GREEN CARD LONG AND WINDING ROAD
I got out of my apartment - freezing day -
in my mailbox there was a letter from homeland security.
My EAD card is in it. so much faster than expected. 3 days after the email notice.
it has been a long way. hard to believe it is real this time. not just a case number a bureaucratic entity, a legal limbo.
well thanks to so many, so many of you I am writing to.
it wouldn't have been possible without your help in a way or the other. every little thing that helped me out.
when I came to NYC - 5 years next month - I just had a cheap ticket I knew I would not use to go back and a life in a suitcase.
the exchange rate for me was so bad that my savings where worth almost nothing with the strong dollar of the Clinton era.
I did not know what to expect - it was hard to imagine a 5 year plan. I knew what I dreamed about - but the reality is always a different story.
For the first time in a long time I feel relieved - a weight off my shoulder. I can breathe after a long apnea.
It is now time to think to all what happened these long and short years -
the people - the situations - the places.
so much - so dense - so interesting. so worth it.
well thank you all - without many of you it wouldnt have been possible or it wouldnt have made sense.
THANK YOU.
for the letters that you wrote. for the affidavits. for the friendships. for letting me use a computer when I did not have it. thank you for the odd jobs and the fancy photo assignments. thank you for being supportive and believing in me when I needed to. thanks for the dinners at Hasaki and the slices at Ray's or Rosario's. The beers at Max Fish. Thanks for inspiring me. thanks for the conversations about WW2 and politics. thanks for taking me on the road. Portland, LA, DC, Richmond, Portland, Atlanta, Colorado, West Virginia, South Beach, Santa Cruz, Massachussets, New Jersey, Chicago, The Dakotas, Philadelphia.
thank you for the advice, the romance, the sex, the words, the silences, the make-ups, the constructive fights. thanks for helping troubleshoot life - love - ibooks - living situations.
thanks for sharing art, music, inspiration, cooking. thank you for involving me in your projects or being part in mine.
sometimes it has been really hard and without y'all and all this it wouldnt have been really worth it.
last year has been really harsh. confused months, hopeless heartbroken. moving too many places too many times. bad situations.
still there was fun - great moments - unforgettable moments.
I could swim under the tropical water. get over get on.
thanks for the couches, thanks for the xanax at the right time, thanks for the oatmeal in the morning. thanks for sharing the bed, thanks for helping me carry the boxes from one place to the other. thanks for the bike rides. thanks for sharing the family holidays.
I dont have a proper green card yet -
but the lawyer says if I pay enough taxes that it should be smooth. they just want to see that I am not going to get on welfare.
It took so long. lost and found.
thank you all for the help without judgment.
Atlantic avenue Brooklyn
I went to the dollar store - "dollar dreams". I was looking for long johns cuz riding the bike at night with 10 F [-11C] is hard on your knees.
I was also looking for fabric dyes. want to turn beige corduroys into dark brown.
I inquired with the cashier if they had any. "On y a de la teinture?" she asked her coworker.
there wasn't any. "Au revoir!merci." I told her in my high school french. She asked if I was French. She was a Muslim from Senegal that lived in France for years.
we started a conversation in frenchglish.
when I told her I live on Henry street. " Ah we are neighbors!" she said
. She lives with her 2 girls in some 21st floor apt in the projects on Clinton and Delancey.
I asked how could she get subsidized housing being a foreigner.
she has this amazing story -
got married when she moved here to a violent man.
her husband was abusive and beating her up.
she had to go to a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
she spent a year there and she found an organization that helped her get a green card on the basis that her husband was violent and abusive.
she works at the dollar store in fort greene and she is starting a business of health and wellness.
she looked so radiant and mellow. she kept smiling and had the most positive energy.
she had been once to Italy. Ventimiglia the town cut by the border where the french go to buy french products on the cheaper italian side. I was there once and it was such a surreal place.
I was at target shopping just earlier and was looking at some mini-DV video cameras -
I think I should start a documentary about immigrants. people moving to the USA - struggling with the laws. running away from a place where they can't fit or where they can't just survive. like this woman - or the english 30 year old hipster that has been living here since he was 17. illegal. washing out his entry stamps from his passport in the washing machine. slipping thru the cracks of the system.
Or the Burmese refugees that every Saturday morning stand outside the UN building with a banner against the military junta. the long tunnel to a stabler life.
2 weeks - a whirlwind - I became an uncle on xmas eve. my family escaped the tsunami wave from the beach in phuket. the department of homeland security gave me good news.
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other things I saw
I ran into Mark Gonzales - he moved here from SF - he rides a bike and jumps over curbs and steps.
Tiffany pink dumpsters
"Send a SALAMI to your boy in the Army" on the back of a busboy T-shirt
high rises that grow so fast and look like a tall fragile house of cards.no more building regulations in downtown Manhattan. as high as how much you can pay.
straight smoke from chimneys that almost looks solid in the freezing arctic air.
hot girl and deadly freeze that share the front page of the daily news
USA hoodies made in Russia. who would have imagined that in 1988?
valentine's day - women are expected to wear red thongs - at least if you go to national wholesale liquidators.
last year a manhole exploded next to me and if i did not run fast it would have killed me.
I asked 2 con ed guys that were struggling to lift one up how much it weights. 250 pounds they answered.
left over bike chains that become part of the urban landscape.
last night I went to tonic.
loren mazzacane connors music with jean of arc. amazing images, amazing sounds.
text of light amazing images amazing sounds.
we went to the bar across the street -
drank a talisker -
amazing scotch - sip it slowly. so smoky and pure.
went to an art opening on essex street. 4 artists in their 80s
amazing to see this artist - still hip - hipster at 85 - the lines of her face show life and stories.
I dont see the age.bye
stefano
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website
http://stefpix.com
http://stefanogiovannini.com