O MEIN GOTT YOU LIVE IN TEXAS??/Live from NY

Drop off our bags with Pam in Park Slope, walk to Bagel World for bagels and lo fat veggie cream cheese and chat with Scott's Mom who manages the place when he's off or at the other shop on De Kalb. Get on the F train for an hour plus and arrive in Jackson Heights (which now resembles East Asia, South America and China all put together) and arrive at Abe's Mom's residence Regal Heights.  There she is in the lobby, hair  long and wavy and sparkling white, being spoken to by a lovely recreation therapist and holding a humentaschen (apricot or prune tart) in honor of Purim.  She sees us, introduces us to every one in eyesight and when we get upstairs and tell her we just arrived on a plane...she looks at us in awe and exclaims...."o mein gott..you live in Texas?"  This is all done EXTREMELY LOUD and INCREDIBLY CLOSE.  She is 95, has a great sense of humor, has a wonderful caretaker, Lucie, and a remarkable will to live.  Arrive back in Park Slope after another hour plus on the subways where we see a young woman push an older man in an altercation over a seat (welcome home) and then on the way back to Pam and Ira's marvel how coming home reminds us how quickly we get back into the rhythm.  We see my former hair cutter Michael, Abe runs into a young handball player, the streets are pulsing with activity, lot dirtier than Austin but it's what we know so well.  Ingrained in our psyches, makes us who we are.  More to come.

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

I do know when we'll be back again.  Heading off to the Big Apple to see friends, Abe's Mom and sister, gallivant in the old Park Slope hood, honor Ira at Gotham Hall where he will be recognized for his many years of service as a fine physician  at Brookdale Hospital.  Ride the subways, have coffee and bagels on 7th Ave, 5th Ave, walk Prospect Park, go to the gym with Pammy at the 9th Street YMCA, see HIGHLINE, Weegee's exhibit at ICP, gallivant with Pam, dinner with Lenny and Stuart, see Revathe, Gloria.  So lucky to have friends we can stay with.

And at the end of the day when all is done, Austin is home now.

MY TEHRAN FOR SALE/AFS

Back to Essential Cinemas tonight with this telling and dramatic film exposing the underground world that young people in Iran have established given the rigid constraints of their current society.  The film is written and directed by a woman filmmaker, Granaz Moussavi, who emigrated to Australia with her parents at the age of 23.  The film goes back and forth in time between Iran and Australia and leaving Iran is never a clean separation.  It is clear that people long for a culture and life in Iran that is freed from the current fundamentalism and strict punitive controls.  We see people in a public office waiting to be whipped for attending a co-ed rave.

The acting in this film is superb.  The lead female actor was subsequently imprisoned for 5 months and sentenced to 90 lashes (!!!!!) for her involvement in this film.  She was released the day before the punishment was carried out after worldwide outcry.  In Chale's notes (5+ pages) he provides us with so much good background information that even  includes the Bronx birthplace of one of the musicians.  I have learned more about Iran this past month through films than I would have ever imagined.  A country that has very brave people yearning for cultural freedom.

Class with CK McFarland

Had my 3rd class today with CK.  She filmed a scene that Angie and I had rehearsed which CK wrote. ( A tough woman trucker picks up a young hitchhiker runaway on a thruway).  One of the first things I noticed about CK is that she loves to teach.  By the time you reach my age you've had plenty of teachers of all kinds of subjects and you can separate out those that do it for a living and those that have a passion for sharing what they know.  And CK is that second kind of teacher.  She is intelligent, wise, shares what she knows constructively, has enormous patience, gives great advice about technique, is thoughtful about each of her students, and brought her two adorable small and cuddly dogs to our class. I loved that.   I came home and watched the DVD of the three different shots and could see how much I changed in that small time.  It is a pleasure to be in this class with CK who tells us how much she enjoys being there.  And she does not bullshit.  She is for real!

Austin's Kite Festival

So I parked the car on a lovely street I'd never seen before and walked to Zilker where there were thousands of Austinites flying kites.  The diversity of it all (people and activities) was what really made me so happy.  I hooked up with Liz (amazing that we found each other) who was taking photos of kids, babies and pregnant women for TEXAS CARES FOR CHILDREN.  It was good to see her in action, babies, kids and parents took to her easily.  And I got to be the proud Mama taking this all in.  Abe recovered from NYC style handball.   A beautiful day in Austin.  Gearing up toward heading home to Brooklyn in a few days.  When we go back I guess I refer to it as home.  Hard to erase 60 years of NYC identity.

New Kerbey Lane and NYC Handball

Big, modern diner atmosphere with booths, great Kerbey Lane menu, good service, and right on South Lamar.  First we hit Goodwill to make donations and picked up a neat shirt  for Abe and then two minutes later were at Kerbey Lane right down the road.  I mulched the garden this glorious afternoon and Abe finally found guys who play good old NYC handball.  Perfect!

CRAZY HORSE

Today we headed off to Violet Crown to see Frederick Wiseman's CRAZY HORSE.  Mr. Wiseman is a meticulous documentary filmmaker who humbles me with views of welfare offices, hospitals and ghetto NYC High Schools.  But he also loves the performing arts with views of BALLET in NYC and Paris and BOXING GYM.  Today he brought us the creative and beautiful Parisian erotic revue of a dance performance night club renowned for it's artistic and creative presentation of nude dancers.  Let me forewarn you, these women are beautiful, stunning and elegant.  They are creative dancers who have been selected with enormous thought and sensitivity. Austin filmmakers will observe how hard working, collaborative, and ingenuous all of the crew and directors are to create the ultimate performance.  The last solo dance sequence of a woman dancing  on ropes is breathtaking.  The film is long, and the editing could have firmed things up but this film is stunning, pure beauty for the beholder.