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Incumbent Mayor Garners Support Among Citizens of Jamaica, Queens

On the morning of September 12th at Taulfourd Lawn Elementary School in Jamaica, Queens, voters cast their votes for District 28’s primary election. A low turnout left some residents discouraged such as Abraham Richard, who believes that voting is important in making the voices of the community heard. Incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio garnered the most support in the community. For voters that cast their vote for de Blasio, many believed he would bring about the change that he promised. In contrast those who voted for Sal Albanese, while acknowledging his low chance of victory, voiced anger and frustration with the current mayor.

Many of the inhabitants of Jamaica want to see issues regarding higher education standards, a lack of housing, and accessibility for the elderly to be addressed. “Quality education is a problem in minority neighborhoods, we need a level playing field,” said Maurice Brown, a local resident and parent. The citizens spoken to voiced an overall favorable opinion of the current mayor, Bill de Blasio, especially regarding his commitment to education.

“He’s in. I’m going to give him a chance,” said Jerome Barlow, who believed that de Blasio, in terms of policies and qualifications, stood above the other mayoral candidates.  Under de Blasio, the city, as a whole, has experienced historic lows, according to nyc.gov. This drop in crime and his introduction of universal pre-kindergarten allowed de Blasio to win the primary, despite his relative unpopularity.

For some, however, his policies are seen as too lenient and unfair.

“We lived here for twenty-four years and they want us to leave,” said Colette Davis, a resident of Jamaica. Davis and her husband claim that, due to de Blasio’s plan to construct more homeless hotels and shelters, they found themselves victims of eminent domain. The two point cite perceived corruption, seemingly unfair policies, and a blatant disregard for people in the community as factors that lead up to their forced displacement.

Jim Brown, a former law enforcement officer and resident of Jamaica expressed distaste for de Blasio. “He’s too liberal, too easy,” said Brown, stating that de Blasio was too kind to criminals. The mayor's relationship with the police has been strained. The administration required officers to conduct additional training on takedown and, at a low point, officers attending a colleagues funeral turned their back on de Blasio.

Many District 28 voters expressed satisfaction with de Blasio’s first term. Voters believe he is doing his best to keep his campaign promises and are hopeful that he continues to follow through. Some voters do remain apathetic or skeptical. For others, a concern lies in the lack of involvement on the community level as demonstrated by few people showing up to vote throughout the day. Maurice Brown, long time resident of Jamaica, believes that voting is one of the most important things a citizen can do. “Voices need to be heard. Even one voice. Not voting is not representing.”

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The Saudi Arabia of Wind

On Monday evening, Climate Week NYC featured a panel at Columbia Law School entitled, “Offshore Wind In New York: What’s Next?.” The forum sought to discuss the importance and potential for the use of offshore wind power to revolutionize the generation energy for the state of New York. The Sallan Foundation, an organization that seeks to promote the transition from the use of fossil fuels to the use of cleaner, greener energy in cities, sponsored the event.  

To begin the night, the panel addressed the questions: Why New York and why now? New York’s northern, coastal location makes it one of the best places to begin constructing offshore wind farms. New York has both the physical and cultural climate for offshore to succeed

“What was conventional wisdom ten, even five years ago has been upended,” said Nancy Anderson of the Sallan Foundation. She cited plummeting project costs and the increasing evidence of climate change as reasons for people to support for more offshore wind power. Doreen Harris of NYSERDA reiterated “New York’s commitment to the fight against climate change” by pointing out that last year, Governor Cuomo proposed constructing farms that would produce enough power, 2.4 gigawatts, to power over 1 million homes by 2030. The cost would rival that of current fossil fuel prices.

Additionally, Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabian Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University pointed out that “two years ago, Governor Cuomo pledged New York would be 80 percent below” the current upward trend in greenhouse emissions.

However, while not seen at this event, offshore wind farming arouses opposition despite possible benefits. “The ocean is not a blank slate,” said Anderson. In essence, Anderson recognizes that building structures in the ocean presents the potential to disrupt marine life as well as the life of coastal inhabitants.

Opponents of offshore wind farming often voice concerns relating to other industries that are based off the coast, such as fishing or shipping. Edward Anthes- Washburn, who works for the Port of New Bedford and present via Skype, often interacts these opponents in New Bedford, whose location makes it a prime spot to pursue offshore wind power, similar to New York. “We’ve seen what can happen if you go planning ahead of time, the engagement ahead of time and we think that’s a better recipe for success,” said Anthes-Washburn when asked how to solve these issues.

Critics view offshore wind power as a potential threat to marine life. Drawing upon this concern about the effects, Kit Kennedy of the Natural Resources Defense Council offers a relatively simple solution to this problem. “Make sure there is a rigorous environmental review process.” Harris stated that “over twenty different studies and surveys” have been done to assess not only the environmental impacts, but the aesthetic and financial impacts.

Proponents of wind power see its potential to provide energy to homes around New York state.Anthes- Washburn believes the potential for the amount of offshore wind energy to be garnered from the area makes New York “the Saudi Arabia of wind.”

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Turtles All The Way Down and the Representation of Mental Illness

John Green often creates female characters that help to further a male character’s story or who serve as an ideal for the male to chase after, creating a romantic storyline that becomes the centerpiece of the novel. In his newest novel, Turtles All the Way Down Green shies away from these tropes. In exchange, we are offered a story with a strong female lead and an honest, open discussion about mental illness.

Aza Holmes is a sixteen-year-old girl with dreams of leaving Indianapolis to attend a small college far away. Although she suffers from anxiety and engaging in self-destructive habits as a coping mechanism for dealing with the obsessive, intrusive thoughts that plague her everyday life, Aza is a sweet, innocent character. Aza is an introverted, quiet teenager who excels in her academics. Her best friend is a fan-fiction-writing, outgoing, bubbly girl named Daisy who sees Aza as her sidekick.

Aza harbors an irrational fear of contracting Clostridium difficile or, C. diff, an inflammation of the colon contracted most often while one is taking antibiotics or has come into contact with feces. Aza has a small cut on her thumb that she constantly digs her nail into in order to bleed it out. She does this to keep the wound healthy in fear of contracting an infection in her hand, which will eventually, and obviously, kill her or, at the very least, make her extremely ill, which would then put her on antibiotics, making her vulnerable to C. diff. Aza’s anxiety drives her to constantly read the Wikipedia article on C. diff, wash her hands, and re-apply Band-Aids, which she seems to have a never-ending supply of.  

Aza and Daisy embark on an adventure: attempting to discover where a criminal has run off to. The reward? $100,000. It just so happens that in her childhood, Aza attended camp with the son of the aforementioned criminal and conveniently lives just down the river from him. We are then introduced to Davis Pickett who appears indifferent to his father’s disappearance but not indifferent to Aza. While the two do become slightly involved with one another, the relationship does not escalate due to Aza’s anxiety ruining various situations that most people would categorize as normal. For instance, when kissing Davis, Aza begins to panic, realizing eighty million microbes have transferred to her tongue from his, are now on her tongue and are sure to remain there for the rest of her life.

Green gives Aza’s anxiety a voice, making it almost another character within our protagonist. Allowing Aza’s anxiety to speak for itself allows for a more intimate look at how mental illness functions within the mind. It talks to you. It tells you things you know aren’t true, but convinces you they are until you give in, just this one time, to that small voice in your mind that slowly begins to take over your thoughts, causing your spiral to tighten and get more and more frantic. By giving anxiety its own voice, Green allows readers who do not suffer from mental illness to experience what it is like. The voice of anxiety, in the novel, is often seen in an italics font as it is not literally speaking to Aza, but a voice in Aza’s head. For example:

You will stand up. I will not. I am my way not my will. You will stand up. Please. You will go to the hand sanitizer. Cogito, ergo non sum. Sweating you already have it nothing hurts like this you’ve already got it stop please God stop you’ll never be free of this you’ll never be free of this you’ll never get your self back you’ll never get your self back.

In the past, young adult fiction novels, such as It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, have dealt with mental illnesses. However, very few, if any, young adult novels have given an actual voice to the mental illness plaguing a teenager. When mental illness is given a voice, it speaks for itself and fully demonstrates the struggle one who suffers from mental illness must live with on a day-to-day basis. Fewer novels have story lines that do not primarily revolve around a romantic relationship in which a mentally ill character is either helped by another or two mentally ill characters pursue a romantic relationship and are able to understand the other. In any case, most of these novels end neatly and do not necessarily provoke conversation about what it is like to live with a mental illness.

Throughout a novel of teenage love and tragedy, we get a unique look into Aza’s mind. As a narrator, she is forthcoming with even the darkest and deepest of thoughts. In turn, we do not get a close look at the characters around her because she is so consumed by her own thoughts and troubles. A drawback, perhaps, but this allows us to, truly understand what it is like to live with a mental illness that constantly is on the mind of those who suffer.  At times in the novel, Aza’s mind begins to spiral and we get intimate looks at what it is like to live in an anxiety-ridden mind.

Turtles All the Way Down is a compelling and moving novel that offers a unique and important look at the state of cohabiting the mind with mental illness. It also allows teenagers to be portrayed as teenagers while avoiding the common trope of teenage-themed novels that solely revolve around an unrequited love or some sort of romance. The only romantic relationships in the book both fall apart and are not the center of attention for the duration of the novel. Rather, they represent what the teenage years are: a series of short-lived episodes that can often feel as if they represent the be-all and end-all of one’s life. They demonstrate that oftentimes, what happens in the teen years is ephemeral and does not last.

The book also offers a look at teenage female friendship, a friendship which is often depicted as competitive, volatile, and wavering. Rather than build unrealistic characters who embody a perfect female friendship, Green creates two flawed teenagers who simply are best friends who fight (not over a man!) but, at the end of the day, love and cherish the other for who they are. In a touching moment toward the end, Aza uses metaphor to describe to Daisy what living with anxiety is like.

Imagine you’re trying to find someone, or even you’re trying to find yourself, but you have no senses, no way to know where the walls are, which way is forward or backward, what is water and what is air. You’re senseless and shapeless-- you feel like you can only describe what you are by identifying what you’re not, and you’re floating around in a body with no control. You don’t get to decide who you like or where you live or when you eat or what you fear. You’re just stuck in there, totally alone, in this darkness.

The two connect, strengthening their friendship further, despite being so different from one another. Daisy begins to understand why Aza is so stuck in her own mind while, in turn, Aza begins to learn how to fully care about others. Their friendship embodies a side of mental illness not often focused on: how the light and dark sides of life can coexist despite their extreme differences.

[katherinerendon-blog]

Fiction v. Reality

Fiction

She sits, typing and sipping on her black coffee. “Black, like my soul,” she surely jokes to her friends on other occasions before taking a drag from a cigarette, allowing the smoke to enter her nostrils, a French inhale. She studied abroad her sophomore year and is so chic and French now, you wouldn’t believe it.

Her hands delicately dance across the keyboard, like a pianist, creating his masterpiece, but she alternates between homework and typing out the next great American novel, sure that her work will change a world that she is just so, like totally, over.

Clicking her pen upon the table, she takes note in her notebook, apparently returning the to reality where she is, as she always is, a student of literature, diligently taking note of the metaphors and hyperboles in passages she takes such an interest in. Her hair falls in her face, and she quickly tucks her bob back behind her ear, trying to scribble out a note on something regarding something really important. A profound revelation from such a profound person, who is so hell-bent on a revolution that will, inevitably, change the way in which we look at the world. A university student, armed with a pen and paper, set to change the course of history because she, more than anyone, just, like, really gets it, you know?

Her Starbucks cup reflects her inner self. She claims to support and buy from local businesses only, but Starbucks is just so much more consistent and convenient. So it's really not her fault that once again, she's ended up at a Starbucks, studying her literature, cramming for a science midterm, secretly reading her horoscope.

But on a deeper level, no one really understands her. As she sits and jots down notes, reads her texts, and writes her novel, she realizes she's the best friend she will ever have. No one can understand the tragedy of being human nearly as much as she can as she sits in a Starbucks in New York City. Alone. She always finds herself, once again, alone.

Reality

Her dark hair sits neatly above her shoulders, framing her face. Her eyes are an intense brown and are big. I see her sitting in a Starbucks, taking a break from her reading to send a text message. Her smile is bright and friendly, welcoming me to the table as if I’m not completely invading her study time. “I needed a break anyway.”

Julia, but everyone calls her Jules. She’s a freshman who goes to school in Boston, in the city visiting her best friend, looking to have a fun weekend. If only she can get this damn homework out of the way, she’ll be able to do whatever she wants for the rest of the weekend.

When I ask her how she gets from Boston to New York City, she tells me she took a bus for $10. She loves being in New York; there’s so much more to do here than in Boston. Boston’s cool and all, but it doesn’t have the glamor of this city.

She isn’t originally from Boston. She’s from a town in North Carolina. I laugh and tell her I went to school in North Carolina. She’s happy to be away, but occasionally gets homesick for the South and its friendliness. When she asks if I ever find myself missing the state or would go back, I immediately shake my head. I only go back there in bad dreams, I think to myself, but I don’t tell her that.

We chat for a bit about the beaches in North Carolina and how difficult adjusting to new cities can be. She tells me that moving to Boston has been difficult, she’s bored with frat parties and mundane conversations and attempting to find friends. She wishes that she could find her people, you know? The ones you really connect with. I tell her I understand and ask her what she’s studying. “Engineering,” she says, smiling. She’s passionate about science and changing the world.

She asks me if I’m going to watch the marathon this weekend. As a former cross-country runner, she finds the people who finish the 26 mile trek incredibly inspiring. I’m slightly thrown off, not even aware there would be a marathon in the city this weekend. I tell her no but ask if she still runs cross-country in school. “No,” she shakes her head sadly, “club cross-country is 20 minutes after my last class ends, assuming it ends right on time. I found it really stressful trying to go, so I haven’t been running like I want to be.”

She gets a text and glances down at her phone, realizing her friend is out of class and ready to meet up. She begins to quickly gather her things, apologizing for having to run off so quickly. I watch her leave, her confident stride offsetting her frazzled and hurried manner.

[katherinerendon-blog]

Bad Nuns, Good Fun

“Nun (n.): a member of a religious community of women, especially a cloistered one, living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.” -Oxford English Dictionary

When a movie opens on an idyllic landscape, with a nun pulling a donkey along, the audience prepares for a movie about a convent, tucked away from society on the top of a hill. Instead, we see two nuns walking past the groundskeeper who, after an attempt to make conversation, is met with “Hey, don’t f*cking talk to us! Get the f*ck out of here!.” “The Little Hours” premiered this past summer at the Sundance Film Festival and is in limited release around the country. The film was short and sweet, not overstaying its welcome while satisfying a much-needed laugh in these dark and troubling times.

Armed with a star-studded, hilarious cast, the movie features Sister Fernanda (Aubrey Plaza) Sister Ginerva (Kate Micucci) and Sister Alessandra (Alison Brie), three nuns, each with equally strong personalities. The nuns gossip, drink, and seek sexual satisfaction. These nuns seem to forget they are nuns, but the antics that they encounter make for a hilarious movie about women who continually defy various tropes and stereotypes.

Each actor brings her or his unique form of comedy into the movie. While no two actors necessarily use the same techniques to make a joke land, each style blends perfectly with the others, creating a dynamic form of humor that does not get boring and tedious after the first twenty minutes. For instance, Aubrey Plaza’s deadpan tone should clash with Kate Micucci’s upbeat delivery of humor, but the two complement each other and make for a more complex comedic film.

The nuns live in 14th century Garfagnana with relatively mundane lives that consist of embroidery and doing laundry. Their quiet, provincial lives are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the attractive Massetto (Dave Franco) who seems to appear out of nowhere, uninvited. In fact, Massetto ran away from his home in Lunigara, where he was a servant, when it was discovered he was having an affair with his master’s wife.

Massetto runs through the forest, in an attempt to avoid being tortured and killed, and in doing so, runs into Father Tommaslo (John C. Reilly), the head priest of the convent. Father Tommaslo is drunk and attempts to explain himself to Massetto by saying, “I had to drink wine because I had no water!.” Fitting, as Jesus did turn water into wine, though perhaps not to become inebriated. Later that evening, the two drink the sacramental wine and have a drunken confession session. When questioned about the ethics of drinking the wine, Father Tommaslo says, “I blessed it!.”

Father Tommaslo hires Massetto to work at the convent and tells him to pretend to be mute and deaf so as to protect him from insults from the nuns. However, his first interactions with the nuns are awkward and when Sister Feranda sees him, she reacts so violently, screaming, while also hilariously running around wielding an ax.

Later, Sister Alessandra cries and has a one-way heart-to-heart with Massetto. “You’re just stuck here with all these b*tches!” she laments. The continual defiance of female conventions, in terms of behavior, in conjunction with the role of the nun, makes for an iconoclastic take on religion and societal norms.

Part of what sets the humor of this movie apart from many recent comedies is the portrayal of those who are holy and devout but constantly break the rules of their roles. What makes “The Little Hours” work is its deviation from a joke-after-joke format or a misogynistic comedy. The film actually has a plot-line that is infused with jokes and bad nuns. It offers an unholy look at those who are supposed to be the holiest in our society.

The music and the scenery are also a contrast from the vulgarity of the jokes delivered. To contrast a foul-mouthed nun, light classical music will play. The scenery and music in the film are a sharp contrast from the sarcastic humor. The landscape is serene and tranquil, a sharp contrast from the fast-paced drama that unfolds within the walls on the convent.

“The Little Hours” is an exercise in comedy that is not in-your-face, slapstick humor. Nor does it rely extensively on tropes; rather it deconstructs these tropes in a humorous manner that, in turn, powers the movie. The seriousness of the actors makes the jokes all the more funny. None of the nuns is consciously making a choice to be funny or to tell a funny joke, they just are, in the most serious way. Some of the hilarity that ensues throughout the film comes from a subversion of religious dogma for comedic purposes. However, a majority of the pleasure comes from a juxtaposition of seriousness and comedy. It is truly unfortunate that more people will not see this refreshing work of comedy at play.

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Violent Femme

On January 21, 2017, people of all gender identifications came together to walk the streets of their respective cities and stand together for women’s rights at the Women’s March. The large majority of participants brought signs, some of which were directed at America's newly elected President, Donald Trump; others advocated for bodily autonomy and respect. A few of the signs, however, were based upon the notion that women are the image of perfection. One sign read, verbatim, “Women are perfect,” with an image depicting a young girl with curly hair gazing upward. Present at a march advocating for women’s rights, this sign made me feel uncomfortable.

On the ride home, I went over in my mind why this sign, in particular, had rubbed me the wrong way. Yes, women are great; women deserve to be treated as human beings and with respect, but no woman is perfect. To insinuate that women are indeed perfect perpetuates the idea that, at all times, women must behave and act in a certain fashion. Women are then exalted, put on pedestals, forced to aspire to be something that no one is: perfect.

The belief that women are perfect does not liberate women. In fact, it oppresses them and forces them into a role that no one is capable of fulfilling. By categorizing women as the perfect role model who is never violent or capable of making mistakes, we further displace the feminist movement. The idea that women can’t deviate from the path of perfection, since all women are perfect, creates a reality in which deviant acts committed by women are often ignored. Women are capable of violence.

Typically, violence is associated with the masculine image. To believe women are perfect either implies that violence is a necessary component in a journey toward perfection or that women with violent tendencies are somehow lesser than because they exhibit a masculine quality. To ignore violent women in favor of a narrative where a woman can do no wrong and can only be the victim of imperfect, violent men perpetuates the stereotype that women are docile victims. While no, it is not helpful to display women as violent creatures, what is truly the reality? Women, though less often, are the perpetrators of sexual violence, of destruction, of manipulation and other imperfect acts.

The current season of American Horror Story is one of the most frightening seasons of the show to date. Potentially attributed to the fact that the show takes place in a reality all too close to our own, each week the terror grows as new pieces of the story are revealed to the audience. Last week, Lena Dunham, a self-proclaimed feminist, appeared on the show as the infamous Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who shot Andy Warhol in an attempt to murder him. Solanas is also known for writing the SCUM Manifesto,

In the show, Solanas forms a cult of women who carry out a series of murders which are now known as the notorious Zodiac Killings. Solanas turns herself into the police in an attempt to show the world what women are capable of. She violently assaults a policeman, all the while screaming that men always take credit for women’s work when she is told that in no way a woman is capable of causing such damage or committing an act of murder.

In the days following the release of the episode, viewer commentary began to pop up. Many comments inferred that the show is anti-feminist and attempting to persuade the audience that feminism equated to violence. One comment even stated that the entire season of the show is an attempt to get its viewers to favor Donald Trump. That portraying women in a negative light somehow insinuated that all women are defined by one representation, on one episode of one television program. Ironic how feminists were quick to dismiss the hashtag #notallmen but are frightened by one representation of a real woman and assume that this portrayal is meant to be #allfeminists.

There is no issue with feminists being angry about a feminist being portrayed in a negative light. The issue instead lies in feminists believing that women should not be portrayed in this manner as it would forever affect the view of feminism in the eyes of the general public. The other issue involves the erasure of history and the refusal to let a story be told simply for entertainment’s sake.

Valeria Solanas was by no stretch a feminist icon; however, she identified as a feminist and was a real person. There is no need to erase people or their personalities and actions simply because it deviates from the typical storyline a group wishes to tell. To be angry that an episode of American Horror Story: Cult portrayed women as violent and murderous is simply wrong. In fact, a depiction of a violent woman on a popular television program acknowledges the existence of these kinds of women, therefore tearing down the idea that women, at all times, must adhere to feminine ideals.   

Lizzie Borden, Jane Toppan, and Nannie Doss were all violent and murderous women. Were they not women? Does their deviation from established, normalized behavior suddenly make them not women due to their imperfect and masculine quality?

Women, just as men, are far from perfect; to be human is to be imperfect, and humans do unthinkable things. Arguably, perpetuating the stereotype of feminists as violent can be harmful to a movement that is already struggling to gain credibility. However, refusing to acknowledge the bad elements in a movement does more harm than good. Rather than saying that yes, there are women who are violent and can commit atrocious acts, we erase them, ignoring them and refusing to engage in conversations and start dialogues that investigate why these women act this way. We instead choose to forget that these sort of women exist.

Or, if we acknowledge their existence, we acknowledge their existence outside of the spectrum of how women are expected to exist and behave. If women and men are truly equal, we should scrutinize them in the same manner. We should recognize that, just like men, women experience violent, psychotic urges and act upon these urges. Does that desire for violence make them any less female? Does a masculine quality within a woman demote her from the realm of womanhood? Feminists consistently argue that no one image of a woman applies to every woman. To perpetuate the idea, at the Women’s March, that women are perfect is inappropriate. To become angry over a television show fictionalizing and embellishing a woman’s life is fruitless. There are far more important issues to worry about than one television show embellishing a real-life person, morphing her into a character for a show that is critiquing the current political climate.

Depicting an imperfect woman is, in fact, an extremely progressive move as it demonstrates the wide array of women who exist but are not generally represented. It rebels against the notion that women, at all times, must behave in a certain manner. Furthermore, the depiction of violent women on American Horror Story: Cult does not encapsulate the typical negative portrayals or tropes of women. The depiction breaks the expectation by showing women as they truly are, beyond tropes: human.