Humans of New York

“She’s a life-long Jersey girl.  I’m a native New Yorker who’s lived across the Hudson River most of his life.  Our first date was an Elton John concert at Madison Square Garden.  On our second date, we just walked around midtown.  I remember buying her a hot dog from a street vendor. The meat fell out of the bun and to the ground after she bit into it, but I didn’t buy her another one.  She still liked me, though, and we got married five years later.”

Inspired by by Brandon Stanton, Humans of New York: Stories; 2015

The Voice

Frank Sinatra meant little to me for almost 40 years. His sound was not what I liked hearing when I began listening to popular music as a young schoolboy in the 1960s. When Sinatra retired from the music business while I was a teenager, I cared as little as I did when he made his comeback a short time later. Although I initially appreciated his hit song about my favorite city as I finished college, I tired of it by the time it became associated with a baseball team whose owner I despised.

Then, many years later, an older co-worker suggested I listen to Sinatra's recordings from the 1950s. Vince, a very likable New Jersey guy, even was nice enough to lend me CDs of some of Sinatra's classic albums from that period. So, I listened to In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers (1956), Where Are You? (1957), Close to You and More (1957), A Swingin' Affair (1957), Only the Lonely (1958), No One Cares (1959), and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).

Wow. What great albums, full of first-rate songs performed to perfection! After appreciating these classic American recordings, I became a Sinatra fan. I began listening to a greatest hits collection from his Reprise Records era, an album I was given years earlier and hadn't bothered with. Sometime later, I bought a 3-CD set of songs he recorded for Capitol Records.

More recently, I've gained an appreciation for the weekend radio program on WNYC-FM of Jonathan Schwartz, a Sinatra aficionado who plays lots of rare and popular gems spanning Sinatra's entire 60-year career. Bob Dylan's album earlier this year of songs recorded by Sinatra is a favorite. I'm grateful for all the attention Sinatra's music and broader contribution to 20th century popular culture have generated as the 100th anniversary of his birthday is celebrated.  

To those who were fortunate enough to appreciate Sinatra at a young age from their family's music collection, good for you. If you weren't lucky to have a Vince help you eventually discover Sinatra's best recordings, it's not too late. One hundred years after his birth, 17 years after his passing, Sinatra's music lives on. It continues being as accessible today as it was to his fans many years ago. And, intertwined with the fabric of the great American songbook, the sound of his voice will remain around for many, many years to come.

A Christmas card

Your sentiments can be purchased from Hallmark

for $4.99 or more, 

or from another card company

for as little as 99 cents.

You can be politically correct with some people
and wish them a happy holiday,

or be forward with others

and repeat the merry Christmas mantra.

You can pay good money for the presents 

on the wish lists of family and friends,

and hope the gifts you receive are those 

on the list you thought hard about.

Is it the season 

to pick the right cards,

say the proper greetings,

to give and get the desired gifts?

Is it that time 

to make it to church,

recall fond childhood memories,

to get together with family and friends?

Is it another Christmas to celebrate 

the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem,

while trying to put aside for a while

the conflict that continues around the Holy Land?

It's Christmas around the world,

that special time of the year 

when Christians can celebrate the gift

that God gave to all who believe in salvation.

It can be all that,

or maybe little of it.

It's what you choose,

or what's expected from others.

Your sentiments can be purchased from Hallmark

for $4.99 or more, 

or from another card company

for as little as 99 cents.

Or...

In awe of big brother

My brother and his wife, both newly retired albeit at a younger than normal age, recently completed a journey that most people a third of their age would find too challenging: they walked nearly 500 miles from St. Jean Pied-du-Port in western France across northeastern Spain over a span of 35 days. That's right, they walked, carrying nothing more than a backpack with all their essentials, for five weeks.

For sure, it wasn't easy. My brother Lou began the journey with pain in his right heel. He then caught a cold. Early in the walk, he also injured an ankle and rib. After a few weeks, blisters in his feet, he found himself feeling so foul that Andrea, his wife of 35 years, suggested they consider abandoning the second half of the walk. 

Lou and Andrea had planned their "Camino de Santiago" adventure for nearly two years, and trained for it on paths around North Carolina, where they've lived for 30 years. Lou's been a lifelong walker, starting in his native New York City and then while living in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and going on to serve in the U.S. Army. Even as he became diabetic and needed frequent insulin injections to regulate his blood sugar, he picked up his pace enough to run four full marathons, including the New York City Marathon in 1991. 

Andrea has also enjoyed walking and hiking her entire life. In fact, her and Lou's paths first crossed while hiking in the Grand Canyon. Three years later, they married. After he retired from teaching and she from nursing, it was only appropriate they begin their "golden years" with the kind of walk that rarely makes it beyond the bucket lists of most hikers. 

Even with his ailments, Lou was determined to complete the walk with Andrea. Fortunately, after nearly calling it quits, he began to feel better and stayed the course.  The two of them walked triumphantly, if not a bit wearily, into Santiago de Compostela a few weeks later, and ended their stay in Spain by spending several days in both Madrid and Barcelona.

I've always been in awe of my big brother.  Lou's successful completion of his long walk with Andrea this autumn reminds me how special a person he is and how much this little brother has to look up to.

Voter apathy: a matter of communication?

Voter turnout in the New Jersey county in which I live was an all-time low this past Tuesday.  According to the Asbury Park Press, less than 21 percent of eligible voters in Monmouth County cast ballots in this week’s elections.

“Tuesday’s turnout numbers are even more dismal if you factor in the number of eligible voters who aren’t registered.  Nationally, that’s about one in three,” stated an APP editorial today. “That means about 15 percent of eligible voters bothered to cast a ballot on Tuesday.”

Granted, there were no state-wide offices or referendums on the ballot. Still, at a time when overall taxes in New Jersey are the second highest in the country, according to a nationwide survey and analysis published in the APP on October 30, and the state’s economic recovery seems to lag behind much of the country, why did so few voters bother to cast a ballot?

When New Jersey did have a state-wide office at stake in 2014, it ranked 40th in voter turnout on Election Day, with only 32.5 percent of registered voters casting ballots, according to a study released in March by Nonprofit VOTE, and reported in NJ.com. (The national rate was 37 percent.)

In years past, some experts have pointed out that being located between the New York and Philadelphia media markets has made it difficult for New Jersey residents to get news about elections in the state, thereby leading to voter apathy. I don’t buy that argument.

With the growth of social media and other on-line information sources in recent years, it’s easier than ever to quickly get news about almost anything and anybody. For those who don’t like to get their information from digital sources, there are still plenty of newspapers and radio stations around.  And, to the annoyance of many of us, telephones and postal mail are still used by candidates to disseminate their messages.  And, therein, may lie the cause of the problem.

Voter apathy in New Jersey is likely caused by the quality, not quantity, of communication about candidates and issues.  Even though some experts may claim negative advertising actually helps candidates beat their opponents, I believe what it does more than anything else is just turn people off to the whole election process itself.

Most communication around elections merely succeeds in belittling those in government or their opponents, reinforcing their general image as narcissistic liars or worse.  And, why would the average voter want much to do with that?  By the time a person reaches voting age in New Jersey and elsewhere in the country, they’ve learned to shut out political messages and not trust what candidates are saying.  This is largely true whether the communication is being received via social media, another on-line source, or more traditional mediums like television.

Obviously, the election process in New Jersey and across the U.S. needs some serious fixing if it is going to work the way it was intended: to represent the will of the majority of the people.  A good start is for candidates to improve the quality of their communication to the public. They should keep their messages simple, state them in positive terms, and demonstrate where they can make a difference.

Perhaps communication channels, especially those that profit from politicians, should be emboldened to only accept Election Day messages that help fix the problem, rather than make it worse.  Maybe, just maybe, some positive communication actions can help reverse the trend of voter apathy in the years ahead.

Grazing in the grass

At an event in the New York offices of an on-demand labor services company this week, a panelist stated “companies are putting older workers out to pasture, and replacing them with younger workers with different skill sets and pay levels.” He may have stated the obvious, but it’s a fact no major company is willing to admit.

Another panelist pointed out that unemployment statistics are misleading “because they don’t capture people who’ve been unable to get a full-time job, and have turned to freelancing and contract work.” Again, he may have stated the obvious, but it’s a fact few U.S. government officials will admit.

A CNN piece, “Workers over 50 are the ‘unemployables,’” provides a quick overview of the situation facing many displaced professionals with deep experience. It also includes a very telling comment from Michael Harper, a Boston University professor and leading authority in the area of labor, employment, and employment discrimination law.

”It’s very difficult to prove hiring discrimination, because unless somebody says, ‘you’re too old for this job,’ you don’t know why you weren’t hired,” said Harper.

The CNN piece also touches upon the experiences of a job seeker who is often told she is “overqualified” and wonders if that’s just a euphemism for “too old.” Like many of her contemporaries, she has taken on temporary jobs for the past several years.

A PBS segment, “The Unemployment Numbers as Sham: Where Are the Freelancers?” explores the misleading unemployment reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It includes insightful comments from Sara Horowitz, founder and executive director of Freelancers Union.

“The problem is that the unemployment numbers are wrong. They just aren’t keeping up with the changes we’re seeing in the new workforce,” said Horowitz, who also stated that over 42 million people were independent workers either by choice or circumstance. “That’s nearly one-third of the workforce. The BLS surveys haven’t kept up. They don’t capture this type of independent, variable employment because they’re not asking the right questions.”

The PBS segment concludes with the observation, “We do have an employment problem in this country, but we’re not going to figure out what it is until we start asking the right questions.”

At this week’s New York event, another panelist and investor in on-demand labor ventures sounded skeptical of U.S. politicians’ abilities to effectively address the impact of the changing workforce. “They’re not leading us,” he said. “We’re leading us.”

Yes, experienced professionals will continue trying to apply their knowledge and skills to challenges that business operations and other organizations face, even as companies question this wisdom and effort at a price. And, even if government officials aren’t recognizing the reality of today’s labor situation.

Ringer

A few fast claps of the hand

after my favorite soccer team

scored a third quick goal 

and off it slipped.

I looked down and saw it

catch the late afternoon

rays of the sun 

as it descended 

to the section of seats below

and bounce

and bounce again.

I fixed my eyes on its resting spot

and looked at the people 

sitting around it, unaware.

I paused for a whole second

before quickly making my way

down to retrieve it.

I rushed past the usher

and down a few rows 

to where it rested,

its gold skin still glistening,

and put it back on my finger.

"No way I'm losing my wedding ring

after 34 years with my wife

at a game where the Red Bulls 

are winning,"

I explained to a curious onlooker.

And just as quickly

I returned upstairs to my seat,

to be with my wife 

for the rest of the match

and, God willing, 

another 34 years with my ring.