Mary and I spent the last of the semester in NYC, as my final assignment was participation in the Guantanamo Public Memory Project which opened an exhibit at NYU on Thursday night. Anyone interested in seeing the exhibit in the windows of the Kimmel Center near Washington Square will notice that UMass did the panel Where is Guantanamo? At the two-day conference accompanying the exhibit opening, we heard some incredible testimonials from soldiers, Cuban refugees, children who grew up on the base, lawyers, etc.
While in NYC, we went to see the show "Warhorse" which featured some pretty incredible mechanical, puppet horses and a wonderful story; we also went up and down 5th Avenue about a hundred times and then stopped at the Cloisters on our way out, on a lark. Quite a lark. We had seen the sign dozens of times before, Joe had told us to go dozens of times before. And it was worth the stop, to see the medieval religious art and architecture, which was brought over for this museum in the early 1900s. Nobody could think of doing that now, but the Rockefellers were able to 100 years ago.
We were also made acutely aware of a pattern in our lives, of hearing about tragedy while we are away from home. Terrible news from the school in Connecticut hit home since it was such a quiet town, since we all know teachers like the ones there, since as parents and brothers and sisters, we can all relate to the instant loss of such young, innocent children. Sad, and angry as well about our inability to focus on our gun problem.
Anyway, since it have been quite a while since we last wrote, we have a lot of news:
Joe has come back from and gone to Kosovo on a business trip related to an assistance project; Margaret finished up one job last Friday and starts her new job at the State Department tomorrow; Annie has applied to three grad schools for next fall.
Just as Janet gets back on her feet, Peter has had some real issues with his knee, in terms that sound like a football injury. He also had some pretty serious dental work this past week.
Claire keeps getting into the colleges she applies to, but wants to apply to a few more. Oxford? MIT? Andrew has a couple of intestinal procedures this week.
We got a wedding invitation! A fun one from Matthew and Tina. Two, even. One for Annie. We noticed just in time there was an RSVP and said YES, Looking forward to seeing everyone in early January.
Since we last wrote, we also hustled down to DC to attend a friend's 60th birthday party and drop in on Margaret and Andrew (Joe had just left for Kosovo.) Short but wonderful.
And we have a story, a This American Life story, where Mary was able to knock off at least a couple of her 15 minutes of fame, with her exchange with Ira Glass in front of 700 people at his talk on radio in Troy New York. During question time, Mary asked him what she should do if she had a story worthy of This American Life. He could have easily just dismissed her with a "Go to our website" line, but I think Ira sensed he had a possible story for the audience. He asked Mary what it was and she said "It's a story about a con man whose son cons his father, the con man. The only problem is, I'm not supposed to know the story." No hesitation, or nervousness, mumbling, or confusion. Ira responded: "I want to hear that story. Give me your e-mail." Mary did hesitate at that, in front of 700 people, so Ira gave her his e-mail. When she wrote the next day, he responded, with encouragement and sensitivity. Mary's following up to get the story to the program. Stay tuned to see if there's a second act.
And also, we saw John and Marilyn's grandchildren, Hayley and Natalie at the show as well. So there are witnesses, from family.
So, today, we catch up on Christmas preparations. First, we get a tree.
And you? Hope you're all well. Love from over here.
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