So Wednesday afternoon, I'm sitting on the 2/3 express subway line, headphones blasting some good '80s' tunes, reading a newspaper... The car packs with folks as we stop at 14th Street. I'm suddenly aware that someone is yelling at me. I look up and see a woman in her early 50s. I move one headphone pad from my ear.
"Are you disabled? Are you a disabled person?" she screeches, staring me down like a jacked-up hawk and obviously "suggesting" that I give up my seat to her.
Perhaps I could have been a little more gentile, but because of her aggression, I simply said, "Nope," and tried to stand up to make a place for this gracious woman to have her seat. But because the car is packed,
this takes me a good 3 to 4 seconds—giving her time to shriek, "Hurry up. My leg is killing me."
At this point, her entitled attitude and overall rudeness was just too much. As she plopped down onto the seat, I looked her in the eye and laughed out loud, saying, "You might have been a little more polite." She, of course, ignored me.
But the half-dozen or so passengers standing in my midst offered empathy. A couple smiled, one nodded, another shook her head in disdain at this bitch.
When we reached 72nd Street, where I was getting off the train—as was she—I made sure to say to her, "You have a real nice evening. Hope it's better than your day," with a sarcastic New York-size scowl on my face.
Carolyn Shield and I had a tough-love relationship, that's for sure. We were friends from about first grade on, but it wasn't until third grade that we knew we were meant to be together, as proper girlfriend and boyfriend. We were on and off for the next year or two, but alas, by junior high, had both transitioned to different friend sets. Young love is a bitch, ain't it?
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With "Ugly Betty's" Eric Mabius.
With John Sykes, Chris Munger and Liz D.
With Charlie Walk on left.
Just plain beautiful people.
Liz D., meese and friend.
1990s' Aussie boy band Human Nature—who I randomly discovered in 2000 at a used CD store in Montreal and fell in love with ("He Don't Love You," "If I Only Had the Heart" and "When We Were Young"... ahhhh)—never got their due from Sony Records in the States... truly a shame, but now the boys are doing it for themselves, headlining Las Vegas' Imperial Palace with their Motown show, presented by Smokey Robinson (with whom they 
duet on the classic "Get Ready" on current album "Reach Out"). Hey, even Celine Dion called them "wonderful vocalists who really know how to entertain a crowd." Who would know better? She toured with them as her warm-up in Oz, as did some guy named Michael Jackson, in the late 1990s.
Liz D. and meese, with Human Nature member Toby Allen.
Aussies in America, enjoying the festivities.
"Are you disabled? Are you a disabled person?" she screeches, staring me down like a jacked-up hawk and obviously "suggesting" that I give up my seat to her.
this takes me a good 3 to 4 seconds—giving her time to shriek, "Hurry up. My leg is killing me."
