Harlem Shooting, Queensboro Bridge 100th Anniversary, Israeli Day Parade, BEA: All in NYC

By Connie Wilson

Mew York City was abuzz with a variety of stories while I was there for five days.

First, there was the apparently accidental shooting of an off-duty black police officer in Harlem by a white police officer. The Reverend Al Sharpton was out in full force. As I understand the story, the young black officer was in plainclothes and off duty when he emerged to find his car being broken into (smashed windshield, etc.). He drew his service revolver and gave chase. This is when the white police officers arrived and, failing to recognize that a black off-duty officer was on the scene and chasing the perp, fired and shot and killed the black officer, who had his gun drawn as he pursued the individual trying to break into a car.

Second, they closed the Queensboro Bridge for its 100th anniversary and both pedestrians and antique autos were on the bridge, with a spectacular fireworks display visible in the night sky over the Hudson late that night. There were re-enactors celebrating the bridge described in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby.”

Third, the Israeli Day Parade snarled up traffic in much of the city as the Jewish community and others turned out by the thousands to celebrate the establishment of Israel as a Jewish state. (A Jewish friend commented to me that it made him nervous to be anywhere near the parade because of possible terrorist attack). The parade blocked access (from one side of the street to the other) to get to the Central Park Zoo, where I am going as you see me in this photo with Lady Liberty. (Attractions: polar bear, snow monkeys, penguins, seals, among other animals). You could cross at 60th street with police assistance, but, generally, it was difficult to get across as thousands swarmed the parade route. Three people asked me how to get across: a woman from Connecticut; a woman pushing a baby stroller, who described herself as “a tourist” and a couple of locals who had no idea where they would be allowed to cross the street. So, I inferred from this that I must have looked at least a little bit like “a local.”

Fourth, a plane carrying 228 passengers on an Air France jet disappeared over the Atlantic with all passengers presumed lost at sea during what was probably a lightning-related accident (although news reports said that there had not been a domestic incident of an aviation fatality attributed to a lightning strike in this country for 40 years, pointing out that lightning strikes. My son actually knew one of the passengers aboard, a gentleman who was an executive in a Brazilian steel firm, ThyssenKrupp Steel, named Erich Heine (CEO of CSA, which is ThyssenKrupp Brazil).,

Fifth, I took in an exhibit on Friday at the Whitney on Madison and 75th. I always like to visit the Whitney when in New York City because it is not overpoweringly huge and it always has film and avant garde, cutting edge displays. (Once, recently, a display that recreated Andy Warhol’s studio of the sixties and had various album covers and film(s) from the 60’s).

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This day (Friday), it had both electronic LED light art display but, also, actual letters regarding terrorist interrogations. These were mostly handwritten letters, blown up and printed on a variety of surfaces, that indicated that a variety of individuals, both foreign nationals and American boys trying to serve their country the best way they kinew how, had reached the end of their respective rope(s) in a variety of ways that were described in heartbreaking detail. These were unclassified documents that turned a harsh light on practices like waterboarding. I couldn’t help but think of the Chicago morning disc jockey (“Mancow”) who had (originally) made fun of the outcry over waterboarding on the air. As I remember the story, Mancow, on his morning radio show, had said something to this effect: “They cut our heads off. So, we put a little water on their faces. So what?” As a result of his (original) stance, Mancow agreed to be “waterboarded” to prove it was not really torture. (This stunt was done earlier by “Vanity Fair” writer Christopher Hitchins, as well). After about 9 sec onds, Mancow changed his mind, called a halt to the proceedings, and said that it was “definitely torture.” (Or so I read in reports of the fiasco.)

Sixth: at 8:17 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, the city (Manhattan, anyway) experienced something they referred to as being like “Stonehenge.” The sun was supposed to line up with the buildings in a unique way. I went outside at 8:22 p.m. and it looked the same as it always does. Either I was too late or it just wasn’t that “unusual” an effect, after all, despite the on-air news hype.

And, last but not least, I was present at the BEA (Book Expo America) on Saturday, handing out free copies of Out of Time (www.outoftimethenovel.com) at the HWA booth and listening to the heroic Captain “Sully,” of the Hudson River landing, talk about his plans to write a book. (See entry on www.weeklywilson.com).

The weather in New York City was gorgeous on Saturday and Sunday (high 70’s to 80’s and sunny), but, by Sunday night there were actually frost warnings in some places in New York state and the temperatures, generally, were dropping as low as the forties, possibly rivaling records.

When I flew back to Chicago, it was noticeably colder. At about 4:00 p.m. (Chicago time), it poured rain. Violent weather that had hit the eastern part of the state of Iowa (north of Cedar Rapids) on Sunday night seemed to be affecting the Chicago area. The skies had the look of tornado weather. But I was home, after a visit to a mid-town Manhattan dentist to fix a tooth ($500), never fun while traveling, and back to the slower pace of the less-hassled and ever-so-much gentler pace of Midwestern life and Midwesterners, in general. Mid-town Manhattan is a fascinating place to visit. Might be different, one always says, if I lived there. Still, all-in-all, it was a productive trip and one I enjoyed immensely, although, towards the end, I was running out of cash in this pricey city.

Resources

1. “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Takeaways

• “Stonehenge” in Manhattan didn’t really pan out the way it was described…

Did You Know?

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world.” (“The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald)