A Grand Central Escalator to the Women’s March on NYC
January 21, 2017
Groups of energetic women and men flooded onto a platform at Grand Central from a departing 7 train. The throng lurched toward two immobile escalators, everyone eager to get outside to protest a vile, dim, and harmful administration; eager to raise their voices together against the diminution of non-white lives and the destruction of rights; eager to not be in this crowded underground tunnel anymore after all the trains were also so fucked up all day that it was crazy.
People made happy conversation. “What’s your sign say?” “‘He eats his steak well done — nuff said.’” “Ha-ha, that’s good.” Behind me, a man and woman spoke about the unmoving escalators.
“They shut it off for crowds,” she explained.
The man scoffed, resolute. “Well. They can’t stop us that easily!”
His friend paused before responding. “No, I mean — ” she struggled to find the words.
“They shut it off…so people can…use it more easily.
…Not to ‘stop us’.”
A moment passed.
“Ohh.”
🙂
Speaking to the Hairpin, MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said, “We would never remove equipment from service unless they were in need of repair.”
A twist ending.