Post-Election Post-Its for Post-Traumatic Stress (Union Square, Manhattan)

Ms. Rodham Goes to Washington (Fort Greene, Brooklyn)

I took a train to this fortuitously named subway station in Brooklyn on Saturday night. The name  proved prescient in 1992 and hopefully will prove just as prescient today. 

Mea en Mi (Lower East Side)

Spotted this on a pole at about dog height (from the Spanish verb mear).

Election 2016: The T-Shirt Version (Midtown Manhattan)

I get the feeling this t-shirt vendor on 8th Avenue is tired of the upcoming presidential election and it hasn't even officially begun.

Primary Day, but Don't Call it an Election (Upper West Side, Manhattan)

It's primary day in New York State, and for the first time in decades, a primary election in New York can actually help determine who the nominee will be for both major parties. For some reason, the smaller, less populated states go first in the primary season and by the time New Yorkers vote, the election is usually settled. But Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have mixed things up enough that the outcome is still an open question.
It's probably not accurate, however, to call what we're doing today in New York an "election". We vote but the power to select each party's nominee is in the hands of delegates and each party follows different rules. The Democrats have Super Delegates who aren't beholden to any vote but can pick whomever they please--a clearly undemocratic process, which is why I think calling the primary an "election" is a misnomer

Don't Judge Crazy by the Size of a Sign (No. 2 Train, Manhattan)

I saw this guy going up the stairs on the uptown side of the subway platform. "I bet that crazy guy is coming to this side to catch those of us going downtown," I told my son. And sure enough, the guy jumped on our train just before the doors closed. Normally, I'd try not to catch the eye of someone lugging around a huge sign with tiny print but his subtitle--"TAKE A CELL PHONE PICTURE OF THIS SIGN AND YOU MAKE IT GO VIRAL"--was so endearing in both its innocence (as if merely snapping a photo could make something go viral) and its desire to make a difference that I felt compelled to obey its first command.

As for what the sign says, I thought Michael Bloomberg was a fantastic mayor who appointed great people and implemented many wonderful programs, but I don't think it's unreasonable to think that somehow--most likely indirectly and without nefarious intentions--his stewardship of the city and the changes he instigated here did increase the value of his holdings. More importantly, it's indisputable that if anyone wants to stop "wannabe dictators from buying our demoncracy" it's Bernie Sanders.

So maybe this dude isn't as crazy as I first thought. Although I don't want to catch his eye.

An Election that Can Only Get Weirder (Hells Kitchen, Manhattan)

If the election wasn't weird enough, Vietnamese Americans for Ron Paul? #election #election2016 #bumperstickers #ronpaul