Many — if not most — of the NYC public school classrooms are still not air-conditioned. Newer schools have central air-conditioning, and in most of the older schools, only the principals and some administrators enjoy office window air-conditioning units. Although the Department of Education tries its best to use as many AC-equipped sites for summer programs, often they have to use non-AC sites as well. It’s not easy to motivate kids these days, but even harder in summer, and harder still in hot classrooms.

I taught in such a school up in East Harlem. The building was competed as part of the WPAduring the Great Depression. When we had a hot June, students would take Regents examsfully equipped with frozen water bottles on their desks.

So, during the last week, I have been thinking of NYC’s public school students and teachers in those hot classrooms on their first week back in the classroom. And it’s not going to be much better this week, as we hover around the 80s until the middle of the week.

Post Tropical Storm Hanna outside my house

Hanna stirred up quite a storm last night, but as of this morning sunshine and a pre-fall cool has set in around NYC. I couldn’t imagine yesterday morning that last night would have been so torrential. While the rain was falling hard and falling for a long time, it was pretty tame.

There must be some folks in Long Island without electricity for sure, but other than that, not much damage was caused by the storm. When there are no injuries, it’s been a good storm.

Two of my friends were out in Flushing yesterday at the U.S. Open and they said matches only stopped as the storm progressed, but some of the main matches still went on. It’s like nothing really happened this morning. The storm pretty much did what it was supposed to and it seemed that with the free HBO weekend and long lines at Blockbuster yesterday morning, everyone was well prepared for a nice time indoors. The rain did look beautiful though when I went outside for a bit. It was soft and heavy, just a perfect combination. And since the darkness was overpowering what little lights I turned on outside my house gave a really wonderful aura to the entire scene.

And now we begin a Sunday that will lead us into a [hopefully] brisk Fall season filled with pumpkin juice, butterbeers and dances underneath the whomping willow. Holy Harry Potter reference Batman! I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. End. post. now. K/Luv you/Buh bye!

Courtesy of Acuweather

Tropical storm Hanna is estimated to hit New York tonight, meaning that it’s time to break out your heavy duty umbrella (i.e. not the $3 chinatown one) for this rare occasion that you’ll need it. Personally, I don’t intend to bike across the Williamsburg bridge, go swimming in the east river, or anything equally daring this evening, for fear of being washed away. Tonight might be a nice one to stay in, crack open a bottle of vodka, and cheers to the fact that you’ve got somewhere nice and cozy to dry off in — after we spend an estimated three hours searching Bushwick for tonic this afternoon, we certainly will enjoy the warmth and dryness.

ESTIMATED STORM PATH

SATELLITE OF STORM

Dive into Sherman

I drove up to Sherman CT yesterday for an interview. Though the trip was an hour and a half by car – it takes the same amount of time for me to get to midtown from where I live on the outskirts of Queens right now.

But the benefit of driving an hour and a half is that you get to see the beautiful country that spreads across the upstate NY and CT area. Green lush trees fill the sides of the highways – all of them on the verge of shedding all their leaves – but not before putting on a brilliant fall display.

As if this was not enough, the closer I got to my destination, the road turned into 2-way lanes. Curving side by side, following a splendid lake being hit by the brilliant sunlight. I was in awe. It was truly incredible.

Just a few hours away from the middle of the busiest city in the world lies uninhibited, raw, natural beauty. Check it out if you can! The 3rd weekend in September would probably be the right time to see all the fall foliage.

After a rather stressful week, I was happy to join my friends for happy hour tonight at the Stonewall Inn. Conveniently located in the West Village where I work, this bar is the historic site of the famous Stonewall riots – often cited as the first step towards gay rights.

On June 28, 1969, police entered the Stonewall Inn – supposedly there to make sure they were following alcohol control laws. They began making homophobic remarks and lining the patrons up outside of the bar (something that had happened frequently at that establishment), but this time the people resisted. Spontaneous riots erupted where bystanders joined in and shouted “Gay Power!”. The event sparked several gay activist groups and marked the early steps towards gay rights.

And now it’s a popular gay bar to go to for happy hour. The bar includes a historic vibe, gorgeous chandeliers, karaoke, and 2 for one drinks. Drinking my free drink and singing along to “Colors of the Wind” proved a good way to de-stress on a Friday.

Some friends of mine had the ambitious idea to tour across the USA. They are starving mucisians and while I’m sort of biased, just head over to their Myspace page – it does really sound nice.

Anyway, their tour schedule is on Myspace and they are in town for a couple shows. I will probably check them out tomorrow at 10 PM at Don Pedro, in Williamsburg. Let me know in the comments if you come over.

Yesterday I was on a flight out of JFK heading to Syracuse. All was well, I thought, as we boarded and taxied down the runway without incident. But upon takeoff, I smelled something funny, and looked up to see swirls of smoke beginning to fill the cabin. I didn’t freak out too much – I’ve flown probably half a million miles in the past 4 years so I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit – but a number of the passengers were alarmed. The captain turned the plane around and we landed back at JFK about 10 minutes after we took off. Shortest flight ever!

This news report says the plane was turned around due to an “unusual smell”, but believe me, folks, there was visible smoke all through the cabin. It wasn’t so bad that they had to deploy the oxygen masks, but it was visible. And smellable.

Apparently this is the second incident in a week of one of JetBlue’s Embraer jets returning to JFK due to smoke in the cabin or cockpit. I hope they figure out what’s causing it, because I sure as hell don’t want to fly in a smoking plane!

Iced Coffee on the bar at Abraço

Food and Wine just listed Abraço Espresso – one of my personal favorites since before it began – as one of the top new coffee bars in the country today.

The tiny shop is located on 86  East Seventh street between 1st and 2nd avenues. While Abraço was under construction, I was merely passing by and when I approached partner Jamie McCormick about details, he was thrilled to talk and offered a hug. But I opted for the delicious individually dripped coffee instead.

Since then, there was love. Another partner Elizabeth whose last name I don’t know since I have only called her Elizabeth used to bake only vegan goodies. Being that I’m vegan she even changed up the menu one weekend to make all the food vegan & Jain.

The shop has an essence about it that is hard to beat. Brazilian beats playing on a turntable atop one of the highest shelves in the shop. Hand painted walls with beautiful art, a mosaic on the floor as you enter. A bay-window that opens up to the sidewalk. Some of the nicest people in NYC. Oh and the coffee isn’t that bad either. After not drinking it for about 3 months, when I first pressed it to my lips, a surge of energy went through my body and I completely fell in love with it all over again.

Definitely worth checking out – not just because Food and Wine says so – but because it’s damn good (and because I say so and so does the New York Times & NY Magazine).

Hello Metblogs New York City! You’re all probably wondering who your new writer is.

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Everett, I’m a twentysomething resident of Bushwick, Brooklyn. I’ve lived in the ’swick since December of 2006, and before that I was housing myself in a very tiny Williamsburg flat for a few years while I was wrapping up my service to higher education — and racking up semi-large amounts of student loan debt.

I enjoy coffee (especially Intelligentsia — hollah back Chicago), underground (like, in the basement loft) dance parties, vodka tonics at said parties, and more coffee. I bike to work every day, unless I’ve had too many vodka tonics the day before, or at least I will until it gets too cold in New York and my own snot starts to freeze to my face halfway over the Williamsburg bridge. At various points in my life I’ve been or wanted to be a contemporary dancer, journalist, photographer, photo-illustrator, and a photo editor. Right now I like writing short stories; these stories don’t make me money, nor does working at this blog. There’s something about working for free that’s just so much more fulfilling.

I also enjoy trees, nature, sitting in a kayak in the middle of a lake in upper Wisconsin with only the sound of frogs and a lone Loon circling overhead, sleeping on mountain tops upstate with friends, without tents, long hikes in, well, the wilderness with overcast skies and slightly damp earth, sitting on the edge of the ocean, alone or with a friend, and silently contemplating the grains of sand and their relationship with time and space, or the continuous pounding of waves across the shore. And I’m really incredibly upset that McCain’s vice-presidential choice Sarah Palin wants to kill the polar bears. Uh oh, I like things that aren’t concrete and more than twelve stories high! Ahhh!

All of this has lately brought me to this one sad conclusion over the last six or so months: Oh shit, what am I doing in this city? Aren’t I supposed to be rat-racing around with a pitchfork trying to make 60k a year in order to just pay my rent and eat at Moto once in awhile? Working 75 hours a week until my slave driver of choice turns a tidy profit? And breathing in epic amounts of carbon dioxide and other harmful chemicals? Conundrum.

So, I’m leaving this icky/filthy/smoggy city, as soon as I can. And thus I pitched Sean of Metblogs an idea. “Why don’t you let me be that blogger who is leaving?” I say — actually it wasn’t quite like that, but let’s pretend. “I have mad credibility!” I also said, in order to back up my pitch. And he said “that’s a great idea!” And now you have me here now. Theoretically I’ll be transferred the the Metblog in the city that I eventually move to.

Until I leave, I shall blog about the End of Times in New York City.

Cheerful!