That New York Spirit

I am writing this on Christmas eve and New Year is just around the corner. Yet, New York City (NYC) continues to throb with life even after the Sept. 11 tragedy at the World Trade Center (WTC). The 16-acre disaster site, now known as Ground Zero, is still filled with mangled steel and concrete debris while workers continue to clear out the rubble round the clock – even over the holiday season. At the height of rescue efforts, the New York Police Department (NYPD) had to turn down volunteers, as too many wanted to help.

It is interesting to see how New Yorkers are coping with what happened by donating to charity. I notice, however, that many shoppers bought their Christmas presents at the last minute, perhaps feeling the uncertainty that still hovers in the air. Soup kitchens and goodwill centers are not wanting for donations this year.

I write this while on a holiday, browsing around museums to get a glimpse of how the art community in the city is coping. Many of the traditions at this time of the year were celebrated as usual–even the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan, the performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Trinity Church and the Radio City programs. It seems that the shows and life must go on.

I want to make sense of how people in this city have adjusted after two airplanes filled with fuel rammed into the twin towers of the WTC. Filipino viewers of CNN must have noticed the tag line, "America at War." War seems to be happening everywhere. Yet it seems unreal for the NY residents I have interviewed. Campaigns on television encourage tourists to travel here again, ads are becoming wittier. One of them has broadcaster Barbara Walters trying out for a part in a musical only to be cut in the middle of a song by those auditioning her. She pleads to have another go at it by trying a piece from Cats, illustrating that "everyone has a New York dream," as the ad puts it.

Being an intermittent NYC visitor for some years now, I have enjoyed NYC for the many things it has to offer. But I was uncertain of the exact reason until I recently had a discussion with a much-traveled friend.

Last summer, as we were taking a city tour in another place, our conversation turned to other cities of the world. "New York is not really a city," he declared, "it’s actually a place made up of villages." Since he is from Port Vila, Vanuatu with a population of just 20,000, I valued his astute observation. I took further note of this while walking around NYC’s neighborhoods, including Chinatown and the adjacent Little Italy. These are not contrived heritage centers merely for the benefit of visitors, but living communities that contribute to the pulse of the city with all its faults and selling points. Its fame as the city with more museums, galleries, theaters and other art spaces than any other US city has to do largely with patronage, both big and small, that marks the New Yorkers’ indomitable spirit of civic duty.

Since visiting the US in April interesting changes have taken place. Stainless steel airline utensils have been substituted with non-threatening plastic ones. I also noticed during the taxi ride from La Guardia Airport that many vehicles now sport American flags in miniature, either as printed cloth attached to antennas or as stickers on glass windows. Later I realized that even houses and entrances to apartment buildings donned flags. It seems that this has a lot to do with showing the New Yorker’s sense of nationalism, which is part of their reaction to Sept. 11. Sometimes, Moslem immigrants, afraid as being seen as "Arab-looking," more emphatically wave US flags. This marks a shift in the view of New Yorkers – who have always prided themselves on being able to live side by side with anybody.

The display of the US flag reminded me of a book I once read. Written by David Kertzer, Ritual, Politics and Power called attention to the role of civil rituals in different cultures. Kertzer’s arguments fit complex nations rather than the political rituals of some small-scale groups that he includes. Using as examples the annual US Independence Day parades and the JFK funeral, he says society needs symbolic mechanisms for consensus.

New Yorkers have not lost their cosmopolitan outlook or their tolerance for different kinds of people despite their outward display of patriotic fervor. Perhaps to them an extreme regard for security and protectionism actually threatens civil liberties, preventing them from acting out other important roles in their social lives. New and old city traditions allow them to keep their distinctive character. As one of the world’s most important financial capitals, it is still in the stage of making up for the revenue lost after the bombing of WTC.

The twin towers were emblems of the economic power for which it was attacked. This is also the impetus to keep NYC going: Tragedy and commerce work together in the worst of times. The current "I Love New York" and "Paint the Town Red, White and Blue" campaigns are tied up with company promotions, such as getting discounts for theater tickets if buyers use their American Express cards. These marketing strategies for tourists have not helped the domestic economy any despite the fact that the Christmas season is a usually high spending period. The "screaming monster sales even before Christmas," as one journalist put it, have not turned business around, which is said to be "the worst in 15 years."

NYC Mayor Rudolf Giuliani deserves the credit for having kept NYC going. Giuliani will leave his post in less than a week to make way for a new mayor. Much criticized for his draconian methods of cleaning up NYC’s streets of drugs and crime, he is now being given tribute by New Yorkers. Time magazine ßßhas further honored him as its "Person of the Year," having risen to the occasion during the Sept. crisis. Humbled by the award, Giuliani cites the efforts of the city hall staff and the New Yorkers themselves, "who did most of the work." He leaves with more than his dignity and reputation intact as he personified grace under pressure.

The pragmatism of that New York spirit is a lesson in fortitude, forgiveness and faith. Economic concerns may continue to fuel the city that recently opened a Pokemon Center in midtown Manhattan, as well as the new Prada shop in SoHo designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. But the aftermath of the tragedy has probably made many residents more reflective. As one shopper put it, "she is spending less (money) and spending more time with her family. In the air are not just Christmas carols but the waft of the acrid smell even after the fires were put out at Ground Zero, a hundred days since Sept. 11. Brightly lit shop windows now compete with spontaneous memorials that may be found in subway, fire and police stations as a remembrance to the more than 3,000 people who lost their lives. Somehow this tragedy has been translated to fund-raising and shopping. FDNY and NYPD shirts and other paraphernalia are selling better than merchandise at the Gap and the NBA Store. More importantly, they are available online. This is, after all, for a good cause.

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Comments are welcome at galaphilstar@pacific.net.ph.