It’s 11 pm Saturday, and I’m finally settling down to write my blog post for the week. It’ll probably sit in my draft pile overnight so I can polish it in the morning as a more alert being, but I want to get everything down before I forget.

Sunday night, I found out that my friends Marcus and Craig (who visited to do the theater workshop earlier in the year) were in the city to hear their relative’s string quartet play at Julliard. So on Monday night, the Aeolus Quartet premiered a piece called Alcyone (Douglas Boyce) then played Transfigured Night and Death and the Maiden (Schoenberg and Schubert, respectively) at the Lincoln Center. And I went. And then I kept Marcus for the week.

Monday: We had four visitors and gorgeous weather, so naturally @ryanshollenberger led a trip to Central Park. I stayed back but stayed productive. I had a pretty remarkable conversation with @shadowjack and @failspy…highlights of which included Jack saying he wants a relationship in which both partners have fulfilling lives/jobs/friendships rather than on in which they are each others’ entire lives, my explaining gentrification leading to us discussing the history of gentrification/red-lining/immigration changing different NYC neighborhoods, and our planning a trip to Arthur Avenue to get pizza. Social history gets me so excited!

Tuesday: I registered for my first MOOC! It’s about comics and heroes, and it’s offered by the Smithsonian in collaboration with EdX. I’ll let you know how it goes as it goes! I had planned to start it while Ryan had people at soccer, but the first week’s lesson doesn’t go up until next Tuesday. I read, cleaned, emailed, and did some swing dancing (Marcus volunteered to teach @lillaw and I some moves). After school, I wanted to take Marcus downtown for Ethiopian food and some games at The Uncommons. @failspy came along, tried some injera, taught us a game, and played Settlers of Catan for the first time. I haven’t played Settlers in seven years! It was so fun to re-learn and share!

Wednesday: FIELD TRIP! Read all about it 🙂 And then I saw A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder after school. Marcus found the tickets through a youth rush program…which I’m really inspired to try to do with @lillaw so we can get more theater in our lives 🙂 Gentleman’s Guide was really funny and cleverly written. I also loved the costumes and the scenes featuring both of the two female leads.

Thursday: Was Werewolves and reading and Games Workshop and Lyrical Analysis and lots of other offerings I wasn’t part of but was privileged to observe. I did get to do a bunch of writing, and I did some swing dancing with @lillaw and Marcus. Lyla and I have a plan to learn enough moves to choreograph a dance where we switch off leading. We’ll wear gender-ambiguous costumes. We’ll wear top hats (or maybe I’ll wear a bowler hat…like Sabina from Unbearable Lightness of Being). This is quite exciting 🙂 After school, Marcus and I went to St. John the Divine to hear an organ recital. Did you know the organ there has over 8,000 pipes? And that each one had to be dissembled, shipped out-of-state, cleaned, then shipped back and reassembled after the church fire? Sometimes I think I learn more about my city when I have guests than when I explore on my own…

Friday: I ran out of school with @douglasawesome @lillaw and @failspy right after Change-Up to catch a bus to Philly. We took a Megabus to University City, then we walked to a rental car place and picked up a sweet red sedan with satellite radio to drive to Phoenixville, PA. We drove (with much traffic) out of the city, past one of the largest malls in the United States, through the park where Washington’s troops wintered in 1777-78, to a roaring-then-defunct-now-hip-and-gentrifying steel town. We pulled up to the high school and filed into the auditorium, where PAHS Theater Guild–run by my dear friends Craig and Tina Tavani–was meeting for a workshop on comedy. We were…a little intimidated at first, in spite of being very warmly welcomed. But after a couple of moments (in which I may have whispered “will you regret not doing it if you let the chance pass” and a very nervous someone whispered back “probably…”), we found our stage voices. Lyla and I both got on stage to tell jokes. @lillaw jumped up to join a group of theater guild kids in an improv’ed skit about the “rule of threes” (apparently, the third time is the performer’s magic chance to make things funny). Then a bar and a cart with water cups were wheeled onto the stage. Time for bar tricks and spit jokes. Douglas wanted to try, and Javair offered to get up with him. Lyla went up with Marcus. I stayed back to film both.

We ended with a game (Duck-Bang) and name-circle on stage. Then the Tavanis had to hurry to Delaware, so we thanked them and hugged them good-bye. Craig promised to come up to the city again soon; he wants to do another workshop at school before the end of the year. And so the main goal of our trip (to attend the theater workshop) was accomplished.

We piled back in the car and drove to Downingtown, where my parents live. There was the putting away of the dog. Introductions. Plant nerdiness in the back yard. Putting bags upstairs and flopping on the floor to read Calvin and Hobbes together.

We rested a bit, then my parents drove us into West Chester for dinner. We ate Mediterranean food (mostly kebabs) then walked around town for a bit. Then we drove back to my parents’ house, planning on a bonfire and ice cream. Instead, I was somehow convinced to hook up Guitar Hero, and so we became a band. We were awful at first! It was so funny 🙂 We just kept switching instruments and difficulty levels and playing Eye of the Tiger over and over again. Eventually we decided to take a break for ice cream and some hang-out time with my dad. Which is pretty much what we did until Douglas got sleepy and declared it to be bed time.

Saturday, we got up early-ish and had a slow morning. Pancakes were involved. I went upstairs to shower, and when I returned to the basement Douglas was playing piano, Javair was running on the treadmill next to him, Lyla was playing with the foosball table, and the jukebox was on. I burst out laughing at the sight of them, then mentioned that we needed to head out soon. They wanted to play one more round of Guitar Hero (Living on a Prayer  …and they sounded pretty good this time!), and then we went up to say good-bye to my parents. We drove back into Philly, playing the Broadway Hits radio station and singing along where we could. Returned the car in University City. And suddenly had the whole city and nearly five hours to play with.

So we walked. We crossed the Schuylkill River, passed City Hall and William Penn’s statue, turned down Avenue of the Arts, then zig-zagged towards 4th and South Street. I pointed out the Union League building, the Kimmel Center, and the Academy of the Arts. Lyla and I planned to return with theater tickets someday as we walked by masterpieces by the Philly Mural Arts program. We rested in front of the first hospital in the United States, discussing the insignias on houses indicating which fire company that house had paid for the service of (back when that was a private industry). About an hour later, we had tired out our feet, worked up decent appetites, and arrived at Jim’s.

Because…cheese steaks. Because Pat’s and Geno’s are both too far south for us to have ventured to without a car. Because Reading Terminal Market has DiNic’s, but that’s not a Philly Cheese Steak. Because we weren’t going to make it to the art museum to run up the steps like Rocky, so we had to do one classic Philly thing. So we got steaks. @failspy was even brave enough to order his own (and he didn’t get sent to the back of the line!). Everyone was satisfied, and I offered to do another trip where we keep the car to try Pat’s and Geno’s, so the kids can make informed declarations about their loyalties 😉 Personally, I’m a Pat’s cheese, wit, and Provolone (yes, whizz is classic, but I can’t stomach the sight of it being ladled out of a paint can…).

We walked west on South Street, talking a little about the street and gentrification, until we arrived at the Magic Garden. A very tired Douglas sunk into a chair, and an also tired Javair perked up a little when I started recounting the story of the artists’ life and suggesting hidden symbols in the artwork (his son made a documentary that I watched last year…). Lyla, however, immediately took off exploring. I had wanted to stop at the garden–a labyrinth of mosaic that incorporates mirrors, glass, wheels, bottles, and other recycled objects–to show Lyla both the scale and style of another artist’s work. Isaiah Zagar, the artist, covers buildings inside and out with fantastic, colorful, and immersive mosaics that often tell rather personal stories from his life. His style is so different from mine, but I’ve always wondered at it. I was hoping Lyla would, too, and I think she did.

Our route back to 30th Street Station, where we’d catch our Megabus to NYC, went back along Avenue of the Arts, through City Hall, across the Board Game Art Park, past the Love statue and fountain of John F. Kennedy Plaza, to our final destination: Wawa. Oh, Wawa. Douglas asked what the big deal was. Javair answered that it’s a convenience store that’s always open and has sandwiches and gas and everything else you could need. Which was better than my answer that it’s a cult and it’s better than Sheets. We were too full to get hoagies, but the heat had us craving smoothies, slushies, and water. So we picked some up (first cheese steaks and first Wawa in one day!!!) and strolled to our bus.

The bus ride from NYC, we had played continue-the-story games and sang and talked (and I napped). This time, we were all pretty tired. Lyla read. Douglas, Javair, and I talked a bit and then played contact. We got back to the city early, looked at some art about GPS/Mental Mapping outside FIT, then said goodbye.

I’m really tired, but I couldn’t be happier. This was a trip where everyone got out of his or her comfort zone at least once, where we had time to relax and play together, and where all of our hosts (the Tavanis, the Theater Guild, my parents) were delighted by our company and invited us (YOU @douglasawesome @lillaw @failspy! Any time. Even without me.) to come back.

I am so so so grateful. For a busy week and guests and thoughtful, compassionate community. For our hosts. For my fellow adventurers. For the parents who trust me to take their young people on trips. And for @ryanshollenberger for running the school by himself sometimes to support these trips happening.

Last weekend, I had a very art-and-music-filled Saturday. The Whitney was throwing a block party for the grand opening of their new building in the Meatpacking district and it was the first Saturday of the month, which means free admission and lots of music/lectures/workshops at the Brooklyn Museum through the evening.

I had a blast at both (and I learned what Vogue dancing is!), but I was particularly excited by two special exhibits at the Brooklyn Museum. So, of course, I came back to school Monday and proposed a trip 🙂 To my delight, there were seven people who wanted to come!

The Brooklyn Museum is one of my favorite museums in the city. Their walk-through storage area opens conversations about working in collections management and how exhibits/collections are assembled; their frequently colored walls raise questions about why white walls are more normal in other museums. They have a wing of feminist art. They consistently and prominently exhibit works by artists who are people of color. They have shown work by local, lesser-known artists. And they aren’t afraid of politically charged works…their Ai Wei Wei exhibit was remarkable, and they presently have a Zanele Muholi exhibit with a piece about the murders of LGBTQ* South Africans which left me a bit shaken (not from surprise or shock so much as sadness). It’s a museum I can visit over and over again and still find new inspiration in each time.

Last time I led an ALC trip to the Brooklyn Museum, two kids went and I let them lead us wandering around the museum. This time, though, there were seven kids and we were on a mission. I’d learned on Saturday that the museum’s current special exhibits included a gallery exploring Jean-Michelle Basquiat’s notebooks (with two videos and a couple of canvases) and the striking portrait work of Khinde Wiley. During a conversation on Monday about human bodies being awe-some and so different from each other, a certain artwork came up  as exploring the intersection of body image and genitalia…but it’s in Europe…so I promised to show Thanos The Dinner Party.

We started with the Khinde Wiley exhibit. Wiley was classically trained in portraiture…he learned to paint by copying the works of the Western old masters. He has some smaller works–icons, stained glass, and sculpture–but most of his works are giant oil paintings on canvas. He adapts old works in which the settings, poses, and props give the subject a sense of power, majesty, or holiness. He replaces the European, white, male subjects with models he found and photographed, first in Harlem and then around the world. Most of his models are men of color, and his website mentions that this is because he wanted to be able to see himself reflected in his works (and to see men of color shown as regal and beautiful). He later started playing with portrayals of gender, and he eventually did a series of portraits featuring strong, gorgeous women of color. They’re in the same style–the subjects of an updated version of Judith and Holofernes, for example (which meant I got to tell that story in the middle of the gallery…)–except that some are in costumes created by Givenchy (the men he painted in their own clothes).

We then went downstairs into the Basquiat exhibit. I had been excited to show @thewitchqueen908 and @lillaw the Wiley exhibit because of Wiley’s technical talent and challenge to the whiteness of art history // museum art. I was excited to share Basquiat with @kingthanos, because of his interest in graffiti culture, and with @failspy, because of the symbolism, evocative wordplay, and language deconstruction that sometimes make Basquiat’s canvases feel (to me) like puzzles. I had watched the Basquiat bio-pic with @shadowjack on Wednesday and done some reading in preparation for the trip, so I was able to give a little context regarding Basquiat’s youth, reception in the art world, friendship with Andy Warhol, battle to be recognized as an artist (rather than always as a “black artist” or “street artist”), and unfortunately his drug use and early death. I wasn’t sure how the kids would feel about the exhibit; they didn’t have too much to say (other than lots of questions about the significance of his work), but they surprised me with the thoroughness they showed reading so many of the pages from his notebooks.

The Basquiat exhibit leads out into the Elizabeth Sackler gallery, of the wing for feminist art. An NYU professor once explained that the artist Judy Chicago got frustrated with art being by men, about men, and exhibited in museums/galleries run by men. She created a piece which imagined a giant dinner party, in which powerful and important women who history textbooks (like the art world, being by men, about men, and published by men) ignored were gathered around a single table. They have their own custom place-setting, with symbols of their legacies on each. And all of the plates are colorfully designed, inspired by each woman’s achievements, and evocative of…vulvas. The piece is called The Dinner Party, and the Chicago had a tough time finding a museum which would agree to show it. When the Brooklyn Museum finally agreed, the prominent Elizabeth Sackler was so pleased that she donated money for the museum to build a feminist wing that would permanently house the piece and showcase works by women (usually about gender and/or sexuality, though not always) around it. Of course, I didn’t say any of this walking into the gallery. Usually with young people and this gallery, I let them explore, ask them what they notice and think the piece is about, then explain what they were just looking at. The kids on this trip seemed to appreciate the message of the piece and to be completely comfortable talking about it. They were more disturbed by the one plate–Ethel Smyth’s–which looked like a piano. Vulva-plates, fine. Piano-vulva-plate, too weird.

When we finished in that gallery, we went to rest by the reconstructions of historic houses. We decided that instead of exploring the rest of the museum we wanted to go outside to eat and run around a bit. So we did.

Grateful to @kingthanos @thewitchqueen908 @lillaw @failspy @douglasawesome and @agilealfie for coming all the way to Brooklyn, for playing so the train ride felt short, for asking thoughtful questions, and for knowing how to adjust your ways of being inside and outside of museums (I know it can be hard! And all those other kids were failing at it! I’m so glad I can trust you to speak up when you need a sunshine-break!). Thanks for art nerding with me; thanks for making Solomon feel welcome; and thanks for playing so sweetly with the toddlers on the playground who obviously thought you were Super Heroes.

 

Thanks to curiosity of students, generosity of parents, and agility of facilitators, I had the opportunity to support a really interesting field trip this week. @RyanShollenberger , @douglasawesome , @likeaboss , @kingthanos , @FailSpy, Elijah, and I went to the Body Worlds exhibit at Discovery Times Square. It was so exciting to get to go on a field trip with so many kids AND Ryan!!! It was an especially exciting trip for me both because of a personal fascination with anatomy as well as a memory of my mother pulling my sisters and I out of school when a Body Worlds exhibit first came to Philadelphia years ago.

@KingThanos led us through the subways and the crowds of Times Square. We arrived at the discovery building and together descended into the exhibit space. I had been expecting the focus of the exhibit to be on explaining the process of plastination and exploring how cool our bodies are, so I was intrigued by the introductory video, an RSA animated short pointing out that our heartbeat stays consistent even as stress, technology, and expectations speed up the pace we try to live our lives at. From the video, we moved into the exhibit to look at brain slices, artificial joints, smokers’ lungs, alcoholics’ livers, reproductive organs, spines, muscles in different positions, nerve networks, and many other reflections of own bodies.

The kids had lots to say; they seemed particularly interested in discussing fetuses, where the bodies came from, the impact of smoking cigarettes on the body, and a photo gallery comparing diets from around the world.

They were also interested in a video that was part of the exhibit, because it mentioned that conventional schooling fails to teach young people to navigate the decisions and influences that bombard them daily. While looking at brains, we heard the video’s narrator talking about education that gives people creativity and power to choose how to use each of their irreplaceable heartbeats. The video came up in discussion as we were leaving the exhibit, and I looked for it online when we returned to school (after group pizza time!). I couldn’t find it, so I emailed the Body Worlds organizers. They called back less than an hour later, and the very helpful Georgina Gomez emailed me the link to The Secret Powers of Time, which I now get to share with you 🙂 Enjoy!

 

In one of my many past lives, I spent most of my time near, on, or thinking about how to be better at being on horses. My teacher and mentor once suggested taking gymnastics classes to improve my balance. What she actually said was, “It will teach you to fall safely, and that’s important since you’ll have to do a lot of falling to become a true horsewoman,” and though I never got around to taking the classes, I also never forgot that she said I should.

A decade later, I found myself leading a field trip to a circus gym (Muse) in Williamsburg, thanks to the generous invitation of Yoni and Angela. I’ve always liked climbing things and always been a bit of a klutz, so I was both excited and nervous. It was exciting to be nervous! That’s usually a sign that there’s a chance to grow in the impending something…

IT WAS INCREDIBLE! We did some independent body awareness exercises, cooperative balancing and listening exercises, climbing on silks, hanging from lyra, and generally playing with our bodies in new ways.

Happily exhausted after an hour and a half, we said thanks and bye to our hosts and headed out into sunny Williamsburg. @likeaboss knew the area and led us to a park for lunch and tree-climbing. It had taken us an hour to get to this part of Brooklyn, and we decided to hang out as long as we had time and energy to before trekking back to East Harlem. So we walked to Mast Brothers factory to smell the air and taste their chocolate. Then we stopped at the Art House Co-Op Sketchbook library to look through some books. Finally, we went hunting for a Geo-Cache the clue for which was “under the sliding and across from the spinning.” We found it! Even though it was super tiny 🙂

Having explored the neighborhood and photographed lots of graffiti, we headed back to the train with exactly enough time to make it back to school for clean-up. I was delighted by how open to and excited about neighborhood exploring everyone was after the trip, and I can’t wait to go back!

 

Pictures here!