Guest Post by Svarga Loka
“I would give the greatest sunset of the world for one sight of New York’s skyline.” – Ayn Rand
I do not often disagree with Ayn Rand, but I do here. I would rather watch a sunset on a beach, but to each their own. Nevertheless, I took my elementary aged daughter to New York City last Sunday, because it has been a long held wish of hers to see the Statue of Liberty and gaze at the expensive jewelry in the diamond district. It was a wonderful day, full of acts of kindness from random strangers, crazy New Yorkers, mask mandates, vaccine passports, a freedom rally at Times Square and overall the certainty that with ingenuity and flexibility, one can continue to live life even now. The universe aligned just so to show us bliss, hope and the human spirit.
My preparation started even before the trip. With the times we find ourselves in, I was not sure if we would be allowed into museums, stores, on the train etc, being unvaccinated. Turns out that public transportation is exempt from the vaccine mandates, so we planned to take the free Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. Check. For jewelry, I knew that they have a great exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A quick website search confirmed that only jabbed patrons are welcomed.
I sent them an email to inquire about accomodations for those with medical or other exemptions, and received a response that their online offerings ARE their accommodations. Therefore, that one was out, and I would not really have wanted to patronize a business which requires vaccination, even if they did let me in with an exemption, so that was just as well. I planned to just stroll around the diamond district around 47th street/5th Avenue and figured that we will see enough diamonds within an hour to satisfy any 8 year old’s appetite for sparkliness.
I did not know whether department stores would require vaccinations, so I was just going to play that one by ear. Seated dining is not something I enjoy with children anyways, but it would not have been possible for the unwashed, I was certain. Curbside pretzels and hot dogs from those tourist trap food carts would suffice, and would give us a taste of authentic New York cuisine (/s).
A quick pre-trip research into mask mandates in the city revealed that they are required on public transportation, but only recommended everywhere else. I have only every worn a mask on an airplane, so I was curious whether I would get away without one in the city. As a backup, I found the most unmask-like-mask I could find: my loosely knit winter scarf. It has holes the size of my thumb. I planned to wrap it around my neck to keep warm, and if anyone gave me a hard time, I was going to pull it over my nose for a short while. You can scold me for that approach, but I wasn’t ready for an altercation with my daughter in tow. For her, obviously, I would not mask her for any reason.
I also decided to print two word documents and take them with me. You never know when they might come in handy. The first one said: “Certificate of mask exemption. This is to certify that Svarga Loka is exempt from wearing a face covering for health reasons.” The second one: “Certificate of vaccine exemption. This is to certify that Svarga Loka is exempt from a vaccination against Covid-19 disease because her risks outweigh the potential benefits.” And then I signed both of them myself. Written documentation, to be used when their stupid games lead to stupid paperwork. I did not plan to use these, but I think having them in my pocket gave me extra confidence. Again, you guys may call me cowardly if you like.
Then, we took off on our Amtrak ride, where we were the only people on the train unmasked. Nobody said anything, including any of the employees. At Penn station, there were numerous police offers, with or without dogs, and some soldiers with “Operation Empire Shield” on their bullet proof vests. Nobody appeared to identify me as a threat to the city, and everybody did a great job ignoring me and my exposed face.
The first thing we did upon arrival was to walk through Macy’s department store. Again, everybody masked except us, even though it was only a recommendation and not a requirement. The decorations were spectacular and the famous Macy’s windows whimsical. We enjoyed ourselves.
I noticed that there were small tents on the sidewalk on pretty much every single street corner in midtown Manhattan where you can get tested for free. PCR tests, 24-48 hours turnaround time, performed by the company LabworQ, which I am sure is a very profitable enterprise. No out of pocket costs, no health insurance card necessary. Every tent had about 3-4 people waiting in line, and I overheard an employee wearing scrubs who said to people: “You might as well do it, since it’s free, right?”
In Massachusetts, free testing was available to asymptomatic people in the summer of 2020, but that has since been stopped. I had to spend $139 in the summer of 2021 for a PCR test in order to fly internationally. I am sure that TPTB found themselves in a dilemma: either continue to offer testing for free, which increases test numbers and therefore increases numbers of positive results, or encourage or mandate only the unvaccinated people to test and make them pay through the nose, in order to convince them to get vaccinated for convenience and financial reasons.
On the subway to the Staten Island Ferry, a guy stood up and said that he is a subway singer and he wants to encourage people to join in. He started singing pop songs and drummed the beat on a plastic seat, and I thought to myself how unfortunate it was that we were stuck with a crazy schizophrenic dude on the subway. But my daughter loved it. She smiled and told me how nice it was.
There was another family seated across from us with a 6 year old boy, who also seemed to like the entertainment. Then, a middle aged woman on the opposite side joined in the singing and it actually sounded pretty good. That singing woman was the only person that I saw in the subway all day, who did not wear a mask. Three stops later, the subway singer stopped singing, the 10 people who enjoyed the show clapped, and he left the train. No collection of money.
I overheard the other family with the 6 year old talking to each other, and I said “Are you speaking Italian?” The Dad told me that, yes, they are from Rome and are enjoying themselves exploring New York. As he spoke to me, he lowered his mask so I could see his face. I think it is a normal human response. You feel uncomfortable with your own covered face, because you intuitively realize how it is a barrier to human communication and how you want to be perceived as friend and not foe, and a covered face hinders that. I told them “Arrividerci” and they left at the next stop.
When we arrived at the Staten Island Ferry, it was pleasantly uncrowded and we were able to hop on the next ferry. The weather was gorgeous, the sun came out and the Statue of Liberty looked amazing. I can only imagine what symbol of hope it has been in decades past to the downtrodden and those in search for life and liberty. May we keep it.
In the waiting room of the Staten Island Ferry, the propaganda was on full display. Cycling through the large screens were these three:
“False: Natural remedies can protect me against Covid-19. True: There is no scientific evidence that vitamins or natural remedies protect against Covid-19.”
False: Covid-19 vaccines cause infertility. True: These claims have no scientific evidence supporting them. In fact, thousands of people have safely become pregnant after getting their Covid-19 vaccine. Doctors recommend that all people who are pregnant or may want to have a child in the future get a Covid-19 vaccine.”
“False: Breakthrough cases mean the vaccines don’t work. True: The data overwhelmingly show that vaccines work and they protect people from hospitalization and death. Cases of breakthrough infections do occur and are expected with any vaccine. No vaccine is 100% is effective at preventing infection.”
Signed: “NYC Vaccine for all. Safe. Free. Easy.”
Oh boy. I can’t count all of the logical fallacies in the above. Plus, since when do “people” get pregnant. I guess they could not get themselves to write “women”, so (birthing) “people” it is.
One the next subway ride, back northbound, I noticed a guy on the platform talking to himself loudly and just generally appearing weird. As we sat down in the subway car, I hoped he would not get onto ours. I am on edge every time I go to a big city, because I realize that there is a mix of people there, and my situational awareness is heightened over my normal attitude in suburbia, especially when I am responsible for a minor.
Contrary to that subway singer on the earlier ride, I think this guy actually was a schizophrenic crazy person. So when he stepped onto our car, continuing his loud discussions with himself, it took about 5 seconds for a woman who was sitting across from us to jump up, get out and reenter the next car over. It took about another 2 seconds for me to say to my daughter: “Come with me, fast.” and we did the same. Lesson of the day: follow your intuition and when something is wrong, get out of there as fast as possible.
At Times Square, we ran into a rally of about 100 people. The speaker was wearing a “Let’s go Brandon” T-shirt and there were signs such as “”If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.” and “I survived Covid-19. It’s the civil rights violations making me sick.” They were handing out Australian flags in solidarity. The next speaker introduced was some Franciscan monk or friar, and I forgot his name, but he must be famous in these crowds, because he got a loud cheering welcome like Robert Kennedy Jr. might get. We did not have time to stay long, but I was simultaneously happy to see the rally and disappointed at the low number of participants.
The diamond district in New York is firmly in the hands of Russians and Jews. Or Russian Jews, I have no idea. In any case, it was remarkable that NOBODY there was wearing a mask. Not a single person in any of the shops, and some of these have multiple vendors inside, so that there were up to 20 sellers crammed into a small storefront. We marveled at fancy yellow diamond rings with price tags of $400K and just kept on walking and admiring.
On the way to the Tiffany’s, Harry Winston and VanCleef & Arpels flagship stores, we happened to stumble upon Christie’s auction house. I figured, we could try to see some of the artwork inside, since museums were not accessible to the unvaccinated, but I was not sure if Christie’s was open to the public. We went inside and were greeted by a friendly hostess who informed us that they are having an auction named “Magnificent Jewels” a few days later, and all of the lots were available to view. What we ended up seeing was truly magnificent.
There were 200 lots of high jewelry, all with estimated price tags, too. There were Tiffany’s brooches by famous designer Schlumberger, VanCleef&Arpel bracelets worth $500K, a fancy pink diamond ring estimated at $2.2-3 million, diamond pendants weighing in at 56 Karats, a half million dollar pearl necklace etc. It was better than the exhibit at any museum could have been. Seredipity wins again. Wasn’t the last time that day either.
All of the restaurants and hotels had signs on the doors that patrons over the age of 12 have to show proof of vaccination to enter. Several of the fancier sit-down restaurants had security guards at the door, and I overheard some of the interactions between patrons and them, that they had to show proof to enter. To the contrary, when we entered McDonalds and Taco Bell, each time just to use their bathrooms, the signs were there on the door, too, but nobody checked.
On our way back toward the train station, we saw a few more landmarks, like the New York Public library, but what I enjoyed the most were the street artists. I am sure that they don’t do their work just for the love of art but because tourists pay well, but I think it is a quintessential New York staple. We admired a group of kids break dancing, and the guy who was enticing the audience to stay and watch did so with slogans like “Step up and come closer, don’t worry, we are just black.” and “At the end of the show, please put some money into our bucket so we don’t have to rob you later.”
On the next street corner, Igor from the Ukraine spray painted the New York skyline on a canvas and only us and another family stopped, the other one Jewish, with 5 children, all boys wearing Yarmulkes. One of the boys got his Mom to get her wallet out to buy one of the paintings and the artist just gave it to him and said: “My gift to you, Happy Hanukkah!” Then, he turned to us and gave another painting to my daughter: “And this is for you, my little friend, Happy Holidays!”
I am not sure if that is Igor’s trick to get people to pay for his paintings and if he does it all the time, but it made us happy and I gave him a very generous tip, covering the value of the painting. Even more importantly, my daughter was in heaven. She did not stop talking about the man that gave her a painting as a gift. To her, the fact that is was freely given as a token of human kindness means a thousand times more than anything I could have ever bought her.
In the train station, we stopped and listened to a Cello player for a while. It sounded beautiful and was a perfect ending to a perfect day. I don’t know that much about classical music, but I can recognize someone who plays well. I felt like it was a treat to listen to him. He had a sign with his name on it: Eric Jacobson. When I looked him up later, his website states that he is a cellist and conductor who graduated from the Juilliard school of music, resides in Brooklyn and has performed as a soloist with many orchestras in several countries around the world.
He has played at the Lucerne festival, at the Dresden Musikfestspiele and has recorded with Yo-Yo Ma. It was like one of those youtube videos where world renowned musicians play on a street piano, but nobody recognizes them or even stops to listen. Well, we listened. You have to open your heart and ears to know when to stop for a moment to admire the good (excellent in this case) and the beautiful.
When we got to the Amtrak station, I asked whether we could sit in the lounge while we waited. I had looked it up online beforehand, and it had said that only vaccinated patrons were allowed in the lounge. The friendly guy at the info booth said: “You can, but only if you put your mask on first.” I replied: “I cannot wear a mask for health reasons.” He said: “Oh, ok, you’re good then.” and waived me in. He did not ask for vaccine papers either.
At the very end of our trip, just before we had to had to get off of our Amtrak train, I noticed a guy in his 30s who frantically ran up and down the train isle looking for his iPad. I felt sorry for him, certain that it was lost or stolen. The train could not stop to wait for him, and his friend got out at their stop, while he remained on the train trying to find his device. When it was our turn to leave the train, he happened to get off with us, holding his iPad. I said to him: “Cool, you found it. I am so happy for you.” He said he was happy, too, but now he had to walk back a mile to the other train station where his friend was waiting.
I immediately asked if I should give him a ride, and he gratefully accepted. I said: “I am sure it’ll be fine, since you don’t look like an ax murderer.” and he chuckled. I figured, an ax murderer would not chuckle, so we were safe. In the car, he told me that he was a Psychiatry resident and had just spent a few days at a medical conference in New York about psychedelics. He seemed very excited (pun intended) about the topic and that pychedelic medicine was a novel and promising approach in psychiatry for treating PTSD and things like smoking cessation.
I kept my thoughts to myself, about how I don’t think that drugs are the solution to minds that are hurting and souls that are lost, problems which stem more from the way we live than anything chemical. It was nice though, that I was able to do a good deed at the end of the journey, and he said that he felt like seredipity happened to him twice that day, once when he found his iPad and the second time when he met me.
Lessons learned: You don’t have to wear a mask, not even on public transportation or any place even when there is a federal guideline. I spent the whole day maskless and it was not a problem. Nobody said anything. I wonder if it has to do with the atomized lifestyle of New Yorkers who are so used to being surrounded by all sorts of people with all sorts of opinions and backgrounds, that nobody bothers with anyone. Everyone ignores everyone else and just wants to be left alone. Nobody rocks the boat. It was less likely there, in the city where nobody has any connections to each other except their immediate friends, than in our hometown of lifers to be called out as a non-mask-wearing heathen.
Most importantly: The human spirit is alive and well. There is a lot more kindness and beauty, music and positive vibes among us than we realize, and it will find ways to thrive, if necessary on the far edges of society, even as the world around us falls into darkness.
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New York is a sewer.
Glad to hear you had a good time with your daughter.
Best years of your life, with children.
From a distance I always thought the NY skyline looked like a cancerous outgrowth on an otherwise healthy landscape.
Hideous and malignant.
Anyone who contrasts that favorably with God’s handiwork has something wrong with their wiring.
I drove within 50 miles of New York to the North on the Thruway once. Not enough money in the world to entice me any closer.
It’s one of the great cities on earth. It’s only a sewer when the wrong shits have power.
I was there when the steaming turd David Dinkins made it a toilet, and saw it beautiful after Rudy took over. It isn’t a sewer until a Democrat makes it one.
It don’t think it will ever return to what the rest of us would consider normal. They elected DeBlasio TWICE. Eric Adams squeaked in through ranked-choice voting to become mayor-elect, but half the city thinks he’s too conservative (and he’s given no reason to think he’ll end the mandates). Most NYC dwellers (outside of Astoria and Staten Island) LIKE the mandates and wish there were more mandates. Such people cannot be countenanced.
God bless common sense. :’)
Beautiful story. The normal people are not our enemy. It’s the crazy politicians and their mandates.
PS: Normal People don’t vote for liberal Democrats.
They normally wouldn’t. Did you notice Svarga mentioned getting bombed with propaganda. It’s only 24/7 propaganda if you live there.
She got bombed with lies. There has to be some truth in for it to be propaganda. That was just bald faced lies. I have never seen anything like it.
Great post. One of the few TBP articles, or any article, that I read entirely. Just what I needed to reinforce the thought that humans have passed beyond the Covid hysteria, if only TPTB would leave us alone. If they don’t, it is up to us, as you did, to let them know we are finished with the nonsense. Enjoyed the Erik Jacobsen music. Thank you.
Your observations made me wonder if Irish Democracy is alive and well in NYC? (for the most part?)
Regardless, that post was quite informational poignant, crazy, and decadent, all at once. It also probably could not have been written more accurately. Except, I do tend to believe that some ax murderers, if not even the majority, do chuckle at times.
Thank you, Svarga
Irish Democracy is not only alive and well, it’s the only thing
keeping fed up people like me from open warfare. Keep passively
resisting by refusing to mask or be poisoned by Fauci. The alternative
is a nationwide bloodbath.
And that will be unfathomably awful.
Keep passively resisting until Leviathan makes that impossible.
Ammo HEAVILY up either way.
I enjoyed that Svarga. Thanks for posting.
Good that you both escaped De Blasio’s gun riddled zones.
Thank you for this story. I did a similar trip to NYC with my son about 32 years ago when he was around six or seven years old. He is an artist now (not the starving kind) and his interest in art goes straight back to that day. You and your daughter will member this trip fondly forever.
Um… remember
This had me almost weeping.
I lived in NYC for 9 years in my 20’s. In art school, and later as a married man.
The kindness you experienced I did too,
as I did the ugliness. The wonder you and your daughter saw and felt was beautifully expressed. My children loved NYC when my wife and I took them there. I’m so glad they knew it as your daughter did. Missing the Met is a huge loss. Go back when the hoax is passed.
NYC is committing liberal suicide; mandating The Shot is the “icing” on their caskets. I hate to see it happening to my beloved Florida (no state income tax, Right to conceal carry, no Shot mandates), but the smart Yankees are leaving their Shithole.
That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing the day with your daughter to a bunch of strangers. I took my kids to DC and started with The Metro to give them the full experience many years ago.
My trip to DC will never happen. The only reason I see to go would be to deliver 200 megatons of fun.
Another beautiful historic city with wonders unimaginable to most people on earth.
The cradle of freedom. (Philly was the swaddling cloth) Our history is there.
But it is yet another wonderous place despoiled by filthy leftism. Bums,
drugs, filth..all the hallmarks of leftist cities all across the fruited plain.
Fuck Joe Biden, and Fuck ALL leftists. They have “The Merdas Touch”
everything they touch turns to shit.
I hate DC. All those monuments to men strike me as idolatrous – the agnostic civil religion of the type of people who bray on about “our democracy”. Foggy Bottom, the Pentagon, the Capitol – places where bad people plot evil.
Half of them are to demons, not just evil men like Lincoln. I also scrubbed D.C. from my bucket list.
Wonderful story, Svarga. I took my 15 y-o son to NYC a quarter century ago and we had a great day in the city. I was amazed at how friendly many of the people were and when they found out we lived in the Memphis area, had lots of questions, mostly about Elvis.
We went from NYC to another conference in Atlanta. He roamed downtown Atlanta and explored the underground while I was at the conference and in the evenings, we did the sightseeing thing. It was good memories for both of us and we still occasionally talk about it.
That was a great story, I felt like I was there with you the whole time.
I’m especially glad for the time you had with your daughter creating a wonderful memory that wasn’t built on the foundation of irrational fear, but of human curiosity and adventure.
Good for the both of you.
Thanks for sharing your experience, Svarga.
We are a few hundred miles from that shithole (in the real upstate NY). Used to jump in a car with friends back in the college days and do a day trip just for the fun of it. Now I avoid that place like the plague. It is a cesspool of third world scum and the worse of the worse liberals. Those people are the reason why our beautiful state is in financial ruins. They elect socialist governors that no way shape or form align with us rural upstaters. If that shithole got hit with a 400ft tsunami and swallowed it whole I would probably celebrate.
Especially if it took out WDC too.
Well written and very detailed. You must be young as you have a great recollection of so much detail!
I’m glad you and your daughter enjoyed your day. I’m sure she will always carry this memory with her.
Us old timers can’t remember things with excruciating detail?
You might be right. Just yesterday I accidentally substituted gun grease for mayonnaise. Made for a tasty sammich, but my shooting iron kept hitting low and to the left.
I first brought my daughter to NYC when she was 15, and then the following 2 years, for a trade show in the Javits Center. I was proud to do so, as a have an abiding love of NYFC, for all its good, warts and all. I was also proud to have her part of my work, leading the company I led to its first independent showing in many years.
I can picture everything you described vividly, remember our outings to the Empire State, the American Museum of Natural History, and the last rainy visit walking around a cold shiny Chinatown looking for a hot pot of soup.
The way you told this story brought tears to my eyes, for what was and what is, for the very special time she and I spent there, and for the sheer beauty of the human spirit that becomes starkly etched when juxtaposed with the necessary situational awareness necessary to navigate the urban jungle.
Well done, well done.
This was a good read, as others have said, so thank you Iska.
I meant Svarga!
I enjoyed that tale thoroughly! Super well written and an interesting recount of a city I misspent much of my misspent yout in!
I was raised 45 minutes outside the Rotten Apple…never, ever have been comfortable in any city anywhere…and especially that one.
I truly belong in the rural country…and I’m quite social and can be an extrovert when I want to turn that dial up…but cities make me feel hyper alert, claustrophobic, closed in and crowded.
Each to his own…give me quiet pastures, deep woods, and solitude.
Wonderful family trip Svarga that will be deeply etched into everyone’s memory!
Thanks guys, to everyone who enjoyed it.
The speaker we saw was Father Fidelis, a Franciscan monk who apparently is an activist against abortions. I should have stayed longer, because the next speakers were Dr. Bryan Ardis, well known outspoken physician, and Thomas Renz, lawyer for the frontline doctors.
Today, the jewelry we saw was auctioned off. Three items went for over $2.2 million, several for more than 1 million and many, many for six figures. There is a lot of money trying to find tangible assets.