Stacy Horn

The ads on Craigslist asking for writers but offering no pay drive me absolutely crazy. “We don’t pay, but this is a great opportunity to get published,” blah, blah, blah. Where to begin? I know they are targeting beginning writers, but even for writers just starting out this is bullshit.

The authors of these ads never say anything to substantiate their claim that this is a good opportunity. Anyone can slap up a website or blog. What are they bringing to the table that makes it a good opportunity for the writers? It’s almost always a start-up so there is no audience. They never say “we have well-heeled investors getting behind our effort, so we think it’s not unreasonable to believe we have a decent shot,” etc. (Of course if they had investors they would be paying the writers something.) They never detail their experience and background which might also give some credence to their claims. Who are YOU? Why should anyone jump through whatever hoops you’ve held up to impress you?

Worse are the “established, famous” writers asking for assistants without pay, offering valuable experience and contacts in return. If they were truly established they would pay their assistants. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of talented writers out there who are struggling, these are hard times, but the number of them who could genuinely make working for free worthwhile is small. And the people who put up these ads don’t sound like they are in that pool, they invariably sound like jerks. So much so I can’t believe anyone responds. But I also can’t believe anyone answers the “write for my blog for free, it’s a great opportunity” ads. Do they?

I went back and took another picture of those Jimmy Choo shoes I think are so beautiful. My first shot was so bad.

They have a lot planned, I read. They must be down at Wall Street now, I can hear the buzzing of helicopters (which can’t be possible, they’re a mile away). I should turn on the news. I can’t get down there myself, but there’s a rally at 5pm in Foley Square. My friend Chris (we’ve known each other since we were 13!) is visiting, maybe she’ll be up for checking it out.

Update: We have to go to Foley Square!! There will be singing! From their website:

DINNER: Take The Square – 5:00 p.m.

At 5 pm, tens of thousands of people will gather at Foley Square (just across from City Hall) in solidarity with laborers demanding jobs to rebuild this country’s infrastructure and economy. A gospel choir and a marching band will also be performing.

Afterwards we will march to our bridges. Let’s make it as musical a march as possible – bring your songs, your voice, your spirit! Our “Musical” on the bridge will culminate in a festival of light as we mark the two-month anniversary of the #occupy movement, and our commitment to shining light into our broken economic and political system.

An explosion of gingko leaves on my block. I took this last night heading home from my monthly MBSR meditation group.

I just gave A&E’s show Hoarders another shot, what can I say, I’m human, it’s hard to look away. Sure enough, I was punished. Everyone was. It was an hour of child abuse, or rather a half an hour. One of the hoarders, Eileen, clearly has mental illness beyond the symptoms of hoarding. This is what I don’t understand about this show—when they come across people like this, people this mentally ill, they should stop the cameras and address it. I want to hate the woman, but clearly she’s severely damaged. Those poor children. Well, I guess at the very least now that the show has aired Child Protective Services is aware of the situation. But this is not entertainment.

It’s a rainy, dreary day here in the city.

I meant to post this earlier, but someone I went to grad school with helped organize the NYC GeoSymposium: 2001-2011-2021 event tomorrow. It’s free, but you need to register right away! From their website:

The NYC GeoSymposium: 2001-2011-2021 will mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, by examining the response of the NYC GIS community as follows:

– how geospatial resources were mobilized in the first weeks after the event, with emphasis on the groundbreaking work that contributed to effective response and recovery efforts;

– which geospatial procedures, data, and technologies the City has pursued to ensure more effective emergency response during the past ten years based on lessons learned from September 11th – in the context of NYC’s comprehensive adoption of geospatial tools and techniques for supporting business functions across City agencies; and

– what unmet needs the NYC GIS community identifies for improved emergency planning and response as well as future challenges posed by emerging social media as well as enterprise-wide deployment of software and hardware advances that underpin geospatial application development.

For some reason I woke up after 1am and saw one helicopter parked in the sky over Zuccotti Park. It signaled something was up, but it was weird that there was only one. So by now you’ve all heard, they cleared Zuccotti Park. But are they back yet? A judge issued a restraining order directing them to reopen the park.

Like many people, I’m extremely freaked about the press blackout. The mayor said it was to keep them safe. Safe from what? And why would helicopters need to move to where they couldn’t film the eviction? What danger threatened them?

This is the view downtown from my roof. Zuccotti Park is a little bit down and east of One World Trade. That one helicopter at the top right comes in close from time to time, but even hours later the other helicopters out of the frame never move or come in any closer.