Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything - Below and Beyond (New York After Rona (part iii)

Episode Date: October 27, 2021

We visit an empty storefront in Greenwich Village to talk with journalist and curator Alex Brook Lynn about her latest immersive multimedia exhibition: “Eulogy for New York City.” Plus a visit to New York City’s first post covid ComicCon to find out how Batman is doing.

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Episodes every other week at neverpo.st and wherever you find pods. This installment is called Below and Beyond. Back in August 2020, a New York hedge funder slash comedy club owner made a bold pronouncement about the future of New York after COVID. Our next guest says the city is, wait for it, dead forever. James Altucher says this. James Altucher's New York is dead forever LinkedIn post went super viral. For a few weeks, he was everywhere.

Dead forever. Dead forever. You got to explain that. So first off, what makes this different now is bandwidth is 10 times faster than it was in 2008. So people really can work remotely now. But what happens to the tax revenues of New York? The New York Post even ran James Altucher's LinkedIn screed as an editorial. Even the suburbs, Nashville, Miami, Austin, Denver. I don't even know what LinkedIn is.

That's who that guy is for the rest of his life. Oh, look who's here. The putz from LinkedIn. That's when Jerry Seinfeld chimed in. But you felt the need to defend your turf? With a rebuttal, which ran in the New York Times. Answer this. I just don't want New Yorkism to die. I don't want it to be replaced by by deep concern and over sentimentality. I was so angry at that ridiculous conversation between those men.

The entire conversation to me seemed utterly banal. Just so insulting on both sides to the actual people that lived here. I mean, what the debate is missing is like good old-fashioned smarts. This is Alex Brooke Lynn, a photographer and journalist and curator of an exhibition called Eulogy for New York. Or a eulogy for New York City. I never really decided on the title one way or the other. Originally it was going to be called New York is Dead. Thanks in part to the Shashama Initiative,

Alex Brooklyn's exhibit filled a small empty storefront on Greenwich Avenue in the West Village. And even though that putz from LinkedIn ruined her original title, her show is better off without it. She's constructed not some grand pronouncement, but rather a cabinet of New York memories. And visitors can access these memories through the photographs, artifacts, and QR codes that line the walls. When you scan one of these codes with your phone,

you get a eulogy for New York. Eulogy for Manhattan. Dear Manhattan, you have been a bane and light of my life. New York is dead like yesterday's headlines, today's fish rap. The eulogies come from journalists, writers, historians, performers, and musicians. Burnt down to the ground, the town of Jamaica. Alex's show most definitely is not lacking in smarts. I could go on and on about how there's 9 million people and everyone has several New Yorks that are dying and being reborn all the time. It's like this concoffiny or this myriad of vibrating strings, millions of vibrating strings

in different dimensions next to each other. Siberia is gone. Gem Spa is gone. Many of the eulogists, like Spencer Ackerman, pay homage to New York mainstays that no longer exist. Mars Bar is gone. Lou Reed is gone. Others, like Annie Nesenti,

reference New York City eras that are no more. These were the days when the derelict spice and coffee factories of old could be rented as is for cheap. You're not the New York I first saw on Halloween 1959. You're not the New York I visited as a child. Writer Lucy Sant eulogizes New York as personal history. 1968 to 1971. Of course, Gary got COVID last year, too.

COVID comes up a lot. 34,000 of us and counting from COVID-19 gone. What happened during the pandemic was that unlike almost any other time I can think of, except 9-11, so many people's New Yorks, that New York that they were living in died at the same time. 9-11 also comes up a lot. But for this group of New Yorkers, the real trauma of 9-11 was not the day itself, but rather the aftermath.

With their fall, fear arrived, along with its toxic buddies, xenophobia, and racism. 15,000 of us who lived in Little Pakistan fled because of the post-9-11 wave of police repression. It once again felt like the impossible demons were... I've often whined about living in New York City's worst era, an era that began with 9-11. But lately, I've been thinking, hoping, perhaps COVID marks this era's death. Perhaps the future is once again up for grabs.

That's certainly the message I took from Stephanie Zetow's eulogy. Rise all ye who give a damn and don't worry about the elusive death of the city. Be alive and uniquely disgraceful in New York City. Be your worst self if you're yearning to be alive and breathe free. Right now, as I speak, writer Lucy Sond also sees a future of possibility. New York seems like a rolling party. It's fantastic.

Speaker 2 Even Spencer Ackerman ends his doleful dirge on an up note. Speaker 4 And at least Rudy Giuliani and Andrew Cuomo are forever disgraced. Speaker 5 That's kind of a cool thing about this New York. A couple of the old caricatures of corrupt in New York that were embodied by actual living, breathing people have been dethroned.

During the pandemic, Alex gave birth to a son. And the walls of the galleries feature photos of herself and her friends, who are also new moms. Another nod to the future. But for Alex, in order to move forward, New York has to take stock of all that's been lost. Yes, I have a lot of hope for this rolling party and this new New York. But there are some things that make me abandon that hope almost too soon. Like when you see the

same old people just excited to go out and have brunch in groups larger than two. But maybe I've just been here too long, maybe too many of my New York's have died. I don't know, maybe I'm too jaded. But I have this beautiful little baby that I get to introduce New York I go to with him to the Downing Street Park and I like breastfeed and I look at these gorgeous backs of these buildings in like the muted tones of you know off-white and brick color and greens and I remember why I thought New York was so beautiful and as a kid the smell of fall. But for me, like all the hope I have, I want to just like give to him and like hopefully he sees a better New York and doesn't have to

remember so much like the one that abandoned so many people. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to say goodbye, for there is much to part with, but also to remember. Despite the survival of our alabaster towers in the face of a myriad threats, the sea has finally taken them, plunged them below the cold Atlantic. There's one eulogy from Alex's show that I couldn't shake. It's from the writer Dan Jenes. He eulogizes a New York City from the future. It was just a matter of time.

How easily did we forget that Staten Island disappeared in the 90s? We just didn't pay enough attention to this great city, and now it is no longer New York, New York, so nice they named it twice. It is New York Atlantis, forever lost to the wine-dark sea. In Dan Jenis' sci-fi eulogy, there's no hand-wringing or over-sentimentality. It's not even a warning about the dangers of climate change. It's pure, jaded, sardonic irony. According to Dan Jenis, New York isn't going to sink into the ocean because of climate change. It's our

refusal to deal with climate change. That's what's going to do the city in. Did we learn anything from the drowning of New York? I don't think so. The signs were all there. The rainfall predictions and sea level rise spelled out for us. We knew it was coming. We knew the end was upon us. But as the deluge took out neighborhood after neighborhood, we just made excuses. Yes, we remember New York, but New York Atlantis is something we may never forget. Goodbye Drowned City. This is a scene from a recent Batman comic. Batman's fighting Bane for like the millionth time. And even though Bane is a super strong dude, he makes a mistake.

He says, This is the end, Batman. Batman gets mad. Do you know how many times I've heard that? Rest in peace, Batman. Time to die, Batman. He gets up off the floor. Every night, over and over, this is the end, Batman.

And yet, I'm still here. And fights back. I'm going to kill you. Every night. It turns out, Batman is also sick and tired of people saying he's dead. But recently, Batman's had to face a new and powerful villain. COVID is still real, guys. Mask on. Mask on. A super villain who's killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Be gracious to get into the show. You're not getting in the show. Mask on. Please don't... The problem with Batman's mask, his cowl, is that it covers everything but his nose and his mouth. So if he does hope to survive COVID restrictions, he's going to have to adapt. But can Batman do that? I went to New York's Comic-Con to find out. Hey, how's it going? Good, how are you?

I've been looking for Batman. I've been looking for you. Really? How you doing? My name's Benjamin. My name's Batman. In 2020, Comic-Con was canceled. So this is the first time Batman has had the opportunity to show his masked face in New York. So to put up my COVID mask under my mask, I put it over my ears and then just held my ears down while I was slipping the mask over my head.

And then I had to hold the nose piece while I was pulling the mask down as well. And that's how I was able to get it in. Right off the bat, I found a few novelty Batmans, like a guy dressed in all white latex. I'm being Jaden Smith's Batman this year. This is actually the very first Batman costume that I made for Comic-Con. An Adam West Batman from the 60s TV show. Right here I had to buy like separately because well the original Batman Adam West costume just wouldn't fit me. These two

Batmans both incorporated COVID masks into their costumes. But for the event, I came up with this. As did the towering, all brass and billowing steampunk Batman. It's beautiful. Does steampunk Batman actually exist in comics or is this from your imagination? This is from my imagination, but I'm hopeful that somebody would like to do it. It would be nice to see myself on the pages of the screen. But good old regular Batman was nowhere to be found. Two years ago was the 80th anniversary of Batman, so there were Batman all over this place. Steampunk Batman didn't think COVID was to blame, though. Because of the mask requirements. I don't think it's that. I think it's about whatever's trending. Nor did Adam West. It could also be that Marvel is just dominating right now. It's true.

I did see tons and tons of Spider-Men and Deadpools. And while they are Marvel characters, they also have masks that cover the entire face. On Saturday morning, there was a group of about 10 guys all in Deadpool costumes in the lobby. I was going to ask them if they were actually wearing the required COVID mask underneath their Deadpool mask. I've been looking for Batmans and all I'm finding are Daredevils today. Daredevils? Hey, we're all Deadpool-y.

I mean, Deadpool, yeah. But I screwed it up. I called them Daredevils today. Daredevils? Hey, we're all Deadpool-y. I mean, Deadpool, yeah. But I screwed it up. I called them Daredevils. Moron, I messed it up. I was so embarrassed, I fled outside. I messed it up. Outside, Comic-Con cosplayers were allowed to range free without having to worry about wearing a COVID mask.

Here, I found an actual COVID maskless Batman. So this is the armored Batman suit from Batman vs. Superman. It's quite uncomfortable to wear, so I'm not sure how he's going to fight in it. But this is all EVA foam. And then painted and all that stuff so you made it yourself i this one i did not armored batman can i ask what do you think batman would think about the mask would he would he wear the covered mask ah i mean it conceals his identity even more so yeah you know it it's actually I actually got a custom Ben Affleck face mask to put under this. So it looks like it's just Batman. But I was like, people might think it's just not me wearing a mask and might get pissed at it.

So I was like, I'll steer clear of it. Almost every single Batman I met said he was fine with the mask mandate. Since he's very against killing, I'd like to say he would be very pro mask and he would probably definitely have a custom bat suit that kind of covers his mouth. His philosophy has always been for the greater good and the never ending struggle. So you know, he'd probably be like, just wear the mask. I understand, you know, how you feel regarding, you know, liberties, my body, my choice, even with the vaccine.

But you know what, if everybody continues, my choice, even with the vaccine. But you know what? If everybody continues to do what they're supposed to do and wear the mask, you know, eventually this will dissipate. Batman says, keep yourself safe at all costs. The vaccine works. Get your shot. And, you know, we had to look out for each other.

That's the most important thing. I even met a Batgirl who incorporated this message into her costume. Yeah, sure, so I made myself a bat cowl, which goes up to my nose, and then I made a mask that says, mask up Gotham! But I did find one Batman who said the Dark Knight would not be so accommodating. I feel like Superman would be all about, yes, wear your mask. Batman, maybe not so much, especially if they're forcing it on people, especially with the mandates and all that.

This guy is wearing a Batman mask that covers his entire face. And he's even sewn a COVID mask on the inside, just in case. They gotta see it, so I just took a regular mask and coated him. This is Batman Beyond, a future Batman I didn't even know about. All right, so Batman Beyond,

it started as a spin-off show from the 90s animated TV series. So the Batman I'm in is named Terry McGinnis. He's a high school student, like old man Bruce Wayne. He recruits him, basically, and says, hey, why don't you work for me? And he kind of trains him, and he's kind of always in his ear. But yeah, it's a good show. I'm going to check it out.

Intrigued, I went home and looked up Batman Beyond on YouTube. I've known Bruce Wayne for over 50 years and I've been keeping an eye on you your whole life. You're not Bruce's clone. You're his son. It's true. Terry wears a Batman mask that covers his entire face. And like the original Batman, he's got what it takes to keep the city safe in the future. And for all that fierce exterior, I've never met anyone who cared as deeply about his fellow man as Bruce Wayne, except maybe you. Actual love for his fellow citizens.

You have been listening to Benjamin Walker's Theory of Everything. This installment is called Below and Beyond. This episode was produced by me, Benjamin Walker, and it featured Alex Brook-Lynn. On the show page, I posted a link to her exhibition site, where you can listen to all of the eulogies she collected for her Eulogies in New York exhibition. Special thanks to Andrew Calloway and to Batman. The Theory of Everything is a proud founding member of Radiotopia,

home to some of the world's best podcasts. Find them all at radiotopia.fm. Radiotopia. From PRX.