Darling Nicky

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I meant to post this a few days ago, but it slipped my mind. Prince Harry of Wales was busted calling a fellow soldier a “paki” and another soldier “raghead”. This is the same royal who was pictured on one Halloween dressed as a Nazi. He has since apologized for both incidents respectfully. I’m not exactly surprised by this, not because of what I think of Harry’s mindset but because I know that soldiers (US or British) tend to use rather harsh language, especially when it pertains to who is the perceived enemy. I’m more shocked that there is a video of him saying things like that. The British Ministry of Defense says they’ll investigate his behavior and that name calling and racism is definitely inappropriate behavior. 

If they investigate Harry’s actions, they should also look into the actions of his comrades. I’m pretty sure that he is not the only one using this sort of language, especially since he felt so comfortable saying on camera to other soldiers in his platoon. I don’t want to come off as trying to excuse Harry’s remarks, but I certainly think it is hugely unfair to investigate only him unless the British Defense is just talking about an investigation to save face. It does seem embarassing for a royal serving in your army to be caught on camera saying racist things.  

I don’t even want to pass judgement on Harry. I think most, if not all, people are guilty of being racist or prejudice in one way or another. Even if you don’t say or do something racist, but you still have bad thoughts about a group of people for whatever reason you’re still a racist. And how many times have you played with a friend and jokingly called them a nigger, wop, etc.? I can say that I do hear a lot of that same “joking” on the streets here in Harlem and in other parts of New York City where there are people of many different backgrounds living and working beside each other.

I guess you could say I consider NYC somewhat of a war zone in itself.

Last night, on one of my roaming adventures in Manhattan, I got on the M7 bus to get to the Village. I walk from 9th street (the bus driver recognized me and asked me where I was going to and took me as far he could take me on the route) down 8th then Waverly Pl when I passed two people, one butch lesbian and one I’m guessing is a gay man. The woma, who sees me coming from a mile away, says how pretty I am and wishes me a “Happy Thanksgiving”. I smile and say, “Thank you! You, too!” but kept it moving. The woman did not want to stop there. She chased me down the block and wanted to keep talking to me. She asks me how old I am. I tell her I’m in my 20s. She then says, “If you’re 20 you’re okay, but if you’re 18, listen to your parents!” and laughed. I still don’t get the punchline…

She asked me where I was going, and told her I was looking for a store to play the lotto in. One thing about the Village, there are plenty of stores but not all of them are corner stores. It’s in this order: Starbucks, cafes, LGBT hangouts, sex shops, and then delis/corner stores with lotto. On the way to the store, she bumps into a transvestite friend of hers and they chat a bit. Then she stops and talks to a cop who gave her a ticket for having open liquor (she was drinking when I ran into her). So, while she was talking to the officer in his cruiser, I took the opportunity to escape but when I walked down the block her man friend who was standing with her from before was at the corner and asked me what she was doing. I said she talking the officer. He walks back to get her. I cross the street and she’s hollering after me.

I stop and she catches up to me. We stand at the corner waiting for the light when she takes off her skull cap to reveal a faid with salt and pepper hair and says, “I like a straight up dude, right?!” I smile politely and say nothing while thinking, “No. You like a butch lesbian.” To continues to yammer on loudly, much of which I’ve tuned out so I don’t remember what she said. We get to a tobacco store with lotto just off Christopher street. I get a game and we head out. On our way out, she bumps into a couple of older men (gay, of course) and starts chatting with them. One of them men says to me in a very saucy voice, “You know, one day, she asked me ‘What’s your swag like?’ I said ‘You know nothin’ about my swag!’ and then I dust that bitch off!” brushing off his right shoulder with his left hand while his rigt holds a bottle in a brown paper bag. I laughed becaused I never would’ve imagined the way that man talked to come from him. He didn’t look like your average older gay gentleman, whatever that is.

She walks off to the corner with the men, and take this second opportunity to make a get away. I take turn around and there’s her man friend from before again. He asks me what she’s doing and I say she’s talking to some friends. And walks off to get her, and I make off quickly into the mixed crowd of NYU students and neighborhood locals never to see them again, or at least that night, but in a perfect world I will never see them again. I don’t know what their motive was for wanting to keep me around. Money? Drugs? Booze? Sex? All of the above? What was the relationship between the man and the lesbian? Was he her pimp, or just her friend? I know she was drunk but was she also high? They were certainly weird and I definitely wouldn’t have gone anywhere with them that wasn’t safe.

::Crosses fingers for a perfect world::

At least 30 states have allowed voters to cast their ballots early, and lines to vote before election day have people waiting up to two hours. With voter registration having more than doubled, what has the rest of the 50 states not allowing their citizens to vote early? I live in New York City, and I can’t imagine what the lines are going to be like on Novemeber 4th. I got up early four years ago to vote thinking I might have to wait, and while there were people ahead of me, there was no line. This year will definitely be different, especially because NYC is one of those states that does not allow early voting. I certainly hope that every vote will count on Election Day ‘08. I plan to get up early again this year, and I defintiely expect to see a line. I think I might just cover all the long lines around the city, and ask people how they feel the city could’ve handled the expected surge in voter turn out, and you know in this town everyone’s a critic so someone will defintiely have a gripe.

Walking around Manhattan is one of my most favorite things to do when I have absolutely nothing to do. I can spend hours out of the day going from Harlem (where I’m from) to Battery Park City or the Financial District. Tonight, as I was on my way home from the journeying to the West Village, I saw a couple of tranies of the evening doing some business on the street as I sat a bus stop for the M8. There were two men with them, I think one of them was their pimp and the other was maybe another prostitute looking for a date. The one who I think was their pimp was very concerned for the two women and watched them as a couple cars stopped to inquire about what they had for sale, or to ask directions. The one who I think was a prostitute kept circling around me at the bus stop, trying to get my attention. I ignored him and kept looking for the bus.

It doesn’t surprise to hookers in action. Hell, I’ve seen couples having sex in parked cars over in the East Village. Not only that, the Meat Packing District and other streets west of 9th avenue and below 14th street, before the area became filled with chic and expensive stores and Sex in the City wannabes, has always been known for being quite salacious. The neighborhood used to be well known for a proliferation of crazy gay bars and sex clubs way before Stella McCartney and Diana Von Furstenberg settled in. What amazed me was that the ladies were so sloppy. They weren’t being very careful at all to not bring the wrong type of attenion to themselves, i.e. the police.

I’ve seen business women on that street across from the bus stop many nights, but they are usually very discreet. I try not to look at them and mind my business, so I never see anyone get into cars. I just know they’re not where they were before the cars pass. Sitting at the bus stop, I’ve had a couple bridge and tunnel men stop to glare at me liike I’m up for sale. I let my disinterest show and they keep it moving. The ladies were not loud, but they had a very boisterous and obvious way of carrying themselves that said, “Yes, I’m a tranny. Are you game for whatever?”

While I do wish that some people would make better career choices, I’m not looking down on prostititues. It’s a tough world, and I only know a sembleance of how hard it is. I’m educated, but I don’t have a lot of work experience and got turned down by Starbucks. I don’t think these ladies have the same education level as I do, or much work experience, especially as they are transexuals. Who might hire them if even I can’t get a job? What might these women think of doing to maintain in one of the world’s most expensive cities? The oldest profession. Hooking.  You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do. I just couldn’t be out there with.