Monday, January 18, 2021 - Happy ninety-second birthday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Jordan Myers
From October 26, 1967, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a speech to an audience at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: “What is Your Life’s Blueprint?” Speaking for a little over twenty minutes, Dr. King encourages the students to consider making three principles as the solid, sound, and proper foundation for their lives:
(1) A deep belief in your own dignity, your own worth, and your own somebodiness;
(2) The determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor; and
(3) A commitment to the eternal principles of beauty, love, and justice,
One oft-quoted principles which Dr. King preached was the idea that whatever you do, do it to the very best of your abilities: “It isn’t by size that you win or you fail. Be the best at whatever you are,” which he illustrated on this autumn afternoon in 1967 by focusing in on the lot of a street-sweeper. The full quote, below.
If it falls to your lot to be a street-sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all of the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, 'Here lived a great street-sweeper! Who swept his job well.'
Sunday, January 17, 2021 - Sarah Simon “i can’t answer that.”
i can’t answer that
there is a certain transcendental
grace
in saying
“i can’t answer that.”
it is out of my scope i will
humble myself down i am
not fit to respond
responsibly.
precedents,
hypotheticals?
no concrete
details /?/
and then the woodsy Klobuchar,
down to earth on earth following
the tracks since
Minnesota asks,
“why are we even here?”
why,
when we have a public
health crisis?
when we have millions fearing
for their lives when we bend over ovaries
after RBG before the 5 to 4
days (!)
before election when he said
he would take it to court when cases
are spiking with
270 people quarantining
on Long Island,
after the sixteen that Cuomo quipped,
“wasn’t that sweet.”
if you were really all so humble
and responding responsibly,
you would know that
this
is not the moment to be transcendental.
you would listen.
you would listen and not ask her,
who does the laundry?
who washes the dishes?
how do you manage home
school?
oh, you have seven kids, two
adopted.
wow!!
with so many personal questions in what is supposed to be
a service to the country,
i wonder if this hearing and all is really just
planning for the next backyard pool
party or country club
outing or
rose garden
gala.
i wonder if this is to push into our faces
that we never received an invitation,
apparently.
feeling a bit like way back in
2000, when
the popular kids
with lots of old money
interrupt you in the middle of a science
presentation.
the eclipse of a ringing cell phone,
the shrill titillation of a text.
and they blurt out laughing,
cupping a hand over a mouth just for show.
and when the teacher challenges, “what’s so funny?”
they just keep laughing.
“no, no, no. i can’t answer that.”
______________________________________________________________
Sarah is a New Yorker at soul, teaching English and studying film in Uruguay. Doing all the things to become a multimedia journalist. She published her first book, "core collection: poems about eating disorders" with Adelaide Books in 2019.
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19663814.Sarah_E_Simon
Instagram, @ssimon8; Twitter, @smileformebabyg.
Saturday, January 16, 2021 - I have listened closely for the inner-rumblings of the city, which ring-out from even further below the surface of the city than the subway. by Jordan Myers
I have listened closely for the inner-rumblings of the city, which ring-out from even further below the surface of the city than the subway.
Only once did I hear something that felt like a voice. Everything else has been instrumental calculations and measurements of frequencies.
But the voice; the sound of the voice which I heard from beneath the city just once, has stayed with me. I have tried listening for it again.
At least twelve times I’ve gone back to the same subway station along the R train, just south of Central Park at 5th Avenue & 59th Street,
just to see if the voice would be there again. But nothing. For many years I convinced myself that I did not actually hear the voice at all.
I allowed myself to believe the voice that I knew that I had heard was only an illusion. Though I knew this to be a lie, I did try to believe it.
Friday, January 15, 2021 - The auditory signals of synchronicities, which take place all the time and always all at once –––– have arrived. by Jordan Myers
Their synthesis requires a heart and mind in tune with one another and also adept at noticing subtle shifts. Metrics like speed and velocity matter very little for those who wish to experience these shifts. They cannot be summoned through direct command nor called by force. Though once the mind is quiet and the heart is able to beat slowly, steadily, and with an unwavering calm, they appear. Reports that these shifts have always existed within the confines of these five boroughs (as well as beyond) –––though met with a heightened degree of doubt ––– based on all credible sources, are in fact, true. Their legacy and place of origination have been debated over centuries –––– to no avail. Questions with answers that extend beyond points of understanding parallel with constructions similar to the gridded streets that outline the Island of Manhattan are often scattered and dismantled by these rhythms and shifts. They do not equate. Nor do they translate with any semblance of familiarity or discernible accord. Yet even so, and regardless, the fact remains –––– whether they have always existed in this city, or whether they have just arrived, they’re here now; and those who wish to enjoy their presence may do so –––– to whatever extent, and to whatever degree, they so desire.
Thursday, January 14, 2021 - Before anything else / the voyage of sound . . . by Jordan Myers
Before anything else /
the voyage of sound . . .
the whispers ––––– the promise
of Grove Street & Seventh Avenue South
in April
at dawn.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021 - Grapes & satin bouquets of wishing dreams / foreign resorts with pillows sleeping through woven sunlight. by Jordan Myers
Grapes & satin bouquets of wishing dreams / foreign
resorts with pillows sleeping through woven sunlight.
October leaves blowing across Tompkins Square Park / &
a man in all white playing Count Basie’s Midnite Blue
on a jazz saxophone while standing & swaying beneath
a break in the clouds. Two autumn sweaters over your shoulders
& one bodega paper cup of Bigelow earl grey tea in your hand at dusk.
Monday, January 4, 2021 - The greatest distraction of all on the Island of Manhattan is the grid . . . by Jordan Myers
The greatest distraction of all on the Island of Manhattan is the grid, which was first thrusted upon its landscape in March of 1811. Its desire for order; its plea for direction; and its demand for attention are too easily overlooked, and excused. West Seventy-Fourth Street is distinguished from West Fourteenth Street in name only. And the difference between the avenues of First and Eleventh rely upon the imposition of historical fictions. While walking the island, whether utilizing a compass and relying upon cardinal directions or not, do not allow these street names and numbers to assail you with their specious characterizations of the cityscapes that you sail through, around, and about. Lest all of the city’s magic, disappear.
Friday, January 1, 2021 - West Forty-Second Street & Eleventh Avenue. by Jordan Myers
At the corner of West Forty-Second Street and Eleventh Avenue last night I felt a voice as I was driving. The past was converging with the collective consciousness’ web of timelines and possibilities. It was dark and raining and four cars were driving south toward the Lincoln Tunnel. The rain was beating down against my windshield and Twenty-twenty-one was calling me forth. The rain kept falling; and only for a few moments did I hover.
Thursday, December 31, 2020 - Twenty Questions from Twenty-Twenty. by Jordan Myers
Purely off the cuff here; twenty questions to ponder as the year turns from ‘20 to ‘21; god-willing, we’ll answer these twenty Q’s this time next year, and also add one more Q for good measure. Twenty-twenty has been our year to grow, change, stabilize and evolve. Looking forward to wrapping up and sending out Issue No. 8 - 2020 in the coming days; and even more so, to getting back on track, steadying the course, and bringing you three (if not four) issues for 2021. Happy New Year to all. Thank you reading, writing, contributing and supporting this endeavor over these last twelve months.
All of our best,
C.Q.
(1) Is a major metropolis sustainable in the midst of a global pandemic?
(2) Is the idea of New York City still an idea worthy of pursuit while still occupied by the presence of the novel coronavirus?
(3) Should rent be cancelled?
(4) Should outdoor dining become a permanent part of the New York dining experience?
(5) Will New York bounce back?
(6) Did New York ever really go away?
(7) Will the subway be better than it was before the pandemic, i.e., cleaner and more efficient?
(8) Are yellow cabs making a comeback?
(9) Will we be gathering in Times Square to watch the ball drop in person for New Years Eve 2021?
(10) What will President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-president elect Kamala Harris be best known for as of this time next year?
(11) Will the vaccine get us out of this, and if so, how soon?
(12) What will we say of George Floyd this time next year?
(13) What reflections from Summer 2020 will we still remember?
(14) Will Andrew Yang become New York City’s next mayor?
(15) Will things ever be the same again?
(16) Do we want things to ever be the same again?
(17) How will New York mourn the tens of thousands of lives lost to Covid-19?
(18) How will the NYPD demonstrate that Black Lives Matter in 2021?
(19) Are New Yorkers going dancing at any point next year, and if so ––––– where, when, and how?
(20) What will be New York’s story of the year for 2021?
