DAY FOUR

**A*@aol.com**

Friends,

It has been an awesome community effort at the World Trade Center bombing 
site and in the surrounding communities in NYC , upstate NYC, New Jersey, 
Connecticut, Pennsylvania and from states all around the Union and the world. 
 Knowing the anti-NYC sentiment that exists out there ( we deserve some of it 
for all those lousy TV commercials that get made here, the funny way we talk  
and the way that we've taken all the wholesome porn out of Times Square and 
given the world a Disney theme park) this outpouring of support is 
unexpected. 

The scale of all of this is amazing.  

Many community gardens in the city, including the Clinton Community Garden, 
have thrown in shovels and gloves for the workers because that's where 
they're needed now.  These got thrown into a large pile at the Javits Center 
near us where lines of hardhatted volunteers are picking them up. This is 
just a drop in the bucket - the outpouring of volunteerism is amazing.  We'll 
just have to see how this will pan out for the long haul.  The Sbarro folks, 
who own a pizzeria that got bombed in Jerusalem, brought in trucks of hot 
pizzas for folks waiting to be assigned to a shift at the World Trade Center 
site.  Snake real estate managing companies have shaken hands on a 
non-profiteering agreement ( what was exhorbitant last week has not been 
increased, even though a real estate killing can certainly be made on 
millions of square feet of office space.)  Remember,  that the World Trade 
Center had millions of square feet of office space that are now gone for a 
very long time.

The missing person  search is massive.  They are saying 5,000 missing in the 
media. 
We have over 30,000 body bags ready.  Piers in NYC, New Jersey and Brooklyn 
are already filled with the dead. 

Folks visiting the missing person's center at the Armory on  Lexington and 
26th Street ( a few doors down from the site of the last home of Herman 
Melville, the writer of Moby Dick) are asked to bring tooth and hairbrushes 
for DNA and dental records.  The scale of the work forensic anthropologists 
and coroners will have to do is beyond Lockerbie,  sub Hiroshima, but the 
like first battle of the Somme  in one day, perpetrated on civilians. 

 The folks going from hospital to hospital with those smiling family pictures 
rip out your heart. Lamp posts and walls are plastered with these pictures 
near all hospitals and police stations. And, it's only going to get worse.

 The armies of steelworkers and construction companies working on this relief 
effort on a pro-bono basis is really astonishing ( these are $40 an hour and 
up skilled workers who are putting their skills where their on their sleeve 
patriotism is. Bless them all.) 

The Yemeni store keepers in our neighborhood have not been harassed.  Some 
have gotten the hint and put up American flags like the Irish-style bars ( as 
opposed to the real  article that shows soccer and rugby games in the morning 
for ex-pats who quietly drink  Guiness with their fried eggs and sausage 
breakfasts and read the Irish Echo.)  

There have been some anti-Muslim incidents at Rikers Island ( the NYC prison 
island in the East River) but blessedly none in our  neighborhoods. Pray that 
America remembers what it is about while it is hurting.

Alot of kids and seniors need us to be there for them ( we need to be there 
for each other, but some kids and seniors are having a real hard time dealing 
with recent events.)  Being there is a good thing to do, listening is even 
better.  If fear is addressed and named then the cloud disperses a bit.

Caution: If you feel the need to give money to the effort in Washington, DC  
or  NYC, the absolutely best way is through a direct contribution to the Red 
Cross.  Do this directly, not through a telephone solicitor ( the rip-off 
artists are already working the phones, patching folks into operators who are 
asking for credit card numbers. These scoundrels have targeted seniors.) 

Thank you.  My strange off-shore island of Manhattan feels embraced by the 
good people of the US mainland and the world. 

The bad guys have taken their best shot.  It's now our turn.

Adam Honigman

Best wishes,
Adam Honigman

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