Many American Dreams Deferred

"Young men and women roamed the desolate blocks--slowly going nowhere. Others hung out on corners with the trash swirling about their feet--hungry, jobless, and sullen with defeat. Harlem, a prison of crumbling squares, seemed to be sinking into itself. Its inhabitants were a long way from the promise of the American dream."--Gordon Parks, photographer/film director/author, from his book, To Smile in Autumn: A Memoir (W.W. Norton, 1979), Page 180.

The young people Gordon Parks witnessed in Harlem were among the many whose American dreams, if they had any, were deferred.

The American Cities People Most Want To Say Goodbye To

The website MSN Money posted an article by Doug Whiteman dated June 19, 2019 listing the 19 American cities people are most eager to pack up and leave.

Here is the list of cities in descending order along with the reasons people gave for wanting to get out of town:

19. Indianapolis--bad roads, extreme cold.
18. Spokane,Washington--unemployment high, renters priced out.
17. Richmond,Virginia--bad schools, costly housing.
16. Des Moines, Iowa--unforgiving weather.
15. Eugene, Oregon--housing costs.
14. Champaign, Illinois--Weather stinks, outside of town is nothing but cornfields; Chicago's two to three hours away.
13. Rockford, Illinois-- unemployment high (5.4%);public schools are poor; high crime rate.
12. Houston--unemployment, housing, and living costs are all above the national average; flood prone.
11. South Bend, Indiana--punishing winters; high rates for murder and other violent crime and bad roads. (Pete Buttigieg, are you listening?)
10. Detroit--(current population is 673,000; 1.8 million in the 1950s); high unemployment.
9. Milwaukee--lacks decent schools and public transportation.
8. Hartford, Connecticut--high property tax; unemployment (6.4%).
7. Seattle--housing not cheap; weather is cloudy and rainy.
6. Denver--high cost of housing.
5. Chicago--cold weather; horrid traffic; high cost of property tax and cost of living.
4. Washington, D.C.--high cost of housing and property taxes.
3. Los Angeles--high cost of living; soaring rents and stiff property taxes plus freeway backups.
2. San Francisco--expensive real estate.
1. New York--America's most fled metro area; steep food and housing costs.

Why I Love New York In 25 Words

WNYE,Channel 25, a public television station in New York, has a short feature it broadcasts between programs called "Why I Love New York in 25 Words" in which celebrities explain their love for the city. It has inspired me to do the same.

Central Park (especially the Conservatory Garden. I overheard a woman tell her male companion, "This is my peaceful garden. My sanctuary.")

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Harlem (Some of the most beautiful architecture in the city can be found there.)

New York Public Library (A cornucopia of information. A book lover's paradise.)

Museum Mile Festival (At this annual event, all the museums along Fifth Avenue, including the Met, are free.)

Book Culture and the Strand (My two favorite independent bookstores. If I was looking for a hard to find book, I would go to these stores to see if one of them had it.)

Noche Mexicana Restaurant (I love their tacos!)

Mass Transit System (Despite its many problems, it operates 24 hours a day and links most areas of the city for $2.75.)



Note: Poets & Writers magazine (September/October 2019) announced that the Publishing Triangle gave its Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction to Imani Perry for her biography of playwright Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965). The book, Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry, was published by Beacon Press. Ms. Perry is a professor at Princeton University.

Last year I attended a conversation she had with Dr. Eddie Glaude, Jr. regarding the biography at Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.