Thursday, May 31, 2007
Is Mayor Michael Bloomberg getting ready to perform miracles?
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The news that Michael Bloomberg has reopened his 2001 and 2005 campaign website www.mikebloomberg.com must give both the Democrats and Republicans the heebee-jeebees. No matter that he has assured the world that he is not running for president more often than Paris Hilton has been arrested (thank you Clyde Haberman of the Paper of Record), or that he has no intentions for the governorship, the stakeholders of Clinton and Giuliani still have nightmares of Ralph Nader and Ross Perot floating before their eyes.
Is Bloomberg serious? Examining the above website (don’t get caught up in www.bloomber.com, that is his company’s site for selling information products), you will find that the home page announces our man to be the best bargain in the world, at $1 per year. Further down, news articles speak of his plans of a hybrid taxi fleet (all 13,000) by 2010, a high school graduation rate at a historical high of 60%, and keynote addresses given at the C40 summit of the world’s largest cities’ mayors, and at the Greater Houston Partnership luncheon, all recent events.
Looking at issues, we also find announcements of NYC’s lowest ever unemployment rate of 4.3% in March 2007, and a paper he has written for a British medical journal, suggesting a drop of 100M in the deaths of smokers worldwide, if every country were to reduce cigarette use rate. More on poverty, affordable housing, job creation, education, environment and sustainability, arts and culture. Is this a Mayor trying to sell New Yorkers on $8 fee for bringing in cars below 86th Street, the current effort, or the 2nd Ave subway? No, this stuff is more national, international, if you please, it has all positives, no wars mentioned, nor Muslims or Arabs.
The selfsame great Haberman also has unearthed that our leader had, among friends and before the 2001 election, disclosed the four jobs that he would leave his megabillion company for – mayoralty of NYC, presidency of the US, secretary-generalship of the UN and presidency of the World Bank. Recently cornered by the tireless Clyde, about accepting the bank job, the only one available at present, he dismissed this possibility. So there, what alternatives are we left with? The governorship, given Spitzer’s bumbling in Albany? (The Post’s tell-all Fred Dicker discloses inactivity and arrogance in the direction of state operations - in the chief of staff’s office, the deputy, one-time AG candidate Sean Patrick Maloney who conducted an impressive on-the-cheap Internet campaign via irritating weekly spams has turned into a control freak, while his boss Richard Baum and the communications director Darren Dopp are keeping busy infighting Paul Francis, the budget director, and Lloyd Constantine, a senior secretary.) I don’t think so, that office becomes of interest only after 2008. So what have we left, if not a door-opener for a third-party candidature for the Presidency of the US in 2008, in a race that has no great and lovable major party candidates? Let’s look at history.
In 1992 Ross Perot, coming out of nowhere into the same situation, a protest candidate who called the US government complacent and lazy, a bunch of daydreamers, outsourcers of American jobs and fighters of an unnecessary gulf war of 1990-91, gained nearly 19 % of the popular vote, mostly from the Republicans, who played dirty pool and spoiled his daughter’s wedding. A self-made billionaire, founder of EDS, who invested only his own money, $65M, in the 1992 campaign, he started late, on Larry King’s CNN show in February 1992, and by September had gained enough enthusiasts and signature collectors to be on the ballot in all 50 states. His homespun wit and commonsense in the presidential candidates’ debates with Bush41 and Clinton stood up well enough for him to come in second in two states – in Maine, prevailing over Bush, and in Utah, over the scandal-beset Clinton.
Four years later, in 1996, Perot had founded the Reform Party and gained ballot space automatically, due to the substantial results in the previous race. He also attacked NAFTA, spent a lot less money, accepting contributions, and nevertheless gained 8% of the popular vote, presumed to be enough to bring Clinton back into the presidency, despite or maybe because of the heavy overload of purported new scandals.
Perot was not severely accused of being a spoiler, because of the tenor of his campaign, and the fact that he had two heavyweights, Hamilton Jordan and Ed Rollins, a Democrat and a Republican, as his campaign managers. The spoiler who will be remembered in history forever was Ralph Nader of the Green Party in 2000. Whether Mayor Bloomberg sees himself as a Ross Perot, a savior of the country with a positive program that will take the US out of the doldrums of the hopelessness of the present situation and the bleak future, remains to be seen. Given today’s situation, no one short of a Messiah will do the job.
The news that Michael Bloomberg has reopened his 2001 and 2005 campaign website www.mikebloomberg.com must give both the Democrats and Republicans the heebee-jeebees. No matter that he has assured the world that he is not running for president more often than Paris Hilton has been arrested (thank you Clyde Haberman of the Paper of Record), or that he has no intentions for the governorship, the stakeholders of Clinton and Giuliani still have nightmares of Ralph Nader and Ross Perot floating before their eyes.
Is Bloomberg serious? Examining the above website (don’t get caught up in www.bloomber.com, that is his company’s site for selling information products), you will find that the home page announces our man to be the best bargain in the world, at $1 per year. Further down, news articles speak of his plans of a hybrid taxi fleet (all 13,000) by 2010, a high school graduation rate at a historical high of 60%, and keynote addresses given at the C40 summit of the world’s largest cities’ mayors, and at the Greater Houston Partnership luncheon, all recent events.
Looking at issues, we also find announcements of NYC’s lowest ever unemployment rate of 4.3% in March 2007, and a paper he has written for a British medical journal, suggesting a drop of 100M in the deaths of smokers worldwide, if every country were to reduce cigarette use rate. More on poverty, affordable housing, job creation, education, environment and sustainability, arts and culture. Is this a Mayor trying to sell New Yorkers on $8 fee for bringing in cars below 86th Street, the current effort, or the 2nd Ave subway? No, this stuff is more national, international, if you please, it has all positives, no wars mentioned, nor Muslims or Arabs.
The selfsame great Haberman also has unearthed that our leader had, among friends and before the 2001 election, disclosed the four jobs that he would leave his megabillion company for – mayoralty of NYC, presidency of the US, secretary-generalship of the UN and presidency of the World Bank. Recently cornered by the tireless Clyde, about accepting the bank job, the only one available at present, he dismissed this possibility. So there, what alternatives are we left with? The governorship, given Spitzer’s bumbling in Albany? (The Post’s tell-all Fred Dicker discloses inactivity and arrogance in the direction of state operations - in the chief of staff’s office, the deputy, one-time AG candidate Sean Patrick Maloney who conducted an impressive on-the-cheap Internet campaign via irritating weekly spams has turned into a control freak, while his boss Richard Baum and the communications director Darren Dopp are keeping busy infighting Paul Francis, the budget director, and Lloyd Constantine, a senior secretary.) I don’t think so, that office becomes of interest only after 2008. So what have we left, if not a door-opener for a third-party candidature for the Presidency of the US in 2008, in a race that has no great and lovable major party candidates? Let’s look at history.
In 1992 Ross Perot, coming out of nowhere into the same situation, a protest candidate who called the US government complacent and lazy, a bunch of daydreamers, outsourcers of American jobs and fighters of an unnecessary gulf war of 1990-91, gained nearly 19 % of the popular vote, mostly from the Republicans, who played dirty pool and spoiled his daughter’s wedding. A self-made billionaire, founder of EDS, who invested only his own money, $65M, in the 1992 campaign, he started late, on Larry King’s CNN show in February 1992, and by September had gained enough enthusiasts and signature collectors to be on the ballot in all 50 states. His homespun wit and commonsense in the presidential candidates’ debates with Bush41 and Clinton stood up well enough for him to come in second in two states – in Maine, prevailing over Bush, and in Utah, over the scandal-beset Clinton.
Four years later, in 1996, Perot had founded the Reform Party and gained ballot space automatically, due to the substantial results in the previous race. He also attacked NAFTA, spent a lot less money, accepting contributions, and nevertheless gained 8% of the popular vote, presumed to be enough to bring Clinton back into the presidency, despite or maybe because of the heavy overload of purported new scandals.
Perot was not severely accused of being a spoiler, because of the tenor of his campaign, and the fact that he had two heavyweights, Hamilton Jordan and Ed Rollins, a Democrat and a Republican, as his campaign managers. The spoiler who will be remembered in history forever was Ralph Nader of the Green Party in 2000. Whether Mayor Bloomberg sees himself as a Ross Perot, a savior of the country with a positive program that will take the US out of the doldrums of the hopelessness of the present situation and the bleak future, remains to be seen. Given today’s situation, no one short of a Messiah will do the job.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
History enthusiast Marc Abrams writes of the Indian Wars
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
Part of the romance of American West is that you can enjoy it in broad strokes, in movies and in cowboy stories, as well as in small details, finding and researching nuances, from participants’ diaries and documents. You can be your own historian, professional or amateur, the interest never ceases. One such enthusiastic local historian, whom you can meet at his daily tasks in the Brotherhood Synagogue office, is Marc H. Abrams, the editor and annotator of a thin book, “St. George Stanley on the Bozeman Trail,” (Abrams Publications, 2007, marcsdesign@yahoo.com, $25), a ten-article report of the author/illustrator’s experiences while covering General George Crook’s military command during the Sioux and Cheyenne Campaign, 1876/77, particularly the events leading up to Custer’s Last Stand. We can think of Charles St. George Stanley as the imbedded artist in the Indian Wars, who carried a rifle and occasionally halfheartedly exchanged fire with attacking Sioux.
The Indian Wars (1854-1890s) came about as the settlers began to flood the West, encroaching on the rights of the indigenous inhabitants. Washington had reached agreements with some tribes , resettling them in Oklahoma, but these treaties were not recognized by all tribes, and massacres ensued, particularly after 1864, when the borders of what became the Montana Territory were settled with the British, and gold-rush wagon trains bound for Oregon came through what the Indians of the Dakotas considered their legitimate hunting grounds. The Bozeman Trail, named for a miner/settler, was a shortcut from the main trail on the North Platte River, cutting through the Powder River basin, the best hunting grounds of the Northern Plains tribes. The first major clash on the trail was the Fetterman Massacre in 1866 (an army detachment was trapped in a canyon), leading to a military occupation of the region, discontinued after the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 but reopened eight years later.
Thus in May 1876 we find the artist Stanley and a friend in Fort Carline, near Cheyenne, Wyoming, joining General George Crook’s military contingent, one of three independently operating commands going north to reaffirm the army’s control of the western territories (General Custer led another).. They ride on horseback through rough territory, covering 14 miles a day, slowed down by their mule train of supplies. At nightfall they erect small tents, striking them at sunrise, since early morning travel was the best. Their trail lead through undefined farms in an already established cattle territory, Lodge Pole, Moore’s , at Horse Creek, in a beautiful valley, built as a loghouse fort, and Armijo’s, at Bear Spring, a Mexican adobe. Reaching Fort Laramie, Wyoming, they discovered the grave of Doe Eye, daughter of Chief Spotted Tail, who loved a pale face soldier, and on her deathbed exacted a promise from the great leader of the Sioux not to fight the overwhelmingly powerful palefaces (he kept it).
Continuing further north along the Platte, their thirsty mule train nearly drowned, and refilling water canteens every morning became a necessity. The command moved on, through the Badlands (Mauvaise Terres), and at Fort Fetterman crossed the Platte, to enter the barren north, country of the sagebrush, where the assembled masses of the Sioux, mostly Lakotas and their Cheyenne allies, estimated 800 to 1500 in strength, were known to be waiting for the arrival of the 1000 soldiers and their 250 Crow and Shoshone confederates. The Battle of Rosebud took place in a hilly canyon territory of Montana, over a period of six hours of June 18, 1876, with the Lakotas initiating the fighting against the cavalry of Hawaiian-born Frank Gruard, chief of the scouts, and Colonel William B, Royall. Then the infantry, led by Major George M. Randall, flanked by its Indian allies, made the first forward move. The Sioux forces, under chiefs Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse, made both forays and strategic retreats, hoping to lure the palefaces into a Fetterman-like trap, but the soldiers were cautious. The battle produced no gains for either party, with a light count of casualties, until the Sioux forces withdrew.
The Crook command also returned to Laramie, only to hear that eight days later and a few miles north from the Rosebud, the entire second command, led by General George Custer, was wiped out, in the Battle of Little Bighorn, by the same Sioux , under by Chief Crazy Horse. These were the days of communications by messenger only, and the Crook, Custer and a third command troops were operating fully independently, aware of their counterparts’ locations only when their scouts met and exchanged information. Custer’s Last Stand has been the subject of legend and controversy ever since.
Marc Abrams has been an enthusiast of the history of the West since childhood, contributing to the resources of history collections. He has lived in Montana in the 1990s, and his son’s middle name is Lakota. The ten Stanley articles he edited and annotated for this book were unearthed from the files of the weekly Colorado Miner between May and July 1878. Stanley’s pen sketches also appeared in Harper’s and Frank Leslie’s Weekly and Scribner’s Magazine issues of the period.
Part of the romance of American West is that you can enjoy it in broad strokes, in movies and in cowboy stories, as well as in small details, finding and researching nuances, from participants’ diaries and documents. You can be your own historian, professional or amateur, the interest never ceases. One such enthusiastic local historian, whom you can meet at his daily tasks in the Brotherhood Synagogue office, is Marc H. Abrams, the editor and annotator of a thin book, “St. George Stanley on the Bozeman Trail,” (Abrams Publications, 2007, marcsdesign@yahoo.com, $25), a ten-article report of the author/illustrator’s experiences while covering General George Crook’s military command during the Sioux and Cheyenne Campaign, 1876/77, particularly the events leading up to Custer’s Last Stand. We can think of Charles St. George Stanley as the imbedded artist in the Indian Wars, who carried a rifle and occasionally halfheartedly exchanged fire with attacking Sioux.
The Indian Wars (1854-1890s) came about as the settlers began to flood the West, encroaching on the rights of the indigenous inhabitants. Washington had reached agreements with some tribes , resettling them in Oklahoma, but these treaties were not recognized by all tribes, and massacres ensued, particularly after 1864, when the borders of what became the Montana Territory were settled with the British, and gold-rush wagon trains bound for Oregon came through what the Indians of the Dakotas considered their legitimate hunting grounds. The Bozeman Trail, named for a miner/settler, was a shortcut from the main trail on the North Platte River, cutting through the Powder River basin, the best hunting grounds of the Northern Plains tribes. The first major clash on the trail was the Fetterman Massacre in 1866 (an army detachment was trapped in a canyon), leading to a military occupation of the region, discontinued after the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 but reopened eight years later.
Thus in May 1876 we find the artist Stanley and a friend in Fort Carline, near Cheyenne, Wyoming, joining General George Crook’s military contingent, one of three independently operating commands going north to reaffirm the army’s control of the western territories (General Custer led another).. They ride on horseback through rough territory, covering 14 miles a day, slowed down by their mule train of supplies. At nightfall they erect small tents, striking them at sunrise, since early morning travel was the best. Their trail lead through undefined farms in an already established cattle territory, Lodge Pole, Moore’s , at Horse Creek, in a beautiful valley, built as a loghouse fort, and Armijo’s, at Bear Spring, a Mexican adobe. Reaching Fort Laramie, Wyoming, they discovered the grave of Doe Eye, daughter of Chief Spotted Tail, who loved a pale face soldier, and on her deathbed exacted a promise from the great leader of the Sioux not to fight the overwhelmingly powerful palefaces (he kept it).
Continuing further north along the Platte, their thirsty mule train nearly drowned, and refilling water canteens every morning became a necessity. The command moved on, through the Badlands (Mauvaise Terres), and at Fort Fetterman crossed the Platte, to enter the barren north, country of the sagebrush, where the assembled masses of the Sioux, mostly Lakotas and their Cheyenne allies, estimated 800 to 1500 in strength, were known to be waiting for the arrival of the 1000 soldiers and their 250 Crow and Shoshone confederates. The Battle of Rosebud took place in a hilly canyon territory of Montana, over a period of six hours of June 18, 1876, with the Lakotas initiating the fighting against the cavalry of Hawaiian-born Frank Gruard, chief of the scouts, and Colonel William B, Royall. Then the infantry, led by Major George M. Randall, flanked by its Indian allies, made the first forward move. The Sioux forces, under chiefs Sitting Bull & Crazy Horse, made both forays and strategic retreats, hoping to lure the palefaces into a Fetterman-like trap, but the soldiers were cautious. The battle produced no gains for either party, with a light count of casualties, until the Sioux forces withdrew.
The Crook command also returned to Laramie, only to hear that eight days later and a few miles north from the Rosebud, the entire second command, led by General George Custer, was wiped out, in the Battle of Little Bighorn, by the same Sioux , under by Chief Crazy Horse. These were the days of communications by messenger only, and the Crook, Custer and a third command troops were operating fully independently, aware of their counterparts’ locations only when their scouts met and exchanged information. Custer’s Last Stand has been the subject of legend and controversy ever since.
Marc Abrams has been an enthusiast of the history of the West since childhood, contributing to the resources of history collections. He has lived in Montana in the 1990s, and his son’s middle name is Lakota. The ten Stanley articles he edited and annotated for this book were unearthed from the files of the weekly Colorado Miner between May and July 1878. Stanley’s pen sketches also appeared in Harper’s and Frank Leslie’s Weekly and Scribner’s Magazine issues of the period.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
NY Street Fair - an ethnological and folkloric event
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The street fair season is upon us, seriously, and none too soon. After a bitter winter and a blowsy and cold early spring we are all ready for seasonable weather and a nice walk on a weekend afternoon along a shady avenue, with smells of sausages cooking and sounds of salsa music from the $10 CD vendor, ready to exclaim “look at this” at every turn. And there is plenty to look at, New York street fairs have turned into exotic bazaars, with ethnic art and outlandish goods a-plenty, a study in folklore of far-away cultures, some artificed to entice the gee-whiz tourist.
My original purpose to visit the 3rd Avenue 14th to 23rd Street Fair was an everyday one – to find a socks vendor who carries soft-top socks, so called medicinal socks, at a price below the $13 last noted at a medical goods sales site. Indeed there was one, with my type goods at $10 the half-dozen. Along the way, though, I got carried away, with brand new-experiences.
Even the foods were different. Next to the socks monger, a Mozzarepas stand offered a variation of the mozzarella stick usually sold alongside the Italian specialties, calzone and cepole and calamari and fried dough. The trade-marked Mozzarepas are two pancakes fried with a you-know-what cheese filling. They come in a printed wrapper from a dot.com, with an “extremely hot“warning. That’s where I begged off. More tempting seemed the candy apples, sold by an Oriental lady, alongside chocolate-dipped bananas on a stick. Wow! There were also crepes, with fillings of unknown origin, and Thai food, chicken satay and spring rolls; charcoal grilled chicken and French fries, with Asian overones, were also available. I eventually settled for a shish kebab, something familiar in this strange world.
Even cowboy hats were strange, some made of tanned leather stitched with thongs, some of straw, in the familiar jaunty styles, sold by Nepalese family who held a family conference to figure out where their goods came from (it was China). These were sold alongside straw and tatami handbags from Cambodia, the tatami work quite elegant. Chinese leather bags, at another vendor’s, featured the soft and sloppy casual look for the blue jeans crowd.
I should be careful speaking of the latter, many women wear jeans today with killer stiletto heels, top of the line. The upscale shoppers may also can find appropriate polo shirts at the Fair, Guatemala made (that used to be the country where intimate underwear came from, now the line seems to have expanded), and classy cable-knit wool ski sweaters from Ecuador. As for the exotic Indian textiles, $10 pashmina scarves were easy on the eye; as for the bedspreads and tablecloths, embroidered silk with beads called nokchi (can be soaked and hand-washed), there appeared to be decidedly less interest on part of the modern women shoppers. Jewel stands featuring miniature gowned figures with hangers for beads and bracelets also had limited appeal, although sellers of beads proper, of all types, had scads of critical shoppers checking them out, particularly at the stand featuring Burma natural jade goods. You may note that topical tee-shirts – such as “Gramercy Park 10010” and “I never thought I’d miss Nixon” – did not make big waves either.
Now to the art goods, mostly what my highly East Asia and Pacific traveled lawyer neighbor would call “a notch or two below airport art.” Actually the fair ware has improved. An outfit called Afromarketplace.com has Senegalese sellers not only offering their specialty, leather goods, but also inexpensive sweetgrass placemats, the stems twisted in strands and turned into ovals and rounds, sown with what appears to be plastic. The vendor swears that they will wash off clean and last for years. They are certainly affordable, compared with the fine woven place mats we know, woven by the Embera Indians of Darien Jungle (that’s in Panama). Senegalese traders also sell sophisticated Kenyan wood carvings, colored wooden bowls with giraffe-head handles, black warriors with multi-colored decorated contrasting shields, and Masai masks. The twisted-limb human figures of soapstone and wood (Ivory Coast? Ghana?) are less appealing.
Among novelties, $12 figurines made in Mexico, shaped from twisted newspaper sheets, hardened with starch, shaped, painted and placed on small stands, were appealing, also large straw market baskets from Senegal, painted in earth colors, with similar sturdy wares also available from Ghana There were $20 black wooden ebony-like vases carved from mango tree trunks, with decorative patterns, Thai in origin. A velvet display bag for a wine bottle, with the top shaped like a dress, from China, did not attract. And I did not accept a $10 neck massage offered by a tribe of Chinese healers who come with their own reverse barber chairs. As for native US products noted, some good framed posters were on hand, and clothing, clothing and soaps. The next fair. on Mother’s Day Weekend on Park Ave South, had mostly clothing, less folklore.
The street fair season is upon us, seriously, and none too soon. After a bitter winter and a blowsy and cold early spring we are all ready for seasonable weather and a nice walk on a weekend afternoon along a shady avenue, with smells of sausages cooking and sounds of salsa music from the $10 CD vendor, ready to exclaim “look at this” at every turn. And there is plenty to look at, New York street fairs have turned into exotic bazaars, with ethnic art and outlandish goods a-plenty, a study in folklore of far-away cultures, some artificed to entice the gee-whiz tourist.
My original purpose to visit the 3rd Avenue 14th to 23rd Street Fair was an everyday one – to find a socks vendor who carries soft-top socks, so called medicinal socks, at a price below the $13 last noted at a medical goods sales site. Indeed there was one, with my type goods at $10 the half-dozen. Along the way, though, I got carried away, with brand new-experiences.
Even the foods were different. Next to the socks monger, a Mozzarepas stand offered a variation of the mozzarella stick usually sold alongside the Italian specialties, calzone and cepole and calamari and fried dough. The trade-marked Mozzarepas are two pancakes fried with a you-know-what cheese filling. They come in a printed wrapper from a dot.com, with an “extremely hot“warning. That’s where I begged off. More tempting seemed the candy apples, sold by an Oriental lady, alongside chocolate-dipped bananas on a stick. Wow! There were also crepes, with fillings of unknown origin, and Thai food, chicken satay and spring rolls; charcoal grilled chicken and French fries, with Asian overones, were also available. I eventually settled for a shish kebab, something familiar in this strange world.
Even cowboy hats were strange, some made of tanned leather stitched with thongs, some of straw, in the familiar jaunty styles, sold by Nepalese family who held a family conference to figure out where their goods came from (it was China). These were sold alongside straw and tatami handbags from Cambodia, the tatami work quite elegant. Chinese leather bags, at another vendor’s, featured the soft and sloppy casual look for the blue jeans crowd.
I should be careful speaking of the latter, many women wear jeans today with killer stiletto heels, top of the line. The upscale shoppers may also can find appropriate polo shirts at the Fair, Guatemala made (that used to be the country where intimate underwear came from, now the line seems to have expanded), and classy cable-knit wool ski sweaters from Ecuador. As for the exotic Indian textiles, $10 pashmina scarves were easy on the eye; as for the bedspreads and tablecloths, embroidered silk with beads called nokchi (can be soaked and hand-washed), there appeared to be decidedly less interest on part of the modern women shoppers. Jewel stands featuring miniature gowned figures with hangers for beads and bracelets also had limited appeal, although sellers of beads proper, of all types, had scads of critical shoppers checking them out, particularly at the stand featuring Burma natural jade goods. You may note that topical tee-shirts – such as “Gramercy Park 10010” and “I never thought I’d miss Nixon” – did not make big waves either.
Now to the art goods, mostly what my highly East Asia and Pacific traveled lawyer neighbor would call “a notch or two below airport art.” Actually the fair ware has improved. An outfit called Afromarketplace.com has Senegalese sellers not only offering their specialty, leather goods, but also inexpensive sweetgrass placemats, the stems twisted in strands and turned into ovals and rounds, sown with what appears to be plastic. The vendor swears that they will wash off clean and last for years. They are certainly affordable, compared with the fine woven place mats we know, woven by the Embera Indians of Darien Jungle (that’s in Panama). Senegalese traders also sell sophisticated Kenyan wood carvings, colored wooden bowls with giraffe-head handles, black warriors with multi-colored decorated contrasting shields, and Masai masks. The twisted-limb human figures of soapstone and wood (Ivory Coast? Ghana?) are less appealing.
Among novelties, $12 figurines made in Mexico, shaped from twisted newspaper sheets, hardened with starch, shaped, painted and placed on small stands, were appealing, also large straw market baskets from Senegal, painted in earth colors, with similar sturdy wares also available from Ghana There were $20 black wooden ebony-like vases carved from mango tree trunks, with decorative patterns, Thai in origin. A velvet display bag for a wine bottle, with the top shaped like a dress, from China, did not attract. And I did not accept a $10 neck massage offered by a tribe of Chinese healers who come with their own reverse barber chairs. As for native US products noted, some good framed posters were on hand, and clothing, clothing and soaps. The next fair. on Mother’s Day Weekend on Park Ave South, had mostly clothing, less folklore.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
President Boris Yeltzin and the collapse of the USSR
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
The death of the former president of Russia, Boris Yeltzin, reminded me that living in East Midtown, near the UN, is much like being in the center of the universe; world events can become very personal. Thus, during the failing years of the Evil Empire I had a nearly blow by blow account of events in Moscow, from a neighbor connected to the Ford Foundation (maybe a cover), who was constantly traveling to the USSR. General secretary Mikhael Gorbatchev’s glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) of the CPSU and the entire USSR, and Yeltzin, with his unreliability and drinking bouts were our constant subjects. It was amazing that this mercurial leader, thrown out of our leadership circles in 1987 for criticizing the slow progress of reform, within two years managed to return and be elected president of the Russian SSR.
Yeltsin was not popular here, and when a few copies of his 1990 biography, outlining his reform ideals, turned up for sale at a Friends’ Fair, the annual May event on East 16th Street, autographed in a unlettered Roman hand, there were few buyers. But the feeling changed, after his August 18, 1991 legendary ride atop a tank into the lines of Soviet troops summonsed by the Politburo rebels trying to unseat the then head of state Gorbatchev and restore Communist control. It was an act of personal bravery, not unlike that of the Chinese protesters walking out front to stop the tanks in Tienaman Square in May of 1989, except that president Yeltzin succeeded, and USSR went out of business in 1991.
But then he screwed up the economy, sold out state industries to the oligarchs, crime became rampant and he dismissed the House of Deputies in 1993, after using arms to suppress a revolt of the people made poor by the government’s economic policies, effected with our economists’ help. The names of Yegor Gaidar and Harvard’s Jeoffrey Sachs come to mind, along with deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais, in conjunction with their economic "shock therapy" of cutting government expenses, privatization of state industries, stopping price controls and subsidies, all leading to a 2,500% inflation and destruction of the retirees’ pensions. Nevertheless, reelected in 1996, Yeltsin continued muddling (the rebellious Chechens against which he took arms were beating the Russian army) until, near the expiry of his term in 1999, he resigned, with an apology to the Russian people, and turned the government over to his handpicked successor Putin. The latter used the Chechens to build Russian nationalist support for himself, lucked out with the oil and gas price rises as saviors of the economy, and now is working on rebuilding respect for Russia as a world power, at our expense.
What made these dedicated Communists turn away from their Marxist faith? One looks back to first secretary Nikita Khrushchev, who rose after Stalin's death in 1952, and had his epiphany in an Iowa corn field,; Yeltsin had his in a Houston supermarket. Gorbatchov's inspiration may have been the Deng Xiaoping model of turning China around via economic capitalism (1978, spurred by president Nixon' s visit in 1972), escalated by the horrors of the Chernobyl power plant explosion in April 1986. The high costs of the Cold War and a need for peace played a role. Deep down, Khrushchev and Yeltsin were soured on Communism - the former by witnessing the deaths of five million of his fellow Ukrainians in the 1932/33 collectivization campaign, and the latter by his father's incarceration and service of a term in a gulag prison. Khrushchev revealed the evils of Stalinism in 1952 and broke open the way to reform, but was superseded by the stolid doctrinaire Communist Leonid Brezhnev (1964-82) who gave his name to a period of history – Brezhnev stagnation, highlighted by the unsuccessful invasion of Afghanistan (1979-88). His successors, sickly Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, lasted a total of 25 months, opening the way for the young reformer Gorbachov.
Both the Yeltsin's resignation and apology were most unusual acts for a politician. Nixon's resignation in 1974 may have been a model. Is there a parallel today? No, although the Bush administration is failing, there is no thought of abandoning policy, on the contrary, a spokesman of the neocon architects of the Iraq war, Perle, while admitting that turning the rule over to Iraqis would have saved the country and our reputation, is seeking to blame their own appointed Presidential Envoy and supremo, Paul Bremer, for the delay. No acknowledgement that the Iraqi army was dismissed and, along with civilian Bathists, frozen out from the getgo. I remember asking the famous ex-Marxist historian, Gene Genovese, about whether the former Iraqi government people should participate in restoring and ruling, and his answer was: "Would Adenauer have been able to restore Germany if only under 16- year olds and people past retirement age were available?" This simple bit of wisdom, applied in McArthur's Japan as well as in Germany, was an anathema for these builders of the Next American Century.
The death of the former president of Russia, Boris Yeltzin, reminded me that living in East Midtown, near the UN, is much like being in the center of the universe; world events can become very personal. Thus, during the failing years of the Evil Empire I had a nearly blow by blow account of events in Moscow, from a neighbor connected to the Ford Foundation (maybe a cover), who was constantly traveling to the USSR. General secretary Mikhael Gorbatchev’s glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) of the CPSU and the entire USSR, and Yeltzin, with his unreliability and drinking bouts were our constant subjects. It was amazing that this mercurial leader, thrown out of our leadership circles in 1987 for criticizing the slow progress of reform, within two years managed to return and be elected president of the Russian SSR.
Yeltsin was not popular here, and when a few copies of his 1990 biography, outlining his reform ideals, turned up for sale at a Friends’ Fair, the annual May event on East 16th Street, autographed in a unlettered Roman hand, there were few buyers. But the feeling changed, after his August 18, 1991 legendary ride atop a tank into the lines of Soviet troops summonsed by the Politburo rebels trying to unseat the then head of state Gorbatchev and restore Communist control. It was an act of personal bravery, not unlike that of the Chinese protesters walking out front to stop the tanks in Tienaman Square in May of 1989, except that president Yeltzin succeeded, and USSR went out of business in 1991.
But then he screwed up the economy, sold out state industries to the oligarchs, crime became rampant and he dismissed the House of Deputies in 1993, after using arms to suppress a revolt of the people made poor by the government’s economic policies, effected with our economists’ help. The names of Yegor Gaidar and Harvard’s Jeoffrey Sachs come to mind, along with deputy prime minister Anatoly Chubais, in conjunction with their economic "shock therapy" of cutting government expenses, privatization of state industries, stopping price controls and subsidies, all leading to a 2,500% inflation and destruction of the retirees’ pensions. Nevertheless, reelected in 1996, Yeltsin continued muddling (the rebellious Chechens against which he took arms were beating the Russian army) until, near the expiry of his term in 1999, he resigned, with an apology to the Russian people, and turned the government over to his handpicked successor Putin. The latter used the Chechens to build Russian nationalist support for himself, lucked out with the oil and gas price rises as saviors of the economy, and now is working on rebuilding respect for Russia as a world power, at our expense.
What made these dedicated Communists turn away from their Marxist faith? One looks back to first secretary Nikita Khrushchev, who rose after Stalin's death in 1952, and had his epiphany in an Iowa corn field,; Yeltsin had his in a Houston supermarket. Gorbatchov's inspiration may have been the Deng Xiaoping model of turning China around via economic capitalism (1978, spurred by president Nixon' s visit in 1972), escalated by the horrors of the Chernobyl power plant explosion in April 1986. The high costs of the Cold War and a need for peace played a role. Deep down, Khrushchev and Yeltsin were soured on Communism - the former by witnessing the deaths of five million of his fellow Ukrainians in the 1932/33 collectivization campaign, and the latter by his father's incarceration and service of a term in a gulag prison. Khrushchev revealed the evils of Stalinism in 1952 and broke open the way to reform, but was superseded by the stolid doctrinaire Communist Leonid Brezhnev (1964-82) who gave his name to a period of history – Brezhnev stagnation, highlighted by the unsuccessful invasion of Afghanistan (1979-88). His successors, sickly Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko, lasted a total of 25 months, opening the way for the young reformer Gorbachov.
Both the Yeltsin's resignation and apology were most unusual acts for a politician. Nixon's resignation in 1974 may have been a model. Is there a parallel today? No, although the Bush administration is failing, there is no thought of abandoning policy, on the contrary, a spokesman of the neocon architects of the Iraq war, Perle, while admitting that turning the rule over to Iraqis would have saved the country and our reputation, is seeking to blame their own appointed Presidential Envoy and supremo, Paul Bremer, for the delay. No acknowledgement that the Iraqi army was dismissed and, along with civilian Bathists, frozen out from the getgo. I remember asking the famous ex-Marxist historian, Gene Genovese, about whether the former Iraqi government people should participate in restoring and ruling, and his answer was: "Would Adenauer have been able to restore Germany if only under 16- year olds and people past retirement age were available?" This simple bit of wisdom, applied in McArthur's Japan as well as in Germany, was an anathema for these builders of the Next American Century.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Springtime in New York, and shopping news from First Avenue
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
If you do not go out to a park and enjoy New York Spring, you are missing an integral part of the pleasure of living in this city. Take Stuyvesant Square Park, two distinct entities bisected by Second Avenue. The flowers, and the trees on both sides are in bloom, with the white Callery pears and the dramatic purple redbuds stretching their arms, blending in with the trees at the Friends Meeting House on the west side, and with the magnolias and other foliage alongside the park. Recognition must be given to Carol Schachter and the Board of the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, who annually contribute dues monies and funds from their street fair for the Park’s maintenance, and for other needy local causes, and to the Parks Department for the extensive walkway repairs in the east park.
Strolling through the park, you may meet Christie Dailey, our new Parks Department gardener, this time of year trimming old rose bushes in preparation for the new season. Masses of tulips and daffodils are in full flower, some new and some old, and all demanding attention. Two helpers were noted working with Christie, who also has Abingdon Square and the City Hall area memorial park with five surviving trees from the Ground Zero site under her care.
Along Stuyvesant Town property lines, the two year-old cherry trees in the median along First Avenue have survived the winter well, and the spooky honey locust trees are stretching their black knotted arms and fingers over the sidewalks, with some green sprouting leaves coming out. The interior, with huge London plane trees, some seemingly dangerously close to the buildings (they just outgrew their neighbors) also has ample gardening, with azaleas and rhododendrons overarching the daffodils and azaleas. The weather will soon be turning sunny enough to attract sunbathers to the large meadows, opened for access a couple of years ago.
Speaking of access, Parks Department recently opened selected parks for off-the –leash dog walking. One such treasure, a medium size blackie, was noted scratching at a tulip in Stuyvesant Park while the owner, in dark sunglasses (a disguise, obviously) was diverting attention by animatedly chatting with friends. Beware, the dog police are on the alert. Seriously, though, a Parks Department source cautions that the new policy will lead to trouble. Although intended only for certain parks, such as Central Park, and specific areas and times, now people will let their animal companions loose in all parks, and claim lack of understanding of the rules. It will probably take a serious dog biting incident to get us back to the original rules. Oh well, people will keep testing the limits.
The good weather also has brought out peddlers to our streets. Walking along East 14th Street of an unseasonably hot afternoon I was thinking of the old-time Italian shaved ice vendors, when lo and behold, an ice vendor’s hand truck materialized before my eyes, surrounded by moms and small children clutching dollar bills in their hands. This was not the dream of my youth but a reasonable modern facsimile, with an awning announcing Get Your Cool Here or some such, and with four tubs which had to be opened and closed separately for dishing out each plastic cup full of lemon, orange, chocolate or what looked like vanilla ice. The sturdy vendor lady only spoke Spanish, and vanilla was an unknown word to her. I waved vaguely toward the appropriate tub, and she came out with a smile: "Ah, orange," and I received a generous helping from a neighboring bucket. It was just right for the weather, an in the interests of international peace and understanding I thanked her and kept my purchase. Subsequently my internet sources showed that the appropriate Spanish word might be vainilla, and you know about the pronunciation of double ells in that language. So there, if more Anglos bought more Italian ices from more Spanish ladies on more street corners, the world would have fewer misunderstandings. Or maybe not.
I had less trouble with the other vendors while stopping off along that First Avenue kitty corners across from my ice lady. The sunglasses and caps peddler had an exquisite small briefcase hanging from the side of his table. It had two metal cross buckles for locking, beautifully made in China. Seeing my interest, he brought it out, identified it as a $25 item, admired the workmanship and my good taste and offered it for $15. I thanked him, and he reduced the price further, for instant cash sale, to $10. I will certainly know where to look for a Mother’s Day present next year.
The other temptations were easier to overcome; I had no need for an important wristwatch ($10) or its less impressive companion ($8 or $6). We are also adequately equipped with NYPD and NYFD and Yankees baseball caps, superb earrings (personally, I can live without one) and colorful glass bead necklaces.
Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V wish you a happy Mother’s Day and an enjoyable Wildflower Week.
If you do not go out to a park and enjoy New York Spring, you are missing an integral part of the pleasure of living in this city. Take Stuyvesant Square Park, two distinct entities bisected by Second Avenue. The flowers, and the trees on both sides are in bloom, with the white Callery pears and the dramatic purple redbuds stretching their arms, blending in with the trees at the Friends Meeting House on the west side, and with the magnolias and other foliage alongside the park. Recognition must be given to Carol Schachter and the Board of the Stuyvesant Park Neighborhood Association, who annually contribute dues monies and funds from their street fair for the Park’s maintenance, and for other needy local causes, and to the Parks Department for the extensive walkway repairs in the east park.
Strolling through the park, you may meet Christie Dailey, our new Parks Department gardener, this time of year trimming old rose bushes in preparation for the new season. Masses of tulips and daffodils are in full flower, some new and some old, and all demanding attention. Two helpers were noted working with Christie, who also has Abingdon Square and the City Hall area memorial park with five surviving trees from the Ground Zero site under her care.
Along Stuyvesant Town property lines, the two year-old cherry trees in the median along First Avenue have survived the winter well, and the spooky honey locust trees are stretching their black knotted arms and fingers over the sidewalks, with some green sprouting leaves coming out. The interior, with huge London plane trees, some seemingly dangerously close to the buildings (they just outgrew their neighbors) also has ample gardening, with azaleas and rhododendrons overarching the daffodils and azaleas. The weather will soon be turning sunny enough to attract sunbathers to the large meadows, opened for access a couple of years ago.
Speaking of access, Parks Department recently opened selected parks for off-the –leash dog walking. One such treasure, a medium size blackie, was noted scratching at a tulip in Stuyvesant Park while the owner, in dark sunglasses (a disguise, obviously) was diverting attention by animatedly chatting with friends. Beware, the dog police are on the alert. Seriously, though, a Parks Department source cautions that the new policy will lead to trouble. Although intended only for certain parks, such as Central Park, and specific areas and times, now people will let their animal companions loose in all parks, and claim lack of understanding of the rules. It will probably take a serious dog biting incident to get us back to the original rules. Oh well, people will keep testing the limits.
The good weather also has brought out peddlers to our streets. Walking along East 14th Street of an unseasonably hot afternoon I was thinking of the old-time Italian shaved ice vendors, when lo and behold, an ice vendor’s hand truck materialized before my eyes, surrounded by moms and small children clutching dollar bills in their hands. This was not the dream of my youth but a reasonable modern facsimile, with an awning announcing Get Your Cool Here or some such, and with four tubs which had to be opened and closed separately for dishing out each plastic cup full of lemon, orange, chocolate or what looked like vanilla ice. The sturdy vendor lady only spoke Spanish, and vanilla was an unknown word to her. I waved vaguely toward the appropriate tub, and she came out with a smile: "Ah, orange," and I received a generous helping from a neighboring bucket. It was just right for the weather, an in the interests of international peace and understanding I thanked her and kept my purchase. Subsequently my internet sources showed that the appropriate Spanish word might be vainilla, and you know about the pronunciation of double ells in that language. So there, if more Anglos bought more Italian ices from more Spanish ladies on more street corners, the world would have fewer misunderstandings. Or maybe not.
I had less trouble with the other vendors while stopping off along that First Avenue kitty corners across from my ice lady. The sunglasses and caps peddler had an exquisite small briefcase hanging from the side of his table. It had two metal cross buckles for locking, beautifully made in China. Seeing my interest, he brought it out, identified it as a $25 item, admired the workmanship and my good taste and offered it for $15. I thanked him, and he reduced the price further, for instant cash sale, to $10. I will certainly know where to look for a Mother’s Day present next year.
The other temptations were easier to overcome; I had no need for an important wristwatch ($10) or its less impressive companion ($8 or $6). We are also adequately equipped with NYPD and NYFD and Yankees baseball caps, superb earrings (personally, I can live without one) and colorful glass bead necklaces.
Wally Dobelis and the staff of T&V wish you a happy Mother’s Day and an enjoyable Wildflower Week.
