Little darling, it feels like it’s been a long cold lonely winter. But I learned these New York hospitals are playing ‘Here Comes the Sun’ each time a COVID patient recovers.
The equivalency of the new tradition to a shot of sweet sugar straight into your chest cavity is made clear in the below video. (As I’m sure every health worker in said video could make clear to me the total medical inaccuracy of that analogy.)
Ergo, no further explanation needed.
I will explain that an attempt to pick up the piano again has been one of my quarantine activities (I put it down about 22 years ago, so there’s a chance I’d have more success if I made literally picking up a piano my quarantine activity.) All that’s to say, the first song I’ve “mastered” is… that’s right: Sun, sun, sun, here it comes.
I also just love the Beatles. I know-- one of my edgier, more divisive statements.
Anyway. It’s all too much to simply say: I’m going to share some NYC updates and title them after Beatles songs.
Help!
An understatement: many New Yorkers are feeling down. I’d venture they need some help to get their feet back on the ground. I’d even say they’re feeling insecure. I’m actually confident they need you like they’ve never done before.
If you’re antsy to lend a hand, but don’t know where to start or how to do it while staying home, you can help yourself to Gothamist’s VERY helpful guide on helping. It provides all the links and lays out how you can:
Donate (supplies, blood, plasma).
Contribute (goods, services, spaces) for essential workers.
Volunteer (time, tech skills, mental health expertise).
Aid (emergency funds, organizations for families in need, the homeless, food banks)…
…And. Tons. More. But in a totally manageable, easy to navigate format. It’s basically the all you can eat buffet of ways to help. If you just want a few quick links though, here are some basic ones:
Form to fill out if you’re a business who can source or make needed medical supplies.
Enter your zip code into the New York Blood Center’s Donar Portal to find out where you can donate blood nearby.
How to donate plasma (and what it does.)
Donate to NYC Food Bank.
Survey for health and mental professionals interested in volunteering.
So if you can,
I’ve Just Seen a Face…
which is against the new rule requiring all New Yorkers to wear face masks in public when social distancing isn’t possible. Think subways, grocery stores, Subways (the sandwich chain, obviously).
Had it been another day you may have gotten away with looking the other way. But as it is,
these are the measures we must take to ensure we’re doing all we can to keep ourselves and our brave essential workers safe.
Di-di-di-da-da-di.
Here, There and Everywhere
is where there are COVID cases. If you want to know what goes on in your particular zip code, like how many Coronavirus cases there are and how many people have been tested, the NY Department of Health has been releasing that data daily here. They provide daily rates; rates by borough, age, and sex; and a map of the city displaying cases by zip code as well.
You can also enter any NYC zip code here to get detailed stats on that area.
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Hey!
I get how strolling down the street, linking arms with your lockdown lover is cute and whimsical. (Kidding, I’m not that into PDA.) And kudos for maintaining the desire to do so while being sequestered together eight days a week. Some fellow pedestrians aren’t feeling it though.
“Couple-spreading.” It’s that thing where two people walking next to each other don’t move to single file for oncoming walkers to smoothly pass by. A more vivid visualization: Tim Teeman described his routine NYC walk as,
“a twisting, winding game of observing the number and movements of folk around me, and then choosing not-that-street, maybe-that-street, oh-hell-someone-is-walking-right-at-me—welcome to the lockdown pedestrian club.”
Some are offering constructive albeit potentially excessive lessons:
Or getting right to it:
The hosts of The View weighed in too.
So. What to do when you’re on that stroll and your heart is saying, “I want to hold your hand,” but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is saying, “space between you and others is one of the best tools we have to avoid being exposed to this virus and slowing its spread locally and across the country and world”?
A confession: Thinking of the good old days when I’d aim my internal sidewalk-rage at the throng of people directly in front of me with their sole, shared purpose of slowing me down on my way to nowhere… sigh… I can’t lie. Reading the particular frustration these walkers expressed had a soothing nostalgic effect on me.
In seriousness: Spreading the love is great. The thing is, a key factor of our mission these days revolves very specifically around not spreading things.
To glean from this: it’s extra important to be considerate these days. Follow the CDC’s guidelines and give others the space to do the same.
Plus also, everywhere people stare, each and every day… and they’re not afraid to call you out on the internet.
Get Back
Six feet back exactly. And if you can’t picture what exactly six feet looks like, the new signs being put up in parks around the City are providing a visual aid for that.
Rocky Raccoon
This one’s sort of off-topic. But sue me, I couldn’t resist sharing the reported sitings of baby raccoons scurrying around a wall in Riverside Park at 108th Street. Do you want to know a secret? Spring is peak time for raccoon births.
One local witness, Barbara Peck, told the West Side Rag, “These guys were particularly cute, and don’t we all need cuteness right now?”
And fine, perhaps there’s a division on whether raccoons are actually cute creatures. E.g, one person’s comment: Okay, I’ll say it: they might as well be rats. I prefer children playing in the park, not rodents.
But as Melissa Cooper, another raccoon spotter and the writer of NYC blog Out Walking the Dog wrote, “This year seems to have yielded a bumper crop with little guys pouring out of the den like clowns from a clown car.” One thing we can all come together on? This is the first time imagery of an improbable number of clowns clustered together in a small space conjures up a delightful feeling instead of a creepy one.
Now a few things from the Village
This Jimi Hendrix inspired salute from a fire escape on 7th street during the nightly citywide clap for medical workers was an especially Village-esque way to honor the first responders.
Our always reliable friends at the Village Alliance shared a list of the Village merchants with crowdfunding initiatives, and one of the local Village retailers with online shops set up.
Washington Square’s "Piano Guy," also goes by Colin Huggins, and most recently his aptly named Instagram handle, howdidyougetthepianohere, has been live-streaming performances to classic movies.
A photographer’s throwback shot of Bowie.
Following some bad weather, the sun came in a literal way, along with a full rainbow which stretched across New York in all its glory.
And I say, it's all right.
FYI
I sprinkled the titles of other Beatles songs throughout the newsletter. Feel free to seek them out, you know, in case you’re bored or have nowhere to go. Ah, a day in the life.