for my birthday this year i got a massive blackout, stretching from the midwest and canada down to new york. thursday night we walked down eerily quiet streets in brooklyn—even though people were out and there were cars on the road, we realized that electricity makes more noise than we had ever considered.

we saw more so many more stars than usual, though there was considerable light coming from the nearly full moon and the tall construction lights at grand army plaza. they had built-in generators, lighting the intersection to keep the traffic under control.

we bought ice cream from a store lit by a single candle and sat on the curb to listen to the radio broadcasted from a car parked on the street, a crowd gathered around to listen. after watching the traffic and emergency vehicles pass through grand army plaza for a while, we went home and to sleep in the dark, but then that part is normal. the lack of air conditioning/artificial air circulation was pretty unfortunate.

the rumor was power was expected back in the morning, but we were still powerless in the morning. good thing my only birthday plans involved a picnic in prospect park. calls on the battery depleting cellphones revealed that park slope had power, so we headed over on bikes–at flatbush avenue amazingly the street lights were working. most of the day was spent in the normally electrified park slope and when we rode home in the evening, the traffic lights were dark at vanderbilt avenue, and we knew that we were still without power.

collapsed in the heat of the baking apartment, suddenly at 6:20pm a roaring cheer broke out across the neighborhood. at first i was totally baffled, wondering what people would be screaming about… and so happily. when i realized i flicked on the kitchen light just to see it. twenty-six hours without power—so close.