another article....

displaying the total aggressiveness of the development community and the city's desire to advocate for this community. Where are we going with this? How do I report on my "adventures" when in fact this aggressiveness is all pervasive. Is the Mayor determined to leave the city in ruins, for those who are not wealthy? To price out everyone else? Sometimes I feel that is the case. Well, let's see how things develop. How much resistance to these plans can be created.
As to the "adventures":
Saturday afternoon, after a short session at 145 street, cityboy goes to the 145 street A train station to get o 179th street. Sounds very simple, yes? Well after 15 minutes, nothing happened. Time to get out and try to get a bus, a taxi  (but you would have to pay for it) or walk the 34 blocks in 30 or so minutes. Of course, that is what happened--my determination to get to the library at 179th was intense---so there I was, walking north at great speed on Saint Nicholas and later Amsterdam Avenue. I could feel the pressure on my body as I walked; amazingly enough I made it only five minutes late, and had a great session. Afterwards, walked around Washington Heights in search of Greek diner in which I could have some coffee and a cheese danish, but a wrong turn on Bennett Avenue lengthened that trip. The subways were incredibly slow that afternoon. Returned home and realized that a near by movie experience was impossible. I could hardly move. Rest of the night was spent (to no one's surprise) sleeping.
Sunday, Winter's Tale in Brooklyn scheduled for the evening, but what of the afternoon. Too tired to go to Brooklyn early, I decided to take in Ismael's Ghost's, a movie playing at the Walter Reade theater. It's main character is a movie director, with a lover, whose wife, who had gone missing twenty one years earlier, reappears. Interesting story with interesting shots, but the movie centers on the director, whom I found selfish and indulgent---I was annoyed with his "angst". pretty early on. Stayed until the end, though---some good things, great performances by the two women whom he is involved with and some great shots---but overall, I was turned off by the central character's overheated self indulgence.
  Arrived in Brooklyn early (thankfully), had some coffee, browsed the bookstore in Fulton and headed to the Polonsky theater for the play. Winter's Tale is a play that i have seen many times---this production, while sloppy in parts, and with many different accents and visions of performance, nevertheless, left me very moved. I don't know---maybe the arc of the play is so strong (It is a brilliant piece of writing)  that, despite all the things that annoyed me (poor line readings, costumes that seemed inept)  the whole thing worked. I wonder if a play like Hamlet or Macbeth could have survived some of the weak links in this production, but for Winter's Tale, those problems were stifled by the sheer "guts" of the play. Afterwards, traveled the subway back to Manhattan with my friend Michael, who did a really nice job playing Camilo---we talked about some of the problems that the actors faced as the train went back to Manhattan.
First play for cityboy in a while---well, there was also Flako's monologue on Friday, but being there really reminded me how excited I am to be in a theater watching live performers create at the moment---a much stronger experience then being at a movie.
Tonight---hopefully will go to a reading that my friend Sarah is directing at Japan House, should see a lot of people there that I know---will report soon.