MARY OLIVER’S “SOMETIMES”:

“Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

The Stuyvesant Flea Market

Look forward to seeing you on June 3. If you’ve never been to Stuyvesant Town, you’re in for a treat. It’s beautifully green with lovely walks. It begins at Ave. A and !4 Street. At the center of the complex is the Oval which encircles a charming fountain and comfortable benches. It will be lots of fun that Saturday with 500 of us residents selling everything we want to get rid of. Plus spending your money at the neighboring bakeries and restaurants food stands.

COMMUNITY EVENTS Postponed: Flea Market, Taste of StuyTown, & Recycling Day Now Saturday, June 3rd | 10am-4pm | Around the Oval Due to expected inclement weather tomorrow, the Flea Market and Taste of StuyTown have been rescheduled to Saturday, June 3rd.  Over 500 residents will be selling items new and old. Walk around the Oval to find tables with knick-knacks, toys, books, vinyl records, and much more. The Taste of StuyTown returns again, featuring local eateries Brooklyn Dumpling, Bread Story, Baked by Luigi, Brindle Room, Hane, Haile Bistro, Rosemary’s, Lenz’s, Pure Grit, Matto Espresso, Veeray de Dhaba, Tortazo, and The Royal Sifting Company. A portion of proceeds will go to The Good Neighbor Collective & Henry Street Settlement. It will also be Community Recycling Day: • The Shred-It Truck returns on the 1st Ave Loop from 11am-3pm (or until the truck is full), for residents only. • Visit the Textile Recycling table near Playground 12. • Bring your unwanted electronics to Playground 12 for E-recycling. While it’s disappointing to postpone this highly anticipated event, we are excited to hold it on a day that will hopefully bring better weather. We look forward to seeing you there!

The 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, which means “catastrophe,” is on May 15th. These two organizations believe that recognizing the Nakba is recognizing each other’s humanity.

If America Knew Team:

The 1948 founding of Israel was preceded and accompanied by a massive ethnic cleansing operation to remove as many of the Muslim and Christian inhabitants as possible. 

During Israel’s “war of independence,” over 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes, never to be allowed to return. Hundreds of towns were razed; villagers were massacred. Their very existence on the land was nearly wiped from history as Israel built new towns over the ruins.

This devastating humanitarian disaster is given almost no attention in American history books or by the mainstream news media even though it is essential in understanding the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine and the Middle East in general.

Palestinian refugees and their descendants living in the West Bank and Gaza continue to live under an Israeli military occupation funded by American taxpayers at over $10 million a day.

Israeli forces continue to violate human rights on a regular basis, with multiple cases of assault, abduction (in some cases, of children), andinvasion taking place in the past two months.

It is essential that we educate our communities and demand an end to the use of our tax dollars for killing and destruction. 

Here are some things you can do:

         •       Share our short summary “How Palestine Became Israel” article with people who are new to the issue.

     Watch and share Occupation 101, an award-winning documentary film on the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

         •       Post about the Nakba on Facebook and Twitter.

         •       Check to see what your local newspaper wrote about this tragedy, and write a letter to the editor with the facts they omitted.

         •       Learn about the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and get involved with a local chapter.

         •       Call your Congressperson and give them your opinion about this issue.

     

American Friend of Combatants for Peace:

As Combatants for Peace has been planning the upcoming Joint Nakba Ceremony, division is being stirred in the U.S. regarding the commemoration of this important day.

This week, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy attempted to block a Nakba commemoration event sponsored by Rep. Rashida Tlaib. He claimed that it was “wrong for members of Congress to traffic in antisemitic tropes about Israel.” Citing concerns about the Nakba event led by Rep. Tlaib, Jonathan Greenblatt, the national director of the ADL, wrote to McCarthyand asked him to ensure that spaces controlled by Congress “are not being used to espouse discriminatory and hateful rhetoric.”

The Nakba commemoration event did take place in the Capitol building on Wednesday and Congresswoman Tlaib shared that true peace can only be built on truth and justice.

Recently, some AFCFP supporters have reached out to better understand the significance of CfP’s Joint Nakba Ceremony. As a community of Palestinian, Israeli, and international activists, our solidarity and unequivocal commitment to one another invites us to let go of our defenses and to draw near to one another’s stories. Solidarity invites us to bravely safeguard the dignity of all. The Combatants for Peace movement helps us to resist the urge of false dichotomies. As we build a future collectively, we are showing the world that there is a third path, rooted in justice and peace, that we can all walk together. 

A friend adopted two delightful dogs three years go. I journeyed to the Bronx to see her wonderful new apartment and to meet Pepper and her sister dog whose name might be Chloe. My friend lives in a beautiful, gigantic, grand apartment building probably built in the early twentieth century (Just guessing!)

I was raised with collies. Old Lyme, Ct. was a combination of village and country. Your animals wandered around the countryside. Other neighbors’ animals wandered into your yard. There was a casual freedom the way dogs and cats were treated. They ate left overs and came and went through a small opening built in the screen door. By the way, I know where Lyme disease gets its name.

New York Mysteries  April 29, 2023

A friend has a 1950s copy of a Russian film, War and Peace. It’s wonderful. When I was young I sort of read War and Peace, concentrating on the lavish parties and skipping the battles. In the film, the battles are amazing. Russian and French soldiers in natty uniforms on well trained horses raced over green fields and lakes in pursuit of each other.

The Russian spring’s birch, cherry and oak trees reminded me of the oldest living tree in Manhattan, planted in New York/  New Amsterdam in 1679.

It’s referred to as “the hanging tree” because of executions that supposedly took place. Although there are no public records confirming this, there was a nearby prison. Perhaps some of the inmates met their fate at the hanging tree.

The tree was on private land that was bought by the city and added to Washington Square in 1827. You can visit it at Washington Square Park’s northwest corner.

Years ago there was a motion to stop the MTA 8 Bus. Its route is east to west on eighth and ninth streets. The reasons given were fewer passengers. The east and west neighborhoods spoke up. Many were parents who used the bus to transport their kids back and forth from schools. It worked.

Several days ago I was on the MTA 8 Bus going west.It was about 4:30 pm, the time extra curricular activities wind down. Seated at the front of the bus across from me was a good looking man, slightly disheveled after a day’s work: rolled up white sleeves, loosened tie. Maybe 38ish? He sat with his head in his hands. On either side of him were two young boys. To the right was a six year old. To the left was a nine year old. Of course, I’m assuming these ages. The older child banged an empty plastic bottle relentlessly against the seat, keeping time by screaming. The younger child fluttered a green object and kept grabbing his father who unwound the boy from his embraces. The child made loud, guttural sounds incessantly. The father made futile attempts to calm the kids. Mostly, he sat with his head buried in his hands.

For me their anguish and suffering fenced them in. Like me, the other passengers said nothing. What was there to say? The kids were driving us nuts but we all held on to our annoyance. When they got off the bus I was relieved. What about them? Where was their relief? What’s the mother like? What’s home life like?

What would you have done?

NEW YORK Mysteries.com

A few weeks ago a package was delivered to my address. It was wrapped in old-fashioned khaki colored paper. I did notice that there was no return address. Hummmm…. I tore off the wrapping paper. There was a pink paper slip that was blank . More Hummmm…I found a black and white paperback, 5″ by 7″, entitled Haun Tings. The writer was Andre Le Mont Wilson, described on the back cover as a Black, queer writer. HAUNTINGS as it’s identified on the inside cover is dedicated to MOM “who told me lynching stories”.

I have asked friends, acquaintances and everybody else if he/she sent it to me. The universal answer was NO.

New York Mysteries  April 1

On Thursday, March 23, 2023 I had one of the most wonderful evenings I’ve ever had.

Parsons Dance at the Joyce was magic. The six pieces were choreographed by David Parsons. Taking the audience with them, nine dancers flew across the stage. How do they make you feel you’re with them? How do they suspend you in that moment when you’re completely in the present. 

Guess who: “At 17, after graduating early from high school, he made it to New York on a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey School, an opportunity he further supported by cleaning the Ailey studios, accepting $100 a month from his grandmother and $40 a month from his brother, while also pumping gas on New York City’s Upper East Side. “

David Parsons, that’s who.

 parsonsdance.org

This moving poem was sent to me by a friend who’s moved to Philadelpia. I had never heard of John O’Donohue so I looked him up in Wikipedia. Suggest you do too.

BEANNACHT

On the day when

The weight deadens

On your shoulders

And you stumble,

May the clay dance

To balance you.

And when your eyes

Freeze behind

The gray window

And the ghost of loss

Gets into you,

May a flock of colors,

Indigo, red, green

And azure blue,

Come to awaken in you

A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

In the curragh of thought

And a stain of ocean

Blackens beneath you,

May there come across the waters

A path of yellow moonlight

To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

May the clarity of light be yours,

May the fluency of the ocean be yours,

May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

Wind work these words

Of love around you,

An invisible cloak

To mind your life.

JOHN O’DONOHUE

From his books, To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)

Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Galway Bay

County Clare, Ireland

New York Mysteries March 17, 2023

Saint Patrick died on March 17 in the fifth century. Born in Britain, at sixteen he was captured by pirates and taken as a slave to Ireland. After six years he escaped and returned to Britain. When he became a cleric he went back to Ireland and eventually became a bishop.

He combined native Irish rituals in his Christian teaching. Bonfires were used to celebrate Easter since the Irish honored their gods with fire. He also added a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, to create a Celtic cross.

St. Patrick’s Prayer

May the Strength of God pilot us.

May the Power of God preserve us.

May the Wisdom of God instruct us.

May the Hand of God protect us.

May the Way of God direct us.

May the Shield of God defend us.

May the Host of God guard us,

This day and evermore.

Amen