Jeremy's Weblog

I recently graduated from Harvard Law School. This is my weblog. It tries to be funny. E-mail me if you like it. For an index of what's lurking in the archives, sorted by category, click here.

Friday, August 15, 2003

27 hours without power.

Besides missing Mark Prior's complete game for the Cubs this afternoon because he was on my fantasy team's bench and, without power, I couldn't get on the Internet to rotate him into the lineup for his start today, I believe I'm no worse for the wear.

An observation, after spending too many of the last 27 hours listening to news radio: New York thinks it's really special. I mean, it's great that we got through a night of no power with only one instance of looting (a shoe store in Brooklyn -- just an aside--now be honest: if you were going to loot during a blackout, would you really choose to loot a shoe store instead of, say, an electronics store, or a jewelry store?), fewer arrests than on a usual night, not too many car accidents, mostly just *accidental* fires caused by candles rather than widespread arson, and no riots in the streets, but does this really make us so special? All night, I kept hearing things like, "the spirit of New York shined through this evening, as we triumphantly came through the terrible blackout," "New Yorkers are out helping their fellow New Yorkers, and letting the world know what a wonderful city this is," "This has proven to me just how resilient New Yorkers are, and how New Yorkers truly are special people," "People giving rides to their neighbors, cars being extra careful at intersections with no signals... New York at its very best, the people of New York demonstrating how they truly are one-of-a-kind...." Were the people in New Jersey and Connecticut running each other over on purpose? Leaving their neighbors to perish on street corners? Kicking babies and tripping the elderly? Setting monuments and parks ablaze? Because that's sort of how it sounded. I'm all for pride in where you live, and the people you live with, but is acting civilly and responsibly during a blackout really so extraordinary? Are there really other options for coping with a blackout than by stopping carefully at intersections without signals? Yet all night long, from politicians, from news anchors, from people being interviewed, all of this talk about New York being extra-special. If I wasn't from here... well... I'd probably hate this place.