W42ST Daily 4/12/2020 - There are faces I remember...

Happy Easter (to those who celebrate it). Let’s remember this time next year to do a massive outdoor egg hunt in Hell’s Kitchen.

When all of this craziness started, Ruth had been chatting to Steven Rudin. Steven is a psychiatrist and artist who we had featured in the magazine. Ruth had interviewed him, I’d photographed him. Steven had a calming energy that drew us both in. Ruth and Steven had been talking about depression – and he had said that in his work as psychiatrist he always advised depressed people to get out of their apartment to buy a pint of milk, just so they could look another human being in the eye. It resonated then, it resonates now.

Friday was a tough day for me. No reason – lots of good things were going on – but it just was. We are all facing these ups and downs. Saturday came around and I’d decided to self-care. I was going to have a sleep in. I was 28 days into a daily newsletter. If I wasn’t writing, I was proofing, and adding the daily email sign ups to the database. I slept in. It was blissful. 9am came around – I started making a cup of coffee… and thought: “How can we look each other in the eye and say something?”

I recorded a 30 second video with my coffee and sent it to a few people with a short message.

Here are the 30+ videos that came back (there are triplets, Max von Essen, and Karim Rashid mixed in there). They were all faces that I remember (and will remember). Looking at faces is good for the spirit. Feel free to add your video to the W42ST.com/faces. Record and DM to @W42ST on Instagram or just hit reply here and attach. Remember – W42ST wants to keep Hell’s Kitchen updated, connected and upbeat (so that’s what your video should be!).

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NEW YORK STORIES
When we last talked to Erol Zeren, it was 2020 BC (Before Covid). He’d just qualified as an air steward and was living his boyhood dream – 30,000 feet above Hell’s Kitchen. Plus, his coffee shop had just been voted a reader favorite in our Best of 2020 awards. Read Erol’s story at w42st.com.