Robber & Murderer Finally Caught! Since March, a string of robberies and murders perplexed the LGBTQ+ community in Manhattan. Over 26 victims were robbed and drugged as they were leaving bars and nightclubs around Manhattan. 6 of them overdosed. Detectives charged the murderer in court on Thursday. Stay safe!
I’m Walkin Here!!!!! A new bill is calling for new drivers to learn pedestrian and bicyclist safety as part of the drivers pre-licensing course. Now, how do we get this for existing drivers too?
BAD NEWS
The Nurses are going on Strike… As we hit Covid, RSV and Flu season, thousands of nurses could be going on strike as soon as their contracts expire on December 31st. The nurses are in demand of safer staffing levels, better pay and health benefits. I’d say that sounds more fair than a nightly 7pm applause.
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2. A STORY ON WHY YOU SHOULDN’T LIE (THAT MUCH) ON YOUR RESUME
WHAT’S GOING ON?! If you haven’t heard of the name “George Santos”, it’s about to get super familiar now. The Republican congressman was elected just last month to represent parts of Long Island and Queens. He first made headlines a first-generation, openly gay congressman whose grandparents had escaped the Holocaust. All in all, it was a divine story for a young congressman to make his mark, but turns out it was all a lie…
HERE’S WHAT GEORGE WAS CAUGHT SAYING He claimed to have graduated from Baruch College and studied in NYU. He never graduated from any school. Which, ok school’s not THAT important but own up to it.
He claimed to have graduated from Baruch College and studied in NYU. He never graduated from any school. Which, ok school’s not THAT important but own up to it.
He claimed to have worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs but never did.
He said his grandparents fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine and moved to Brazil but researchers found that they were actually born in Brazil.
Said 4 of his employees were murdered in the Pulse Nightclub shootings, he later claimed they were “about to be hired”.
SO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? While many people “fib” on their resume, it is especially wrong to mislead constituents into voting for you under false pretenses. Imagine going to a surgeon who never studied and only watched Grey’s Anatomy episodes? Yea..let’s just say that wouldn’t be a very comfortable session.
Democrats are calling for Santos to step down from the role, saying it would set a dangerous precedent for other politicians to lie. Critics are now wondering how he was able to get so far with his lies. If the government is supposed to have its own checks and balances, how does one govern the very people who are running for candidacy?
This seems to be the failure of many parts. Congress, for the failure of doing background checks on its new congresspeople. The media for the failure of fact checking (though to be fair, it was a NYT report that broke the news, perhaps too late). Overall, this is a lesson learned. While you may fib a bit on your resume, try not to go so hard as this guy, alright?
What do you think? Write back to this email – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
3. HOW TO SET YOUR NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS FOR 2023 AND STICK WITH THEM
Here’s a little secret about goals. There’s no secret. You just have to stop making excuses and do it. No one wants to listen to you tell us about your idea for a Yacht Rock Cover Band. Let me rephrase that. No one wants to listen to you tell us about your idea for a Yacht Rock Cover Band and never do it. Even 1 % of progress is progress!
As we enter 2023, take some time to figure out your goals for the new year. Read our trusty guide on how to set your goals and how you can stick with them!
Community-first. Women-led. ciaooo! is on a mission to empower brands and organizations that make NYC a better place. Learn more!
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Hellooo! It’s Chau and Paola and we wanted to use this newsletter to say THANK YOU!
We started this newsletter during the height of the pandemic as a way of helping our friends know what was happening in NYC. We never would have imagined how doing something so seemingly simple could change our lives so much. We moved from just writing about the community, to diving in firsthand.
Over the years, you’ve inspired us. You told us about community needs and friends starting new businesses. You told us about issues you were concerned with…from complaints about Eric Adams to your dating lives. Our inboxes and DMs are wild, ha!
Because of you, we’ve partnered with countless small businesses, schools, non profit organizations and community leaders. We even launched a social impact media agencyso that we can help more companies do the same thing!
Our hope is that with each newsletter, you are inspired to take a little action in your community. We may not be able to change the world, but we can make the world around us a little better.
Wishing you and your families a wonderful holiday season and new year! We’d love to hear if you enjoyed our newsletter and how we can improve for 2023!
PS. Did you look closely at the picture above? Be the first to spot the 5 differences between the original poster and the above and you could win a special holiday surprise! Reply back to this email!
Dumpster Diving is Gonezo – Last week, we wrote about the race to get rid of the rats with centralized trash cans. Today, the Dept of Sanitation started their first retrieval! Let’s see how this plays out.
Can you smellllll what the MTA is cooking? – A scent detector is coming to a subway near you, and it’ll be the first to alert MTA attendants that its clean up time. Official name: Pee Pee Poo Poo Tracker
BAD NEWS
Masks On…Again? Is it just us, or is everyone sick? Covid cases are being resurrected, like John Travolta’s acting career after Pulp Fiction (Royale with cheese, anyone). Anyhoo, Get your masks on, cases have risen 55 percent over the past two weeks.
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2. APPARENTLY, NEW YORK CITY INVENTED THE CHRISTMAS WE KNOW TODAY
WAIT, WHAT?! Not only did NYC popularize the bacon egg n’ cheese, it also popularized Christmas as we know it today. Prior to the 1800s, Christmas wasn’t even recognized as a holy day and Santa Claus wasn’t the jolly, rotund man we see in the media today, but described as a “jolly, old elf”.
So how did Christmas turn into the global holiday we know today, and what role did NYC play in this?
A HOLIDAY TO UNITE THE COUNTRY After the Revolutionary War, America was still a relatively young country, and there were no shared cultures, traditions, let alone, language. Washington Irving, yes, the author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow first saw the power of using the holiday to unite everyone.
“Irving, a founder of the New-York Historical Society, author, essayist, biographer, historian and diplomat, recognized the potential of the holiday as a force capable of uniting the northern and southern colonies, old family Knickerbockers and new Irish and German immigrants, upper and lower social classes, and rich and poor.”
He wrote books that stressed the holiday as one that everyone celebrated and popularized Santa Claus as we know today. He also falsified some history…but hey, its Christmas right?
THE POWER OF CHRISTMAS Who better to unite Americans than good ol’ jolly St Nick?
During the Civil War, another New Yorker, Thomas Nast, began to use Santa Claus as a symbol of national patriotism in propaganda. He was often painted handing presents out to soldiers. Soon after, Christmas became a national holiday that became more “American” than it was religious. Public schools began to celebrate Christmas and kids began to clamor for gifts and Santa.
In 1896, Adolph Simon Ochs bought the New York Times building and began to host outdoor displays for the New Year(which turned into the ball drop). Macy’s followed with a Macy’s Day Parade to celebrate Thanksgiving in 1924, and ended the parade with Santa Claus pulling the slayyyyyy…I mean…sleigh.
The period from Thanksgiving to New Year’s officially became the holiday season and Santa, Christmas lights and music all became an American tradition. Shortly after Macy’s first parade, workers at the Rockefeller Center put up the first Christmas Tree, starting the tradition of the Rockefeller Tree we see today!
Did you know that about Christmas? Let us know your thoughts!
3. LOOKING TO SPREAD SOME HOLIDAY CHEER THIS YEAR?
Take this holiday season to give back to NYC by volunteering with NYC Cares. It’ll make you feel good, help someone else out and give you something to hold over cousin Shelly’s head the next time she asks you what you, “actually do at your job”.
You can easily search through the filters to find an organization to volunteer with by putting in your avails, and issues you’re passionate about. Check it out!
Rat Race is Getting Shorter– A new garbage pilot program is launching this month. New rat-proof bins will line West 45th Street and sit along the curb, collecting trash for the buildings on the block. Will the Rat Czar love or hate this?
Nets Owners Funding the Next Great Tech Founder– Founded by the owners of the Barclays Center and the Nets, Clara Wu and Joseph Tsai are launching BK-XL this week. The Brooklyn-based accelerator will select 12 BIPOC founded startups to receive up to $500,000 in funding! They shoot, they score!
BAD NEWS
That’s Not Kosher… According to the NYPD, there were over 45 anti-Jewish hate crimes last month, a 125% increase in antisemitism compared to Nov 2021. Overall, 662 incidents have been reported through the whole year. Can we all collectively stop giving Kanye a mic?
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2. IN DEFENSE OF & A DEBATE ABOUT MAYOR ADAMS’ MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE
WHAT’S GOING ON?! Mayor Adams released a new plan last week where, “outreach workers, city-operated hospitals, and first respondershave the legal authority to provide care to New Yorkers when severe mental illness prevents them from meeting their own basic human needs to the extent that they are a danger to themselves”.
HERE’S WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING People are in two boats regarding this. Those who are for the involuntary shuffling of the mentally ill are excited with the prospect of the subways and streets being safe. Those who are against claim this is an act of attrition on human rights.
Retired police officer, Keith Ross asks, “What’s the criteria to determine whether someone else needs help? If they don’t have a coat on in the winter? There’s a hundred different permutations to the question”.
“It makes no sense. As a paramedic, we’re already doing this. It’s not necessarily about bringing the mentally unwell to the hospital, it’s the aftermath. What does long-term care look like? Will we just see them back on the streets? The NYPD is simply not trained for this.”
MEANWHILE, IN NEW YORK CITY
The # of “emotionally disturbed person” calls responded to by the NYPD has risen every year since 2014. The number of seriously mentally ill inmates in New York City jails is now higher than in2014.
Both state- and citywide, more psychiatric-care beds are located in general hospitals than in the traditional network ofstate psychiatric centers.
SO, WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT THE MENTALLY UNWELL?SO, WHAT ABOUT SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT THE MENTALLY UNWELL?
The Dept of Mental Health is expanding the usage of “Clubhouses”, A one-stop treatment facility that helps people with severe mental illnesses.
What do you think? We think it’s a bandaid solution, but there may be more good than bad to come of this. The biggest challenge of course is having enough beds and support, but that’s a problem for another day.
Join Allyship and Action for a one-day virtual summit this Thursday, December 8th from 12:50 – 5:05 PM.
While some companies have taken measures to incorporate socially conscious practices and diverse hiring (looking at you Ben & Jerry’s), some are taking the initiative to create change into their own hands. Nate Nichols, founder of Palette Group – a Brooklyn-based creative and production house – recently launched the Allyship and Action Summit and Initiative.
Join for keynotes like, “F*ck Your Charity: Stop trying to pay with change to make change. We need to move beyond donating and come up with real solutions. Together.” It’ll be a good one, we promise!
Community-first. Women-led. ciaooo! is on a mission to empower brands and organizations that make NYC a better place. Learn more!
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The first thing you are going to do is make a list of all of the things that made you happy this past year. These are your accomplishments.
While your accomplishments don’t have to be grandiose things like curing COVID-19 (thank you frontline workers and scientists), they could be as simple as giving a successful presentation at work via Zoom, applying for that higher up job even if you didn’t get it, donating to your favorite restaurant, getting on that trip with friends or family, working out consecutively for 4 days, hitting ten pull-ups or even, just making it to today, because hell, this has been a wild year. No matter how small it may seem, just list it.
I bet if you take more than five minutes to sit down with it, you’ll be surprised with what you came up with. Now, take a look at that list and try to break it down by category. How many of them are work-related? Relationship? Physical? Mental? Hobby? Family? Is there a particular category that you’d like to pursue more? Are you balanced more in one bucket than the other? Jot that down and put it aside.
How to Create Goals for 2023 AND Stick to Them
OK. Now, map out some realistic things you would like to accomplish next year.
Take whatever goal you have, and shrink it. Let’s take “I want to have a 6 pack by June 2023” as an example.
Smaller. I want to work out everyday for 100 days.
No, smaller.I want to work out for 30 days straight.
Smaller.I want to work out 7 days a week.
Let’s go smaller. I will work out for at least 20 minutes for 4 days this week.
Now, that’s looking good. Your goals should be mini-goals that you can actually attain easily starting today, for one week.
If you’ve been frustrated with yourself for not having been able to accomplish your goals, then start with accomplishing small goals.
Maybe you want to give up drinking for 30 days, start by doing 3 first. If you want to write a book, start by writing for 5 minutes 3 days in a row. Maybe you have no fricken idea what you want to do in life. Spend the day by yourself and you can use this trusty guide written by Gina Molfetta.
Here’s a little secret about goals. There’s no secret. You just have to stop making excuses and do it. No one wants to listen to you tell us about your idea for a Yacht Rock Cover Band. Let me rephrase that. No one wants to listen to you tell us about your idea for a Yacht Rock Cover Band and never do it. Even 1 % of progress is progress!
Here’s a little secret about goals. There’s no secret.
Some people might fault you for trying, but more often than not, your friends and family want to see you succeed. If they don’t, that’s ok. You’ll find people who will. But you owe it to yourself to actually deliver on the things that YOU want to do, regardless of financial, societal, or quite frankly, realistic obstacles.
There is no worse feeling than five years (or December 2023) later and sitting with that nagging feeling always wondering “what if”? Or worse, when someone ELSE does the thing that you always wanted to do, and knowing, you could have done it too.
You have to think of dedication and accomplishing goals like a muscle. Most successful people aren’t simply born with the ability to wake up at 6 AM and run for 5 miles…they train themselves to do it so that even when they don’t want to do it, because of muscle memory. You literally have to brainwash yourself.
If you want to be successful with accomplishing large goals, you need little spurts of accomplishment from the little goals to run the marathon. It’s the compound effect.
You have to think of dedication and accomplishing goals like a muscle. Most successful people aren’t simply born with the ability to wake up at 6 AM and run for 5 miles...
So – now that that reality check is in, how can you make that goal actually come to fruition? If it’s a large goal that you’re trying to attain by June 2023, break it down. What do you need to do in order to accomplish that?
Knowledge is Power
If you’re not sure how then ask someone who does.
If you don’t know anyone, go online. There are forums and articles. There are friends who have friends. Coworkers who have networks. Linkedin and internet strangers that you can email 100x over. It’s that simple. Goals can appear to be lofty and arduous, but if you sit and break it down into manageable chunks…sometimes the thinking is the worst part. If you have a long term goal that is hard to keep up, see if you can find someone to hold you accountable. If you have a friend who is consistent about going to the gym, see if you can piggyback off their good habits.
Put Those Goals to Paper!
We’ll also accept forms of fully written out goals and ideas on Notes or whatever modern forms of start-up tech that you’re using, but make sure it’s DETAILED. It can’t be like “I just want to be out of debt”. It should be, “I want to pay off $500 every month for 3 months”. If it’s, “I want to become a successful graphic designer”, it should be “I want to add 4 mock brand projects to my portfolio and apply to x amounts of advertising agencies”. If it’s that you want to be a drummer, then practice banging with two sticks on a rock (See Freaks and Geeks reference below). Whatever it is, write it down.
Some people say putting ideas to paper can sound like an activity for members of Oprah’s Book Club BUT we say, putting it to paper means you’re actually spending time on the goal.
You’re spending time problem solving, focusing on how to make it a reality. It’s like fixing a car or figuring out a rock wall or puzzle – you have to spend time thinking about it.
While you might not need to dedicate the Malcolm Gladwellian 10,000 hour average of becoming an expert to every goal, it would make sense that you’d have to dedicate more than a fleeting moment here and there.
So Now You’ve Got Your List, Think Big Picture to Set Your Goals for 2023
Real quick on the goals for 2023. Sure, losing 10 lbs or having an extra $1000 in your bank account is great, but I want you to think about one thing, which is…are these goals bringing you closer to the person that you would like to become?
We often think about what we want to accomplish in metrics, but it’s not always guided by the TYPE of person we want to be.
According to America’s OG hipster philosopher, Henry David Thoreau, “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”. Much of the strife that we feel as humans is not because we didn’t get that perfect job, but because of misplaced value. We equate our success as human beings to C level suite jobs, Instagram perfect relationships, and the newest crop of iPhones.
We live our lives based so much on how society tells us to live, that we’ve inadvertently buried our own selves, that we no longer know who we are, or who we want to be, and worse how to find out.
Wait, All That Work for Nothing?
The only way to find out what type of person you are, who you are is to do the things that you want to do.
So look at your list of accomplishments of 2022, look at the tangible goals that you have for 2023, and ask yourself…do these accomplishments define me? Or the future me? Are these things that help to get me closer to the type of person I want to be? Do I actually ENJOY doing these things?
You’ll have a gut check on how you feel. Even if you don’t know exactly what that is, you have some semblance, even if it’s tucked deep into the recesses of your jaded, sarcastic and blackened New York City heart.
And if you really have no idea, take one of the things that you’ve always wanted to do.
A little one – schedule at least an hour a week to yourself every week to try it. Whether it’s learning to cook, write a script, or become a Tik Tok star. Even if no one wants to go with you, do it. Now commit to doing THAT one thing.
I’ll be real with you, by the end of this day, you still might have no idea what your goal is. You may not be able to accomplish ALL your goals, but the biggest thing you’ve done after this is FOCUS on yourself.
In three months’ time, you’ll be a hell of a lot further along than before if you just keep making time for all those little goals.
