& you and I, we�ll never die
Our Christmas Pageant today �went off with a bang� meaning it was �a bomb.� The music teacher did not prepare the children and did not think far enough ahead of time in her planning of who went where, when. She gave the nursery and kindergarten students jingle bells for one song � with no plant to get them back after the song � which led me to believe that she had been in on planning the Iraq War. This story could end with me wrestling kids on the floor to get instruments away from them; instead, it ends up with happy AME kids dancing and playing instruments as they do at their church. It was a great deal cuter than anything she could have planned, or hoped, for. She makes my students miserable in ways I could and would never dream of, she amazes me. The parents loved the program so I am
This weekend I went to New York with Mary (
Hail Mary, Full of Grace ), my friend from college. We met at Hamilton Station, in New Jersey and rode the train into Pennsylvania Station. I thought it was Penn Station, named for William Penn, but instead it is named after Pennsylvania. Do not criticize my credentials as a New Yorker, albeit former New Yorker now. It is a point of pride NOT to know about or have visited the tourist sites in the city. I saw the Statue of Liberty in Paris, France, before seeing it up close in New York Harbor (quite an accomplishment living on Long Island, traveling to New Jersey a great deal).
We walked to Grand Central Station, which is funny because normally when we meet in the City, I come in from Union Station, New Haven to Grand Central Station and walk to Penn Station. We took the subway after I stood under the sign that directed me to the subway and asked someone where it was. There is a certain shortsightedness that left my people lost in the wilderness for forty years.
We then went, by subway, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, another place I had never been. Mary is from Minnesota and together we have been to Liberty Island and the Metropolitan together for the first time. I cannot tell you how many times we had passed these things when I was child on the way other places.
I am a museum person, raised in a family where our mothers believed that the world was our classroom � we must constantly learn, observe, absorb. We have never left the house and done something that was not a field trip. I enjoy museums and the Metropolitan had an excellent exhibit of Gilbert Stuart�s work. I liked this so much because his portraiture is supposed to be unparralled (we would never know without photographs) and the Revolution/Early Republic is the most fascinating parts of our history.
After the museum, we wandered the City, visiting the monument in Central Park to Suburban Island ( images start around here), we ate lunch at a hole in the wall Italian place. It was great. I had the veal in case there were any vegetarians or animals rights activists in the room.
There was a woman in the room who was really loud so even if I wanted to talk, I would never have had the chance. She was right about everything and did not consider that she was talking about the people in the room and we could hear her. She shouted her ill informed opinions on politics, Lutheranism, and current events. I wanted to walk up her and ask her, �are you my mother?� or �Get a Diary Land.�
After this, we were in turn disappointed by Times Square and Rockefeller Center. If you are wondering what Time Square is like go sniff a homeless person or move to Paris (urine, smoke, bodily funk, garbage, car exhaust). We also walked by where connie-cobb goes to school. I tried to take some stalker pictures but my attention span is only so long.
We then traveled back to Pennsylvania Station and home. On the way there was a woman chained in cage outside Madison Square Garden to protest the Chinese Government�s treatment of the Falun Gong. I did not give them money or take their information. If the Chinese Government is dealing with you, they are taking your money or treating you like garbage. Where did you miss the �government� part of that noun phrase? Governments tax and oppress.
After that, we got a snack in the train station, which I promptly spilled all over: me, my things, and Mary. Getting on the train was a bear. The trains to Connecticut are orderly, and the ones to the New Jersey are awful. They announce where the train is three minutes before it leaves and everyone stampedes toward the track. Then there is a hand-to-hand combat for seats culminating in Mary and I sitting next to some man who must have bathed in a puddle near Time�s Square.
At Hamilton Station, we went our separate ways and I went home to my cousin�s house where I hung out with my cousins. This is the evening where Cousin A realized that Cousin D � her brother, herself, and I, make up our normal relatives and I am sure I was just included out of politeness. However, it is true (for them, not me).
You can read about Mary�s perception of the day ( here )
I will tell you about the cruel prank I played on Cousin A, later. I got her good. I am a jerk.
