a Croatian in New York

“We don’t have a king in this country”, poručio je 45. američkom predsjedniku guverner države New York Andrew Cuomo na današnjoj konferenciji za javnost. Jučer je, vjerojatno znate, Trump izjavio da je on totalni autoritet u zemlji. Nije mogao ne reagirati guverner Cuomo, naglasivši da ovakva konstatacija ne može proći bez ispravljanja. Dok je u pozadini stajala izjava jednog od osnivača Sjedinjenih Američkih Država, Alexandra Hamiltona, Cuomo je poučavao Trumpa zakonu i ustavu zemlje. “Davno smo ovdje odlučili hoćemo li imati kralja ili predsednika, rekao je Cuomo u čvrstom i ujedno vrlo smirenom odgovoru na Trumpove izjave.

Potrošio je Cuomo dosta vremena na Trumpa, istaknuvši da je potpuno očito da je Trump raspoložen za obračun. “Njegovi twitovi podsjećaju me na školsko doba”, rekao je Cuomo dodavši da bi bilo korisnije da predsjednik prestane misliti samo na sebe i da se posveti malo više drugima. Guverner je nadalje istaknuo da uopće ne pomišlja da se upusti u obračun s Trumpom. “Ovo nije vrijeme za fight. Imamo puno ozbiljnijih problema”, poručio je Cuomo i potom izredao pitanja koja su životno važna, poput kako obaviti testiranje na koronavirus kada nemamo kapaciteta za tako nešto! “Ako smo uspjeli popraviti Apollo 13 udaljenim 220 tisuća milja, onda valjda možemo i naći način kako obaviti masovna testiranja!”, zavapio je guverner u svom obraćanju javnosti u kojem je potpuno otvoreno prokazao svu jad trenutnog stanja u zemlji što se tiče borbe protiv smrtonosnog virusa.

“Kako dezinficirati javni transportni sistem? Kako nabaviti zaštitne rukavice i maske? Gdje su novci? Treba nam pomoć federalne vlade. Ljudi moji mi nemamo više ni centa!” Sve je to, medju ostalim, izjavio Cuomo, opisavši bez kolebanja kakva je situacija u državi New York.

Odgovor na Trumpove tantrume uzeo je dosta prostora na konferenciji za novinare. Naravno, odvojio je Cuomo vremena i za podatke koji su i dalje vrlo crni. Broj umrlih u državi New York popeo se do 10,834, samo jučer bilo je 778 mrtvih. Posebna se pažnja posvećuje situaciji u staračkim domovima gdje je sve više umrlih. “Vijesti su nažalost i dalje užasne. Ovo je vrlo bolno”, rekao je Cuomo zaključivši da borba ne prestaje te da i dalje moramo biti svjesni da ne smijemo prestati s preventivnim mjerama.

Now, an alternate and refreshing story in the middle of lockdown. Kruno Bošnjaković has created something really cool, and I’m happy to share it with you! A musical site for music lovers that summarizes and finds the most interesting music from around the world. Falseto.com Have a song to share? Send it to Info@Falseto.com

I’ve watched the Cuomo brothers video — the NY Governor and his CNN journalist brother Chris, chatting with each other. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the link: https://youtu.be/vHGhAIEqJcg

I also have a brother, living just 10 minutes away by car, that I haven’t seen for almost a month. Today is National Sibling Day! (Want to find out how the second favorite son is doing?)

He too is hit hard by this silent predator. This is his story.

Introduce yourself brother.

My name is Velibor Bulajic. Here, everyone knows me as Vincenzo. Or just V. I’m from Pula, Croatia. In live in Queens, Woodside, with my son Aleksandar who six years ago came to live with me. That was the happiest day of my life, after the day he was born. My pride and joy. He’s studying Theatre at the Borough Manhattan Community College, and working, though now without job, as a bartender at a great Italian restaurant Felice 64. I own Shade, a cozy bar in Greenwich Village, corner of West 3 and Sullivan Street. Please join us as soon as this madness ends. (Drink on me if you mention this site.)

How are you spending your day during this pandemic?

We are being careful as much as we can. My son is home, occasionally goes for a run around the neighborhood. I have to go to my bar every day, from 12pm until 6pm, because our take-out window is still open. We sell crepes, sandwiches and salads. The streets are empty and practically no one is buying. At home, I do lots of cooking, reading and watching TV.

When did you first start to worry?

At the end February I was flying back to New York from Trieste, Italy. They already started a quarantine of Lombardy. Trieste airport was still operating — it was just matter of days before it will happen here in the US.

When did things start to worsen for you?

For me, everything changed once we had to close our business. On Monday, March 16th, we closed Shade after 22 years. We are typically open every day and had never closed except for five days after September 11 2001, and for four days during Hurricane Sandy in August of 2011. Now the bar has been out of business almost a full month. It’s hard to cope with this both emotionally and economically. I’m desperately trying to get any help from the government. The impact of Covid-19 has been devastating to the hospitality sector that employ thousands of bartenders, waitstaff and kitchens workers in NYC and beyond.

What is your take on how both local and federal officials are handling this pandemic?

They’re doing okay, I guess, in slowing down the pandemic. The problem is there’s no help for small businesses. We still have to pay the rent. As this is a national emergency, and businesses have had to cease operations, everything should also be paused — including paying rent. I’m already behind in paying rent for the month of April. Once we open, we will owe tens of thousands of dollars in back rent. It seems politicians are overly concerned about upsetting landlords, or perhaps they’re scared of landlords.

What’s your opinion on how our homeland is handling the coronavirus?

I hear that they’re enforcing the Stay-at-Home order, and allowing only people with a official pass to move about freely. I’m not sure if they’re planning to implement any financial assistance to citizens.

Is there anything you wish you took with you into isolation?

Trump. Enough said.

Anything else you’d like to add?

One thing I’ve learnt is that it’s so easy to lose many aspects of life that we take for granted.

Thank you brother.

And thank you to Total Croatia News, for inspiring me to do this story.

Stay safe everyone.

Total Croatia News, the daily news portal in English covering Croatia and Croatian communities abroad, has started the series Corona Voices in the Croatian Diaspora, to bring to life how Croatians abroad are coping with the corona virus.

What Paul Bradbury has created — in bringing us expats together during this extraordinary and difficult time — is tremendously meaningful. I am honored that Paul has asked me to be a part of this project.

Thank you for reading this and other introspective stories from Croatians around the world.

https://www.total-croatia-news.com/lifestyle/42678-aleksandar-bulajic

Brojke ćemo pustiti po strani u ovom javljanju, ionako ih ima previše sa svih strana, i oboljelih, i mrtvih, a bogami i neodgovornih. Zato je na današnjoj konferenciji za javnost guverner države New York Andrew Cuomo, u jednom od najozbiljnijih izdanja dosad, čak pomalo ljutit, obznanio da se kazna za nepoštivanje fizičkog distanciranja penje s 500 na tisuću dolara. Na pitanje novinara kako misli to provesti u djelo, odgovorio je “moje je da donesem odluku, a na lokalnim je vlastima da je sprovedu u djelo”. Škole će se nadalje, i svi poslovi koji ne pripadaju u grupu esencijalnih, držati zatvorenima do 29. travnja. Bilo je očito da su mu do ruba živaca došli svi oni koji se ne pridržavaju distanciranja. “Ne, sad nije trenutak da se igrate frizbijem u parku”, upozorio je Cuomo dodavši da mu je jasno da je lijepo vrijeme izvuklo iz stanova gradjane željne sunca i friškog zraka. Usprkos svemu tome, “nemate pravo riskirati tudje živote”, naglasio je. Dodao je, dok su u pozadini na monitoru bile predočene fotografije većeg broja ljudi u šetnji, da je ovo preozbiljna situacija da bi se ljudi ponašali tako neodgovorno. “Zato sam, rekao je “i duplirao kaznu, da pokažem koliko je ovo ozbiljno!”

Davno sam ovdje naučio da kada te vlast hoće naučiti pameti, recimo da ne parkiraš auto ispred hidranta – u ovih 20 godina koliko sam na ovoj strani Bare, nisam vidio niti jedan jedini automobil parkiran pored hidranta – onda te lupe po džepu. Recimo ako parkiraš tamo gdje je zabranjeno. Ili da motociklom voziš slalom izmedju automobila. Kazne pršte a njihova efikasnost, njihova brzina da ti zakače kaznu je legendarna. Kao Lucky Luke, brži od svoje sjenke. Zato je Cuomo i povisio kaznu za prekobrojno druženje. U biti, ovime se samo još žešče želi, što je maksimalnije moguće, natjerati ljude da poslušaju ono što se preporuča od prvog dana, a to je “Stay Home!”. “Ostani Doma vrag te odnija”. Nažalost i dalje prevelik broj ljudi ne poštuje preporuke zdravstvenih radnika iz čitavog svijeta.

Sva sreća u ovoj nesreći jest da bolnice nisu pretrpane onima koje nije pokosio koronavirus a trebaju liječničku pomoc. Manje je prometnih nesreća, manje je kriminala općenito. Tome je razlog što Javits Centar, u kojem je smješena improvizirana bolnica s 2500 kreveta, i vojni brod USNS Comfort s tisuću kreveta bukvalno zjape prazni. Njihova je prvenstvena namjena bila da oslobode pritisak na bolnice i prime ostale bolesnike. Sada će i Javits Centar i bolnički brod mornarice početi primati Covid-19 pacijente. Za potonjeg se čeka samo dozvola glavnog komandanta Američke vojske, predsjednika SAD-a i čovjeka koji se diči najvećim brojem lajkova na Facebooku, Donalda Trumpa.