information – All The Best

Tradition

What’s a cultural tradition from your country that you love?

Have I mentioned my pursuit of my mother tongue? That I missed being able to retrieve the language I once knew.

This is not to suggest that I am not at home in New York with English as my language of choice.

I just want to be able to speak Serbo -Croatian.

To communicate at least as well as the Stranci who have moved to live in Serbia.

The foreigners who chose a village in Serbia over Rio or Sydney didn’t make their decision lightly.

They did it because of the cultural traditions they found there.

They found more community, a life that was slower and a place where connection truly mattered.

They enjoyed the lifestyle, the pace and being invited to coffee.

Most of them also stayed because they found love in Serbia.

They identify self-sufficiency as a stand-in for selfishness. It is an idol that leads to self-centeredness.

Cultural traditions that transform life to living the life. I look from afar with envy and the regrets of being plucked into a diaspora.

My American life, fully assimilated, is experiencing a split personality, feet in two cultures. Am I having a late- life crisis? Or just reconnecting with my origin story?

Death and taxes

How do you deal with uncertainty?

Uncertainty is a feeling which leaves me feeling uncertain.

Saratoga sparkling water is a favorite of mine. Not my regular order. In Saratoga, there was a coffee named Death Wish but I had sampled *Liquid* *Death* in Central Park.

There is nothing certain but death and taxes.

Batcheller Mansion in Saratoga Springs lends a phantasmagoric touch to the skyline. The Saratoga skyline, I might point out, is no taller than the four storey line. The minaret meets this skybound boundary.

The interesting building was designed by Albany architects, Nicols and Halcott, in 1873. Its Victorian and eccentric details are preserved by the nine room b-and-b standing on Circular Drive.

Taking a trip

Burt and I took a trip to Saratoga some 34 or 35 years ago. The train ride was paid for by a voucher from Amtrak.

The city, as I recall, was very lovely. I wanted to revisit, not simply out of nostalgia, but to explore a bit. I’d like to see more of its charms.

This week, I shall.

227 Abolitionist Place

American history has for years been bifurcated by guilt and racism or by racism or guilt. That, at least, is my theory of the moment, well not this moment in which racism takes the lead.

We read history from books that deny the existence of people of color. Of course, they, the people of color, know that history and we are grateful that they share it with us.

The Friends of Abolitionist Place put together a Matriarchs print workshop at Poster House.

We learned about 227 Duffield Place, a house at which the Underground Railroad stopped, landmarked and saved from being swept up by eminent domain by Mama Joy Chatel.

Her legacy is carried on, and Duffield is co-named Abolitionist Place.

The printing of the posters we had designed in community was undertaken by Leslie Diuguid of Du-Good Press.com.

Learn more about 227 Abolitionist Place at abolitionistplace.org.

Take advantage of the First Fridays at Poster House by checking into their website.

Give way.

We ask that you Yield, the Brits will request that you Give Way.

More than one way to skin a cat, as it were, but Give Way is quaint to my ears. Then again, so much that I hear on the telly is.

Collection day

Migration stories

Punjabi Spice is around the corner from LaMaMa. It was my friend SA’s inspiration to dine there. On this evening, it’s a preamble to seeing **Migration Diary: New** ***York City***. Punjabi Spice had little idea what to do with two elder ladies requiring dinner. The shop is kind of an Indian taxi driver refreshment stand posing as a full-on restaurant.• How appropriate is that? (•That is not to say that à] the staff weren’t nice, b] we enjoyed our meal, and ç] I wouldn’t consider a return visit.)

P.O.V.

What’s a piece of media (book, movie, song) that changed how you see the world?

My tendency is to look for ways to confirm my priors° not contradict them. I don’t think I am unique in wanting a prejudice supported by any facts available.

°’priors‘: This term of art, as it were, came to my attention recently, and my ears pricked up. Isn’t it cool?
Heard on The Bulwark

As a rule, I would catalog the ideas and viewpoints that encourage my way of seeing the world. The song in South Pacific that is imprinted most prominently is You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught.

Here’s to Oscar and Richard!

This is, of course, just one reference that I carry around, but you get the point. I have been inspired by more of the American songbook catalog, of course. I get goosebumps while listening to Somewhere from West Side Story. Every time.

For this one, I owe my thanks to the trio of Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents.

The list is long, and I won’t strain to give credit to all my inspirations.

Vacation

It was short, sure, but it was sweet. Visiting my friend ACJ is a treat. We hung out, we enjoyed the drizzle, we dined out. We went to the (local and) acclaimed theater.

It’s been many years since I went to a Shakespeare & Co performance. Their campus has expanded. (Click above for my critique and details.)

That was fun.

On the final day of my brief stay, the sun gave us the impetus to give the outdoors our full attention.

Checking out early, I still had my coffee on the outside tables at the Whitlock. Then went to see A at her digs across the street.

The room at the Whitlock was more than ample.

Everything is done online, check in and out. I got to test my misgivings. The front desk was unstaffed after 7pm. The passcode glitch that kept my door closed to me, had to be handled over the phone. I was inside in less than 15 minutes.

Category Archives: information