Is It Possible To Retain a Reasonable Number of Parking Spots While Ensuring Bicyclists Safety in New York City?

Anyone who has ever lived in or visited New York City call tell you that a parking spot is worth it’s weight in gold. Finding a spot requires luck and perhaps paying for a garage or for street parking.

Many choose to bike to get around, either for personal or professional reasons. The Mayor’s Vision Zero plan promises to keep those are not in a car safe while traveling via bicycle or walking.

As of this month, 15 bicyclists have been killed by a car or truck, three in the last few weeks alone.

I haven’t driven a car in more than decade. I haven’t ridden a bike since high school. But I am New York City resident who understands that there has to be a balance. Pedestrians and bicyclists deserve the right to get to their destination without being hit by a car or truck. Drivers deserve the right to get around the city without having to completely yield to those are not driving. They also deserve the right to be able to park within a reasonably close distance to their final destination.

I think, in the end, it comes down to two things: common sense and following the rules of the road. Common sense and following the rules of the road won’t completely prevent accidents. But if followed, have a chance to reducing the number of accidents and keeping both drivers and bicyclists safe.

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Thoughts On the 30th Anniversary of When Harry Met Sally

There are romantic comedies and then there are romantic comedies. The first type of romantic comedy is semi-memorable, but when it comes down to it, the audience does not think of the film after they have the left the theater. The second second type of romantic comedy has legs long after the film has left the theater. It remains a favorite of audiences and critics and is celebrated as a hallmark of the genre.

When Harry Met Sally is one of these films. This month is the 30th anniversary of the film’s release.

Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) meet just after they both graduate from the University of Chicago. She offers him a ride from Chicago to New York. They become friends, but come together and drift apart as life changes. After a series of failed relationships on both their parts, Harry and Sally reconnect. The question that defines their relationship is as follows: can men and women be friends without sex getting in the way?

Directed Rob Reiner, this film is an out and out classics. It has all of the hallmarks of the romantic comedy genre without stretching the patience of the audience. Ryan and Crystal have amazing chemistry and just work as the friends who might or might be something more.

It has one of the iconic scenes and one of the most iconic lines in movie history set in one of the best restaurants in New York City, the 2nd Ave Deli.

Happy Anniversary When Harry Met Sally.

Kiss of the Spindle Book Review

The nice thing about fairy tales is that the stories are simple. Writers have been adapting fairy tales for generations because of the simplicity of the narrative and the basic elements of the characters.

Last year, Kiss of the Spindle, by Nancy Campbell Allen, was published. A sort of steampunk Sleeping Beauty, the book takes place in alternative universe of 19th century England. Dr. Isla Cooper is cursed. When the clock strikes midnight, she falls into a death like sleep that lasts until six am the next morning. She has a year to find the witch that cursed her and remove it before the year is up. It is nearly a year to the day that she was cursed.

Bribing her way onto Daniel Pickett’s ship whose destination is the Caribbean, she finds that she is not only passenger with questionable motives. Three shape shifters and a disliked government official are also on board. Isla and Daniel agree to work together to keep the shape shifters safe while fighting their own demons and realizing that there is a mutual attraction blossoming between them.

I rarely read romance novels. Depending on the novel and the writer, I find them to be formulaic and the characters predictable. But this novel is different. I loved that the female lead was strong, smart and capable. She was not looking for a man, as many female leads in this genre are. I also loved the concept of taking a story that we all know and turning it on it’s head.

I recommend it.

Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life Book Review

Religion can be a tricky thing. For many of us, it provides a community, a family and answers to questions which seems impossible to answer. But for others, religion may feel confining, controlling and downright impossible to live with.

For most of her life, Amber Scorah was a Jehovah’s Witness. A devoted member, she believed firmly in the doctrines of her faith. Then she and her husband traveled to China to preach and things were never same. Her journey is chronicled in the new book Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life.

Aware that openly proselytizing was illegal, she had to find another way preach and keep out of the sight lines of the authorities. She was essentially living two lives. On the surface she was happily married and working with others who were not of her faith or her world. But underneath, she was preaching the word of G-d as she knew it.

But then things began to shift as her world view began to change and she saw the complexities of other people who did not believe and see the world as she had been taught to see and believe.

What struck me about this book is how honest and brave she is. It takes a lot to share a story such as this with the world, not knowing how the book will be received. It was for me, as story of a woman looking for her path and trying to figure out who she is instead of letting the doctrines and the leaders of her faith make that decision for her.

I recommend it.