Photo by Daniel Sommer near 110th Street.
January 11, 2021 Weather: Partly cloudy, with a high of 37 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar has local and virtual events.
There’s a virtual “Meet the Middle Schools ” event on Wednesday January 13, 2021 starting at 5 for 5th grade families. Sign up here.
News:
The New-York Historical Society has acquired the archives of Robert A. Caro, the renowned biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon Baines Johnson, and a lifelong Upper West Sider. “Wow,” said the curator, Debra Schmidt Bach, which is pretty much all one can say upon entering the writing sanctuary of [Caro],” The New York Times reported. “Her mission now was to begin imagining a permanent Caro exhibition, planned for September in the historical society’s building at 77th Street and Central Park West.”
A 16-year-old student at LaGuardia High School, on Amsterdam Avenue and West 65th Street, has accused a teacher of harassing her. “‘Every time I walked into that classroom I just felt ashamed of myself and my religion and my identity,’” Duha Elkhouli said, according to abc7NY. “Elkhouli, who is Muslim, says it started after a teacher in 2019 allegedly called her a terrorist, in front of the entire class.”
Many residents of the neighborhood are familiar with “the sisters,” two women who have long been experiencing unsheltered homelessness on the Upper West Side. Now, the New York Post tells their story. “The sisters have been in New York for nearly 15 years now. They took a long, winding road to being homeless on the streets of Manhattan, a journey that begins, like so many of the city’s 60,000 vagrants, with mental illness.”
A man took his departed mother on a tour of their old haunts, ending up in her empty apartment on the Upper West Side,” according to a Metropolitan Diary entry in The New York Times. “I stepped out of an East Side funeral home into the bright June sunshine. I examined the white plastic bucket containing my mother’s ashes, and then I raised my arm to hail a cab.”
Wonder if the Sisters have a caseworker and some good short term support so they could be offered transportation to their home town where they were likely known before their illness occurred. Many get lost here among millions and wondering if they might have a chance at better support in their home town. I’ve seen one of the sisters knitting and she appears to have talent in that department. I’m always sad when I see them outside in rain or the cold weather.
Sad story about the sisters from New Orleans.
A childhood friend of mine has been homeless for years. He was brilliant charismatic and good-looking. His parents and siblings have tried and tried unsuccessfully.
In these cases and so many others, homelessness is not just about housing, and quite a few NYC homeless are not from NYC.
One of the sisters was pregnant a few years ago
What happened with her child?
The LaGuardia High School incident should be a wake up call for Gale Brewer to apologize for supporting someone who wanted NYPD to profile Muslims to be NYC Deputy Mayor & for the other CD6 challengers to vow to end Islamophobia! Islamophobia is a big problem in NYC and most of the CD6 candidates haven’t talked much about Islamophobia.
I am horrified and disgusted by the story of a Muslim student harassed by her teacher at La Guardia High School. As a graduate of the High School of Music & Art, now incorporated into La Guardia, I take this story even more personally. Why hasn’t this teacher been removed by now? He should never again be allowed to teach in our schools.
I imagine the student’s allegations are true. But it is a serious mistake to demand a teacher’s or anyone’s removal from his or her job until the allegations have been been proven. Just imagine if you or someone you cared for were accused. You too would want due process. Plus, you know, it’s probably good for the country — if you know what I mean.