In anticipation of the soul-deadening process of public school middle school admissions in the City of New York (the single greatest cause of middle class flight from the City), ten year old Dybbuk’s been attending a math tutor to boost his chances for the Mark Twain math program. For their creative writing program, he’s mostly been reading my blog and posting on his own:
DYYBUK (11/7/13): Hey guys, so I'm very VERY sorry I haven't been posting lately. I couldn't post on Tuesday because I was campaigning for Chiam Deutsch (because I already knew DeBlasio would win the mayor race) and I've just been very busy… And yes I know 1.7.2 came out. And I'll post about that soon.
Some people think he’s got my style down flat.
On election day, I picked Dybbuk up from his tutor and asked him if he wanted to go to Tish James’ victory party; he responded enthusiastically until he was told it entailed doing some work for a candidate first; he suddenly developed a bout of sleepiness, which abated with the promise of a charcoal smoked pastrami sandwich from Sheepshead Bay’s Jay and Lloyd’s Deli.
GATE (11/6/13): On Election day Dybbuk and I visited southern Brooklyn for the worthy purpose of helping a conservative beat a fascist; political celebrity hound that he is, he made a new friend named Jumaane and now wants to get dreadlocks.
We’d been dispatched to a polling place near the Sheepshead Nostrand projects. A young black man was working there for David Storobin, at an hourly rate. I laughed at the thought that Storobin didn’t understand the projects had been moved to the adjoining district, until we were joined at our corner by Councilman Jumaane Williams working for our side. He decided to work the other corner and Dybbuk joined him, regaling the Councilman with his plans to go to law school and serve in Congress, and discussing the evils of stop and frisk. .
Eventually, the Councilman returned the boy to my care with a new nickname:
“See you later, Esquire.”
I’d spent a very short time in 2003 working for a consulting firm involved in getting people to take advantage of a state run home heating program. A friend recommended I meet Jumaane Williams, but warned me Williams had Tourette’s and I should not become alarmed if he started to curse me out for no reason,
I told my friend not to worry, since I'd worked over seven years for Marty Connor, and I was used to that sort of thing.
Anyway, at least one member of my household is strongly backing Williams for Council Speaker, and this post is written with affection and more in sorrow than in anger, but I still must ask this question:
Is anyone at all advising Jumaane Williams?
A black member of the Progressive Caucus who is close to the Brooklyn Democratic Leader and has an extremely compelling personal narrative about overcoming a handicap, and a record of significant legislative accomplishment, Williams should be strong candidate for Speaker.
Instead, he is floundering over social issues, specifically abortion and same sex marriage.
He should know better.
Continue reading on Room Gate.