Tuesday morning....

off again today--no work until next week. Yesterday's blog was interrupted by time running out on the computer. I wanted to say that in the beginning of the session I went to my high school year book. All the pictures of my classmates (only one of whom I feel close to now) had their addresses. Of course, at least half of those addresses were in the Bronx in what we now call the Concourse area---an area that was mostly Jewish until about 67 when it changed radically into a mostly black and Hispanic area. Why? Like the Park Heights section of Baltimore, which, in the years I was at Hopkins, seemed to be completely Jewish, the children of that time were groomed to do better---were strong academically and so on leaving college had so many more opportunities then their parents. But when I read the addresses the picture of the "old days" comes quickly into my mind. What do you do with a memory like that? What were the last moments of the Jewish environment like in those neighborhoods. Sometimes I fantasize an older man, living in one of those apartments, listening to a string quartet by Beethoven or Schubert. When was the last time that quartet was played in that apartment?  How was the change effected? Why, when there are reunions of people who lived in that area (there is one coming up this summer)  do people never talk about what those streets are like today?
   All of this was on my mind, and I wanted to include it in the blog yesterday, but could not. Plenty of time to write today, so there it is.
  Theater plans for the weekend include The Underlying Chris at Second Stage, a play by Will Eno, and the Michaels, a play that I really wanted to see at the Public on Friday. Tomorrow is still opened. I promised myself a "theater orgy" this week---we will see if it comes to pass. Tomorrow night there is also a good basketball game between the Nets and the Celtics on tv; might be a good idea just to "hang out" and watch the game. Well, choices, choices.
 Yesterday evening was free, and I had several ideas of where to be. Made the decision by instinct to hang out at the bar at Gotham Market. A bartender with whom I had become friendly with was leaving for another job, and I wanted to see her before she left. I had not seen her since early October. It turned out to be a good choice; this was her next to last day, and she was happy to see me. We had a nice conversation, while I watched the Ravens decimate (that is not an exaggeration) the Rams. Left early and returned to the apartment, kind of tired, probably from the marathon walk between 79th street and 110th street I had taken that morning.
  So here we are---not sure what I will do this evening---will report soon.