It’s December, and while light snow dusts New York itself, Central Park is another story. Here shoppers ply the Columbus Circle Holiday Market for gifts, and skaters enjoy a spin around Wollman Rink, but only in Central Park do the small specks of ice turn to fat snowflakes, the crystals so large you’d think they were pulled off a postcard and left to float to the ground. Meanwhile, along Broadway from the Columbus Circle all the way up into Harlem, the median trees glow and flicker with ghostly candlelight. And in Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital, the children will soon watch in awe as a bow-tied army of stuffed animals parade down the corridors and climb into their arms. This is but one of a dozen events happening in the Big Apple, during the season of miracles.
For the past five years, the work of the Herald Society has been as much a tradition of the New York Holidays as the lighting of the tree at Rockefeller Center or the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show or the Chanukah Gala or the American Museum of Natural History’s annual Kwanzaa Celebration. They are a loose society of metahumans who volunteer their time and their powers during the holidays to improve the lives of people, and they aren’t just restricted to New York. Los Angeles has a branch, and there’s talk of more chapters in Tokyo, London, and Sidney.
The Herald Society’s ranks are comprised of metahumans who have shied away from the limelight completely and never taken to the streets as superheroes (or those who put a tour behind them before retiring). Of course, you will find your occasional star like Grimsta or Mizz Verse putting in the occasional time as a volunteer, but the Heralds shy away attention, except as a group once a year.
The Heralds were started by Laticia Broyle, a super-genius inventor and the brain behind the tech firm Spanner House. She’s since used her company as a sponsor for the society, and donated toys for New York’s underprivileged children. Her stuffed animals do not walk, but that’s where her partner, Jess Malloy, comes in. Another Charlie-class meta, the pair met at one of the rare social gatherings held for non-costumed superhumans, and they’ve been together since. Laticia’s company lends its money to the purchase of toys and food for the poor, and Jess animates the figures with her powers.
The exact number of Heralds varies year to year, but perennials include Anita James of James’s Construction, Dr. Terrance Chu, Allan Crane, Randy Elks, and Veni Nayar. Without Anita James’s telekinetic abilities, Santa and his reindeers wouldn’t be seen flying across the city. Without Dr. Terrance Chu’s light-based illusions, there wouldn’t be candlelight sprucing up the trees along Broadway or the special lighting of the world’s largest Menorah at Grand Army Plaza. Without Allan Crane’s super speed, there wouldn’t be the guardian angel who races around, saving people from smaller catastrophes on New York’s slippery streets. And without Randy Elks, there wouldn’t be the weather anomalies that allow large snowflakes to fall over Central Park or pollution-clear nights to celebrate the many festivals and parades. It’s these metas who sit before me in the Spanner House boardroom, drinking coffee and nibbling on finger sandwiches.
“We’re not superheroes,” Laticia says. “We live normal lives and use our tax money to fight crime, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to be good neighbors.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by the other Heralds. “I repair public and private sites after metas have torn through an area,” Anita James says. “I use my powers for good. This, though. This is all about uplifting people and repaying the city we love. I’d volunteer whether I had powers or not.”
Dr. Terrance Chu is more practical in his approach to the Holidays and his ability to manufacture light shows. “I like to think I’m a one man war against seasonal depression. The Holidays can be a tough time for many people, so I use my lights to generate positive feelings. Blues and greens to calm in frantic places, red and yellow to warm you in places you might feel isolated; I use warm and cold colors to uplift you, to make you think, to make you calm.”
Allan Crane, however, may be the odd one of the bunch. “Total atheist,” he says, laughing. He’s an admitted adrenaline junkie who runs a one-man courier company who claims his only competition is the internet, “and when the internet can deliver parcels and packages faster than me, then I’ll be worried.” In his spare time, he’s helping people, but rarely getting into fights or engaging other metas. “I don’t feel it, you know?” Allan says. “I just like running, and there’s a dozen ways I can be a good Samaritan every night when I’m out for a stroll.” Come December, Laticia hires Allan on an exclusive contract for the Heralds, and all his outings go toward the city. “I get paid to run,” he says. “How fricken awesome is that?”
The Heralds have been gaining popularity and volunteers steadily, both meta and baseline alike, and this year Laticia is starting new initiatives that include helping stock soup kitchens and helping homeless find a place to sleep. “Sure, some metas see this as a way to raise their visibility, but we sniff limelighters out pretty quickly,” Jess Malloy says as she and Laticia hold hands. “It’s really the powered types who prefer the 9-to-5 over the rooftop patrols that come to us. There’s a lot of pressure to wear a cape when you trigger, and there’s a lot of guilt too… are we doing the right thing?” Everyone in the room nods, familiar with the sentiment. Randy Elks picks up the train of thought, adding, “or are we being selfish going into business for ourselves? Being a Herald is one way us non-spandex metas feel like we’re really contributing.”
Veni Nayar has spent the interview listening. He’s a quiet-spoken man originally from New Delhi, and as a Hindu celebrates none of the December festivals. If his emotion-projection powers frighten some people, imagine how he feels. He’s terrified of imprinting other people with his social anxieties, and has fought to control that part of himself through therapy and medication. It’s been a long fight, but he’s managed to find work with Emergency Services to help during hostage negotiations and to bring jumpers off the ledge. It’s he who speaks up for the first time and he who closes out our interview. “I am told the only way to do good is to fight. Fight crime, fight corruption, fight evil… fight, fight, fight. Fighting scares me, and I hope through this I can show other metas that there are other ways to use their powers, that there are peaceful ways that matter as much. And when better to prove that then during the Holidays when the different faiths intersect and yet none of us really come together?”
When indeed? So whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Milad an-Nabi, or you just want to spend time with friends and family… Happy Holidays to one and all….