Bryant Park
Manhattan
Things are finally
settled down in the new digs and my weekend classes at BMCC have come to a
close, which means it’s time to buckle down and get back to writing. Especially
now that summer is around the corner and all the fun free and low-cost
activities come out to play.
A foolproof stop is
Bryant Park and the main research branch of the New York Public Library located
on its east end. They’re good for families, couples, or the solitary wanderer.
At Bryant Park you can
take a knitting class, listen to a live pianist, play chess, hear cast members
from Broadway musicals perform, even play a giant game of musical chairs.
Perhaps the best known event is the free class movies every Monday at dusk, but
my personal favorite is the Reading Room. At said “room” (it is, after all,
outdoors and has no walls), one can attend talks by local celebrities and
receive copies of classic literature gratis. Last summer, for example, I attended
a free talk by Michael Ian Black and Meghan McCain promoting their book America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to
Freedom.
Highlights this year
include talks by Dan Savage (Thursday, May 30th, 12:30pm) and Marc
Maron (Thursday, June 13th, 12:30pm). I, alas, shall be at work
because public schools in NYC go a good three to four weeks longer than many
other parts of the country thanks to all of the extra holidays taken by our
sizeable Jewish population. Not that I’m complaining about getting Passover and
Rosh Hashanah off: mazel tov. One more speaker of note is famed Twin Towers
tightrope walker and all-around media and attention whore Philippe Petit (Wednesday, June 12th, 12:30pm).
Every Tuesday evening at
7pm the Reading Room hosts poetry readings by some pretty notable poets. The
likes of Galway Kinnell and Gerald Stern have appeared its rather modest and
technically nonexistent stage. Surprisingly enjoyable are the weekly book club
discussions hosted by local authors every Tuesday at 12:30pm. Sign up for the
book club meetings in advance to get rather nice editions of the books from
Oxford University Press. I’m looking forward to getting new copies of The Turn of the Screw and The Metamorphosis to replace my old banged
up paperbacks.
While enjoying the
splendors of Bryant Park, don’t forget to see what exhibition are going on at
the Schwarzman branch of the NYPL. The main first floor exhibition hall has a
touching exhibition on the poetry and drawings of Federico
García Lorca (1898–1936), one of Spain's greatest modern poets and playwrights.
Lorca lived in NYC for nine months starting in June of 1929. The exhibition
coincides with the release of a new edition of Poeta
en Nueva York, Lorca’s last book of poetry that was published
posthumously in 1940, four years after his tragic murder by fascist rebels in
Granada.
The Lorca exhibit is up through July 20th. Through
June 23rd, the third floor Print and Stokes Galleries are displaying
some of Mary Cassatt’s experimental prints. Despite an exhibition catalog with
rather detailed descriptions of printmaking methods, only individuals with
actual printmaking experience will be able to fully appreciate how grueling
Cassatt’s processes were.
The galleries are frustratingly but understandably dimly lit,
yet it is a small price to pay for being able to see several trial proofs of
Cassatt’s prints in various states. In one piece she actually completely
burnishes a figure off from the plate. One can only imagine the state of her
poor hands. Spectators without a printmaking background probably won’t be as
impressed, but hopefully they’ll still enjoy the elegant lines and Japanese
influence of her later works. Of all of the Impressionists, Cassatt took
Japanisme the furthest. And if that’s not your thing, there’s still her rather
charming subject matter.
So, come one, come all. Buy some $4 falafel from a vendor
nearby and take an extended lunch break listening to Philippe Petit ramble on about
how fabulous knots are or Marc Maron ramble on about existence.
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