The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion
The Malaysian Insider :: Opinion |
| Posted: 21 Nov 2011 04:03 PM PST NOV 22 — New York is gearing up for Thanksgiving Day this Thursday, one of the largest and oldest non-religious holidays celebrated in the United States. Plans are underway for a day of feasting, thus continuing a tradition dating back to 1621, when the British settlers of Plymouth Colony (in present-day Massachusetts) marked that year's bountiful harvest with a jolly good knees up. But not everyone will give thanks around a table laden with roast turkey, pecan-crusted sweet potato and pumpkin pie. I'm thinking about NYC's homeless. More than 3,000 people live on the streets and in the sprawling subway system. These people prefer, for whatever reason, not to use the city's shelters that help close to 40,000 homeless (recorded in November's Department of Homeless Services NYC shelter census).  CJ Phillips with his "message cart" at Occupy Wall Street Movement in Zuccotti Park early this month. — Pictures by Helen Hickey "I got no plans for Thanksgiving," he told me; the best he hopes for is that he'll be given a plate of something hot from the kind-hearted people in the area. There are many like him for whom Thanksgiving will be just another day to get through. There is a soup kitchen on 59th Street and First Avenue, but for people like 61-year-old chronically diabetic James this isn't an option. I met James, a statuesque African-American with seven years in the US Marine Corps under his belt, at a local recycling depot with a shopping trolley full of cans and bottles he had spent the entire night collecting from street bins. He inserted a can into one of the giant vending machines in the depot and a nickel popped out. The five cents-a-can return on the 300 empties salvaged would earn him US$15 (RM47) in weighty coins. The recycling money buys him diabetic-friendly meals, "but it's not enough to survive in the city." You have to wonder how some of these people ended up homeless. There are the more extreme homeless cases — persons with a dishevelled appearance, invariably suffering from a mental disorder or addiction — but the majority in my area look pretty presentable. One wet Friday I met Christopher James Phillips, or CJ for short — unlike others he was comfortable disclosing his full name. He sat on an upturned crate, sheltering under Queensboro Bridge, with a shopping cart stuffed with black bin liners bursting with his belongings — the trappings of a homeless person — except for the Dell laptop he was feverishly tapping away on. "I spent every dime I had to get the computer, the wait in the library [for computers] was just getting too long," the 51-year-old explained. He was composing an email to a local church seeking a foster home for his two cats he had tethered to the cart — "his children" as he calls them having no family of his own. CJ, originally from New Jersey, has been homeless for close to a year after the government stopped paying his housing subsidy for his apartment in the Bronx, an area he has lived and worked in for 20 years. He sleeps on a wooden bench in a dog run by the East River, a stone's throw away from our glass-panelled high-rise, preferring this to NYC's shelters, which he says are "too dangerous." He worked his way up from a kitchen hand to an "executive" chef, and later ran both a pizza restaurant and an office cleaning business. His résumé also records a fledgling acting career on the side. "I was doing ok before I became ill, earning between US$20,000 to US$30,000 a year."  An all too common sight on NYC's streets... Since he lost his one-day-a-week job last month waiting tables at a pizzeria he has been recycling cans for money. On occasion, he is forced to beg: "I don't like panhandling. Never done it in my life until now... but what can I do... I can't drop dead either." "My current initiative is to get the heck off these streets. But it is a very daunting task." He's pinned his hopes on the Occupy Wall Street movement, which he has been deeply involved with these past two months up until the occupiers' eviction from Zuccotti Park last Tuesday. He intends to publicise his struggle by pushing his "message cart" along with other OWS occupiers joining the 85th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this Thursday. I'm told this televised parade is one of those NYC events not to be missed. But given a three-hour line-up of Miss America 2011, the likes of "Tom Turkey" and "Santa Claus" float themes and guest appearances by pop divas Avril Lavigne and Mary J. Blige — I fear his Thanksgiving message may not receive the attention it so deserves. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Posted: 21 Nov 2011 03:57 PM PST NOV 22 — OK, then — let's do it for one last time (I promise)... Let's continue my recent obsession with Tottenham Hotspur by drooling over their performance in last night's extremely comfortable 2-0 victory over Aston Villa, which took Harry Redknapp's team into third place in the English Premier League table and extended their unbeaten league run to nine games. Redknapp was back on the bench last night after a brief spell of convalescence following heart surgery last month, and the recovery of the Spurs manager must have been eased by another sparkling display of attacking verve, pace, purpose and creativity. It only took 13 minutes for Emmanuel Adebayor to open the scoring with an acrobatic overhead kick after Villa failed to clear their lines from a corner. It was the fourth league goal of the season for the Togolese striker, who has given his new team an additional sharpness in attack since his arrival on loan from Manchester City at the start of the campaign. Bearing in mind the fact that Spurs could have already scored twice before that opener — Adebayor had headed wide from Aaron Lennon's sumptuous cross and Younes Kaboul had seen a shot deflected narrowly wide — and it appeared that Villa were in for a very long night. And so it transpired. The visitors kept it down to a one-goal deficit for the next half hour, without ever really threatening to get back on level terms, but then Adebayor got his second of the night to effectively end the game two minutes before the interval. Again, Villa's defence was at fault as they failed to deal with a left-wing cross from Bale to leave Adebayor with a simple tap-in, but the quality of Bale's cross — delivered into the perfect area between defence and goalkeeper — should be given some credit. Going into the second half, the only real question was whether Adebayor would complete his hat-trick. And he should have done so less than ten minutes into the period when he was sent clean through on goal by Luka Modric's perfectly timed pass, only to slide his shot wide of the right hand post. Five minutes later, Adebayor came close again when he latched onto a loose ball after another scintillating run by Bale and curled a right-footed effort narrowly wide from 20 yards. But the home side then took their foot off the gas, enjoying the opportunity to relax and save some energy against a lacklustre Villa side that appeared to have travelled south with a purely defensive mindset. Adebayor came close — again — and Scott Parker blasted a couple of long-range efforts well wide, but on the whole Tottenham were playing well within themselves as the game meandered towards its inevitable conclusion. Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal fans may disagree but, with the sole exception of Manchester City, the front six fielded by Tottenham last night is, I believe, as good as anyone's in the Premier League right now — especially with the added confidence they seem to possess at home. With Parker providing a firm anchor, Bale and Lennon rampaging down the wings, Modric prompting from midfield and Rafael van der Vaart's clever creativity supporting Adebayor, it's a pretty formidable proposition for any opposing defence to contain. I don't think they'll possess enough defensive solidity or overall strength in depth to challenge either of the Manchester clubs for the title this season, but I'd be surprised if Spurs don't cement their place in the top four to secure a return to the Champions' League. Chelsea are clearly in transition, Arsenal — despite their excellent recent run of form — are defensively vulnerable, Liverpool are struggling to find consistency and Newcastle's impressive start to the season is unlikely to be sustained. Third place is there for Tottenham's taking. Beyond this season, the future might not be so bright: Redknapp is widely expected to succeed Fabio Capello as England manager; Bale is repeatedly being linked to Barcelona and Inter Milan; Modric may continue to be pursued by Chelsea and there's no certainty that Adebayor's loan move from Manchester City will be made permanent. If that quartet were all to depart White Hart Lane, they would have a lot of big gaps to fill. However, I'm sure Spurs fans won't be concerning themselves too much about those possibilities at this stage. They'll just be enjoying the moment — and why not, because their team is one of the most watchable sides in the world right now. * The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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