-- and Snow, & Blow. Fah! It's like the birthdays of my childhood.
We're listening in to Mardi Gras live via the WWOZ live stream.
I'm opening birthday cards, trying to decide where to go tonight for dinner, with whom, etc.
But mostly I'm getting it together for the discussion today on Havana vs. New York at the end of the 60's and the 70's, the contradictions embedded within the revolutions in each city that collided within the mediating body of a dancer, not yet 21, who is neither USian nor Cuban: political revolution in Cuba vs the revolutions in art / intellectual approaches in NYC. Also the writing of memoir.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Nevertheless it's a lovely day - lovely birthday.
It's snowing and blowing here -- though the snow's so wet it's not sticking, thank goodness. Today is Mardi Gras, it's my birthday and Alma Guillermoprieto visited our class -- her memoir, Dancing With Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution, is one of the texts for New World Triad course.
Alma's dayemed wonderful. I wanted her all to myself, all day, to talk about O so many things, and most particularly about dance. The students loved her, and so did the other profs who brought their classes in as well.
We gave her a Postmamboist tee shirt, Mardi Gras beads (we passed out beads to all the students and teachers) and a copy of The Year Before the Flood. She's read the other two books. We got some great digital photos of Alma in the tee shirt!
Right now, V's is pouring bubbly while we rest between getting home from Baruch and from the subway on these icy sidewalks. We're going out to dinner with some friends later. We were going out to an Argentine steak house in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) but I changed my mind because the temps are dropping. It's only about 4 blocks from the subway to the restaurant but I'm getting nervous about walking on ice. I don't want to fall and screw up going to New Orleans because of hurting my back. So we moved it to the French bistro a few steps away, where I've had birthday dinners before. They also have steak and a terrific wine list. They also like us as people, individuals, who they actually know. They are cosmopolitan and speak several languages, and we see each other all the time, everyday, when the have those tables set out on the sidewalks. We do our best to be nice and they do their best to not make our lives worse than they are with those damned tables that take up more room on the sidewalk all the time, which is not fun for those of us who, you know, LIVE here. But they are fundamentally decent, good people, and our political views coincide, so we are friends.
Love, C.
Post a Comment