Personal fwd from David McR: Apartment fire, miracles, good deeds

David's subject title:  Why are you getting this e-mail?


Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2013 12:40 AM
Subject: Why are you getting this email?


First, don't forget to put your clocks forward one hour tonight.

Second, it will soon enough be clear why you are getting this. Very possibly more than once. (If you are on more than one of the email lists to which I send material). So this is a good time to remind you that if you want off the lists, let me know.

Third, just so you have some idea of the number of lists, I post to the following: Bromeliad, Catholic, Cats (and dogs, fish, birds, etc.), Cooper Square, Disarmament, Edge Left, Gay liberation, Greens, Guantanamo, International, Jokes, Middle East, Cousins, NYC announcements, NYC friends, socialists in general, Socialist Party members.

In addition I'm adding a few folks who I think may not be on any of the lists. (Such as Bobby and Stacey - you should pass this on to Phyllis who may be interested because more than fifty years ago, she got me this apt. - there is a whole story of how the ethnic tensions among Poles, Ukrainians, etc., resulted in my landing here at 60 East Fourth St. - if interested I can tell you.

I'll tag on a couple of political comments at the end but briefly, for those who had asked why they had not heard from me, on Sunday afternoon, February 24th, I left to pick up a prescription and stop by the office to feed Rustie, the WRL cat. As I left I said to myself "David, you haven't taken your camera with you for some time", so I stuffed my tiny Canon S90 in my pocket. On my return, as I walked up the Bowery toward 4th Street, I saw a mass of fire trucks lined up. I thought about taking a picture of them but felt "hey, that is a cliche" so got to my block, turned East toward Second Ave., saw firemen rushing in and out of my building, and I went up.

I found a note on a neighbors' door "David, I have your cat". Went on up, found police and firemen stomping around in my ruined apartment in a lake of water. Since one cat was accounted for, I worried about the other and tried to get past the firemen into the main room of the studio apt. The police said I couldn't pass, there was too much broken glass on the floor, but a woman cop said she would get the cat for me. I called out "Shaman", as did she, and miracle of miracles, she found the water logged Shaman hiding behind the ruin stereo system, and brought him out to me. I was glad I had my little camera with me, as I got good shots of the utter pathetic mess which had, for more than fifty years, been my apt.

My next door neighbor offered to let both cats stay there for a while. The fire had burned only one part of the main room but the smoke (and water) damage had pretty well ruined the place. I must say that Cooper Square, which is the coop to which I belong, and makes low income housing possible, was on hand at once, and very helpful. The red cross also showed up. And my neighbors, both from the building and from the block, came by. One fellow on my floor said he had a cot and I could stay the night at his place. The Red Cross said they could find me a hotel (returning to my own apt. - #11 on the fourth floor - was totally out of the question) but didn't have an answer for the cats. Thank God one of the folks from staff at Cooper Square remembered  there was a recent rehabbed apt. in this building, on the ground floor, and I could stay the night there.

So I spent Sunday night next door with Ernesto Fernandez, my neighbor, while the cats hid under his bed. I was more or less in a state of shock - I mean, if there is nothing to be done, relax. So I watched the Academy Awards with Ernie. (Christ almighty but they are boring!!). When they ended, with Ernie's help I stuffed both cats in a cat carrier, and walked down to the first floor, letting them loose (they were utterly terrified because, in addition to everything else, there was suddenly no place to hide - I may post a special "cat report" on this to the cat list). And I lay down on the floor with the little blanket the Red Cross had given me, and tried to sleep. At any age, sleep on the bare floor is not comfortable, but at 83 it is even harder. 

The wonderfully good news is that the cats and I survived unharmed. But much else was lost. On Monday I went up to K Mart to get an inflatable mattress. On Tuesday, Matt Daloisio, who the Catholics would do well to make the next Pope, as he is an organizer, had managed to secure one of those wonderful memory foam mattresses, which I had been trying to find the money to buy (the damn things are wonderful but not cheap) so that on Tuesday night I was rested in comfort.

Bruce Cronin, an organizer (and now a professor with a son and a wife who is also a professor), from the days of Mobilization for Survival, and Matt Daloisio from the Catholic Worker, and Carmen Trotta, also from the Catholic Worker, spent all day beginning the process of hauling essential things down from the fourth floor to my new abode. Bruce determined the computer might be saved - just a new keyboard was needed. A work crew of mixed religious and political views worked all day Friday, hauling things over to the War Resisters League workroom and  to the Catholic Worker's Mary House. Lots of photographs may be saved. The personal ones are not important - cats, family, flowers, we all have them. But more than fifty years of movement photos, here and in other countries, are important.

Today Matt and Bruce hauled the heavy butcher block table down from the fourth floor, and somehow Bruce got the computer and keyboard hooked up and, in consultation with Time/Warner technical staff, got the email program, which I'm now using, ready. Meantime, an old friend, Selma Ehrenfeld, had come by to take me out to dinner and give me a check to pay for my wonderful new 32 inch TV. And here I am. I have spent the night cutting the 700 plus emails stacked up in half, but I do want to get this out.

A number of people have sent checks and in some cases cash, so that I think all the essentials 
(well, let's face it, the luxuries too - a TV, a DVR, etc. etc.). A nephew and a cousin went together to get a replacement for the cat tree, which should arrive this week.  If there is money left over it will be held for a fund to deal with the costs of getting the many hundreds (thousands, lets be honest) of black and while and color negatives dealt with so we know what may be of interest to Swarthmore Peace Library and/or Tamiment Institute, and to WRL itself.  My life being somewhat complex politically there are photos from both the socialist and pacifist movements.

There is sad news this past week. The death of Chavez is a blow not only to Venezuela but to all of us who felt he was opening a new path for Latin America as an alternative to US domination.  And on an entirely different from, the Living Theater closed its doors for good, and Judith Malina, at 86, has been forced into retirement as well as eviction. 

There was good news - Vietnam has opened its doors to visits from Amnesty International. 
And, contrary to many in the liberal community (particularly the MSNBC commentator Lawrence O'Donnel), I salute Rand Paul for his filibuster against the CIA nomination. I have often been irritated with O'Donnel's endless political tag of war with the Fox News commentator, Bill O'Reilly and in this case I felt the liberals should have backed Rand Paul - the possible use of drones to executive Americans in this country, without a trial, is dreadful. (Buried in the news was a story from Afghanistan of strange troopers who were executing civilians - both the US military and the Afghan military categorically denied being involved, but the finger is pointing at a rouge
US outfit run by the CIA and not under any control. Confirming another good reason to abolish the CIA entirely.

Bad news - I did lose all my bromeliads (I kill a good many all by myself, but in this case they were simply destroyed by fire and smoke). But for every ying there is a yang. Last week at our Bromeliad meeting I got an excellent pup of a hearty, fast growing Aechmea, so I'm back in business.

The cell phone was lost in the fire, but I've got a new one. The old land line was also destroyed but they are cheap and I have a new one of those as well. Cell phone: 646 / 942.7118, land line, 212 / 674.7268.

I know there are people I should have mentioned in this report - forgive me. I have been totally overwhelmed by the help. There is so much to be done in sort out the things that were saved, and while I realize only I can do. But Friday, when Pat Moynagh was srubbing the CD boxes clean, and Vicki was trudging through the mess upstairs, I was so tired just to look at the mess that I can only say how deeply grateful I am. Looking at the collection of CD boxes which were saved, one question is why the hell I ever bought that many CD's. And the answer is this is what collectors do.

The wonderfully good news is that most of my complete collection of Rumpole of the Bailey (DVD's) were saved! Rumpole for the defense - he will never retire.