Month: June 2012

I’m supposed to hand in an author photo tomorrow. This used to be a lot easier when I was, oh, I don’t know, decades younger. Also, at 56, I don’t have as much patience as I used to. I planned to spend all day on this if necessary, but after an hour I’m done. Please tell me this picture is acceptable. I’m happy with it. I think I look friendly and reasonably animated and happy.

Update: Okay, a few people weighed in and this is the newest version.

Another Update: I just replaced my old picture on the upper right with this new one. I like how it looks!

Here is the same shot, cropped in.

So I could follow this debate about biology and evolution. It begins with a negative review by Richard Dawkins about a new book by Edward Wilson. Skip the review I say—or not, Dawkins is just such a jerk, even if he has a worthwhile point I can always read the same point from someone else. Go right to the comments.

In another direction, look at this gift this father gave his daughter for her graduation. That has to be the best idea of all time for a graduation gift.

I may have told this story before, but when I graduated high school I used the Freedom of Information Act to see all the records in my files. I had a long history of getting into trouble and I expected to see a lot of, “Will end up in jail one day,” or, “I’m just praying for the day she graduates.” I wasn’t a bad kid, but I was an independent, wild kid, and I had to try everything at least once (use your imagination) and question everything, and I went through a bad patch of acting out in junior high.

But inside my records, they praised the very traits they always tried to discourage, ie, “she’s strong-willed, determined.” On the one hand, it was a nice way of saying “she’s a pain in the ass,” but still. What shocked me the most was how many said I was funny and had a good sense of humor. There was a kindness and appreciation there that they almost never showed me in person. I think I was 19 when I read all this and up until then I hadn’t gotten a lot of encouragement from my family or my teachers. Perhaps because I seemed like I didn’t need it. But of course I did, and reading their words had a profound effect on me. The big one being the realization that you can never be sure what people are thinking about you!

Now I have to decide what to do with my day. Take it easy or drum in the parade? My author photo is due tomorrow, so I guess I’ll start with that! I wish I had gotten a better night’s sleep.

I took his coming home from picking up my camera. If this was a movie instead of a still you would hear the booming, pounding music coming from this car. I wonder what that is about, the need to put on such an audio display?

The picture below is looking west on Christopher from Hudson Street. All the barricades are up in preparation for the big Gay Pride Parade tomorrow. This time tomorrow it will be an absolute mob-scene of celebration and partying. My band drums in it every year and it’s one of the most fun things we do. But every year I agonize about whether or not I want to go. It’s always so hot! I’ll bet if I search my blog using the words “Gay Pride” I’ll find a post like this for every summer. Alright, now I’m curious … well, I only found two!

2011

“I woke up to learn that New York had passed the gay marriage bill … Looks like I really must join my band Manhattan Samba and drum in the Gay Pride Parade this year (it’s tomorrow). I usually do, but it’s a marathon thing and I’m getting old! Hours and hours of drumming in the blazing heat (usually).”

2008

“My band, Manhattan Samba, always does the Gay Pride parade every year. I almost didn’t go this year because it was so oppressively hot. Thank God I did because this year there was a torrential downpour. It was so thick and hard and freezing cold at first, and you’d think that would have felt great, but it was shocking, like when you first jump into a cold pool … once I got over the cold and the stinging, and surrendered to being completely drenched, it was positively ecstatic. It is just so completely liberating. Nothing matters, only joy.”

The receptionist at my vet was raving and raving about the Path Cafe place you can see on the right. He said the food was amazing, and affordable, and that the young couple who run it are the nicest people in the world.

The repair place called: your camera is ready. I ran crosstown to pick it up, but the battery I had with me was dead, so I had to run home, recharge it, and it was at this point that I noticed that I didn’t have my earrings on.

I’d taken them off to swim this morning, and somewhere between the pool and home they were lost. I ran to the pool, asked if anyone had turned them in. No. Checked the locker room, not there. These are one of the pairs of earrings Nora made and sent me. I’m sick with grief. It’s always good news/bad news. I can only hope that someone found them and is now loving them as much as I did.

I took a few shots before a major storm hit. This is Hudson Street, on my way to the city pool to look for my earrings. Notice the different levels of outwear. We’re in a heatwave. The girl in orange is dressed accordingly. I don’t get the girl in the cardigan and I really don’t get the woman who is wearing what looks like a heavy jacket!

This is the garden at St. Lukes, which is a half a block up and across the street from the previous shot. It’s a lovely place to sit and read.

And this is me turning the corner for home, totally dejected about the earrings and just before the storm hit. It’s thundering now, as I type this.

Betsy sent this link to me: Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity.

I loved them all, two made me cry (and they weren’t one involving animals, surprisingly). It made me want to do something so kind it made others cry. My new goal! Make people cry.

A picture from April. I was walking down the west side, along the Hudson River, taking “before” pictures of One World Trade Center. This was one of the rejects, but it has a dog in it.