Bracelets for Obama

Today I walked down from my university to the by now familiar bike store on 96th Street (on this I don't want to make any further comments). The sun is shining. Ice cream vendors, bookstalls, and tables with chess players and their audiences crowd the Broadway sidewalk.

On the corner of 103rd Street a woman is selling old clothes, shoes, and books on a blanket. A victim of the credit crisis? Not necessarily: in this city it seems to be pretty normal to try and make a profit by selling stuff you don't need anymore on the sidewalk. One block down another woman is screaming into her cell phone. "This has never been a problem before. I can always take out money, I'm also the one who's paying the bills!" Oi, that does sound like an unwilling bank.

The other day a Dutch friend asked me whether New Yorkers were already lining up to take their money out of the bank. The answer is no, but that has probably more to do with the fact that most Americans don't have much savings, but mainly credit card debts instead.

At 100th Street four girls of about ten years old are sitting at a table, making and selling bracelets and necklaces. Child labor, after their parents lost their jobs managing funds on Wall Street? Then I see a handwritten sign: "Jewelry for Obama", it says. Another sign explains that all the proceeds from the sales will be donated to Barack Obama's campaign.

Making bracelets for Obama. Wow. Suddenly I feel so inadequate. I can't vote, but I haven't donated a single dollar to the campaign yet either. Maybe I should go busking with my cello for Obama, or sell cupcakes, or old-fashioned Dutch pancakes maybe?