8 hours ago
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The wind this morning was unbelievable! Not only was there an occasional sprinkle, but the gusts tore at the Market tents with such force that many sellers had to hold poles firmly in place or they’d be swept away with the tempest.
This, of course, did not keep me home. But it was discouraging to come to L'Etoile and find a note asking me to, on top of everything else, pick out some five varieties of apples, totaling to maybe 80 plus pounds. And it was discouraging to have Chef O be in such a peppy chatty mood as she joined me on one of my rounds. It took the two of us two hours to circle the Square (can one really circle a square? I’m getting dangerously close to making an orange an apple here). I finally abandoned her at a cheese stand. Clearly she’s operating with different heat moments than I am.
So how cold, dark and wet was it? Note the seller at Harmony Valley (photo below) warming her hands in the heat of the lamp – which itself is on so that customers can see the vegetables in the dark, early morning hours.
Working both sides of the fence
I am not now, never have been, nor will ever be part of the management team at L’Etoile. But right now, neither am I exactly wage labor. It’s more like I’m a contracted service provider. And so I get to tune in to stories from both ends: from labor and from the boss. And like the true two-faced person that I am, I am openly sympathetic to both.
I am also sometimes the keeper of secrets for both. For instance, today, I asked Chef O how her day had gone yesterday (it had been her birthday – she is exactly half a year older than I am). Terrible! She tells me. She had bounced in for the staff meal, excited and ready for some tiny celebration on her behalf and there was…none. It kind of broke her heart. [People: you need to start taking the birthdays of others seriously. Presents, cards, the whole works. And never, ever take seriously such statements as “oh, don’t bother doing anything for me.” Nobody means that. Ever.]
Plagued by guilt and pity I went out and found the biggest bouquet I could get at the Market and passed it on to her. One day late, but what can you do.
However, in chatting to ‘labor,’ I found out that in reality, a bash is in the works for her, scheduled for our staff meeting this coming Monday evening. Of course, I can’t tell Chef O that.
Conversely, I cannot tell ‘labor’ that management has a stunning announcement to make on that day. While everyone is busy busy readying the place for a celebration, management is busy busy with its own little surprise.
So here I am, anticipating a tempest and a celebration. How will it all end? Tune in Monday evening. My lips are sealed until then (to my knowledge, no one from L’Etoile tracks this blog; but I am taking no chances).
This, of course, did not keep me home. But it was discouraging to come to L'Etoile and find a note asking me to, on top of everything else, pick out some five varieties of apples, totaling to maybe 80 plus pounds. And it was discouraging to have Chef O be in such a peppy chatty mood as she joined me on one of my rounds. It took the two of us two hours to circle the Square (can one really circle a square? I’m getting dangerously close to making an orange an apple here). I finally abandoned her at a cheese stand. Clearly she’s operating with different heat moments than I am.
So how cold, dark and wet was it? Note the seller at Harmony Valley (photo below) warming her hands in the heat of the lamp – which itself is on so that customers can see the vegetables in the dark, early morning hours.
Working both sides of the fence
I am not now, never have been, nor will ever be part of the management team at L’Etoile. But right now, neither am I exactly wage labor. It’s more like I’m a contracted service provider. And so I get to tune in to stories from both ends: from labor and from the boss. And like the true two-faced person that I am, I am openly sympathetic to both.
I am also sometimes the keeper of secrets for both. For instance, today, I asked Chef O how her day had gone yesterday (it had been her birthday – she is exactly half a year older than I am). Terrible! She tells me. She had bounced in for the staff meal, excited and ready for some tiny celebration on her behalf and there was…none. It kind of broke her heart. [People: you need to start taking the birthdays of others seriously. Presents, cards, the whole works. And never, ever take seriously such statements as “oh, don’t bother doing anything for me.” Nobody means that. Ever.]
Plagued by guilt and pity I went out and found the biggest bouquet I could get at the Market and passed it on to her. One day late, but what can you do.
However, in chatting to ‘labor,’ I found out that in reality, a bash is in the works for her, scheduled for our staff meeting this coming Monday evening. Of course, I can’t tell Chef O that.
Conversely, I cannot tell ‘labor’ that management has a stunning announcement to make on that day. While everyone is busy busy readying the place for a celebration, management is busy busy with its own little surprise.
So here I am, anticipating a tempest and a celebration. How will it all end? Tune in Monday evening. My lips are sealed until then (to my knowledge, no one from L’Etoile tracks this blog; but I am taking no chances).
Eighteen days...
At the corner of 18th and Irving Place you can find Pete’s Tavern, the oldest continuously operating tavern in New York. (During the Prohibition it disguised itself as a flower shop.) Sometimes called O’Henry’s place (he frequented it as the turn of the century), it is indeed a landmark. Even though the original Pete (Pete Belles) did not want to be famous back in 1864 when he opened the place. He just wanted his own tavern.
Tick tock, tick tock, 127 years later, Ruth MacLeod is at the Tavern. It is a nice summer evening and tables are set outdoors, inside a guard-rail. Ruth is there, so is a group of waiters and customers. She needs to pass through, but the waiters are chatting up the customers and so she needs to step around them, outside the guard rail. There is an indentation in the sidewalk. She stumbles and falls (Torts class! An open and shut slip & fall case??). She sues Pete’s. The issue becomes whether the tavern's duty of care extends beyond the guardrail.
On appeal, the court said no and the complaint against Pete’s Tavern was dismissed. (Properly, don’t you think?)
Compare and contrast:
Tick tock, tick tock, a year later (in that most publicized of cases, so think about it, this is the most debatable jury award), 79 year-old Stella Liebeck sustains 3rd degree burns, requiring hospitalization and skin grafts, after she spills coffee purchased at McDonald’s. Does McDonald’s know the coffee is too hot to serve or drink? Yes, having had 700 recorded severe burns in the decade prior to this case, they knew. Were they willing to reduce the temperature (that was held at nearly 50 degrees above the industry standard)? No, that would have reduced the optimal brewing capacity of every last grind. What would get them to reconsider? A large punitive damages award (large in a manner of speaking; the jury award, reduced considerably afterwards, was equal to two days’ worth of coffee sales for the chain), shifting the cost-benefit calculus, so that it no longer paid for them to serve dangerously hot beverages. Was Stella thinking of lawsuits as her son pulled out of the drive-up the day she opened the cup to put in the cream and sugar? No, she just wanted a cup of coffee.
Litigation, regulation… I heard GWB last night speak to a crowd in Wisconsin about the dangers of both. About the need to free companies of regulatory restrictions and free each and every one of us from frivolous litigation. I wonder what the hell he was talking about?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
At the corner of 18th and Irving Place you can find Pete’s Tavern, the oldest continuously operating tavern in New York. (During the Prohibition it disguised itself as a flower shop.) Sometimes called O’Henry’s place (he frequented it as the turn of the century), it is indeed a landmark. Even though the original Pete (Pete Belles) did not want to be famous back in 1864 when he opened the place. He just wanted his own tavern.
Tick tock, tick tock, 127 years later, Ruth MacLeod is at the Tavern. It is a nice summer evening and tables are set outdoors, inside a guard-rail. Ruth is there, so is a group of waiters and customers. She needs to pass through, but the waiters are chatting up the customers and so she needs to step around them, outside the guard rail. There is an indentation in the sidewalk. She stumbles and falls (Torts class! An open and shut slip & fall case??). She sues Pete’s. The issue becomes whether the tavern's duty of care extends beyond the guardrail.
On appeal, the court said no and the complaint against Pete’s Tavern was dismissed. (Properly, don’t you think?)
Compare and contrast:
Tick tock, tick tock, a year later (in that most publicized of cases, so think about it, this is the most debatable jury award), 79 year-old Stella Liebeck sustains 3rd degree burns, requiring hospitalization and skin grafts, after she spills coffee purchased at McDonald’s. Does McDonald’s know the coffee is too hot to serve or drink? Yes, having had 700 recorded severe burns in the decade prior to this case, they knew. Were they willing to reduce the temperature (that was held at nearly 50 degrees above the industry standard)? No, that would have reduced the optimal brewing capacity of every last grind. What would get them to reconsider? A large punitive damages award (large in a manner of speaking; the jury award, reduced considerably afterwards, was equal to two days’ worth of coffee sales for the chain), shifting the cost-benefit calculus, so that it no longer paid for them to serve dangerously hot beverages. Was Stella thinking of lawsuits as her son pulled out of the drive-up the day she opened the cup to put in the cream and sugar? No, she just wanted a cup of coffee.
Litigation, regulation… I heard GWB last night speak to a crowd in Wisconsin about the dangers of both. About the need to free companies of regulatory restrictions and free each and every one of us from frivolous litigation. I wonder what the hell he was talking about?
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Friday, October 15, 2004
A cautionary tale about ham
I want to give a deferential nod to the power of lobbying efforts. You always imagine that in the higher echelons of the legislature, reason will prevail and no lobbyist will be able to convince a decision-maker that an apple is really an orange. But we should heed the lessons coming to us from Italy. Because there, it has been officially proclaimed that prosciutto (or for that matter its variations: prosciutto cotto (cooked) and crudo (raw), coppa, cotechino, guanciale, lardo, lonza, mortadella, pancetta, porchetta, salsiccia, salumi, spalla and speck) does not belong to the meat group. It stands alone, it is a category in its own right, it is a protected local product, enthusiastically handed to vegetarians requesting a meatless dish. (Read about it in the International Herald Tribune, here.)
If the Italians can convince each other that Parma ham is not a meat, then I fear we are nanoseconds (JK rules in his choice of words!) away from allowing ourselves to be convinced that GWB is indeed a steward of the land. The world is becoming a very complicated place indeed.
If the Italians can convince each other that Parma ham is not a meat, then I fear we are nanoseconds (JK rules in his choice of words!) away from allowing ourselves to be convinced that GWB is indeed a steward of the land. The world is becoming a very complicated place indeed.
Listening to the news today, nineteen mornings before we hit the voting booths, I was dumbfounded to hear the Republican desperation as they cling still to an “L” theme (choice for today: Lesbian). I thought I myself had beaten the “L” issue to death in my most recent post. Indeed, GWB’s team is abandoning Love for Laura as, in spite of her strength as a woman, she appears not to be a strong enough ace in the deck to knock the wind out of the Kerry kitesurf as he stunningly careens his way to the lead after the last debate. Thus the search continues for an “L” replacement and for now, as panic sets in (you ‘lost’ three debates in a row, how could you lose three debates in a row??), the crazed desire to change the post-debate spin is ON!
Nineteen days and I am reminded of the lyrics to a Stones song. Were they anticipating this moment in time when indeed, the GWB campaign would lose it?
When you were a child
You were treated kind
But you were never brought up right.
You were always spoiled with a thousand toys
…
You better stop
Look around
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown!
And what’s with the Fishs Eddy banner in the photo above? It’s a delightful store on 19th street (named after a small flyfishing town in the Catskills), selling American-made china, often salvaged from ocean liners, restaurants, or airlines, sometimes creatively designed just for today’s quirky buyer. They have an interesting home page on their website. Seemingly bi-partisan (but not really if you read it carefully -- and I apologize, I have yet to figure out how to phtograph a computer screen with a sharper resolution), they do indeed get their message across, in big bold orange blocks (lost in the photo is the line right below which reads Election Day is Tuesday November 2, 2004. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!):
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Nineteen days and I am reminded of the lyrics to a Stones song. Were they anticipating this moment in time when indeed, the GWB campaign would lose it?
When you were a child
You were treated kind
But you were never brought up right.
You were always spoiled with a thousand toys
…
You better stop
Look around
Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes, here it comes
Here comes your nineteenth nervous breakdown!
And what’s with the Fishs Eddy banner in the photo above? It’s a delightful store on 19th street (named after a small flyfishing town in the Catskills), selling American-made china, often salvaged from ocean liners, restaurants, or airlines, sometimes creatively designed just for today’s quirky buyer. They have an interesting home page on their website. Seemingly bi-partisan (but not really if you read it carefully -- and I apologize, I have yet to figure out how to phtograph a computer screen with a sharper resolution), they do indeed get their message across, in big bold orange blocks (lost in the photo is the line right below which reads Election Day is Tuesday November 2, 2004. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!):
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Twenty days…
TR
What would have been the Theodore Roosevelt Way to approach a debate? Certainly with a great command of the facts, a tremendous concern for the environment, for social justice, women’s rights, corporate responsibility and a call to end American isolationism abroad.
Familiar themes, aren’t they? Reading a biography of TR is enlightening. The 26th president’s interests and talents were stunningly multifarious. How can I be so presumptuous as to suggest that we overlap in some way? Oh, but there is indeed an area: it is said of him that he had a love of keeping connected to his friends and contacts through writing letters. Indeed, he appeared to have written well over 150,000 letters in his lifetime. Had he email, I’m sure the number would have been ten times that.
The “L” letter
Last night, 9 people came together (here) to listen carefully for the dreaded “L” word. It was announced prior to the debate that the evening would be one monstrous “L” attack as well as a defense of “L”-ness.
But in signaling this, the newscaster forgot to provide specifics. What “L” theme would be foisted on us, causing anarchy and chaos, moving us away from the “march to freedom?” [Thank you to the person last night who did a reenactment for me just to illustrate how that march might look. It was a militaristic moment.]
A stipulation for the evening: no drinking games (but it was so tempting, so tempting, especially when one heard such cunning lines as “I sent my budget man…”). One had to be alert to catch the moment went “L” would LEAP from the podium.
And so what happened? Did we miss it? Because, although there were a lot of “L” words floating around, no devastating punch was levied against the “L” leaning candidate. And which of the various "Ls" was the intended coup de grace? I’m running down my list of “L” candidates from last night: Was it Litmus test? Or Left? Or Left behind? Or Lesbian? Was it Legal reform and Litigation (said in one sentence, sort of like a punch and then a follow-up kick)? Or Lawsuit and Liability reform (also in one sentence; clearly GWB is tuned to the legal system)? You know, I bet it was Love. Because the press seems to believe that the crowning moment of glory for Bush (of all three debates) came when he spoke of his wife, Laura. Laura, hey that is IT! The intended punch at Kerry who has no Laura in his life! A good reason not to vote for him? You bet! Every presidnet needs a Laura to Love in order to do well in the White House! Love my wife Laura – 2 “Ls,” delivering the cataclysmic blow to Kerry who, struggling to survive, had to come up with Love for Mom. Not quite up there with Laura, but close enough in alphabet. Teresa is too far down the letter line-up. [And thank you, Mr. Schieffer, for coming up with the stupidest final Q of the debates.]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
a photo of Rosemary Forbes Kerry:
TR
What would have been the Theodore Roosevelt Way to approach a debate? Certainly with a great command of the facts, a tremendous concern for the environment, for social justice, women’s rights, corporate responsibility and a call to end American isolationism abroad.
Familiar themes, aren’t they? Reading a biography of TR is enlightening. The 26th president’s interests and talents were stunningly multifarious. How can I be so presumptuous as to suggest that we overlap in some way? Oh, but there is indeed an area: it is said of him that he had a love of keeping connected to his friends and contacts through writing letters. Indeed, he appeared to have written well over 150,000 letters in his lifetime. Had he email, I’m sure the number would have been ten times that.
The “L” letter
Last night, 9 people came together (here) to listen carefully for the dreaded “L” word. It was announced prior to the debate that the evening would be one monstrous “L” attack as well as a defense of “L”-ness.
But in signaling this, the newscaster forgot to provide specifics. What “L” theme would be foisted on us, causing anarchy and chaos, moving us away from the “march to freedom?” [Thank you to the person last night who did a reenactment for me just to illustrate how that march might look. It was a militaristic moment.]
A stipulation for the evening: no drinking games (but it was so tempting, so tempting, especially when one heard such cunning lines as “I sent my budget man…”). One had to be alert to catch the moment went “L” would LEAP from the podium.
And so what happened? Did we miss it? Because, although there were a lot of “L” words floating around, no devastating punch was levied against the “L” leaning candidate. And which of the various "Ls" was the intended coup de grace? I’m running down my list of “L” candidates from last night: Was it Litmus test? Or Left? Or Left behind? Or Lesbian? Was it Legal reform and Litigation (said in one sentence, sort of like a punch and then a follow-up kick)? Or Lawsuit and Liability reform (also in one sentence; clearly GWB is tuned to the legal system)? You know, I bet it was Love. Because the press seems to believe that the crowning moment of glory for Bush (of all three debates) came when he spoke of his wife, Laura. Laura, hey that is IT! The intended punch at Kerry who has no Laura in his life! A good reason not to vote for him? You bet! Every presidnet needs a Laura to Love in order to do well in the White House! Love my wife Laura – 2 “Ls,” delivering the cataclysmic blow to Kerry who, struggling to survive, had to come up with Love for Mom. Not quite up there with Laura, but close enough in alphabet. Teresa is too far down the letter line-up. [And thank you, Mr. Schieffer, for coming up with the stupidest final Q of the debates.]
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
a photo of Rosemary Forbes Kerry:
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Yet another post that demonstrates my commitment to both sides of the political spectrum
I want to show my open-mindedness. I want to understand those who are deeply, passionately committed to the current president. And so (with guidance from my neighbor –thanks!) I went to the hometown of our folksy man to read about the support offered to him by the locals.
I was disappointed.
Instead of a yipee-tayay-yey (is that what they shout in a small town in Texas?) in support of their local hero, GWB’s hometown paper has just announced that it is leaving George behind.
Here are excerpts from an editorial appearing in the Lone Star Iconoclast (the newspaper from Crawford, Texas):
The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry, based not only on the things that Bush has delivered, but also on the vision of a return to normality that Kerry says our country needs.…
We believed [Bush], just as we believed it when he reported that Iraq was the heart of terrorism. We trusted him.The Iconoclast, the President’s hometown newspaper, took Bush on his word and editorialized in favor of the invasion. The newspaper’s publisher promoted Bush and the invasion of Iraq to Londoners in a BBC interview during the time that the administration was wooing the support of Prime Minister Tony Blair.Again, he let us down.
…
That’s why The Iconoclast urges Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country. The Iconoclast wholeheartedly endorses John Kerry.
True, the paper has a weekly circulation of 425 and perhaps it has been infiltrated by communists and pacifists in the last four years. In any case, my search for a better understanding of the GWB’s fan base continues. Crawford, Texas did not deliver.
I was disappointed.
Instead of a yipee-tayay-yey (is that what they shout in a small town in Texas?) in support of their local hero, GWB’s hometown paper has just announced that it is leaving George behind.
Here are excerpts from an editorial appearing in the Lone Star Iconoclast (the newspaper from Crawford, Texas):
The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda.Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry, based not only on the things that Bush has delivered, but also on the vision of a return to normality that Kerry says our country needs.…
We believed [Bush], just as we believed it when he reported that Iraq was the heart of terrorism. We trusted him.The Iconoclast, the President’s hometown newspaper, took Bush on his word and editorialized in favor of the invasion. The newspaper’s publisher promoted Bush and the invasion of Iraq to Londoners in a BBC interview during the time that the administration was wooing the support of Prime Minister Tony Blair.Again, he let us down.
…
That’s why The Iconoclast urges Texans not to rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country. The Iconoclast wholeheartedly endorses John Kerry.
True, the paper has a weekly circulation of 425 and perhaps it has been infiltrated by communists and pacifists in the last four years. In any case, my search for a better understanding of the GWB’s fan base continues. Crawford, Texas did not deliver.
The very first offices of The New Republic were housed in buildings on the far west side of 21st street. Virginia Woolf once wrote for the New Republic (see VW post below; the intricate connections between events, people, circumstances are amazing).
Reading the editorial of TNR today, 21 days before the election, will put you right in the middle of where we, indeed ought to be: Darfur. As the editors points out (here), it is the one place where even a very small dose of “American might” can make a significant difference in stabilization efforts. It is an opportunity that the current administration refuses to take and one that Kerry is willing to consider. In the words of TNR:
[B]y hammering home this message [of a willingness to send stabilizing troops], Kerry would show how absent Bush has been. After all, it is Bush, not Kerry, who is now presiding over 6,000 to 10,000 Darfurian deaths each month. It is up to Bush, as president, to stop the genocide.
Tonight is, of course, the night of the last debate and Darfur will not be on the agenda. And in any case, few of those who are still undecided would consider the Darfur issue as crucial, even though what happens here on November 2nd will determine the fate of thousands in Sudan. It is frightening to give such power to a voter who can’t even point to Sudan on a global map let alone comprehend the importance of providing support to the region.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
Reading the editorial of TNR today, 21 days before the election, will put you right in the middle of where we, indeed ought to be: Darfur. As the editors points out (here), it is the one place where even a very small dose of “American might” can make a significant difference in stabilization efforts. It is an opportunity that the current administration refuses to take and one that Kerry is willing to consider. In the words of TNR:
[B]y hammering home this message [of a willingness to send stabilizing troops], Kerry would show how absent Bush has been. After all, it is Bush, not Kerry, who is now presiding over 6,000 to 10,000 Darfurian deaths each month. It is up to Bush, as president, to stop the genocide.
Tonight is, of course, the night of the last debate and Darfur will not be on the agenda. And in any case, few of those who are still undecided would consider the Darfur issue as crucial, even though what happens here on November 2nd will determine the fate of thousands in Sudan. It is frightening to give such power to a voter who can’t even point to Sudan on a global map let alone comprehend the importance of providing support to the region.
(*see “forty-second street pre-election diary” post, September 22, for explanation of post title)
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