Escaping a Mouse Invasion

Dear Diary:

Last week, all of a sudden, an army of ugly and scary mice invaded our beloved fortress in Yorkville. An old but newly renovated apartment, spacious and silent, was no longer ours but theirs.

I spent several days barricading myself in my son’s room while our enemies fell into traps. On Friday, as a final battle approached once the exterminator had closed all holes, I took my 3-year-old son and escaped to Brooklyn, where my cousins hosted us for the weekend. Two big cats guard their beautiful brownstone.

It was a perfect refuge, until we fell down their steep staircase on Saturday morning. Trying to calm myself and my son, we watched old Mickey Mouse movies. I told my mostly Spanish-speaking son, “Look, Alfonso, Minnie is a queen.”

“Oh,” he said. “Minnie lives in Queens.” Missing his world, he asked me a hundred times when we were going back to Manhattan and when he could see his nanny Toña, who lives in the Bronx.

Back in our reconquered fortress, I watch him play with his buses and tell their little passengers that he fell down the stairs in the Brooklyn Bridge, that it doesn’t hurt anymore, and that we came back home in a black Arecibo taxi.

Soon we’ll move south. I haven’t told my little New Yorker yet. I fear his reaction more than any mice.

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Addressing Harassment on the Streets and Subways of New York City

City Room asked readers in February to share their stories of street and subway harassment in New York City. We received almost 200 blog comments and emails.

Here’s a sampling:

“Like many women who live here, I’ve been harassed too many times to count,” said a commenter identified as Madeleine.

“The fact that street harassment gets brushed off as a ‘fact of life’ is something that needs to be changed,” said another commenter, Caroline G.

“And it’s not any one type of guy â€" it’s clean-cut looking guys, teenagers, old dudes. Everyone, all colors,” a reader named Rebecca said.

“I was really hoping that it’d stop once I got older, but I’m 36 and they’re still at it,” said Mary, another commenter. “I’ve had people follow me, people ask me if I’d have sex for money, people ask me to pay to hang out with them and then there are the weekly taunts and yelling and just bad behavior.”

The stories had a common theme: a sense that street harassment is not considered a legitimate safety concern. Readers told stories of harassment in all neighborhoods and of all kinds, including frequent catcalling â€" unprompted passing comments like “Hey, beautiful” or “Hi, sexy” â€" but also of being followed, stalked and groped in public places.

The experiences have been shared. What’s next? Raising awareness is key, organizers of anti-street-harassment groups say.

As Jerry, from D.C. wrote: “After having read all these, all I can say is my eyes were opened. I knew women had it rough in a large city, but I sincerely never knew just how bad.”

Events

A number of events are planned in the city and beyond this week as part of “International Anti-Street Harassment Week,” organized by the group Stop Street Harassment and a host of co-sponsors.

- “Planet Brooklyn: Beyond Catcalls,” a storytelling event organized by Brooklyn Movement Center and the Brecht Forum, is Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

- The Window Sex Project, a community workshop of street harassment stories and anti-harassment strategies through dance and movement, hosted by Sydnie Mosley Dances, is Thursday at 6 p.m.

- A rally against street harassment, with 20 speakers and workshops, is at Washington Square Park on Saturday from 1 to 3 p.m.

- Also on Saturday, an open mike against street harassment, from 5 to 8 p.m.

- Throughout the week: Chats on Twitter using the hashtags #EndSH and #EndSHNYC

More events in the region and in other cities and countries are at meetusonthestreet.org/action/.

Read More

- Last week, a 17-year-old reported being groped while riding the N train. [DNA Info]

- Female riders of Uber, the ride sharing organization, are experiencing harassment from the drivers. [The Daily Beast]

- A roundup of research into street harassment from Hollaback.

- What is street harassment? Definitions and background from Stop Street Harassment.

Tell Us

In the next weeks, we’ll have more stories from people who experience frequent harassment, interviews with anti-street-harassment organizers and additional coverage on this issue.

What questions do you have? Please tell us in the comments.