Tuesday 2nd June.
Brooklyn, New York City. By the power of Facebook I have arranged a sub-let. Guy finds me at Lula Bean, opposite his apartment building on Grand Street. It's on the fourth floor - a 'walk up'. He shows me round the apartment. There are pictures on the walls. Guy is from Arkansas originally. He used to play basketball at college. Now he has arthritis in his knee. He shows me a little bottle of white liquid. 'You spray this in the toilet when you flush and it makes the whole thing smell like lemons.' Guy is an actor. He wants to pay off his credit card and go to Paris. He will stay on a friend's floor while I'm using his room. We go to the bank and I withdraw money for him. I won't stay here tonight. Tonight I'm further south at Donna's place. Donna is another friend-of-a-friend.
I take the G train towards Smith Street. When I get to Bergen Street Station there is water running down the steps. It has been raining while I was under ground. The mosquito bites on my ankles are raging. Donna finds me at the Tea Lounge on the corner of Court and Kane Streets. She has her friend Rani with her. At her apartment she has a view of Midtown Manhattan. And in the other direction, the Statue of Liberty. 'And the crazy thing is, when I came to look at the place before I moved in, I didn't even notice it.' There are ants in her apartment. They are tiny and almost transparent.
Donna is training as a midwife. 'We medicalize childbirth here. Everyone who comes in gets an IV. We use oxytocin routinely to make sure labour doesn't take too long. Our C-section rates are probably twice what yours are. If they refuse the drugs the doctors pretty much tell them to go somewhere else. Because they're on Medicaid they don't have much of a choice. Or they don't feel empowered to make a choice.' When we go out for a walk the air is still humid. We go for dinner at a place called Bedouin Tent on Atlantic Avenue. There is a little yard at the back with tables. Donna talks about being afraid to fly. She didn't use to be. She isn't sure what's changed. I say I'm am more worried by it too than before. This trip has been harder for me than when I was younger. This is the longest I've been away from home in years. I miss people more than I used to. Perhaps as you get older you get more attached. You care more. When you fly you have to relinquish all that - put your whole life in the hands of a stranger.
The tables are damp from the rain. There are mosquitos. A small slug moves along one of the slots in the table top. There is a little fountain trickling behind us. Even the water feels wetter than usual.
Donna is training as a midwife. 'We medicalize childbirth here. Everyone who comes in gets an IV. We use oxytocin routinely to make sure labour doesn't take too long. Our C-section rates are probably twice what yours are. If they refuse the drugs the doctors pretty much tell them to go somewhere else. Because they're on Medicaid they don't have much of a choice. Or they don't feel empowered to make a choice.' When we go out for a walk the air is still humid. We go for dinner at a place called Bedouin Tent on Atlantic Avenue. There is a little yard at the back with tables. Donna talks about being afraid to fly. She didn't use to be. She isn't sure what's changed. I say I'm am more worried by it too than before. This trip has been harder for me than when I was younger. This is the longest I've been away from home in years. I miss people more than I used to. Perhaps as you get older you get more attached. You care more. When you fly you have to relinquish all that - put your whole life in the hands of a stranger.
The tables are damp from the rain. There are mosquitos. A small slug moves along one of the slots in the table top. There is a little fountain trickling behind us. Even the water feels wetter than usual.
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