first free day...

in a week. Time moves so differently when I am out of Friends, then when I am there. Still, have accomplished a lot so far. A book for one of the students that I help was only available at a library on 110th between Lexington and Third Avenue---so I took the cross town bus to Madison and 79street, and then walked the rest of the way. Quite a walk. And yet Madison between 79th and 96th is not an area that I frequently go to, so observing what is there was important. In spite of all the building, there are still several small (three to five story) apartment houses on those blocks. They seem like odd ornaments, almost endangered species, if you compare them to the massive building going around the city. Emblems from a different time---if you were young and bohemian in the fifties or early sixties, you could have gotten an apartment there for a very cheap rate. Well, that was Manhattan then---continued the walk betweeen 96th and 110th---very different, almost all NYCHA projects on the east side of the streets on those blocks, while the other side belongs to Mount Sinai hospital.. Finally arrived at the library, found the book and one other, a book of essays by Emily Bernard, a black woman who teaches at the University of Vermont. That should keep me busy for a while. For my return, I took the 6 train which travels south on Lexington Avenue and got off on 86th street to find a gaggle of coffee places, restaurants, donut shops---almost within one full block radius. Do we really need so much? Around the library there is not much--though that neighborhood---once considered a poverty area has seen a decent amount of luxury (or at least) semi-luxury housing---there is even one right across the street from the library. So goes NYC now.
  Saturday, did go to see Brando-Capote at the Tank, a theater for emerging artists. The 'artists" who did this piece--a very nice couple that I have met a few times---created a rather self indulgent, not very clear performance piece. Depressing. Yesterday, traveled into Bushwick and hung out at Cobra in the morning---afternoon at Downtown Brooklyn, then went home because I was tired.
 Have to stop now because the computer is reserved for someone else. Still a lot to say, will report soon.