NY Week 2

Week 2!

I stayed in the beginning of this week - RealAD and my Mitu internships are going well, they are just a lot of work. We started to learn one song with the NYC cast, and that was awesome. I love the song, and it is nice to meet more people that aren't NYUAD, because the Sama bubble was kind of translated to NY, with us all rooming together and seeing each other all the time. 

For Mitu we had to go to Brooklyn one day, which is a quieter part of the city. 

Kimmel is an amazing dining hall. Hands-down better than Hayden. 

Went to see the Broadway musical Memphis. It was good, but I have started to see some really amazing theater. The actors seemed bored - there was no passion behind the performance. It was a job. And it's awesome that Broadway is a venue that you can make a living in theater alone, but it is also sad that people think that Broadway is the thing you should always aspire to, that it is the best theater, when I don't think it is. The message of the show is something that needs to be said, and the script was good, but the performance was a spectacle - what Peter Brook characterizes as Deadly Theater. There was no drive or passion behind the acting, and so it seemed hollow, instead of powerful. 

However the show led to important conversations of what I think theater is, what it should be, and what kind of work I want to make as an artist. 

Got a third piercing in one ear. Story is in another post. But this did NOT fall under the banner of "Things That Might Make Responsible People Cringe". In this case, I was the responsible person. 

Met Jordan's friend Rachel from Wellesley, and she came over to the dorms and we all (Cleo, Jordan, Rachel and I) played cards - Oh Hell and Uno. That has been a near-weekly occurrence, and basically tells you how dorky we all are. 

Went to a Mitu/NYUAD gathering at one of the company member's apartment. It was really nice to get out of the dorms and hang out with friends I usually only see in a school/work environment. 

Saturday one of Cleo's friends was in the city, and we went to see the Highline, which is an old railway that used to run above the city, but has now been transformed into a park. Also tried Smac Mac n' Cheese. Which is spectacular.

<3

NY Week 1

So I have not been as good at keeping up with this over the summer as I wanted to be. But here is a roundup of my first week in NYC

My internship started well, working on a few different assignments at all times. RealAD also got off to a good start.

I went with a few friends to the Museum of Modern Art to see the Cindy Sherman photographs - if you don't know who she is, check her out - all of her photographs are self-portraits, but you wouldn't know it by looking at them. Cleo hadn't been to Times Square yet, so we did that as well that night.

Starting to figure out the Subway, haven't gotten (very) lost so far. It is also really nice to people watch on the trains, and then to see all the dancing and drumming in the stations.

Walked at night with a friend, having good and needed conversations about life and the universe.

Central Park is really cool. Trees and green and beauty.

The homesickness here is different than in Abu Dhabi, because things are similar, but different.

$1 pizza exists. It is brilliant.

I also went to Governor's Island for the art festival FIGMENT. There was drawing and political theater, and performance art and installation pieces and interactive projects, such as the Love Yourself campain.

Finally saw Stonewall. It is a small bar, off of a side street, where the gay rights movement started. One of my final papers this year was on Stonewall, violence in relation to the sixties and power, and Marcuse's theory of power, so I know a lot about the history and the legacy - more than some of my peers, which I find sad. You need to know history, or it will repeat. Knowing that those were the same streets that the LGBTQ movement started, where power was taken back, where people were beaten and fought back, is pretty powerful.

Insomnia happens. The city is louder than I remember - car horns and music and voices.

<3

Piercing

I don't actually know how to write this in adventure story format, but I will make the attempt.

Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted to get her nose pierced. This girl was not me, it was my roommate. I wanted to get a third piercing in one ear.

Neither of the girls wanted to pay an exorbitant amount for their piercing, but both wanted a clean and safe shop and good quality jewelry.

They found good shops and bad shops, and one knew of a place where the shop was clean, but the jewelry was homemade and so raised the price beyond college level.

A decision was made to check out St. Mark's Place, not for a shop, but for the jewelry.

But wait! There was a gem hidden among all the stones of tattoo and piercing parlors, a place called Jewels32, where the prices were reasonable, the metals good, the shop clean and licensed!

The piercings were done, and new friends were made. Afterwards 2 Bro's Pizza was had, the perfect end to an adventure!

A week later another friend wanted her tragus pierced, so again we journeyed to Jewels32.

Anyone in the city who wants a clean, reliable shop for piercings, go take a walk down St. Marks!

<3

Dorms

I like the Palladium dorms.

They aren't as nice as the ones in Abu Dhabi, but it feels like I am actually in college now.

<3

All Too Accurate.

I like ThoughtCatalog. It is my homepage. It is new, engaging, relevant writing.

And more often than not, there is something about home, or homesickness, or sense of place.

This post is all too accurate, and worth a read:

http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/going-home-away-from-home/

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Storms, Ghost Stories, and Tractors

I woke up two nights ago to a house-rattling crack of thunder. Then there was the lightning, and my lamp was flickering on its own (it was off). There wasn't that much rain, but I forgot how big and loud storms are here.

Yesterday I woke up and the same storm was going on. My original plan for the day was to go to Burlington with a bunch of friends, and with the weather we debated it, but decided to still go.

The timing worked perfectly - we got to Burlington with very little rain, and then managed to avoid the dark clouds/tornado warnings we were unaware of.

It was great to catch up with some of my friends - hearing college stories, work stories, military stories.

One of my friends is engaged, and although the wedding is still pretty far off, we went with her to look at the dress she is thinking of. It is beautiful, but the whole thing just reminded me that we are adults now, technically. While college is still a protected sphere, to the world, we are grown-ups.

Then we got one of my other friends from work, went to Panera, and wandered the Church Street mall.

On the way home, they decided it would be a great idea to tell ghost stories/myths. It is 10PM and dark by this point. Not the best idea.

Today I went to Montpelier to set up my phone (more adult things!), read 7Days in a coffee shop, and just walked around town a bit.

Little reminders I am home:

Tractors driving in the road
Nature
     especially the mix of blue sky and green leaves
Speaking of sky - the size of it. It goes on forever. And the clouds
Talking to cute VPIRG volunteers about clean energy, tattoos, and India

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Memorial Day

I try to keep this blog fairly non-political. But be forewarned, this post veers into the slightly political.

Today is Memorial Day. A day to commemorate those who have served, those who are serving, and those who have lost their lives fighting for our country.

I have the utmost respect and appreciation for those who serve in our Armed Forces, for their sacrifice and dedication.

I have so many friends in the service and every time I see them I can see how much stronger and confident they have become. That they are. They are some of the people closest to me, and they are simply amazing. I believe in them.

That said, I wish we lived in a society where war wasn't such a necessity. Where we didn't have to send so many to fight and die for things that seem so trivial when juxtaposed with the lives they cost.

Today, I am saying thank you for your service and sacrifice. To be safe and stay strong.

I am also promising to fight in my own way to try to create a society where all of this violence would not be needed.

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