GOOD EVENING SYRACUSE
Is the Nightward a hidden gem of culture—or a canker sore in the mouth of our great city?
GOOD EVENING SYRACUSE
(Nightly Talk Show)
HOST: Good evening Syracuse!
[APPLAUSE]
“To eat or not to eat, that is the question. Tonight’s guests are two influential sixteen-year-olds on opposite sides of one of Syracuse’s most spicy debates. Is the Nightward a hidden gem of culture—or a canker sore in the mouth of our great city? Stay tuned to find out.
The camera pans across an enthusiastic studio audience. Several people wave handmade signs.
HOST: First up, she’s the intrepid teen sensation behind the wildly popular food blog Midnight Snack: Meals From the Nightward, Anna Okkes!
[APPLAUSE]
ANNA: Thank you! Wow. Wildy popular? Can I quote you on that?
HOST: And joining her tonight is student columnist, civic activist, and founder of S.S.S. (Students for a Safer Syracuse), California Smolett!
[APPLAUSE]
CALIFORNIA: Pleasure to be here.
HOST: Anna, let’s start with you. What exactly is the Nightward?
ANNA: The Nightward is a neighborhood.
CALIFORNIA (rolling their eyes): I suppose you could call it that.
ANNA: It literally is.
CALIFORNIA: No, it’s a criminal sanctuary masquerading as a neighborhood. People who turn a blind eye to its existence do our city no favors. People who promote it as a destination do even worse.
ANNA: See? This is what I have to deal with.
Scattered laughter from the audience.
HOST: Let’s let Anna answer.
ANNA: It’s a neighborhood. Look it up. The Nightward has been on city maps since Syracuse was founded. It used to be called Rowborough, and our first state building stood there. It has restaurants, apartments, schools, markets, laundromats—
CALIFORNIA: Gangs.
ANNA: (frowning) Yes. There are also gangs.
CALIFORNIA: Thank you.
ANNA: We have gangs too.
CALIFORNIA: Name one.
ANNA: Students for a Safer Syracuse.
[BIG LAUGHTER]
HOST: Okay, Anna, let’s let California have her turn.
CALIFORNIA: Excuse me. It’s they/them, not she/her. It’s written on your card.
HOST: Ah—right. My apologies. I meant no offense.
CALIFORNIA: It’s not about giving offense. It’s about getting with the program.
The audience reacts with a mixture of applause and awkward murmurs.
CALIFORNIA: Anyway, occording to the current crime rates this year the Nightward recorded forty-three assaults, seventeen armed robberies, and three organized-crime investigations involving Endo Tsushimia’s “Wildcat” gang.
ANNA: Well if he launders money as good as he makes pizza, they may never lock him up.
HOST: Pizza? Really?
ANNA: Really.
CALIFORNIA: This is exactly the problem. You write glowing reviews for crime lords. How much is he paying you? How can you call your self and objective reporter?
ANNA: He’s not paying me. Plus I dragged his fine dining spot.
HOST: California, i’m sure fans of your your YouTube Channel want to hear more about these gangs.
CALIFORNIA: The Fourtunistas are a pack of feral crooks, violent and unpredictable. The Wildcats have been extorting businesses, bootlegging Eel and bribing or intimidating city official for the better part of a century. Even the Ward’s own police force—the Wardens—operates as an unaccountable paramilitary organization.
Don’t you see the problem? Every week Anna Okkes publishes another article encouraging children to wander into that environment.
ANNA: I have never encouraged children…
CALIFORNIA: Anna, you are a child. As much as it pains me to admit it teens our age look up to you. You’re setting a terrible example.
ANNA: It’s a food blog, California.
CALIFORNIA: we both know the real issue isn’t food. The issue is Nocturnals.
[AUDIENCE MURMURS]
HOST: California—
CALIFORNIA: What? Everyone’s thinking it. Crime in the Nightward is overwhelmingly committed by Nocturnals.
ANNA: Because the Nightward is overwhelmingly populated by Nocturnals. Day-timers in the rest of the boroughs won’t rent to them. Won’t hire them. Won’t insure them.
CALIFORNIA: Gee, I wonder why. You yourself have detailed their rudeness, strangeness… didn’t you say in issue 2 of your own publication that some Noccternals have teeth sharpened to points?
(Anna opens their mouth, then hesitates.)
HOST: Okay. Let’s cool down.
ANNA: They are strange to us. But the truth is I’ve eaten at their restaurants. I’ve been invited into their homes. I’ve met grandmothers, shopkeepers, fishermen, mechanics—
CALIFORNIA: Gangsters.
ANNA: One gangster.
Beat.
Okay, three gangsters.
[LAUGHTER]
CALIFORNIA: Aha!
ANNA: How can someone so committed to their own complicated identity be so unwilling to see complexity in others?
(California opens their mouth, then hesitates.)
ANNA: You won’t let anyone put you in a box—and I respect that. But when it comes to Nocturnals, your thinking is completely binary.
The audience applauds.
HOST (nervously wiping his brow): I think we’re running out of time.
CALIFORNIA: This isn’t about me, Anna. It’s about safety. Safety matters.
ANNA: So do people.
HOST: That’s probably a good place to—
CALIFORNIA: The Nightward is dangerous!
ANNA: Sometimes.
CALIFORNIA: Criminal.
ANNA: Occasionally.
CALIFORNIA: Uncivilized.
ANNA: They have better food than we do!
[WILD APPLAUSE]
(Anna blushes. California exhales huffs. The audience has divided into two sides and are shouting at each other.)
HOST: We’ll be right back after the break. Someone call security!
[MUSIC]
Hey if you like Midnight Snack, consider clicking the link and sending me a few bones to keep the lights on.
Yours always,
Anna Okkes