the Bronx – Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit

A few days ago my room-mate informed me that next year he is leaving as our rents are going up to the stratosphere so if he leaves so must I. My room-mate is a school teacher and I am a museum security guard. New York City rents are brutalizing folks like us. In order to live comfortably in New York City you must make upwards of $70 a year this is a salary that neither school teachers nor security guards can ever achieve unless you take on extra jobs or work non-stop overtime.

Basically the working class is being crushed. Big time!

MTA to begin fare and toll hike public hearings

I’m looking to move from my current Brooklyn location to either Washington Heights in Manhattan or to the Boogie Down Bronx. Must be near the subway walking distance to the train and cat friendly. Where I go my cat Sylvester goes with me. Safety is also paramount.

I’m also willing to consider Queens as long as it is a short walk to the subway. Also wherever I go whether I wind up in a studio or a one-bedroom it must have enough room and be in a safe neighborhood where Stephen can visit me. It would also be nice for the neighborhood to have amenities like good grocery stores, banks, a Walgreens pharmacy, etc…

I hope to make the move sometime around Spring/Summer/Early Autumn 2017.

Please contact me privately using my Gmail address. Thanks!!

Gentrification is pushing working class people like me out of the neighborhood. Once the Hipsters start moving in the rest of us are forced to leave. I like Brooklyn, I enjoy living here and wish that I could stay. Truthfully since I will be making more money in my new position technically I could stay if I worked DOUBLE SHIFTS FOUR TIMES A WEEK!! Yes if I did maximum overtime which would mean giving up writing, photography and naturally blogging I could stay in my Beloved Brooklyn. If I give up having any kind of life including Not Seeing Stephen I could remain put but I’m not willing to do that so move I must!!

I just wanted to add the link of a blog post that really impressed me. Being pretty or beautiful is temporary and my days of pretty are long over. When pretty fades that’s where Strong takes over.

Better Choice

We Are the 6%!!

Who Will Stand for You?

6% Budget Cuts Rally — Me protesting in front of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Office Friday, March 15th.

I felt extremely empowered at the March 15^th Rally against the 6% budget cuts yet at the same time I’m profoundly sad, a little frightened and very worried that we live in a society and a culture that can shun and throw away disabled people like my brother Stephen, the poor, the working class, yet celebrate the rich, wealthy and moronic celebrities. How is it in America, my country that I love and served in the Military (U.S. Army) to protect, has become a place where the poor and disabled have to fight for the basic dignities of life, whereas the Koch Brothers, Mayor Bloomberg, Rockefellers, Bushes, Rupert Murdoch, and the 1% are automatically entitled to not only the basics but even the small luxuries that should be available to all Americans. Disability Rights and Activism is also part of the Gospel of Inclusion. We refuse to go back to the days when developmentally and physically disabled children and adults were hidden away in attics or cast into torture chamber institutions never to be seen or heard from. Let’s view disability in a different light as being differently abled, not less than but a person with unique and special abilities.

It’s a crying shame the way we’ve devalued people with disabilities! We should have an allegiance to our most vulnerable populations, especially the disabled. It’s scary to see things moving backwards. I don’t want to see my brother Stephen warehoused in some institution. Willowbrook was a living nightmare for developmentally disabled people and a true disgrace. However each of us has to stand up and fight. Me, Stephen and four van loads of his fellow residents went up to Albany on Tuesday in all that pouring rain to face off our elected officials. I’m doing my part to make sure the disabled are not cast aside like garbage on the trash heap. We need more alternative Voices. We all must speak up. The Rally more than proved that for me. We must not be lulled into apathy and compliancy by fear or the right wing media. We need to return to the civil disobedience of Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks.

Stephen & I in Albany — Stephen and I in Albany ready to meet the Legislators

One of my girlfriends from the Bronx informed me that I made the 11pm Channel 7 Eyewitness news and on the local Bronx Cable station. I believe that God hears the cries of his children especially the disabled and he will turn Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s heart towards us and restore the 6% budget cuts. Faith without works is dead. We have to make our government accountable to our most vulnerable citizens and for all Americans. Protest. March. Advocate. Be an Activist. Indifference equals death to our basic rights and freedoms. Be the Solution and make it So!!

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