Life Post Sandy: Scenes from Union Beach, NJ

sesamestreet:

On Friday, we’ll be airing a very special episode of Sesame Street.

A hurricane has swept through Sesame Street and everyone is working together to clean up the neighborhood. When Big Bird checks on his home, he is heartbroken to find that the storm has destroyed his nest. Big Bird’s friends and neighbors gather to show their support and let him know they can fix his home, but it will take time. While everyone on Sesame Street spends the next few days cleaning up and making repairs, Big Bird still has moments where he is sad, angry, and confused. His friends help him cope with his emotions by talking about what happened, drawing pictures together, and giving him lots of hugs. They also comfort Big Bird by offering him temporary places he can eat, sleep, and play. Big Bird remembers all the good times he had at his nest and realizes that once it is rebuilt, there are more good times and memories to come. Finally the day has come where most of the repairs to Big Bird’s home are done and his nest is complete. As he is about to try it out, though, the city nest inspector says it not safe, yet, because the mud isn’t dry. Big Bird is sad that he has to wait another day, but Snuffy comes to the rescue and blows the nest dry and he passes the test! Big Bird thanks everyone for being his friend and helping to rebuild his nest and his home.

Please check your local listings to see what time the episode will air on PBS.

Sesame Street I COULD NOT LOVE YOU MORE.

storyboard:

Faces of the Voted: The Rockaways, Queens

“People are voting in the dark. There are no lights, there is no heat.”

It was how NPR’s Robert Smith described the situation at the polls early this morning, in the Rockaways, Queens, which is in one of the regions hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy’s wrath. Of the 38 polling stations that had to be relocated in the borough, 23 are here — in tents, outdoors, running on generators, and some without heat at all.

Read More

storyboard:

On the Jersey Shore, Cries of ‘Where is the Government?’

The Jersey Shore has fared its share of bad weather. As the Los Angeles Times points out this morning (in a piece well worth the read), there was the winter storm of 1846 that wrecked nine ships (still known as the Day of Terror). There was the 1962 nor’easter, which washed a Navy destroyer ashore. And, of course, there was Irene, the first time on record a hurricane had hit the region.

But Sandy, with its innocent name and violent force, remains unlike anything residents here have seen. It sent a roller coaster into the ocean in Seaside Heights. It wrecked part of the famed boardwalk in Atlantic City. And in the Barrier Islands, some residents now face a forced evacuation that could last eight months. Gas and sewer lines remain unrepaired.

Read More

Photographer Ben Lowy will be documenting the Sandy recovery for Tumblr throughout the week. Follow his coverage at Tumblr Storyboard, or follow our instagram feed, where he’ll be guest posting.

The New Yorker

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Pizza That Never Sleeps (Even in a Hurricane)

When Hurricane Sandy, with her innocent name, plunged New York City into infinite darkness, officials warned New Yorkers to be prepared: Stay inside. Stock up on tuna. Do whatever it took to feed yourself when the bodegas shut down. But in the city that never sleeps, there are certain things held to be self evident — even in a hurricane. One of them is that you’ll always be able to get a slice of pizza.

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I’m going to quit the cynical New Yorker bit for a second and say that piece is so cute it actually brought a tear to my eye. Pizza in the face of adversity. I <3 NY.

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Sandy on Tumblr: Beating the Hurricane Blues

The disaster wrought by Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast dwarfs anything that most of us have ever experienced. But the response to that disaster from the community has humbled and gratified those of us who work at Tumblr. We want to recognize a few of the people and organizations doing amazing work related to Sandy, and we want to make it clear that the credit for that work rests entirely with them. Obviously this is just a tiny fraction of the massively diverse and positive response. For more, be sure to check out the Hurricane Sandy tag.

Cool Tumblrs Doing Cool Things

• Dr. Dave Ores - A doctor on Manhattan’s Lower East Side providing free medical services to his stormstruck neighbors, among other humanitarian acts.
• The Moosehead - Photographer Nathan Hoang has some amazing pre-/during/post-Sandy shots.
• Is Twitter Wrong? - A mini-Snopes that’s done a lot of yeoman work disproving various fake “news” photos of menacing weather, storm damage, etc.
• Momofuku - The NYC restaurant powerhouse is hosting three events today in various locations to benefit the Red Cross.
• Pith - The prolific Jesse Chan-Norris has produced some of the most immediate and amazing storm photos to come out of New York, bar none. If you’ve been on Tumblr this week, it’s almost guaranteed you’ve seen his work.
• Change.org - Publicizing services and circulating a number of petitions and initiatives to benefit those affected by Hurricane Sandy.
• Humans of New York - Our pal Brandon Stanton is of course out on the streets photographing his fellow New Yorkers with the usual aplomb and care.
• Jen Bekman Projects - Donating proceeds from particular artworks to hurricane relief.
• Shapeways - The 3D printing company blogged their efforts of getting back together post-Sandy.
• Casey Neistat - Photog and avid biker, combining both passions for some unique photos & video of Sandy in New York.
• Scott’s Pizza Journal - Very Important: Where can you still get a slice in NYC?

Hurricane Sandy Tumblrs

• Working from Home During Sandy - The staff of Bonobos doing business outside the office.
• Hurricane Sandy Blog - A dedicated Tumblr from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management.
• Sandy Hates Books - Cleanup and fundraising for the Sandy-damaged powerHouse Arena bookstore and event space.
• Surviving Hurricane Sandy in Zone A - Two guys, their cameras, and a typical neverending quest for battery charging, food, and/or beer.
• Governor - Rebuilding a restaurant in New York’s DUMBO neighborhood savaged by Sandy.
• Lydia Callis’ Face for NYC Mayor - Devoted to the adoration of Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s on-camera American Sign Language interpreter (see also).

Media Tumblrs

• WNYC’s Transmitter - Like the radio station, WNYC’s Tumblr has stayed up thanks to listener/reader support. They’ve turned in excellent coverage and service alerts before, during, and after the storm.
• The Atlantic - Tying in hurricane stories from the Atlantic’s main site, plus the Atlantic Wire and the Tumblr community generally.
• The Daily - News Corp’s iPad mag putting some of their best storm content on their Tumblr as well.
• Gawker - The flagship of Gawker Media (and its various siblings) moved backup sites to Tumblr after their datacenter was flooded, and their storm coverage and editorial style are a natural fit.
• BuzzFeed - Also temporarily housing their newsgathering on Tumblr post-flood, BF farmed out a wide range of coverage and collection via their subject-oriented Tumblrs as well as their staffers’ blogs — notably Scott Lamb, Ryan Broderick, and Andrew Kaczynski.
• Mother Jones - Mixing in activism and local storm response with national news and politics

girlwithredhat:

I decided to make this poster to show my support for New York.

I send them my best wishes through this difficult time.

Stay strong NY! <3

Love the support-NY-themed art cropping up on Tumblr (pls ping me if you see more!). Also: Here is help for NYC artists.

Reposted from the @newyorkermag’s Instagram feed, which is using iPhone photographers like @ruddyroye and @BenLowy to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy on the ground. As an editor, from an almost-defunct print publication (Newsweek) now at a new media company (Tumblr), it’s encouraging to see legacy brands like the New Yorker — and TIME, which is running one of Lowy’s iphone images of Sandy on its cover this week — embracing new journalistic models.

UPDATE: Lowy will be documenting the recovery efforts for Tumblr over the coming week. Tune into Storyboard for more.

Hurricane ready. With Ave Maria, Angel de la Guarda, Saint Anthony and Judas. #frankenstorm #nyc #zone1 #hurricane #sandy (at Home)