8/17/2021: A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY-PART 2

DUE TO NYC MAYOR'S APPALLING ATTACK ON PERSONAL LIBERTIES

I split up a loooong post so y’all can mosey back to Part 1 for the preface (how I s’plain ALL we’ll be missing by decree)…. Without futher ado, here’s….

THE LIST or FOMO VERITAS
(“Fear” of Missing Out as Truth)

As a family that took big BITES of the Big Apple and didn't just nibble…, we (all of us) are losing a LOT. Surely our so-called “self-imposed exile” for refusing injections and other inane and insane interventions such as testing, distancing, and perpetual masking constitutes a small loss to NYC, a city that cares not-at-all about losing two performers, a whole family of theater-and-arts-goers (but not deep pocketed ones), and one mad mama who had spent years bringing literally hundreds of kids to shows and concerts as an event organizer within our formerly friendly local homeschooling world…). HERE GOES NUTTIN’ -

INDOOR ENTERTAINMENT we CANNOT ENJOY:
(formerly made possible by snagging various discounts and deals using an ample amount of downhome ingenuity due to having exceedingly shallow pockets)

MOVIE THEATERS (we loved going to Film Forum, MOMA, Silent Clowns, Cartoon Carnival, Walter Reade, United Palace)

LIVE MUSIC (Lincoln Center Jazz, Met Opera—nosebleed section!, Carnegie Hall, NY Phil, NY Chamber, and many more – all Gone With the Mighty Wind of hizzonner…)

CONCERT VENUES (see above and add venues like Loeb Theater and Skirball Performing Arts where my younger one sang and performed onstage too many times for me to count! Also forbidden are free park OUTDOOR concerts in spots like Bryant Park—jabs required –there's also a 72 hour testing option but the tested cannot MOVE their fixed metal seats or have lawn access and they STILL  must mask and distance OUTSIDE…) What a crock of merde.

Amusingly my youngest kid (now a teen), prior to the "scamdemic" sang at Carnegie Hall with her choral group and would have had a chance to do so again if the bans were not in place; now she cannot enter "the joint" again even by the front door. Practice, practice, practice is now replaced with a new “vacc-tice” rejoinder: Vax Twice, Vax Twice, Vax Twice again (wince). [pardon the corny puns—Daisy finds ‘em hard to resist just as Granny was known for ‘em]

My daughter’s group is doing a music video next week but the video part is ONLY for the vaxxinated. They let a few unjabbed singers join their jabbed peers (socially distanced and masked) in the INDOOR sound studio for the actual recording but none of their bodies or faces can appear in the video nor can they come to the actual “shoot” because the OUTDOOR filming is UNMASKED. High illogical, Captain. It appears the production team is “a skeered” that the unjabbed healthy kids are super-spreaders and will sicken the others. Give those smarties a Gold Star and the unvaxxed kids like my daughter a yellow star (and I don’t car’ if it ain’t pee-cee to say it either).  Kids are not even so-called spreaders… this is SURREAL…

MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES (so long free nights or pay as you wish times—bye bye Met, Moma/PS1, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney, Natural History, Historical Society… plus smaller ones like MAD or Poster, Asia Society and others.  Also we were avid gallery goers, my older Aspie daughter's weekly gallery outings—her one beacon of light in a sea of crazy covid-schmovid closures…now full extinguished…)

AQUARIUMS AND ZOOS (now with teens this is less of a regular thing but we still "zoo it" once a year, made it to the NY Aquarium every couple few years…all gone  gone gone but I am thinking about the kids who now cannot go EVER if their grown-ups refuse to submit to the jabs…)

PROFESSIONAL SPORTS ARENAS (Ah, a first. The one is no loss for us! Cannot catch a ball, no desire to watch one in motion either)

STADIUMS  (Same as above except once in a blue there's a stadium concert worth seeing—like Bowie at the Garden; sadly the circus is no more as that was a stadium-type thing we did enjoy…WITH the real animals I’ll add)

CONVENTION CENTERS (we've gone to the Javitz for book fairs, natural health fairs, toy fairs and other such—nope, no mo')

EXHIBITION HALLS (no more beloved WFMU Record Fairs, no Antique Photo Fairs, No Book Fairs, No Outsider Art Fairs, No Craft Fairs…and so on)

PERFORMING ARTS THEATERS(our biggest loss by far—first just cuz our younger gal aspires to a performing-arts career and has thus far performed on some of our city's many stages; apart from the aforementioned Carnegie Hall concert, she sang and danced at Kaye Playhouse, Lang Hall, Damrosch Park Stage [at Lincoln Center], Actor's Temple, Players Theater, Queens Theater and some tiny lesser known spots on the "off Broadway" circuit.  Climb halted (she'll rise again though we surely hope…).

No more Nutcracker (an annual tradition which covered versions from Mark Morris to ABT to the annual delights at Florence Gould Hall…) or dance shows (many each year), no more Gilbert & Sullivan (GASP we loved ya) or any of the things we so-adored & enjoyed…

Hizzonner rules—and the all the actors' unions already put this in place—that not only audience members but ALL over-12 NYC cast and crew members must be jabbered to participate.  Thus, none of us ostracized can do this any mo' be it on stage or even as audience members. We're left to muse like Eliza Doolittle warbling "Wouldn't it be Loverly?"   

My kiddos and I and sometimes the hubs too, used to take in at LEAST two shows a week (plays, musicals, operettas etc).  Some free, some cheap (including college student shows but in NYC boy golly they were great!), off or of-off or even off-off-off Broadway (thanks to Theater Mania and some kids arts programs and family + student "deals" at Encores and York Theater, Czech Marionnette Theater (Vit we loved yer shows!), Theater for the New City and more… and some indeed ON Broadway (a few times a year) too.  All gone gone gone and that is SAD.  NOWHERE else in the USA can this be replicated…at least YET.  (That'll be another post..).

MORE WE'll MISS though less than the above…

BOWLING ALLEYS  (not a big loss but we'd do enjoy "Kids Bowl Free" each summer and a few outings where I'm the proud roller of gutter-balls…)

SKATING RINKS (Bryant Park free skate was an annual weekly tradition since my youngest was 5 — plus they played Ella and Ol’ Blue Eyes) Gone, gone…

Arcades, Pool & billiard halls, Recreational game centers: (no prob..not our cuppa Joe BUT it would be for many I’m sure…)

Casinos & Adult entertainment (well again no prob. for us… but still it's the idea)

INDOOR DINING  

RESTAURANTS  (though as a family we rarely indulged in full sit down restaurant meals well before the plandemic—due to budget + weird dietary needs, and though many of our little mom-n-pop low-priced snackeries are closed now anyway —many for good, sadly—we'll surely miss our Veselka borscht forays whenever we’re downtown, pastrami and half-sours at Katz’s, our special “Dim Sum” weekends in Chinatown, and the Jim-Dandy cuppa Joes at ALL the Pain Quotidiens (original Belgian owners not the new ones) ; these and a few others even us cheapskates were fond of, we will indeed miss. It used to be if you were out and about or waiting while your kids were in a class that you at least COULD take a seat and buy an overpriced coffee or share a Matcha with a friend (or your latte-lovin’ teens) and other such treats that many of us took for granted—that as paying citizens we could buy a little nosh like so much real estate and “set a spell” (especially on a cold day when staying outside was not fun) … and now this “for granted” is GONE GONE GONE…)

CABARETS (boo and boo again--we have attended some terrific Broadway Cabarets and my younger daughter performed in some—Life is a Cabaret No Mo’)

CATERING HALLS  / EVENT SPACES / HOTEL BANQUET ROOMS  (we'll miss out on some weddings, dances, bar/bat mitzvahs, what else? dunno? but we'll be BANNED. Also the younger kid used to sing with her choral group at such joints for their swanky affairs and fundraisers—clearly a thing of the past for the uninjected…)

BARS AND NIGHTCLUBS (some of the latter, in particular, used to have some legit acts including stand-ups, singers etc. and though we frequented neither at the time the crappy rules hit the fan, it’s not so nice to lose the option in case a friend performs and other such…)

CAFETERIAS (in New York? WHERE? I miss ‘em! all that’s left is museum cafeterias, they stink)

GROCERY STORES WITH INDOOR DINING (not that I'm a fan since Baron von Bezos bought them out, but Whole Paycheck's kid-friendly seating areas were our lifeline for years when my kids were small and needed a healthy snack in place that didn’t expect stellar table manners. There were also a few others like Food Cellar in Queens and Chelsea Market. So does this mean we cannot buy FOOD if they don't ditch the indoor dining seats in these places?)

BAKERIES  (the hubby likes these for causual work meetings…now he's outta luck)

COFFEE SHOPS (mentioned as well under restaurants, mama bear me often lived in coffee shops nursing big caffeinated cups for hours while the daughter were in classes— especially when the younger one was in dance…and dance….and more dance or French…or Art…and more. BANNED! Where will I go instead?)

FAST FOOD WITH INDOOR DINING (finally something I will not give a hoot about!)

INDOOR FITNESS

GYMS / FITNESS CENTERS / FITNESS CLASSES (this sounds good to a non-athletic bunch until you realize ALL DANCE STUDIOS count as gyms and fitness centers)…Waaaaah!!!!!

DANCE STUDIOS   (see above, younger daughter's SIX weekly dance lessons GONE in a flash)

POOLS (my older kiddo's weekly swim lessons EVAPORATED ; she’s been at it for over a decade and it was darn good exercise…)

INDOOR STUDIOS   (younger daughter's rehearsals for shows, acting classes, choral, vocal and other lessons and practice, improv classes… GONE gone gone…)

SPORTS CLASSES (these, no prob…)

As you can see from the above, MOST of our lives are canceled.  Neary ALL we did, we "cain't". Indeed, a few things don’t matter to us (but of course they will to others similiarly resistant to the clot shots). Quite a list, right?

THESE are THE ONLY things we CAN do BUT the list has ERRORS because many of these venues DO indeed ban the unjabbed (see comments)

DINING WHERE FOOD CONSUMED *ELSEWHERE*, like fast food eateries (we mostly eat slow food to stay healthy so allowing us carry-out from fast food joints isn’t super helpful…)

BUSINESSES THAT OPT TO GET RID OF INDOOR SEATING  (fat chance they will by the looks of it now, the seating areas are $-makers…)

RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS (aw shucks, thank you Mister Man—we'reSO glad we won't be banned from our own fricking rental apartment building lobby, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the FREEDOM to be in our own sealed overpriced spaces until you set up the internment camps to “shield” us vulnerable and lock us up for good…)

OFFICE BUILDINGS (no/ WRONG / DING—my husband is BANNED from his office unless he gets the jab, no income whoo hoo! He is SNEAKING IN at night to clear out his desk, nice, right?)

CHILDCARE PROGRAMS & PRE K-12 PUBLIC AND NON-PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND PROGRAMS (we homeschool but we hear they are thinking of mandating for homeschoolers… gaw!)

SENIOR CENTERS (no—wrong—ding—MANY have policies that ban the unjabbed so this just means that Mayor Big Cheeze has not yet imposed his rules for these spaces; our younger daughter used to sing at these Sr. Centers but now entertaining the elderly is only for the vaxxinated who have been SCARED to death—literally but who, being jabbed, are more LIKELY to both catch and also spread covoid germs than those not injected…)

CHURCHES HOSTING SUNDAY POTLUCKS OR SIMILAR EVENTS (see above, many houses of worship of all stripes now fully ban the unjabbed—including congregants now limited to online interactions; my younger daughter has been invited to sing at these now-jab-only venues…no mo' clearly… We used to attend free musical concerts at churches and temples—guess those days are gone….. Mama Daisy tried to organize a protest at a community center but they couldn’t “risk” having a medically undocumented crowd)

Community centers  (n/a)
Charitable food services (n/a)
Catering at a home (n/a)

SO many of the things our mayor is so GRACIOUSLY letting us do (cue in a Bronx cheere here) in what was once a free country (lol) and a free city (lo-louder) we STILL cannot do because individual venues and businesses can and do still BAN the unjabbed in spite of some permissions / leeway.  Frankly, there is effing little we can do.  (Except off the radar gatherings with friends of course…privately.)

NYC is a gulag.  This is not liberty,  this is TYRANNY.

CONCLUDING REMARKS from this LONG LONG rant-cum-documentation of the nightmare NYC has become… as, herewith, Miss DAISY MOSES wraps up her first proper essay …

NYC, this one's for you.  My family and I ain't hurting nobody and we never did.  We loved you so much even when you were not the NYC I moved to back in the 20th Century when life was so very different.  NYC, you used to be a Lady Liberty "give us your poor, your tireless (!), your groovy" kinda place that welcomed us all, fat and skinny, white or black or purple or anything you were, gay or straight, ugly or pretty or in between, Jewish or Catholic or Buddhist or Bahai or nuttin',  talented or not, poor or rich, dapper or downright shabby.  You were the longtime land of my beloved musicals.

Now you'll be a nice memory…  We'll be leaving ‘fore long (I feel like a Joad).  NYC you are now my worst nightmare—a big fat raspberry to our now-former Governor (we’ll have to see if the new one’ll be any better…), to our miscreant mayor, and to all the vicious folks who choose to scream at us to "wear a mask” (aka “wear a fucking mask, asshole”) or photograph us if we have ours below our noses (lest we breathe…) —shame on us for exposing our “scantily clad faces!”—yes a big wet Bronx Cheer to them all because they are frankly …INSANE.

The HETERODOX CHEERING SECTION OF DAISY MOSES is my new unpaid gig (I don’t have a paid one now anyway hardeharhar and boohoohoo…).  I write way too much.  I write real though.

Ya may notice I don’t cull nearly enough from my writing (but/and snicker snicker – there is way too MUCH culling going on now around us—SO consider this unwieldly piece of writing “balance”). But seriously folks, I’m a gonna try to write “shorter”—-promise!

Anywayz—-if you find me and like what you read, enjoy the ride. Thank you! 

More for y'all as often as I can get a’ typing…

yerz,
Daisy Moses