Messages from the New York Local Co-Presidents

Dear Member,

As we begin to collect ourselves after the hurricane's rude interruption of our autumn, please know that SAGAFTRANY is here for you if you need help. Keep an eye out for emails and check our website for information and updates of our schedule.

We live and work in New York, so we know we can handle this, and we know we will get through it with bravery and practicality. Broadway was dark for a couple days, but the media industry will rev right back up here in New York, as it always does.

I would like to take a moment to acknowledge--to celebrate--the bravery and dedication of our Broadcast members. Throughout this hurricane, as the eyes of the world were on our coastlines, our rivers, our tunnels and bridges, SAGAFTRANY Broadcasters were out in the wind, knee-deep in storm surge, or manning studios and microphones so that the rest of us could know what was happening. Just doing their jobs.

I listened to a Broadcast member reporting over a phone from her car as water crept closer and closer to her tiny spot of dry land. She was professional, informative, and brave. I watched our members juggle the trickery of a massive, disruptive, live event with aplomb and skill.

We are all SAGAFTRANY. We have many skills, many jobs, and many strengths. We will clean the grime and flotsam off our city, and we will surge forward again, as we have many, many times before. But in this moment let us be especially proud of our union brethren in Broadcast shops across the state and region who showed the world exactly how it's done.

First and foremost take care of yourselves as we recover from the hurricane, but know that when it is time to head back to the everyday, SAGAFTRANY is here, ready and waiting to help us all get back to work.

Onward and upward,

Holter Graham
New York Co-President

---

Dear Member,

First, I would like to acknowledge the bravery and tenacity of all who were affected by this incredible, massive, hopefully once in a lifetime storm. I'd like to also give great thanks to all those who are First Responders for a living as well as those who picked up the challenge to help out their friends and neighbors. One of the things that I always appreciate about New York and New Yorkers is our resiliency and cohesiveness.

I, fortunately, was not in New York for the storm. I had come to Los Angeles for a National Board meeting of SAG-AFTRA. There were a number of us who were not able to get out before the storm hit. And though I wasn't home, my anxiety level was probably as high as it would have been had I been there, maybe even more so. But the one thing that helped me keep my composure was the incredible work of all the Broadcasters who kept us informed of the progress of the storm and the havoc it was wreaking on our city.
 
I write this as I make my way to the airport, hopefully to finally make my way home. I make this journey today not only because of the assurance of the airlines, but the journalists who tell me the city is slowly getting back to normal and JFK will at least be partially open. I am also hopeful for all of our friends in locals all along the East Coast who were stranded as I was and relied on the Broadcasters and journalists from their home base to keep them informed. I am ever grateful to these brave women and men who put themselves in jeopardy to give us the stories that keep us informed and make our lives complete.

I am told that my home is okay. I trust that it is. They told me so on the news.

In unity,

Mike Hodge
New York Co-President