Voted Off the Island

Syllabus: Lawnguyland Studies 101

I've just finished a big sprawling mess of a 720 page novel -- which I loved -- called Great Neck, by Jay Cantor. The novel follows a group of friends from 6th grade forward through the Civil Rights Movement, Black Power, feminism and the radical left. These intense, brainy, (and yes, pretentious) idealists, far more than the pampered Jewish princes and princesses, were "my" people growing up in Great Neck, and I loved following the characters' complex, tragic and intertwined lives in this ambitious and dense novel. Cantor got the details right and threw in enough local Great Neck "color" (Squires, Kucks, Cherry Lane School, The Playhouse Theatre) to keep me very happy.

Reading Great Neck took more than a month but it got me thinking about huge cultural impact suburban Long Island has had on our culture, embodying the hope and the hell of postwar suburbia. This is a very "boomerish" notion, but I do believe postwar Long Island was a singular time and place. We Lawnguyland Baby Boomers were raised in a cultural maelstrom the prompted the idea of putting together a college level class on Long Island. 

Enough armchair sociology, here's the course.

  Syllabus:  Lawnguyland Studies 101

Our Reading List:

• Great Neck, by Jay Cantor
• Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman
• The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• That Night, by Alice McDermott
• Home Fires, by Donald Katz
• The Postion, by Meg Wolitzer
• The End of the Hamptons, by Corey Dolgin (sociology)
• Philistines at the Hedgerow: Passion and Property in the Hamptons, by Steven Gaines
• The Power Broker, by Robert Caro
• The Amityville Horror, by Jay Anson
  
  

  

Our Filmography:

• The Brothers McMullen (1995 film)
• L.I.E. (2001 film)
• Sabrina (1954 original)
• Capturing the Friedmans (2003 film)
• Grey Gardens (1975 film by the Maysles brothers)
• Man on the Moon (1991 film about Andy Kaufman)
• Growing Up Gotti  (Bravo TV series)
• Stewart Bird's 1994 documentary Building The American Dream: Levittown, NY
• The Flamingo Kid (1984 film)
  
• LymeLife  (soon-to-be released drama, Sundance winner)
  
          

           

Our Sound Track:

• Cold Spring Harbor, Billy Joel
  

Our Field Trips:

• Leonards of Great Neck
• Carvell
• Gilgo Beach
• Malibu Beach Club
• White Castle, Lynnbrook
• The Big Duck
• St. Agnes Cathedral
• Safety Town
• Nathans Famous
• Sunrise Mall
• Levittown
• The Miracle Mile
• King Kullen
• Saddle Rock Grist Mill
• Nunley's Carousel

Study hard students, and get ready for the final exam!

Stuyvesant Town On Brink of Default

According to the Wall Street Journal, one of the biggest, most high-profile deals of the commercial real-estate boom is in danger of imminent default. New York's Stuvyesant Town, where so many baby boomers like me were born and raised, and which was purchased just three years ago by Tishman Speyer and a consortium of other investors for $5.4 billion, is running out of cash.

Brian Harkin for The Wall Street Journal

Stuyvesant Town was developed by MetLife for returning World War II veterans.  When I was growing up there the population was mostly young families cranking out kids...my mother said residents jokingly called it "The Womb." It remained a middle-class bastion even as rents in other parts of Manhattan skyrocketed, but militant rent stabilization kept ST apartments affordable. It really was a wonderful place to grow up, a place in the city where kids could be outside on their own, or like me, strap on their roller skates, jump on their bikes, and be completely safe.  I lived at 16 Stuyvesant Oval, apartment 10G (I shared the second bedroom with my brother) until I was in second grade. Then we moved to the L.I. suburbs.

ST residents are a formidable lot. When the Tishman purchased the property from MetLife, the new owners predicted they would be able to convert thousands of protected apartments to higher market rents. Some of that happened.  But according to this blogger,

There are only 2 groups that are happy as this incident runs to a conclusion. MetLife

is got to be thrilled that they sold the units at the top of the market and got a premium for their share holders and policy holders.

Oh, and the other group? That is the long term rent controlled stabilized tenants who have fought off Tishman Speyer’s attempt to break through. That is as tough a bunch as I have ever come across and I should have known that no company could ever fight them and come away unscathed.

Nina Loves NeNe

  No apologies for this, but I do watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta, and I love NeNe Leakes.  NeNe makes me laugh and groan and wince and feel, unlike the other nutjobs of RHoATL who are so busy screeching, shopping and orchestrating their careers that they frequently forget to stop and smell the latte.  NeNe, nee Linnethia Leakes, is a hard knocks girl from Queens who tells it like it TIZ.  She's Anderson Cooper's favorite housewife too. 

NeNe has a book out and a full signing schedule in the ATL. Yesterday she scored a major story on The Daily Beast to promote it.

What does your favorite housewife "say" about you?  Damned if I know.  But like the Beatles, (I was a John fan...bug surprise, right?) plenty of people are musing about it. Here are my favorites from other shows in the Housewives franchise:

New York - Jill Zarin (and not just because she's Jewish) and Bethenny

New Jersey - Caroline and Dina

Orange County - they all suck

Over shabbat lunch in an Atlanta 'hood this weekend, somebody at the table suggested a frum (Hebrew for pious) version: Real Housewives of Williamsburg, or to get Atlanta about it, Real Housewives of Toco Hills.  That would be a riot.  Word from Bravo TV is that Washington DC is the next hub for the Housewives, and that will be interesting too.

 

Madoff's Statement In Court

Read the full transcript of what he said in court to Judge Denny Chin.

Full Madoff transcript here

Caroline Kennedy for Senate

  Camelot.  Bamalot.  At first, the heart flutters at the thought of a Kennedy in Hillary's empty senate seat.  Then the head kicks in -- America isn't a monarchy, and simply having the breeding, the genes and the "name" doesn't entitle anyone to political office. I've been basically negative about Caroline Kennedy's bid for the Senate, but two recent stories got me squarely off the fence:

First, Salon's Joan Walsh, who offers a compelling scenario for earning how she might actually earn the mantle:

Why doesn't Kennedy throw her considerable prestige behind Rep. Carolyn Maloney's Senate appointment bid, and then run for Maloney's House of Representatives seat, since she's lived almost her whole life in Maloney's district?

Second, the Washington Post's Jonathan Capeheart nails the many objective reasons she's not fit for office.