Streets of New York

 

The streets of New York can be very confusing. At least they are in the Forest Hills section of Queens where my wife and I own a studio apartment. For example, our apartment is located on 113 Street. While some cities feel the need to add a “th” to make it 113^th Street, Forest Hills, economically reduces it to a simple 113. Simplicity is rather commendable after all, but that simplicity goes up in smoke when observing other street signs as one walks around the neighborhood.

Our apartment is a short walk from where our 7-year-old grandson lives. Sometimes, I meet him at the end of the school day and walk him home. The school is at the intersection of 69 and 110 Streets. His home is at 72 Drive and 112 Street. Logically, that would be a 5-block stroll – two blocks from 110 to 112 and three blocks from 69 to 72.

But logic has no place in the reality of Forest Hills streets. First of all, there is no 111 Street between 110 and 112. Maybe 111 exists somewhere in Forest Hills, but not in the neighborhood of the school. So, the walk just got shorter, right? Five blocks minus one equals four. That’s elementary mathematics.

From the school, we walk along 69 Street from 110 to 112. We make a right turn at 112 and walk another block, expecting to cross 70 Street. Well, as the saying goes, “expect the unexpected,” because the next street is 69 Road! A second sign on the sign pole informs us that 69 Road is also known as Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. Avenue. Aside from wondering who the heck is Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. (a New York City labor and community leader), one is also left to wonder how a road also can be an avenue? But let’s keep walking and wondering what street, road or avenue we might cross next. Another 69? Or do we finally get to 70?

Neither. We arrive at Jewel Avenue. Maybe we’re done with numbers and have moved to minerals? We keep walking and next come to – wait for it – 70 Avenue. We’re back to numbers. Hiking onward, we contemplate: will the next intersection be 71 or remain at 70? It’s 70, but it’s 70 Road.

Striding ever forward, next comes 71 Avenue, then 71 Road. I detect a pattern. So, I am not surprised when we reach 72 Avenue and then 72 Road. At this point I believe I have solved the mystery of Forest Hills street names – first an Avenue, then a Road, then move to the next number. Wrong again! But I’m relieved to be wrong, because the next street is 72 Drive, where my grandson lives. So, what initially looked like a four-block jaunt turned out to be a nine-block journey.

Like 69 Road, 72 Drive also has an alias: Walter Becker Way. Walter Becker was the co-founder of the musical group, Steely Dan. The band’s 1974 album, titled "Pretzel Logic” contains the song, “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number.” Is there a more fitting way to describe the naming of these streets of New York?

Carry that Weight

 

Boy, you’re gonna carry that weight,

Carry that weight a long time . . ..*

 I was a skinny kid. As a senior in high school, I weighed a whopping 128 pounds. I felt like the “Before” picture in a Charles Atlas ad and made a concerted effort to gain weight. My older brother had a set of barbells, and I started working out with those for a few weeks before becoming bored with the effort. I also grabbed second helpings at dinner. By prom time I stood at 135.

The summer between my senior year and freshman year in college, I learned to drink beer. All of a sudden, I was up to 150. I was satisfied with a 150-pound body and I was able to maintain that weight through four years of college.

I may have put on a few pounds during the years of my first job but made a concerted effort to lose them before my wedding day. I was a svelte 148 when I married the love of my life at age 24. Of course, that didn’t last long as my new wife was an excellent cook. I crept up toward 158 but found that I was able to shed five pounds almost at will.

I was 30 years old when my wife became pregnant with our first child. We had two more children over the next six and a half years. When my wife was gaining her pregnancy weight, I was putting on sympathy pounds. By the time our third child was born, I had become a man of substance, weighing in at about 162 pounds.

My chosen career was a lawyer, meaning that the bulk of my time was spent sitting behind a desk in an office. Still, I intentionally parked my car about a mile from my office, so I had a nice morning and afternoon walk. If the weather was pleasant, I would stroll around town during lunch hour. On several occasions, I rode the bus to work and then walked the three miles from my office to home. All that walking helped me to maintain my weight around 165, give or take a few pounds.

I retired after 30 years as a lawyer and somehow I was able to stay in that same range for the next eight years. Then came 2020 and the COVID pandemic. Between the idleness, the stress and, admittedly, the beer, I gained 15 pounds. I’ve carried that weight ever since.

Since the end of the pandemic, I have made several efforts to lose my pandemic paunch. My Medicare Advantage plan offers a free gym membership, so I joined LA Fitness. I signed up for a personal trainer and did weekly workouts with him for five months. Between those sessions, I walked around town or used the treadmill at the gym, striving to get 10,000 steps a day. Despite those efforts, my weight stayed the same or maybe increased a pound or two.

I tried to convince myself that I was at least toning my body even if the weight wasn’t coming off. But mirrors belied that hope as did my need to buy bigger pants.

Recently, I’ve begun a program of walking every day, watching my carbs, and lowering (but not eliminating) my alcohol intake to wine with dinner and one beer in the evening. I find that if I work really hard at this program, I can shed a pound or two over a week and a half. Unfortunately, one day of indulging myself with a second beer and a small bag of potato chips will put those pounds right back on.

Perhaps that is the scourge of old age that carries with it diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and sleep apnea along with weight that comes easily and doesn’t want to go away. And if I’m “gonna carry that weight a long time,” I am content, given the alternative, to still be healthy enough to walk, play board games with my wife, and strum my guitar.

 

*Carry that Weight, John Lennon & Paul McCartney, Abbey Road LP (1969)

Kryptonite

 

Well, I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind
I left my body lying somewhere in the sands of time
But I watched the world float to the dark side of the moon
I feel there's nothing I can do, yeah

 

If I go crazy, then will you still call me Superman?

 

Superman’s original motto was “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.” DC Comics revised that motto in 2021 to “Truth, Justice and a Better Tomorrow” to better appeal to an international audience. But this story is about the United States of America, the world’s superpower- the planet’s Superman. So, the original motto applies.

Truth: To be truthful is to be factual. Shortly after Donald Trump began his first term as President in January 2017, America was introduced to the concept of “alternative facts.” Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway defended a statement by Press Secretary Sean Spicer that Trump’s inauguration crowd was the largest ever – a provable lie, though Conway claimed it was an “alternative fact.” News correspondent Chuck Todd responded, "Look, alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods."^[

That didn’t stop Donald Trump from lying constantly. During his first term, the Washington Post fact checker counted 30,573 lies or misleading statements from the 45^th president, culminating in The Big Lie that the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen from him. Despite numerous court opinions and investigations in the states where Trump alleged fraud, none was found. While all available evidence pointed to the fact that Trump’s Big Lie was, in fact, a lie, millions of Trump supporters believed him and four years later, still believe him. And Trump continues to brazenly repeat the Big Lie to this day. Sadly, in Trump world, the only truth that matters is the truth that springs from the mouth of their Dear Leader. However, those outside the cult are willing to point out that the lies have not stopped.

Justice: Martin Luther King famously said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” That bend took a serious turn in the wrong direction in the person of Donald Trump.

Trump’s known crimes and ethical transgressions are too numerous to list here. He was convicted of 32 felonies by a New York jury. He was found liable for defamation surrounding a sexual assault and sentenced to pay $83 million. He was found liable by a New York court for business fraud and sentenced to pay $354 million. He was impeached for withholding aid from Ukraine while attempting to extort an agreement to investigate a political opponent. He was charged with stealing classified documents. He was charged with election interference based on his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Those efforts amounted to staging a coup as he urged violent supporters to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

At every turn, Trump has sought to thwart justice through delays, a questionable immunity ruling by a highly politicized Supreme Court, and dismissal on a technicality by a friendly Trump-appointed judge in his home state of Florida. His attempt to overturn a free and fair election resulted in a second impeachment. But justice was once again denied as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell urged Republicans to vote against conviction on the technicality that Trump was no longer President. This allowed Trump to run for President in 2024; a conviction would have forever barred him from office.

Where justice had been served by the conviction and imprisonment of over 1,500 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection, Trump pardoned or commuted their sentences on the first day of his second term as President. Where in the arc of the moral universe does that place the United States, which put him back into office?

The American Way: Nearly 250 years ago, a small group of patriots had a dream of a better way of living than under a despotic king. After defeating the king’s army, they hammered out a Constitution that set up a form of government that didn’t exist in their world. When asked what form of government the founders had agreed upon, Benjamin Franklin replied, “A republic if you can keep it.”

The Constitution established a government of checks and balances among three distinct branches, each with their own role. Any sixth-grade civics student will tell you that the legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch, headed by the President, carries out the laws and the judicial branch interprets the laws.

The new Trump administration seeks to consolidate all governmental power in the President. In a few short days after taking office, Trump is already attempting to assert dictatorial powers through issuing a series of Executive Orders, some of which have been challenged. His order purporting to end birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the text of the 14^th Amendment, was ruled as “blatantly unconstitutional” by a federal judge. But Trump will appeal any adverse judgments, betting that they will be overturned by a Supreme Court that has shown its willingness to bend to Trump’s will.

Conclusion:  A liar, an unpunished and defiant criminal, and an insurrectionist attempting to take on dictatorial powers, Donald J. Trump is kryptonite to the Superman that is the United States of America.

Exposure to kryptonite drains Superman of his strength and powers, causing severe pain. Prolonged exposure will cause him to die.

Based on his first term and what we’ve seen so far of his second, I think the country has gone crazy to put this man in the White House. So, can we still call it Superman?

To paraphrase the lyrics of the song “Kryptonite” by 3 Doors Down:

I watched the nation float to the dark side of the moon,

I feel there’s nothing I can do. . . .

 

Except, resist! Speak out! Insist on the Truth! Seek justice! Fight to keep our republic!

 

Songwriters: Bradley Kirk Arnold / Matthew Darrick Roberts / Robert Todd Harrell; “Kryptonite” performed by 3 Doors Down.