Gord Gower, former president/co-founder of my first workplace, Mackerel
Interactive Multimedia, is a former Accordion City resident who now
lives in my favourite American metropolis, New York City. He says he
plans to write his impressions about all the going-on in the Big Apple
as the Republican National Convention rolls into town and has given me
permission to re-post them here. Here’s his first installment:
My Rights Have Been Stepped On!
connected to the upcoming GOP convention have come crashing down on
this lowly, barely legal citizen of New York City. I am no longer
allowed to use my park! This morning I got off the train expecting as
per usual to spend a few pre-work moments sipping the luke warm remains
of my morning coffee while pouring through the Opinion Pages of my
beloved NY Post. Denied!
It would appear that the organizers of the RNC see it more important
that they get a side stage erected on the grounds of the Herald Square
parquette, than allowing myself and maybe 25 or 30 plain old folks get
their morning post subway breather. The nerve, I mean just what are
these folks bring to my city anyhow. I mean beyond a few million dollar
boost to a sagging midtown economy, and a bit of down home Texas style
patriotism, what’s in it for me?
I guess I will enjoy the thrill of seeing 250,000 dreadlocked black
bandana wearing a-holes make jack asses of themselves as they search
for a place to protest; AND I guess I will enjoy seeing 10,000 cops,
secret service and special forces bring the countries busiest business
district to a grinding halt… Down here the issue is more of what we
really DON’T want to see. My five friends who work down and around here
and I will just leave that one un-mentioned as per usual.
OK, honestly, I am a giddy as a school girl the night before seeing
Brad on the first day back to school. While everyone I work with is
shuffling about all grumpy like, cursing this way and that, and quickly
making plans to cash in those extra sick days, me, I’m trying to figure
out how to best plan my staying up to watch the final strains of late
night news analysis, while still getting up early enough to wander the
grounds trying to catch a glimpse of my favorite stars on Team W!
There’s also a slim chance that a friend of Jens, a bonified member of
the GOP might get me close enough to catch a whiff of some real live
neo-con party action [OK, a real outside chance…]
Yep, giddy as a school girl… It’s going to be an interesting week
indeed. I have every confidence that this city can pull it off. The
combatants are already appearing on the field, the professional
protestors have already started flying in, the cops already have many
of the barricades in place. The battle for Central Park is in 11th hour
negotiations and the whining and chest pumping is being played out on
queue… We’re all expecting something on the level of Ali lighting the
torch in Atlanta happening hear on day one… who knows maybe they’ll
bring a cheque to top up all that missing homeland security funding the
city needs! Now wouldn’t that be sumptin!
I will try to keep you posted.
If you want to know a little bit more about Mackerel, one good place to look is Cory Doctorow’s article on its demise, titled Burying the Fish. It was submitted to Wired, but got cut.
2 replies on “Gord Gower Reporting Live From New York”
By “catch a whiff of some real live neo-con party action”, you mean, “join a wholesome, Christian prayer circle to pray for those sodomites in Chelsea”, don’t you?
Oh, and where are those pictures of the BodyPump burrito klatsch?