In The Neighborhood

We Americans like our neighborhoods. 

That doesn’t mean we’re best friends with all of our neighbors.  In fact, there’s some we might not even like at all. 

But there’s an unspoken bond when you live m close by, especially in a city.  And that goes beyond keeping the street nice, ceding the right of way when you leave for work in the morning or holding a door open at the local store, or even in your own apartment building.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Ok well maybe not this nice, but we’re civil

Speaking for most Americans, I’m not sure we were even aware of it en masse until recently. 

But recently there have been a lot of threats, particularly in cities, and particularly from outside the neighborhood.

And speaking for most Americans who live in these densely populated areas, as I have my entire life, I can safely state that a threat to ONE of us, is a threat to ALL of us.

Wise words from a wise man

And that we defend each other.

With everything we’ve got.

So when masked government men speed into our neighborhoods in unmarked cars looking to randomly cherry pick our neighbors off the street for no other reason than the color of their skin, an unpaid parking ticket or their presumed attitude, the very least you can expect any one of us to do is to blow a f-king whistle.

Whistlestop GIFs - Find & Share on GIPHY
Now considered a crime apparently

More likely, what you get is a relentless barrage of unprintable expletives and a united front, nee protective shield, from you f-king with anyone, even the neighbor we don’t like at all.

You might think you have the power right now but believe me, you don’t.

Not in the long run.

City people protect their own and DO NOT back down from a fight. 

EVER.

Mommy Dearest Gif
Expletives needed here

We might lose rounds one, two, three and ten but eventually – EVENTUALLY – we WILL win. 

You will not come into our town under the guise of some Gestapo protection and get us to give up the people we see at the market or the car wash or on the road or down the street no matter how determined you are to WHITEN your load.

For starters, we LIKE color.  That’s one of the reasons we live in the city to begin with.

The Weekly Wrap: As ICE Operations Turn Deadly, Local Officials Push Back
Salt the streets, get ICE out!

So when you three times shoot someone like Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, a Christian, a singer and a poet, and the spouse of a woman who was co-parenting her six-year-old son since his biological father passed away several years ago, for her whistle and her “attitude” as she drove away in her Honda Pilot filled with kiddie toys and old plastic sippy cups, don’t pretend she was a “domestic terrorist.”

Especially when we have the whole thing recorded on video from five different angles via a dozen different cell phones.

Wife of woman killed by ICE agent: 'We had whistles. They had guns.'
Justice… for GOOD

But do expect A LOT more than whistles, curse words and compliance the next time you come to town.

In any city and in any state.

Anywhere in the country.

You think you’re having a hard time in Minneapolis amidst all that Minnesota “nice?” 

Hunt for some bigger “game” and see what happens.  And know this is not a call to or a threat of violence.  We city dwellers are too smart to play your game. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sharply criticized ICE following the death of  the woman, saying federal agents should “get the f*** out” of the  city.Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sharply criticized ICE following the
I’m with him

We play the long game and we’ve learned from the best.

And often in streets of the very cities you are trying to invade.  We know the terrain and the people and it’s not as easy as you believe to make all of US who disagree with YOU to disappear.  

I grew up in the boroughs of New York City, went to grad school and lived for several years in the city of Chicago in my early twenties, and for decades have made my home in Los Angeles.

a group of people are dancing on a stage and one of them says in the greatest city in the world .
Take your pick

If you believe a lot of what you hear from the federal government – and I don’t know anyone who does these days – I should be statistically dead in a ditch, the victim of some violent crime or surrounded by a cesspool or garbage left in the streets by illegal immigrant families whose culture threatens my very way of existence, not to mention my job.

I can assure you none of these are the case and that I’ve been alive a lot longer than many of the people that tell you it is.

I’m Stephen Miller’s worst nightmare.  A “stupid white hippie protestor” from his home state who knows exactly who he is and what his tactics are. 

The Simpsons Slingshot GIF - The Simpsons Slingshot Hippies - Discover &  Share GIFs
Take that!

A guy who grew up 15 minutes from his boss and understands his ignorance and avarice.

And a person who graduated from an Ivy League adjacent school with an advanced degree when JD Vance was seven-years-old and went by a different name, though I couldn’t truly tell you which name it was because he’s changed it so frequently. (Note: Always a warning sign).

What I do know is that there are a sh-t ton more of my type than their type, ready to stand strong, in every single CITY across the country.

In the name of RENEE NICOLE GOOD.

Forever and ever

And so many others.

For as long as it takes.

Now listen to words of Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal as she espouses our all-too-familiar “say her name” mantra and be inspired to action.

2025: As It Was

Of course, every day of life is a gift. 

That becomes apparent once people your age start dying or you are personally touched by tragedy at too young an age. 

Or any age.

And who am I to argue with the idea that the meaning of life is to find your gift and show it to the world?

and I will!

Well, I could argue that. 

What if your particular gift is lying, cheating and generally wreaking havoc on the world, which in turn inspires others to do so and destroy it as we know it?

You see where this could be going.

If I let it.

Everything We Know About Henry Creel's Origin Before the Stranger Things  Finale (Including the Stage Play) - ComicBook.com
Mr. Whatsit is here to help

I should’ve known 2025 wasn’t going to be “all that” when at the end of its first week my cell phone started audibly blaring with warnings from the city of L.A. to evacuate my home because a nearby canyon suddenly went up in flames.

Of course, I already knew that.  My sister warned me five minutes earlier, my shrink had just called to warn me (Note: Yes, he knows where I live) and the TV happened to be on with footage of planes and helicopters dropping uncountable gallons of water all over the neighborhood.

Never a good sign.

The role of climate change in the catastrophic 2025 Los Angeles fires »  Yale Climate Connections
It’s hard to even imagine this really happened

Of course, my husband and I were lucky, so this day was, indeed, a gift. Our house survived and so did we.  Not so lucky were the hundreds of homes and people in other neighborhoods that didn’t make it.

Not much of a gift for them. 

I mention all this not to recount my worst day in 2025 or to prove that this year was cursed from the beginning and would prove to be so for anyone truly sane.

Instead, I bring it up to offer there is another way to look at it.

Do you need to take another look? - Internet Grandma Meme Generator
brb getting out my second pair of glasses

Everyone reading this, and the billions more with the ability to still read it, survived and were gifted at least one more day. 

Probably more.

The question is, what we’ll do with them.

Just know, I HATE this kind of sentiment. 

These bromides of positivity.  This glass half-full sort of thinking.

a cartoon of spongebob saying " toxic positivity " in a box
Don’t come to me with this!

But there was a time when I was convinced I also hated Brussel sprouts until Ina Garten instructed me how to douse them with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper and roast them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.  Since then they have become the house vegetable, sometimes with balsamic glaze and other times simply with fresh parsley and some additional sea salt.

Allowing me to know that even if everything else was shitty that day, at the very least I succeeded at not only eating my vegetables but actually enjoying them.

Which is more than I ever did during my first 25 five years of “gifted” existence. #SoMuchMoreHealthSoManyMoreGiftsToLive

Barefoot Contessa GIFs | Tenor
Way to go Chairy!

There is no point in us recapping the many disasters of 2025.  The school shootings, the affordability crisis, the cold-blooded murder of well known public figures, along with so many non-famous people who also have friends, families, loved one and talents, nee gifts.

And never mind the grifting of money from the unfortunate or unknowing, the worldwide bending (Note: though not breaking) to authoritarianism, the ravages of international war or the demonization of immigrants, nee anyone not white and Christian.

Dumpster Fire GIFs | Tenor
And here she comes again

For a married gay guy with a very Jewish last name like myself, whose grandparents on both sides were immigrants, this is especially troubling. Even more so because I actually know and like not only Muslims and Somalis but non-whites of all sorts of colors from all over the world.

Going to one of the first mandatory integrated elementary schools in New York City in the sixties will do that to you.  As will growing up in most urban cities.  As will growing up anywhere and having parents who aren’t racists.

Don't Be Racist Thanks Sticker
This

Everyone gets treated exactly the same way.  Including the whitest of Christians.

That didn’t seem exactly progressive to me back then but I never would have predicted the world we have all been gifted for at least another day.

And yes, probably more.

That said, 2025 did have a few cool things. 

Cool GIFs | Tenor
Let’s get to the cool thing!

My favorite film was One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant black comedy/drama treatment of the times. I also thought Sinners was pretty damn good, as was a small indie film called The History of Sound.

On television, Netflix early in the year gave us the gift of the limited series, Adolescence, and wrapped up the year with a wonderful final season (Note: One more episode to go!) of Stranger Things. HBO Max started out the year with a riveting new show, The Pitt and ended it with the LGBTQ+ series I could have only dreamed of as a kid but never would have, that viral sensation known as Heated Rivalry.

Heated Rivalry Episode 5 Showcases the Power of Representation—Can It Help  Change the Game? - Fangirlish
Oh God am I a hockey fan now?

Now if only both companies would stop gobbling up other companies. Or selling out to other companies, or billionaires, or beefy politicians, and the entire planet would be a better place.

This entirely circumvents the subject of A.I. because seriously, I can’t right now…

Instead, let’s consider at least one happy couple who were gifted overtime in 2025 – Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.  They’d better at least be happy in real life.

Taylor Swift Opens Up About Engagement to Travis Kelce, Ring
This has to be endgame. Please God.

As should the new mayor of NYC – Zohran Mamdani.  He’s got great ideas for my hometown AND he’s Muslim.  Imagine that!  Well, I can.  As can my very Jewish blood brother Mandy Patinkin, who can be seen here, with his wife, actress Kathryn Grody, making potato latkes with him.

It could be our new slogan for 2026.

Break Bread, Not Heads.

And yes, I know latkes are technically made with matzo meal, not bread.  Just think of it as a starting point. 

And a gift.

Duke Ellington – Auld Lang Syne