Subway, Library Card, The Piano Lesson, and Jazz

Hello hello. I'm slowly adjusting to big city life. Such as walking quickly, using the crosswalk when the little white man is not flashing, and avoiding any and all contact with anyone on the subway. The pace is quick and in order to look like a "true" New Yorker you just have to go, go, go.

Of course, it's a very different go, go, go than Coe's but I enjoy it.

This post is about Sunday and then I'll write another one for Monday. I'm going to try to be better at posting once a day but we'll see how that goes once the term really starts rocking and rolling.

On Sunday, Ashley, Whitney, and I had our own adventure in the city. Our first stop was to Ashley's internship location, a literary agency called Writers House. Then it was off to the New York Public Library, my internship location.

Yes, I do have an internship at the New York Public Library.
But more on that later.

Anywho, we arrived at the Mid-Manhattan branch where the books inside circulate (the building with the lions that you saw me next to in an earlier post is a research library, so you can't check anything out of it). We went inside and got our very own library cards. So we can check out books and movies for our free and or down time.

Yeah, as you can tell by the picture, I'm just a little excited.


By that point, we were hungry so we tried our first NYC pizza. Our big lesson? If it costs five bucks for two slices of pizza and a drink, you're paying too much. We got this yummy deal for under five.

After milling around Times Square for a bit, we headed to the Signature Theater and saw our first play of the term. It was called The Piano Lesson by August Wilson and was fantastic.

The play centers around a piano, which has a fair amount of family history and sentimental value, and the disagreement about what to do with it. Siblings Boy Willie and Berniece argue, there's a ghost in the house, and some singing occurred that left goosebumps on my arms.

So basically it was beautiful. Along with the actors, they had an amazing set as their backdrop. It was a house, circa 1936 and it was unfinished. The floor trailed off, and it was so detailed that the carpet also trailed off, fraying at the edges. I found so much symbolism and parallels between the set and the plot of the play, but I'll leave that for my paper on the piece to Susan, the professor in charge of the theater aspect of the term.

Post play, we sat in the lobby/cafe area and began to discuss our initial thoughts on the play. All of a sudden, Susan stood up suddenly and brought over one of the actors in the play, who happened to be a good friend of hers. As we talked to him, he beckoned to the director and brought him over. It was pretty incredible that we had a chance to discuss our thoughts and perceptions of the play with the master craftsman himself.

The group swung back to the hotel to drop things off and to grab a quick bite to eat before catching another subway train to Columbus Circle and Dizzy's Club. Aka jazz music. The band that was performing was Chano Dominguez and Flamenco Sketches. Chano was an amazing piano player but I was more impressed with the bass player. Boy, could he play that bass.

That got over a little late so the group quickly made it home and hopped into bed, the idea of starting our "big girl" internships the next day either putting us to sleep or keeping us awake, a feeling of nervousness and excitement preventing us from sleeping.

Luckily, I slept.