UNITED NATIONS AT 70
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John Pazmino
NYSkies Astronomy Inc
nyskies@nyskies.org
www.nyskies.org
2015 December 27
Introduction
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In 1945 the United nations was formally established by the signing
of its charter by some 50 nations. Almost all were victors from World
War II, following up on advance meetings in 1944-1945.
The first official meetings of the new UN were held in the
pavilion for New York City left over from the 1939 World's Fair. This
arrangement ws temporary while the permanent offices were under
construction on Manhattan, the present campus of the UN. The pavilion
since undergoed many renovations, with probably no vestige of its use
for the UN. Today it is the Queens museum of Art.
The campus sits on the East River waterfront from 42nd St to 47th
St, with a terrace on top of the FDR Drive. Some of the land is open
to the public, like the lobby of the Secretariat Building and the UN
Gardens. The vast bulk of the property is off-limits except for persons
with proper clearance and credentials.
The lack of public access over the decades leaded to stories of
the goings on inside the campus, with allusions to assorted world
affairs. The public made do with the public issuances, a few
statistical books, and hearsay.
The invite
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In 2013 the United nations was near the peak of heavy rebuilding
of the entire facility. While the postcard image was drop-dead
gorgeous, the guts of the buildings were antiquated and well past
their design life. The construction made a mess of the campus and
surrounding streets. It also annoyed neighbors with noise, dust,
congestion, road detours.
I never learned how the invites started. By now it seems the
Secretary-General realized that the UN must be more neighborly and
promote good-will to the public, as compensation for the nuisance of
construction activity. Probably he sent around a policy to all UN
offices to start an outreach programs for the public to better
understand and appreciate the work of the UN. Apparently each unit
figures out how to satisfy this policy.
In 2013 I spontaneously received an invite from some outfit
connected with the UN to sit an internal meeting in the UN buildings,
normally closed from the public. After a sanity check I showed up at
the stated date and hour. There were many scored, maybe a hundred,
others who were just as puzzled as I was.
I wrote about that, and several other invites, in separate
articles in the NYSkies web. The invites then after came at very
irregular intervals, with 2015 looking like a shut-out until this past
summer. I really do not know just how I got into the favor of the UN
and each invite comes form a different office within it. While I am
thoroly honored to be allowed to some of the internal procedings, I
very well know I am passed over on most occasions. Maybe the invites
are rotated among a pool of possible inviteds. The topics of the
meetings is, for me, with no logic or reason and none related remotely
to astronomy. Only one, and that was a CI -- not a UN -- event,
related to electric power engineering, my career.
A UN party invite
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All thru 2015 I got no new invites. I let the matter alone,
allowing that maybe I already attended my 'allotment' of Un sessions.
Well, the experience was fantastic while it lasted.
On 22 June 2015 I get an invite form the UN, yet a different unit,
for an event only two days later, the 24th. It was an outdoor supper
with dance and music to celebrate the UN's 70th anniversary.
Unlike previous invites, this one specificly said the show was
free and open to the public. By the same token, other internal content
looked like this was a targeted invite for me and particular others.
The outdoor party was on 24 June 2015 at DAG Cafe'. This is a
regular sidewalk lunch stop across the street from the UN with no
special UN features about it. Local office workers, plus UN workers,
frequent the cafe'. I don't recall eating there prior to this event.
DAG Cafe'
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The day was sunny and mild. I started to walk toward the UN, with
idea to catch a 42nd St bus that goes right to the corner of the
campus. On the way I felt so refreshed by the weather that I ended up
walking the whole two kilometers with no bus ride. I arrived at DAG
Cafe' at about 5:15PM EDST. The invite noted the start of festivities
was at 5:30.
There was nothing out of the ordinary about the arrangement of
furniture and fixtures. The whole cafe' was openly accessible from the
street with no barriers or check points. There were a few horses near
on end, likely being stored, that did not impede entry to the tables
and lunch hut. In as much as I was not in any way queried upon
entering the cafe', maybe the public was supposed to just walk in.
At 5:30 an MC spoke thru a PA welcoming us to the UN party and
explained about the hut, dance, and music. One side of the cafe was
free of furniture for dancing and one other side was done up for a
band and recorded music.
By 6:00 about 80 people showed up. I saw only a few that looked
like 'outsiders' like me. Every one else seemed to be UN crew, some
speaking in their native languages.
At my table
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The cafe' is on a busy street connecting the north side of the UN
campus to the interior of manhattan. People walked by in continuous
flow, prompted in part by the pleasant weather. In spite of the
overall attraction of the cafe' on this evening, essentially no one
walked in off of the street. All seemed to come with the invite.
There was no seating plan. I took a seat at a handy table with
four others. All, two men and two women, were UN crew. One man-woman
pair was from the Ukraine! The other pair wereassociates within the UN
but I didn't catch their affiliation. They welcomed me to sit. When I
explained that I am not from the UN, attending by separate invite,
which I waved to them, they were specially polite and friendly. They
spoke excellent English, with aContinental accent and full vocabulary.
The Ukrainian pair, mostly the woman, wanted to explain about the
situation in their country to put out their side of the story. They
believed that Americans get a distorted picture of events in the
Ukraine, with far too much omitted from the normal news media
accounts. explain why the Russians must be kicked out, why the
Ukraine should join the European market and NATO, why it should look
after affairs in the Black Sea.
I put into the conversation my own visit to Yalta in the 1980s,
with its museum of an planning meeting for the future United Nations.
I also discussed a student project I judged at a recent NYC Science
and Engineering Fair about Ukrainian sentiment toward Russia. The
delegates seemed to be honored, I think, to discover at least one
native American layman with reasonable knowledge of their country.
I learned one hell of a lot about the conflict, of course from
only one side, and I could write a healthy discourse about it. Some
later events I now see are evolutions of the dialog. other current
activity is all-new with only weak attachment from the dialog. Now, in
December 2015 it is six months since the UN celebration and events in
the Ukraine moved along, now they are confounded with the activity of
Russia and Turkey in the Middle East.
Any commentary I have from the party is thoroly ediurnate by now.
Yet I'm glad I had the discussion with folk immersed in the Ukraine
situation. From time to time today some current news from there links
back to that summer evening around a party table.
The Moon in daytime!
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I offered one wonderful treat I to these folk. High over the UN
campus was a half Moon! The delegates didn't know you can see the Moon
in daylight. The Sun glinted off of skyscrapers around the cafe',
still a couple hours from setting. One of the delegates, I forget
which, noticed the Moon first because I was sitting faced away from
it. She was puzzled by it hanging or floating in the air. Isn't the
Moon somewhere in outer space?
I give a brief explanation of the lunar phases. I wished a had
some round or ball object to do the marvelous trick with the Sun and
Moon. I didn't. You know the demonstration, a ball held in sunlight
next to the Moon show the exact same phase as the Moon in the sky.
I had in my shoulder bag my 3X monocular . I passed it around for
a closer look at the Moon. I didn't DARE tell them the instrument is a
Soviet KGB unit now commercially at sale in the US. All were amazed
to see the rough terminator and the gray patches in a deep blue
daytime sky.
The food hut
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A sidewalk cafe' is usually an extension of an adjacent
restaurant. Food is prepared indoors and carried to the tables
outside. In some cases you get the food yourself inside as takeaway
and go out to your table. Since this was my first time at DAG Cafe', I
found the food service to be clever.I went for my supper after a half-
hour of banter and viewing the Moon.
In the middle of the cafe' grounds was a shack or hut completely
detached from the office building behind it. In it you place your food
order from a selection of the normal lunch & supper items. After I
paid for the items,a cheeseburger and fries, the clerk handed me a
small box with a number label on it . It looked like a transistor
radio or tiny tablet. The clerk said I can go back to my table and be
called when the order is ready.
The device was a pager. The cafe' had many of them, each with its
own call number. After a few minutes back at my table the device
buzzed loudly. It was time to fetch my supper. The clerk handed me my
food tray and took back the pager. I guess it would be reset for the
next customer.
This was really cool! For one thing it dispensed with flocks of
people huddling around the shack while waiting for their trays. Just
go to your table and wait there until the pager rang for you.
Along one side of the food hut was a stand-up bar for drinks. All
the usual hard and soft items were available for prices noted on signs
to be discounted for the UN party. I went there after setting my food
try down at the table and got two white wines. The second one I gave
to the woman delegate who first spotted the Moon. She was tickled.
Music and dance
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I skipped any attempt to dance. Many couples or singles took up
dancing on one cleared side of the grounds. The steps were all light,
in tone with the music. All five of us at our table stayed seated to
continue chatting, with brief pauses to watch the dancing.
Music was alternately provided by a trio band and recordings. The
volume ws quite moderate, soft enough to permit conversation at the
table. I couldn't sense amy selection for the music, alike a mix from
different countries. All pieces were light & easy to put the audience
into a pleasant mood.
Evening over
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The four UN delegates got up to leave at about 7:30 PM. I by then
finished my supper. I wrapped up for the evening, too. I wasn't sure
how to reach my train, but I started to walk inland while thinking
over my options. The other female delegate, not the ukrainian, caught
up with me and we chatted along the walk.
We bantered about places and features of new York, staying off of
politics. She headed uptown along Third Av. This was one way to reach
a subway so I followed along. I pointed out the setting Sun and asked
if she knew about Manhattanhenge. She did but wasn't in town for the
May show. I reminded her to look on July 9th to 11th.
At 59th Street we came to a subway station worked by my own train.
We waved goodbye and she kept walking uptown. I popped into the subway
for the ride home.
Conclusion
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This was a most pleasing and refreshing evening! It was the only
UN activity of a purely social character, rather than sitting in an
auditorium for a presentation. Doing a light supper under clear sky
and mild temperature and background music with people personally
caught up by major world affairs was awesome. Perchance these folk may
have felt somewhat the same for me by inspecting the Moon in daytime
with a small telescope.
The peculiar aspect of the UN party was the the absence of
audience from outside the UN world. I saw only a few, among the many
dozens of UN crew, who looked like outsiders. This was really odd
because there was nothing about the cafe' or the party to exclude the
public. The premises were open for all, like for any other day.
Like for the other invites I was so far blessed with, this one an
enlightening experience. How er these invites are issued and how ever
I get some of them, the UN public program works well. It does build a
better understanding of what the United Nations does behind the
perimeter fence of its campus.