a snow date....

for Friends, where I was scheduled to work. Feel a little sad---some of the students on the register of the classes that I was going to cover or those I like a lot and had not worked with for a while. Oh well, maybe next time.
I now have five books at home that I might read during the long day with snow ahead. One of them I actually bought for a dollar at a library sale--it is The Rector of Justin, a 1965 book by Louis Auchincloss. I remember exactly when it came out---spring of 65, I was finishing up my year at Yale--that was a pivotal time in my life, for when I left Yale, I basically moved "away' from my family, that is the emotional structure that was in place ever since my year in Kindergarden, "Bob as Student" was ended. A real break in my life history. I wonder if my father ever got over it. At any rate, I remember the book getting good reviews, and one of my friends, Steve B, actually including it in a small poem. So now it is mine. Will I read it? Well, at my house there is also Brosnan's baseball book and the Thomas Mallon novel, Finale, a really sharp piece of work that I find very interesting. So, assuming that I stay in the rest of the day, at least one of them will be read at length, depending on my mood.
A new Joe the Juice has opened about a block from my apartment. As usual, per the neighborhood, it is highly overpriced--but I like the ambiance---their coffee is very good, and they make nice smoothies. At this point, with cityboy a little financially ahead, I like patronizing it. May go there after this stay at the library.
Weekend adventures: Was able to get a cheap ticket to Sound House, the New Goerges theater project playing at the Flea. An interesting piece, somewhat repetitive, really technically efficient, and like a lot of other "downtown theater" projects, a little bit in love with its own vision. A group of interlocking stories the center of which was a sensitive young woman trying to discover the past life of her mother, before her mother had met and married her father. It had to do with a possible affair with a Rolling Stone rocker on a tour of Amsterdam. Sometimes the writing was taut and intense, but as with a lot of these projects, there was also a lot of repetition. Still, glad that I went, it was nice to see Susan, who runs New Goerges at the theater and to let her know that I was offering my support.
 Sunday: revolved around a visit to the Film Forum to see a documentary entitled Did You Wonder Who Carried the Gun?  The film maker, Travis Wilkerson discovers that his great grandfather killed a black man in a small town in Mississippi and was never prosecuted for it. So he goes back to the place where the crime happened---a general store at that time owned and run by his great grand father and great grandmother---and tries to put together the most information he can get. The tone is bleak and harsh---this is a real" take no prisoners"  look at the pre civil rights south where white supremacy ruled. The strongest vision that one takes away from the film is how powerful the white leaders were at the time, and the hopelessness that the black citizens of the area must have felt. It left me feeling very sad and somewhat frightened.
 After that I returned home---for some reason, though I had time, I did not want to "hang out" at any bar--just stopped off at the Two Boots near the seventh avenue 1 and 2 train, and after the pizza, headed home.
The snow is beginning to fall with great intensity now...I guess that will keep me in the apartment for most of the rest of the day. Don't know if movie theaters will remain open, but very calm about just reading. We will see.