really nice...

session with Kyla yesterday, impressed with her poise and greater dimension as she enters the sixth grade. Looking forward to working with her again. Have also heard from two other parents, so that too, should be happening soon. Now weekend begins, may have some tutoring over this long weekend, found a good book of short stories by a writer named Phil Klay, most are based on soldiers returning from Iraq, first one pretty horrifying.
Last night, returned home after tutoring session, rested a bit, then off to South Fourth around 8:30, walk south on Bedford  from L train stop to south fourth somewhat of a circus, people everywhere,  a lot of unfeeling in the air, no longer a neighborhood but what.....? Did two Karaoke songs, had some nice conversations and encounters, left to visit Woods because I thought my friend Bob was there, but he wasn't, so took the subway home.
Rest of day, pick up laundry then go to Sibyl's reading at NYTW then...not sure. Will go to Jessie A's reading tomorrow at HERE. will I ever get to see a movie...? Maybe. Sunday make my bar and coffee shop visits, Monday the cookout, long weekend, can get restless, will see how things turn out. Probably will not post a blog until Tuesday, will tell all (if there is something to tell).

Now its.....

Thursday, and I sit here in Lincoln Center library (part of my life since the winter of 65-66) waiting for Kyla, who I will meet and tutor at the library next door in about two hours.
Interesting evening last night: Began at FURIE, a heated discussion about improving the projects (NYCHA) from several members of FUREE who live in the projects. Very little for me to do but listen, got antsy at times, but decided to stay through it. Black people express themselves very differently then people "like myself" and it takes some getting used to. But the problems are their problems; I am just trying to be supportive. All FUREE members are very nice to me.
After FUREE, decided it was time to test my "beer Book". First stop was Glorietta Baldy, a pub on Franklin, near Fulton. Too filled for me; made a decision not to enter, but then what...? Decided to try another bar, Bedford Coffee shop, a coffee place that morphs into a bar at night, about seven blocks north of Fulton on Franklin. This was the first time I remember being this far east in Bed-Stuy in the evening. Interesting mix of people on the street, some black, some white. Went into bar, bartenders very friendly, had interesting conversation with them as I drank my beer. this is a small bar, perfect for a cool date or for a group of friends who want a laid back time. Of course, I had neither. By myself I was happy, but clear that there would not be a lot for me to do there, since there was no TV. Left after the beer, decided (actually had decided that a while back) that I would go to Black Swan, on Bedford and Lafayette, pretty close by, where there was food and possibly a baseball game on TV. Walked east to Bedford on Greene, a really beautiful block with incredible brownstones. Would still love to talk to someone who has lived on that block for say, 40 years, to really tell the story of the block's transition. Anyway, arrived at Black Swan, as usual, fairly crowded but found a bar seat from which I could watch Yankee game, not great since Yankees were far ahead. Bartender very nice, and had an interesting talk with a young man who, I think was one of the managers. But then it was time to go home. Expensive kale ceasar salad (at least for me) but at least a try and a search for some excitement. Came home via G, C, and 1.
Today, not sure what will happen after tutoring session, may see movie but do want to end up doing Karaoke at South Fourth, also I think Bobby G will be at the Woods down the block at the same time, maybe stop in there as well.

third day.....

after Fringe, things getting a little more back to normal. Yesterday, had Fringe party at Sheen Center, saw Waiting for Guffman for the first time, enjoyed it, nice conversation with Julia, wife of one of the box office people. Interesting that this year i have found much more division among Fringe staff, younger people more cut off from the older people (who, I suppose is me). Not used to that, of well, Fringe is fringe, still an amazing two weeks.
Today, will probably return to Lincoln Center library to read another one of Tony Tanner's criticisms of the Shakespeare plays, Yesterday read Much Ado and Hamlet---find his ideas incredibly stimulating, doesn't try to explain all of it- but knows how to show the irony and double meanings in the words, lets you do the rest.
This evenng have FUREE meeting at six, a little nervous about showing up, but will still go, hope things don't get too out of hand there, arguments can be difficult, afterwards, maybe see a movie at BAM, or check out one of the beer places on my BRokelyn set of coupons. We will see....

tough night....

last night, actually felt very tired once I left this very library. Spent rest of the day around neighborhood, went to Lincoln Center library, read a very strong essay on King Lear by Tony Tanner---he seems like a very good interpreter of Shakespeare, always shattered when having to deal with Lear, his essay really brought home the frightening strength of the play. Started to read his essay on first part of Henry VI, had to stop, really too much overload. Rest of the evening spent mostly in the apartment feeling really fatigued, went to sleep several times, had many dreams, most unsettling, in one I call up an old friend and bartender and ask him to come to a concert I am giving, when he begs out, I understand, in another dream I am standing by for the role of Mark in Rent, while the actor who is playing the role rehearses I stalk the back of the orchestra, loaded with feeling for doing the role, This segues into a scene in which I am a block away from the theater, for some reason need a lift, get in the back of a car driven by a Puerto Rican family who have a baby, maybe one just born, with them, Try to get out of the car to get back into theater, then dream ends. Up around 5, happy to see the sun come up an hour later.
Better today, helped Arlene pack her car, later texted two of the mothers of my students, one has gotten back to me and said she wishes to begin next week. That's good.
Rest of day, Fringe celebration party at Sheen center tonight, will go, before that perhaps go down to Lincoln Center library again and read another of Tanner's insights into Shakespeare.

fringe is....

over....now sitting in the library, frustrated because machine is slow. But today is the first day of the rest of my life, worked harder than ever before at Fringe, why, because i felt like the energizer bunny, no other reason. Now feeling very self-assured, potent is perhaps a better word. So where do we go from here? Have the week to 'de-fringe", want to move around, see friends, also redsicover where the city and the state is re problems that we face.Wish i could write more, as ideas swirl around in my head, but nothing really coming out that is coherent or meaningful  Liz, my cousin, put some interesting bogs re white priviledge on her facebook page, would like to respond to them, that is when the machine began to crash.
Rest of day; will improvise, would like to lose myself in a movie, if possible. Might be too tired, we will see, might spend the evening in baseball immersion, or maybe head to south fourth, where I have not been for a while; it would be nice to rejoin that community.
Should contact some of the parents of my students re starting the tutoring again for this year. but I have not, will probably wait a day.
So what did I get out of Fringe/ Well, just a sense that I could immerse myself in a community with "passion", which is a very strange word for the method or running a box office, on the surface a most banal or at best, functional job. Nevertheless, proud of myself for organizing lines as people came in, might have been chaos or at least some confusion if I had not been active. Had to make it happen. That will be all for now, tomorrow, a better sense of what is going on and where I am going.

here I sit....

in the library while my apartment is cleaned. Week has been "brutal" as Fringe has become all involving. Basically got through it, handling the i-pad, which is selling the tickets, well. It has been "good' to me, and i have been "good" to it. One more week to go, will treasure my free time when this is over. What a strange phenomena being a box office manager at the Fringe is, being part of a 17 day community that ends immediately when it is over. Saw one great play yesterday, by a playwright named catherine Yu, the Sun Experiment---really a remarkable set of ideas and feelings, well acted and directed. Intense. Otherwise, just work, would have really enjoyed Ben Beckley's birthday party in the slope on Saturday evening, but was simply too tired to get there. Ironically, after returning the i-pads to the Fringe yesterday, was not at all anxious to go to sleep, therefore walked to pizza on Ludlow, then walked up second avenue, found bar on
11th street, watched a bit of baseball there, very empty, bartender nice but no conversation. Took 14th street bus to Seventh Ave and 2 home.
Good meeting with my sister in law kathy yesterday for light dinner near where my venue is at the Fringe.
Really admire what she is going through, a very ill step mother in her eighties, living in isolation in Conncecticut, and my brother, with his ms problems whose life she manages. She is so involved with her family, simply the opposite of myself. Also must admire my brother David's courage at dealing with this disease---we who are healthy, hardly realize how lucky we are.
Next post will probably be next Monday, as I don't post while working at the Fringe, should be relieved by then, also some more adventures at the Fringe,  I am sure....

First free...

day, after three intense days at the Fringe. Of course, everything changes, unstructured time becomes ferociously structured, gaps in performance times, mean long walks outside of venue, figuring out what....
now, first day off feel exhausted, in the mix, not much more to say. Usually tired after the days work.
Basically comfortable with surroundings, nice people to work with, usual "problems" with people coming
late, self involved, etc. Not much else to report, will try to seen Jack Frederick's piece today, after that...
biggest problem for today is whether to see a few fringe plays, or socialize at one of your places. Hate to get out of "fringe vibe" during duration, but possibly hold myself back during that time..Well, we will see....

Fringe begins tomorrow,....and

am psyched---met my venue director and lighting person yesterday, they really seem like they will be easy to work with. Schedule interesting, first test may be Yale production on Saturday afternoon, late.Looks like
it will be very easy to operate i-pad; it really does the work for one, and I think that is something that I found hard to accept. Anyway, Bill and Richard were extremely nice to me yesterday, when I went down to Fringe Central to observe, will return today to also observe Bill. Then it begins.
Yesterday, went to Richard Woolf's lecture at Judson Church---liked it, some of what he spoke of a little obvious, but good to see the message so distinctly focused. Afterwards, walked west, looked in a number of restaurants and bars, all very crowded, mass consumption, where does all that money come from...?
Was tired, just went home, listened to ball game wrap ups, and went to bed.
Probably will not post until Monday, really looking forward to the next few days, going to buy a new pair of dungarees, just for the Fringe.

just received....

venue assignment, it is the Robert Moss theater, I have never worked there, schedule is relatively easy, will check in their today, as well as go down to fringe central to practice the computer with which we will sell the tickets. A little disappointed that I did not get an assignment at the four fringe central theaters, but there must be a reason for their planning, the walk from Moss to Fringe Central in evening will not be a difficult one.
Still very disappointed in what i have read and heard about "broken windows policy", of course it is primarily done in the poor neighborhoods of color, so we, on the upper west side are immune to it and it creates for us a world that is very fair and safe, a distortion, it seems like. When will the outrage increase? What can be done..? Will continue to follow up on this, though, with Fringe coming up, less time to focus.
Yesterday, last Spanish lesson, a good one, really want to return in September, then went to Lansdowne, surprised at how friendly the bartenders were, had good time watching baseball for about two hours, also good to have the salad there, it really fills me up with greens, something that now does not happen too often.
Tomorrow will probably be my last blog post until Fringe lives through its first three days,
Will see what happens...

so its...

three days before Fringe, still have not gotten venue assignment, will visit the Fringe probably today or tomorrow.
Final Spanish lesson (for now) tonight. Feel like I have really enjoyed it---yes, it may be valuable in getting some more sub work, but there is something else as well. It's an energy thing, just like the feeling of being challenged to understand a new language. But will stop for August, not sure about returning in Fall, would really like to, as usual, money is a factor.
Yesterday, as I said, tired, really tired in afternoon, but in spite of that, went to Brooklyn to see Bunuel movie, Mexican bus ride, forgot how unique Bunuel could be---Spanish sub titles did not fully correspond to dialogue, so did not get as much Spanish practice as I had hoped, but, felt I understood at least some of the dialogue.  Afterwards, went to the almost empty Mullane's right near BAM, and watched baseball for about a half hour. Returned home, had a hiccup and burp fit for about a half hour, finally went out and got some water and calmed my body down, went to bed.
Today, Spanish class is over at 8, which which means there is lots of time to do something, good matchups in the big leagues, not sure where I will end up.....

so he went....

to New Haven on Sunday afternoon, got off the train at 3, walked to campus, very short walk, then wandered around, had some coffee and desert, psyched out the scene, you might say. Covered Yale campus from front to back, seems like fifty years is not a long time since I began my one frightening year there, searched for my graduate dorm, found it, now something else for the university. Actually found the walk very vibrant---not at all upset about the past, seems like a story from someone's novel, except that it happened to me. Finally went to Middletown, Luke glad to see me, like the atmosphere at the Cabaret, conducive to making new friends, which I certainly did with my table mates. Play was really good, much deeper feeling than I have experienced from Eno, and very well and subtly acted by Luke's ensemble group of Yale drama school students. Even now they are performing on a very professional level. Good conversations with Matt and Aubie, afterwards, then back to the station, kind of an adventure, but worked out very well.
Overall the trip was like a burst of energy for me, much more desired than my habitual Sunday life of trudging from one coffee bar to another.Would like to return to New Haven sometime soon, pretty easy trip and very easy campus to navigate. One is constantly reminded of its insulation, the homeless around the campus remind one that one's fate is bound up in race and class. This is my generation, the early seventy-somethings, the accumulation of money, the stable families, the dinners with children and grand children at fairly up scale restaurants. Is that all there is...? Well, who am I to say, just because my own life has turned out so different.
So different in fact, that you could find cityboy on the 7 subway Grand Central station at 1:45 Monday morning, moving to the two train, because a taxi was too expensive. But, we made it home.
Today, tired somewhat, want to do some work on Spanish for lesson tomorrow, would like to see Bunuel movie today at BAM, might make it, that is about it.......

saturday morning....

time to visit Cobra, see Claire and Austen, last time before the Fringe, Claire may be going back to London before Fringe is over, so would like to see her one more time. After that----maybe head to South Fourth, where I can probably watch Yankee Redsox game, wow, realize that I have been watching those two teams play since end of 1950. Yes, that is 1950, guys. Actually went to one of the last games of that season, take by my uncle Sigmund, don't remember much of the game, remember the cigar smoke, next season was the one in which my interest in baseball exploded.
After that, well have just found out that one of the Friends class of 2013 has a play on at Kraine, wish I had heard about it sooner, have mixed feelings about attending, not invited, but then, no one has my e-mail.
Will probably leave it at that but.....
Still would like to see one movie before Fringe, promised myself that, maybe that is what I will do instead, tomorrow is Yale trip, that will be an incident of its own, will report on it Monday, looking forward to it, just nice being somewhere outside of NY, but will probably enjoy the energy of the whole trip as well. See whether I can have any interesting conversations about theater.
Last night, tired, but went to La Flaca, Bob not there, watched a lot of Seattle-Orioles game, impressed by Orioles, afterwards, thought I would try to see Happy Christmas at Sunshine, but came late, just as well, saved some money, then wandered through the lower east side of Manhattan in search of some Pizza, found a nice one on Ludlow, near (south of) Stanton. Then went back to Houston, tired but wanted very much to walk, so I did, to Houston and varick to pick up the 1 train. Did not feel like taking D at Broadway-Lafayette, so continued walk to Varick, Struck by how crowded the streets east of Bowery are, especially right off Houston, as compared to streets right off Houston in Soho, virtually empty, could do anything there.
Returned home really tired, just got baseball scores, and fell asleep. Awake early, usual feelings will probably sleep better tonight since Yale trip is planned and better Sunday night after return from New Haven because it will be 2 A.M. and I will be pretty exhausted.

so arrived at....

Fringe Central a little tired but ready for my orientation. Strangely, or maybe not so strangely, since the e-mail about orientation was really late, many of my friends were not there. But I will see them on Friday (next). Finally got to understand about ticket selling via i-pad, should really not be that difficult, I have to conceptually get used to it, but once I do, I think there will be less task work than with the money box office.
Will go down to Fringe once next week and see if I can get some more tutoring.
After Fringe, went to Williamsburg to South Fourth, continued to do my Bobby Darin songs, to much "acclaim". Anyway, it is fun, will miss it in the coming weeks. Nice talk with Matt, who is going to Maine to be mentored by Douglass Kennedy for his novel. left feeling pretty fulfilled.
Promised myself I would go to a movie today, now I think it might not happen, do not have to go back to the apartment, will probably end up at La Flaca this evening and watch both baseball games.
Not much else to say until tomorrow; Yale trip continues to be this  Sunday.