Tag Archives: nyc

[293.] NYC Photo Journal: From Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan: A visual essay and a prelude…

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Red Hook, Brooklyn. Labor Day, 2008. This area had been neglected, was run down, seedy, and not very visitable. It’s main landmark was a city housing project. And then something wonderful happened. The Swedish home furnishings company know as IKEA, stepped in and did wonders. In return for its waterfront property it created Erie Basin Park, a free water taxi service to lower Manhattan (to lure over Manhattan-ites). The great thing is, anyone can use the taxi service, and they do, to go to work or to get to Manhattan. Many people forget, including the city government, that New York … Continue reading →

Guide to The World Trade Center Blogs

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Index to the 4-part series which will run from 9/8-9/11. *Lead-in: From Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan/A visual essay and a prelude a recent visit to the area triggers memories   *Part 1: Windows on the World Video: Building the World Trade Center Introduction George Willig, the wire walker Memory: dining at Windows on the World   *Part 2:Audio Walking Tour: A thousand pictures from the sounds “Featuring voice messages, interviews, eyewitness accounts, live music, audio artifacts–the elevators, revolving doors, the piano in Windows on the World…stories and sounds from the world Trade Center and it’s neighborhood.” Follow the map 102 … Continue reading →

444. New York City Photo Journal: Grand Central Terminal: more food!

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[I prepared this post in December and never released it, so please enjoy it now!] The grandest of terminals has been renovated and its majesty is overwhelming. Beyond its two levels of trains that come down from New York State and Connecticut, there are links to the New York City subway. It is located on 42nd Street and Park Avenue. Beyond trains it is a shopper’s haven. In fact, it is so huge, one has to consult a map to fine one’s way around. The New York City Transit Museum Gift Shop has a branch there with a special train … Continue reading →

440. The Nine Lives Times: Little Arnold Update 11/14/09

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Ampersand looking at Little Arnold   13 CommentsChronological   Reverse   Threaded reply nemo4sun wrote on Nov 14, ’09 cool 🙂 reply sousonne wrote on Nov 14, ’09 Wow…that’s one dandy feeding station!  Arnold is very lucky to have you for his protector! reply catnurse1 wrote on Nov 14, ’09 How great you are!  All this for a little stray cat (look who’s talking!).  He is gorgeous.  I love the tomcat jowls. reply sanssouciblogs wrote on Nov 14, ’09, edited on Nov 14, ’09 He has a face like a plate. Did you say you thought he was part Russian Blue? I … Continue reading →

270. Travel Part 3: So Vat’s Nu, dahlink? Yiddish, anyvun?

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Day 2 at the National Yiddish Book Center: Funny Jewish Women >>So go here already! But don’t forget, there are more trip things before this! >>Go here! Part 1 >>Now go here! Part 2 So DO it already!!! Now for some delightful memories. 1. Episodes of the 1950’s series, “The Goldbergs,” featuring Gertrude Berg. I was able to find a comparable video for you to enjoy. From my childhood, I can still hear Gertrude Berg yell out the window (vinder) to her neighbor, “Yoo hoo, Mrs. Bloom! Get S.O.S.! I’m tellink you, with more soap it’s loaded!”   2. Here … Continue reading →

342. Poetry: Overheard In The Love Hotel: Robert Polito

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Robert Polito, born 1951, is from Boston and lives in New York City. He is an academic and poet, director of the writing program at The New School, here in New York City. He holds a Ph.D in English and English Language and Literature from Harvard University. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award, and an Edgar Award for Savage Art: a Biography of Jim Thompson. From the anthology: Poems of New York Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets This poem takes place in Manhattan’s Meat Packing District. I grew up on East 14th Street, this area is at the other … Continue reading →

285. Photos: Thursday in the Park With Al (2008)

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This is Al, the sweetest man on earth; secretly, I think of him as the father I never had. Kind, brilliant, loving, and still around in his late 80’s as spunky and adventurous as ever. Al was a friend of my late father-in-law and family. In the 70’s when Mr.Souci and I were traveling through Ireland, we met Al and his wife in Dublin, by coincidence, and had a few meals together. Al’s lovely wife passed away of cancer a number of years ago. My father-in-law died suddenly some years after. My step-mother-in-law and Al, the surviving spouses, became an … Continue reading →

78. Let’s Exchange Names

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I conceived this blog while on Astra Navigo’s site; his blog was about his home state, Oregon. I have never lived in Oregon, but I will always remember my first phone number: ORegon-3-9833.Before all digit dialing, before we lost our phone and geographical identities, before we got lost in digits and binary codes, we had telephone exchanges; they put you on the map, they gave you a reference point in the huge communication universe, which then consisted of… the telephone. It was sometime after “Upstairs, Downstairs,” when Hudson, the butler, would answer the ringing wall phone with ‘Halllooooo? May I … Continue reading →

30. It’s Automatic: NY Phenomenon: Fun Fast Food

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One of my fondest memories of growing up on East 14th Street in Manhattan was the Horn & Hardart, Automat, near Union Square. My mother would take me on the Avenue B bus for a 10 minute ride, and the excitement would build. We’d often go shopping first at S. Klein on the Square, where one could find bargains galore; great stuff and everything at low prices. After some heavy shopping, we’d round the corner and pop into the Automat. It was a chain that started in Philadelphia by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart, and became most popular in New … Continue reading →

33. Whole Foods: Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get

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While walking down the produce aisle at the Whole Foods Market, (a food store that specializes in supposedly healthier food, some organic, and decidedly higher priced than regular food stores) my Cerebral Jukebox honed in on soul music playing in the background, Whatcha See Is Whatcha Get. I was happy.  I felt like dancing.  I flirted with the produce guy over a bunch or cilantro, I boogied over to the radishes.  I looked at faces staring intently at the ears of corn and white peaches.  No one else was on planet 60’s with me. I decided to make gazpacho. I … Continue reading →

25. Part II: Dyre Avenue Days

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Click here for an introduction to the poem Dyre Avenue Days ©2002 by the author, all rights reserved Windows black with soot: Try to look through the paths etched by rain at a sky forever attempting to be blue, never passing gray, as you stand within the elevated 120 decibel train, ironically known as the subway, the number 5; the Dyre Avenue line. You are the voyeur of the balloon lettered spray painted buildings, of the subliminal flashes of factory workers all named by the Caribbean, tied together with threads colored Carmen, Marisol, Maria, Chica, as the train races, singing … Continue reading →

24. Part I: In A New York Minute: Underground Birthday

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    The way it used to look: Thoughts pull me back to my New York subway days. New York City is a public transportation town unless you live in the borough of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island or the Bronx, where there is more breathing room and a place to park. I lived in The Bronx for the 7 years I was married to my first husband; it was hishim.It was a long commute for me to get to Manhattan to get to college, and later to get to work. Buses, trains, transfers, pushing, crowds.This particular train line, the (fitting … Continue reading →

14. Charmed. I’m Sure

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originally posted 4/12/07 Bloggers and Bloggettes; This morning as I was brushing my teeth my day’s idea came to me. I write in many different forms. One is in silver. This is my story. One day in the early 1950’s, my parents took me on a subway ride to the Bronx (one of the 5 “boroughs of New York City: Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan are the five boroughs and are largely residential.”) Part of the train ride is elevated and it is a kick for a young child to kneel backwards in her seat and look … Continue reading →

The WTC Blogs: Part 5b: A Visit to the WTC Site and Lower Manhattan

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Click the photos to enlarge.   Before our 4:00 pm appointment to view the site, we walked what felt like miles, in the heat to Battery Park; I wanted to see the atrium, an arched globe of glass that was virtually destroyed. It had opened onto the WTC plaza. We rested for a while and then hauled ourselves up and walked almost for a half hour to the site. There is so much construction going on that it is difficult to walk directly. There is a subway overpass and the amount of stairs was exasperating. Luckily we found an elevator. … Continue reading →

537. Going to see my hero, Gustavo Dudamel: Music can save the world

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Sunday, October 3, 2010 Carnegie Hall Gustavo Dudamel, conductor: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Yo-Yo Ma: Cello Program View Gustavo Dudamel conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra two weeks ago. Previous blog on Dudamel. Dudamel Bio The clarinet: “It’s completely different than when you hold a gun. 7 CommentsChronological Reverse Threaded reply catfishred wrote on Oct 3, ’10, edited on Oct 3, ’10 I am SO into this theme, Suz! Every year we support the Daniel Pearl Music Foundation on Daniel’s birthday, which is 10 October. He was a violinist who believed that music bridged the gap between love and hatred, bringing mutual … Continue reading →

488. Poetry Wednesday…new work in progress

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        Poetry Wednesday Revisited I have had a few poems cooking and this is a first draft. It’s been a long while since I had the time or inclination to write; there’s been too much going on in my life. I began the poem last night and have edited it about 20 times so far. It’s never finished! Friday Night on Bell 1 Muni Meter The Muni Meter was broken. No need to feed coins or cards said two young women, long hair and busty. They were on their way up Bell to hit the bars. What … Continue reading →

378. NYC Photo Journal: Flushing Town Hall Jazz series: and a poem for Poetry Wednesday

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The beautiful, restored Victorian Flushing Town Hall (near the hubbub of Main Street Flushing, not far from Citifield (the replacement for Shea Stadium), is now a cultural hub and the home of jazz. You can follow the Queens Jazz Trail here. If you are a lover of jazz and coming to New York City, order the maps and info from the link above and take the walking tours. The borough of Queens is the home to many of the performers in the newly formed Jazz Orchestra. It is home to Jimmy Heath, and was the home to the late Louis … Continue reading →

Theater: Good People: David Lindsay-Abaire/Manhattan Theater Club

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 Theater:  Good People: David Lindsay-Abaire/Manhattan Theater Club A fabulous play with a fabulous cast: Becky Ann Baker (stage, screen, TV) Patrick Carroll (stage, screen, TV) Tate Donovan (stage, screen, TV) Renée Elise Goldsberry (stage, screen,TV) Frances McDormand (stage, screen. TV: Academy Award for Fargo; Misssissippi Burning, Almost Famous, North Country) Estelle Parsons: (stage, screen: August, Osage County, Academy Award: Bonnie & Clyde, nominée for Rachel, Rachel. Inducted into the Theater hall of Fame in 2004) >>Link to Cast photos and bios<< >>New York Times article on the playwright, Pulitzer Prize winner, David Lindsay-Abaire<< What makes a person good? Are the … Continue reading →

510. New York City Photo Journal: MoMA: Museum of Modern Art:Picasso to Warhol to People

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We have been visiting New York City’s Museum of Modern Art to catch up on some exhibits. Currently, the Matisse exhibit is hot, but no photography is permitted. I found a few great Picassos that illustrate my demeanor of late; with the construction–and lately, the lack of–going on here, this is me, by Picasso. I find it amazing that this genius could catch my essence long before I was born …       [click on photos to enlarge]   8 CommentsChronological   Reverse   Threaded reply ladywolf11 wrote on Aug 16, ’10 i have to say I think People Watching is … Continue reading →

164. Poetry: On Leaves

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My last year working in the school system before retiring, was a year of transition; I actually didn’t know what I was coming back to.  I had been out of the classroom for 16 years testing children for special education services and writing educational prescriptions.  But suddenly 1,100 of us in that capacity lost our positions when the budget was cut and the education system went under a business model.  It was a nightmare.  We had to return to the classroom.  I lost my office, my balance, my grip.  But it ended up being a delightful year as things began … Continue reading →