Category Archives: information

Lenox bound

Traveling from New York midtown Port Authority left me with all the expectation of a dismal experience. The worst of it so far is standing for an expected hour on a line that had begun before I reached it.

The bathroom was surprisingly clean, beating all those priors I had had. Of course, I have ducked into the PA to use the facilities over the years and they were dismal.

With expectations not met but all cleanliness and helpfulness on full display, I have only to await my bus another half hour.

Boarding should be interesting. I did not hear my stop called in the announcements.

Got on, grabbed a front row seat but may get ousted because it says Reserved. What’s a reservation on a bus?

Print may not be dead after all. Look at the racks of flyers on display at Port Authority. They are ads for shows on (and adjacent to) Broadway. As a once-upon printer, I am touched to see such beautiful full color work. I also wonder if it’s an effective medium for drumming up ticket sales.

From the road:

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.

In America in 1956 in “native dress.”

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?

Golden times

Magical

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.

227 Abolitionist Place

The door to freedom

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.

The poster designs

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.

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.