Emily's May Inspiration "There Goes The Hood"

It was more than a restaurant, it was a symbol. And in the past decade, the last man standing in a sea of homogeny brought on by outsiders visiting the East Village on the weekends; dabbling in the hip, artistic, and edgy. Fact is MAMA'S was the neighborhood. At ten dollars a plate with a choice of meat and three sides, MAMA's was the spot you went for down home comfort. Nestled on 3rd St btw A & B, I walked past this soul food spot daily back in the nineties, sometimes stopping in just for a side of mash potatoes when the city got rough. They had the best veggies too, and if you didn't want meat you could get an extra side with their mac and cheese rivaling no other.

I encourage my yoga students to embrace change, to accept the only constant in our lives is just that. But as my old street in Alphabet City morphs into more and more sameness - that chain store, homogenized look that plagues our country - I have to cry out, 'Why this hood!?' Why the spot where artists flocked to so they could be different and accepted? With the fortune tellers, druggies, and performance artists singing their tunes, graffiti walls and dive bars that embrace all kinds... Why must the demographic who desires sameness, who feels more comfortable in an OLIVE GARDEN than an authentic Italian dive invade the one place on the planet where we screwed the Man?

Those who infest the East Village on the weekends are in no way supporting the community and those who inhabit it. They leave and go back to their commutes and cubicles, and tell stories about how they had a 'crazy' weekend in the village. We lived there, many old-schoolers still do. It's our home, and place's like MAMA'S, or the old KING'S PHARMACY replaced by a DUANE READE were our pride, our joy and choice to remain original, authentic to ourselves. Most moved to the East Village against their society's wishes. To a far away land where parentals did not understand paying a thousand dollars a month for a shoebox apartment on Ave C, but we did and sacrificed to be there. The natives know the secret to Alphabet City is its character, its funkiness, and constant groove we so adore. With the closing of MAMA'S, I dare say...there goes the hood.

PEACE,

Archived Inspirations

on Love

Sad Heart

I have felt great sadness as of late. No specific reason; just heavy, weepy. My heart raw; wide open to the winter cold, the uncertainties of life, the cries of Haiti… Sometimes it's like I feel everything at once. Every emotion squared-- one moment up, the next down. An emotional roller coaster or more like wave, I choose to ride it. Try and be with the grief as uncomfortable as it is. Try and be with what is.

The gift of sadness is the release, the vulnerability in letting go and the opportunity to heal. Remember back to a good cry, a tender moment with someone close… This is where we feel, where the walls come down, the fear subsides, and we are led toward truth. And the truth is-- life hurts. The pain is part of loving, part of living. The heart is a muscle. It works to pump breath and life into our blood, to open and close and open again. It's the opening to grace that heals us-- the opening to loss.

And loss we know. Over fifteen million people have no jobs in this country, in Haiti the loss of life is estimated at over two hundred thousand. But the devastation, the sadness-- large and small leads to rebirth. Loss leads to an opening, to something bigger. And the trust that life will again bring happiness and light is real. The dark must be known, felt in order to receive more love. The earth yearns for the magic of it, the beauty of people coming together. There is no time than now to feel; to cry, to laugh, to grieve. All leads to love…

Amore,