it’s easy in New York to imagine that you are living in a movie. Tonight was no exception. Freezing wind and squalling snow caused us to dash into the Fort Hamilton Parkway subway stop, only to wait on the plant form as tumbleweeds rolled by on the unused center express track and the “N” was no where to be found. The station was complete with a deserted feeling, graffiti and a chainlink fence above rattling in the wind. I’m not sure what happens next, but probably something sinister.
Blogging Resolve
Part of my hopes and goals for 2008 is to write more. I realized I’m in danger of becoming one of those artists who never does the thing that they really want to do (writing in my case) because they are too busy earning their rent money or getting lost in daily distractions. During a phone call with Elissa today she talked about working on her writing while being a public school teacher. They key is to start small, to “use what you have” as Elissa says. Like this blog. So I’ve decided to rekindle my posting focus and let this blog and the small stories I share about my life as writing warm up. I’m also reading “The Anti 9 to 5 Guide,” which is also inspiring me to get off my duff and start writing. So, if you have any suggestions about being a writer AND working a full time job not at all related to writing, please send them my way.
Paris Via Velib
After spending the quietest new years ever (laundry), on new years day we took a bike ride through eastern Paris, ending up at Notre Dame and then the Jadrin de Tuilleries. I love seeing Paris at the pace of a bike, it’s a great way to get to know the city and see how it all fits together. Velib is Paris’ new bike rental program where the bikes are everywhere. It’s not as straightforward as it should be to rent a bike (I couldn’t have done it because I have a US bank card without the chip that European bank cards have) and you have to go through several seemingly redundant steps, but once you get the bike, it’s pretty damn cool. And people really use them! I also feel like Paris has done a lot to become more bike friendly and I feel safer there than in NYC, but maybe this is just being naive.
Barcelona Beaches
One great thing about Barcelona was the weather! I loved sitting outside in cafes in December and walking on the beach looking at the Mediterranean.
Barcelona from Park Guell
As an escape from the tourist clogged streets we went to Gaudi’s Park Guell, which is probably the only thing I really liked that we saw by him. It was relaxing, a breath of fresh air, and I could actually feel the architecture, landscape design and nature in dialogue with each other. Plus, it afforded a wonderful view of the city and the sea in “magic hour” light. You can see the electric company building and the Sagrada Familia (a Gaudi creation I was “unimpressed” with, or rather, was impressed with its ugliness).
MACBA, Barcelona
Though the phrase I uttered most often in Barcelona was “unimpressed” (with Modernisme, with the tourists, with the rude bartenders…), I did like the MACBA and the CCCB (Center for Contemporary Culture, Barcelona). The CCCB especially had interesting and provacative exhibitis on Apartheid in South African and it’s ramifications for racism worldwide and on the end of Franco’s rule in Spain. Both the exhibits at the CCCB mixed politics, history and art in a way that I have never seen in an American museum (probably because they can’t get funding to do so) and I found that really exciting.
Holidays in Europe
For the first time ever I didn’t go to Maine for the holidays, but headed further afeild to Paris (and later Barcelona). It was a fantastic mix of walking around, taking in the sights and just hanging out. Like ever American who has ever been there, Paris never fails to move and inspire me with its city charm. I forget how much I love it and then when I come back I get so excited!
My Trip to France (as interpreted by Flight of the Conchords)
In case anyone was wondering how my recent European sejour went…
Schmapp Berlin!
I am so proud that I photo I took in Gorlitzer park in Berlin in summer 2006 is included in the new schmapp guide to Berlin. I’d never heard of these interactive map cityguides, but they seem like I really good idea. Rest assured I’ll be checking them out for the cities I plan to visit in the next year… Barcelona and Glasgow! See my contribution to the Berlin schmapp here:
Sufjan Stevens and the BQE
On Friday evening I went with my friends to BAM to see Sufjan Stevens perform The BQE, which is a new work that BAM comissioned celebrating Robert Moses’ unlikely monument to automobile culture and “ubran renewal.” With three film screens, dancers with glowing hula hoops and a full orchestra, it was a stunning piece. It reminded me of the ballet I saw in Paris by Robyn Orlin, who also incorporated film into her work in a very dynamic way. The performance made me think about how I relate to Brooklyn visually–what are the sights I see everyday as I move around the city that are actually monuments (or ruins) or a certain kind? The blue gorilla near 9th street and the Gowanus canal? The bright yellow storage warehouse on Atlantic Ave? Sunset Park’s numerous industrial buildings and dentention center? Dumbo and Williamsburg’s new high rise condos? The other effect the piece had on me was it lead me to reflect on a relationship I was in several years ago with someone who lived in Queens. I never thought about it like this before, but our relationship was so much about the BQE. There was always traffic, rough pavement, and construction at unlikely times. I learned very quickly that the BQE was not a road to be trusted; expressway often meant anything but. I knew so many sights in Sufjan’s film from that time in my life- the bridges, the Queens cemetaries, the Manhattan skyline as seen from Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I’m glad it’s been memorialized and analyzed in someway. It made me realize my trips on the BQE are probably my fondest memories from those days.
Killerfemme 