22.03.2020 | A Journal of Resilience: a Walk in Riverside Park

Sun setting framed by the 69th Street Transfer 

Today was a cool sunny day. I am taking any opportunity to be outdoor for a power walk, until is still feasible. Upper West Side streets are almost empty, the majority of stores and restaurant are closed; it feels eerie, considering the usual density of the city. During my walks I am mindful of the six-foot radius of "social distancing" which I prefer to call "spatial awareness. When I encounter other people I extend my arms, spanning about 65" and twist from the waist, with my back facing the other passerby, making sure that there is at least one-foot gap from the tip of my finger tip. If anybody else would do it the six-foot radius would be respected.

Differently from street parks are crowded and people seem to ignore "social distancing". New York City has been declared the US epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 15000 confirmed cases, an exponential growth in the past week. Governor Cuomo gave a powerful briefing this morning, which confirmed my observations. He stated "This is not life as usual...And this kind of density, we talk about social distancing, I was in these parks. You would not know that anything was going on. It's a mistake. It's insensitive, it's arrogant. It's self-destructive. It's disrespectful to other people."

Sadly once again even in this unprecedented crisis people in the city are disrespectful of others. But I still enjoy the five mile walk and the view of the sun setting by the Hudson River. I return home and I practice my usual mindful movement practice in the icosahedron.

I am grateful for still being healthy and resilient. The brutal divorce perhaps taught to appreciate solitude.

Mindfulness as Survival Means | "Finding the Axis Mundi" on My Birthday

Article 15 of New York Human Rights Law of the Executive Law (chapter 18 of the Consolidated Laws of New York) prohibits "discrimination on the basis of "age, race, creed, color, national origin, sexual orientation, military status, sex, marital status or disability" and 'under the Human Rights Law in New York, every citizen has an “equal opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life.” Since 2014 my "opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life.” has been denied by many parties. While I was undergoing traumatic divorce proceedings I was subjected to prejudicial treatment, harassment and abuse of power by the co-op board of an Upper West Side building where I have been a resident and shareholder since 1989.
    Perhaps my personal story is an autoethonography which also can be contextualized in gentrification: NYC neighborhoods have been transformed in the past decades, but the increase of real estate value is proportional to the decrease of community values.
   My divorce case is somehow similar to a multitude of cases.   Families are destroyed by the greed of attorneys and anybody else involved in the "divorce industry": the main victims are the parties with economical and social disadvantage. The lack of assistance from agencies who are supposed to support victims of domestic abuse aggrevates the situation. For years I have been trying unsuccessfully to get legal assistance from the NYC Center for Family Justice. My case involved mental cruelty, emotional abuse and financial control—which are recognized as domestic abuse—but I was never provided any legal support or counseling. I was referred to private legal practices who would not even consider my case since did not involve physical violence.
   Due to such course of events, this year celebration of my birthday in New York was extremely difficult.  I am a middle-class, middle-age intellectual and seem to have become a scapegoat for everybody's anger and frustration.  As a designer/artist and yoga practitioner I resort to creativity, a healthy lifestyle and meditation as means of survival. A yoga practice at sunset by the Hudson River reminded how the beauty of nature and the urban energy can help to overcome my immediate social context.
   A movement practice in a urban space is a way to a collective healing, bringing a personal expression to a public statement, I do not believe my story is isolated and am trying to make it public. I hope that sharing with others the abuse and bullying I have been subjected to, will help not only as narrative for the healing process, but also for public change.
    Quoting Audre Lorde,  “My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.”
 

Practice | Finding the Axis Mundi in the Search for Healing by the Flowing River, at Sunset

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Practice | Body Prayer by the Flowing Hudson River

camminando & vernissages | Chelsea, February 28

Another painfully cold temperature leads my walk from views of the sun setting over the frozen Hudson river to a vibrant art openings night.

Views of the sun setting behind New Jersey skyline, with a frozen Hudson river in the foreground

Alejandro Cesarco "Loyalties and Betrayals" at Murray Guy

Jonathas de Andrade at Alexander and Bonin

"System and Vision" at David Zwirner

"Future Seasons Past" curated by Manuel E. Gonzalez at Lehmann Maupin

Quite a Year...Will 2015 Bring Back Humanity?

2014 has been a quite remarkable year from the series "that which does kill us makes us stronger". Survival has been the recurrent definition of ways of existence. Art and creativity have as usual been survival means.


Collective tragedies and violence have been observed from my personal troubles and sorrows. I have been "officially" confirmed as victim of emotional and psychological violence. My research has been trashed by academic politics but is well and alive even if access to adequate facilities has been denied or restricted and rushed

I am still here, ready to get up and continue, although bruised and in pain. I have been blessed with reasonable good health and ready to continue in my hope for a better world, which I hope to continue to contribute

I would like end this troublesome year with a positive note, with an Italian song by Francesco Guccini, made famous by Nomadi. The title is aphorism by Nietzsche and Ginsberg's "Howl" translation marks the beginning of the lyrics. A collaborative work to express the hope for a better world in 2015.

Ho visto la gente della mia età andare via
lungo le strade che non portano mai a niente.
Cercare il sogno che conduce alla pazzia
nella ricerca di qualcosa che non trovano
nel mondo che hanno già.
Lungo le notti che dal vino son bagnate
dentro le stanze da fastidio trasformate
lungo le nuvole di fumo di un mondo fatto
di città essere pronto ad ingoiare la nostra
stanca civiltà e un Dio ch’è morto:
ai bordi delle strade Dio è morto,
nelle auto a presa rate Dio è morto,
nei miti dell’estate Dio è morto.
Mi han detto che questa mia generazione
ormai non crede in ciò che spesso è mascherato
con la fede, nei miti eterni della patria e dell’eroe
perché è venuto ormai il momento di negare tutto ciò
che è falsità, e per il fatto di abitudine e paure, una politica
che è solo far carriera, il perbenismo interessato,
la dignità fatta di vuoto, l’ipocrisia di chi sta sempre con la
ragione e mai col torto è un Dio ch’è morto:
nei campi di sterminio Dio è morto,
coi miti della razza Dio è morto,
con gli odi di partito Dio è morto.
Ma penso che questa mia generazione è preparata
a un mondo nuovo e una speranza appena nata,
ad un futuro che ha già in mano, a una rivolta senza armi
perché noi tutti ormai sappiamo che se
Dio muore per tre giorni e poi risorge,
in ciò che noi crediamo Dio è risorto,
in ciò che noi vogliamo Dio è risorto,
nel mondo che faremo Dio è risorto.
Dio è risorto, Dio è risorto,
Dio è risorto, Dio è risorto..

Dio è morto (se Dio muore, è per tre giorni poi risorge)

Francesco Guccini & Nomadi, 1967 

My last walk of 2014, right after the Sun passed the meridian in NYC

waterways | Canoeing in the Hudson River at the Stockport Creek

Another memorable canoe outing in the waterways of the Hudson River at the Stockport Creek, led by Fran Martino, canoes courtesu of the DEC Hudson River Estuary Program. An educational tour while enjoying the less obvious vista of the meeting between the Hudson and the Stockport Creek, meandering through man-made infrastructure and natural habitat, within small islands and wetlands.