ari invades new york: day two
Day 2 was lovely, though steamy-hot. I know I can't complain about heat when it wasn't actually as bad outside as it sounds like Seattle was, and when I have a/c inside. (Sorry. Not to brag.)
dymaxion coaxed me to go with her to the Pride Parade (I'd like to think I didn't take much coaxing, even if I did sleep until 11), and it turns out this building is literally on top of a Metro station, so off we went. It was like other Prides, except... well... bigger, and had to stop each block so as not to shut down north/south1 traffic, and (not to put NY on a pedestal, having read and agreed with heinousbitca's post) amazingly diverse and NOT corporate-sponsored. In two hours I remember seeing only three corporate floats, and one was a GBLT employee's group, so only two that really seemed out of place. I overheard a pack of other people remarking on the eight floats for the Peruvian gay community.
There's also a lot of good graphic design going into these organizations. dymaxion and I noticed at the same moment that the Harlem United float had some incredibly affecting imagery, despite being also pretty apolitical and abstract.
I remember noticing that the Vancouver Pride parade was full of corporate sponsorship, and often a lot less "here's our queer employee group" and more "we're a random business that's happy to Support The Community as a form of advertising. Please to be buying our stuff!" I haven't actually seen Seattle's parade in three years. Last time, I went to the Saturday "event" and was unimpressed (didn't realize the parade was Sunday) and the last two years I've left town for something major on Saturday of pride weekend. Right, then. I'll be the lesbian in shotgun, the front of the canoe, seat 17C.
We ducked into a deli for lunch, and while we were waiting for sandwiches, the parade got rained OUT. Not quite Mackenzie Valley-quality rain, nor one of the strange oceanic storms battering my office last November, but thunder and lightning and big fat warm drops. I had my umbrella, so when we went back outside we suddenly got a much better view of the parade (I'm guessing every shop on the parade route sold out of umbrellas within ten minutes) and watched for a while longer.2 There were fire-performers, which is a lovely sight when it's pouring down rain.
It cleared up off and on, and the parade was still going strong when it heated up again, but after two hours we'd taken in enough and went for coffee. dymaxion took me to Café Grumpy, whose sign is wordless, just a plasma-cut rendition of a Very Grumpy Face. They're excellent for Seattle-style espresso, but wow, I'm not used to getting drinks with whole milk. (Milk preference, like food spiciness, is not something order-takers ask about, here -- if I go back I should ask.) I picked up someone's New York Times and noticed an ad for a Buckminster Fuller exhibit at the Whitney, going on now until September. We called the museum, found they were open for two more hours, and dashed to a Metro subway station.
I think, for me, the best part of the exhibit was seeing his work on the Dymaxion World Map (it might be obvious why dymaxion wanted to see this before she left), the model of the 3/4 dome enclosing a World's Fair, and a model of one of the tetrahedral living complexes that was truncated and built out to seem like a much more potentially livable microcity. Truncation opens the closed point of the tetrahedron to the sky, leaves you with wide patios for trees and parks and terraced dwellings instead of alien Platonic solids floating eerily in the sea. Patios and courtyards leave you with something that Le Corbusier and even possibly Christopher Alexander could tolerate as architectural solutions. I'm also in love with his drawings, all on aging tracing paper, from the domes to the logo drafts for Dymaxion Inc. And I'm enjoying the hell out of the phrase "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist" and want, someday, to steal it.
On the way out, I walked over to bag check, made it halfway there, and got completely sidetracked by spotting a book of Calder's jewelry in the museum shop. I didn't even know Calder did jewelry. The Whitney tempts you by leaving one copy of each of its art books unwrapped, and... well... I don't feel quite good about spending $65 on an impulse purchase right now, but it's going on the list. Next to it was a book of Julie Mehretu's drawings. I didn't know Mehretu at all until I saw/fell in love with a mural-sized piece of hers at the new SAM, but I love the detail and openness in her work. dymaxion bought that one for herself.
Back down on the 6, back west on the E, treading resolutely up so many grimy stairs to the street and then the unaccustomed pretentiousness of my building lobby. dymaxion had to catch her flight back to work.
Still, for somewhat less than an hour. Close, warm, unutterably in love.
1 Help me, ex-residents of NYC. So, the Manhattan street grid is canted about fifteen degrees off a true north/south vertical. I've now figured out that streets are "short blocks" and avenues are referred to as "long blocks" or "crosstown blocks", but is it usual to say "north/south" when what you actually mean is "uptown/downtown"? Does this have a name analogous to "crosstown"?
2 My aunt called me last night to talk architecture and food in NYC, since she lived here too, in the '80s. She suggested I go check out the Flatiron Building as an example of classic Rockefeller-era architecture. I was quite amused to be watching the parade right across from it. Also v. v. amused by the Home Depot housed in a lower building with similar detailing, not the suburban big-box store I'm used to.
dymaxion coaxed me to go with her to the Pride Parade (I'd like to think I didn't take much coaxing, even if I did sleep until 11), and it turns out this building is literally on top of a Metro station, so off we went. It was like other Prides, except... well... bigger, and had to stop each block so as not to shut down north/south1 traffic, and (not to put NY on a pedestal, having read and agreed with heinousbitca's post) amazingly diverse and NOT corporate-sponsored. In two hours I remember seeing only three corporate floats, and one was a GBLT employee's group, so only two that really seemed out of place. I overheard a pack of other people remarking on the eight floats for the Peruvian gay community.
There's also a lot of good graphic design going into these organizations. dymaxion and I noticed at the same moment that the Harlem United float had some incredibly affecting imagery, despite being also pretty apolitical and abstract.
I remember noticing that the Vancouver Pride parade was full of corporate sponsorship, and often a lot less "here's our queer employee group" and more "we're a random business that's happy to Support The Community as a form of advertising. Please to be buying our stuff!" I haven't actually seen Seattle's parade in three years. Last time, I went to the Saturday "event" and was unimpressed (didn't realize the parade was Sunday) and the last two years I've left town for something major on Saturday of pride weekend. Right, then. I'll be the lesbian in shotgun, the front of the canoe, seat 17C.
We ducked into a deli for lunch, and while we were waiting for sandwiches, the parade got rained OUT. Not quite Mackenzie Valley-quality rain, nor one of the strange oceanic storms battering my office last November, but thunder and lightning and big fat warm drops. I had my umbrella, so when we went back outside we suddenly got a much better view of the parade (I'm guessing every shop on the parade route sold out of umbrellas within ten minutes) and watched for a while longer.2 There were fire-performers, which is a lovely sight when it's pouring down rain.
It cleared up off and on, and the parade was still going strong when it heated up again, but after two hours we'd taken in enough and went for coffee. dymaxion took me to Café Grumpy, whose sign is wordless, just a plasma-cut rendition of a Very Grumpy Face. They're excellent for Seattle-style espresso, but wow, I'm not used to getting drinks with whole milk. (Milk preference, like food spiciness, is not something order-takers ask about, here -- if I go back I should ask.) I picked up someone's New York Times and noticed an ad for a Buckminster Fuller exhibit at the Whitney, going on now until September. We called the museum, found they were open for two more hours, and dashed to a Metro subway station.
I think, for me, the best part of the exhibit was seeing his work on the Dymaxion World Map (it might be obvious why dymaxion wanted to see this before she left), the model of the 3/4 dome enclosing a World's Fair, and a model of one of the tetrahedral living complexes that was truncated and built out to seem like a much more potentially livable microcity. Truncation opens the closed point of the tetrahedron to the sky, leaves you with wide patios for trees and parks and terraced dwellings instead of alien Platonic solids floating eerily in the sea. Patios and courtyards leave you with something that Le Corbusier and even possibly Christopher Alexander could tolerate as architectural solutions. I'm also in love with his drawings, all on aging tracing paper, from the domes to the logo drafts for Dymaxion Inc. And I'm enjoying the hell out of the phrase "comprehensive anticipatory design scientist" and want, someday, to steal it.
On the way out, I walked over to bag check, made it halfway there, and got completely sidetracked by spotting a book of Calder's jewelry in the museum shop. I didn't even know Calder did jewelry. The Whitney tempts you by leaving one copy of each of its art books unwrapped, and... well... I don't feel quite good about spending $65 on an impulse purchase right now, but it's going on the list. Next to it was a book of Julie Mehretu's drawings. I didn't know Mehretu at all until I saw/fell in love with a mural-sized piece of hers at the new SAM, but I love the detail and openness in her work. dymaxion bought that one for herself.
Back down on the 6, back west on the E, treading resolutely up so many grimy stairs to the street and then the unaccustomed pretentiousness of my building lobby. dymaxion had to catch her flight back to work.
Still, for somewhat less than an hour. Close, warm, unutterably in love.
1 Help me, ex-residents of NYC. So, the Manhattan street grid is canted about fifteen degrees off a true north/south vertical. I've now figured out that streets are "short blocks" and avenues are referred to as "long blocks" or "crosstown blocks", but is it usual to say "north/south" when what you actually mean is "uptown/downtown"? Does this have a name analogous to "crosstown"?
2 My aunt called me last night to talk architecture and food in NYC, since she lived here too, in the '80s. She suggested I go check out the Flatiron Building as an example of classic Rockefeller-era architecture. I was quite amused to be watching the parade right across from it. Also v. v. amused by the Home Depot housed in a lower building with similar detailing, not the suburban big-box store I'm used to.