Today we hit 100! Since starting more than a year ago we now have had 100 meetings, all well attended and enjoyed. In a lot of ways this mark matters more to me, and to most of us on the Zoom it seemed, than hitting our one year anniversary. We reminisced a little bit, kind of marveled at what we’ve done, how many interesting guests we’ve had, with many of our regulars attending most of them, and how we’ve created something of a community in which we’ve gotten to know each other, supported each other, and entertained each other. We also discussed whether this would be a “centenary” or a “centennial” and resolved “100th” was just easier. It was funny that after 100 Zooms we still were having some tech issues. Zoom seemed to have increased their security protocols, though “Zoom bombing” seems to be a thing of the past already, and we needed to figure out how to manage the onboarding from the waiting room which previously we could disable. It became yet another team effort to figure out the tech.
We’ve hit the Spring again and we marveled at how different it was from last year. Many of us went out into Central Park that day to see the newly budding cherry blossoms. Now only the small flowered ones are open and not the big pink and white fluffy pom poms which should be opening in another week or so. Someone commented that she noticed that the park was filled with outdoor weddings, people are making up for the lost year and are catching up on their nuptials.
One of our regulars has found a boom in her business of selling online photographs of New York City. They’re beautiful, and award winning, and she suspects that people were buying more not only because they’re home to browse the internet and are finding her art but because they’re nostalgic for pre-pandemic New York, maybe many have moved out and are missing New York.
We talked quite a bit about what reopening will mean. Many expressed a “FOGO” – fear of going out – and a lot of articles are being written about his. Some of us have been socializing regularly out and about but within our bubble. I actually stepped out of it for one of the fist times to go downtown to a gathering of less in-bubble friends indoors at a bar. I thought I’d be okay with it, I’m fully vaccinated and most people there had at least one shot or the antibodies, yet I was very nervous and found myself staying only a short time, and after all the friendly hugs, making a batch of the “immunity tea” I was drinking every day in the beginning, a year ago as soon as I got home. In lots of ways it feels like yesterday that all this happened. Time has moved really slowly and really fast at the same time. Several people expressed concerns about opening. A couple are still worried about emerging with the variants causing sickness. We also talked again about New York’s Excelsior pass that would allow people to go to theater and events if they prove they’re vaccinated. Some people admitted this might be the inspiration they needed to get the vaccine.
We talked a bit about the Easter holiday which was also today, about how some enjoyed meals with friends. We talked with our Florida friend again about how open it is, and how we do want him to come back to NY! We also talked a bit about how different Easter last year was from this year. I learned about the Redondo bike race in Belgium through the Flanders area which happens every Easter and which much of Western Europe watches. Last year it was canceled and someone had the bright idea to run it virtually, where each of the racers raced the course at home on their stationary bikes while video taping themselves. This year, with the availability of the vaccine, they could run it live and a Danish guy won.
From the Euro bike race we started talking about a Euro film on Netflix now, Madame Claude, about an infamous brothel owner who ran a high end escort service in the 1960s and 1970s. I found it amazing and very racy, and that led to a kind of fun conversation about such things. Then a woman we hadn’t seen in a while popped in. We stopped and asked how she was doing, and she responded unfortunately not so well since as an Asian she’d suffered a street insult sadly part of the disturbing uptick in Anti Asian violence. This led to an extended conversation about protecting ourselves in the streets from attacks, whether racially motivated or otherwise. Someone who grew up in the City when it was rough recalled the street smarts he acquired as a kid traveling through bad neighborhoods. We talked about mace and other weapons we might carry, about walking with purpose and quickly through threatening areas, and again about the need for the Guardian Angels. Our French friend dropped in so I returned the conversation to Madame Claude, but he was less impressed by that whole brothel thing, so we finished with the more somber but important topic about Anti Asian and street violence we had been on before he arrived. It’s disturbing we need to address it, but we all acknowledged it was valuable that we do. If violence increases against one group the streets become less safe for everyone.
