2025 End of Year Letter

Happy Holidays! 

 

Another year flew by, but the good thing about being guided by mantras like “live every day to the fullest” and “you only live once,” combined with my “fear of missing out,” is they drive me to action. 

 

I'm still working at the NoHo Business Improvement District and enjoying the daily surprises I encounter on the streets there (pop ups, experiential retail experiences, fashion, and many forms of artistic expression), as well as, the satisfied feeling of daily civic action that helps NYC flourish. I'm the Secretary of the NYC BID Association and helm the Mentoring Committee, so I get to help others connect so we all can all do even better to serve our neighborhoods. 

I also am still living in Jackson Heights, Queens, possibly the most diverse area in the world. The cultural vibrance there is perfect for a world traveler like me. I don’t need a plane ride. Instead, I can just walk a block or two to see whichever religious or cultural festival is happening. There are always new foods to try, traditional dress to appreciate, holidays to celebrate, parades to cheer on different ethnic groups, and over 165 languages to overhear in my zip code alone!  

 

As for travel, I rang in the New Year in Biggar, Scotland with the sound of bagpipes, a GIANT bonfire and the tastes of fresh haggis from the local butcher shop.  In March, I headed off to explore the Silk Road with a stop in Istanbul along the way. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were beautiful and so different. I enjoyed thinking about the vast amount of history and cultural transfer that has happened there. I came back just in time to fly to Las Vegas for a family reunion of my stepfather’s family, which was a chance to learn much more about the many legs of their Jewish diaspora around the world. I spent another summer week in Cape May with my sister’s family.  And went to the International Downtown Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC. Not a new place for me, but it was fun to look at things through a new urban planning lens and reminisce about my years of living down there.

Another highlight was my second year as a balloon handler in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. This year I was with Gabby’s Dollhouse, which I hadn’t heard of, but little kids on the route certainly had and lit up as we passed on the clear, beautiful fall day.

 

As a political person, this year has been very hard to watch. I have tried to protest what I can and have doubled down on local New York civic engagement where I can. I’m hoping our new NY Mayor can get things done and provide a different example for the way things can be done.

 

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a new year filled with bright new opportunities!

Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

Year two of balloon handling for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was a great success. This year my balloon was Gabby and Pandy Paws from Gabby’s Dollhouse. She brought great joy to little kids as we passed. There was perfect weather, huge crowds on the sidelines and lots of great energy!

IDA in Washington, DC

I really tried to limit my pictures this trip, but I always do so many things and I want to preserve the memories. So here goes… A trip to an International Downtown Association conference in DC, turned into 9 wonderful days hanging with work friends, and old DC friends and family, checking out new to me neighborhoods and the way old to me areas have changed.

I felt really blue and wary arriving in DC. It felt dystopian but I was warmed by little signs of resistance all over and the work me and my conference mates do focuses locally in a productive healing way so hearifn about their work seems like the ultimate antidote to these glum times. I did see my first group of ICE/Police/HSI, but thankfully didn’t have to watch them detain anyone.

I leave with renewed love for DC even if I feel a little down on our Democracy.

Visiting Lucy the Elephant

This year on my way to Cape May, NJ for the week, I stopped by to finally see Lucy the Elephant, located in Margate, also along the Jersey Shore, and she was even better than I expected!

Built in 1882, Lucy was created with the purpose of promoting real estate sales and attracting tourists to the area. (Clearly that is still happening.) Lucy is the oldest surviving roadside tourist attraction in America.

Photos from Turkmenistan

I’m still not sure what made this trip so impactful. It felt far far away and very different. I had lots of time to travel alone on either end of my tour, walking 30k steps a day trying to figure out how life ticked. Even after lots of processing and reflection I’m not sure my words or photos will be able to fully explain it what I saw and learned.

Turkmenistan is a land locked Central Asian country of 7 million, 80% of which is desert. It’s situated on the Silk Road and thus for thousands of years it has been traversed and influenced by traders and the world’s great conquerers, including Alexander the Great and Ghengis Kahn, then controlled by Russia and later the Soviet Union. It’s been tightly ruled since its independence from the USSR by three extremely authoritarian leaders.

Today it’s one of the least visited countries in the world. The country has ample wealth because it sits on the fourth largest reserves of natural gas and the wealth has been used to build one of the most unusual places I’ve ever been, often using white Italian marble to clearly project grandeur. My 8 day visit to this largely unknown place was fascinating and full of surprises.

Click HERE to see my full set of pictures from Turkmenistan

Visiting Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

This trip really touched me. Perhaps it was the fascinating totally differentness of the place. I also think it was having so many days to wander off the grid, lost in my thoughts, focusing on discovery and nurturing my curiosity. Whatever it was it definitely reignited my love of travel again. Posting this final batch of pictures, closes the trip. That makes me a little sad. I’ve been enjoying looking at the pictures, processing, researching and reading more and just wallowing in travel zen, but onward, so here you go!

More NYC Public Realm Improvements

ust in time for summer, NYC opened a new section of the new East River Park on the Lower East Side. New green space, picnic and BBQ areas, and basketball and tennis courts are part of the $1.45 Billion East Side Coastal Resiliency Project that raised the land by 8-10 feet to protect New Yorkers from future coastal storms and tidal flooding. It’s really beautiful.

Exploring NYC's Public Realm Improvements

I’ve been trying to catch up on New York City’s new public realm improvements. Yesterday that meant walking the north end of Hudson River Park where last fall they opened Pier 97 at 57th Street. The project turned a former docking pier and parking lot into 2.5 acres of public open space, complete with a playground, athletic field, and sloping sun lawn. They even have a granite slide at the end that I whizzed down. Well done Hudson River Park Trust!

Daily life in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan

 

The irony of Defying Gravity coming up on my phone as I look at a group young Turkmen college aged women and ponder their totally controlled unfree lives.

Giggling about the possibility of getting Tik Tok famous

 

That time when the ladies at the restaurant were looking over my shoulder checking out the pictures on my phone and giggling, then asked me to take a picture of them and when I did they giggled more I heard Tik Tok amidst their Turkmen words. If only I could make them Tik Tok famous.

A NYC moment in Ashgabat

When I travel I definitely like being from New York City! I love when people ask where I’m from I can just say that and don’t even need to say America/United States, especially when saying my country’s name is almost an ugly word these days. Then one night in Ashgabat when I said New York the waiter’s face lit up and he mumbled something that made me think that maybe bar had some NYC connection. Later I noticed Broadway musical wall paper and other little details like this mural. Yes, the greatest city in the world…

Islam in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan is 95% Muslim, but it is a secular country. During the Soviet times religion was repressed and many of the mosques were closed and people were forced to practice in private at home. After independence practicing Islam was encouraged again, but it was stressed to us that the government is very wary of religious fundamentalism and keeps a close eye on religious activity. I saw very few obvious mosques and almost no active call to prayer, which feels very different than other Islamic countries I have been to. The Turmenbashi Ruhy Mosque is big and sparkly mosques, but it seemed more for show than for daily religious practice. 

These days there are no madrassas (religious schools) in Turkmenistan. Anyone wanting to study to be an imam has to go to Turkey to train. This is part of the effort to keep Turkmenistan secular. In Uzbekistan there is a bit more, but still there is only one madrassa allowed in each of the 12 territories  of the country. 

The biggest evidence of how little the presence of Islam was is that I don't have any picture to show Islam in practice there.

NYC fans in Turkmenistan

Spotted this t-shirt on a woman waiting for the bus in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, asked to take a picture, which led to a lovely conversation. She had just gotten back from 6 months visiting her daughter in NYC. Her daughter left Turkmenistan after college to teach in China. Next stop she headed to the States and now is a NYC public school principal in a primarily Chinese district and loves it there. Also the two pictures she showed me from her trip to NY were of her trip to the Statue of Liberty and when she went skydiving! Yay America! Yay immigrants!

Visiting Turkmenistan Ruhy Mosque

Built in 2004 by Turkmenistan’s first post Soviet leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, or later self named Türkmenbaşy, Türkmenbaşy Ruhy Mosque in Ashgabat is the largest mosque in Central Asia. The vast prayer room can hold 10,000 pilgrims, with 7,000 men on the main floor and 3,000 women on the second level.

Beside the mosque there is a smaller version that is Türkmenbaşy’s family mausoleum. Unfortunately no photos were allowed there because it had some kookie things I wish I could look back more closely at.

During his time of leadership, Türkmenbaşy wrote a new spiritual guide and a kind of origin story for Turkmenistan. One guide told me that after 100 years under Russian control Turkmen people had to be reminded of their culture, values and history, so he created this book for them. The book was called the Ruhnama (The Book of the Soul,) and it was taught in schools and read in homes.

So… when he built this mosque he inscribed the walls of the mosque with verses from both the Quran and the Ruhnama. This, unsurprisingly, outraged many Muslims, who believed that passages from the Quran should be given far more reverence than Niyazov’s modern book of rambling moral guidance, and should not appear alongside each other. Even more incendiary was one particular quotation inscribed prominently on the entry arch to the mosque, which reads "The Ruhnama is the holiest book and the Quran is the book of Allah."

I heard that because of the Ruhnama quotes almost no one attends this mosque for religious services. It exists for tourists like me and use during special events meant to promote Türkmenbaşy’s memory or the current leader’s authority.

Like many things in Turkmenistan it’s for show. Really all I can say is it was very impressive and quite lovely to be almost alone in.

Learning about Women in Ashgabat

 

I spent one day in Ashgabat with a female guide and she and I had fun chatting about what life is like for women in Turkmenistan and NYC. I learned more about how arranged marriages work and heard that changes have been happening to help women gain success and respect in the workplace. And she was in awe of my bravery for traveling alone and being able to live as a single woman. There is definitely a pull toward old societal ways with things like strict conservative traditional dress and rules that girls and women should spend all their time with their families. but it felt nice to see her ambition in guiding and translating and hear about her life dreams.

Some of the highlights of our day were visiting a hidden wedding dress shop, where they dressed me up in the outfit that a bride wears for 40 days before her wedding. And yes, it’s heavy!!

Reflecting on being a girl in Turkmenistan

The irony of Defying Gravity coming up on my phone as I look at a group young Turkmen college aged women and ponder their totally controlled unfree lives.

Visiting the American Center in Ashgabat

 

I went to this American Center in Ashgabat, that the Embassy must run. It’s a library and a place with full internet. I guess it builds good American feelings. Anyhow when I walked in they were doing a program for a room of mostly high school kids with the finance guy from the US Embassy. They invited me to join and sitting their listing to America the Beautiful and reading the inspiring words on the walls made me suddenly burst into tears. The Turkmen people there look to America as an alternative to their authoritarian country, and I just felt so sad that I’m not sure we really stand for that stuff right now.

A guy closer to my age wanted to talk with me after. He was so down on his fellow countryman for not caring and just wanted to talk news with people. It was pretty interesting and moving. I felt bad having nothing good to say about the US these days.

Visiting Nisa

 

The UNESCO World Heritage site, the Fortresses of Nisa, are one of the earliest and most important cities of the Parthian Empire, a major power from the mid 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The site is mostly unexcavated with enough excavated to start to imagine what had been there as our guide told us history and showed us pictures of what archeologists think it looked like. Situated at the crossroads of important commercial and strategic axes, this powerful empire formed a barrier to Roman expansion while serving as an important communication and trading centre between east and west, north and south.

Nisa is not just an archaeological site but a symbol of Turkmenistan's rich historical heritage, with connections to ancient trade routes and empires. It’s located just a few kilometers from Ashgabat.

I often am not that into antiquities, but this one wowed me. I think it was the way they had little pieces of historic details in the ruins for a chance to see today and yesteryear and be transported The guide also had a notebook of renderings of the site at what is imagined as its original ornate look, which was so interesting to compare to the pile of bricks and mud before my eyes. Mostly seeing Nisa was another reminder of all the great empires who crossed Turkmenistan.

Next stop: Gates of Hell in Darvasa

 

Located In the Karakum Desert in the center of Turkmenistan, the Gates of Hell crater was created in 1971 when a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Having punctured a pocket of gas, poisonous fumes began leaking at an alarming rate.

To head off a potential environmental catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole alight, figuring it would stop burning within a few weeks. Decades later, and the fiery pit is still going strong.

The fate of the burning crater may be in limbo. In January 2022, the President ordered the government of Turkmenistan to begin researching how to put the fire out. So far it’s still burning, so I got there in time and was able to enjoy the best bonfire I’ve even seen that radiated wonderful cozy warmth on the cold desert night. Too bad I forgot marshmallows and an incredible long roasting stick!

Visiting a grocery store in Dasoguz

Our first stop in Turkmenistan was Kunya-Urgench a historical area that is now a religious pilgrimage site The area attracted many locals who found us Western travelers to be quite a fascination. Everyone seemed to want pictures with us, but many were afraid to ask so they would just stand nearby and look curious until I asked for pictures and they eagerly agreed and took their own too.

In the end of the 10th century this area was the capital of the huge and prospering Khorezm state which occupied the entire area of the Amu Darya river delta in northern Turkmenistan and western Uzbekistan, including Khiva where I had just come from.

It stood at a good geographical location - the crossing of two major caravan routes: to the east, to China, and from the south - to the northwest, to the Volga. It quickly expanded, turning in to a true center of civilization. In the beginning of the 11th century Kunya - Urgench became so well-known that eclipsed the glory of Bukhara. Scientists and poets, who glorified the city as "the capital of thousand wise men", flocked there.

During entire 13th century Kunya - Urgench had been a heart of "the Islamic World" until its governor rebelled against Genghis Khan. Mongols completely destroyed the famous city, razed it to the ground. That is why contemporary Kunya - Urgench is considerably wrecked. Many historical buildings of Kunya-Urgench have remained from the times of Khoresm dynasty. They can serve as examples of the variety of Islamic architecture of Central Asia since the ruins represent types of construction designs and rare dome shapes.

It was interesting to visit this area in contrast to the Uzbekistan sites we went to, because Turkmenistan believes in leaving these historic buildings in as they found them vs renovating them back to their original grandeur. Somehow that stirred me and made me think more broadly about preservation.