Month: May 2012

Because apparently I can’t wait. I’ve done all my pre-Spring Cleaning tasks like going through all my boxes, files and closets, paring down my books and other belongings, and now I’m ready to begin. First up, the bedroom and the bathroom. The bedroom is easy, but the bathroom, the tiniest room in the apartment, will take hours.

The hotdog vendor. Of course I don’t eat hotdogs anymore, but I have nostalgia about them. What would be an as-easy-to-eat, inexpensive, vegetarian replacement? I don’t like faux-meats, and I don’t miss the taste. Wraps? Falafel?

I had the tv on in the background last night and I heard a CNN commentator ask a conservative commentator something like, “Come on. In the end, what is the problem with allowing everyone to marry who they want to marry?” And the guy began his answer with how we’d need to redefine marriage. I couldn’t listen beyond that.

When we were fighting to abolish slavery there were people who felt that in order to free blacks we had to redefine what it meant to be human. Blacks were less than human many thought, (or like children) and therefore it was okay to enslave them. But of course we didn’t need to redefine humanity. If anything needed to change it was the outlook of anyone who didn’t believe that blacks were as human as anyone else and should be equal under the law.

It’s the same here. The definition of marriage doesn’t need to change. Only the outlook of those that feel we all aren’t equal under the law and the right to marry who you want and all the rights that go along with marriage doesn’t apply to everyone.

I took these shots after the Eric Whitacre/Morten Laurisdsen concert at Carnegie Hall last March. It was raining and the singers were making a mad dash for the subway or hotel and restaurant or wherever else they were heading.

It’s an historic day. I’ve fallen in love with our president all over again. Good for you, Mr. President. (And you too, Biden, for hurrying this along.) Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking a stand and doing the right thing. It’s a great day for civil rights.

I found this picture on the White House website and I thought it fit. (The caption reads: Feb. 17, 2011 “The President joins a toast with technology business leaders at a dinner in Woodside, Calif. Among those attending were the late Steve Jobs, to the President’s left, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to the President’s right.” Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.)

I’ve posted about Maurice Sendak before. Never mind what all his books did for me when I was a child, or his recent interviews with Steven Colbert, I just watched this one and it gave my heart a sense of peace I haven’t felt in a while. I’d almost forgotten what that felt like. Next up, his interviews with Terry Gross, which has already made two of my friends cry.

A great big pot of flowers on 11th Street. People in the Village really make an effort to beautify the neighborhood. Thank you, neighbors. Your efforts are noted and appreciated.

Our Annual Spring Benefit Cocktail Party, is Tuesday, May 22! As always, the benefit is held at the fabulous home of Kevin Roon and Simon Yates in Tribeca. There will be plenty of cocktails, of course, and food. But the big attraction will be chamber music offered by the principal players of the amazing and celebrated Choral Society Orchestra, led by Jorge Avila.

Tickets cost $100 if purchased through me via the Choral Society. Just go to the website, then click on May 22 Party for specifics, and choose the “friends” price on the left. Trust me, you’ll have a wonderful time! Great music! Great people!

In my book I write about walking back and forth on 11th Street, going to and from choir rehearsals. Lucinda recommended a book called House in Time, by a person who grew up on 11th Street and I recently took it out of the library (haven’t started it yet). But I took a picture of the house she wrote about at 42 West 11th Street.