Tuesday morning...

so there I was, getting out of the shower at 7:10, figuring there would be absolutely no need for me to be at Friends today. Then the message machine on the phone clanged. A message: Could I cover a first period (8:15) class in math. First I wanted to say "no", but very quickly change my mind and started to move quickly. Out of the house by 7:30; on the train soon afterwards, arrived at the Union Square Station (near the school) at 7:50. Really great time---could go down to the cafeteria and grab some granola and coffee. Still, amazed that I could make it. Class went well, now I am out---body is still adjusting---two more sessions this afternoon, not sure what the evening will hold.
  Yesterday and Sunday: two Brooklyn days---Sunday, too tired to go to Cobra Club for coffee and football---ended up at Gotham Market (my usual base now in Brooklyn)---watched some football, then wanted to do something else---took the subway to Ditmas Park, a neighborhood about two miles south and a little west of the market. Very laid back and diverse vibe there---a kind of easy calm on the streets that is so different from downtown Brooklyn. The area, mostly Jewish in the 40's and 50's includes apartment houses and some sprawling streets with all large private houses. Young people began to discover the area in the late nineties, long before Bed-Stuy or Prospect Heights began their gentrification voyage.  Walked about  seven or eight blocks along Coney Island Avenue where there is a large Muslim population. Then returned downtown.
 Monday, I was invited to join a protest outside an apartment house in Flatbush, about a mile and a half east of Ditmas Park, to call attention to a new front door that was needed. The landlord is negligent and the tenants, mostly black and Caribbean are angry. Also, the elevator has been out a lot, causing much havoc for the many elderly tenants who have been living there. But there were only four of us, the the two tenants who joined the BAN group decided to wait until a Sunday when more tenants would be available to carry signs and protest outside the landlords office. Afterwards, I wandered around the neighborhood, much of which, as you go east is completely Hassidic. A strange vibe, very self enclosed, and I soon left.
  That is all for now, will report soon.