Liberty: power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice

It is 3.30 in the morning. I am writing a paper, listening to drunken revelers in the building next to mine belt out What's Love Got to Do With It (FYI: it's a secondhand emotion), and cursing the ever-present rooster who is also belting out some kind of tune. Yes, I have a rooster as a neighbour, and it crows ALL DAY LONG. Earlier, when the drunken revelers were slightly less drunk, they worked their way through some of Madonna's 1980s hits. That was actually fairly enjoyable for me, although not for the guy who kept screaming at them to "SHUT THE **** UP". Hopefully he is asleep by now because Tina Turner is a bit harder to bear and their ability to sing without screeching has decreased drastically in the past hour.

I think this is a very New York moment.

To illustrate this post I present you with a picture of my brother and the Statue of Liberty, because I can't imagine when I will ever write a post that would actually suit this picture, and because my brother - admirably - knows what it's like to knock back a few and break into song.

Update: 3.54, and they've moved on to Smashing Pumpkins. Angry Man has been replaced by Angry Woman. Rooster still keeping the beat.

The Blowup Blowout

Tonight was the Thanksgiving Blowup Blowout party, and it was fantastic. Watching the balloons being blown up is a popular activity here, and it was mayhem exiting the subway. Security was extremely tight, and to even get on the block I had to show my invitation twice. Luckily, that invitation was my ticket to the behind-the-scenes area, and I was able to take these photos in relative peace (although their quality doesn't quite indicate that). To give you some idea of what I saw - a line of a dozen balloons or so, horizontal and covered in netting, anchored with sandbags, lining one city block. Other balloons are laid out on nearby blocks. Most of the balloons that I saw were commercial - Spongebob, Garfield, Ronald McDonald etc, but I suppose that is to be expected in a parade sponsored by a department store. To give you some perspective as to the size of the balloons - those are real vehicles next to Garfield and Ronald.

No one at that party seemed that into the balloons, understandably enough. I missed the actual inflation (that happens earlier in the day, I think) but I can't imagine that it would be that thrilling. But, it's definitely a good excuse for a party!

A Promise of Things to Come

I apologize for not being the most diligent blogger lately, but I have been distracted by school, and as a result my life has been rather boring of late. The one bright point was Sara's recent visit, during which we visited innumerable bars and went to a show at Lincoln Centre, which was amazing. It featured two opera singers and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. The audience was unbelievably enthusiastic. I have never seen so many standing ovations during a single show; my skirt had a crazy case of static cling by the end of it. All that friction! Anyway, I will have better material for you in a couple of days, because it is American Thanksgiving, which seems to be an epic holiday around these parts. People take practically the whole week off. Tomorrow evening I am going to a party at my friend Zoe's house. She is in my program at U of T, but she is a born-and-bred New Yorker and her mom lives on the Upper West Side, across from the American Natural History Museum, which is where Macy's blows up their enormous Thanksgiving parade balloons. I don't know if you have ever heard of these balloons but they are supposed to be pretty serious. They are character balloons - so just picture ginormous Kermit the Frogs and Alice in Wonderlands. They are the centrepoint of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Because of these balloons, Macy's is the world's second-largest consumer of helium. Crazy, eh? Here are some more fun balloon facts: http://www.wm.edu/amst/370/2005F/sp4/home_paradefeatures_balloons_info.htm

Anyway, the reason for the party is to watch the inflation, so I'll have more exciting details tomorrow! In the meantime, here are some pictures of some cool murals/graffiti around my neighbourhood.

Tiles for America

In the West Village, at the corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street, there is a very standard parking lot, surrounded by a very non-standard fence. The fence is covered with over 6,000 tiles that memorialize the victims of the September 11th attacks. Soon after the attacks, Lorrie Veasey, owner of a nearby ceramics shop, covered the fence with 5,000 handmade ceramic angels and flags. Most of these soon went missing - a theft not as callous as it may seem, because the fence is located across the street from a hospital that took in many of the injured, and Veasey's ceramics were likely taken by New Yorkers in mourning. After the story of the fence became public, ceramic studios begain sending Veasey handpainted tiles to place on the fence. The tiles cover a range of sentiments, from sorrow, desperation, solidarity and patriotism.

The memorial is known as Tiles for America. Many spontaneous memorials sprung up in the aftermath of 9/11, but most lasted only a short while. Apparently, Tiles for America is one of only two spontaneous memorials that remain (I'm not sure what the other one is - I did some quick Internet research but didn't turn up anything conclusive). It seems likely to be a permanent installation: Veasey is soliciting more tiles because a portion of the fence will soon be transferred to Ground Zero as a temporary memorial. While Tiles for America is an undeniably moving tribute to the victims of 9/11, I'm not sure that its classification as a spontaneous memorial is still apt. Such memorials should be spontaneous in the true sense of the word - unregulated, unorganized, unofficial. Veasey seems to carefully regulate the process of putting tiles on the fence (most seem to be donated through ceramic studios), and is searching for additional sites in order to expand the memorial. Additionally, she is hoping to parlay the memorial into a fundraising organization. I do not mean to criticize these plans, for they are worthy in their own right. However, I think the memorial loses some effect when it is managed in this way. Part of its poignancy derives from its potential participatory aspect - the ability of any person to contribute a tile to the fence, at any time, without having to go through certain channels to do so. This type of participation does not seem to be possible at this site. Despite this, it is impressive that the memorial has remained in place for this long, and perusing the tiles is an extremely sobering experience - much more emotive than a visit to the World Trade Centre site, in my opinion.

My $2 made this possible

There is an ambiguously homeless man who lives on my street. I say "ambigiuously homeless" because I really have no idea if he is homeless or not. He sleeps outside under a canvas sheet, which also shelters all of his belongings; however he sleeps right outside the door to a building and there is some evidence that he has access to this building (e.g. he stores his arts and crafts projects inside). So it's all a bit confusing. Anyway, he has taken ownership of a city tree planter that sits on the sidewalk directly across from his bed, and has planted a little garden in it, and built small benches on either side. It is really quite charming. A few weeks before Halloween I noticed that he had a little donation tin out, soliciting cash so he could vamp up the planter for the holiday. I pitched in $2 and waited anxiously for the October 31 unveiling of this masterpiece. I was not disappointed, as you can see from the photograph. The scary face was hand-drawn on cardboard. There were also two poster-board size paintings of gravestones (not pictured). I took a couple of photographs with the artist's permission, or, more accurately, with his direction - he made me keep taking pictures until he was satisfied with the final shot. I am going to make a print of it for him. Hopefully he will do something for Christmas too, and then I can start a seasonal scrapbook.

My weekend

I had a very good, but somewhat uneventful, weekend. Every Friday at my school there is a colloquium, followed by a wine and cheese party (free wine, free cheese!) American schools seem to be very good for perks like this - my school library also has free, unlimited printing! Anyway, I left the wine and cheese early so I could go home and get some work done, but I ended up watching a Laguna Beach marathon. On Saturday, I woke up early to go on a walking tour entitled "Arab American Tour of South Ferry Brooklyn". The tour was organized by an affiliate of the agency that is sponsoring my stay in New York. The focus was on the Syrian and Lebanese communities that settled in this part of Brooklyn in the early twentieth century. The tour was good but it was inevitably dull, because many of the points of interest no longer exist (the communities have moved elsewhere) so it was a lot of "so-and-so used to live in this building", or "on this corner there used to be..." etc. We had lunch at a Lebanese restaurant on Atlantic Avenue. I ordered the same thing that I always order at Momo's - shish taouk - and soon found that the version at Momo's is four hundred times superior.

There were 15 students on the tour, most of them South Korean, Japanese and German. There was a LOT of picture-taking going on (funny, since as I mentioned there was a lack of actual sights) and I am sure that there are photos of me floating around on other people's webpages. I befriended a woman from China, and when I found out that she was only 19 and was upset that she couldn't go to bars, I suggested - quite reasonably, I thought - that she get a fake ID. This set her off on a frenzied fit of laughter, several minutes long, during which she kept gasping "You're so CRAZY!" I thought that was pretty funny, and also a bit bizarre.

Everytime I attend one of these international student events, people ask me what the difference is between Canada and America. I am never really quite sure what to say so I go into some lame discussion of the political system and portion sizes. If any of you have some ideas as to what to say, please share them in the comments section!

Saturday night, I went to a party at my friend's house in Queens. It was awesome. We had tacos and caipirinhas and I learned how to salsa, samba and merengue. Basically, for these three dances you just need to march in place while moving your hips, so obviously I had great difficulty with this.

Today, I am sad to say that I only accomplished two things: I did my laundry, and I read the Sunday Times (although to do this thoroughly, as Zoran knows, can take many hours - especially if you read each wedding annoucement with careful attention). I have a paper to write (two, actually) and for some reason I cannot bring myself to work on them.

I didn't really take any pictures during the walking tour, so the picture that accompanies this post is of a traffic light near my apartment, at 5th and B, which someone has admirably outfitted.

Some Tidbits

Today was a gorgeous day, so I went for a walk in the West Village. The West Village has very quiet, tree-lined streets so it was the perfect autumn stroll. While I was walking around I had to stop for a cupcake (of course) so I went to Magnolia, where I saw Monica Lewinsky!! I wouldn't have noticed her if it weren't for two middle-aged women standing near me who were loudly whispering "that's her, I know it is", as well as the bakers who were also looking at her and whispering. Poor Monica! It's a very small shop so she must have noticed.

Last night I went to the Village Halloween Parade, which draws an estimated 2 million people each year. It runs up 6th avenue from Spring Street to 21st Street. It was OK, but it was insanely crowded (at one point I thought I was going to be crushed to death), and it is the type of parade that is probably much more fun for the participants, rather than the bystanders. It is basically just hundreds of people dressed in costume who march along the street, with a few unimpressive floats thrown in every now and then, and some marching bands.

I was able to solve a mystery that had been plaguing me: how do New York kids, most of whom live in apartment buildings, go trick-or-treating? The answer: they go to stores! Every block has a ton of delis, laundromats, restaurants, etc so the kids just pop in and out of each store asking for candy. The stores expect it so they are prepared. I also read a disturbing article in the Times yesterday about the growing trend of "trunk or treating" in suburban areas. Parents load up their car trunks with candy, park in church or school parking lot, and the kids go nuts running from car to car. The Times explains the reasoning behind this thusly:

"Trunk-or-treating — also known as Halloween tailgating — solves the rural conundrum in which homes built a half-mile apart make the simple act of ringing doorbells require some physical fortitude. Where neighbors are strangers, these community events substitute family-friendly entertainment for the unwanted risks of what lies behind each door."

Unwanted risks? Physical fortitude? Sinister!