NY Mysteries June 28, 2019

A friend and I went to Artistic License at the Guggenheim. Six artists who had all been shown at the Collection became curators and chose art that they cherished, including some of their own works. We strolled up the spiral ramp to the top floor, taking time to look at various exhibits tucked into the nooks and crannies. These included Basquiat’s “Defacement” and Implicit Tensions: Mapplethorpe Now. Both exhibits were what you’d expect: edgy, verging on shocking but of course being a New Yorker I can never admit to being shocked. The Brancusi collection is always a treat. The different sculptures are beautifully placed so that space seems part of the art. 

Brancusi Sculptures
Brancusi sculpture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cindy Sherman’s Scale Relationship Series – The Giant is weird and wonderful.

Cindy Sherman

 

 

 

 

 

Quilts of remembrance were hung in the Judson Meeting Room to commemorate the victims of the AIDS epidemic. 

 

 

A Quilt of Remembrance
Quilt of Remembrance

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NY Mysteries June 21, 2019

“Combining dazzling surrealism, poetic movement, and sheer physical strength, Pilobolus makes a highly anticipated return to The Joyce!” This is a quote from a Joyce ad for the dance company. In the ad a very tall figure in a very long skirt and wearing a fedora scrambles up a ladder to put Pilobolus June 11 thru 29 on the theater marquee. But wait! She’s replaced by a short man who completes or repeats the job. The tall person in the long skirt climbs the ladder yet again! Go to the Joyce Theater website and go mad. I had never seen Pilobolus and was concerned that it was a left over sixties group. Before the performance began, there was horseplay among the dancers which reinforced my concern. Once the performance started, I realized my initial opinion was nonsense. It was a seriously silly afternoon. I borrowed the Joyce quote because it describes this wonderful, flexible group perfectly.   

 

Philobolus warming up.
Catherine Maiorisi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s have a shout out for Sisters in Crime. Cowgirls on Hudson was the place where we had our last meeting of the season. Also, it was the changing of the guard. Catherine Maiorisi, was a hard working, organized, relaxed president who was lots of fun. Unlike most heads, I’m sorry to see her go. The good news is that Alison von Rosenvinge will be our president. If only our political parties could learn from Sisters in Crime how to choose leaders. 

Alison von Rosenvinge wearing the Sisters in Crime crown

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NY Mysteries June 14, 2019

Father’s Day

I didn’t know my father but I revere him. HIs ship was torpedoed when I was two years old. He left me a copy of Shakespeare’s sonnets, college tuition and a letter. He wrote the letter a few days after I was born while he was at sea. He was on the S. S. Peu, the ship that two years later would be attacked by enemy action. The letter is my most precious possession. He describes in adult terms what life was like, how much he wanted a child and his joy when I was born.

Happy Father’s Day to my dear Father!

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Clarence McGovren standing in front of the Parthenon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NYMysteries June 8, 2019

It’s been a busy week.

It began on Monday, June 2. I went to The Bowery Poetry Club to hear a reading by Laura Catherine Brown who read from her delightful, off-beat novel, Made by Mary. She was followed by other prominent female writers.  Such fun to be in the new and old Bowery.

Next day I went to Washington D. C. to visit my Washington family. I hadn’t been in the capitol in years and felt like a hick coming to the

View from the Court of Appeals chambers 
View from the Court of Appeals Chambers

big, beautiful, clean city with a metro that was so efficient it might have been Swedish. I visited the open court of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to witness my nephew, a judge, who was appointed by President Obama in 2013. The two mornings I was there the different judges discussed patent cases, a veteran who claimed his healthcare benefits were inadequate  and the building of a road from a private New Mexico property across federal land. Although this court deals primarily with patent law its case load is hodgepodge. My nephew said this was done so that the judges did not develop too narrow a focus. 

The 70th Anniversary of D Day came up. I recalled going to Omaha Beach. Have you been there? It rubbed me the wrong way. It was gaudy, triumphant, very much in the MGM musical mode. I expected Gene Kelly to tap dance out of a grave. My friend and I then went to the nearby German military cemetery. As dark as Omaha Beach was light. From MGM to Dante’s Inferno. It reeked of defeat and death. It’s near Mont Saint-Michel.

Back in NYC, a friend and I went to a trendy East Village restaurant, Van Da. Its specialty is modern Vietnamese cuisine. It’s new, in the toddler stage with lots of explanation about the menu and philosophical musing, “Our culinary journey just began.” I give it a year. 

On Friday, yet another friend and I went to Hearth. I admit I entered with a chip on my shoulder because of the signs stressing the freshness of their food/ how to treat the earth etc. Surprise, surprise, the food and wine were delicious.  

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook? 

NY Mysteries June 1, 2019

 

 

May 29 was smothered in rain and gusty winds. It was also the day of The Frick Collection’s annual garden party.  A friend and I have attended and enjoyed the party for years. Given the weather, I emailed him: Are we crazy? I was angling for him to suggest we not go. I’m so glad he didn’t. The Frick came up trumps. The Collection was turned into a vast indoor party. We parked ourselves on a bench in the Garden Court, under the gaze of a statue of a nymph and ate delicious hors d’oeuvres. Like most museums the Frick doesn’t serve red wine because it stains. So we made do with champagne.  

 

 

 

A Welcoming Sight
Help yourself.
What might have been.  The Frick Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Garden Court
The Frick Collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 30 was another rainy day. I waded through a gutter or two to keep a dinner engagement at the National Arts Club. Once there, it was worth it. The Club has a warm, luscious atmosphere, especially welcoming on a cold, wet night. Lovely art work in the dining room, in addition to fine food and wine. Is there anything more conducive to interesting conversations?

 

 

 

 

The National Arts Club
Bust of Michalangelo by Sergio Rossetti Morosini

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graphic Lessons: What do a thirty-four-year old, a nine-year-old and an eighteen-year-old have in common? Murder. 

Millie Fitzgerald applies for a private school teaching job, faints on a  dying man in the school kitchen, deals with a troubled nine-year-old and with the eighteen-year-old niece of the murdered man.

Graphic Lessons: Nine-year-old Dana is the only witness who overhears a person fighting with George Lopez, the soon to be stabbed Windsor School kitchen worker. Who can she tell? Her mother who never listens or accuses her of lying? Her father who’s started a new family in Singapore? She tells Millie. 

Graphic Lessons: NYPD Detective Steve Kulchek is assigned the murder case at the prestigious Windsor School. What’s bugging him? His partner being stabbed ? His hated boss, Captain Dick Holbrook, being a trustee of the Windsor School?  Losing his girlfriend to Holbrook?