Shadow over us after the election

Whether that shadow is cast by the loss of Mitt Romney or your body jumping up and down in front of the lamp as you yell in elation over the re-election of Barack Obama, the real shadow looming over our city is the nor-easter coming our way tomorrow.

First, some important news about the hurricane. People are in dire straights in Long Island. Thousands are STILL without power, and it is below freezing tonight. Neighborhoods are flooded, and people are waiting for inspectors to go around to thousands tof homes to inspect them before they can turn it back on; however, residents complain no one is coming to inspect. LIPA is the power company on Long Island, and they say 500 inspectors are going door to door and promise 90% of outages will be fixed tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like it. Everyone is freezing, there is no concrete communication, and residents feel helpless. They have no clue when they will be getting power back.

I didn't know what would happen with voting. It seems that disaster inspired many to vote. People say that the storm has humbled many of those that have suffered. The news showed people saying how it's their right to vote and they're proud to be part of this country that is reaching out to them in their time of need. Some people are focused on survival, not politics. Even still, people are toughing it out without power or heat and still made it down to vote. They found makeshift polling places and it worked out.

Thank goodness the election was today, because tomorrow we would have serious problems getting people to vote. As I wrote before, we have a big storm coming tomorrow. It's difficult to judge how it's going to affect the city, since 3-5 feet in water surging doesn't seem like anything compared to 11 feet. But it could be very damaging, coupled with freezing weather and the potential for 50+ winds. 

It is serious enough for parks and beaches closed tomorrow. People are evacuating nursing home patients in the Rockaways and northern New Jersey. There is still no power in northern New Jersey. United Airlines is suspending tomorrow afternoon, and Delta is not charging re-booking fees for tomorrow. Gas lines are still out of control with car lined up literally half a mile long. This is not good, people. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow.

...where the hell are the Rockaways anyway?

It occurs to me as I sit here waiting to see who our president is going to be for the next 4 years that many people across the country may not know exactly what the layout of the city is like. I thought I would use a Googlemap to show you the main locations that were hit. Let me explain:

• Just for perspective, the top center of the map is the Bronx. I teach on the west side of the Bronx right on the water. On that piece of land, look down and find the word Manhattan. That's Times Square. Cross over the water to the right, and that's both Queens and Brooklyn. There is no definite line between the two, but Queens is on the top and Brooklyn is on the bottom. Staten Island is the bottom left hand corner.
• The left side of the map is the top part of New Jersey. See the map below for a better idea of the size of the state in relationship to New York City and Staten Island.

Now that you have an idea of what the boroughs look like...

• You see areas of orange, yellow, and green. Orange highlights the worst affected areas. Staten Island has large sections of orange around the entire island, indicating the scope of damage that was done over a large portion of the place. You need to cross a ferry or drive to get there.
• Look to the right of Staten Island, and you will see the long, finger-like piece of land that is completely orange. That is all Far Rockaway. It's isolation explains why it's been so difficult to get aide all the way out to the end of the land.
• At the end of the Rockaways, look across the water to Coney Island in orange and follow the entire bay of Brooklyn over in yellow and green. Widespread damage far inland.
• Right in the center of Brooklyn above East New York is where I live. The first big pin drop right there is where I took all my pictures and videos. My central location was the reason I didn't evacuate.
• Look up, you can see the green and yellow. Note to the left edge of Brooklyn there is orange. That's the Red Hook area I posted about trekking over to volunteer.
• Cross over the water there back to Manhattan, New York and you'll see the island rimmed with orange (because Manhattan is technically an island since it is rimmed with water, you just can tell). All of the footage of flooded tunnels came from the tip. The entire bottom half of Manhattan was pitch black during the power outage. Imagine 5 blocks of complete flooding all around the bottom, and gradual tapering off toward the center. Lots of people, small area. No lights, no power. Scary stuff.

So there you have it! This seems complex, and I know it is. But the amount of destruction here as far as land mass goes doesn't compare to New Jersey:

The area of New York City is located on the top right side of this map in the green between Long Island the rest of New Jersey. We're like the dingleberry of New Jersey, lol. That one was for you, Caitlin :) Hope this helps!

New York City does NOT have it together

After teaching all day, I went to vote. You can imagine my surprise when I looked to the left, looked to the right, and saw no end in sight...these 2 pictures show the voting line that wraps around the block.

Blame it on the hurricane... In Washington Heights? This is ridiculous. Ready to wait outside for at least an hour, and that just gets me through the doors.

Who Cares About the Election?

Wow, I can't believe I just said that. But seriously, think about it. Your home is floating in salt water. Your car is gone. Your possessions are destroyed. You're F-ing freezing, and can't see two inches in front of your face at night because you have to power.

And someone has the nerve to come up to you and ask you if you're going to vote tomorrow?

This would be my response: "No, jackass, I'm not going to vote tomorrow. I have to wait in line at a donation center to get food then rush back to my home to make sure that the few possessions I still have don't get stolen by looters. Then I'm going to haul water out of the first flood and start demolition so that I might be able to spare part of the frame. I have to hurry because night is falling earlier now, and once the sun sets, there is nothing more I can do. You think going to a polling site is high on my priority list right now? Get out of my face, man, unless you're going to keep guard of my stuff and let me sleep at your house."

Listen, I am the biggest proponent of voting that there is. I'm a teacher for goodness sakes, I have to be. I may say that I would vote, come hell or high water, nothing could stop me. But look at that house. If that was my house, I can't honestly say that I would give two craps about voting tomorrow.

Nor'easter Is Coming

I get to school today (finally!) and as soon as I walk into class, a student yells at me (psh, weird). They scream my name as I walk down the hallways. This is how the conversation went:
"Hey! Ms. Dame! We don't have school Wednesday!"
"Ummm, false, that's tomorrow. It's Election Day, tell your parents and siblings to vote, especially if you're Hispanic."
"No, Miss, we don't have school Wednesday. There's a storm coming. And I'm 16 I can't vote."
(Sigh) "I know you can't vote but the people that live in your house can. Make sure they do so, minorities will determine the outcome of this election. And what in God's name are you talking about, a storm's coming? The storm has gone. "
"We're getting another one on Wednesday. Hey, you callin' me a minority?"
"Forget about it, just tell your family to vote. I'll have to research this mystery storm you speak of, but I can almost guarantee you that we will have school, whatever it is. Bloomberg would make us come to school in 8 feet of snow now to avoid missing more school days. Don't be ridiculous."

It seems as though I may be wrong. (Not about the minorities thing, that's true.) There is a nor'easter coming our way on Wednesday. It is going to rain in the morning and get heavier throughout the day. There is a serious potential for more flooding across the region. Breaking waves along the city and Long Island will range between 8-14 feet and continue to erode beaches. Local to major flooding could occur at high tides throughout the day on Wednesday.

Winds are going to be between 25 & 35 mph with gusts up to 70 mph. And to make matters worse, it is going to be 40 degrees.

And now I want to you remember that there are still 1.2 million people still don't have power. 9,000 are still living in shelters. There are numerous people, especially on Staten Island, living in houses that are completely flooded with salt water on the first floor but won't leave because of widespread looting.

The sun may be out, but people are still suffering and over the next week, things are going to potentially get much, much worse. Let's hope this storm is a dud.

Adventure to Donate in Manhattan!!

I made it into Manhattan for the first time in over a week!!!!!!!!

Let's not lose focus here. While incredibly exciting, my journey into the city revolved around donating batteries, diapers, and wipes to families in dire need of basic living needs. We'll begin the journey with my roommate at Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn. We were itching to get out the house and help in a concrete way after our excursion to Red Hook the day before. So we set out to Target to buy the supplies. My friends Liz Dunn Ruiz and Courtney Ferrell were donating too!

First, we had to brave the subways for the first time in over a week. It was scary they were still being worked on, but we had to take our chances. Let's hope it works!! We had to take the 2 train LOCAL (that's right, I said LOCAL) into Manhattan. We didn't complain about the extra 20 stops that were added on to our journey. We had a purpose, to help those in need.

Megan & I headed to Target at the Atlantic Terminal mall right by the new Barclay's Sports Arena (home to the Brooklyn Nets now) to get the goods we needed. Don't let this picture fool you, it was mobbed.

30 D batteries? Check. 45 AA batteries? Check. 2 packs of diapers and 2 packs of wipes? Check.

The first time in the train in over a week. Hello Manhattan!

We showed up at Blarney Stone where Lauren had set up the upstairs bar with longs tables categorized by supplies. Is that all the space she had?

Nope, we found her on the opposite side organizing boxes of materials. 

Thank you to the Dame, Malmstedt, and Richmond families, along with Dena from Long Island and Carrie Tate's family in Las Vegas for helping Megan & I get all of these supplies for families in need!

Lauren is going to drive with her friends to the places in most need. First, they are going to Staten Island to visit her friend who's house was destroyed. They are going to check in with her donation station to give whatever they have the need for. Then, they will drive around the island to donation stations to give help with whatever has been donated. She has coordinated these trips with other friends to reach the hardest hit places in New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Long Island as well. I have asked her to send pictures when she delivers the items, so look for those pictures tomorrow or Tuesday. SO AWESOME to see the goods actually go where I want them to, can't wait.

My quarter master for the next few days!

Like hell I'm commuting from Brooklyn tomorrow! I called up Eric Dinowitz, my super awesome coworker at school, to see if he would provide me quarters for the next few days until the A train gets up and running. Otherwise, it'd be at least 2 1/2 hours on the train in the morning going LOCAL (that's right, I said LOCAL) to the BRONX from BROOKLYN (barf). Thank goodness he lives two blocks from school.

So, here's my plan for the week:

1. I'm going to educate the crap out of my students tomorrow. If the cashier at Target has no clue as to the devastation that has occurred (she asked me, "Why is everyone buying batteries today? What's going on?), then my students probably don't know since they live in the Bronx. 
2. Bronx Theatre High School is going to organize the crap out of volunteering activities. A teacher at our school has a sister in law on Staten Island, and we are going to do some serious activities to continue providing aide. I will be posting on this blog throughout the week to let you guys see what we're doing.
3. I'm going to vote on Tuesday and hope to God that Barack Obama gets re-elected. Yo, if you're reading this, vote. Please. 
4. I am re-instating Halloween on Wednesday. That's right, get those costumes out. Wednesday is Ms. Dame's birthday, so say hello to Dame-o-ween. I'll be dressing up as a zombie and handing out candy. Let's see if I can get everyone else to do it too.

The pictures below were taken by my friends that volunteered today in the Rockaways that I wrote about in my previous post. Don't be fooled, the need for assistance is overwhelming. While the storm is over, please keep everyone in your thoughts and prayers <3 

Terror in The Rockaways

Think things are better in the Rockaways? That was taken yesterday, November 3rd. 

Still, no power. No homes. Flooding. And now gang fights...

Things out there are bad, folks. There is looting all over the place. This person went to the Rockaways and volunteered. Here is her account of the absolute destruction that is still out there. The major point I'm seeing here is: how can most of Brooklyn be functioning normally, as if the hurricane had never happened, when there are people fending for their lives in freezing whether with what seems to be zero aide?

The following account was posted on a volunteer's blog that is working for the Occupy Sandy initiative that is based in Brooklyn. There is a list of shuttle opportunities to help out there as well as sites to drop off donations. There are places on here too that need new volunteers to go out and help distributing supplies. Now, the guy on the page says this account was emailed to him and that it's real. I can't confirm whether or not it's authentic because I don't know the guy that keeps this blog, but with everything going on right now, I wouldn't doubt it's real. The Rockaways are far out there, and it's difficult to get resources out there. You be the judge. Here's the site with the information:
How To Help The Rockaways

And here’s a letter from the Rockaways, it’s for real and it’s awful.

We went from block to block asking people if they needed anything. Some people took. Others declined and told us to give it to others in greater need. One person suggested we go further down “where things are REALLY bad.” Driving down Cross Bay Blvd some more, handing out more supplies to people we saw straggling along that road, we stopped in what looked like a makeshift staging area, replete with a FEMA truck, some fire trucks, an a PBA truck feeding some of the policemen in what looked like a town square.There were hundreds of people – Asians, Latinos, Whites, African Americans, Russians – seemingly encamped there, obviously stressed, some looking like they were in dire straights. The area looked like a war zone. All we saw again was just a docking station for people to charge their mobile phones. Where was the food? The water? Blankets? Coats? Ray, Paul and I were horrified.In the small park/’town square’ there was a small fold-up table with two guys there and meager supplies – they mentioned they were from a local church and that they had also been going from place to place doing what they possibly could. That was it.I ran over to what looked like the Captain within a group of policemen and asked if we could start passing out food and drinks in that spot. He assented. I ran back to the car and we opened up the trunk.Within seconds, people saw what we were doing and it was a mob scene. Hands reaching in panicked to get something… Within a very short time–maybe 20 minutes, almost all of our supplies were gone.

We left that square to go to a final destination on 91st street–a place where Ray’s friend lives. We got to that road and were horrified at the tragedy that happened there…  A woman named Sharon who told us a great many things about how people have no power, no internet, no gas (or cars destroyed), no food, no shelter, no blankets, but yet they are afraid to leave their shattered worlds because there is a gang war going on not too far East. We met a few men who had set up a fire in a very safe pit, were cooking some food, had set up supplies for their block. One of them told us how there were 13 gun fights the night before, they were counting. They could hear the shots and the cries. Terrifying. There are children living on that block. That block is cut off from the world.

They all asked us, each person we met: “Does anyone know what is happening here? Why hasn’t anyone come to help us yet?”

As dusk began to fall, I grew concerned that we had outstayed our visit there. One of the people told us that after 5pm things started to get rough, and by 6pm, “bad things are going to start happening here again.” The couple of men at the fire on 91st seemed to have that steely, confident reserve as block elders that whatever came, they were going to deal with it. They seemed to be the rocks of that particular community. Imagine that kind of thing going on all over Staten Island, the Rockaways, and beyond? There is hope in the strength of a community.Ray had purchased a few pounds of ham and bread for his friend, who actually wasn’t home–he was out doing relief work himself, despite the fact that his own home was destroyed with a large piece of boardwalk slicing it right through. We decided we’d bring our last bit of food and drink supplies back to that park we were at earlier.One of us noticed a woman hunched over with a baby in the park. People were overlooking her existence, as everyone seemed to be concerned with the coming of night and saving their own skins. I bent over and asked her if she needed anything. She said “I have four other children in the car. We don’t have a house anymore.” She had the smiling, reassuring face of a mom that was trying to make her little child feel things would be ok. Her eyes showed terror.I gave her the two pounds of ham and the bread, along with water, and I said to her “we are with you ma’am.” I thought of my own children, and spoke to her girl, maybe a 2-year-old, with fear and hurt in her eyes, definitely she was afraid of a stranger, I said “little girl, its going to be all right. I’m sorry this happened, but you’re going to be ok.”I don’t know that is true for a fact. But I want it to be.

As I walked away from that young mother and her child, I began to cry. That doesn’t happen too often.

We need to somehow make this all right for these people. I implore you all to find a way to do that, in your own ways…

-Joe Bachana