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Protests Big And Small

Read more articles on The Thoughts Of A Writer In New York City.

July 24, 2006

Posted by neillevine

About This Editor: I am a writer. Have been writing for other sites, but expect to do most of my future work HERE! My expertise extends from the esoteric such as burning hydrogen to the unpredictability of the stock market and my writing makes me a jack of all trades and exasperated master of none. I have had some influence over national wildfire and water policy and there are hints of a change in energy policy, BUT as Samuel Goldwyn once said, "A verbal promise is not worth the paper it is written on."

         

Thursday was my birthday and the only thing I can say was I had a disappointing day. The scheduling person I talked to at VESID, the New York State Department of Education disability rehabilitation arm, insisted on that date so I kept my appointment and completed my interview. I do not believe I accomplished much. The interviewer said the agency would get back to me in two months. But considering the fact I got the meeting because I was able to get an official hearing about my need for more straightforward government services at least I won a little bit on that point.

This is hard to explain but what I really want is more official honesty on matters that are important to me. What I get are decisions other people make that I have to cope with under difficult circumstances.

Just describing the neighborhood I had to go to should give some amplification of what is what. The office is near the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a well known cultural facility that presents films and live performances. It is not far from the end of Prospect Park that has the Brooklyn Museum, the Prospect Park Zoo and Brooklyn Botanic Garden. There also is a fairly new mall with a Macy*s, an Old Navy, a Staples, a Pathmark and so on inside, a block or two away and a new skyscraper over the Long Island Railroad and subway station with street level shopping called the Atlantic Terminal.

This is also the neighborhood where protests over the even grander Atlantic Yards mixed use complex is going to tower over the dusty streets below. The proposal has sparked protests from some local people and celebrities such as Steve Buscemi, Rosie Perez, Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger based on the bucolic notion that they are entitled to a quiet rural undeveloped neighborhood without the interruptions and traffic modern life brings.

What I want is more open writing opportunities and the right to be taken seriously without having to put up with irrational exuberance and unfulfillable fantasies.