Last night I drove all three women (and the other husbands accompanied me as well) to JFK for the departure.
Stacey with the hat she designed for her trip with the 20 or so other women traveling abroad. WCA means .... you figure it out.
Doreen, Carol and Stacey entering security at JFK ... last night at 10 pm. By now they're in Amsterdam!
Strange to be alone. The house is very quiet. Pumpkin is ignoring me. It seems overcast out the window but the weather is saying "a nice day" is in store for New York. And despite the ability to do whatever I want, wherever and whenever I want to do it, I have a busy schedule set up (at least for today; then we'll see).
Today there is to be a massive march across the Brooklyn Bridge at 11. The demand? Bridge the Gap: Health Care for All! National Health Care Day of Action. The Barbaro campaign has asked me to take pictures of Frank who has been invited to lead the walk across the bridge. There's another huge march scheduled for the West Coast in San Francisco.
I was supposed to photograph a young graduate (intermediate school)whose mom is an old high school friend of mine and, in later years, a customer at Mayfair. The mother didn't like the official school portrait of Joanna so "could I take her yearbook photo," she asked. Uh-oh, scheduling conflict with the bridge-march. I guess I have to postpone the portrait for later in the day.
Tomorrow, Sunday, is, I hope, a day for shmoozing: catching up on some paperwork, a gentle bike ride somewhere, maybe nowhere - just follow my nose. The weather is said to be "nice." Tuesday, I'll drive up to Dani in Connecticut and spend the day with her and the "grandogs." That'll be like the old days: just daddy and daughter or D&D days as the two of us like to phrase it.
Mike never came in, as promised, to see us and to say goodbye to his mom. Tied down with a lot of video work lately. Miss him greatly. He's too far away. Says he'll return to New York "by the end of the summer." We'll see.
Hey! It's 8 AM. I'm sitting here, naked, typing and I should be headed out the door and downtown to the bridge. I promised myself last night to be more disciplined about doing things on time. Damn!
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It was close to 9 by the time I dragged myself onto my bike and sped downtown. I could have taken the subway but it's local-only on Saturdays so, I wanted to know, would it really save me time compared to biking. Yes, it would, but I wanted to bike on a beautiful day (beautiful days are finite; when all is said and done there are just not that many available). I don't know why I can't get started on time. One problem is the phone which kept ringing. Or emails that had to be answered. Stacey's writing about her phone usage abroad and I had to research it and write back to her. What did we do before this era of cell phones, email, etc?? I wrote and said to just enjoy Holland and forget the phone. Hope she took my advice.
I'm supposed to be in Cadman Plaza by 9:45 and call some guy Ari who will get me a press pass so I can photograph Barbaro who will be walking at the front of the march. I got there in the nick of time. It was 10:15 and the crowds were pouring into the park. I made my way to the stage, found Ari, got my pass and immediately saw Frank and Larry on the stage. They were chatting with John Sweeney, the President of the AFL-CIO. Sweeney has been a major force in revamping labor, bringing it out of its slumber and doldrums. If anything is to save our country it will be the trade union movement. They have the most to lose if the Bushies are re-selected in November and they have the muscle and the resources to lead the fight to defeat Bush and take back the Congress. Frank's campaign fits into that strategy and labor, citywide, statewide and nationally, are giving the campaign uncompromising support.
The march was called by Local 32BJ which is part of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union. They represent the tri-state area's building service union, representing 70,000 cleaners, doormen, porters, maintenance workers, window cleaners, security guards, superintendents, and theater and stadium workers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Many other unions joined in and spirit was high and militant. "What do you want." "Health care now!" And countless other chants, many with a Latino beat and rhythm. The union has a great mix of Black, Brown and white peoples.
John Sweeney and Frank Barbaro. Strong labor support for this congressional race.
Marty Markowitz, Chuck Schumer, John Sweeney and Frank Barbaro.
The rally was huge and very spirited.
Mike Fishman,Pres of 32BJ, John Sweeney,Pres of AFL-CIO, Brian McLoughlin,Pres of NYC Central Labor Council and Frank Barbaro - leading the march onto the bridge.
I, and many other press photographers, ran (backwards) in front of the march as it moved out of the park and up onto the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge. The sky was a wonderful blue with a few puffy white clouds. The skyline was striking; the air was so clean and clear that the buildings were sharply etched against that blue background.
A beautiful day to march across the bridge. 50 million Americans have no health insurance - casualties of the Bush/Republican offensive against working families.
On the other side of the river the marchers moved up into Federal Plaza (it used to be called Foley Square) where more speeches and chanting reverberated against the court buildings that lined the plaza. A giant TV screen had been set up to show the assembled workers that thousands more of their fellows were still streaming across the bridge after they had been standing there for an hour.
I walked back across the bridge - my bike was locked on the Brooklyn side. When I reached it, very tired and hot, I pedaled over to Smith Street and Cafe Luluc for lunch with Stu Shapiro, another husband on his own: Doreen, his wife, is in Europe with Stacey. Tonight, and it's a beautiful night, I'm meeting Bob for dinner in Manhattan.
Walking back to Brooklyn and my bike, I spied the Manhattan Bridge through the cables of the Brooklyn Bridge. Beautiful, no?
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