The Will to Live

Hope and Survival—How did I miss this for 24 years?

After a month of grizzly work removing rubble from Ground Zero ( the 9/11 destruction of the Twin Towers in NY), Rebecca Cough, a lady in a hard hat, noticed that a tree, about to be scooped up by a bulldozer, was burned and badly damaged, but it still showed signs of life.

 

Only a few leaves hug from a single branch of the tree. Its roots were snapped and burned, and its boughs were broken. Yet the workers were determined to save the tree. They sent it to the Van Cortlandt Park for convalescence under the care of the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Park workers said they weren't sure the tree would make it, but the tree did. In the spring of 2002, she sprouted a riot of leaves, and a dove made a nest in her boughs.

 

It is The Survivor Tree, a Callery Pear tree planted in the 1970s and had been humming along, providing beauty, shade, and protection for wildlife who either lived there or were passing through.

 

When Ronaldo Vega became the special project manager in 2007, he remembered the story of the tree and went to the Bronx to find it.

 

"Where's our Survivor Tree?" he asked his colleagues.  "I know there's a Survivor Tree.  I've heard the legend.  I know it's out there." (It had been lost for a few years as there are many Callery Pear Trees are in NY.) Finally, Vega emailed some of his former colleagues at the Department of Design and Construction.  Rebecca Clough, an assistant commissioner, replied, "I know where that tree is."

 

"I fell in love with her the second I saw her," Vegas said. "She was a fighter. We knew she was going to come back here." And so, after nine years of rehab in the Bronx, the Survivor Tree went home. She was planted at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum, where she stands 35 feet tall, scared but robust, and offers her branches to birds and shade to those passing by.

 

I learned of the Survivor tree in Jane Goodall's book HOPE with Douglas Abrams. Upon looking up the tree on the Internet, I saw that Goodall visited the tree on Peace Day on September 21, 2012.

 

Thank you, Jane and Abrams, for telling me this story.

 

The Survivor Tree is 50 years old.

Calling all Artists and Animal Lovers

"If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.”

—John F Kennedy

 

The long arm of our present Administration knows no bounds—food, health defense, media, books, Medicare, grants, and now art and animals. Folks, is this really what we wanted?

 

Why is Our President chairing the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C

Oh yeah. He wants to control everything. What we listen to, what we watch, what we read, what we eat. He doesn’t even seem to take pleasure in winning, but wants to crush the opponent. Do you think he and his cohort are cutting back on any of their luxuries?

Why is this happening?

We, the people, are more than him. He showed his colors before the election, and people voted for him anyway. Long ago, I heard that when an organization interferes with your food, they are a cult. Watch them, no matter how good they sound.

"In 1958, former President Eisenhower signed bipartisan legislation to create a national arts center in Washington. Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, raised $30 million for the project. The building was dedicated to Kennedy two months after his assassination in 1963.”

Fast forward to 2025:

"Several entertainers have announced that they are severing ties with the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center in Washington, D.C., now that the President has assumed the chairmanship of the organization."

Screenwriter Shonda Rhimes known for her work on shows such as Grey's Anatomy and How to Get Away with Murder. Actress and producer Issa Rae, who created and starred in HBO's Insecure, announced on Instagram that she was canceling her upcoming sold-out appearance. When visiting the Kennedy Center's website for her event, users encounter a 404 error message.

"Hey D.C. Fam," she wrote, "Thank you so much for selling out the Kennedy Center for 'An Evening With [Me]'. Unfortunately, due to what I believe to be an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums, I've decided to cancel my appearance at this venue."

Singer and songwriter Ben Folds announced on Facebook that he is resigning as an advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra.

"Not for me," he said. He thanked his colleagues, and added, "Mostly, and above all, I will miss the musicians of our nation's symphony orchestra – just the best!"

The rock band Low Cut Connie also pulled out of their scheduled performance: "I was very excited to perform as part of this wonderful institution's Social Impact series, which emphasizes community, joy, justice and equity through the arts. Upon learning that this institution that has run non-partisan for 54 years is now chaired by President Trump himself and his regime, I decided I will not perform there."

If that wasn't enough, now he is going after The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the nation's only government agency dedicated to conserving plants and animals.

*Vox has learned that the agency has frozen its vast portfolio of international conservation grants. The agency, which supports wildlife protection in the US and overseas, ordered many organizations it funds to stop work related to their grants and cut its communication with them. According to USFWS's internal communication, which was shared anonymously with Vox, the agency has frozen grants for international projects that amount to tens of millions of dollars.

 
 

The freeze jeopardizes dozens of projects to conserve wildlife worldwide, from imperiled sea turtles in Central America to elephants in Africa. Grant programs from the federal government protect species whose habitats straddle borders, and they also benefit Americans by reducing the risk of pathogens like coronaviruses from spilling into human populations.

Stop this human train wreck.

Stand up to a bully.