MORNING BULLETIN: DEFENDING THE ‘CENSORED’ ARTIST, MUSICIANS GIVE PEACE A CHANCE
Photo by Aris Dervis of three marines at Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony in Riverside Park. See more photos below.
May 31, 2016 Weather: Partly cloudy, with a high of 84 degrees.
Notices:
Mindfulness meditation, free outdoor theater, dance for seniors and dozens of other local events are on our calendar.
News:
After years of confrontations, musicians in Strawberry Fields are finally getting along. “The main harmonizing element has been a list by which the musicians have agreed to abide. It is an hour-by-hour performance rotation each day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. that Mr. Muniz creates every morning and texts to five regular musicians. A vital consideration in making the lineup is keeping certain musicians apart, to avoid confrontations. ‘Imagine that — grown men,’ said Mr. Muniz, who despite a gruff edge and a low tolerance for people who do not tip was seen as fair and tough enough to be keeper of the list.” Imagine all the people…
The story we broke about an artist whose anti-lynching sculpture was considered inappropriate for Riverside Park was picked up by the New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante (she mentioned West Side Rag in the piece and linked back, unlike some other media outlets that regularly fail to do so). “The realities of a moment in which recurring episodes of police brutality present themselves as modern day lynchings would seem to make a project like Mr. Bell’s especially purposeful, but the parks department did not embrace his proposal.”
If only ice cream truck drivers could find a way to live in peace. “‘Let me tell you about this business,’ Adam Vega, a thickly muscled, heavily tattooed Mister Softee man who works the upper reaches of the Upper East Side and East Harlem, said on Wednesday. ‘Every truck has a bat inside.'”
An engineer who signed off on a false inspection report for The Esplanade on West End and 74th was spared jail time. A toddler died when part of the building’s facade fell on her. “Faruqi pleaded guilty to one count of offering a false instrument for filing in exchange for a sentence of probation.”
A voluntary city program encourages principals at public schools to find ways to diversify student bodies. What this could mean for UWS schools is still unclear. “An email being sent by the city to principals Tuesday morning encourages schools to set enrollment targets for incoming students arriving in 2017. An online form for submitting admissions plans outlines 11 suggested categories for enrollment targets, including students who struggle academically, kids who are in foster care and those who are overage for their grades.”
Photo by Aris Dervis.
Jerry Alperstien opening the ceremony for the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument Ceremony. The rain forced the event to end earlier then previous years. Photo by Jake Sigal.
Sandra Lee, television chef, author and girlfriend of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, talks about her grandfather’s experience in World War II as a mechanic and pilot of B-17 Bombers. Photo by Jake Sigal.
Commander and Chaplain, Rabbi Melinda Zalma stands with Peter Galasinao, Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Association President, at the Memorial Day ceremony in Riverside Park. Photo by Jake Sigal.
I saw Ginia Bellafonte’s article. I have always liked her work.
“But, this ‘finding ways’ to diversify student bodies” is absolute bureaucratic bs. I have been providing my ideas to CB 7 about their segregation. Still segregated.
Shouldn’t this be called, rather, the “Weekly Bulletin” as they are routinely published late in the day on Monday, once a week? Not sure “Morning” aptly applies.
Fair enough! We ought to publish them earlier.
Or, don’t worry about it and keep doing what you’re doing. Man, people will complain about anything.
“The realities of a moment in which recurring episodes of police brutality present themselves as modern day lynchings would seem to make a project like Mr. Bell’s especially purposeful, but the parks department did not embrace his proposal.”
I agree with the Parks Department. The history and horrors of the world should be presented in context.
I also think that the sculpture is rather literal.
So i guess you want to remove the Warsaw Ghetto memorial circle and plaque form Riverside Park? and perhaps the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial?
Neither of those are comparable to the rejected sculpture. The messages conveyed by both the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial as well as the Sailors and Soldiers Memorial are clear, presented in proper context and not subject to the type of misunderstanding, ambiguity or in-your-face shock and offensiveness that Mr. Bell’s sculpture is.
Furthermore, even if one were to not fully accept these distinctions that I have made, there would still be at least one indisputable, factual distinction that is critical: in the case of the Warsaw Ghetto and Sailors and Soldiers memorials, we are talking about structures that (whether for better or for worse) have been permanent fixtures of the landscape of Riverside Park for many decades now. The threshold for deciding to remove, overturn or even merely modify something that is already extant/present/in-effect/ has already been established (esp. if for a long time) is always greater than that for deciding to create, erect, establish, install, etc. something new.
(By the way, how many memorials are there to the millions of victims of Stalin or Mao Zhe Tung? Any in the City?)
I’d like to know who or how to go about protesting the censorship of the piece of artwork. I think it sounds topical, interesting, provocative and creative and would like to see a groundswell of support to allow it to be freely and publicly displayed without modification.