors circling it.
There's Au Bon Pan, with the customary fare of coffees, pastries and sandwiches, slightly marked up, as are all airport goods aimed at the traveler, vacationer or business.
Wendy's, a chain we respect, offers its standard 99 cent goods - a baked potato with sour cream and chives, a burger, a Caesar salad - at a minimally marked up $1.50, and a muffin with cheese and sausage at $2.20, excellent filling meals at the price.
Famiglia, an Italian food vendor, serves pizza, pasta and salads. Here you can buy a small slice for $2.29-2.69, a bagel at $4, garden and fruit salads for $4 - 6.50, and a Caesar salad at $4.49.
The galleria also features a Sunglass Hut, airport sine-qua-non, a Sprint PCS office selling nearly instant phone services for the forlorn traveler, a Hudson News stand with periodicals and newspapers at standard prices (save your NYTimes, it costs $2.50 in San Juan and a whopping $4.75 in the Virgin Islands, if at all available; don't look for a newsstand in the Old Town of Charlotte Amalie, where only diamond dealers and boutiques can afford the rent). If you would prefer to bring a noodle dish or other Oriental delicacies on board, a nearby Thai shop will pack a plastic dish for you.
There are also signs directing you upstairs, to a standby dentist's office (hours unknown), and Volunteers of America, to help travelers in distress.
Once you pass the security gate and enter the actual Dock D, servicing gates 1-10, more takeout food purveyors are at your service.
To feel you back at home, there's Figs, Food and Drinks, a branch of Todd English's Olives, the restaurant at the W Union Square Hotel. There the Weather Channel keeps the bar trade up to date while sipping beer and munching sandwiches (they will wrap 'em up for you as desired, here as well as at the sit-down Figs restaurant at Dock B).
Newsbreak, another sandwich bar stands ready, to provide you with warm or cold meals for the trip. Twenty ounce bottles of water are available everywhere, to supplement the canned sodas, seltzer and fruit juices the impoverished airlines still provide, along with a bag of peanuts or chips, during the flight.
There are stores for all the other essentials a vacationing traveler should desire. A miniature Brookstone's stand teases the passersby with a talking pedometer ($25), wristwatch with an MP3 player ($200), electronic games for playing poker, and the perennially popular Russian-invented Tetris, also boards with accessories for backgammon enthusiasts, binoculars that take color pictures and movies ($200), beepable luggage tags (I'm told; did not actually see one), neck pillows and comfort slippers (I still carry mine, from a trans-Pacific trip, handed out by a benevolent airline with instructions to take a walk once in a while, to avoid deep vein thrombosis. This instruction applies also to long-distance car riders). Their goods include a mysterious noise cancellation machine, and a portable air purifier (alas, too hefty for the average traveler's lap), for the worriers concerned about the germs in recirculated air.
Duty Free Americas has a major shop on Dock D, providing such luxuries as Godiva chocolates, Chanel and Isey Miyake cosmetics and, for international travelers only, Glenlivet and Laphroaig single malt whiskeys, two for $50. Another Hudson News offers books as well as periodicals. There are also snacks, candy bars and gum.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Learning to be an American in Haitian Creole is a daunting task
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
In my meanderings through the library literature desk I came upon a government pamphlet ("Keyson ak Repons") in a strange language, obviously answering questions about public assistance. Checking it on the Internet soon revealed that the language was Haitian Creole, and a University of NYS Regents Exam of 2002 in US History and Government provided more information about its strange orthography and French-based phonetics. In fact, reading it became intriguing, like a puzzle and a review of one's knowledge of the past.
Haitian Creole, a French-based language, is not hard to figure out. The Regents exam, with its names of famous Americans and guessable wars, events and places will lead you into a memory tour of recent US history. Prezidan Franklen D. Wouzvelt and Dezyem Ge Mondial link up to Ari Twoumann and Ge Kore. Then come Prezidan Ayzannove, Treti Vasovi involving Inyon Sovetik and East Ewop, Josef Makati (think of Aktivite Anti-Amerikan), followed by Kenedi (think Kiba and Be Kochon), Lindonn B. Jonnsonn, Ge Vyetnam and Gran Sosyete. Richa Niksonn leads to Fod, Kate, Regann, G. Bouch, Bil Klintonn and finally Jej Bouch.
With a little thinking one can step back into the past and figure out Ge Revolusyone, Doktrin Monwo of 1823, Tribinal Siprem and Chief Justice Jonn Machal, then, skipping in time, Ge Sivil, and, further up the road, Preezidans T Wouzvelt, Taf, Wilsonn, Premye Ge Mondial, the Trete Vesay, Lig Nasyon and Pwoyibisyon, followed by Koulidj, Adin and Ouve (toughies, turn out to be Harding and Hoover) Sekurite Sosyal and Gwo Depresyon.
Local history is not neglected, the reformers Jenn Adanms, Jakob Riyis and Ida Tabel come in for a mention. In Black histori, we have Bouker T. Wachingtonn and W.E.B. Dibwa.
While resolving the puzzles has been great fun, the entire concept begs some questions. We are prompted to ask, once more, whether the untrammeled multi-ethnic and multi-lingual education systems help or hinder the Americanization process? Do they speed up the integration and socialization of new arrivals, or do they favor ethnic cliques and ghettos, exacerbating the need for social services?
Looking specifically at the Haitian Creole language, it is evident that the children must learn to identify and spell historic names and events twice, a process that slows down learning and integration process. Do the students lose points if they spell Eisenhower's name in English, or misspell the Creole, Ayzannove? And finally, where and when in the course of the istwa of the Konstitusyon of this country, Etazini, did we lose our mission, Emma Lazarus?
About this Creole language, it is spoken by 7.5 million people in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Florida and Washington Heights, NY. It is a mixture of French and several African languages, Wolof and Gbe predominating, and there are two main dialects, Fablas and Plateau.. The phonetic spelling of the letter R as a W when rolled deep in the throat is bizarre. The origins of orthography are uncertain, it uses a modified Latin alphabet, codification is even more uncertain. Since 1943 there have been newspapers, poetry and literature published in this Creole, and five colleges in the US teach courses in or about it. Since 1961, reaffirmed in 1980, it is the official language of Haitians, however defined.
The University of NYS Regents High School examinations system, which, incidentally, offers tests of English, French, German, Italian, Hebrew and Latin proficiency to fulfill the language requirement, permits the exams to be taken in English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean and Haitian Creole. While some of those languages have alphabets and orthographies of their own, the ones using our common Latin alphabet ordinarily spell common nouns in the original orthography. If the codifiers of the Haitian language have chosen to use the unique (nationalism-driven?) spelling of common nouns, one thinks that it would behoove the Regents system to include, perhaps in parentheses, the accepted English spelling of proper nouns, and to accept the English orthography in the students' answers.
The author (wallydobelis@yahoo.com) invites further information and comments.
After writing the article, Wally Dobelis has obtained information that the 2005 NYS Regents History exam in Haitian Creole now uses the English orthography for proper nouns. Whether this is a spelling modification only for the Regents exam purposes alone, or the language itself is moving into modernity and relevance, voluntarily or otherwise, remains a fascinating question. A mystery? Is Jej Bouch involved? Comments are still invited.
In my meanderings through the library literature desk I came upon a government pamphlet ("Keyson ak Repons") in a strange language, obviously answering questions about public assistance. Checking it on the Internet soon revealed that the language was Haitian Creole, and a University of NYS Regents Exam of 2002 in US History and Government provided more information about its strange orthography and French-based phonetics. In fact, reading it became intriguing, like a puzzle and a review of one's knowledge of the past.
Haitian Creole, a French-based language, is not hard to figure out. The Regents exam, with its names of famous Americans and guessable wars, events and places will lead you into a memory tour of recent US history. Prezidan Franklen D. Wouzvelt and Dezyem Ge Mondial link up to Ari Twoumann and Ge Kore. Then come Prezidan Ayzannove, Treti Vasovi involving Inyon Sovetik and East Ewop, Josef Makati (think of Aktivite Anti-Amerikan), followed by Kenedi (think Kiba and Be Kochon), Lindonn B. Jonnsonn, Ge Vyetnam and Gran Sosyete. Richa Niksonn leads to Fod, Kate, Regann, G. Bouch, Bil Klintonn and finally Jej Bouch.
With a little thinking one can step back into the past and figure out Ge Revolusyone, Doktrin Monwo of 1823, Tribinal Siprem and Chief Justice Jonn Machal, then, skipping in time, Ge Sivil, and, further up the road, Preezidans T Wouzvelt, Taf, Wilsonn, Premye Ge Mondial, the Trete Vesay, Lig Nasyon and Pwoyibisyon, followed by Koulidj, Adin and Ouve (toughies, turn out to be Harding and Hoover) Sekurite Sosyal and Gwo Depresyon.
Local history is not neglected, the reformers Jenn Adanms, Jakob Riyis and Ida Tabel come in for a mention. In Black histori, we have Bouker T. Wachingtonn and W.E.B. Dibwa.
While resolving the puzzles has been great fun, the entire concept begs some questions. We are prompted to ask, once more, whether the untrammeled multi-ethnic and multi-lingual education systems help or hinder the Americanization process? Do they speed up the integration and socialization of new arrivals, or do they favor ethnic cliques and ghettos, exacerbating the need for social services?
Looking specifically at the Haitian Creole language, it is evident that the children must learn to identify and spell historic names and events twice, a process that slows down learning and integration process. Do the students lose points if they spell Eisenhower's name in English, or misspell the Creole, Ayzannove? And finally, where and when in the course of the istwa of the Konstitusyon of this country, Etazini, did we lose our mission, Emma Lazarus?
About this Creole language, it is spoken by 7.5 million people in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, Florida and Washington Heights, NY. It is a mixture of French and several African languages, Wolof and Gbe predominating, and there are two main dialects, Fablas and Plateau.. The phonetic spelling of the letter R as a W when rolled deep in the throat is bizarre. The origins of orthography are uncertain, it uses a modified Latin alphabet, codification is even more uncertain. Since 1943 there have been newspapers, poetry and literature published in this Creole, and five colleges in the US teach courses in or about it. Since 1961, reaffirmed in 1980, it is the official language of Haitians, however defined.
The University of NYS Regents High School examinations system, which, incidentally, offers tests of English, French, German, Italian, Hebrew and Latin proficiency to fulfill the language requirement, permits the exams to be taken in English, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean and Haitian Creole. While some of those languages have alphabets and orthographies of their own, the ones using our common Latin alphabet ordinarily spell common nouns in the original orthography. If the codifiers of the Haitian language have chosen to use the unique (nationalism-driven?) spelling of common nouns, one thinks that it would behoove the Regents system to include, perhaps in parentheses, the accepted English spelling of proper nouns, and to accept the English orthography in the students' answers.
The author (wallydobelis@yahoo.com) invites further information and comments.
After writing the article, Wally Dobelis has obtained information that the 2005 NYS Regents History exam in Haitian Creole now uses the English orthography for proper nouns. Whether this is a spelling modification only for the Regents exam purposes alone, or the language itself is moving into modernity and relevance, voluntarily or otherwise, remains a fascinating question. A mystery? Is Jej Bouch involved? Comments are still invited.
