Break the Ice on Travel

 

I only realized the momentousness of the journey as I rode the drizzly waves on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry between Delaware and New Jersey. It was my first trip outside Virginia or DC since March 2020. During the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic, I simply had no need to travel for work, and national guidance advised against leisure travel. Airline flights? Forget about it; I heard enough stories about 4-leg transcontinental flights on routes that had once been non-stop. Hotels that once provided scrumptious breakfasts resorted to handing out bagged muffins “because of COVID”. In fact, until the vaccine was widely available, my employer documented all personal travel out of town, which would start a two-week isolation period upon return to work. Why travel?

Like after 9/11/01, enough time has elapsed so that some of the imposed travails of travelling- perhaps familiar to horse-and-buggy trail warriors in the 19^th century- have been lifted. Last weekend was an opportune time to visit New York; not Manhattan, but the Alma Mater just east on Long Island. Reflective of the times, the Alumni event was scheduled in May after loosening of CDC guidance; then cancelled in August on account of the Delta Variant spike; then resurrected in a low-key format after it was revealed that people had bought non-refundable airline tickets to travel.

Among the several dozen attendees, I was the sole long-haul, work-from-home person. I listened intently to the stories of international quarantine, and promotions earned as a result of others’ early retirements. Onboard ship, in a shipyard, or even in the design shop, the maritime field is very hands-on and relationship-oriented. It felt great to break out of a period of professional isolation, a phenomenon studied in rural doctors, scientists, and sole proprietors; but which now applies to millions of white-collar professionals who ground out their work from laptops at home. While work-from-home has received favorable reviews from workers and some managers, I wondered how many more months of value could be added when professionals were running on autopilot, without conferences, training, and collaboration. In just a weekend, a switch was flipped in me. By Monday, I registered to attend an upcoming workboat show in New Orleans.

Forgotten Sustenance: Nutty Cheese Sandwich and New York's Greatest Era

 

New York of the 1950s could be categorized as a worker’s paradise. Liberalism of the era prioritized affordable housing, tuition and healthcare. Immigrants from war-torn Asia and Europe, penniless artists and thinkers from the heartlands came to build their American dream. This was the “Old New York” of the pre-Bloomberg era, a time before capital reigned supreme.  How did these strivers live, and how did they dine? Low-cost diners, public cafeterias, and lost recipes like Date Nut Bread were not glamorous, but sustaining for a day’s work.

The Nutty Cheese Sandwich comprised of Date – Nut Bread, lathered with cream cheese and served with “regular” coffee (cream and sugar, please). Served at Chock Full of Nuts cafes once ubiquitous in the city, it was a Depression-era favorite whose price mirrored that of subway fare: 5 cents in the early 1930’s, and 15 cents in the 1950s.

I made a loaf from a recipe posted by Politico: Lost Foods of New York City: Date-nut bread sandwiches at Chock Full o' Nuts (politico.com)

Everything I needed to make the loaf was in my pantry. I substituted dates for raisins, which I had on hand. The rich aroma of nuts and fruits filled my home as the loaf baked.  Taking a slice of this loaf and layering it with cream cheese made a creation that closely resembled a carrot cake, but with more wholesomeness than sugar. The outside of the slice was crusty, and the inside soft, but substantiated by the nuts and fruit. It was everything a hungry artist would want.

One might say that the fast-food dollar menu replaced the cheap restaurants of bygone decades. But what would your three dollars buy? Four slices of bread, two thin pucks of ground meat, and French fries. You would get your calories, but not a balanced meal. No fruits or vegetables would be served, other than ketchup; or a packet of jelly, if you ask nicely.

What did the cheap restaurants in? Foodservice wages have been fairly stable. Rents have gone up. Business overhead, to pay consultants and managers, has certainly increased in the restaurant sector. But the cheap restaurant relies on volume to stay afloat; I would argue that the critical mass of working-class and middle-class diners dissipated when it became too easy to put a “dining experience” on the credit card: Buy now, pay later versus pay-as-you-go. Yes, that rising standard of living.  In a more money-conscious era, diners would have prioritized nutrition and heartiness; while today, these gaps are filled by eating more.

Coronavirus: Vaccine is Here and Now

 

But how to get in into peoples’ arms?

On the administration of the vaccine, mathematicians and their game theories have surpassed credentialled public health professionals in predicting how to proceed. Health experts did not predict that a significant number of workers would decline the vaccine (up to 40%), because of immunity acquired from previous exposure, personal choice, or even the preference of an anti-vax supervisor. The “discouraging supervisor” has not been discussed in the media, but will come into greater view if vaccination clinics maintain limited hours which shift workers find difficult to access. There has been hesitance to release unused doses of vaccine, even as early expiration dates come near.

In New York, Governor Cuomo ordered that healthcare providers who circumvented state-mandated priority groups for vaccination would be fined $1 million, and their license revoked. This is not a general statement about maintaining fair distribution of the vaccine, but a substantiated threat as ParCare Community Health Network, a New York State provider, was sanctioned for “fraud” in vaccinating over 800 high-risk adults ahead of schedule before New Year’s Day. This action has had a chilling effect on providers in the state, who have since allowed unused doses to go to waste, instead of administering them to the general public.

As the vaccine is becoming available to greater populations, bureaucracy and appointment-based systems are hampering the effective distribution of the vaccine. At some hospital systems, there is an hour of administrative work for each dose of the vaccine given. As a result, it is not uncommon for a hospital to vaccinate only 20 of its staff in a day. A well-planned clinic, such as the military Branch Health Clinics, should deliver at least 400 doses per day. A Pfizer vial contains five doses, and must be used within six hours of its opening. Emergencies and medical deferrals can cause planned recipients to miss their doses, and in the interest of public health, another recipient must be found. In rural areas, it will be necessary to relax priority groups to ensure that vaccine does not go to waste. I know a ship’s officer who drove 8 hours to get his vaccine in Norfolk, Virginia; this is not a viable option for senior citizens or low-income individuals. Centralized vaccination centers, as Florida and other southern states have set up, have shown great effectiveness in reaching target groups. Nobody likes to wait in line, but practical evidence shows that a queue is necessary to administer the vaccine without waste.

Nuances of Law and Order

This year, urban protests and general unrest in society created a mixed reaction in the electorate. In some parts of the country, Trump’s rhetoric of liberal politicians “destroying the suburbs” fell on deaf ears. Elsewhere, it was a resounding success. I have a theory why: as we near the middle of the Suburban Century (summed up by Mark Clapson in 1992), what happens in the inner-city does not physically or vicariously affect the lives of citizens in diverse, self-contained and far-flung suburbs.

Virginia Beach, VA

The Virginia Beach Oceanfront serves as the quintessential, walkable downtown for a military-heavy suburb. This spring and summer, tensions were high as protestors called attention to longstanding law-and-order policing on the beach. Over the Labor Day weekend, local group BLM 757 held its “Shut Down the Oceanfront 3.0” protest. True to form, the police gave citations to protestors who drifted from the sidewalk into the street. As a result of afternoon and night-time activity, families chose alternative locations for rest and relaxation; combined with COVID, this proved harmful to the ecosystem of local beachfront businesses.

At election time, Virginia Beach voted for Joe Biden and Representative Elaine Luria, a Democrat. On the same ticket, incumbent mayor Bobby Dyer, a Republican, was re-elected with 57% of the vote; and “RK” Kowalewitch, a conservative whose campaign signs read: “Law and Order”, won another 5% of the electorate.     

 

Suburban Richmond, VA

The Virginia State Capitol and Supreme Court building in Richmond were targeted by protestors as symbols of conservative political leadership. With much of downtown boarded up, the city provided a backdrop for political advertising. The jarring images did not ‘tip the needle’ in nearby Henrico and Chesterfield counties, who chose Biden and Representative Abigail Spanberger (D) by large margins. Both counties are home to a mix of employment options; heavy industry, light industry, service and some professional work. Freeways criss-cross these suburbs, linking towards northern and southern markets, and the international airport and deep-sea port of Hampton roads. Richmond, home to state government, several universities, and museums, is somewhat irrelevant to new suburbanites. Overall, there was no partisan change in Virginia’s congressional representation this year.    

 

Suburban Atlanta, GA

The land that served as a springboard for one-time House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and other conservative Republicans, helped to tip Georgia for Joe Biden. For 20 years, the Greater Atlanta area has been the nexus of a New Great Migration of African-Americans from the North to the South; the impact in politics, seen by the flipping of congressional seats, is very recent. Atlanta is a city of the New South; sprawling development centers on its record-breaking international airport and its freeways. The firewall between city and suburbs may be crumbling: while decades ago, suburban Gwinnett County blocked subway construction, a referendum for a transit tax may have passed, pending recount.

 

Los Angeles, CA

California is no friend of Donald Trump. But recent years of excessive solicitude given to drug pushers, car thieves and vandals struck a nerve in working and middle-class communities across racial lines. Since the Rodney King riots of 1992, Asian-American small business owners have been concerned about inadequate police protection offered to their communities. Legislation to “defund the police” dug up old pain. Voters in the state narrowly reaffirmed limits on affirmative action in the state, which were first put into effect in 1996; and sent new Republican representatives to Congress.  

 

Long Island, NY

During the George W. Bush years, as war deaths mounted, these traditionalist, conservative-of-the-gut counties questioned its allegiance to the GOP. But this year, as in 2016, their hometown son, Donald J. Trump of Queens, NY, did not produce the electoral revulsion seen in other suburbs of similar educational and demographic profiles.

While it appears that North Shore Rep. Tom Suozzi (D) will retain his long-time seat, his Republican opponent led in early counting. On the blue-collared South Shore, Andrew Garbarino (R) is expected to succeed retiring Rep. Peter King. Lee Zeldin (R) holds his seat in affluent Suffolk County. Nichole Malliotakis (R) has unseated Max Rose (D) in representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. These latter three seats were considered toss-ups going into the election. The Long Island suburbs are home to well-paid public servants and tradespeople of a vibrant New York City; COVID shutdowns and Bill de Blasio’s social permissiveness cast a malaise across white-ethnic New York. Upward mobility of strivers, from immigrant grandparents to civil service to Wall Street, created an unwavering patriotism and belief in the institutions of America. This legacy was challenged in 2020 by politicians on the left, who maintain that this upward mobility was not fueled by grit, but by systemic racism and unchecked privilege.