Not another gallery/exhibition/library

Today it was so hot that people were complaining, and by people I mean me. I made the mistake of taking a coat only to be lumbered with it all day.We had walked around Soho and found the most ridiculous looking place, it looked like a junk heap/garage/op shop, but said it was a gallery. There were bits of metal, old bikes at odd angles, broken bits of fir Christmas trees scattered all over, some geometric graphics and two guys: one perched up on a platform, and the other one on a ladder. They were just hanging out listening to music. The place looked like it should have been condemned in the interests of public health and safety, and nothing was for sale. Given that entry was by donation and the guy at the front suggested a dollar, it was impossible to work out what was going on.

Finally I took Ethel's advice and went to the Tenement Museum. I was beginning to feel that I could not take it: galleries/museums/libraries! But as a glutton I found room for just one more. It was wonderful and horrible. We did a tour called Piecing it Together which focussed on the lives of the workers in the garment industry. I took a shine to the tour guide who stressed the role of immigrants, ethnic diversity and what he called tolerance. What I liked best was the way he kept bringing it into the present. Nobody could leave with the idea that barbaric working conditions are a thing of the past. The flats had just three small rooms, and most flats housed 7-9 people with newly arrived immigrants frequently knocking at the door to be accommodated for a few days, or weeks. Families with only 5 or 6 members would frequently take in a boarder. Some of these apartments not only housed large families, they were transformed into factories in the day. The baby would be put in the crib right next to the coal oven and irons actually made of iron, the young boys might be sent to play on the roof, the young girls would be sat in a corner and with luck some of the kids would either go to school, or if old enough work in the factory/lounge room.
The guide would then go on to explain: current rent $1,800 US per month for an apartment of like size, current wage for an unskilled worker in Chinatown $25,000 US per annum. This means that there would be almost nothing left over after paying the rent. Hence there are small one-bedroom apartments where 6 or more people, usually Chinese immigrants all live. Today, just around the corner.
http://www.tenement.org/
Most of the people on the tour were New Yorkers, and I knew more about the history than they did! So much for "No Child Left Behind", these are adults left behind. They were not stupid people, they just did not know anything about their own history. Maybe they can name all the presidents in order though.

Then there is the train tracks hero.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/weekinreview/07buckley.html
to find out more search for "New York" and "subway hero"
Explanation: This guy was on the platform when he saw a young guy (college student it turns out) have an epileptic fit and fall on to the train track. The train was fast approaching and he did not have time to get him up. He jumped down on the track and laid on top of the young man as the train passed over them both.
He had captured us all. He is a night-time construction worker who lives in Harlem and has two really cute kids. One of the things I like best is that fact that the city gave him one year free subway use. Gee thanks! Donald Trump gave him the small change that he could not be bothered bending to pick up ($10,000). And, of course the all-time American prize: a trip to Disneyland. Naoli had a great point which is that New York is all about getting what you can get for yourself. Donald Trump of all people is the very embodiment of walking all over anyone and everyone to get ahead to make another few million that he does not need and probably would not even notice. So the hypocrisy of Trump giving the guy the equivilent to small change is a joke. This for a man who risked his life, whose kids could have grown up fatherless. An-G pointed out the the simple financial cost to the city, had the guy having the epiliptic fit died: the canceled trains on all of that line, the clean up crew, the investigation, the law suits from every body involved and all the witnesses - but don't worry, NYC give him a year's free subway rides.

The city itself applauds you for having money. I walked into Bloomingdale's and the store greeter (yes this is a real job) noticed my accent. He directed me to a special section of the store, a special section for foreign visitors with money to spend (as opposed to foreign visitors like the latino women who walk Central Park with pushers: nannies to the upper east side set.) The store greeter was charming and took it upon himself to ensure I got an 11% discount "because you know you deserve it" he said. Yes, of course I deserve it, but what exactly I might have done to deserve it, other than be mistaken for someone who had enough money to shop in Bloomingdale's, I will never know.