Sometimes I have a hard time believing I am still in the same state containing New York City.
The small city in which I live now seems to have such a different attitude towards animals; in fact, towards life in general.
Animal stories are often featured on the local news in Cortland, NY. The wildlife in the local park is not only provided food by families, but by park employees as well. (Salt sticks are even put out for deer.) Roads near the park contain,"Duck Crossing" signs and pets are generally well cared for with few strays.
In many ways, Cortland, NY is like throwback to 1950's America.
Most of the houses in this quaint and friendly "railroad" (and now college) town were built in the late 1800's or early 1900's. (Some are now rented out to college students.)
Cortland is not a booming city. Most of the people who live in Cortland work in nearby Syracuse or Ithaca, are retired or go to school here.
You won't find skyscrapers in Cortland or people in designer clothes. (Despite frigid, snow-filled winters, I have yet to see one Canada goose coat!) There are small shopping plazas around Cortland allowing one to actually live here without a car. But most people drive.
Cortland is, in essence, very blue-collar, "Middle America." It's equally divided between Republican and Democrat, Conservative and Liberal, though most people are squarely in the political middle. There seem to be no extremes. There is no pretentiousness.
I like Cortland. It reflects well who I am. It reminds me of 1950's Austin, Texas where my mother and I spent six months when I was a child. I loved Austin. It was a fun-loving, smallish city and much more "liberal" than NYC; we didn't even wear uniforms in Catholic school! I hated having to return to NYC at only 7-years-old then and cried on the train ride home.
And yet, more than a year after finally moving away from NYC decades later, I find myself in political battle with it over its proposed, "Wildlife Feeding Ban in city parks." (How cruel and bizarre is this -- especially compared to other parts of the country?)
Seems as if I had a "love/hate relationship" with NYC all along --which ironically still continues to this day.
Yesterday's rally in City Hall (NYC) was well attended, with good visuals and excellent speakers, including one Bronx City Councilman supporting the "ban the ban" rally.
But NYC media failed to cover the rally and reportedly, Mayor deBlasio walked by at one point and didn't even acknowledge.
Why is none of this surprising? Par for the course, one might say.
My friend, Liliana tried to attend rally, but her car ride was late and she had trouble getting through security at City Hall. (They must have suspected the 75-year-old cancer victim was hiding guns or bombs in her walker.)
But Liliana wasn't upset. She has dealt with far worse than this in the forms of aggressive cancer and a Mayor's representative smugly telling her she should "volunteer at the Wild Bird Fund" (a highly physical undertaking) or "take nature hikes with birders." The Mayor seems to have as much regard for senior citizens as he does for pigeons, geese, ducks and squirrels.
Meanwhile, at the still (plant) barren Jackie Onassis Reservoir in Central Park, three determined goose pairs attempt to bring forth new life. But will their efforts once again meet with defeat and death as they did last year?
Thankfully, I won't be in New York City to personally witness.
It's 14 months since I left New York City and I don't miss a damn thing about it -- with the lone exceptions of a few known and treasured geese trying to buck the odds and a beloved friend, still too, battling the odds.
To quote Simon and Garfunkle, "I am leaving, I am leaving, but the fighter still remains."
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