J'S THEATER: August 2017

Unlike previous summers, this has been mostly a quiet one, with recuperation from the semester (and a bit of surgery), and preparation for what looks to be a very busy fall. Here are a few photos from the last few months.

Our front gate, after a car
crashed into it again
(it's since been repaired)

The vaulted ceiling at the still-under-repair
Hoboken rail station (remember
the terrible crash there earlier this year?)

New York City and some of the
flotsam on the Hoboken site

Famous First Baptist Peddie
Memorial Church, Newark

New towers steadily rising (Trump's
second tower in the middle), downtown
Jersey City

Translator Alicia Maria Meier,
at the Us&Them Reading,
Molasses Books, Brooklyn

Translator Bonnie Huie at
the Us&Them reading

A sculpture at the plaza where 8th Street,
6th Avenue and Greenwich Avenue meet,
Manhattan

Service Changes,
on the PATH

The Sistine Chapel exhibit,
PATH World Trade Center station

Scaffolded walkway, which
could be almost anywhere in
endlessly-under-construction New York

Boohoo.com, West Village

CA Conrad, reading and performing
at the White Review Issue 20 launch,
McNally-Jackson, Manhattan

Sophie Robinson
at the White Review Issue 20 launch,
McNally-Jackson, Manhattan

Another one of our new luxury towers
in Jersey City

The Upper West Side, near Columbia University

Outside Book Culture, Upper West Side

At the Women in Translation Cocktail Hour
reading, with Susan Bernofsky, Ann Goldstein,
and Nathan Xavier Osorio, Book Culture

L-r: Nathan Xavier Osorio, Ann Goldstein,
and Susan Bernofsky, Book Culture

Susan Bernofsky signing copies
of the books she's translated,
Book Culture, UWS

Lower Manhattan

Chelsea restaurant BEC
(Bacon Egg & Cheese)

A Twitter office (I assume
from that logo), Chelsea

A building site, Jersey City

Impromptu poetry, Jersey City street

UN Building, west side of Manhattan

Two stilt walkers, Jersey
City Pride, 2017

Sugar & Spice (?), performers at
Jersey City Pride, 2017

Wrestling an umbrella, Jersey City

Lunch al fresco, Jersey City

from Washington Post

This past weekend, Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast, becoming the first cyclone to make US landfall since 2005, and has left almost undefinably horrific destruction in its wake. Over the last six days, the initially Category 4 hurricane and subsequent rainfall have drenched the coast and the Houston metro area with over 50 inches of rain, requiring 13,000 rescues (and counting); obliterating the coastal city of Rockport, where it touched down; flooding roadways large and small; displacing many thousands of people, and crippling a metro area of over 6 million people; and causing at current count roughly more than two dozen deaths.

from Washington Post

Though the storm is tracking eastward, potentially causing flooding and displacement in Louisiana, rain continues to fall both in the city of Houston and its environs, rivers, lakes, bayous, reservoirs and dams are at capacity, and highways, streets, and entire neighborhoods remain underwater. A great deal of Houston's critical infrastructure is either under threat or damaged as well. It is the worst recorded flood in Texas history, and recovery will likely take many years. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone there and their family members across the country and globe. The few people I know living in Houston are thankfully all out of direct harm's way, but have no idea when they will be able to return to their homes.

from Washington Post

Both in the near term and the long term, residents of the affected areas are going to need support, from the government and everyone else. In particular, children, the elderly, those who are ill, homeless people, and people with disabilities, to name just a few, will require sustained help. Below are links from reputable news sites with links on how to donate money, blood, food, clothing, funds for clean-up and rebuilding, and more. All Houstonians and residents of the Gulf Coast and states to the east, where rain is currently drenching cities and towns, will need our support. Please scroll through the various agencies, and if you can give something, please do, now and, if possible, down the road.

Via NPR:

"Here's How You Can Help People Affected by Harvey"

(Links for general relief, blood donations, shelter, food, people with disabilities, children, and animals)

Via Huffington Post:

"Here's How to Help the Victims of Hurricane Harvey"

(This was the first set of links I saw, and it includes crowdfunding links for specific needs.)

Via Colorlines (h/t Ernest Hardy for this link)

"How to Donate and Other Aid to Communities of Color in Houston"

(More targeted donation options)

Via The New York Times:

"Making Sure Your Help Gets to Hurricane Victims"

(A fine list of organizations, with links, to help people in the affected areas)