Columbus was a fraud

Happy Columbus Day to all! Apparently here, people are so immersed in tradition that they fail to denounce Christopher Columbus, the man who deliberately brought disease and violence to natives in Central America and then claimed to have "discovered" what we now call home. Here, Columbus Day is a real holiday, celebrated with an Italian pride parade. I watched the last third of the parade on TV. The usual marching bands, ethnic dancers and flag-waving kids were pictured. Now that I think about it, this is the third parade I've witnessed since coming to New York. I mentioned the Ragamuffin Parade in my last entry, and when I told my editor Julie about it, she jokingly said, "There's always a random parade." At the time, I thought she was joking but it's truly the case. Mike and I checked out a Dominican parade for a little bit on Saturday morning, and now this Columbus Day parade. I guess the best way to celebrate your culture around here is to dress up in a silly outfit and walk down a closed-off street.

This last week at Audubon was better, but not by much. I have a few more assignments and I'm hoping to finish them and knock off some socks around the office to "prove" myself. More on that when I actually finish the pieces, I suppose. I got an email from my old editor at E, asking me how I was doing and offering me some freelance work. He was disappointed to hear that Audubon is not taking advantage a "gem in their midst" as he called me (aww shucks), and assigned me a story that should make me a few extra bucks. That said, I am now officially a "freelance journalist," and I intend to pursue other work on my days off from Audubon.

Friday night I went to midtown Manhattan to meet Mike after he was done with work. We hit up what we thought would be less "midtown classy" and more "hole in the wall," a place with Guinness on tap and the Red Sox game on a big screen. Let me tell you... I've always thought baseball was one of the most boring games to watch on television, but after watching Manny Ramirez smash it out of the park to win the game, I am a fan. And not just any fan. A Sox fan in New York. I'm watching the Yankees game on mute as I type, secretly hoping they will lose so we'll have a series without those overpaid sons of bitches for once. The score is 4 to 1 Cleveland in the top of the 4th. I hope this trend continues. Is it so wrong to hate a team because they have all the money and they pay for their talent? It's always a given for the Yankees to be in the series because they've got the cash to pay for the best players... A-Rod used to be a sweetheart when he played for the Mariners, but look at what the Yankees money did to him! Yankees, do us all a favor and lose so the series will be interesting for once!

OK, I'm done with the baseball talk.

Saturday was Mike's sister's birthday party. Her name is Jasellynne (pronounced Jays-lin), but everyone calls her Jay. She's been cutting hair for about 13 years, and has lived in New York for about seven, and it was her 30th birthday last week. Mike and I ventured to what people call the "meat packing district." What I'm realizing is that young people here seem to claim the most industrial, disgusting places in the city as their new and trendy hangouts, and then in response, expensive trendy clubs and bars are built to accommodate. We made our way to "The Brass Monkey," after getting a bit turned around and stepping over multiple pools of stagnate water in the street. I often wonder how long such pools have been there and what kind of disease I could catch if my skin actually touched the cigarette-butt-, pigeon poo-, unidentified liquid-entrenched puddles. It hasn't rained much at all this last month. I rest my case.

Anyway, we met all of Jay's friends from the salon, some of her clients and other pals. As the night went on and we approached an hour when I would normally be calling it quits-- that's when the place got the most crowded. Wall-to-wall people, all pilgrims to this strange hole in the wall at the end of the street behind trucks and storage units. I was having a lot of fun until I had to basically punch people out to get to the bathroom, then I decided it was time to catch a cab.

The next day, Mike and I went to Columbus Circle, a roundabout with a huge statue of Christopher Columbus in the middle, the Time Warner building and CNN surrounding it. We both had a hankering for pasta, and walked around until my feet were blistered, trying to find a place with some starchy goodness. We settled for a cafe that served pasta, but Mike didn't end up having any in the end.

Last night, thanks to one of Jay's clients, we went to the New York film festival to catch the premier of "Margot at the Wedding," Nicole Kidman's new movie with Jack Black and Jennifer Jason Lee. Outside the theatre, Jay spotted Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell shopping in sloppy clothes, and I was surprised to see them so dressed down and regular-looking.

Going up the elevator, I couldn't help feeling grossly under-dressed and a bit nervous, as Jay was telling me to keep my eyes open for celebrities. When we walked into the lobby, I rounded a corner and saw a familiar face taking a photo with a fan. It was Willem DeFoe, the green goblin in Spiderman, he was in Shadow of a Vampire, American Psycho, but my favorite role was Klaus in the Life Aquatic:


The film itself was amazing. The cinematography set the gloomy mood and the dialog between characters created the tone of the disfunctional family these characters lived in. Highly recommended.

Afterward, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Lee and the child actors from the film took the stage. You see these pictures of Kidman in gossip magazines, looking gorgeous with her classy style and her completely translucent skin and you think, "There's no way she actually looks like this." But she does. And her Australian accent is charming. After we filed out and caught the train back, I thought that maybe going to see films might not be a bad free-time thing to do. There are certainly enough venues here to choose from.

So, at the end of the long weekend, I grabbed a human-head-sized bagel and "coahfee" (I'm going to start saying it like that now) and headed home to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. I walked around the neighborhood a bit but in the record-breaking 87-degree weather, it was hard to enjoy. This is OCTOBER, people!! I should be wearing wool socks by now, but noooo. I long for the cruddy, cold, rainy weather of my homeland.

I apologize for the impossibly long update, but there's just so much to write about. Tomorrow starts another work week, and another week of observing the amazing explosion of culture that is New York.