Unlike many I was only inconvenienced by the storm rather than uprooted. My co-op building was well above sea level and not at risk to the rising water. We did lose power and water for five days which was very inconvenient but not in itself life threatening; I’d stored up plenty of food and drinking and flushing water. For me it was the equivalent to going camping in my apartment.
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| My nightlight during the blackout |
I do admin to some apprehension on the thought that one of
my neighbors would knock over a candle and burn the
block to the ground. All throughout the
dark night fire trucks would be rushing off to the next crises while I hoped
they would pass my block bye. Such are the fears of a country boy living in the
crowded city.
Power was out south of 39th street, in my
neighborhood, and so stores were closed, street lights dark, and people were bucketing water up to
their cold apartments. During the days, they would wandered the post apocalyptic streets looking for coffee or a WiFi hot spot. We jokingly called this area SoNoPow - for South with No Power.
North of that business were open and people rushed
around and complained about the traffic delays as if those were personal
attacks against their dignity. Through this I may have got a bit of perspective of what a homeless
person might feel, on how out of touch the iPad and latte world was with someone
who’s priority it was to find food and shelter for the night. And how that other world really doesn't want to think about those who are in need when they can focus on any threat to their needs.
