the awesome/terrifying freedom

wow, what an adventure the last couple days have been!

so around 4:20 (four twenty, ha) my computer blinked off, all the lights in the office blinked off, and i heard a scream from the elevator shaft, followed by uncontrollable laughter. the entire office let out a collective groan as we realized that we had just lost whatever file we were working on. the laughter was from two girls who had just gotten into the elevator, only to have the power shut off just after the doors closed.

the phones were still working, so people got on the horns calling for custodial to rescue the girls from the elevator, and then trying to figure out how long the power would be out.

someone had just called their spose in new jersey, and reported loudly that jersey had no power either.. so i called my boyfriend in times square - no power in times square. wow. wow. now people in the office are talking about terrorism - it seemed widespread, how could it be anything else? then the reports start filtering in from people on phones with people who are watching tv: cleveland has no power, toronto has no power, holy shit!

the office manager comes up to me and says 'joe, you'd better get out of here and get to your show.' i don't argue - of course the show is probably going to be cancelled, but you never know with theatre, and i wanted to be there, ready to perform, if by some chance the power came back on.

so i take to the streets with my cell phone, which has a full signal, but only one bar of battery power (thanks to my roommate's cat that knocked it out of the charger last night). the streets are a madhouse, well no, they're more like a funhouse. everyone seems to understand that this isn't an attack, that's it's 'just one of those crazy things that happen in new york,' and are joking and laughing - a common overheard conversation is how different the attitude on the street is from september 11.

i begin the 60 block trek downtown with three of my co-workers. the streets are flooded with people, women agonizing in their high heels, businessmen sweating in their suits, most of them walking uptown. we pass bar after bar packed with people drinking and laughing away. the whole thing is like one city-wide block party.

the whole thing made me think about just how much the city has changed - not a very original thought, as practically every commemtator has seized upon the opportunity to contrast this with the blackout of '77.. probably the most interesting thing i can add is that i don't even have a basis of comparison. many of us living in the city now can't even comprehend the new york of the seventies, even the eighties - a man mugged every eleven seconds, subways covered in graffiti - remember 'jason takes manhattan'? where jason walks around new york city chopping people's heads off and no one seems to notice or care because, well, he just fits right in - sure, it was a shitty movie, but there was comic delight in the truth of the attitude.

slate has a good article on the change in nyc - reminds me of malcom gladwell's pre-9/11 analysis of the same changes in 'the tipping point.' good stuff.

so the new york post finally decided to print our review! of course they printed it in the 'blackout' issue, which means every single copy in manhattan was snapped up and saved as a collector's item. so i don't even have a copy of my big moment in the sun, but it's cool to think that i'm in what is probably the most thoroughly read issue of the year so far.