TIP: Doesn't Newark Sound Like New York?

I heard from two people recently that their travel agents dissuaded them from flying via Newark airport to New York. One was from Sydney and the other from Singapore. The agents said that since Newark was in another state - New Jersey - it would be much more difficult and take a long time to get to Manhattan.

This is completely daft.

Newark, hands down, is the better airport in the area for any self-respecting traveller, including those flying into New York. It's cleaner, brighter, has better signage, shorter lines and most importantly, nicer immigration people. And it takes about the same amount of time (and only a few bucks more by cab) to get into Manhattan as it does from JFK airport.

It also has a really nice train that goes straight to Manhattan's Penn Station. Once you arrive at the airport, take the AIRTRAIN (from any terminal) to the Newark Liberty Intl Airport TRAIN STATION. Get a ticket to NEW YORK PENN STATION on NJ TRANSIT. (Amtrak is also available but much more expensive). It's about 11 bucks one way. Once you're on the train, which is pretty comfortable, only thing to pay attention to is the fact that "Newark" can sound like "New York", and there is a "Newark Penn Station", which you shouldn't get off at. New York Penn Station is the last stop. The whole journey, including airtrain is about 30-40 minutes, and then you're right smack in the middle of Manhattan.

Oh, and of course, Newark is also great because the direct Singapore Airlines flight is based there - SQ obviously knows what it's doing.

2005 World Summit: Should We Care?

The largest gathering of world leaders in history just ended Friday at the UN in New York. After 3 days of endless photo ops, handshakes, strained smiles, of barricades, guard dogs and snipers on rooftops, of national dress and national flags, presidential convoys and black-tie galas, these leaders leave having put their names to something that they and their governments agreed to abide by. That something is the summit's 'outcome document', the subject of much heated debate, round-the-clock negotiations and diplomatic wrangling over the last few months.

After the initial (and protracted) brouhaha around the content and wording of the document, its final form was approved, by consensus (yes, that almost impossible UN process), just hours before the summit was due to start. Rumours about cancelling the whole event and the Secretary-General resigning in a huff were all quelled immediately. The NYPD and East Side New Yorkers cursed, while hotels sighed with relief - the presidential suites would still be filled.

We've all read the media reports, perhaps kept up with the finagling of certain countries and finally figured out just what the 'Millennium Development Goals' actually mean. But there is still a sense I feel, as with all large meetings and conferences really, that it's all a bunch of bull. Just a group of men (and a few women) sitting around nodding, clapping and making grandious statements that don't really mean much for you or me watching it on TV or reading it in the paper. True...but also not true.

Is there any reason to bother?

One can argue (and many will) that the document that everybody signed on to is just another piece of paper, doomed to join all the other bits of signed paper hidden in libraries and sealed filing cabinets around the world. But it isn't...ie, not if you let it. What the Summit outcome document contains are commitments, and thankfully, numerous concrete commitments, that mean that the signers and their governments can be held accountable. By whom? By citizens of countries and the international community. Because when you say you're going to do something, whether it's giving more money to fight poverty, or removing laws that discriminate, you give people negotiating room - room to remind, pressure, demand, through civic action, international pressure, governmental nudging, through letters, demonstrations, the media.

Here are some of the commitments made, that you can be sure people will be paying attention to:

- An additional 50 billion a year by 2010 to combat poverty: This isn't too much considering the trillion dollar economies of the world's richest countries, but still at least it's something. 8 million people die of poverty every year, any effort to reduce this helps.

- Clear condemnation of terrorism 'in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes' - this is the first time ever that all governments have agreed on this. What remains now is to negotiate a clear definition of terrorism so we can all finally start coordinating, together, on the best ways to deal with this.

- Clear acceptance by all governments of the collective international responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, and the agreement to take timely and decisive collective action. This might sound like a given to many of us, but sadly it hasn't been - too many unclear definitions, lack of agreement on definitions, too many ifs and buts were what led to Kosovo and Rwanda. With the Abuja peacetalks underway on Darfur, we'll see if people now step up to the plate like they should have ages ago.

- Commitment to end pervasive gender discrimination, like inequalities in education and property ownership, violence against women and girls and an end to impunity for such violence. We really haven't evolved that much, when women are on average still paid (if they're lucky) 75% what men are paid for doing exactly the same job, when girls are gang raped in punishment for bad things that their fathers and brothers did, when sons beat up their own mothers for exposing more than just their eyes, when girls are aborted simply because they are girls, or married off to men 3 times their age in exchange for cash and a couple of donkeys. It's disgusting and sickening and wrong. And it casts an unfortunate shadow over all the great men out there, the fathers, brothers, boyfriends, husbands and sons who respect the women in their lives and treat them the way they want to be treated themselves...At the end of the day, it's not about men versus women, it's about everyone being treated equally, fairly, justly.

If you've made it this far on this blog, you're probably shaking your head pityingly and calling me an idealistic sucker. And maybe I am. But I think you need to be to stay sane. Without hope we are nothing.

PS - but just so you know that I'm not an out-of-control idealist and that I still try to maintain a healthy sense of cynicism to keep it real - check out what the UN Security Service issued to all staff last week...(needless to say, I left my meat cleaver and saber safely at home)

DIVISION OF SECURITY AND SAFETY SERVICE
SPECIAL SERVICES UNIT -
ITEMS THAT STAFF ARE NOT PERMITTED TO BRING ON UNITED NATIONS PREMISES

SHARP OBJECTS
Box Cutters
Ice Axes / Ice Picks
Knives (Pocket Knives with 3” blade or less excluded)
Meat Cleavers
Razor-type Blades
Sabers
Swords

SPORTING GOODS
Baseball bats
Bows and Arrows
Cricket Bats
Golf Clubs
Hockey Sticks
Lacrosse Sticks
Pool Cues
Spear Guns

GUNS AND FIREARMS
Ammunition
BB guns
Compressed Air Guns
Firearms
Flare Guns
Gun Lighters
Gun Powder
Parts of Guns and Firearms
Pellet Guns
Realistic Replicas of Firearms
Starter Pistols

TOOLS
Axes and Hatchets
Cattle Prods
Crowbars
Hammers
Drills
Saws
Screwdrivers
Tools
Wrenches and Pliers

MARTIAL ARTS / SELF DEFENSE ITEMS
Billy Clubs
Black Jacks
Brass Knuckles
Kubatons
Mace
Martial Arts Weapons
Night Sticks
Nunchakus
Stun Guns
Throwing Stars

EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS
Blasting Caps
Dynamite
Fireworks
Flares (in any form)
Hand Grenades
Plastic Explosives
Realistic Replicas of Explosives

FLAMMABLE ITEMS
Fuels
Gasoline
Gas Torches
Lighter Fluid
Turpentine and Pint Thinner
Realistic Replicas of Incendiaries

DISABLING CHEMICALS AND OTHER DANGEREOUS ITEMS
Chlorine for Pools and Spas
Compressed Gas Cylinders
Liquid Bleach
Spill-able Batteries
Spray Paint
Tear Gas

Check it Out: Irritation Art

So I was trudging to work the other day on my usual subway route which requires, at one point, a walk through a long tunnel at the Times Square station that connects 8th Ave to 7th Ave. It was a regular Thursday, except for the hangover I really didn't need - I had unwisely thrown all 'school night' caution to the wind this particular week, not sure exactly why.

Anyway, so the Times Square tunnel isn't really that different from any other subway tunnel... except for one thing. As you're walking along from 8th to 7th if you chance to look up every 5 steps or so, you'll be hit by a series of little, seemingly innocuous phrases.. black letters on a white background, much like a street sign. Now, I see these phrase-signs every bloody day, and although I'm usually a little irked each time I read them, today, with my head throbbing and my insides churning, I suddenly realised the full extent of their meaning, and what they were really intended to be. IRRITATION ART. Plain and simple. And sadistic and cantankerous and mean. A visual installation with the sole aim of really annoying anyone who engages with it.

In this case, the 'art' in question is a series of signs that make up a whole poem, and it goes like this

Overslept,
So tired,
If late,
Get fired.
Why bother?
Why the pain?
Go home,
Do it again.

Thanks. A lot. So check it out. Just not on your way to work, with a hangover.

TRY: Game, Set, Match!!

To the untrained eye this photo might look like two ants on blue rectangular cardboard. Don't think sooo. It's James Blake versus Rafael Nadal at the US Open baby. That's right. Uh-huh. Leighbel..in Arthur Ashe.. upclose and personal (doing the 'churn the butter' move as I write).

This match was the highlight of last Saturday's matches. NY-born Jimmy Blake, unassuming and a real cutie, was clearly the crowd's favourite. After surviving a painful series of mishaps over the last 2 years - broken neck, dad's death from cancer, and paralysis to his face, Jimmy was back in the game this year and the crowd was grateful. And let's not downplay Nadal - fashion forward (note 'capris'), arms of steel (my pals Norman, Alex and I just could not stop staring I swear), and well..also world no.2 as it happens - he was totally amazing to watch.

There were lots of back-over-the-shoulder moves and split-second returns from one end of the court to the other. All in all a fast-paced, edge of your seat experience (couldn't even go to the bathroom until it was over in case I might miss something). When Blake won, understandably, everyone went nuts. Gone were your typically subdued tennis watching types. People were standing in their seats yelling and jumping up and down. It was all the better because both players were so gracious - no silly tantrums, racket throwing or yelling at the ump, just good solid competition. Both are now out, but hey, they'll be back next year.

TIP - the US Open really is one of the highlights of living in New York. It's not difficult to get tix, it isn't only for the snobby, and it's in early September which is a beautiful time of year. If you are in NY at the time and want to check it out, go to www.usopen.org. Get tickets for the earlier matches, because then you get to see some of the best players battle it out on the open courts, which are small and will get you an upclose view. There are 2 stadiums in the complex - Arthur Ashe is the big one, and Louis Armstrong the smaller one - there are tickets that will get you access to the general courts as well as a reserved seat in one of the stadiums. The seeded players do tend to play in the stadiums, but as I said, often they also play on the smaller courts. If you like live sporting events as I do, you don't want to miss this.

ps - check out the sun-worshipper ball boy on the right of the photo...

Hurricane Katrina: How you can help

There are thousands of Americans stranded without clothing, food and other basic necessities, in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. My cousin and his wife were thankfully evacuated from New Orleans just in time. Thousands of others weren't as lucky. And a majority of these are poor, elderly or disabled.

The disaster was compounded by the inability, incapacity, or as many claim, the sheer incompetence of the emergency management authorities to deal with the situation. Disaster, in a twisted way, is a great leveler - a reminder that no country in the world, no matter how powerful, exists without poverty and can exist without friends.

For all that Americans have done for the rest of the world time and time again during crisis, now is the time to give back.

To help:

Red Cross: 1-800-HELP-NOW or www.redcross.org

AmeriCares:americares.org

Black America Web Relief Fund: blackamericaweb.comSupport to families who are assisting those displaced by the hurricane.

National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster: www.nvoad.org

Ms. Foundation: www.ms.foundation.org

See the NY Times online as well for a list of places to find more information and send relief donations.

Related articles:

UN mobilises inter-agency teams to help US recover from Hurricane Katrina - http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15683&Cr=Katrina&Cr1=UN

US accepts UN offer to rush aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina - http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=15674&Cr=Katrina&Cr1=

Asian countries offer US hurricane aid (AP) - http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Katrina-World.html