September 5th (I know, I have really fallen behind my posts; bear with me, there is just too much going on to keep up) I attended a very interesting and enlightening round table at the New York City Bar Association titled “How Will Recent Developments in the Law Influence the 2012 Elections”?
Moderated by Nan Aron (lecturer, author, and President of Alliance for Justice), the panel consisted of:
Angelo Falcón: President and Founder of the National Institute for Latino Policy Keesha Gaskins: Senior Counsel in the Brennan Center`s Democracy Program Lawrence Lessig: Professor of Law at Harvard University (and much more) John Samples: Director of the Cato Institute Center for Representative Government The discussion was quite interesting.
Before I forget more (I am sure I am leaving out a lot), here is a little recap of things I`ve done, tried, or discovered in NY during July:
July 1st I went to Strand, my favorite bookstore, with its cool graffiti outside.
and then went to the “Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration” Party at the MoMA with Nebula.
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The next day, in SoHo, I took a picture of this robot figure on my way to the gym.
Last night`s storm was, again, AMAZING. I was not exactly in a position to take a picture, “too concentrated on something else” (although I would have loved it), but this is a great shot by Ryan Brenizer.
Let me share some odd videos I have watched recently, thanks to Leaitrice and Patricia:
The famous “Sunscreen” music video (the text comes from an essay written in 1997 by Mary Schmich, a columnist at the Chicago Tribune, as a graduation speech for the class of `97) which gives some amazing advice for life. There is even a StarWars Version.
Drunk History: get some history students drunk, have them narrate historical events, while reenacting them… more fun than it seems.
After reading “Debunking Putin`s Newest Myth” by Alexander Yanov, PhD, and with all my respect and admiration for this very well known historian of Russian nationalisms:
Although quite brilliant and eloquent, I believe it is not incisive and daring enough in debunking Putin`s newest myth. It takes a very conservative approach, perhaps letting a Western traditional philosophy baggage and inclination take the part of pure reason and belief, which is usually needed, in equal parts, to fight a political/philosophical quarrel.
In a sort of “NY diary”, here is what the last two weeks of June had in store for me.
June 17th: I went to Cha`An in the heart of the East Village, for a very delicious tea ceremony. And it was delicious not just because of the great matcha tea (usucha) and wagashi, but also because Noriko-san was such an excellent host, performing an excellent otemae. Being a public restaurant, and not a private house, not everything was “perfect”, like in the tokonoma, where the scroll was obviously generic.
Trying to catch up with fun days, here is what June 1st looked like: first some crêpes for lunch at Vive La Crepe Union Square (delicious crêpes and funny chair backs embedded in concrete).
Then, after browsing around at Beacons Closet</a>, and going to <a title="https://www.tibethouse.us/" href="https://www.tibethouse.us/" target="_blank">Tibet House</a> to gather info (Tuesdays meditation classes, here I go), it was finally time to visit Rubin Museum of Art. While Modernist Art from India, Illuminated, and Casting the Divine were very interesting and delightful, I must admit the nerdy geek in me enjoyed Hero, Villain, Yeti like a real kid.
