Direct from the Acela
Okay I think this is my fifth blog, although I’m actually writing it on the Acela train (fast, nice) somewhere outside of Wilmington, Delaware. Had a good but too-short visit to New York. Gave an evening lecture at the New School, and it went well (talked about the Internet/Reading in West Africa paper). Saw old friend of John’s and mine, Vera Zolberg, a professor there, elegant and warm as ever. Also saw some murals done by a Mexican muralist named something like Oxaco, was in a grop with Diego Rivera in the 1930s and the murals were all filled with socialist images, Lenin, Stalin, hard-muscled workers, etc. Very cool. And it turns out he has only two other murals in the U.S. and one is at Dartmouth (that well-known hotbed of communism). Ray knows all about it, says it’s in the library basement where he studies a lot. Must see it on our forthcoming trip.
I have been eating an Amtrak cinnamon roll, huge and sugary. Even carbo-phobes go nuts every now and then. Oh, I think we’re coming into Baltimore. Speaking of big cities, I love that toasty way New York always smells. I used to think it was pretzel vendors, or maybe chestnuts; I didn’t see any of either, but the smell was still there. Great energy: I walked from my hotel on East 40th to Penn Station this morning, around 6:30; lots of people walking small dogs, others sweeping sidewalks, some eager beavers hustling to their Madison Avenue offices. Great scene. Have to spend more time in New York.
Olivia is doing a big research paper on Dorothy Dix, about whom I know very little. Olivia tells me she organized the doctors and nurses in the Civil War, and apparently everyone respected her but no one liked her because she was so tough. I’ll learn more when I see Olivia and John this weekend.
Did I blog about the pandas that Gail and I saw last weekend? The baby was too cute. Actually, even the parents are cute, the way they recline on their backs when they’re eating bamboo. We also saw an elderly kangaroo, and I told Gail about Olivia and John taking a horseback ride and seeing wild kangaroos.
I read the paper this morning, but found nothing to rant about.
I have been eating an Amtrak cinnamon roll, huge and sugary. Even carbo-phobes go nuts every now and then. Oh, I think we’re coming into Baltimore. Speaking of big cities, I love that toasty way New York always smells. I used to think it was pretzel vendors, or maybe chestnuts; I didn’t see any of either, but the smell was still there. Great energy: I walked from my hotel on East 40th to Penn Station this morning, around 6:30; lots of people walking small dogs, others sweeping sidewalks, some eager beavers hustling to their Madison Avenue offices. Great scene. Have to spend more time in New York.
Olivia is doing a big research paper on Dorothy Dix, about whom I know very little. Olivia tells me she organized the doctors and nurses in the Civil War, and apparently everyone respected her but no one liked her because she was so tough. I’ll learn more when I see Olivia and John this weekend.
Did I blog about the pandas that Gail and I saw last weekend? The baby was too cute. Actually, even the parents are cute, the way they recline on their backs when they’re eating bamboo. We also saw an elderly kangaroo, and I told Gail about Olivia and John taking a horseback ride and seeing wild kangaroos.
I read the paper this morning, but found nothing to rant about.
posted by peanutfiend | 1:07 PM
2 Comments:
You sure made me hunger for NY.
I think those murals were featured in the movie about Frieda Kahlo.
Yeah, they're pretty sweet. In this really out-of-the-way place though. Maybe that's part of their charm. I hadn't even heard about them til this term.
Oh, and the guy's name is Orozco.
Ray
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