mkp_hearts_nyc (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} mkp_hearts_nyc) wrote,@ 2008-05-26 23:40:00 |
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Another world...
I had a gorgeous weekend -- sun, long walks, impromptu concerts and dancing in the street, a dash of romance and a disappointing Mets game.... But when I finally returned to my familiar city streets everything was askew.
My usual subway exit was blocked off, and when I surfaced on the south side of 125th and Lenox, there were flashing ambulance lights and police standing stony-faced at every corner. All of Lenox ave going uptown was cordoned off and pedestrians and traffic were being directed to go eastward or south. I heard someone saying 5 people had been shot. On my way up 5th avenue, with helicopters whirring overhead, I heard a cop saying into his radio that shots had been fired else where.
I followed along in the wake of small groups of people, making terse conversation as they made their way to their houses. My roommates hadn't gotten back from their Memorial Day trips home yet (they since have, and are both fine), and the news was airing an insufferable blend of sports recaps, slow-news-day stories and post-holiday weather and traffic reports, as if there wasn't a crisis going on just down the block.
The painful irony is that whenever the news covers a shooting in the Bronx or Long Island, I'm just as eager to skip past it and hear the sports coverage instead. Hard to ignore what's going on closer to home.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/nyreg
Eight people were shot and wounded late Monday night in Harlem, the police said. Most of the victims were found along a stretch of Lenox Avenue north of 125th Street.
I had a gorgeous weekend -- sun, long walks, impromptu concerts and dancing in the street, a dash of romance and a disappointing Mets game.... But when I finally returned to my familiar city streets everything was askew.
My usual subway exit was blocked off, and when I surfaced on the south side of 125th and Lenox, there were flashing ambulance lights and police standing stony-faced at every corner. All of Lenox ave going uptown was cordoned off and pedestrians and traffic were being directed to go eastward or south. I heard someone saying 5 people had been shot. On my way up 5th avenue, with helicopters whirring overhead, I heard a cop saying into his radio that shots had been fired else where.
I followed along in the wake of small groups of people, making terse conversation as they made their way to their houses. My roommates hadn't gotten back from their Memorial Day trips home yet (they since have, and are both fine), and the news was airing an insufferable blend of sports recaps, slow-news-day stories and post-holiday weather and traffic reports, as if there wasn't a crisis going on just down the block.
The painful irony is that whenever the news covers a shooting in the Bronx or Long Island, I'm just as eager to skip past it and hear the sports coverage instead. Hard to ignore what's going on closer to home.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/nyreg
Eight people were shot and wounded late Monday night in Harlem, the police said. Most of the victims were found along a stretch of Lenox Avenue north of 125th Street.
