Order in the Court

"Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise."
--Bob DylanWell, I can safely say that today I did something I've never done before: I went to court (and no, it wasn't because I was under arrest!). My cousin's friend is a DA in the office of a NY state senator, and she had to appear in court today, so she drove down last night and then we all went over to the courthouse at 8 am. She has had a crazy summer (there was some unorthodox behavior in the state senate, perhaps you heard about it?) and today's session in the appellate court was to decide whether Governor Patterson's appointment of a lieutenant-governor had any constitutional basis, and whether the lieutenant-governor can remain in power until the actual appeal, which is three weeks from now. An appellate court involves a panel of judges, in this case four (two Democrats and two Republicans), with the plaintiffs and defendants lawyers presenting their arguments while fielding questions from the judges.

My cousin and I are qualified American History nerds and we were enthralled. Really--there were law students there who looked super bored, but the two of us were hunched over in our seats and kept poking each other during good rebuttals. Both sides had valid points, but much as it pains me to say this, the Republican senators (plus Pedro Espada, for whatever reason) have the better argument. There is no constitutional basis for such an appointment by Patterson (governors and lieutenant-governors must be elected together), and the whole thing seems shifty to me, especially since Patterson's lawyers stressed that he had to make a drastic decision in these "times of financial crisis." I am concerned about his justification for breaking the law, for the same reasons that I disagree with the Patriot Act. Ben Franklin said it best--"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." And since the senate has been behaving like a bunch of petulant children, well, I'm not sure how much I feel like trusting any of them.

There was a lot of legal particularities that I missed, but some of it I got. The judges were by turns scary and funny, and the lawyers for the senators (who my insider wrote the briefs for) were two large and ridiculous men who treated us all to lunch afterwards (one bore an uncanny resemblance to a walrus and one to John Goodman.) As they sat tapping away at their blackberries, I realized that 1) I have never been on a business lunch before, 2) I don't particularly want a blackberry, ever, and 3) I can't even imagine being under that much stress. The gilt and gold and marble and power (not to mention the fact that so many major decisions seem to be made by portly, white men...) is a little nauseating but also pretty fascinating. It was a fun way to spend a Thursday.

The Neighborhood

We just went for a jaunt to get ice cream. Some observations:
--in that little time when it's twilight but not dark enough for the streetlights to be on, you can see fireflies in Brooklyn.
--people are really excited when there are fireflies in Brooklyn, since I saw both kids and adults exclaiming and chasing them.
--3 kids were using a corner garbage can as a basketball hoop, while a few guys on the street coached them.
--4 men, in their mid-20's, were kicking beanbags, drinking beer, and proclaiming this their "championship round."
--ice cream is a good remedy for intense humidity (which, rather delightfully, the local news refers to as the "frizz factor.")

I am living in the Crown Heights neighborhood, one street over from the Prospect Heights border. The above picture is a mural I particularly love, which is located about 2 blocks from the apartment. The flag above her says, "the higher we climb, the further we can see," which is great, as are the other parts of the mural:


(maybe I'm just a sucker for murals.)

Prospect Heights/Crown Heights is an interesting place, since it's a mix of delis, restaurants, schools, churches (including a particularly large and lovely Catholic one a few streets away), and residential brownstones and apartments. My neighborhood is solidly working-class, and I'm also a mere 15 minute walk from the Botanic Garden, Prospect Park, Brooklyn Museum, and the main branch of the Public Library. I actually first heard of Crown Heights in a sociology class 3 years ago, which I forgot about until last week. We talked about it because there were 3 days of riots here in 1991, stemming from an incident where an African-American boy was struck by a car driven by an Orthodox Jewish man. The boy died, and later that evening another Jewish man was killed by a gang. David Dinkins was mayor at the time and apparently acted stupidly and things got of control and then Rudy Giuliani got elected 2 years later and Saved New York City From Itself (that was sarcasm). Regardless, it feels safe here.

And, according to wikipedia, Frank McCourt was actually born on the street where I'm living now, and since Frank McCourt has just died and I'm feeling nostalgic, here's a closer from Angela's Ashes: "I don't know what it means and I don't care because it's Shakespeare and it's like having jewels in my mouth when I say the words."

Goodnight, friends.

In Jersey Anything's Legal...

...as long as you don't get caught.* I spent the weekend visiting one of my William Smith friends who is living in Princeton, has a big-girl job, and an adorable kitten named Minerva. The link between Jersey and Brooklyn seems to have been cemented this past week with the money laundering (and illegal kidney trafficking, bribe-taking, etc.) scandal surrounding 3 New Jersey mayors, a bunch of public officials, and some Brooklyn Rabbis. And I found this gem on the BBC: "Correspondents say the number of people arrested is large even by New Jersey standards, where more than 130 public officials have either admitted to corruption or been found guilty of it since 2001."

I still had a nice time, despite the prevalence of strip-malls and crazy driving (my friend suggested I close my eyes so I wouldn't witness her merging). There was a Wegmans, for one thing, which I made us go to so I could absorb the Holy Air, and they even had wine from Anthony Road (Anthony Road being a winery near Geneva, and one of the many, many things I will miss about being there). We also found Toni Morrison's house in downtown Princeton and wandered around the campus.

It's raining in Brooklyn and intermittently thundering, but it's nice to be back. There were quite a few things I missed. Case in point: on the subway on Friday while on my way to Penn Station, 2 men got on with 2 massive bongo drums and small stools, and they sat in the middle of the car and played. Some people just turned their iPods up, but the rest of us turned off our music or stopped reading and listened. One woman stood up and said, "I think you could use a dancer," and she proceeded to sway back and forth with her baby balanced on her hip. They stopped, we clapped, and they got off. I don't know many places where things like that happen.

And for your viewing pleasure, here is the Brooklyn Bridge from a walk on the Manhattan Bridge (I like the playground in the foreground.)
*This is from an awesome song called "Tweeter and the Monkey Man." We used to listen to the Traveling Wilburys all. the. time. on cross-NY road-trips, and my sister and I could probably still sing this whole song. I know I could!

Double-Headers

Today I went to the Jamestown Jammers and Staten Island Yankees double-header, and it was pretty epic, especially so because Jamestown WON one game! (for those of you that do not follow NY-Penn minor-league baseball--shame on you!--the Jammers are in 2nd to last place.) They almost came back and won the second game too--they had an impressive rally in the 6th. Seriously, they played better than I've ever seen them play at home. And basically the whole team was rockin' impressive mustaches.

I was conflicted about this game since I wasn't sure who to cheer for--I am a Jammers fan by birth location, but didn't want to get beaten up by a bunch of die-hard Yankees. Since I have no particular allegiance to the Yankees, I didn't feel too guilty cheering against them, though. We were basically sitting in the Yankees bullpen (see above picture), which was fun. I also approve of any ballpark with such a stellar view!

Yinka Shonibare, MBE

I figure since I claim in my byline to be a wannabe art historian that I should occasionally write about shows I've seen or museums I've been to. One caveat: I don't really think I'm qualified to review anything, but bear with me, and enjoy the pictures regardless!

Yinka Shonibare first came to my attention when I was studying abroad in England and presenting a lecture on his work, and I was immediately smitten (smitten, ahem, being a very technical art historical term...) Shonibare was born in Nigeria, raised there and in England, and now resides primarily in London. His career retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, which I found out about a few weeks before moving here, was something I was looking forward to. And I was not disappointed! His works are often a comment on growing up in a former colony of England, and he cheekily uses the MBE title (which he received in 2005) as a testament to his complicated status as a Member of the Order of the British Empire. One of Shonibare's major themes is the usage of brightly colored wax-printed cloths, which people assume are produced in Africa, when in actuality they are printed in European cities. Shonibare takes these "African" cloths and fashions them into elaborate Victorian outfits, then uses them to clothe headless mannequins, as seen in How to Blow Up Two Heads At Once (ladies) (2006):


Shonibare also has a few series of works dealing with taking "Western" works of art (read: something in the established, white male approved, canon of art history) and twisting it a bit. One example I like is The Swing, After Fragonard (2001). (You can see Fragonard's painting here.)

(Sorry it's dark, I was obeying the no-flash rule.) My guess is that Shonibare likes that play of the unexpected with what is considered appropriate and established, such as his beheading of Fragonard's demure subject. In a similar vein is Diary of a Victorian Dandy (1998), which has Shonibare in the staring role as the dandy who is engaging in plenty of debauchery throughout his day--and it's also a play on William Hogarth's The Rakes Progress (1733). I don't have any good pictures of this, but look here if you're curious.

Another work I like a lot is The Scramble for Africa (2003) which depicts the European powers dividing up Africa in the 1880's. For a better image, see here.


One of the biggest surprises for me was Shonibare's video art, which I didn't know anything about; I particularly liked Odile and Odette (2005). For more on THAT (and a real review!) see here.

What is appealing to me about these works is that Shonibare doesn't take himself too seriously. He's dealing with some heavy subjects-- identity, sense of place, racism, power, the power of origin, and various cultural experiences, to name a few, but he's doing it in a way that is satirical and smart. As I walked around the exhibits, people were involved in the works and laughing and talking about them, which to me is never a bad thing.

Maybe Shonibare whacks the viewer over the head with his "post-colonial symbolism," or whatever you want to call it. Maybe he is as established and static as the cultural behaviors he is critiquing. Maybe I don't care. The variety in his paintings, photographs, sculptures, and videos is staggering, and I would encourage everyone to check out the Brooklyn Museum's website, or google him. Or better yet, come to the retrospective through September 20th! I enjoyed it. I think you might too.

Barack the Vote!

President Obama is a Big Deal in my neighborhood.* I've seen his picture (and Michelle and Sasha and Malia) on the buttons that the workers at the Public Library wear on their vests, on hair salons and grocery store windows (often with Spanish captions), and even plastered on a few churches. My cousin told me that on election day people starting lining up outside her polling place at 5 am.

However, I didn't see murals until I went to the East Village:

And they do make me smile. I know President Obama has a lot to prove, and a lot of unpopular decisions ahead of him, but the fact that he means something to many, many people is also a Big Deal to me too.

*and did you see him throw the first pitch at the All-Star Game? The man is hilarious.

ADDITION: today (7/21) while at the Staten Island/Jammers game, two Dominican girls behind me were arguing, and one said, "yeah, well, Barack Obama is my uncle!" and the other said, "Barack Obama is my brother!" Interesting.

Funemployment

I read the term "funemployment" in the paper awhile ago, and though I am looking for a job (really, I swear!) I am enjoying my time off as well. Here's what I've done the past few days:

1.) Went to Brighton Beach on a Wednesday morning. I love staring at waves but don't like being surrounded by crazy amounts of people. This problem is solved when you go to the beach early, on a day when normal people are working.
2.) Did laundry. I told you I couldn't promise vicarious excitement!! But who doesn't like having clean clothes? AND I lost a sock and then went back to the laundromat and found it wedged in the lint trap. So that was kinda nice.
3.) Went to the free NY Philharmonic concert in Prospect Park. Ok, this was one of my favorite things about the city so far. Sitting on a blanket and listening to Beethoven's 7th on a balmy summer evening--not much better than that! Also, there were fireworks. Also, we had excellent people-watching opportunities from the blanket in front of us, as they had a FEAST spread out: smoked haddock (or some other whitish fish), nectarines and blueberries, shishi cheese, organic Chilean lime chips (I mean, really), rose wine, Perrier, etc. etc. They also asked me if I had any salt, while I was eating a Saltine and drinking a Heineken Light. I unfortunately did not.
4.) While at the concert, I noticed there was a group of knitters in front of us, and since I'm almost out of yarn, I sketchily went over and asked where they bought yarn and we talked for awhile. As I was leaving, the lone male yelled, "hey! do you want to join a knitting circle? We're meeting tomorrow at a bar in Park Slope." Which leads me to...
5.) Went to a knitting circle at a bar. It was pretty hilarious. I'm pretty sure some of the knitters had not been to a bar in, say, 40 years, but I met some younger, nice people. They normally meet in a bakery, which I'm also pretty down with.
6.) Went to the Met. For the second time in two weeks. Two months ago I would have been delirious about the opportunity to see Caravaggios et al on a regular basis, and now it just still seems routine. Still awesome though. There was a really interesting special exhibit which had artifacts from the National Museum of Kabul. I liked learning more about Afghani history (since I know frighteningly little about it..) and seeing the combination of Chinese and Greco-Roman influences in the art was cool too. Sorry--nerd alert.

In other news, it was 90% humidity today, and I am feeling draggy in only the way that extreme mugginess makes you feel. Peace out for now.

Independence Day

Alright, the moment you've all been waiting for: a full account of the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest on the 4th of July, which I attended. More than a week later, the first 3 words that spring to mind about this event are: hot, hilarious, and insane. We got to Brighton Beach (which is adjacent to Coney Island) around 8:45 am, at which point only parents with little kids and elderly couples were around, but we walked through the sand and waves for awhile, which I love to do.
Here's some documentation:

Note: this is about 4 hours before I get a pretty bad sunburn, but what kind of nerd wears black to the beach? I'm kinda asking to bake myself... Also Coney Island is visible a bit in the background.

For those of you who don't know, the Hot Dog Contest has of late turned into a contest mainly between two men, Joey Chestnut (America) and Takeru Kobayashi (Japan). Kobayashi was the reigning champion for many years, but Chestnut has won the last two. And what does this have to do with American independence, I hear you asking? (I was telling one of my English flatmates about it, and she suggested that nothing is more American than gratuitous eating. Fair point.) According to wikipedia there was a four man eating contest in Coney Island on July 4th, 1916 to decide which man was most patriotic. The winner ate 13 hot dogs in 10 minutes. The winner in 2009? 68 hot dogs. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We got to the pavilion/platform on the corner of Surf and Stillwell around 10 am and saw some interesting characters: a bunch of frat-boy types who I'm pretty sure did not go to bed the night before, dressed as Abe Lincoln and Uncle Sam And Uncle Sam on Stilts, while on stage rocked a band from Jersey, "Brooklyn's Own Little Jimmy" dressed as Uncle Sam, and not one but TWO dancing hot dogs. The announcer appeared, resplendent in a bow-tie and straw boater hat, and the nonsense commenced. And by "nonsense," I mean dancing dogs, a man named Amos singing hot dog themed songs (attempts to rhyme "Kobayashi" and "noshing" were made), the "Coney Island strongman" lying on a bed of nails while holding an anvil, which his sons then beat with hammers, and people flying through the air on trampolines. The fairly extensive police detail were also funny--they kept sneakily taking pictures of themselves with the trophy and daring each other to pick it up.


Coney Island is in jeopardy from developers who want to shut down the amusement park and put up condos or something gross like that. This fact was noted by the announcer, who said (or rather, yelled), that "They say in the papers that Coney Island is dead!! Look around you now!! [I do. By noon, 50,000 people have filled the street behind me.] Coney Island is NOT DEAD!! Coney Island is not the buildings, it is the people!! And we're 50,000 strong, so if they want to come take us, TAKE US NOW!!" Everyone starts chanting, "take us now! take us now!" and a rapper named "Badlands" Booker (who we later find out is an eating contestant AND a subway driver) starts rapping "we stand stronger than 50 thou, if you wanna come take us take us now!!" It was awesome. So help me, I love things like this in the same way I love County Fairs and fireworks.

Then the announcer, who is earning his salary and then some, says, "when the Grinch came down the mountain, he took all the Whos roast beast!! And yet, the Whos were still singin' round the Christmas tree the next morning. Like the Whos, Coney Islanders will not give up!! CONEY ISLAND WILL RISE AGAIN!!" His oratorical skills were even more evident when he was introducing the contestants, with gems like "the Black Widow, the world record-holder for the most cranberry sauce consumed, is one of the four Horsewomen of the Esophagus," or "he is a culinary genius--he even knows why it's called couscous and not just cous." Joey Chestnut won, but that almost seemed irrelevant by that point. Here's a shot of the *glory* of competitive eating, and the announcer on a very tall podium.


Would I go again? It was a LONG time standing in the sun, but it was definitely the most exciting thing I've ever done on the 4th. And as the announcer put it, "the battle of good and evil pales in comparison to what we will witness today."

And in honor of another day of Independence, Happy Bastille Day!

Secret Gardens

There are some days when it is impossible to forget that I'm living in a big-city city--like, when my neighbors set off fireworks, or when the cars at the red light by my house blare "Billie Jean" (c'mon guys, I liked his music too, but pick another song!), or when I get shoved on the subway. But there are some days when I enter this other green and quiet planet, in the middle of the crazy, and forget about the cars and the people for a little bit. Here are some of those places:

The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens



Japanese garden, rose garden (my favorite, so far), manicured lawns, perfectly symmetrical trees, simulated rainforest, grassland, and desert areas--the Brooklyn Botanical gardens is awesome!! And there is a HUGE pond with fish surrounding the Japanese garden. And it's only $4 for students. I didn't go through the whole thing, and am excited to explore more.

Prospect Park

Prospect Park (a mere 15ish minute walk from the apartment) is adjacent to the Brooklyn Museum, the Botanical gardens, and the main branch of the public library. It's something like 500 acres, and has a lovely, sprawling, golf-course quality--I think it's Olmstead designed. It also has a big lake, Audubon center, carousel, a bandstand, multiple playgrounds, about 58 different entrances (so it seems!) and prime people watching potential. They also have free concerts, dance troupes, etc. on Thursday nights.

East Village Neighborhood Garden

The East Village is outside of my normal stomping grounds, but we were up for a show last week and passed this garden and couldn't resist. It's open a few nights a week and is completely maintained by people in the neighborhood--pretty fab. I like the picture with the iron fence because you get the sense of all the buildings around it. A "secret garden" if there ever was one! It also had a sweet table that was a lot of rocks kind of stacked together.

Upstate

Okay, it's not metropolitan, so maybe it doesn't count. But I'm here right now, and my aunt's garden and house are two of my favorite places in the world. Look at that garden!! I am very excited for the zucchini we'll be hauling to the train station with us.

Last but not Least: Home
This is a picture I took before leaving home to test out my malfunctioning camera. This is my backyard in Jtown, with my mother's delphiniums in full and glorious display. They are doing very well this year (properly staked, according to her). A few years ago I was playing bocce and totally fell on them, so now my mother is very protective of them, probably with good reason...

Chess

Two of my favorite pictures so far:

This was one of my first days in Brooklyn, and I turned the corner (toward Bergen, I think) and saw this set up outside a gaming store--a giant chess set in the middle of the sidewalk.

Free chess lessons in Washington Square Park, Manhattan, about a week later. One of the job postings I found and promptly dismissed was to be the chess teacher at an elite high school. I know all the moves, but I have no strategy!

Upstate Estate

Negligent blogger alert! Sorry for my slackerness, I'll try and pick up the pace. I'm currently at my aunt's house in the Albany area, or as my cousin and I are calling it, "our house upstate," so we can fit in with the ritzy New Yorkers who have summer cottages. Here is the perfect antidote to smoke and sirens and noise and crushes of people:





Me, yesterday afternoon before the thunderstorms rolled in. Sweet iced tea, book, flowers, creek view...ahh.








So far today I have raspberry picked, won a badminton game (yay!), canoed, finished a trashy (but fun) mystery, and composed a few emails. More plans include eating a lot of grilled vegetables and raspberry shortcake for dinner. It's good to have plans, right?

The Heights

So today was a low-key kind of day (I'll do some back posts on this past weekend's 4th of July lunacy soon), but after dinner tonight we took the subway to Brooklyn Heights. This is one of the more historic neighborhoods in Brooklyn, and for whatever reason it is significantly more quiet than Crown Heights/Prospect Heights, where I spend most of my time. (Speaking of the 4th: my neighbors set off highly illegal and pretty major fireworks. For five hours. It was quite impressive!) We went by the church where Henry Ward Beecher was the minister and which was a major stop on the underground railroad, and another building which was once the largest hotel in NYC. And the view from the promenade can't be beat, as you can see:

And, there was a lady walking her cat! Cool times.

Even better than the view was what happened when we got back to Borough Hall to take the subway home. We were looking at a statue of Bobby Kennedy when a tall man with dreadlocks and a blue striped business shirt came over and said, "you know, he did a LOT more good than his brother," to which my cousin agreed (she is a social studies teacher, after all). They then had a 10 minute conversation (which I tried to follow) about RFK and JFK and the USSR and Civil Rights, organized crime and speeches about Dr. King, and the importance of understanding another persons culture and beliefs. He shook our hands, told us to vote for him for president, and went on his way.

Salutations!

Hello all,
As many/most of you know, I am in Brooklyn for the foreseeable future, mooching off my magnanimous cousin (ya like that, Melis??), and starting The Great Job Hunt 2009. I have been here for 6 days and will soon give a better account of my time so far.

I think blogging is kind of fun, but although I had one in England, I didn't have one at school, since I thought accounts like "today I went to class. Today I wrote a paper. Tonight I went to the Red Dove" would be boring. That being said, today I went to the grocery store and the library, I am currently drinking hot chocolate at a cafe, and on my way home I will stop at the deli for some cheese. So, I'm not promising excitement, but I'll do my best!
Miss you all & talk to you soon!
xoxo