as i sit here in the Lincoln Center library. Made my unemployment application---picked up my check from Friends, sent out my rent check---functional, functional----now there is not much left to do, except prepare for the BAN meeting tonight (surprised we have another one so soon after the march, but I will be there)
First day of the Jewish New Year, I have never been very religious---my family was very "Jewish secular" you might say. I have a memory from my first year i Baltimore as a freshman at Hopkins. This is the only time I have fasted---I did so along with a friend---another freshman. On Saturday afternoon, a beautiful, late summer early fall day, my friend Jeff and I walk along Park Heights Avenue (we probably took the 22 bus there), The street is filled with Jewish, mostly well to do families, walking to and from or standing outside the several synagogues that line the street. To me, in my idealistic and romantic 17 year old head, those images seemed totally beautiful. I wanted to be part of it. The avenue is regal and well ordained, no hint of what it will turn into around ten years later. Finally Jeff and I enter a synagogue and listen to the end of the Yom Kippur service. The rabbi is angry at the Presidential candidate John F Kennedy; I think for not taking the day off, or something like that. We finish the service, then take the bus back to Hopkins, at the bus stop we meet a middle aged man who by some odd coincidence attended my high school The Bronx High School of Science and remembers well one of the teachers. An odd experience.
Yesterday, spent the day in Brooklyn---watched a lot of football at Pine Box Rock Shop,,felt happy there- then back to the Gotham Market. Tired after some long walks---at home by 7. I have to remember, if I want to hang out with my friend Eric who tends bar in Williamsburg beginning Sundays at 9, I have to restructure and re plan the whole day---keep it simple and no strenuous activities until the evening. Will have to stop now---will report soon.
Monday, September 30, 2019
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Sunday morning....
feeling much better---an offer to work on Tuesday at Friends turned out to be a false alarm (as of now) but it grounded me anyway. Yesterday, after my session (pretty fulfilling) took the train to Brooklyn an headed for Jack. Its open house was part of a street festival---when I arrived there was a performance by an afro-Amreican performing group that was very dynamic. Afterwards, the leader thanked the Jack artistic staff for giving them their space to create rent free, and also I assume, some performance time. This is what a not for profit should do--whether theater or not---empower the community---reach out and create something that is not already there. How many theaters operating now under a not for profit umbrella can say that? Lots of entitlement there. Later I said hello to Alec, Jack's artistic director, and told him how much I was looking forward to the new theater's first presentation, a play by my friend Amina. Her work and imaginative vision seems to be sprawling out---so looking forward to her latest play, about two weeks from today.
When the activities died down, I decided to walk a bit in the neighborhood---Jack would have been considered part of Bed-Stuy up to about 10 years ago, now it is more like the outer reaches of Clinton Hill. So much has changed in that area in the past 10 years---Fulton Street, the main drag, is loaded with new high and mid rises. Anyway, I walked north on Cambridge Place a few blocks, came to the beginning of Quincy Street, then moved around the corner and one block north the beginning of Lexington Avenue. These avenues and where they begin---they arrive out of the streets of Fort Greene and Cinton Hill---fascinate me. First time for me to look at those streets. Both are lined with some nice brownstones, but with some new luxury buildings as well---they are everywhere in the Bed-Stuy-Clinton Hill area. The streets were kind of empty, but the majority of people that I crossed paths with were white. At Grand Avenue, where Lexington begins, I moved to Gates, then followed Gates back to the Gotham market---my "home away from home"
Then it was just a question of would I go to one of two movie choices at BAM, or just sit it out. I decided on the latter---stayed in the very convenient fiction center and read for about 45 minutes, then, feeling physically very tired, returned home.
Today, after this off to Bushwick--will watch some football at Cobra, then not sure about the rest of the day. My friend Eric bartends at Clem's a bar in Williamsburg, but his shift does not begin until 9. Can I remain in Brooklyn that long? Return to Manhattan and then come back? We will see.
When the activities died down, I decided to walk a bit in the neighborhood---Jack would have been considered part of Bed-Stuy up to about 10 years ago, now it is more like the outer reaches of Clinton Hill. So much has changed in that area in the past 10 years---Fulton Street, the main drag, is loaded with new high and mid rises. Anyway, I walked north on Cambridge Place a few blocks, came to the beginning of Quincy Street, then moved around the corner and one block north the beginning of Lexington Avenue. These avenues and where they begin---they arrive out of the streets of Fort Greene and Cinton Hill---fascinate me. First time for me to look at those streets. Both are lined with some nice brownstones, but with some new luxury buildings as well---they are everywhere in the Bed-Stuy-Clinton Hill area. The streets were kind of empty, but the majority of people that I crossed paths with were white. At Grand Avenue, where Lexington begins, I moved to Gates, then followed Gates back to the Gotham market---my "home away from home"
Then it was just a question of would I go to one of two movie choices at BAM, or just sit it out. I decided on the latter---stayed in the very convenient fiction center and read for about 45 minutes, then, feeling physically very tired, returned home.
Today, after this off to Bushwick--will watch some football at Cobra, then not sure about the rest of the day. My friend Eric bartends at Clem's a bar in Williamsburg, but his shift does not begin until 9. Can I remain in Brooklyn that long? Return to Manhattan and then come back? We will see.
Saturday, September 28, 2019
lots of contrasts
on this incredibly beautiful day--outside it is really great. Had a tough night last night---slept a lot, some stomach pain---stomach dead to food from about 2 P.M. to about 3 in the morning. Woke up feeling kind of weak, but after some coffee and a bagel, feeling pretty strong. A session at 3 keeps me "trapped" on the upper west side in the morning---walking around the neighborhood at around 7:30, I wished I could just get on a train and go to Brooklyn---but of course, I could not. Don't want to tire myself out before the session, since there is supposed to be an open house at Jack---a theater in Brooklyn that I like to go to---a lot of my friends perform there Will be nice to touch base with some members of my 'community" if they are there at the same time. After that---not sure, a few movies in the area are possible---I expect to just let things happen.
This morning, with some time on my hands, I started a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald---only read half of it, but the writing itself was really beautiful. It revived a feeling of excitement for me this morning. Yesterday in the afternoon I did go to the rally outside the city Landmark Commission, to fight for the non-removal of 227 Duffield. Glad that I went--held up a sign and talked to other protesters---when the protest ended, I was tired, but also simply did not want to return home to the apartment---I just was not read---so I walked west on Chambers Street, then followed it north to where Hudson Street swerves out of West Broadway and then walked north on both Hudson and Greenwich street until I reached the film forum on Houston. Looking at the "new" Tribeca (well hardly new, Tribeca has been an enclave for the wealthy for about at least 20 years now---possibly longer) I remember the first time I came down there. It was 1983, spring, and of course the area was mostly deserted with little warehouses and some lofts. I went down there because I was producing a play (In Tiber Melting, by Carole Braverman) and I had found a woman who would design my flyer and program. She lived in Tribeca in a loft with her boy friend. A weird feeling approaching her loft, sort of like being in a strange, barren world. So now, about 27 years later, all I see are the gleaming high rises and mid rises, mostly doormen building---could anyone have imagined the change that would take place. And where I am in all this. Does this change benefit me (more people on the street---far less crime) or am I simply the observer who watches it? I certainly can't afford the many restaurants that I passed, but does that really matter? Oh well, it is my city.
That is all for now, should have some new reports soon.
This morning, with some time on my hands, I started a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald---only read half of it, but the writing itself was really beautiful. It revived a feeling of excitement for me this morning. Yesterday in the afternoon I did go to the rally outside the city Landmark Commission, to fight for the non-removal of 227 Duffield. Glad that I went--held up a sign and talked to other protesters---when the protest ended, I was tired, but also simply did not want to return home to the apartment---I just was not read---so I walked west on Chambers Street, then followed it north to where Hudson Street swerves out of West Broadway and then walked north on both Hudson and Greenwich street until I reached the film forum on Houston. Looking at the "new" Tribeca (well hardly new, Tribeca has been an enclave for the wealthy for about at least 20 years now---possibly longer) I remember the first time I came down there. It was 1983, spring, and of course the area was mostly deserted with little warehouses and some lofts. I went down there because I was producing a play (In Tiber Melting, by Carole Braverman) and I had found a woman who would design my flyer and program. She lived in Tribeca in a loft with her boy friend. A weird feeling approaching her loft, sort of like being in a strange, barren world. So now, about 27 years later, all I see are the gleaming high rises and mid rises, mostly doormen building---could anyone have imagined the change that would take place. And where I am in all this. Does this change benefit me (more people on the street---far less crime) or am I simply the observer who watches it? I certainly can't afford the many restaurants that I passed, but does that really matter? Oh well, it is my city.
That is all for now, should have some new reports soon.
Friday, September 27, 2019
Friday morning...
no work---my one good stock has "tanked" (for now) and---well that is all the "bad news". The good, started one scene from a possible short play in my head---actually wrote about 15 lines of dialogue. Pretty good for me. That is what comes out of the restlessness I feel.
Yesterday---after a session--went to Brooklyn, to my two (now) favorite places--the Gotham Center, opposite the Harvey Theater at BAM, and the fiction bookstore about a block away. Have nothing to do---I probably go there. Again, had a chance to see a movie or play, but turned it down---left early around 8:30 to return home
Today, there is a rally and community speak out outside the landmark commission in downtown Manhattan to protest the Landmark Commission's refusal to landmark a small building that served as a runaway slave free house, and is now scheduled to be demolished so that the current landlord can build eleven luxury apartments. On a block that is already lined with luxury hotels and apartments. Tomorrow I will not be able to attend the rally and march, but I will be there today. After that....
can't say---will depend on how much energy I have left.
Two good articles in the Times today on the continuing devastation caused by the development community. But the word is getting out---one of the Mayoral aspirants promises not to take any campaign money from real estate interests. He understands the possible push back if he does.
That is all for now---will report soon.
Yesterday---after a session--went to Brooklyn, to my two (now) favorite places--the Gotham Center, opposite the Harvey Theater at BAM, and the fiction bookstore about a block away. Have nothing to do---I probably go there. Again, had a chance to see a movie or play, but turned it down---left early around 8:30 to return home
Today, there is a rally and community speak out outside the landmark commission in downtown Manhattan to protest the Landmark Commission's refusal to landmark a small building that served as a runaway slave free house, and is now scheduled to be demolished so that the current landlord can build eleven luxury apartments. On a block that is already lined with luxury hotels and apartments. Tomorrow I will not be able to attend the rally and march, but I will be there today. After that....
can't say---will depend on how much energy I have left.
Two good articles in the Times today on the continuing devastation caused by the development community. But the word is getting out---one of the Mayoral aspirants promises not to take any campaign money from real estate interests. He understands the possible push back if he does.
That is all for now---will report soon.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Once again...
unable to "pull the trigger" on a play to see tonight or tomorrow night on my discount web site. And that includes Oklahoma, which I feel it is very important to see. What is the problem, cityboy? Is it what we might call "theater malaise" or simply trying to keep to an almost impossible budget system. Well, you are still here for a while; we can always return to the web site---keep me posted.
An interesting memory. A Saturday in April, 1955. My father and I have just seen a matinee of The Desperate Hours---a play about three escaped prison convicts who take over the home of a "normal" family by force and hide out there. Very intense melodrama, very exciting. Playing the leader of the convicts is a young actor named Paul Newman, his younger brother, the more sensitive one, is played by another actor I have never seen before named George Grizzard, and Karl Malden plays the head of the family who is captured. Great performances, a great climax---very vivid production. Usually my father and I return to the Bronx right after a performance, but this is a very hot April afternoon, and my father suggests we visit his best friend Harvey, who lives on 93rd street. Harvey and his wife Zerlina, are the only friends my parents have who live in Manhattan. So we take the bus that goes north on Central Park to 93rd street This is all new to me. Harvey's apartment house is between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue, a block and a half from the park. We get off the bus and walk west on 93rd. The block between Central Park West and Columbus is filled with Puerto Rican people. They are mostly outside the small apartment houses that line the block. Coming from an all Jewish and white neighborhood in the Bronx, seeing all these people of color, living in poverty is strange, a little frightening---I am amazed that there are blocks like this. We cross Columbus and approach Harvey's house---he is not there and we continue west.
I bring this up because yesterday evening, I wanted to take a crosstown bus to the east side, but the UN schedule meant that buses were re-routed; I got off the bus at the earliest possible stop, and found myself on Central Park West and 88th street. Getting to the east side ( and a coffee shop that I wanted to stop at on 2nd Avenue) is impossible. I decide to walk north, thinking that maybe I will turn right at 94th street and re-take that journey from 1955. Lots of people on the Central Park west side, some dog walkers, then I turn right on 94th, and proceed west. Of course the street has since been gentrified, a calm presence exists on all of it. Very few, if any traces of the poverty that I saw 64 years ago. The Central Park West apartment house on that block, actually has its entrance on 94th street. I wonder how the people who lived there at the time (mostly middle class professionals who worked in Manhattan) considered the rest of their street which they could see as they went into the apartment house.
Is it an amazing thing, to be able to try to consider the changes in a block over a 64 year period? As I walked west, I could see the block in 55, the large number of Hispanic people outside their apartment houses socializing. Could anyone then have thought that the block and the city would have evolved into what it is today? Later I walked west on 95th between Columbus and Amsterdam, past the many brownstones that are on that block, I got a nice feeling of warmth and energy generating from the street. A nice sense of community. I ended up at the Dive Bar, to watch some baseball (irrelevant in terms of the now decided pennant races) and had a beer. A nice place,I was treated with friendship from the serving staff---I got what I needed and returned home.
Tonight, again--undefined---will report later.
An interesting memory. A Saturday in April, 1955. My father and I have just seen a matinee of The Desperate Hours---a play about three escaped prison convicts who take over the home of a "normal" family by force and hide out there. Very intense melodrama, very exciting. Playing the leader of the convicts is a young actor named Paul Newman, his younger brother, the more sensitive one, is played by another actor I have never seen before named George Grizzard, and Karl Malden plays the head of the family who is captured. Great performances, a great climax---very vivid production. Usually my father and I return to the Bronx right after a performance, but this is a very hot April afternoon, and my father suggests we visit his best friend Harvey, who lives on 93rd street. Harvey and his wife Zerlina, are the only friends my parents have who live in Manhattan. So we take the bus that goes north on Central Park to 93rd street This is all new to me. Harvey's apartment house is between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue, a block and a half from the park. We get off the bus and walk west on 93rd. The block between Central Park West and Columbus is filled with Puerto Rican people. They are mostly outside the small apartment houses that line the block. Coming from an all Jewish and white neighborhood in the Bronx, seeing all these people of color, living in poverty is strange, a little frightening---I am amazed that there are blocks like this. We cross Columbus and approach Harvey's house---he is not there and we continue west.
I bring this up because yesterday evening, I wanted to take a crosstown bus to the east side, but the UN schedule meant that buses were re-routed; I got off the bus at the earliest possible stop, and found myself on Central Park West and 88th street. Getting to the east side ( and a coffee shop that I wanted to stop at on 2nd Avenue) is impossible. I decide to walk north, thinking that maybe I will turn right at 94th street and re-take that journey from 1955. Lots of people on the Central Park west side, some dog walkers, then I turn right on 94th, and proceed west. Of course the street has since been gentrified, a calm presence exists on all of it. Very few, if any traces of the poverty that I saw 64 years ago. The Central Park West apartment house on that block, actually has its entrance on 94th street. I wonder how the people who lived there at the time (mostly middle class professionals who worked in Manhattan) considered the rest of their street which they could see as they went into the apartment house.
Is it an amazing thing, to be able to try to consider the changes in a block over a 64 year period? As I walked west, I could see the block in 55, the large number of Hispanic people outside their apartment houses socializing. Could anyone then have thought that the block and the city would have evolved into what it is today? Later I walked west on 95th between Columbus and Amsterdam, past the many brownstones that are on that block, I got a nice feeling of warmth and energy generating from the street. A nice sense of community. I ended up at the Dive Bar, to watch some baseball (irrelevant in terms of the now decided pennant races) and had a beer. A nice place,I was treated with friendship from the serving staff---I got what I needed and returned home.
Tonight, again--undefined---will report later.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Wednesday morning...
in the library, a totally open day. Yesterday had a short (but very happy) day at Friends. Nothing planned there until next Wednesday--will I work sooner---I think that it is early in the year, so no one is getting sick--maybe some meetings or outings---we will see. Meanwhile this beautiful day is clear. And guess what? I have innumerable choices on my TDF (theater discount cite); Oklahoma, (which I have always wanted to see); Slave Play (another play that really interests me) and two off off projects which I could see today if I wanted to at very reduced prices. So I do nothing. Why? Maybe I just want this day to be open---I have a lot of reading to do---maybe after this I will go to Brooklyn with the book that I am reading to help one of the students I tutor and hit a few libraries there. Then see what happens. Somehow, the idea of wandering around Brooklyn in the afternoon or evening---choosing various neighborhoods to be in, is very exciting to me. So we will see what happens.
Last two nights I remained in the apartment, in both I was tired from the days events. So no "outside visits" to report. Tonight I should be all out. Will report soon.
Last two nights I remained in the apartment, in both I was tired from the days events. So no "outside visits" to report. Tonight I should be all out. Will report soon.
Monday, September 23, 2019
Monday morning......
a long wait since my last post---three days of work at Friends, and the "long march" on Saturday. Wednesday was kind of weird. I happened to be around west 14th street and was about to get into the subway at 8th avenue when I got a text: could I be at Friends in 35 minutes. Luckily, I was not on the upper west side-so it was very possible. A hectic ride on the L across town; I made it in plenty of time, but still---a quick change. One coverage-then preparation for the next two days.
Thursday, two classes at Friends, a session after that and then a memorial for Heather, a young woman who passed away a few weeks ago. Heather was a regular at South fourth, which is how I know her---for a long time she dated one of the bartenders there. In the years that I was there she was always friendly, said hello--we usually then went our separate ways. I am not sure what the rest of her life was like---in a way, she was kind of an enigma to me---I spent a little bit of time with her at the final party for the bar. She was only in her late thirties---very very sad. About 20 people there, all south fourth verterans; it was nice to see them all again. Afterwards, rather then go back on the L, took the 62 bus into Long Island City (still more luxury building) and stopped at the Greek Diner near the 7 train for a much needed cheese danish and coffee. (What this has to do with Heather's memorial I am not sure) Then returned home.
Friday-a hectic day at Friends with many encounters with middle schoolers (we will leave it at that)
Saturday the much planned for and awaited anti-gentrfication march through Brooklyn. Very meaningful---glad that I went. First stop was outside Housing Court where on speaker told us that much help is needed---many tenants at a disadvantage while the landlords try to use illegal means to evict them. The march continued into Fort Greene---on Myrtle Avenue, across the street from the NYCHA projects I was stunned to see three luxury doorman buildings--I guess they will just never end. A speaker got up and told us about the city's plan to "reform" the north side of the park---the park facing the projects. She made it clear this was a racist move---motivated by the man who financed the luxury projects being a major contributor to the Mayor. She was very forceful--a group of citizens is fighting the city in court to prevent this. Sitting on the steps facing the speaker---all by myself---I felt a tremendous sadness about what is going on.The intense building in Brooklyn to me represents a juggernaut of power, that the real estate industry just uses at will. These luxury buildings are being built far south of Fort Greene; many are being built in the Flatbush area, an area where millenials are moving in and mostly people of color are being harassed. It is not the milennial fault, they are caught in the crossfire of the gentrification problem===they can not afford Park Slope or the luxury buildings of downtown Brooklyn so they have to find space in Flatbush or Bushwick. And of course, the landlords want them.. All these ideas flattened me--as we continued the march---east on Myrtle until Broadway. A few blocks before I felt really tired, so I left the march, jumped on the bus coming up Marcus Garvey Boulevard and took it to Fulton Street where I waited in the park for the march to meet me. When it arrived, it had picked up a good number of protesters from Bushwick---they were very spirited. The march had one more segment to go---about 6 blocks east to Broadway Junction, but I decided to leave it then--I explained to one of my friends that I was really tired---they understood and I left before the group had taken off.
Returned to Gotham market--my central point now in Brooklyn- and had some food. Returned home tired.
Yesterday, a quiet day, nothing unusual--ended up at La Flaca.
Yesterday, a quiet day, nothing unusual--ended up at La Flaca.
No BAN meeting today---one session, evening not worked out will report soon.
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Tuesday morning....
a beautiful day outside---have two scheduled sessions today, and after that, I hope to be able to head to the Gotham Market and possibly play trivia with the group that I met two weeks ago. Last week, after the second session, I was too tired to make it to Brooklyn (or anywhere) but today I hope to do it.
Yesterday a lot of rest, after Sunday's marathon flyering. Body was very tired---still I made my way to the BAN meeting---the final one before the march on Saturday. Is everything in place? I hope so---I probably will not be participating in any of the pre-march activities, but I will be there Sunday morning at 11 or thereabouts.
The only other interesting thing in my life is my new found fascination with plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare. Am in the middle of Tamburlaine, by Marlowe. Some amazing imagery in the work---also a death scene for the wife of Tamburlaine that is very eloquently written---wife is gentle, the husband (Tamburlaine) very caring. The scene seems to me almost the exact opposite of the vicious final scene between Othello and Desdemona, written, I guess at least 15 years later. Did Shakespeare know of this scene. He probably would have seen all of Marlowe's plays. Whatever, I find the juxtaposition of the two scenes fascinating. I will read Tamburlaine to the finish, then possibly look at some other Elizabethan or Jacobean plays. Lots of echoes of Shakespeare in Tamburlaine and The Revenger's Tragedy, which I have also just read.
Well that is all for now--will report soon.
Yesterday a lot of rest, after Sunday's marathon flyering. Body was very tired---still I made my way to the BAN meeting---the final one before the march on Saturday. Is everything in place? I hope so---I probably will not be participating in any of the pre-march activities, but I will be there Sunday morning at 11 or thereabouts.
The only other interesting thing in my life is my new found fascination with plays by contemporaries of Shakespeare. Am in the middle of Tamburlaine, by Marlowe. Some amazing imagery in the work---also a death scene for the wife of Tamburlaine that is very eloquently written---wife is gentle, the husband (Tamburlaine) very caring. The scene seems to me almost the exact opposite of the vicious final scene between Othello and Desdemona, written, I guess at least 15 years later. Did Shakespeare know of this scene. He probably would have seen all of Marlowe's plays. Whatever, I find the juxtaposition of the two scenes fascinating. I will read Tamburlaine to the finish, then possibly look at some other Elizabethan or Jacobean plays. Lots of echoes of Shakespeare in Tamburlaine and The Revenger's Tragedy, which I have also just read.
Well that is all for now--will report soon.
Monday, September 16, 2019
another interesting weekend....
perhaps not as exciting as last weekend, but still strong, nevertheless.
Saturday evening: went out to see the theater project of my friends, Abby and Michael. It was playing at the Invisible Dog, a venue very close to the F train Bergen Street stop. So the plan was to give myself a lot of time, in case trains were moving slowly. That is exactly what did happen---I found myself at the West 4th street station and the time clock said the next F would come in 15 minutes. Wow! That is a lot of time to spend at one station--but the D was coming in one minute. The D would let me off about 5 long blocks east of the F. But I took it anyway, (I am impatient at times) and after getting of the train, prepared for my long trip west on the five blocks that cross Bergen Street.
Quite and adventure---the streets, very long, are filled with brownstones, but the foot traffic was minimal Who lives in these brownstones, (now worth about 2.5 million) I asked myself. Why are so few people on the street around 8:30 P.M. Occasionally saw a couple walking slowly or a someone walking his or her dog, but the effect was kind of eerie. Anyway, I arrived at Smith Street (where the venue is) pretty early, but happy that I had done some exploration.
The project involved a group of young people (high school and college) all from other countries, in which they introduced themselves then constructed and took down some large platforms. Lots of team work---I understand what my friends were trying to do--but I felt distanced from most of the project. Still, the audience seemed to love it---the applause when the play ended was incredibly strong.I congratulated my friends and left, returned home and went to bed.
Sunday, the day of flyering for the march this coming Saturday. First I visited Cobra club, watched some football, then said hi to my friend Matt at his bookstore Molassses. Josh, my flyering partner, met me at Myrtle Avenue and Broadway, and we embarked on our journey through Brooklyn to alert people of the march.
A fascinating trip, all walked---beginning at the Myrtle-Broadway subway, going west on Myrtle, had an interesting conversation with a person of color-- man in his sixties---he had just left the church across the street from a NYCHA project---and told Josh and myself that he could no longer afford an apartment or a house in the borough---even though he had been born and raised in the projects across the street. His frustration was palpable. The journey continued south at Nostrand, then west again on Lafayette, then north again to Myrtle---and we moved west on that street really almost up to Flatbush. At one point, around Hall Street, an elderly black woman told us that the some of the white newcomers to the area looked at her as if she did not belong--she was agitated about this. She assured us she would support our march. Finally landed at the Gotham Market, had some ice cream and later coffee to fill me up after the long trip. Then went to the fiction center nearby and compared notes with Simon, the former student at Friends who is a barista there, and also beginning his graduate studies in Social work. Would have liked to have stayed there and read, but now exhaustion was really setting in, so I got on the subway and returned home.
Today a "lazy" day (maybe I need one)--only event scheduled is the final BAN meeting before the march. Rest of time, I will read---getting really into plays written by contemporaries of Shakespeare and articles about them---will report soon.
Saturday evening: went out to see the theater project of my friends, Abby and Michael. It was playing at the Invisible Dog, a venue very close to the F train Bergen Street stop. So the plan was to give myself a lot of time, in case trains were moving slowly. That is exactly what did happen---I found myself at the West 4th street station and the time clock said the next F would come in 15 minutes. Wow! That is a lot of time to spend at one station--but the D was coming in one minute. The D would let me off about 5 long blocks east of the F. But I took it anyway, (I am impatient at times) and after getting of the train, prepared for my long trip west on the five blocks that cross Bergen Street.
Quite and adventure---the streets, very long, are filled with brownstones, but the foot traffic was minimal Who lives in these brownstones, (now worth about 2.5 million) I asked myself. Why are so few people on the street around 8:30 P.M. Occasionally saw a couple walking slowly or a someone walking his or her dog, but the effect was kind of eerie. Anyway, I arrived at Smith Street (where the venue is) pretty early, but happy that I had done some exploration.
The project involved a group of young people (high school and college) all from other countries, in which they introduced themselves then constructed and took down some large platforms. Lots of team work---I understand what my friends were trying to do--but I felt distanced from most of the project. Still, the audience seemed to love it---the applause when the play ended was incredibly strong.I congratulated my friends and left, returned home and went to bed.
Sunday, the day of flyering for the march this coming Saturday. First I visited Cobra club, watched some football, then said hi to my friend Matt at his bookstore Molassses. Josh, my flyering partner, met me at Myrtle Avenue and Broadway, and we embarked on our journey through Brooklyn to alert people of the march.
A fascinating trip, all walked---beginning at the Myrtle-Broadway subway, going west on Myrtle, had an interesting conversation with a person of color-- man in his sixties---he had just left the church across the street from a NYCHA project---and told Josh and myself that he could no longer afford an apartment or a house in the borough---even though he had been born and raised in the projects across the street. His frustration was palpable. The journey continued south at Nostrand, then west again on Lafayette, then north again to Myrtle---and we moved west on that street really almost up to Flatbush. At one point, around Hall Street, an elderly black woman told us that the some of the white newcomers to the area looked at her as if she did not belong--she was agitated about this. She assured us she would support our march. Finally landed at the Gotham Market, had some ice cream and later coffee to fill me up after the long trip. Then went to the fiction center nearby and compared notes with Simon, the former student at Friends who is a barista there, and also beginning his graduate studies in Social work. Would have liked to have stayed there and read, but now exhaustion was really setting in, so I got on the subway and returned home.
Today a "lazy" day (maybe I need one)--only event scheduled is the final BAN meeting before the march. Rest of time, I will read---getting really into plays written by contemporaries of Shakespeare and articles about them---will report soon.
Saturday, September 14, 2019
First Day at Friends..
was a great day for me! Said hello to lots of people I had not seen since the beginning of summer. Had three classes, all with students whom I had worked with before. The upper school class was restrained (they always are) but lots of warmth and good energy from the second class, consisting of mostly eight graders and a few tenth graders, The third class was a "riotous" group of sixth graders (spanish) and as you can imagine, the energy level was incredibly high. They "drove me crazy" with their energy, but at the same time, I really enjoyed trying to keep them in check. I think I was busy every moment of the hour that I spent with them--left the school feeling very invigorated. I return their next Friday (next scheduled day) ---really looking forward to it.
After that, headed to Brooklyn to pick up flyers for next week's march---was really helped by the woman who runs FUREE, she was very generous with her time to get the flyer out and printed. Tomorrow a friend and I will flyer in and around Bed-Sty---not my favorite thing to do, but will do it anyway. After picking up the flyers, could have gone home, but my energy was still up--had a nice chicken salad sandwich at Juniors (but really expensive---about $16.00 after tax and tip) and then stayed around the Gotham Market and the Fiction Center for about an hour. Returned home tired but happy.
Unfortunately, stomach cramps were strong in the evening and early morning---maybe it was my diet-a lot of cheese and perhaps a little too much sugar---I had expanded so much energy at Friends, I felt I needed some extra sugar. At this point, it is a little better---let's see what happens.
Tonight I am scheduled to see a project at a space in Brooklyn called The Invisible Dog. It is created by my friends, Michael and Abby---they have done several theatrical projects in the past that I have gone to. Invisible Dog is a fun space---in a now very gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, near Brooklyn Heights. Michael and Abby's projects usually involve a group working together to bring something harmonious from all the collaboration. I will report soon.
Tonight I am scheduled to see a project at a space in Brooklyn called The Invisible Dog. It is created by my friends, Michael and Abby---they have done several theatrical projects in the past that I have gone to. Invisible Dog is a fun space---in a now very gentrified neighborhood in Brooklyn, near Brooklyn Heights. Michael and Abby's projects usually involve a group working together to bring something harmonious from all the collaboration. I will report soon.
Thursday, September 12, 2019
so, today is your birthday....
what does it all mean..? I am waiting to hear about a possible session---otherwise the day is totally free---absolutely no plans. Here I sit in the remarkable 42nd street library, surrounded by reading possibilities. May stay here for some time---also, how does a "birthday boy" spend his evening. I have this fantasy of just taking a long walk through Williamsburg and then maybe Bushwick as my "evening activity". Wide open space.....
Just found out that I will have a session---changes the structure of my day a little bit--should be in Manhattan until around 5:30--then the choice is mine. Tomorrow is my first day at Friends; my first class does not begin until 10:30, but I will probably get there around 8---try to see everyone---check in on the changes, etc.
How do you describe what it is to be my age? A vast amount of time (in memory) is covered. Sometimes it is amazing to be how long ago something I remember so well, happened. Other times I simply have to focus on living through the current moment. It is totally spontaneous. I am thinking of the opening lines of Justine, by Laurence Durrell---very moody and sensitive. Is this who I am? Partially, but also I live in the present.
Yesterday, after a session did go down to La Flaca--my friend Bob, the owner, was not there, but bartender Benjy was very welcoming, and I had a nice conversation with a young actress who had just completed a role in a movie---apparently a Sopranos prequel. Very movie focused, she really had no idea of what was happening in theater in the city at all. I had really great blt from the restaurant, my stomach was very calm, when she offered to share some of her french fries with me. Of course I could not resist, and in my stomach, chaos ensued. Finally feel that I have shaken it off now.
So here I am---will probably spend a bit more time in the library, then this afternoon, see how much energy I have after the session---that will determine if I stay in Manhattan or go to Brooklyn. I will let you know...
Just found out that I will have a session---changes the structure of my day a little bit--should be in Manhattan until around 5:30--then the choice is mine. Tomorrow is my first day at Friends; my first class does not begin until 10:30, but I will probably get there around 8---try to see everyone---check in on the changes, etc.
How do you describe what it is to be my age? A vast amount of time (in memory) is covered. Sometimes it is amazing to be how long ago something I remember so well, happened. Other times I simply have to focus on living through the current moment. It is totally spontaneous. I am thinking of the opening lines of Justine, by Laurence Durrell---very moody and sensitive. Is this who I am? Partially, but also I live in the present.
Yesterday, after a session did go down to La Flaca--my friend Bob, the owner, was not there, but bartender Benjy was very welcoming, and I had a nice conversation with a young actress who had just completed a role in a movie---apparently a Sopranos prequel. Very movie focused, she really had no idea of what was happening in theater in the city at all. I had really great blt from the restaurant, my stomach was very calm, when she offered to share some of her french fries with me. Of course I could not resist, and in my stomach, chaos ensued. Finally feel that I have shaken it off now.
So here I am---will probably spend a bit more time in the library, then this afternoon, see how much energy I have after the session---that will determine if I stay in Manhattan or go to Brooklyn. I will let you know...
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
some rare air...
I am experiencing, a kind of upbeat energy. Why? Well, yesterday I won $25.00 in a scratch off game and gained another student. Put that together with the coming work at Friends and all of a sudden, my obsessive monetary planning seems to have come to an end. More students means a greater emotional and physical commitment which could take its toll in other ways, but right now I am pleased that it is happening.
Speaking of a physical toll, last night, after my second student the plan was to go to the Gotham Market and join some new friends for a trivia night. It never happened. Instead, after I left the library I had, what you might call, a "rush of tiredness" and really had to simply return to the apartment to get some sleep. Sleep was over around 10, spent a lot of the rest of the evening (and early morning) in a restless state, unable to sleep as much as I would have liked. Perhaps the excitement at having some money come in was too much. Also, had to have a very rich cupcake at the arcade south of the IRT-IND 59th street station---that sort of invaded my body with not the greatest results. I have to remember to stay with muffins in the future if I am desirous of a sugar input.
Today, one session then possibly down to La Flaca. I have not been there in a while, and should check in with my friend the owner Bob. Also would like to get some news about his new restaurant in Park Slope that he has just opened. Will I make it? Will report soon.
Speaking of a physical toll, last night, after my second student the plan was to go to the Gotham Market and join some new friends for a trivia night. It never happened. Instead, after I left the library I had, what you might call, a "rush of tiredness" and really had to simply return to the apartment to get some sleep. Sleep was over around 10, spent a lot of the rest of the evening (and early morning) in a restless state, unable to sleep as much as I would have liked. Perhaps the excitement at having some money come in was too much. Also, had to have a very rich cupcake at the arcade south of the IRT-IND 59th street station---that sort of invaded my body with not the greatest results. I have to remember to stay with muffins in the future if I am desirous of a sugar input.
Today, one session then possibly down to La Flaca. I have not been there in a while, and should check in with my friend the owner Bob. Also would like to get some news about his new restaurant in Park Slope that he has just opened. Will I make it? Will report soon.
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Interesting article in the Times arts section...
it is a book review of a book by a Yale Law School Professor in which he debunks the "achievement oriented" path to lots of money and a kind of what he calls "hollow" elitism. Sort of justifies my "non-elite" vision of life. Might want to read some (but probably not all) of his book.
Yesterday--an "easy' day, library---rest---BAN meeting--closer to the march on the 21st. Not much to say---did my part---will go out and flyer on Sunday, probably after "hanging" at Cobra. Still thinking about how stimulating that late bus ride west on Bergen Street was last Saturday after the gala. Would love to take some more of those---why am I fascinated by Brooklyn...? The bus stop, as I said in yesterday's blog, was conveniently right across the street from the center--what made it ironic was that the Bergen Street bus comes at that time (Saturday around 10:15) much less frequently then the 15. I was sure I would get on that one---it comes from kennedy air port and snakes through many parts of Brooklyn---and just take it to the Flushing stop on the J. Would have meant a much more convoluted subway ride home, but could have done it. Actually, the 3 from Bergen Street was a little too predictable, but there it was. Anyway, that is my Brooklyn Saturday night follow up.
Today, a few sessions and then off to Brooklyn to the Gotham Market. It is trivia night there, and last week I met a young man who invited me to join his group of three this week. If he and his friends are there, I will join them, if not will probably just watch some baseball and chill. Will report tomorrow
Yesterday--an "easy' day, library---rest---BAN meeting--closer to the march on the 21st. Not much to say---did my part---will go out and flyer on Sunday, probably after "hanging" at Cobra. Still thinking about how stimulating that late bus ride west on Bergen Street was last Saturday after the gala. Would love to take some more of those---why am I fascinated by Brooklyn...? The bus stop, as I said in yesterday's blog, was conveniently right across the street from the center--what made it ironic was that the Bergen Street bus comes at that time (Saturday around 10:15) much less frequently then the 15. I was sure I would get on that one---it comes from kennedy air port and snakes through many parts of Brooklyn---and just take it to the Flushing stop on the J. Would have meant a much more convoluted subway ride home, but could have done it. Actually, the 3 from Bergen Street was a little too predictable, but there it was. Anyway, that is my Brooklyn Saturday night follow up.
Today, a few sessions and then off to Brooklyn to the Gotham Market. It is trivia night there, and last week I met a young man who invited me to join his group of three this week. If he and his friends are there, I will join them, if not will probably just watch some baseball and chill. Will report tomorrow
Monday, September 9, 2019
classes begin at Friends, today...
and I am not there. Very aware of that---I actually checked my e-mail early just in case I was needed for this first day---very obsessive, I guess, but it illustrates how much a part of things I feel there. Anyway, I will be there on Friday, and I would be surprised if I was needed before that. However, there are meetings, forums, etc. that certain teachers might attend, and I might be called. Friday is good, though.
The weekend turned out to be the best of the summer (ironically on the last real weekend of it) Saturday, came early to the Weeksville Center and helped set up the BAN benefit party. Some easy work, but I was glad to be there. Had an assignment for around 9, but from 7 (the beginning of the
party) to around 9, I stayed outside and helped greet people. The Center is in a very interesting neighborhood, on one side is a large NYCHA project, then mostly private houses and one or two apartment houses around the corner. A very quiet and mellow feeling---this is an area that a few years ago I would have been very nervous to enter---but all seemed calm on Saturday. I stayed until around 10:15 stuffed myself (not a great idea) and then waited for one of two buses that stopped right across the street from the entrance. The bus I got went west on Bergen Street (the nearest street north) and left me off right by the 3 train. Very convenient---although it was dark, I tried to get a good look at the different houses on Bergen street as the bus moved west Bus was pretty empty until Nostrand, from there, to Flatbush where I got off it added about 10 new people. At Flatbush, I paused a bit, stood on the avenue, had a grimy cup of coffee from the nearest deli, and just watched what was going on. I felt no hurry to go back to the apartment. Finally I did.
I am very glad that I went to the party-benefit. A very diverse group, but very supportive, lots of people to talk to and consider what is going on in the city. At 9:45, did my assigned "job" which was to collect on the spot donations that were either cash or checks. The next morning I felt very proud of myself for participating, as if I had defined myself a little more.
Sunday: came to Cobra late, but Olivia was there, she put on the football game for me,and I watched most of it. Saw the Jets losing at the end to the Bills. Then I dropped off some flyers for the anti-gentrification march on the 21st at the Starr Bar, and headed to downtown Brooklyn where I was invited to a party given by one of my favorite theater groups, Assembly. It was in a nice back room of a restaurant on Fulton Street, and amazingly enough I almost could not find the place. But I did, and there ensued about three hours of good conversation almost completely about theater. A long conversation with two actors about the nature of understudying --how an actor deals with it. Lots of fun energy all around. Again, I left feeling really fulfilled. Two very strong weekend evenings.
So today is an "easy" day, nothing really to do until the BAN meeting this evening. So I will be faced with an "unstructured" afternoon, luckily I am a little tired, will see what happens....
The weekend turned out to be the best of the summer (ironically on the last real weekend of it) Saturday, came early to the Weeksville Center and helped set up the BAN benefit party. Some easy work, but I was glad to be there. Had an assignment for around 9, but from 7 (the beginning of the
party) to around 9, I stayed outside and helped greet people. The Center is in a very interesting neighborhood, on one side is a large NYCHA project, then mostly private houses and one or two apartment houses around the corner. A very quiet and mellow feeling---this is an area that a few years ago I would have been very nervous to enter---but all seemed calm on Saturday. I stayed until around 10:15 stuffed myself (not a great idea) and then waited for one of two buses that stopped right across the street from the entrance. The bus I got went west on Bergen Street (the nearest street north) and left me off right by the 3 train. Very convenient---although it was dark, I tried to get a good look at the different houses on Bergen street as the bus moved west Bus was pretty empty until Nostrand, from there, to Flatbush where I got off it added about 10 new people. At Flatbush, I paused a bit, stood on the avenue, had a grimy cup of coffee from the nearest deli, and just watched what was going on. I felt no hurry to go back to the apartment. Finally I did.
I am very glad that I went to the party-benefit. A very diverse group, but very supportive, lots of people to talk to and consider what is going on in the city. At 9:45, did my assigned "job" which was to collect on the spot donations that were either cash or checks. The next morning I felt very proud of myself for participating, as if I had defined myself a little more.
Sunday: came to Cobra late, but Olivia was there, she put on the football game for me,and I watched most of it. Saw the Jets losing at the end to the Bills. Then I dropped off some flyers for the anti-gentrification march on the 21st at the Starr Bar, and headed to downtown Brooklyn where I was invited to a party given by one of my favorite theater groups, Assembly. It was in a nice back room of a restaurant on Fulton Street, and amazingly enough I almost could not find the place. But I did, and there ensued about three hours of good conversation almost completely about theater. A long conversation with two actors about the nature of understudying --how an actor deals with it. Lots of fun energy all around. Again, I left feeling really fulfilled. Two very strong weekend evenings.
So today is an "easy" day, nothing really to do until the BAN meeting this evening. So I will be faced with an "unstructured" afternoon, luckily I am a little tired, will see what happens....
Saturday, September 7, 2019
things did not go exactly as I would have...
imagined that they would have yesterday---the trip to Brooklyn was not taken---why? Well many factors, at about 5:30 the weather looked ominous and I felt that I could not risk going to Bushwick and getting caught in a large rainstorm, then worrying that the subways would be stalled or flooded or whatever. Of course, this did not happen---ultimately very little rain---but how was I to know it then? Instead, after much thought about choices headed to the Landmark 57, the new (and expensive) movie theater all the way west on that street to see an Indi movie--can't even remember its full name now. The theater is the latest in comfort--maybe that is why the price is so much higher---but it is fun to be there and there is a sense of privacy as one watches the movie because the seats are pretty far apart. The movie itself, a New York City made film was about a young woman who has given her life to protecting her erratic father, a playwright. She, her sister and the day own their own theater in Manhattan (yes, that is possible) where they put on his plays. The sister is bizarre and impulse ridden while the father is terribly ego centered---the central character oof the movie feels it is her family duty to be the "sane' one in the family. When the father dies, all hell breaks loose. plus the two daughters discover that their mother, whom they presumed dead, is actually a famous and rich star of soap opera. All kinds of crazy things happen until all is resolved There are some funny parts to the movie, but I also felt that it was indulgent sometimes banal. The woman who plays the sane daughter both wrote and directed the movie, in addition to playing the central character. Her direction is actually pretty good, her acting fine, but the writing often seems self indulgent.Felt a little annoyed at having gone to see it, but at the time it seemed like my only reasonable choice. Of course, when I left the theater it was cold, but definitely no rain. Could have gone to Bushwick anyway...no I couldn't!
Tonight I will be in Brooklyn as I have promised to help our at the BAM gala--will be going into an area (part of Crown Heights) that I have never been in before in the later hours of the evening. Should be interesting--tomorrow will be an"easy" day. Will report soon.
Tonight I will be in Brooklyn as I have promised to help our at the BAM gala--will be going into an area (part of Crown Heights) that I have never been in before in the later hours of the evening. Should be interesting--tomorrow will be an"easy" day. Will report soon.
Friday, September 6, 2019
a better day for me...
seems ahead, as my body feels much stronger at the moment. Also, I received my first assignment from Friends, yesterday afternoon. It is for next Friday (the 13th) and I can't wait! Need some structure---would love to do some other work there next week as well. But this puts things back in place. so I feel good about that.
Yesterday, did not leave the area for a second day in a row (somewhat of a record for me) but did end up seeing a movie in the evening---a movie that I actually loved called Genese. It was playing at the Bunin (the screen situated in Lincoln Center) and I went really because it was the most accessible movie available to me, but it turned out well. It takes place in Quebec and follows a brother and a sister in separate incidents. Ironically, they only have one scene together near the beginning of the movie. He is a smart alec but very bright high school student at a boarding school and she is a college student about to break up with her boy friend and have some adventures. The movie flows easily and is really beautiful to look at---all the scenes for brother and sister seem very natural and relaxed. There is much rage and heart break, but all of it is justified. The movie ends with a quiet coda---the last 15 minutes are not about the siblings but take place in a summer camp nearby with students who are just beginning high school. A very innocent love affair takes place--all ends happily as the movie ends. Was very moved by the whole thing--very glad I went---this was the last showing---really glad I caught it. Much more natural than Give Me Liberty the last Indie movie that I saw which compared to Genese seemed forced and contrived. Went home feeling good.
Today, the tentative plan is to once again try to go to see the project at the Bushwick Starr---second choice: hanging out at La Flaca---checking in with my friend who owns it---Bob. What will happen..? We will see.
Yesterday, did not leave the area for a second day in a row (somewhat of a record for me) but did end up seeing a movie in the evening---a movie that I actually loved called Genese. It was playing at the Bunin (the screen situated in Lincoln Center) and I went really because it was the most accessible movie available to me, but it turned out well. It takes place in Quebec and follows a brother and a sister in separate incidents. Ironically, they only have one scene together near the beginning of the movie. He is a smart alec but very bright high school student at a boarding school and she is a college student about to break up with her boy friend and have some adventures. The movie flows easily and is really beautiful to look at---all the scenes for brother and sister seem very natural and relaxed. There is much rage and heart break, but all of it is justified. The movie ends with a quiet coda---the last 15 minutes are not about the siblings but take place in a summer camp nearby with students who are just beginning high school. A very innocent love affair takes place--all ends happily as the movie ends. Was very moved by the whole thing--very glad I went---this was the last showing---really glad I caught it. Much more natural than Give Me Liberty the last Indie movie that I saw which compared to Genese seemed forced and contrived. Went home feeling good.
Today, the tentative plan is to once again try to go to see the project at the Bushwick Starr---second choice: hanging out at La Flaca---checking in with my friend who owns it---Bob. What will happen..? We will see.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
a strange and brooding day....
yessterday---body very tired--probably after all the activity the day before. Did not leave the neighborhood. Some good reading though---completed the book of essays by Jerome Charyn, the novelist-essayist from the Bronx who must be in his early eighties now. That means the Bronx he grew up in was similar to the Bronx that I grew up in--though his neighborhood, a little bit south of where I was raised, was more working class-a little tougher--and a little more religiously and racially mixed. Nevertheless, I see it as all-Jewish-- my father was a good friend of two teachers at the Junior High School that he went to---as such, I attended a few spring plays and concerts that they gave in the early and mid-fifties. I felt that I was in an all white community--no doubt about it. In 1957 I went to a production of (believe it or not) My Fair Lady that they did---in addition to watching what went on on stage, I could not help but notice on the fringes of the audience a few groups of hispanic kids watching from the sidelines. That neighborhood changed quickly in the late 50's---the Concourse, about a mile west of the school changed about 10 years later. Why do I always feel a sense of mourning when I think about those days, and the fact that those neighborhoods no longer exist. The neighborhood that I group up in---more protected---directly to the north of Charyn's and protected by the parkland of the Bronx Zoo--remained stable---it still is, even though now I would think it would be very mixed--but basically middle class.
And strange how it is so easy for me to take a trip to Brooklyn and move easily through Bed-Stuy or Bushwick but the thought of a visit to the Bronx fills me with a kind of apprehension. I tutored many students in the Bronx up to about 2009, but now all my teaching is done near Washington Heights. Will I return to travel in the Bronx at some point soon..? Can's say
Started reading a book on King Lear by Harold Bloom, very accessible but still intellectual. Also have just finished The Duchess of Malfi, a play by John Webster a somewhat younger contemporary of Shakespeare. I am becoming more and more interested in reading plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries---as I read I seek out images and and ideas that I can link to Shakespeare's plays. Certainly I found a good deal of them in the Webster play, Fascinating how little we really know about these plays, their writers and the life they lead.
Feeling much stronger today---the plan (tentative, of course, as all my plans are) would be to go out Bushwick tonight and try to see the project at the Bushwick Starr---also I will deliver some flyers for the BAN march to the Starr Bar, which is right across the street from the theater. Will report tomorrow on what happens.
And strange how it is so easy for me to take a trip to Brooklyn and move easily through Bed-Stuy or Bushwick but the thought of a visit to the Bronx fills me with a kind of apprehension. I tutored many students in the Bronx up to about 2009, but now all my teaching is done near Washington Heights. Will I return to travel in the Bronx at some point soon..? Can's say
Started reading a book on King Lear by Harold Bloom, very accessible but still intellectual. Also have just finished The Duchess of Malfi, a play by John Webster a somewhat younger contemporary of Shakespeare. I am becoming more and more interested in reading plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries---as I read I seek out images and and ideas that I can link to Shakespeare's plays. Certainly I found a good deal of them in the Webster play, Fascinating how little we really know about these plays, their writers and the life they lead.
Feeling much stronger today---the plan (tentative, of course, as all my plans are) would be to go out Bushwick tonight and try to see the project at the Bushwick Starr---also I will deliver some flyers for the BAN march to the Starr Bar, which is right across the street from the theater. Will report tomorrow on what happens.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
a very different feeling...
this morning, when I woke up---none of the usual "languor" (not even sure what this means) but a sense of good feeling and accomplishment. Why? Well, probably because of yesterday's structure and its results. My first session with my student at the Library---he and his brother were in Mexico for four weeks and he gave me a nice report--then we got to work and I did some work with his younger brother as well---he needed a lot of input. Should be working with both of them this year. Then the BAN meeting---this one held in Park Slope, necessitating a trip to Brooklyn, which of course I really wanted. At the meeting there was a homeowner from Clinton Hill who told us that on either side of her small brownstone---large eight story apartments had been built and the effect was to virtually destroy her house. She is in litigation with the two developers, but it is a horrifying story---these developers in the city are like animals---they simply push away anything in their path. Can I help her..? Possibly. After the meeting I walked over to the Gotham Market to settle myself and check out some baseball scores. Watched the Mets being destroyed in the final inning of their game with the Nationals. I arrived right in the middle of the weekly Trivia session---sat down next to three young people. One of them struck up a conversation with me---harmless at first, simply about the Mets, but when he asked where I had come from I told him about BAN. I had no idea how he would react--he is white and probably living in a gentrified area in the borough, but to my surprise he was very sympathetic to the plight of the woman described above---and took some flyers for the upcoming march in Brooklyn. He also invited me to join his trivia group next week---really nice, I did not expect this---maybe that is why I felt so good this morning. Anyway, returned home tired, but slept much more soundly then usual--surprised that I did not wake up much during the night. Maybe that is why I felt so "up" this morning.
Not sure about the rest of the day---body now feeling kind of tired--would like to spend very little money---hopefully can find an interesting book to read for much of the afternoon, then perhaps to La Flaca for the evening. Tomorrow morning I may participate in an action outside Brooklyn Housing Court to support tenants who are being harassed in their Crown Heights apartment. Wish me luck!
Not sure about the rest of the day---body now feeling kind of tired--would like to spend very little money---hopefully can find an interesting book to read for much of the afternoon, then perhaps to La Flaca for the evening. Tomorrow morning I may participate in an action outside Brooklyn Housing Court to support tenants who are being harassed in their Crown Heights apartment. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
now the reckoning....
kind of a grim way of describing this long weekend. Not that there were not some good things that happened. Somehow this year particularly the weekend and where it sits---right before my work at school starts and the sessions kick in---was long and arduous.
Let's review:
Friday night--went to Standings my favorite baseball bar, watched both New York team games, had a nice time with bartender Aaron and acquaintances. Then stopped by next door to "Burp Castle" (yes, that is its name) a quiet bar where my friend Erin works. Had a nice conversation with her--the bar was quiet and she seemed eager to fill me in on what was happening to her. Left feeling kind of up.
Saturday: Awoke feeling bloated__oh I forget to mention that I had two beers (a lot for me) and two slices of the Friday free pizza at Standings--that was really too much for my stomach. All my plans to travel in Brooklyn were stopped by my lethargy---instead just hung around the apartment and read a little---finally at around 3 went out for a walk---passed by one of the many bars on Amsterdam Avenue and looked in to get the Yankee-A's baseball score---the bartender saw me, was welcoming and though I had some difficulty asking for it--said I could watch the ball game and just sip on a coke. Great news! She was really nice---so I watched the game until its conclusion (Yanks won on a home run late) and "hung" at the bar. I appreciated what the bartender had done--the coke was $3.00, and I gave her a $3.00 tip to demonstrate how grateful I was for her inviting me in. Then back to the apartment-finally summoned what little energy I had to walk down to Lincoln Center to see the free movie of The Daughter of the Regiment showing on the big screen in the plaza. Stayed for a while, then got bored--went home.
Sunday: More energy ---went out to Bushwick in the late morning to Cobra Club where, surprise, surprise, the tv was working again. Olivia, my bartender friend put on the Yankee-A game which I watched for two hours, then I headed over to Molasses, the small used book store run by Matt and his wife Maggie. Had a nice conversation with Maggie while she nursed her two month old baby Tuli---then headed to Bed-Stuy and my walk south on Patchen Avenue from Broadway to Fulton Street. Great walk, not too many people on the street---still wonder how the Bed Stuy that I travel in freely at present was the Bed Stuy that white people were told to avoid for most of my adult life. As I traveled I longed to find some neighborhood person who could tell me the story of his or her block for the past 50 years. But it did not happen. At Fulton, took the subway back to the Gotham Market and hung out there and at the Fiction Center until tiredness set in. But the Met movies were showing Luisa Miller, one of my favorite operas so I stopped, as tired as I was at the Center and watched the first act of this opera. Lots of ideas and feelings about it---i first heard it in 68 when Mr. Bing's Met did a new production of it with Caballe and Tucker. I was a very different person then. When I got back to the apartment I was really tired---fell asleep, I think, easily.
Monday---the longest day--another trip to Brooklyn, this time to flyer for BAN at the West Indian day parade. But the rain put an end to the flyering---it did not stop me from taking another long and wonderful walk--this time north on Kingston Avenue (very heavily policed for the parade) passed Fulton (the Crown Heights-Bed Stuy border), Then took the Halsey street bus back to the Gotham Market.
Must stop now---my time on the computer is ending (this rarely happens) but will continue soon.
Let's review:
Friday night--went to Standings my favorite baseball bar, watched both New York team games, had a nice time with bartender Aaron and acquaintances. Then stopped by next door to "Burp Castle" (yes, that is its name) a quiet bar where my friend Erin works. Had a nice conversation with her--the bar was quiet and she seemed eager to fill me in on what was happening to her. Left feeling kind of up.
Saturday: Awoke feeling bloated__oh I forget to mention that I had two beers (a lot for me) and two slices of the Friday free pizza at Standings--that was really too much for my stomach. All my plans to travel in Brooklyn were stopped by my lethargy---instead just hung around the apartment and read a little---finally at around 3 went out for a walk---passed by one of the many bars on Amsterdam Avenue and looked in to get the Yankee-A's baseball score---the bartender saw me, was welcoming and though I had some difficulty asking for it--said I could watch the ball game and just sip on a coke. Great news! She was really nice---so I watched the game until its conclusion (Yanks won on a home run late) and "hung" at the bar. I appreciated what the bartender had done--the coke was $3.00, and I gave her a $3.00 tip to demonstrate how grateful I was for her inviting me in. Then back to the apartment-finally summoned what little energy I had to walk down to Lincoln Center to see the free movie of The Daughter of the Regiment showing on the big screen in the plaza. Stayed for a while, then got bored--went home.
Sunday: More energy ---went out to Bushwick in the late morning to Cobra Club where, surprise, surprise, the tv was working again. Olivia, my bartender friend put on the Yankee-A game which I watched for two hours, then I headed over to Molasses, the small used book store run by Matt and his wife Maggie. Had a nice conversation with Maggie while she nursed her two month old baby Tuli---then headed to Bed-Stuy and my walk south on Patchen Avenue from Broadway to Fulton Street. Great walk, not too many people on the street---still wonder how the Bed Stuy that I travel in freely at present was the Bed Stuy that white people were told to avoid for most of my adult life. As I traveled I longed to find some neighborhood person who could tell me the story of his or her block for the past 50 years. But it did not happen. At Fulton, took the subway back to the Gotham Market and hung out there and at the Fiction Center until tiredness set in. But the Met movies were showing Luisa Miller, one of my favorite operas so I stopped, as tired as I was at the Center and watched the first act of this opera. Lots of ideas and feelings about it---i first heard it in 68 when Mr. Bing's Met did a new production of it with Caballe and Tucker. I was a very different person then. When I got back to the apartment I was really tired---fell asleep, I think, easily.
Monday---the longest day--another trip to Brooklyn, this time to flyer for BAN at the West Indian day parade. But the rain put an end to the flyering---it did not stop me from taking another long and wonderful walk--this time north on Kingston Avenue (very heavily policed for the parade) passed Fulton (the Crown Heights-Bed Stuy border), Then took the Halsey street bus back to the Gotham Market.
Must stop now---my time on the computer is ending (this rarely happens) but will continue soon.