Day 23, April 8, 2020

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Retrospective Weather Report

It was wet and colder today, so no ride. This morning I thought it might be funny to describe what the weather was like today like a weather forecaster, but in hindsight. But that feels like exerting too much energy at this point in the day. I'd rather imagine the weather I'm looking forward to, when my feet aren't cold and I can stop making fires in the wood stove... when I can open the windows to let in the fresh air, and when I can appear in all my Zoom meetings in a t-shirt.

From my last trip to NYC.
Just before bed last night, I started watching Paul Simon's videos from his home. I've always admired Paul Simon, since my early days with a record player. I can't remember who introduced me to Simon and Garfunkel, but I think I had every album on vinyl, and the Concert in Central Park on cassette. Of course then there was the One Trick Pony movie and Graceland.

But the house concerts are different. In one he does an Everly Brothers duet with his wife, Edie Brickell. Another he dedicates "The Boxer" to the city. The room sounds a little bright and echoey, like it is an empty corner of the dining room, or a hallway. The videos seem stark, nothing more complex than an iPhone. He plays imperfectly, and modulates in interesting and different ways. I've always admired how Paul Simon seems to constantly evolve as a musician. He might play his classics, but they are all changed and influenced by his lifetime since. And here, all his songs seemed tinged with the reality that is coursing through the streets of New York.

I have always loved The City. In high school, I met a girl in summer school who lived in Manhattan, and I would sneak away every chance I got, by bus, by car, even by airplane when they were having those super cheap shuttles between Boston and New York. Chris took me all around the city and introduced me to loft parties. Her parents let us smoke cigarettes in her room and didn't seem to care. There was so much to see, and everything was an adventure, from getting coffee in a dingy diner, to lazing in Central Park, to the late all night carousing.


I remember one party we went to, a group of kids, they seemed like kids, had rented out a dance studio on the third or fourth floor of a building and set up a party. It was a walk up, one stairway, no elevator. The people running the party had walkie-talkies, took money at the door, and did a quick pat down. There were kegs of Rolling Rock, which I thought of as fancy beer at the time, and big rooms with wall to wall mirrors. Chris managed to secure VIP tickets, which gained us access to a smaller room that was quieter and had enough places to sit and talk.

Mary Oliver. Always, Mary Oliver.
After a few drinks, it seemed the room was getting more and more crowded. There was a sudden surge of people coming into the room and murmuring. Someone had gotten stabbed in one of the dance rooms and people were crowding into the VIP room as a sanctuary, but soon there was no more room. Some of the kids in charge started to get us ready and asked each guy to link a girl on each arm, leave the room and go straight to the staircase, and out. We did as we were told, and I had Chris on one arm, and a stranger on the other. As we left the VIP rooms we saw that all the other dance rooms had emptied out. There was someone on the floor with people around him in the room with the kegs. Then, we were in the narrow stairway heading steeply down. We had to jog to keep up with the momentum of the crowd. The air was heavy with sweat, and bodies, and old New York. We burst from the stairway onto the street which was swirling with blue lights and several paddy wagons pulled up with their tailgates facing the doorway. But there were far too many of us for the police to do anything. We streamed out like we were leaving a Yankees game and wove between officers, paddy wagons, and police cars. Once free, Chris was ignited with excitement and we ran for several blocks until she found a police car stopped at a red light. She knocked on the window and told the whole story, that there was a big party, and someone got stabbed, and that they should go there right away! The officer looked at her, nodded, then rolled up his window and drove slowly off.

We were kids, but The City was forever exciting. It was dirtier than it is now, and more dangerous, but also more alive. Though, now that I am not a teenager, I like the fact that I can get a latte instead of a dirty mug of brown water. I like that the friends I know who live in New York haven't been mugged in many years. I like that the pizza is more likely to come from a wood fired oven and have artichokes on it than the pepperoni slices of yore.

So, when Paul Simon dedicates a song to all the New Yorkers out there, I think of my brother's friends and sister-in-law in Park Slope. I think of Chris and her family. I think of the New York of my childhood, of Wednesday Morning, 3AM, of Central Park concerts, of the romantic notion of the city, the sounds of traffic and sirens, and the video my sister-in-law posted recently of the NYPD driving through the streets of Brooklyn announcing social distancing regulations through a car mounted bullhorn.

To all the New Yorkers I've known, I hope you are all safe and well.
Take care and love deeply,
Leo


Sometimes you get a fuzzy egg.

From Our Friends:

From GCC alumni, Jamie Houghton:

I just received Jamie's new book of poetry Hero in the mail. It is put out by Musehick Publications and available on Amazon. I can't wait to read it!

Massachusetts Food Delivery:

I received my first delivery of shiitake mushrooms, blue and gruyere cheeses, cortland apples, carrots, and potatoes. I ate my first apple for lunch and it was delicious! I hope to sauté some mushrooms as part of my dinner.

From My Neighbors:

A super cute thank you card for picking up some fruit for them when we went to the grocery store the other day.

From the Mass Cultural Council:

The Culture Chats series tries to highlight the power of culture through resilience, adaptation, agility, and innovation. You can see the scheduled chats here, and find links to previous chats.

From The Syllabus:

A curated collection of readings about the politics of the COVID-19.

From Reverb, the used instrument retailer:

They have posted a collection of lessons and demonstrations they've done over the years.

Today's Online Teaching Tips:

From Inside Higher Ed:

"How to Rethink Science Lab Classes" some general ideas conceptual and broader.

From OpenStax:

A series of webinars on using and integrating OER:

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