The Gradual Ascent of My Pantlegs

(Also known as Spring.)

It must be here now. The weather was warm enough this week to walk to school without gloves or hat or even a proper coat. But for the real determinant, we'll have to check my pantlegs.

Sure enough, Winter is over. We've finally made it to the season of white legs. Here are the first four inches.

I might as well be a tourist

Today we're going on a trip
to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art.











My favorite exhibit is outside the museum. The steps are always full of a moving picture of lunch breaks, 5th graders single-file, the strange tourists that come with their luggage, the oblivious couples, and the regulars (you can spot them because they come without big purses or backpacks, walk straight to the cashier and pay $1 instead of $15, and then proceed without their face in a map).



Come on, let's go!

Here's the great hall staircase. The lighting is magnificent. You'll have to exuse my irrepressive exuberbance (see, there I go with redundant
descriptors. I am that excited about the Met).

The Greek and Roman art on the first floor is spectacular. There is plenty of opportunity to reflect on our fascination with the human body.

And now up the the stairs to the European paintings, another incredible part of the permanent collection.
Here, the fascination turns to war.

My favorite examples are "Judith with the head of Holofernes", painted in 1530 by Lucus Cranach the Elder. Clearly ahead of his time.

And also "The Triumph of Amelius Paulus", by Carle Vernet for the French Royal Academy in 1789.



Over in the Asian art wing, an entire wall is covered with this ancient tapestry.

Right now, the special exhibitions are Samuel Palmer and Robert Rauschenberg. The Samuel Palmer collection includes a bit of everything from his life as a painter and etcher.His landscapes, for which he's most famous, are agonizing and Romantic. Really lovely. The Raushenberg "Combines" exhibit garnered a lot more attention than the Palmer paintings, but it didn't deserve to as far as I'm concerned. I shouldn't compare the two, but as far as attractions go, Palmer won.

And now for a walk down Madison Avenue. It's sunny and warm...too good to pass up.

Home

Is New York my home? I came back from vacation not knowing. When I moved 7 months ago, I unpacked my things and got to know my neighborhood like every other new home, but somehow it wasn't enough. Home is a strange thing. I took for granted that the feeling I had in my Dad's house growing up would follow me.

It didn't follow me here. I felt more at home with David in Andorra (a country I didn't know existed until a few months ago) than I do in New York. Still, I love New York. It's an odd delimna. For now, I guess I'm more comfortable not having a choice of whether or not to live in such wonderful displacement.

Spring Break 2006: Photo Albums

("Leprechoney")

A day of traveling.


Itinerary: 8:45 A.m. - Pain. Cab door closes on Barcelona.


10:25 A.m. - KLM flight 1666 (honestly) to Amsterdam.


12:45 to 12:48 P.m. - ears pop for three minutes straight.


2:15 P.m. - KLM flight 641 to JFK. Bumped up to business class.

Spanning time zones and the atlantic - 3 course dinner and movies.


For anyone who hasn't seen it, I recommend Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, especially with champagne and a chocolate beignet served hot with hazlenut ice cream.


4:45 P.m. - Welcome to the United States of America. Don't forget your Dutch house souvenier courtesy of KLM World Business Class. It's a collectible and the drunk 100 lb. Korean cross-dresser in the seat next to you wants it so you should too.


5:55 P.m. - Big red and my skis made it back to New York, but they can't rest yet. We're riding this air train to Terminal 6 and starting on a whole new journey.


6:25 P.m. - Emily awaits.




6:55 P.m. - Emily eats.




7:35 P.m. - We're off to Portland

Psychiatric nursing

For the next seven weeks, I will be working with patients in Reiss 2: a 14-bed, lock-down unit in the West Village. Just yesterday I finished my maternity class, so I really didn't have time to reflect on what a psychiatric unit would be like before today.

I didn't even think about it this morning as I walked to the hospital. Instead, I noticed all the little groomed dogs on the street with their fashionably ungroomed owners, I passed by bakeries and bookstores, I day dreamed about owning one of the brownstones off of 6th Avenue... And so when I came to the unit I was perhaps more surprised by the contrast than I should've been.

My professor rang the buzzer and a long minute or two passed before someone peered through the small mesh-wire window and then unlocked the door for us. It made me feel crazy just being in there. The hallways and linoleum had an old green tinge. The stops on our tour included the electroshock therapy room, the windowless dining room, and the "television room" full of maimed furniture and flourescent lights. The list of things we cannot do (for our safety) far exceeds the the few things we can do. I don't know much about psychiatry, but it didn't seem conducive to serenity.

Climb On

There was a time in my not too distant past that I could never imagine spending a Friday night going to a college basketball game and then doing some late-night climbing. But that's just what I found myself doing a few Fridays ago, again with my accomplice, and here are the photos to prove it.

NYU vs. University of Chicago (a sorry display of the sport):



Open Climbing 10:00 PM:

Here's Me (identifiable by my black jeans)



Emily's First Climb Ever!