T.V.O.D. TM for June 2001 Moved by love; drawn by the whispering shadows into the mathematics of our desire.

“It Takes Time” by Patti Smith and Fred Smith from Until the End of the World, A Film by Wim Wenders.  At this point in time, I don’t have any particular soapbox upon which I wish to stand.  We will just have to see where the river is leading us.

One quick reminder ... Remember that part of the fun is following the links and I have provided lots of interesting leads for you.  They do not necessarily go to the obvious sites.

My time had come; my number was up.  Yes, I was on jury duty.  The whole period was ten days; the first two days (Monday and Tuesday, May 14 and 15), I sat in the jury pool doing nothing but reading.  But at the end of the second day, I was selected to serve on a jury; the trial would start on Thursday morning and last until late in the afternoon the following Wednesday.

As for the jury, it felt like I was living the Wizard of Oz.  Everyone I knew from work was there; they just weren’t the same.  And yet there was the feeling of family, that we’d all known each other forever.  Everything felt normal; I’d get up in the morning and walk to work (the same thirty minutes it takes me to walk north) and walk home around 5:30.  We spoke of interesting things (one of the members was a professor of psycho-linguistics at Hofstra, for instance).

As for the case—it dealt with a box fan that was accused of burning down a house seven years ago.  The insurance company paid the bill and then went after the manufacturer and retailer of the fan for subrogation.  Was it the fault of the fan?  In the end, there simply wasn’t enough evidence to convict — the glove just didn’t fit.

While on jury duty last month, I had the opportunity to read the new novel by Felice Picano, Onyx (published in May 2001 by Alyson Books).  I would have to be honest and say that I found this novel more satisfying than his last, a book of lies (sic) but still not up to the bar set by Like People in History.  Although that book may be one of the great books of the 20th Century so there should be no shame there; indeed, I gave away many signed copies of it to friends.  You will find that Onyx is a quick read at just about three hundred pages and I recommend it to you highly.

I have written about Picano's books before in the Diary pages, including (chronologically) January 7, 1998, September 13, 1998, November 23, 1999, January 29, 2000 and May 5, 2000.  Some I have loved, some I found tolerable, but you should read all of them!  Here's a quote from Onyx:

“Es dificil esta vida,” Raul said.  “Pero el amor, verdadamente ya es mas dificil.”

An hour later he was still staring at the top margin of the newspaper where he’d written what Raul said, translated as: “Life is difficult.  But to love truly is even more difficult.”

This month's selection from my bosses at Church Publishing is Yes, We’ll Gather at the River! by the Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton of St. Clement’s Church in New York City.  Here's a quote.  Close your eyes if you can’t deal with human body parts:

My friend wants to know if I’d like to go with her to the Women’s Festival at Madison Square Garden.  I didn’t know there was a women’s festival at Madison Square Garden.  Her daughter is in the Vulva Chorus.

“The Vulva Chorus?  As in ‘vulva’?”  I guess I haven’t read the paper in a couple of days.  But it turns out I can’t; I’ll be away.  My daughter will go instead.

“Yeah, I’ve heard about it,” she says.
“It has a Vulva Chorus.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s about The Vagina Monologues, Mom.”
“The Vulva Chorus?”
“Yeah.  We have to talk about these things now, Mom.”
“We do?”
“Yup.”
“What do we have to say?”
“That it’s great to have one.”
“A vagina?”
“Yup.  I gotta go.”

I suppose it’s great to have one ....

How come there are no penis monologues, my husband wants to know.  I tell him I think western literature, by and large, is understood to be a penis monologue.  He nods, satisfied.

I’m glad both my parents had died before there was such a thing as The Vagina Monologues.  It’s just easier not to get into some things.

You may remember Ruth Reichl as the restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times.  Or in the same position at the New York Times from 1995 to 2000 before she took over the editor’s job at Gourmet.

If so, I’m sure that you’ve read her first autobiography, Tender at the Bone, released a couple of years ago.  That one ended in 1978 at a San Francisco commune with her first husband.  In Comfort Me with Apples (Random House), Reich throws caution to the winds, tells us about the breakup of her marriage (with adultery on both sides of the fence), and her move to Los Angeles.  I guess we’ll just have to wait for the last five years in her next installment!

Until then, this book is captivating from beginning to end.  Once I started it, I never put it down for the next day, a rarity for me particularly considering that I rarely have a stretch of free time.  Plus this one is better written than the last although it also includes recipes in the course of the text.  Makes me hungry just reading it … and I hope you will, too.

Our recommendations this month include The Flea Market, a great French bistro at 131 Avenue A near St. Mark's Place.  Bryan and I have been there a number of times before and highly recommend the tuna tartare, steak tartare and hangar steak with bernaise sauce.

Next up, the Indonesian rijsttafel.  You may recall that the last time Bryan and I had this was in Amsterdam in July of 1999 and we've been looking for it ever since.  This is a form of Indonesian dining with lots of little plates of food, exactly my style of eating.  In Amsterdam, we had it at Sampurna (Singel 498, 1017 AX); please note that their web site is in Dutch.

Here in New York City, it's very hard to find.  As far as I know, the more famous is NL on Sullivan Street; we eat at the other ...  Eastanah at 212 Lafayette Street between Broome and Spring.  There, the rijsttafel costs twenty dollars per person and consists of about ten items.  I would caution you about the drinks; Bryan has a very good pina colada but my mai tai is strictly from the bottle.  Still, the meal was interesting and enjoyable and I am sure we will be back.

Later this month, we will try out a handful of new restaurants located within the physical boundaries of our block.  Until then, don't forget that when in our neighborhood, the best place for sushi and sashimi is Mie, at the corner of Twelfth Street and Second Avenue.  Don't be a trendy and stand in line at Iso!

This month I am taking the easy way out.  For the last couple of years, I have been bugging WQXR, the classical music station of the New York Times, to revamp their web site.  They have finally done so, taking not only every one of my suggestions but adding even more.  Please check it out and, when you do, write to them ... and mention my name!

But perhaps classical music is just not your thing?  You need to shake your groove thang?  Well, Bryan suggests doing it at Groove Radio where you will hear great dance music twenty-four hours a day.

In our constant search to lead you to new and adventurous places, this month we send you to the web site of one of my fellow jurors from last month.  She is a school teacher in the city of New York.  Enjoy!

“Maybe it’s not the destination that matters.  Maybe it’s the journey.”  Ensign Harry Kim

“Just get these Klingons off my tail!”  Captain Kathryn Janeway
 

And it’s hey babe, with your guardian eyes so blue,
Hey my baby, don’t you know our love is true,
I’ve been so far from here,
Far from your loving arms,
Now I’m back again, and baby it’s going to work out fine.

Can’t you feel our souls ignite
Shedding ever-changing colours, in the darkness of the fading night.
Like the river joins the ocean, as the germ in a seed grows
We have finally been freed to get back home.

There’s an angel standing in the sun, and he’s crying with a loud voice,
“This is the supper of the mighty one.”
Lord of Lords,
King of Kings,
Has returned to lead his children home,
To take them to the new Jerusalem.

From Genesis “Supper’s Ready”  © 1972