Archive for February 4th, 2009

We all know the most common phrase of the MTA: “If you see something, say something.”  (well, perhaps besides “stand clear of the closing doors, please” and “we apologize for the delay”).

I’ve been living in the New York metropolitan area for nearly all 24 years of my life, and never yet have I seen something scary enough to “say something.” Until last night, that is.

I entered the second car of the R train for my short uptown ride to Lexington Avenue and was greeted by the aroma of a middle-aged homeless man who surely had not bathed for weeks. Shrouded in a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants with holes, the man seemed to be in some kind of dazed slumber, blanketed by his long graying beard. In his sleep, he scratched his arms repeatedly and curled into the corner of the T-shaped seating arrangements found in the old NRW trains. But somewhere between the Fifth and Lexington Avenue stops, his benign body scratching and unintelligible mutterings changed to outright violent threats of fellow travelers. Waking up suddenly, he stared people down, rotating his frightening gaze from person to person. After accusing people of spitting on him, he began screaming that he would kill them and then kill the police officer that would come to their rescue. 

Passengers were frightened, and braced themselves until Lexington Avenue finally came.

That was my stop, so I ran up the moving escalator and went straight to the MTA ticket booth. I was unable to get the vendor’s attention through hand motions, and I definitely should’ve yelled to her (be more assertive Sharon). But this MTA employee had just finished her shift and definitely wanted to leave, so I decided to phone the local 17th precinct. After being put on hold several times and listening to about 10 minutes of confused rambling, the dispatcher there finally gave me two phone numbers for the transit police. The first line was busy. The second connected me to a live person, but it took her another 10 minutes to actually take down information about the man’s description, location at the time and people’s reactions. Then she at last decided that she’d alert Queens platform police that they should take a peek into the second car. By now, however, I’m certain that the R train was probably in Forest Hills, and who knows where the angry man had disembarked.

I guess if you see something, there’s very little point in saying something. Yet really, the police have got to do something.

by Sharon Udasin
Staff Writer

Less than a year and a half after a British academics’ boycott against Israel failed to take off, 15 West Coast professors are trying to mount the first-ever such campaign in the United States.

In response to Israel’s three-week incursion into Gaza, the American professors launched the US Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel on Jan. 22.

Their battle comes only a few weeks after the Canadian Union of Public Employees of Ontario proposed a province-wide boycott of Israeli academic institutions and as groups from countries all over the world threaten to do the same. 

By Monday, the US Campaign said it already had accrued 205 endorsements, 155 from the American academy. But their pro-Israel counterparts around the world are girding for a fight. Continue reading…