New York in the Dark

I really really wish I had shot more video during the hurricane. I went down to Washington Street, which was flooded. Why didn’t I turn on the movie setting?? LoSAH. Anyway, here’s a couple of minutes of darkness. Okay, not my finest effort, but something to look at while you sip your coffee. And eat your crumpets. Because everybody in the world gets crumpets except for me. By the way, what’s a crumpet?

Stacy Horn

I've written six non-fiction books, the most recent is Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York.

View all posts by Stacy Horn →

7 thoughts on “New York in the Dark

  1. Used to eat crumpets for breakfast when I was younger. I never see them in my grocery store but they are (or were) relatively common in Canada. The British influence, I guess. About the size of an English muffin but with a different texture. They are full of tiny holes which act as receptacles for the butter and jam or jelly that is spread on them once they are toasted. Yum.

    Stacy, add this item to your Christmas list, in preparation for the next power outage: a headlamp. No more walking blindly down pitch black streets into God-knows-what!! But I guess that’s all part of the adventure!

  2. I had a flashlight, but I quickly learned that once my eyes adjusted, about 15 seconds after stepping outside, I could see more and further without a flashlight. And I think my eyes would have adjusted again, to the deeper darkness in the hallways, but it’s quicker to turn on the flashlight in those situations.

    But I felt safer outside not using the flashlight, because with the flashlight, I could only see the relatively small area it illuminated. Without it I could see much more.

  3. Other than the generators powering the lights near your street, did you notice it was much quieter in your neighbourhood? If so, was that the one nice part of the outage or was it just eerie?

    Have there been reports of any looting from stores or damaged homes?

  4. Brave Stacy documenting the dark, but what does LoSHA mean?

    Here, where I live, in NY metro area, there was no oem, no fema, no nothing–except a few riffled, national guardsmen, here & there at a few traffic lights( a frightening reminder of 9-11), but the lovely fish stores who had generated ice and were selling it without gouging.

    Thank you fish mongers!

  5. Its LoSAH and it means “loser.”

    For the record, that was the only OEM light I saw anywhere and I never saw FEMA, or the National Guard or anything. I did see NYPD patrol cars though, circling areas without lights.

    Nora, there was very little looting, although some, and crime, apparently, went way down. I honestly didn’t notice the quiet. Weird.

  6. I am such a LoSAH!
    I even have to make an effort to say
    “cawfee.”
    Thanks for the transliteration.
    I’m glad you’re safe & sound.

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