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Friday, October 14, 2005
WINTER IN AMERICA
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
The Midnight Band: The First Minute of a New Day
Arista : 1975
[Buy It]
THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Naturally
Dap-Tone : 2004
[Buy It]
WINTER IN AMERICA (LIVE)
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson
Winter In America (Expanded)
TVT : 1998
[Buy It]
AMERICAN GIRL
Tom Petty
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Warner Bros : 1976
[Buy It]
I walked past the Brooklyn Courthouses on the way to work today - it's been Noah's Flood in NYC since I got back from Amsterdam - but even at 9 AM, there was an around-the-block line around one of the buildings. It turned out to be the bankruptcy court - New York, Eastern District, which covers Brooklyn, Queens, but not Manhattan and Long Island. Well and so, I walked inside....
The line, which formed a sort of spiral inside the building's main hall, consisted of people waiting to file, and hoping to beat today's 3 PM deadline. (The laws change over the weekend - come Monday, it'll be far harder to file, and shelter your belongings from your creditors.) I began talking to people, and a lot of people I talked to were (understandbly) freaked out. New York's ass-backwards bankruptcy laws won't let you claim Federal exemptions, and seem to date back to the Reconstruction:
"all stoves kept for use in the judgment debtor's dwelling house and necessary fuel therefor for sixty days,one sewing machine with its appurtenances, $5,000"
"the family bible, family pictures, and school books used by the judgment debtor or in the family, $5,000"
"other books, not exceeding fifty dollars in value, kept and used as part of the family or judgment debtor's library"
"a seat or pew occupied by the judgment debtor or the family in a place of public worship"
"domestic animals with the necessary food for those animals for sixty days, provided that the total value of such animals and food does not exceed $450*
"all necessary food actually provided for the use of the judgment debtor or his family for sixty days"
And so forth. The first man I talked to - a tall African-American guy who had to have been in his late thirties, but looked a bit younger - put himself through law-school by working the midnight shift as a beat-cop, left the law behind to become an NYC Teaching Fellow, and now teaches in Brownsville, where he needs to divide his fifth-graders up according to their gang affiliations. He looked to me to be the kind of guy our President should be singling out in his next State of The Union Speech, instead of screwing over - but what do I know. Towards the front of the line, a pretty girl in a green raincoat seemed to keep filling out the wrong thirty-odd sheets of paperwork; she was literally shaking - from caffiene, or something else, I don't know - but the shake reminded me of a young Katherine Hepburn. I wanted to pull her aside and ask if I could do anything to help, but I'm no exactly an expert in New York State bankruptcy law. Later, I wished I'd talked to her - she was beautiful, the shake was sexy, and American Girl goes out to her, whoever she was, and wherever she might be: God, it's so painful, something that's so close, and still so far out of reach!
The other songs sould be more-or-less self-explanatory, and James' Monday-morning followup is going to pick up the thread. In the meantime, Moistworks' Astoria Bureau wishes you all a dry, happy, and financially secure weekend.Labels: alex
posted by Alex
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