This past weekend was hopping in NYC. I’d never seen so many people out and about with long lines to get into stores and hour-long waits to get a table for lunch. It was a fabulous sight to behold.

And it’s not just in NYC. I’m tracking similar trends around the country and the world.

However, there are storm clouds brewing as we head into election season. Whatever progress is currently being made to reopen and get people back to work will most likely be put on pause with the onset of more unrest and rioting through the end of 2020 into early 2021. Fingers crossed I’m wrong but there’s a palpable uneasiness in the air.

That said, let’s start this week’s Top 10 List with the most positive news and leave the most worrisome til last.

1. NYC was at its vibrant best this weekend (pics below)

And from what I hear from friends around the country, the same is true in many other cities. Ohio is even letting bars and restaurants keep selling to-go cocktails post-pandemic.

Streets in many parts of NYC were jam-packed (masks on). There was a line 50-deep to get into Chanel in Soho. The Nike store on Spring Street had equally long lines as did Nolita’s Everlane. I was also surprised to see customers lined up to get into many smaller boutiques, e.g., L’Appartement Sezane on Elizabeth Street.

Restaurants, likewise, had long waits. My biggest foodie highlight of the week was the reopening of Jean-Georges’ The Fulton on Pier 17 (pics below). It was fully booked on a Tuesday night when Rodrigo Padilla and I had a fantastic dinner for the final celebration of his birthday month.

Note: Not all NYC neighborhoods are equally vibrant. Foot traffic in some areas of the city, e.g., midtown, continues to be down by over 90%.

2. Meet the founders: Amanda Dolan and Meagan Colby, Spark Pretty

So proud to have these two in my friendship circle!

Spark Pretty is THE destination for lovers of all things vintage and cool – especially styles from the ’90s with strong music or pop culture ties. They have a fanatical following both in the States and internationally. Before the pandemic, Spark Pretty was on a tear, the business was booming. During the lockdown, Amanda and Meagan reverted to their online roots and revived the business via e-commerce. They are masters of Instagram Live – and those skills kept the store alive during retail’s lockdown.

BREAKING NEWS: WPIX’s Ben Aaron came to the store this week to do a feature on Spark Pretty and how they’ve managed to not only survive but thrive in the midst of a pandemic. The WPIX feature will air within the next week. Stay tuned and big congrats to Amanda and Meagan! Well-deserved! And if retail and vintage is your thing, follow them on Instagram.

3. If you’re in the Trades, Business is Booming!

The first people back to work post-lockdown were plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and HVAC repair people. My street has been filled with their vans for months now. They’re working 24/7.

And it’s not just in America, interesting article out of the UK found that nearly half (46%) of tradespeople reported their workload had increased since lockdown loosened:

• Builders have been the busiest with 49% reporting an upsurge in work.
• They were followed by plumbers (16%), electricians (13%), and carpenters (10%).

Over half say the uplift in business has been due to people attempting DIY jobs and repairs and making a hash of it. This was worst in London, where two thirds (66%) said they’d had to fix dodgy DIY.

HYP Magazine, UK

4. Top Garden Trends (Source: Inverness Courier)

“Garden design has changed more in the last six months than it has in the last 60 years.”

Andrew Duff, award-winning UK garden designer

Both the aesthetics and usage of gardens have changed dramatically:

• Keen on green: Green is the color the eye recognizes first, so inherently we relax with that. People also gravitate to green scents, such as rosemary and sage.
• Lawn comeback: Hard landscaping has been replaced by lawn. People are finding it therapeutic to mow (and very usable if they have children).
• Subtle sculpture: As more people take up yoga and meditation, they want more reflective and contemplative pieces, e.g., by award-winning sculptor David Harber (davidharber.co.uk), whose work has been exhibited at RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
• Rich shades: For those stuck at their computer screens all day, a subdued rich palette that’s gentle on the eye is becoming important, e.g., deep red persicarias or the deeper blues of catmint.
• Balcony food: We are going to see balconies overloaded with tomatoes and runner beans, with nasturtiums running through them. OUT: containers filled with petunias and geraniums.
• Container changes. A return to terracotta and timber planters, rather than mass-produced plastic tubs which are less eco-friendly.
• Wildlife: People are surprised at how much wildlife there is in their gardens. To encourage even more wildlife, they’re doing less sweeping up and leaving things more informal and relaxed. It’s an eclectic, slightly overgrown look that people are adopting.

Staying on the theme of wildlife: Let’s check out France vs. NY

France’s flamingo population has boomed post-lockdown. Camargue and Parc Orinthologique Pont de Gau have reported a tenfold increase in flamingo births. WHY? Fewer people in the area and fewer planes and helicopters flying over the salt pans. (Source: Connexion)

By contrast, NYC offers up massive rat clusters.

5. Lots of Hype FOR “The Social Dilemma,” Netflix’s new Docu-Drama

EVERYONE has been talking about this.

But it’s such old news! All my techie friends have been alerting us to this for years. More worrisome, in my estimation, is how the mainstream media is using AI to manipulate “news” and turn it into clickbait. Their goal, whether it’s CNN or FOX, is to keep us on edge and hooked to whatever political POV they’re feeding us. To me, that’s every bit as dodgy as whatever Facebook or Google is doing.

It’s why I’ve given up watching TV (especially the news) and why Twitter is no longer on my phone’s home screen. And, why I only visit Facebook once a day.

Priority #1 for me is being mindful of my MENTAL DIET. Consuming nothing but shrill news, horrific stories, tales of outrage (true or not) is the equivalent of eating a really shitty diet of fake processed food. I have to thank Joe Rogan and his guests for putting this topic on my radar. He’s been warning us for years about how the media (social and mainstream) are manipulating us.

That said, I’m still a news junkie (just not from TV or Facebook/Twitter). I’ve become extra vigilant about my sources and recognize how headlines have been teased for maximum clickbait effect.

6. So sad: ROGAN ISN’T HIS OWN MAN ANYMORE

Well the Spotify honeymoon certainly didn’t last long. How could it?

Less than a month in and the American-based Spotify staff went all-activist on Joe and on their own Swedish overlords. They’re demanding to edit, censor, and basically castrate Rogan. Nothing less will appease them.

All I can say is, “Give back the money, Joe. Get out while you still can.” Claw your way back to freedom. $100 million is not worth the bullshit they’re putting you through.

Interesting aside: the husband of a friend of mine (and former big Rogan fan) has now switched to Howard Stern on Sirius.

7. Crying: Surprising Scientific Findings (Source: Psychology Today)

I’m not much of a crier but I did have a major weep fest back in March when the pandemic hit (and, btw, that was one of my most popular posts ever!).

Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the crying research in this just-published scientific paper Psychotherapy (Bylsma et al., 2020):

1. The five most common reasons for emotional crying are loss (e.g. when a relationship ends or a loved one dies), helplessness, physical pain and discomfort, empathic crying (e.g. crying because of the emotional reaction of someone else), and extraordinarily positive or moving situations (e.g. tears of joy).
2. Women cry 2 to 5 times per month while men cry 0 to 1 times per month. This difference starts in late childhood.
3. People with an avoidant attachment style in relationships cry less than people with a secure or anxious attachment style.
4. People in wealthy democratic countries cry more often than those in other countries.
5. Crying occurs in 15-30% of all psychotherapy sessions.

8. ‘Schoolcations’ are the hottest new travel trend for families (Source: The Points Guy)

Not entirely sure how widespread this is but there is some evidence to suggest it is actually happening – at least for some families for a week or two at a time.

“Kimpton currently has a new position, a chief virtual learning officer, who is available at the Kimpton Van Zandt in Austin and the Kimpton Hotel Monaco in Salt Lake City, among others. This person can help troubleshoot technical problems, bring essential school supplies to your room, help transform a hotel desk into a kid-sized space, provide complimentary “snack packs” with juice, fruit snacks and Oreos, and more.“

Summer Hull, TPG Family

The Hyatt has also rolled out a Work From The Hyatt program but nothing comes close to what the Four Seasons offers.

• At the Four Seasons Orlando at Disney World kids can be registered for a full- or half-day supervised study session in a small group classroom setting with no more than six children per class. The full-day session includes lunch and costs $100 (half-days are $50).
• WI-FI is the most important amenity. And often the big attraction for parents doing a schoolcation. The wifi tends to be significantly better at a hotel or resort than at a rental property or even in their own homes.

9. MOOC learning/ flipping the class

Big thanks to my friend Bill Aarhus of UMD (Univ. of Maryland) for tipping me to MOOCs. Although it’s old news for those in academic circles, usage has boomed since the pandemic hit. Enrollment in UMD’s MOOCs skyrocketed 70% since the start of the COVID lockdown.

I’m no expert on MOOCs but it’s a fascinating trend. Here are a few facts from the UMD newsletter:

• More than 2 million learners have enrolled since UMD began their program in 2013.
• Building off platform partnerships with Coursera and edX, UMD will have more than 50 MOOCs this year in subjects ranging from finance to genomics to countering terrorism and expects 300,000 enrollees.
• The core MOOC customer is typically a young professional looking to build a technical skillset. Whatever skepticism existed at the birth of MOOCs has gradually been dissipating, with many Fortune 500 companies now partnering with MOOC platforms for training and education purposes.
• One of UMD’s recent innovations has been a “MicroMasters” MBA program, where students can pay $1,350 for an entire package of seven courses and, if they finish and get accepted to the traditional UMD online MBA program, they will start with 14 earned credit hours—about a quarter of what’s needed for the degree.

“The big ‘so-what’ during this era involves where research has been pointing for some time – to flipped classes, i.e., watch the pre-recorded lecture as homework, then come to the synchronous online class to work problems, ask questions, and/or work on a project. The research shows better learning when this flipped model is applied, and that’s driving what may be a sea change when we go back to normal, yet have a better way to “do classrooms.”

Bill Aarhus, UMD’s program manager for MOOCs

10. Finally: Uneasy and on edge as we head into election season

I sense this election season will be anything but routine or peaceful. I’m hoping my dystopian fears turn out to be far-fetched but will anyone be surprised if we’re back to boarding up stores and dealing with nightly protests and looting?

This weekend I personally encountered a bicycle gang of 50 protest vigilantes zipping down 9th Avenue in Chelsea. They’ve weaponized their bikes and have full control of the streets. I almost got mowed down while I was peacefully making my way downtown in the bicycle lane.

We will see how this all pans out. Whichever way it goes, I plan to remain, as always, a realistic optimist.

And that’s a wrap for this week.

Have a good weekend everyone. Hard to believe that next week’s post will be dated October 2nd. I, for one, am looking forward to kicking 2020 to the curb.