In response to the announced U.S. withdrawal from the climate agreement, three major American cities, and I suspect there will be more, the mayors of New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles have declared their intention to abide by the accords. Their is some hope in that.
Category: Blog
Jun 01
U.S. Cities and the Paris Climate Accord
Of all of Trump’s bad impulses, his action on the one that takes the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord may have the most and the worst far-reaching consequences. The U.S. still sets a standard of leadership in the world, at least in the short-term. Besides the obvious fact that the U.S. is a …
Mar 03
Razing Calais: This is not a Plan
Whatever you may think about the refugees stranded in Calais, one thing is blazingly clear. The powers that be have no idea what to do about it. Their actions if anything indicate a complete lack of sympathy for the plight of their fellow human beings, and worse, a total lack of imagination about what to …
Mar 02
Migration & Identity art exhibit, Hanoi
A friend sent me an article about two Vietnamese artists living in Berlin whose exhibition, Migration and Identity, is being hosted by the Goethe Institute in Hanoi, Vietnam. “In 2014 about 16.4 million people or 20 per cent of the German population had an immigrant background,” the article states. Vietnamese immigration to Germany has been …
Feb 29
Calais and the Law
As the situation in Calais staggers into chaos and worse – a complete disregard for human rights and human life (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/29/french-authorities-begin-clearance-of-part-of-calais-jungle-camp), I have to ask myself where is the law? Where is the order? Instead of an orderly force of police protecting this camp, there are many reports of the police themselves attacking the refugees. …
Jan 15
Alan Rickman, romantic hero
This is not about cities. But it is about a human being who inhabited one. The news of Alan Rickman’s death was as shocking to me as if he were a close friend. I cannot explain that except to say that I loved his work. Even without knowing what a cosmically wonderful and generous friend …
Jan 07
Cities & migration
A big topic to explore. Vox gave an excellent breakdown of the refugee crisis in numbers in a December 2015 blog, http://www.vox.com/2015/12/30/10684672/in-2015-one-of-122-persons-worldwide-was-a-refugee. It ended by saying, “That’s the size of the challenge that the world faces today with displacement — and with no clear solution in sight.” Fine for a blog post but cities have to …
Jun 12
Dance, skate, enjoy
There are so many wonderful things about this short video it’s hard to know where to start. It would be easy to look at this portrait of skaters in Golden Gate Park as another freaky San Francisco “event” but that would miss the point of this tribute to dancing, skating, and the human spirit. Definitely …
Jun 03
The Laundromat & Caitlyn Jenner
As I was stuffing my sheets into the machine at my local laundromat in Harlem today I noticed behind me an older African-American woman wearing a dashing amethyst colored sequin top under her warm jacket (it’s freezing in New York) tending to her clothes. I told her I thought the top was terrific and she …
May 29
New York has a real subway
David Bacon writes a great photo essay about the New York subway, a love letter to the subway in fact which some may find hard to believe. Sometimes it takes an outsider to remind you. Have a look: http://portside.org/2015-05-21/streets-new-york-subway