coffee get together

this morning greg and i were out early to have coffee with the different schools (parsons school of design, mannes music and theatre school and the lang school of liberal arts). they offered very good local coffee from the joe coffee shop directly next door, along with blueberry muffins and chewy chocolate chip cookies. we met a lovely couple who were there from colorado. their daughter was in her first year.

the different deans spoke today . . highlighting the camaraderie amongst the departments and how they encourage the students to take classes from all areas. it was fun and i'm so glad we participated. i think it's the first family get together they've had since covid. i really feel that the pace has accelerated and we are back to how things were before the pandemic arrived. it feels hectic to me! i have to make an effort to keep things simple.

i spoke with morgan today. they are very busy in london with working for the society for the blind and with a preschool. they've also been working on the new apartment that is a little damp but is slowly improving (two dehumidifiers have been installed and plaster has been taken down from the walls to allow the brick to breathe and dry out better). they are still waiting for a heat pump to be installed so they can have hot water. it's supposed to be done this coming week.

victoria is in town. she came by to pick up her keys for the storage unit. she has a friend coming in from texas to help clear things out. she's staying at a finnish friend's residence hall uptown. they're supposed to come for dinner next saturday.

here's korrina with grimace the mets unofficial mascot (you can read about how he became the mets good luck charm this summer here). she was on her way home from work and is wearing her latest hat and shawl knitted pieces. you can see them better here:

we've been following the mets and yankees games . . game six for the mets is tomorrow in california. the dodgers lead with three games to the mets two.  the yankees are playing game five right now with cleveland and the score is currently tied at 2-2 and it's the bottom of the ninth.

family weekend at the new school

 
chanda's school has been having events for parents this week and into the weekend. this afternoon i attended a talk about the history of the new school (with teachers julia foulkes and mark larrimore) which first opened in 1919 by a group of disgruntled columbia university teachers. they felt that columbia had become too didactic and regimented. for years they offered classes focusing on the joy of learning and didn't become accredited until 1934 when they took in many professors fleeing europe who needed to be working for an accredited college in order to remain in the country.

they had us form six different groups with each group discussing a photograph presenting an artifact from the past. my group had a schedule of courses from the spring of 1958 showing the emphasis on communication, personal growth, and broadening one's mind and horizons via group discussion and attendance at the neighborhood's local theatres.

one group focused on the public art work poem that wraps around the cafe where we were sitting (the words in purple in the photo above) and how different phrases may present themselves to us depending on the mood we are in.

this bottom phrase running along the wall touched my heart today and then i knew i was reading the words of walt whitman.

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in the midst of the discussion, a student activist dressed in face paint and halloween costume came by to pull off a top poster displaying this bottom poster calling out for the college to divest. i also had received a flyer saying the same thing when entering the school. i thought it was very clever of the students and i was happy to see that the protests were continuing in subtle ways. (i've also been keeping up with my phone calls and letter writing with jewish voice for peace and the american friends' service committee.)

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after my workshop i met greg on 12th street for the reception in the student hub building.

i ran into a mom i knew from ellen's dance classes. i hadn't seen her in at least five years. her daughter was also in her fourth year studying costume design with parsons. she was always at the sewing machine her mom said.

the new president of the school gave a talk. he has only been on the job for two months and was a teacher for twenty years with the art program. i thought he seemed caring and open minded . . i hope that doesn't change! they had a very delicious buffet catered by pig and butter, a local catering service. 

taking a photo with the new school mascot, gnarls narwhal . . (there's a story that goes with gnarls and you can read about it here).

chanda joined us after her environmental studies talk (it was with the author of the nutmeg's curse, amitav ghosh) in time to have some of the delicious food and then we walked home together.

on the way to the dentist and lunch with chanda . . and more of london

i passed this interesting and amazing sculpture on my way to the dentist this morning (by bruno catalano: patrons of park avenue).

on the way home i realized it was lunchtime and chanda was out of class . . i stopped at breads cafe for lunch for us (tuna and egg salad with bread on the side, and a spinach/feta bureka).

it was nice to sit with her in the school's courtyard . . 

i've also spent a lot or time putting together a post about the morning of september 18th in 2022 when we were in london . . and here's the afternoon.