Five things about New York I miss the most:
1. tall buildings;
2. frequent and round-the-clock public transportation;
3. well-dressed grown-ups. Grown-ups in general, but especially Chinese delivery men, Mexican deli-owners, Puerto-Rican guys wearing Yankees caps, Nepali waiters, African-American teenage girls in private school uniforms, Irish firefighters, and Upper-West-side Jewish mothers pushing their baby strollers in the park;
4. grocery stores within walking distance from the apartment that sell extra yokey egg salad with dill and provide customers with puffy jackets for the frozen foods section;
5. Riverside Drive, Broadway, Fifth Avenue, even West 14th street.
And the beach -- oh, no, that's in Tel Aviv!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Three Months Later…
No, I haven’t been sent back to the old country or a secret detention facility for suspicious foreigners. Actually, crossing the border this time was a breeze: even though I did not have my green card on me (it was waiting for me in NY), I was shooed through the gate for citizens and residents and asked no questions. Since then, I’ve been dividing my time among settling into my new environment (arranging furniture in the new apartment, learning the bus routes, mapquesting driving directions to malls and grocery stores etc.); obsessing about political and economic news thanks to newly acquired, although not without trials and tribulations caused by utter incompetence and indifference of the local cable monopoly, cable TV and high-speed internet; applying for jobs and post-docs; and working on a conference paper that is supposed to jump-start my next dissertation chapter.
Earlier this year when I already knew I was moving here – to a battleground state that only narrowly went to Democrats in the last two presidential races (thank you, Ralph Nader, and I can’t believe you’re running again!) – I thought I’d combine my passion for politics and for procrastination, put my dissertation on hold, and go work for the Obama campaign. But then I realized that a red- and egg-head with a foreign accent who just moved to the state from the East Coast would be more of a liability than an asset in an area populated by Arian-looking descendants of vikings. Am I glad now I backed off: a “Russian Red” agitating for Obama would have certainly sealed his reputation as an unabashed socialist among those die-hard Reagan Republicans who so stubbornly refuse not only to vote their economic interests but also to see clearly what massive tax cuts and deregulation have done to the country’s economy. I still plan to partake in some last-minute get-out-the-vote effort but then I expect to be in touch with committed Obama supporters who hopefully won’t get eleventh-hour cold feet. As far as I am concerned, the election day can’t come soon enough; in the last few days the wait, imbued with constantly fluctuating poll numbers and analysis of increasingly frenzied pundits, has become truly excruciating and even the "pulling teeth” metaphor does not do justice: when you get a tooth pulled you know the cost, the outcome, and even who to blame (your nanna for feeding you candy everyday at bedtime and the Soviet government for withholding floss from its citizens). All the trends and signs look good at the moment, but they were also good four and eight years ago. I get very inspired when I see Obama signs in every other window of student dorms and hear kids with Obama buttons brag about how long they waited to do their early voting. But I also get worried that others will have a bad hangover after a three-day Halloween party and decide to lie this one out in bed. I imagine how proud and excited African-Americans must be – I even envy them a little – and I despair almost as much as they do at the possibility of voter suppression. I am fearful of long lines, machine breakdowns, and butterfly ballots, all of which can and have messed up the results.
But most of all, I am worried about Ohio. When CAG and I visited there two months ago, in the wake of the party conventions, we got an earful from his relatives about why they weren't in the Obama camp. Some couldn't quite articulate the reasons that, despite their long-standing allegiance to the Democrats, they weren't comfortable voting for him. Others cited fear of higher taxes and expanded welfare. The candidate's race figured prominently, as did -- most astonishingly to us -- a belief that he was the anti-Christ (this, I report with relief, came from a relative by marriage and not blood). We are yet to check in one last time on were things stand now and attempt last-minute reasoning, but I remain skeptical: I'm afraid that the 150,000-dollar woman and the maverick man, with their new local celebrity, Joe the Plummer, who's now opined not only on candidates' positions on taxes but also foreign policy, would sway the Ohioans to vote "safe."
On the other hand, I am not that surprised that Indiana, previously as red as they come, is now, according to some sources, a tossup. I think it's a myth that the "heartland" -- Indiana included -- is a conservative stronghold: how conservative can be a state whose major highway displays more than a dozen billboards advertising "Lion's Den Adult Superstore"?? Even though "concerned Christians" have tried to shut it down for over two years, the store remains open and, I assume, successful. The same interstate has an exit to Whitestown on the one side of the road and Brownsburg on the other. At first, I took it as a sign of lingering segregation, but now I am wondering whether the fact that these two towns share a highway exit testifies to growing multiculturalism and tolerance. Change is coming; at least I hope. We'll know for sure in five days.
But now I need to turn off the TV, shut off the internet, and get back to my conference paper. If only I had the willpower...
Earlier this year when I already knew I was moving here – to a battleground state that only narrowly went to Democrats in the last two presidential races (thank you, Ralph Nader, and I can’t believe you’re running again!) – I thought I’d combine my passion for politics and for procrastination, put my dissertation on hold, and go work for the Obama campaign. But then I realized that a red- and egg-head with a foreign accent who just moved to the state from the East Coast would be more of a liability than an asset in an area populated by Arian-looking descendants of vikings. Am I glad now I backed off: a “Russian Red” agitating for Obama would have certainly sealed his reputation as an unabashed socialist among those die-hard Reagan Republicans who so stubbornly refuse not only to vote their economic interests but also to see clearly what massive tax cuts and deregulation have done to the country’s economy. I still plan to partake in some last-minute get-out-the-vote effort but then I expect to be in touch with committed Obama supporters who hopefully won’t get eleventh-hour cold feet. As far as I am concerned, the election day can’t come soon enough; in the last few days the wait, imbued with constantly fluctuating poll numbers and analysis of increasingly frenzied pundits, has become truly excruciating and even the "pulling teeth” metaphor does not do justice: when you get a tooth pulled you know the cost, the outcome, and even who to blame (your nanna for feeding you candy everyday at bedtime and the Soviet government for withholding floss from its citizens). All the trends and signs look good at the moment, but they were also good four and eight years ago. I get very inspired when I see Obama signs in every other window of student dorms and hear kids with Obama buttons brag about how long they waited to do their early voting. But I also get worried that others will have a bad hangover after a three-day Halloween party and decide to lie this one out in bed. I imagine how proud and excited African-Americans must be – I even envy them a little – and I despair almost as much as they do at the possibility of voter suppression. I am fearful of long lines, machine breakdowns, and butterfly ballots, all of which can and have messed up the results.
But most of all, I am worried about Ohio. When CAG and I visited there two months ago, in the wake of the party conventions, we got an earful from his relatives about why they weren't in the Obama camp. Some couldn't quite articulate the reasons that, despite their long-standing allegiance to the Democrats, they weren't comfortable voting for him. Others cited fear of higher taxes and expanded welfare. The candidate's race figured prominently, as did -- most astonishingly to us -- a belief that he was the anti-Christ (this, I report with relief, came from a relative by marriage and not blood). We are yet to check in one last time on were things stand now and attempt last-minute reasoning, but I remain skeptical: I'm afraid that the 150,000-dollar woman and the maverick man, with their new local celebrity, Joe the Plummer, who's now opined not only on candidates' positions on taxes but also foreign policy, would sway the Ohioans to vote "safe."
On the other hand, I am not that surprised that Indiana, previously as red as they come, is now, according to some sources, a tossup. I think it's a myth that the "heartland" -- Indiana included -- is a conservative stronghold: how conservative can be a state whose major highway displays more than a dozen billboards advertising "Lion's Den Adult Superstore"?? Even though "concerned Christians" have tried to shut it down for over two years, the store remains open and, I assume, successful. The same interstate has an exit to Whitestown on the one side of the road and Brownsburg on the other. At first, I took it as a sign of lingering segregation, but now I am wondering whether the fact that these two towns share a highway exit testifies to growing multiculturalism and tolerance. Change is coming; at least I hope. We'll know for sure in five days.
But now I need to turn off the TV, shut off the internet, and get back to my conference paper. If only I had the willpower...
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