Saturday, March 28, 2015

Love and loss along 2nd Avenue


[Photo by Vinny and O]

From an essay by East Village resident Sarah Larson in The New Yorker...

As I write this, at my apartment, the sound of helicopters overhead is constant, and two people who were in the sushi restaurant, Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locon, are known to be missing. Some two dozen were injured, four critically. And whole buildings are gone. On Twitter, people were lamenting the loss of their beloved Pommes Frites, the late-night standby that made its corner of the world smell like French fries. Other people on Twitter berated the frites lamenters, and still others pleaded for understanding between the two camps. We could mourn all of these losses, they said.

I agree. It’s important not to be glib. It’s important to focus on the missing, the injured, the brave people who escaped and helped others escape, and the people who lost their homes and businesses. The softer losses, the cultural losses, the neighborhood losses, are not as important. But they’re losses, too. They’re things we love — parts of our lives that we take for granted and now understand to be, or have been, vulnerable. They feel like trivial things, but they represent fundamental things: what we love and care about, their permanence and impermanence.

Read the whole article here.

12 comments:

JAZ said...

Sorry, but whoever posted "POMMES FRITTES IN THE VILLAGE EXPLODED MY LIFE IS OVER", can go fuck themself.

Anonymous said...

Could you please spread the word and let people affected by this tragedy know that a few neighborhood pet businesses are offering help. http://thisdogslife.co/neighborhood-businesses-rally-to-help-dogs-affected-by-east-village-explosion-3-27-2015/

Also, any one can help by bringing any gently used pet toys/bedding/bags of treats to any of these businesses' locations to help what the pets of the east village have lost.

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

I heard GOLES at 169 Ave. B between 10 and 11th St. And Church Of The Nativity on 2 Ave. between 2 and 3 St. Are taking Clothing, Toiletries, etc. Please Post More Places To Donate and Spread The Word

EV Grieve said...

@ anonymous

GOLES is not accepting donations this weekend.

List is in progress… want to make sure that it's accurate...

Anonymous said...

Actually, until this week it IS NEXT to GOLES. I just donated there . NYC Ready.

Sierra said...

We would like to offer our home to someone that was displaced by this tragedy.

I couldn't find any resources that acted as a platform for emergency housing.

If posted on EV Grieve, perhaps it would inspire others to do the same. Thank you!

hello@lovewilddesign.com

Gojira said...

Sierra, I called the Red Cross at TSP on Friday with the same offer; they told me that "everyone had found housing", which I think is a crock, and sure enough there was a Channel 7 news clip on line later that day with people saying they had nowhere to go and did not know what to do. I am going to call Rosie Mendez's office on Monday, and also the Ninth Precinct, if I find anything out I will post it here. If you do, would you do the same? Or if anyone else has any suggestions?

Anonymous said...

Exactly. While a beloved place such as Pommes Frittes is gone, which is unfortunate, let's not loose sight of what is important; the loss of homes, jobs, pets, and now two missing men, who it seems will not be found; this is the real tragedy. Frittes are just potatoes. They can be easily produced and inhaled elsewhere. I don't understand how others find the loss of where to eat fries after a night of binge drinking to be amusing.

Sierra said...

Thank you Gojira! Yes- I find that hard to believe.

Scuba Diva said...

Did anyone mention that <a href="http://gothamist.com/2015/03/26/standard_east_village_offers_free_3.php>The Standard</a> hotel is offering three-night stays to those affected by the tragedy?

AdriannaGrezak said...

I was previously featured on EV Grieves where I talked about my website, onsecondavenue.com. I named that website with a specific reason in mind - Second Avenue has been my home, my favorite place in New York City, since I moved here in 2007. When I say I'm homesick for New York City, I am homesick for second avenue between around St Marks and 4th St.

I walked past those three buildings hundreds if not thousands of times. Looking at specific features of those buildings was an unconscious part of my morning and evening routine as I walked to school, work, St Marks Market, yoga, Ottendorfer Library, East Village Meat Market, the 6 train, home, etc.

I am incredibly lucky to have only been a spectator. I heard about the fire and watched it grow with a large group of people on 2nd ave and 5th street. Later I could stick my head out of my apartment window and check what FDNY was doing.

I left the next day to run a few errands around Astor Place. I am not a very emotional person. I struggled not to start crying while picking out frozen dumplings in M2M.

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