Springs Eternal

84% of Iraqis feel safe in their neighborhoods, double from a year ago.

64% of Iraqis believe in democracy for Iraq.

-BBC/ABC poll

Hopeful, no?

But how much Iraq has actually changed for the better, and if the media's perception and propagation of these results has been skewed by the simple fact that some of only positive things to come out of years of coverage. Further, reciprocally, has the high polling numbers been influenced by the whatever media coverage they have encountered there, in Iraq.

(Look, at least Iraq excels in something. Not that we're terribly far behind.)


(Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn)

Often, in NY, people can be irrationally dramatic, even paranoid about certain neighborhoods or parts of the city.

They've lived here for a long time (like myself), or even their whole lives, and still they have prejudiced (based not just race or ethnicity, but, perhaps more importantly, class), specious and simply outdated opinions about the relative safety throughout NYC. Usually, these people are speaking of places they have never been to. Then what informs these beliefs?

Perceptions of a city's criminal topography (where crime affects both criminal and non-criminal victims) can be fomented in myriad ways: personal or second-hand experience, TV, music, and, at least here maybe, the movies (this is NY after all). But in general, it's probably the news that has most affect on how the safety of place is interpreted.

News media have a defined set of aesthetics--crucially, a fixation on all things dramatic and/or criminal--and carry the weight of an authoritative voice; so that, public opinion is formed within, or bounded by, the confines of available media outlets.

This is the standard media studies outlook. If the case, it only remains to draw a line from the nightly local newscast to how a neighborhood is perceived, both within and outside its borders.

I can't sleep, so

Thought of this thing I'm going to start, I guess, right now. I've been thinking for a while, especially since moving to Bed-Stuy, a more residential and poorer area than where I was before, of how to go about giving something back to the community somehow.

I've been in NY for 13 years now, and it's been pretty good to me. These days, I have more time available to me than most to do something, so I am.

Just got this email address: foodforfolks@gmail.com. That's also the name of the thing (without the @gmail.com, obviously).

The idea is pretty simple: "you email. we pick up. done." That's the slogan. Catchy, right?

What's that mean? Anyone in the city, available on the subway or bike-able from my place, can email me their address, and we (me for now) will come by and pick it up. Bring it all back to my house, box it up and take it to food pantries, etc. (not sure exactly how this part will work). Simple, huh?

No real cost to me or anyone else other than time. Besides the subway fare, which I usually have unlimited rides, anyway, there'd be the occasional taxi to get the stuff from my place to whatever place could use it.

What do we pick up? Food.

Please:
- no large containers: things that normal people buy at normal stores for themselves, I'm hoofing it non-carbon, here.
- non-perishables (think that'd be obvious, but)
- the healthier the better; we are trying to help people, after all.
- NO money. This is strictly a resource based project, word.

Have been a messenger in the past both bike and foot, so have the bag for it, at least. Good for me too, because it's mostly a solo venture. As much as I like other people, having to work with them can be problematic. I'll still get to deal with people, presumably (hopefully) quite a few--just not for too long, for any period of time either of us want to.

Makes sense to me. It's reverse-delivery or delivery donating; instead of supplying something demanded, the demand is to supply the provider of a service--and all for a good thing: feeding hungry people. It's the ease of delivery culture in major cities, that I'm so much a believer in, plus doing something good brought to your door.

I'm posting publicly as I write this for, at least, 3 reasons. One, to see if any of you have any ideas, comments, critiques, suggestions, etc.; another, to show the positive things that come from insomnia; the last, to force myself to follow through on it, after waking up later to day.