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GAZETTE STAFF / NEW YORK CITY
by Ernest Barteldes
A YEAR IN NEW YORK - TWO ON THE GAZETTE
Our columnist reminiscences about his first
year as a New Yorker and his second as a columnist
on this publication
 n Sept 11th I was
planning to prepare an article on the second anniversary of this column,
which had happened a week earlier.
Fate, however, changed those plans.
After the horrible attack, I thought it better to give it some time
until I released a "celebratory" column - at least some respectable time
so all of us could - at least - attempt to recover and move on with our
lives.
In the meantime, I realized that it had been a year since I'd made my
eleventh-hour decision to come to New York and start life anew here - away
from the paradisiacal beaches of Brazil, but also fleeing the country's
swinging economy.
It was on October 04, 2000 that my wife and I left Fortaleza enroute to
the Big Apple. I had a little cash on me and a bucketful of dreams and
uncertainities. After all, I had no firm job offer then except a couple of
scheduled interviews but no collateral whatsoever except a two-way ticket
that was valid for another year.
My first concern, however, was finding a place to stay, since I could
not possibly afford an extended stay in a Manhattan hotel. After some
horrible prospects(we spent a few days looking at apartments in Brooklyn,
Queens and Staten Island), we eventually settled in St. George, which is
now a promising neighborhood on the tip of Staten Island, not far from the
ferry terminal.
I quickly landed two part-time teaching positions with schools in
Manhattan and Queens(although I am no longer with any of those early
employers), and started to get on with our lives.
As the year 2000 waned, I got to know more of the city I fell in love
with during a quick visit my then-fianceé and I had made in 1999. I met
one of the Gazette's columnists (Linda Linguvic, who I haven't seen in
quite a while), and joined a Beatles Cover band. My wife and I went to
Times Square, where we spent the final minutes of that year. Welcome to
2001.
Everywhere we went, people told my wife she should be modeling. As
someone with a Bachelor's Degree in literature, that was a thought that
had never really crossed her mind, but later she decided to take the
plunge and pursue a modeling career, while she readied herself to begin
her Masters' Degree.
So far she has appeared on Latina Magazine, Woman's World and has also
done TV spots for NBC and HBO, among other things. Of course, a modeling
career takes time to establish, but I would say that she is on the right
track.
She is also studying for her Master's at CCNY, and holds a part-time
job teaching English and Portuguese for a language center in Manhattan.
One thing I've dedicated myself to is freelance writing. Since the work
for the Gazette is voluntary, I decided to, parallel to my weekly writings
for this column, pursue publication elsewhere. Of course, as any starting
writer I get a lot of rejection letters, but some of my work has appeared
in various publications - which you can see in my short bio at the end of
this column.
In the meantime, I still go on teaching ESL and Portuguese, which gives
me much pleasure.
Plastic Sole is the name of the band I joined. Since last November,
we've had quite a few lineup changes, but now our six-piece group seems to
have stabilized a bit. The band has upcoming performances on Long Island,
Brooklyn and Staten Island - to check the band out, please log on to
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/barteldes/plasticsole.html .
New York has given us entertainment
that we never dreamed of in Brazil. We saw Brooke Shields at Studio 54,
Ray Charles and Natalie Cole at City Center, The Monkees in Westbury and
other amazing things that don't come to mind right now. We also visited
Strawberry Fields on Dec 8 and walked around the various parks in the city
as we paused for a cup of coffee.
As I write, I keep hoping that our city fully recovers from the
horrible tragedy that affected us all, in a way or another - even if some
of us knew nobody who populated zip code 10047.
And also hoping that we have better things to say next year.
Ernest Barteldes is an ESL and Portuguese teacher. In addition to that,
he is a freelance writer whose work has been published by The Greenwich
Village Gazette, The Staten Island Advance, The Staten Island Register,
The SI Muse, Brazzil magazine,The Villager , GLSSite, Entertainment Today
and other publications. He lives in Staten Island, NY. He can be reached
at ebarteldes@nycny.net
READ LAST WEEK'S
STORY: CLICK HERE
A writer needs feedback in order to write properly.
Please send feedback to: ebarteldes@nycny.net
http://www.bacchin.com.br/barteldes
Visit Ernest’s ESL Page:
http://www.barteldes.freeyellow.comb
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