Malinda Words: Autumn Leaves Safeness

This year in the Northern Hemisphere the autumnal equinox falls on the 23rd of September. That would be the first day of Autumn, but in the USA they would say ‘Fall.’ The Fall, quite in contrast to the Biblical allusion of innocence-loss and all associated negativity, is beautiful. Before the leaves actually fall, they perform an almost ritualistic dance of color transformation.

Fall is still a few weeks away, but in Ithaca, New York, ‘Autumn Leaves’ is an all-year thing. I remember the used books store ‘Autumn Leave’ from over 20 years ago. This afternoon, I found that it has shifted to the opposite side of the Ithaca Commons.

Pete Meyers, a friend from way back in the year 2000 and the founder of the Tompkins County Workers’ Centre which has helped secure millions of dollars in wage theft judgments against employers that fail to pay overtime, don’t way workers for their hours or pay below the minimum wage, and who needs to be written about separately (and will be written about, I promise), told me that 'Autumn Leaves' was now owned by PM Press, which I learned is a small independent book publisher specialising in radical literature. Angry Mom Records occupies the second floor. It’s a partnership that carries the Ithacan signature of goodness I fell in love with in another century.

This is not about books or music. It is about ‘being.’ Amazed as I was by the cultural architecture of the place, what first caught my eye and held it was a simple sign. This is how it read:

WE WELCOME
ALL races
ALL Religions
ALL Countries of origin
ALL Genders
ALL Sexual orientations
ALL Abilities
WE STAND WITH YOU
YOU ARE SAFE HERE

It is easy to advocate. It is hard to exemplify the advocacy. If is easy to profess love for one and all. It is hard to love. Word is easy. Deed is not. There are signs and there is that which is signified.

I spent a few hours in Ithaca today. I had spent around four years in Ithaca a long time ago. Safety wasn’t something I thought of. There were moments I did feel unsafe but then again I still felt protected. And I remembered that other time of beautiful people who came together to publish a newspaper and a community that empowered them all with love.

I mentioned that time and some of those people, not all, in an article I wrote over 10 years ago:

‘I remember a day in early June 2000, just before I left Ithaca. Ayca Cubukcu and I were attending the memorial service of Jean Finley, a long-time and indefatigable activist who produced hundreds of shows for the local cable station, even though chronic kidney disease had condemned her to a wheelchair. She went about in this wheelchair, attending protests, distributing leaflets and keeping people cheerful. That day, at the memorial service, a young man came on stage to speak a few words. He said he needed someone to hold his hand. The young man was in a wheelchair. I only remember one thing he said: “Jean made it ok for people like me.” And he wept.’

We did too. We dedicated the next issue of that newspaper, ‘The Cobbler’ to Jean. It had Jean’s portrait as cover with a simple headline: ‘For Jean’. In the said article I mentioned some names: Ayca, Maceo, Michael, Balam, Mutaamba, Carson and Molly. Chad, Raj, Dia, Lehlohonolo, Andrea, Mecke, Gerard, Joaquin, Andrew and Aaron, Katie and Neil Golder, Paul Glover and the extended Grady family. I didn't mention Pete, for I had met him only briefly, although we connected when we went to a demonstration in Washington DC together and have kept in touch off and on since. Pete keeps people safe. That's what his life is all about.

I remembered all of them today as I strolled through Ithaca Commons and realised that each of them, without exception, stood with each other and many others as well. Each of them made people feel, ‘I am safe here.’

Autum Leaves safeness, that’s what it was back then. Only, it didn’t have a name. It didn’t need one.

malindadocs@gmail.com

['The Morning Inspection' is the title of a column I wrote for the Daily News from 2009 to 2011, one article a day, Monday through Saturday. This is 194th article in the new series. Links to previous articles are given below]

13 August 2023

Autumn Leaves Safeness

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