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A blog by someone who doesn't like or understand blogs.
A major theme of this blog is the love affair between the blogger and the city of New York.
Email me at david [at] danzig [dot] com.
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Friday, August 22, 2003
SEEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT ON BROADWAY.
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I just got pestered by a friend about why I haven't written anything about the "2003 blackout." Here are my thoughts.
First, as I've said before, calling a blackout the blackout of 2003 while it's still 2003 is the opposite of journalism. If reporters just called it "the blackout" would we all be like, "which blackout?"? But they're calling this the blackout of 2003, even as they're reporting that more rolling blackouts may be necessary in the coming weeks. I'm always reminded of the "storm of the century" of late 1995, which was dwarfed by an even bigger storm a few weeks later in early 1996. There's every chance that there will be another blackout this year, and it's ridiculous to try to build this into an historic event without regard to the fact that this might not be "the" blackout of 2003. But never let the truth stand in the way of a good story, right?
Second, I'm just amazed by what a big deal people made of it. I grew up in South Florida, which has lots of violent storms, and is at sea level so that power lines can't be buried. Accordingly, blackouts were about a weekly occurrence for me. They rarely lasted a full day, but they often lasted for several hours. It was annoying, but they didn't even make the back page of the paper, much less a huge banner headline across the front page of the New York Times. And now people are selling "I survived the blackout" T-Shirts? Whatever!
As for me, I bought the last flashlight and a battery powered TV from Radio Shack. I got to cook on my gas powered stove, and I played cards and watched TV and listened to the radio with my visiting family. I had to climb up twenty-something floors to my apartment with just a flashlight, and I wish I would have had air conditioning. But otherwise, I managed to "survive." But I can't get the Billy Joel song "Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway" out of my head. Though, perhaps, a better anthem for the event would be "Blame Canada."
link to this item: http://www.creamy.com/blog/2003/08/seen-lights-go-out-on-broadway.html
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