Brodie in NYC

There’s always something new in New York City.  People who come here often understand that it’s not the dizzying array of listings of new performances coming to town that make up the bulk of the excitement and thrill of being here, but it’s the daily surprises.  Moment by moment, and beat by beat, there are things that happen in this city that simply cannot take place anywhere else.  The wide diversity of the population, along with the long and complex histories of people here, make it a place where perspective is always multiple.  It almost means having the eye of a Cubist to be able to negotiate the multiple realities here, and the best artists do this with finesse and grace.  And sometimes a great sense of humor, too.

For visitors, however, there are no big challenges, and no multiple realities to travel, necessarily, unless you want to dive in with everything.  It’s just as rewarding to check into one of the luxury hotels.  New York City can accommodate all tastes, and if you’re looking for adventure with hospitality, that’s a good way to do it.  Don’t miss some of the more spectacular offerings, however, and keep an eye out for artists whose wit is sharp and skills are fine.  They’re not as common as you’d think, in this big city.  But they are here.  If you happen to be in town to catch one of Basil Twist’s amazing puppet performances, pay close attention.

This puppeteer has won many prestigious awards from all the right organizations, and performs work in interesting locations in the city.  It’s not hidden, by any means, but might not always be listed on the signs at mid-town.  His team of collaborators is extremely skilled, and if the amazing, mind-bending visuals put you in another realm, Daniel Brodie is one of the artists responsible.  His projection work has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, and his presence in the city is absolutely welcome.  If the city can ever be said to be welcoming, that is.  His work is careful, astute, and reflects the deep intelligence of the artist, who demonstrates a rare ability to collaborate with vision.

Glacier Tours in Alaska

In the early 1970s, my brother went on a trip to the Alaskan glaciers, riding in a boat from the 1950s called the Anna Jackman.  The boat held perhaps twenty people and contained no showers, because it could carry only enough water for bathing or drinking.  The ship’s hull was specially made in order to allow it to get right next to the glaciers, where my brother watched them cleaving, giant chunks of ice falling into the water.  It was an unforgettable experience for him, and while, I’d like to go myself one day, I think I’d like a few more comforts from home aboard the boat.  Fortunately, there’s a number of different types of cruises and glacier tours available in Alaska, so you can make the choice that best suits you and your family.
 
There’s a number of glacier areas, including the Glacier Bay National Park or the Kenai Fjords,  that should provide fantastic views.  There’s also Prince William Sound and glacier tours, just an hour outside Anchorage, Alaska.  These tours don’t even take up all of a day.  In just four hours, you’ll be able to go out and see a number of glaciers, while seated in the comfort of dinette-like tables.  Usually, on most boats, every seat is a good one, and the whole family will have an opportunity to have lunch (usually fish or chicken) and see tidewater glaciers.  The tours will also often slow down to take a look at native animal life, such as otters and birds and harbor seals.  On occasion, it’s possible to encounter whales as well, but that’s by no means a guarantee.
 
On the boats, you can stay inside and watch through the windows, if you like, or go outside and stand on the decks; inside, it’s comfortable enough to wear normal clothes, but be warned: outside, it’s a lot colder, even in summer.  Take a hat or sunglasses and a warm coat.  It may also be pretty windy on the deck, too.  Be sure to bring binoculars and a charged camera.  You may be surprised by the number of pictures you can take, or so I’m told.  Afterwards, it’s especially nice to return to the comfort of a warm hotel room.  All you need to do to find one of these in Alaska?  Simply, check here.

Clovis Man in Lubbock

Ever hear of Clovis Man?  He was part of the Clovis culture, a prehistoric Paleolithic Indian culture in what would eventually become the United States of America.  He first made an appearance nearly thirteen thousand years ago, around the time of the last glacial period.  Over time, Clovis Man disappeared entirely, with only bone and ivory tools left to indicate that he was once here.  However, we still remember his people, and after Clovis sites were found in America, in the 1930s, the Clovis culture is considered to be the first humans to inhabit the New World, the ancestor then of all the peoples of North and South America.  While this is not an uncontested view of the Clovis Culture (other archaeological discoveries may contradict some of this), they still were once here and still were among the first to explore the American continents.  And, believe it or not, you can learn more about him in Lubbock, Texas.
 
If you’re staying  for a few days in one of the hotels in Lubbock, and you’ve explored the Buddy Holly Center and his bedroom suite (now on exhibit there), and you’ve taken a look at the Silent Wings Museum (a museum dedicated to gliders and their pilots of World War II), perhaps it’s time to go even farther back in time than the 1950s and 1940s, stretching all the way back twelve thousand years or more, and explore the Lubbock Lake Landmark, which is Lubbock’s archaeological and natural history preserve.
 
Lubbock Lake is found in Yellowhouse Draw, next to an ancient spring.  The spring went dry in the 1930s, but before then, for thousands upon thousands of years, the waters were a resource for people living on the Southern High Plains.  When the city of Lubbock, in 1936, attempted to revive the springs, they found that the sediment in the area held traces of human activity going back millennia.  Out of these discoveries, the West Texas Museum (now Museum of Texas Tech University), began to explore the site in the 1940s.  Here, Folsom Period bison kills were discovered (i.e., eleven thousand years ago); charred bison bones helped date the discovery of people in the area to the 9,800 years ago.  Today, the museum serves as a field laboratory for soils and radiocarbon dating and geology, as well as a place the public can visit as an active archaeological and natural history preserve.  It’s well worth checking out!

Two Laveaus in New Orleans

New Orleans was always calling to me.  I know I’m not alone in this, because there are always the footsteps of others, living and dead, who have been here looking for the traces of Marie Laveau.  Of course, tourism being what it is, there are plenty of people who have taken the opportunity to make a little money off of her name.  For some of these, I don’t think she herself would have minded, because a lot of her life was characterized by the kind of showmanship that’s been popular for some time, and some of her actions can rival even P.T. Barnum in their ability to convince people that what she has to offer is exactly what they need at that particular moment.  But there are also some extraordinary works that suggest she knew some things.

In the kinds of spiritual work where people’s futures, love lifes, and finances are on the table, there is a lot that a business-minded person can do.  And in this part of the world, where old traditions come together with a history of poverty and struggle, there are some haunting things that come through at times.  When I come here, I like to find a hotel online from this site, get settled in, then head out to explore some of my favorite places, and keep my eyes and ears peeled for the unusual.  Opportunities always present themselves.

I’ve spent many hours puzzling over the crosses people carve at her tomb, wondering more about the hands of the carver than the body that might be interred within.  We are all susceptible to reading signs that are not there, based on our own desires to see, and to understand.  It was certainly operative in the people she worked with, in all the different kinds of council, whether it was the real deal, or parlor tricks.  It was also operative when people began to mistake her daughter for another version of her.  In the world of metaphor, of course, the daughter is a version of the mother, and Voodou is a system where metaphors can work as well as the original object, so maybe it doesn’t matter, ultimately.  But I know I’ll never find any certainty, as her footsteps continue to get more complex with each moment that passes, complicated by the desires of people exactly like me.

Freaky Team Building

Old time freak shows are a popular pastime of my friend, Antonio. He works at an old movie theatre that shows the classics and other forgotten films on Thursdays and Fridays at a special midnight showing. He named it the hour of good and evil films. Recently, the theatre had a showing of the film ‘Freaks.’ He has the movie Freaks and several documentaries detailing the circus and carnival way in general. He actually has one about the film. In it an old roustabout in a denim shirt and face lined like a road from the many roads he no doubt has rode about, spoke about the freaks he would meet along his travels from circus to circus, city to city, each one waiting to be delighted with the laughs and frights a circus could alternatively provide. A lot of them he claimed were quite the prima donnas. Each entertainer thought their show and deformity was the most interesting and brought about the largest crowds. There was not a lot of room for solidarity or any team building programs to be sure. But then again, the corporate world and its offerings were not available to them. Most of them he said preferred being freaks because it was about the only job they could get. No one else would hire them for what others might call normal jobs: a cashier with no legs would not do the old days before discrimination laws, for instance. It could be quite lucrative for those with deformities and good managers too.

There was one freak my friend was in particular enthralled with. Her name was Frances O’Connor . She was an armless woman who could shoot a gun with deadly accuracy, and drink a glass of wine like an elegant movie star. She was quite beautiful, which is why my friend adores her. He is still young enough to get away with hanging a homemade poster of her at home above his bed just like the hundreds of boys throughout the years to idolize beautiful women, from Marilyn Monroe to Pam Grier.

Within a couple of weeks, their theatre is undergoing leadership training . He plans to stay out of the way of the managers and hole up in the projector room: some of them believe their leadership is just fine, thank you very much, but Antonio knows better. Either way, he and a picture of Frances will be up in the projector room this Friday: he put a picture of her in one of those homemade keychain charms for his collection of keys, watching ‘The Women’.

Reinterment in Manhattan

Manhattan is a fascinating place where you can witness the human drama play itself out day after day.  It’s possible to go to www.besthotelsmanhattan.com to find an amazing space to accommodate your stay here, so that you can have a New York adventure that will no doubt hold many surprises.  If you are in Lower Manhattan, the African Burial Ground is one of the most awe-inspiring new museums in recent years, and is a remarkable find.

It doesn’t happen every day that the ancestors make themselves manifest, and it’s rare that it’s this dramatic, and literal.   But in 1991, during the construction of a building around Elk & Duane in Lower Manhattan, workers found what turned out to be graves of African-Americans who were slaves in the 17th century.  In an area covering around 7 acres, there are approximately 20,000 people buried here, according to the estimates of archaeologists and historians.  At the time of their discovery, scientists began excavating the graves, until there was enough outcry from the community to get them to stop.  The bodies were taken to Howard University where they were studied, and then placed back in the ground with ceremonies offered for the dead who had been disturbed from a sleep that had lasted a couple of centuries.

This is the kind of story that novelists long for, because the idea is so rich in metaphor.  The notion that in a city as large as this, the residents are literally walking on the bones of the deceased is something that seems ripe for a dozen new works.  In this case, the metaphor is absolutely true, and works on physical and cosmological levels.  The majority of these people were of Yoruba descent, and some Kongo, too, and the stories are there, waiting to be told.  The African Burial Ground National Monument is nothing less than a necessary altar to mark the lives of those who have gone before us, and still continue to inform our waking worlds.  It also speaks of a history of slavery in the country that is indeed connected to the history of New York, and marks another swath in a complex cloth that does seem to connect us all.

Moving to Dayton, Ohio

It was almost time to wake up when Curtis first opened his eyes. His initial feeling was that of excitement but was quickly followed by the fear that he had overslept. Almost as instantly as his feelings changed did the alarm suddenly ring out, which for that split second increased Curtis’ sense of anxiety. It was a few seconds before his head cleared and he realized that he was right on time and quickly sprung to life and hopped in the shower. It wasn’t that Curtis was a particularly nervous, timid or easily startled person. This just happened to be a particularly special morning.

After his shower, Curtis headed straight to his coffee pot that had some fresh brewed Columbian roast waiting for him. It was the timed pot that he had received for Christmas last year. His initial response to the gift was hesitation and he didn’t really think he would use the timing setting. However, he gave it a try and after that one time he was hooked. He loved seeing and smelling his morning wake up brew as he got out of the shower everyday and he also loved the fact he didn’t have to take the time to grind the beans or do any other preparation. He felt as if he had his own private room service.

Maybe he would treat himself to room service in one of the hotels Dayton. He could hardly wait to board the plane and gathered his papers and portfolio for his interview that was scheduled for two o’clock pm that afternoon. Curtis’ girlfriend lived in Dayton and he had been trying to move there for the past year. The interview he had that afternoon was not only a great career opportunity for him but also held the potential for being the key to his great relocation. He hadn’t told Sheila, his girlfriend, about the interview and wanted to surprise her with the news and the fact he was in town. Yes, Curtis was sure this was going to be a great year, one full of potential, promise and progress. He took his final sip of coffee, set his cup in the sink and locked the door behind him.

Finding Comfort In New York

I took an adventure to the Bronx, mainly because that’s where the Yankee Stadium is located. The adventure began on the New York subway system, I can’t say there weren’t a few shady characters, but I can say that New York’s transit system is superb. Ten times better than the awful trains I ride everyday. I managed to arrive at the stadium well in advance of the tour I booked, so I decided to chance walking the surrounding area. I had no idea if this was a good idea at the time, but, after all, I was on an adventure.

At first, I felt really uncomfortable, out of my comfort zone, but I always am when I travel. That’s why I travel, to get out of my comfort zone and what a better way to do this than go to New York and then to the Bronx? Anyway, I headed back to the stadium and made it back just in time for the tour to begin. My tour was during the inaugural year for the stadium, which was built right next door to the original one. The facilities are state-of-the-art and I could tell the pride and joy of all the New Yorkers. During the tour, I went into the museum and saw a couple of the World Series Championship trophies that the Yankees have won (26 in all), and got to see some Babe Ruth memorabilia. Then I took the short jaunt to Monument Park that has plaques giving details of the Yankees best players. Got to check out the Dugout and that was thrilling in and of itself. Then the locker room, where photos weren’t allowed, not sure why, but the locker room was huge and every player has their own laptop and separate sections. In the middle of the locker room were sofas and TVs. Like I said, the locker room was huge.

To end my adventure, I once again took the subway back to Greenwich Village and back to my New York USA hotel, where I changed clothes to do happy hour somewhere. I ended up in a bar only a few blocks from Times Square. A sports bar of course. It had 13 TVs all playing a different sport. I was in my comfort zone. Well, what can I say, I am a creature of comfort.

The Chic and the Elegant Side of Tampa

There are many things to find in the cities of Florida, from fun filled family vacations, to high energy-party all night venues and beaches, to nature walks and scuba diving excursions.  Each of the beach side cities have something to offer for everyone.  One aspect of the character of the city of Tampa Bay, is the elegant and chic, the style that will take you out of the suburban strip mall scene and into a hip, urban vibe and lifestyle.  Located close to the port authority, in the heart of downtown you will find some of the most exclusive and some of the best Tampa hotels, in the Channelside District.

This is a relatively new area of the city with many high rise condos.  This area has been continually developed and revitalized beginning in the year 2001, and the city planners have aspirations of making this area similar to that of South Beach, with a vibrant and exciting nightlife full of trendy dance clubs and restaurants, all located within walking distance of each other and of the hotel accommodations.  While sitting on the balcony of your hotel or condo, you will have the most incredible views of the ships coming in and of the largest port in the state of Florida.

Located very close by, is the wonderful, the eclectic and the vibrant Ybor City. This is another area of Tampa that has undergone revitalization over the last few years, and offers a multicultural mix of food, fun, history and entertainment.  This is the place to be if you want to spend an evening dining out on international flavors, and then dancing the night away in one of the famous nightclubs.  This area is the definition of luxury and convenience combined, that which is only truly found in the city lifestyle, in any city be it San Fransisco, Chicago or Manhattan.  The Channelside District of Tampa, make it a point to stop by next time you’re in the city!

January in New York City

The holiday hustle and bustle has come to a close, and while the holidays are a great time to be in the city of New York, the month of January has much to offer.  The snow and the winter beauty, but without so many people.  Well, it’s all relative, for it is still the city of Manhattan.  But even so, one of the best times to visit is during the winter, with the snow and the sales of post Christmas discounts in all the shops and the stores, and the discounts offered by the restaurants and the best hotels.  New York City has a few more celebrations taking place in January, and celebrations that will entice and enthrall, which is after all the nature of the city.  Just after the holiday season, the drop in tourism will not only result in the great deals to be found in the restaurants and the hotels, but in airline industry as well.  As long as you bring along your scarves and wool trench coats, ear muffs or hats, you will find that this is one of the best times to visit the city.

Skating rinks are located throughout the city, not just the famed rink at Rockefeller Plaza, but in all of the boroughs.  As mentioned previously, the post holiday sales are out of this world, so it is a great time to visit and find those deals on usually high end items and fashions.  The parade in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King takes place during January, so if you happen to visit during this three day weekend, take note that while many of the stores and retail businesses will be closed, many of the restaurants, cafes, and pubs will remain open.  There will still be much to do.  Towards the end of January or the beginning of February, many people travel to New York to partake in the celebration of the Chinese New Year.  New York is one of the best places in the country to experience this celebration in the full tradition and custom of the Chinese culture. January in New York, a great time to be in one of the greatest cities in the world.