Yesterday the weather was just too annoyingly nice for the Apple Harvest Festival on the Commons to be anything but mobbed.
Today it is a little more realistically overcast (though not completely) and chill of climate, so the crowds should be diminished somewhat, but by no means entirely. You will have company, but will be able to move.
We walked around at 10:30 and the vendors are ready and music is playing. The air smells sticky and sweet. It will be a good day on the Commons. You should by all means avail.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Fracking Up NY Real Estate Values
The #1 e-mailed story in the NY Times right now is from the real estate section. It reports a drastic decline in the real estate market in upstate New York, from of the threat of chemical drilling for gas, known as fracking, in the region.
A guy in Hancock can't sell a 5-bedroom house on 14 acres for $107,000. A fellow from Brooklyn looking for a weekend house in the Catskills will only consider properties near reservoirs, where fracking is banned. A family in Delaware County is putting off repairs to their 240-year-old house because it seems a poor investment now.
Fracking might be a good thing for gas corporations whose stockholders don't live here, and for politicians they pay off. For residents, it is a ruinous prospect for our environment, infrastructure, and finances.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
A guy in Hancock can't sell a 5-bedroom house on 14 acres for $107,000. A fellow from Brooklyn looking for a weekend house in the Catskills will only consider properties near reservoirs, where fracking is banned. A family in Delaware County is putting off repairs to their 240-year-old house because it seems a poor investment now.
Fracking might be a good thing for gas corporations whose stockholders don't live here, and for politicians they pay off. For residents, it is a ruinous prospect for our environment, infrastructure, and finances.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tonight's Football Prediction
The NFL's lockout of its professional, unionized referees comes to a hasty end tonight after an officiating debacle on Monday Night Football, by an amateur fill-in scab crew, horrified and galvanized a nation as few things can do, especially important things.
Tonight's nationally-televised game has real refs. Fans, and especially gamblers, can rest.
Our prediction has nothing to do with the score. The game is in Baltimore, a good blue collar town. (The opponent is Cleveland, another.) Our prediction is a standing ovation for the refs.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tonight's nationally-televised game has real refs. Fans, and especially gamblers, can rest.
Our prediction has nothing to do with the score. The game is in Baltimore, a good blue collar town. (The opponent is Cleveland, another.) Our prediction is a standing ovation for the refs.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Ithaca Hours (and Ithaca) In The Washington Post
The Friday 21 September edition of the Washington Post published a travel piece on Ithaca that focused on local businesses and Ithaca Hours, the local currency.
Melanie D.G. Kaplan writes "The Impulsive Traveler" feature for the Post. She visited Ithaca coming home from Canada. She says she liked the colorful money in Canada and heard that Ithaca had its own currency, colorful both literally and figuratively.
Ms. Kaplan met with Stephen Burke of GreenStar Market and Angry Mom Records (ahem, and Ithaca Blog), and a board member of Ithaca Hours, and bought $50 worth of Hours from GreenStar to use around town.
As she notes, Hours are in a period of transition under new leadership, by Paul Strebel of Strebel Financial Planning, and many businesses (and people) in town are unfamiliar with the local currency. But she spent them for lodging, at La Tourelle, and for food at GreenStar, Ithaca Bakery, and Collegetown Bagels.
Ms. Kaplan herself catches on to the idea of local currency pretty quickly. She writes, "Wal-Mart and Amazon don't accept them, so the money stays in town." She went to Ithaca Bakery rather than Starbucks because of Hours.
Beyond this angle, Ms. Kaplan writes enthusiastically about "this town as dense with brainpower as it is with composting bins...whose 25-year-old mayor gives up his car and turns his parking space into a miniature park, and whose townfolk are equally intense about saving the planet, killing the chain store, and promoting locally-produced you-name-it."
Thank you to Ms. Kaplan for a laudatory, peppy feature.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Melanie D.G. Kaplan writes "The Impulsive Traveler" feature for the Post. She visited Ithaca coming home from Canada. She says she liked the colorful money in Canada and heard that Ithaca had its own currency, colorful both literally and figuratively.
Ms. Kaplan met with Stephen Burke of GreenStar Market and Angry Mom Records (ahem, and Ithaca Blog), and a board member of Ithaca Hours, and bought $50 worth of Hours from GreenStar to use around town.
As she notes, Hours are in a period of transition under new leadership, by Paul Strebel of Strebel Financial Planning, and many businesses (and people) in town are unfamiliar with the local currency. But she spent them for lodging, at La Tourelle, and for food at GreenStar, Ithaca Bakery, and Collegetown Bagels.
Ms. Kaplan herself catches on to the idea of local currency pretty quickly. She writes, "Wal-Mart and Amazon don't accept them, so the money stays in town." She went to Ithaca Bakery rather than Starbucks because of Hours.
Beyond this angle, Ms. Kaplan writes enthusiastically about "this town as dense with brainpower as it is with composting bins...whose 25-year-old mayor gives up his car and turns his parking space into a miniature park, and whose townfolk are equally intense about saving the planet, killing the chain store, and promoting locally-produced you-name-it."
Thank you to Ms. Kaplan for a laudatory, peppy feature.
Stephen Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
We Like An Apple: Apple Harvest Fest, This Weekend
Ithaca's annual Apple Harvest Festival falls, at the start of Fall, not too far from the trees, on the downtown Commons, this Friday - Sunday.
The festival includes music, carnival rides, street performers, food vendors, beverage tastings, crafts, and a certain amount of what you might call apples. "Lots of apples," says the festival's publicity, at downtownithaca.com,which also provides a full event schedule.
We hate to note it, but just as the weather is usually sublime for Porchfest, it is usually ridiculous for the Apple Fest, windy and cold and sometimes rainy. Apples are healthy, but maybe not necessarily lucky.
So, if the weather is good, come out and enjoy, and if it is bad, come out and support. It's the last big outdoor community event for a while.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The festival includes music, carnival rides, street performers, food vendors, beverage tastings, crafts, and a certain amount of what you might call apples. "Lots of apples," says the festival's publicity, at downtownithaca.com,which also provides a full event schedule.
We hate to note it, but just as the weather is usually sublime for Porchfest, it is usually ridiculous for the Apple Fest, windy and cold and sometimes rainy. Apples are healthy, but maybe not necessarily lucky.
So, if the weather is good, come out and enjoy, and if it is bad, come out and support. It's the last big outdoor community event for a while.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, September 24, 2012
Unending Little Dramas Of The Coffee Shop
At the Owl Cafe today, what was behind this reply from the customer to the proprietor after an innocent (if silly or pointless) question?
Customer: "Large black coffee for here."
Proprietor: "For here?"
Customer: "Well, not right here. Around here. I'll move somewhere else when I get it."
There are lots of possibilities, aren't there?
Steve Burke
reporting from over here
at the Owl Cafe
for Ithaca NY Blog
Customer: "Large black coffee for here."
Proprietor: "For here?"
Customer: "Well, not right here. Around here. I'll move somewhere else when I get it."
There are lots of possibilities, aren't there?
Steve Burke
reporting from over here
at the Owl Cafe
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
"Streets Alive!" in Fall Creek, Sunday 23 Sept.
Last Sunday, Porchfest celebrated music and the streets, in equal measure, with a hundred bands playing in Fall Creek, and many hundreds of people watching, riding bikes and walking, but no cars. It was nice.
This Sunday there's a similar event, called "Streets Alive!", on Cayuga Street. The street will be closed to car traffic between Court Street and the high school from noon til 4 p.m.
The event is sponsored by a bunch of local organizations. There will bikes provided, and bike repair demonstrations, and a raffle with prizes from bike and sports shops.
Alternatives to car transportation is clearly a theme. But so is simple fun. There will be an appearance by the local roller derby team, hula and hip-hop dancing, and street hockey. Spontaneity is also planned.
Let's hope the weather is as good as it was for Porchfest.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Porchfest This Sunday, 16 September
Porchfest, Ithaca's ultimate do-it-yourself musical event, has its sixth annual run this Sunday, 16 September, 1 - 5 p.m., in the Fall Creek and Northside neighborhoods.
There are lots of musicians in Ithaca, and at Porchfest they celebrate themselves and one another. It's just bands playing on their front porches and in yards and neighborhood parks.
111 performers are listed this year, the most yet in a growing event. They include such audinaries as Gunpoets, Richie Stearns and the Evil City String Band, Sim Redmond Band, the Grady Girls, and Tenzin Chopak. (Tenzin, one of the rising stars of the local music scene, got his start last year at Porchfest.)
Schedule and map are available at www.porchfest.org.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
There are lots of musicians in Ithaca, and at Porchfest they celebrate themselves and one another. It's just bands playing on their front porches and in yards and neighborhood parks.
111 performers are listed this year, the most yet in a growing event. They include such audinaries as Gunpoets, Richie Stearns and the Evil City String Band, Sim Redmond Band, the Grady Girls, and Tenzin Chopak. (Tenzin, one of the rising stars of the local music scene, got his start last year at Porchfest.)
Schedule and map are available at www.porchfest.org.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
A New Season, and More Toilets For Women, at the State Theater
Doug Levine, of the State Theater, was just here at Angry Mom Records/Small World Music, and we congratulated him on what looks like an excellent new season at the State starting this month.
He said thanks, but what he is really excited about is improvements to the women's bathrooms.
Doug explained (we were rapt) that the bathrooms were designed in 1928, and there have been changes in women's bathroom needs since then.
In the old days, Doug said, they were called lounges, and they were lounges. There was a lot of room for what Doug called "primping," which certainly sounds old-fashioned.
"Today, what you need are toilets." He looked at us meaningfully. "More toilets," he said.
We understood, and were happy for Doug. "Congratulations again," we said.
Meanwhile, the roster of shows, as we say, is pretty exciting too. This Sunday is Mary Chapin Carpenter. Two weeks later is the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
In October, shows include Judy Collins, Cat Power, Glen Campbell, aznd the Indigo Girls. In November, Citizen Cope, Bela Fleck with Richie Stearns and others in a "banjo summit," Matisyahu, and John Hiatt.
See the State's websites for more details and ticket information.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
He said thanks, but what he is really excited about is improvements to the women's bathrooms.
Doug explained (we were rapt) that the bathrooms were designed in 1928, and there have been changes in women's bathroom needs since then.
In the old days, Doug said, they were called lounges, and they were lounges. There was a lot of room for what Doug called "primping," which certainly sounds old-fashioned.
"Today, what you need are toilets." He looked at us meaningfully. "More toilets," he said.
We understood, and were happy for Doug. "Congratulations again," we said.
Meanwhile, the roster of shows, as we say, is pretty exciting too. This Sunday is Mary Chapin Carpenter. Two weeks later is the Carolina Chocolate Drops.
In October, shows include Judy Collins, Cat Power, Glen Campbell, aznd the Indigo Girls. In November, Citizen Cope, Bela Fleck with Richie Stearns and others in a "banjo summit," Matisyahu, and John Hiatt.
See the State's websites for more details and ticket information.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, September 02, 2012
Canada Seeks Missing Maple Syrup
If, sometime soon, someone offers to sell you some maple syrup at a price that seems too good to be legit, you're right.
Canadian authorities report a "significant" theft from a major maple syrup plant in rural Quebec.
It reminds us of a story by Roddy Doyle, the Irish author of "The Commitments" and other books about working-class characters in Dublin.
A few guys who are basically honest family men, but desperate, steal a truck they believe contains thousands of bottles of olive oil.
Instead, it contains thousands of bottles of barbecue sauce. Needless to say, barbecue sauce is a much tougher fence anyplace, but particularly in Ireland, where barbecue cooking is not especially rampant.
The guys decide they must convince restaurateurs - their prospective customers - that barbecue sauce goes good with something people in Ireland like. They settle on tea.
The scene where the guys prepare tea with dollops of the sauce is hilariously winning. My recollection is that nothing gets sold.
Back to our original warning: if, sometime soon, someone mentions to you how well maple syrup goes with coffee, call the Canadian FBI.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Canadian authorities report a "significant" theft from a major maple syrup plant in rural Quebec.
It reminds us of a story by Roddy Doyle, the Irish author of "The Commitments" and other books about working-class characters in Dublin.
A few guys who are basically honest family men, but desperate, steal a truck they believe contains thousands of bottles of olive oil.
Instead, it contains thousands of bottles of barbecue sauce. Needless to say, barbecue sauce is a much tougher fence anyplace, but particularly in Ireland, where barbecue cooking is not especially rampant.
The guys decide they must convince restaurateurs - their prospective customers - that barbecue sauce goes good with something people in Ireland like. They settle on tea.
The scene where the guys prepare tea with dollops of the sauce is hilariously winning. My recollection is that nothing gets sold.
Back to our original warning: if, sometime soon, someone mentions to you how well maple syrup goes with coffee, call the Canadian FBI.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, August 27, 2012
Maurice Hinchey To Be Honored At Labor Day Picnic
Maurice Hinchey, Ithaca's representative in Congress, will be honored at this year's annual Labor Day picnic, sponsored by the Tompkins County Workers Center.
Hinchey has served in Congress for 20 years and is retiring this year.
Hinchey has been a leading progressive in Congress. He was among the few who spoke out against the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq in 2003, and one of 11 members of Congress supporting a bill for Bush's impeachment.
Hinchey was a strong supporter of Barack Obama's health care bill, and a leading opponent of hydraulic fracturing, which specifically threatens his district.
The picnic is from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday 3 September, at Stewart Park. The Workers Center provides beverages and a barbecue and asks guests to bring a dish to share.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Hinchey has served in Congress for 20 years and is retiring this year.
Hinchey has been a leading progressive in Congress. He was among the few who spoke out against the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq in 2003, and one of 11 members of Congress supporting a bill for Bush's impeachment.
Hinchey was a strong supporter of Barack Obama's health care bill, and a leading opponent of hydraulic fracturing, which specifically threatens his district.
The picnic is from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday 3 September, at Stewart Park. The Workers Center provides beverages and a barbecue and asks guests to bring a dish to share.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Road To NYC: Route 80
We drove to NYC this week, and through research can say that Route 80, not Route 17, is the way to go, and will be for many years.
Route 17 is turning into Interstate 86 and the construction has started in earnest, which means so have delays.
We took 80 on the way down and 17 on return, for research purposes.
80 is the superior road in the first place, as an interstate. It has more lanes and is graded better.
(It is little-known that, on all interstates, one mile out of every five miles has to be straight, so an airplane can land on it. This may be little-known because it is perhaps by no means true. I am not sure, but it gives you something to do on the interstates, try to reckon out that one straight mile every five.)
It has delays, of course. But not like 17, these days, where long stretches of the road are one lane, by design. This means when something goes wrong, it is essentially no lanes, until the problem is fixed. We saw a back-up of about 5 miles around Liberty. (Going the other way, luckily.)
It's too bad, because 80 is rather charmless and forbidding. Route 17 has the Roscoe Diner and fine views of the Delaware. (In 80's defense, it has a beautiful stretch at the D. Water Gap, but it is fleeting and hard to enjoy.)
Anyway, get used to it. I guess it is a good opportunity for someone to start a good diner somewhere around Whippany.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Route 17 is turning into Interstate 86 and the construction has started in earnest, which means so have delays.
We took 80 on the way down and 17 on return, for research purposes.
80 is the superior road in the first place, as an interstate. It has more lanes and is graded better.
(It is little-known that, on all interstates, one mile out of every five miles has to be straight, so an airplane can land on it. This may be little-known because it is perhaps by no means true. I am not sure, but it gives you something to do on the interstates, try to reckon out that one straight mile every five.)
It has delays, of course. But not like 17, these days, where long stretches of the road are one lane, by design. This means when something goes wrong, it is essentially no lanes, until the problem is fixed. We saw a back-up of about 5 miles around Liberty. (Going the other way, luckily.)
It's too bad, because 80 is rather charmless and forbidding. Route 17 has the Roscoe Diner and fine views of the Delaware. (In 80's defense, it has a beautiful stretch at the D. Water Gap, but it is fleeting and hard to enjoy.)
Anyway, get used to it. I guess it is a good opportunity for someone to start a good diner somewhere around Whippany.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Saturday, August 11, 2012
What We Mean When We Say "How Are You"
I just got back from vacation in Maine, which is wonderful but involves a long car ride. I am lucky, though, in that I get to make the trip with my friend Gil, who can really drive, talk, and listen.
We go eleven hours and do not turn on the radio or music once. There is no reading. There is just talk.
Alike and akin as we are, though, we find we differ strongly on a simple conversational topic: the greeting.
It came up because I was telling Gil about some aspect of life I should be pursuing, but am not, and when he asked why, I said, "Ahh... I hate to say this, even, but I'm pretty busy."
"Why do you hate to say that?," he asked. "There's nothing wrong with being busy."
"No," I said. "But there's something wrong with mentioning it."
I detect a puzzled look.
"You know," I said. "Those people who you ask how they are, and they say 'I'm really busy.' I hate that."
"I say that," Gil says.
"Well, knock it off," I say.
"I mean, what I think I usually say is 'I'm tired.' "
"Well, knock that off, too."
"Knock what off? Telling you how I am when you ask me?"
"I'm not asking you because I want to know. I'm asking you to mark an interval."
"Well, I guess that doesn't occur to me," Gil says.
"I guess not," I say.
"You know," I say, "you don't have to tell me you're busy and tired. I assume you're busy and tired, if you're alive. Do you have to trumpet it? Come on. Are you busier than Hillary Clinton? Are you more tired than Mother Teresa?"
(Mother Teresa long ago went to her eternal rest, of course, but this is who came to mind.)
"Do you have fewer hours in a day than other people? There are 24 for us all. So you can't be any busier than me, unless you're not managing your time well.
"Why don't you say that to people when they ask how you are? 'I'm not managing my time well.' Admit it! How's that for a conversation stopper? Plus, what should be your abject shame?"
We rode on a while. We were each trying not to be first to laugh. I don't recall who won.
I also don't know how we will greet one another when we meet next time. But I trust it will be as genteel as this. It is good to have true friends.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
We go eleven hours and do not turn on the radio or music once. There is no reading. There is just talk.
Alike and akin as we are, though, we find we differ strongly on a simple conversational topic: the greeting.
It came up because I was telling Gil about some aspect of life I should be pursuing, but am not, and when he asked why, I said, "Ahh... I hate to say this, even, but I'm pretty busy."
"Why do you hate to say that?," he asked. "There's nothing wrong with being busy."
"No," I said. "But there's something wrong with mentioning it."
I detect a puzzled look.
"You know," I said. "Those people who you ask how they are, and they say 'I'm really busy.' I hate that."
"I say that," Gil says.
"Well, knock it off," I say.
"I mean, what I think I usually say is 'I'm tired.' "
"Well, knock that off, too."
"Knock what off? Telling you how I am when you ask me?"
"I'm not asking you because I want to know. I'm asking you to mark an interval."
"Well, I guess that doesn't occur to me," Gil says.
"I guess not," I say.
"You know," I say, "you don't have to tell me you're busy and tired. I assume you're busy and tired, if you're alive. Do you have to trumpet it? Come on. Are you busier than Hillary Clinton? Are you more tired than Mother Teresa?"
(Mother Teresa long ago went to her eternal rest, of course, but this is who came to mind.)
"Do you have fewer hours in a day than other people? There are 24 for us all. So you can't be any busier than me, unless you're not managing your time well.
"Why don't you say that to people when they ask how you are? 'I'm not managing my time well.' Admit it! How's that for a conversation stopper? Plus, what should be your abject shame?"
We rode on a while. We were each trying not to be first to laugh. I don't recall who won.
I also don't know how we will greet one another when we meet next time. But I trust it will be as genteel as this. It is good to have true friends.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Monday, July 30, 2012
Anti-Fracking Concert in Ithaca, Sunday 5 August
There have been big anti-fracking concerts in central New York before, many featuring Ithaca bands, but this weekend is the first major one in Ithaca itself.
The Cayuga Lake Big Splash is at Stewart Park, Sunday 5 August, from 11 a.m. until sunset on the lake.
The GrassRoots Festival dance tent will be set up for the event, with music from noon until 9:00. The line-up of bands is Driftwood, the Grady Girls, Double E, the Sim Redmond Band, and Donna the Buffalo.
There will be tabling by anti-fracking groups. Food and drink will be available, including Finger Lakes wines and beers.
More details are available at the Facebook page for Cayuga Lake Big Splash/Finger Lakes CleanWater Initiative.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The Cayuga Lake Big Splash is at Stewart Park, Sunday 5 August, from 11 a.m. until sunset on the lake.
The GrassRoots Festival dance tent will be set up for the event, with music from noon until 9:00. The line-up of bands is Driftwood, the Grady Girls, Double E, the Sim Redmond Band, and Donna the Buffalo.
There will be tabling by anti-fracking groups. Food and drink will be available, including Finger Lakes wines and beers.
More details are available at the Facebook page for Cayuga Lake Big Splash/Finger Lakes CleanWater Initiative.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Friday, July 27, 2012
"Your Environmental Road Trip" Film at GreenStar
It's not often that a documentary film is called "absorbing," "important," and "hilarious," but that's how the Huffington Post described "Your Environmental Road Trip," which will be shown at GreenStar's Space facility on Monday 30 July at 7 p.m.
The screening is sponsored by Ithaca Bioneers. Two of the film's producers will introduce it.
The film chronicles three young friends traveling the country researching community initiatives for sustainable living, including economically.
There is an Ithaca connection, as the filmers visited Ithaca to study Ithaca Hours, the local currency system.
The interviewee from the Hours Board does not strictly remember the experience. There are a lot of journalists coming to Ithaca to study Hours. He does remember the merch bag they gave him with the film's acronym, YERT, on it. In fact he still has it. It's a handy little bag.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The screening is sponsored by Ithaca Bioneers. Two of the film's producers will introduce it.
The film chronicles three young friends traveling the country researching community initiatives for sustainable living, including economically.
There is an Ithaca connection, as the filmers visited Ithaca to study Ithaca Hours, the local currency system.
The interviewee from the Hours Board does not strictly remember the experience. There are a lot of journalists coming to Ithaca to study Hours. He does remember the merch bag they gave him with the film's acronym, YERT, on it. In fact he still has it. It's a handy little bag.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
GrassRoots On the Commons, Wed. 18 July
The GrassRoots Festival touches down briefly on the Commons on Wednesday before beginning full-blast in Trumansburg on Thursday.
Local rockers Jimkata play the event, an official GrassRoots production.
The music goes from 6 to 8 p.m.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Local rockers Jimkata play the event, an official GrassRoots production.
The music goes from 6 to 8 p.m.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, July 15, 2012
To B Or Not To B-Mets
Usually we are the very soul of unspontaneity. When friends want to plan a visit or activity we say good, we generally like 3 or 4 months notice. If not 3 or 4 years.
But this morning at 9:21 a friend called and asked do we want to go see the Binghamton Mets play a day game today. This is a friend who knows us well and already knows the answer is, Of course we do; and the deal is done.
The forecast threatens rain, but we'll B-Mets anyway. It would be hard to begrudge rain, these days. We will take what comes.
There's not much going on in Ithaca today, anyway, until Mary Lorson and her band play music at Felicia's tonight at 7. We can be back for that, whirlwind guy that we are.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
But this morning at 9:21 a friend called and asked do we want to go see the Binghamton Mets play a day game today. This is a friend who knows us well and already knows the answer is, Of course we do; and the deal is done.
The forecast threatens rain, but we'll B-Mets anyway. It would be hard to begrudge rain, these days. We will take what comes.
There's not much going on in Ithaca today, anyway, until Mary Lorson and her band play music at Felicia's tonight at 7. We can be back for that, whirlwind guy that we are.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, July 08, 2012
Woody Guthrie, 100 Years
This Saturday, 14 July, is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Woody Guthrie, the great American musician, songwriter, and political activist.
It's an apt time to be thinking about Woody. He wrote songs like "This Land Is Your Land", "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)", and hundreds of others about economic and social injustice in America.
He would have plenty to write about today.
The mortgage crisis? The Wall Street collapse? Woody wrote these lines in his song, "Pretty Boy Floyd":
As through this world I've wandered,
I've seen many funny men
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel
And as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Bob Dylan wanted to be Woody Guthrie, or be as great as him, which was not possible, for Bob Dylan nor for anyone. But everyone can learn from Woody Guthrie.
There is a fine website about Woody, http://www.woodyguthrie.org/. It starts with these words of Woody's:
A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or what could be
who's hungry and where their mouth is or
who's out of work and where the job is or
who's broke and where the money is or
who's carrying a gun and where the peace is.
Woody Guthrie, born 14 July 1912, Okemah, Oklahoma, died 3 October 1967, New York City, New York.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
It's an apt time to be thinking about Woody. He wrote songs like "This Land Is Your Land", "Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)", and hundreds of others about economic and social injustice in America.
He would have plenty to write about today.
The mortgage crisis? The Wall Street collapse? Woody wrote these lines in his song, "Pretty Boy Floyd":
As through this world I've wandered,
I've seen many funny men
Some will rob you with a six-gun
And some with a fountain pen.
And as through your life you travel
And as through your life you roam,
You won't never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home.
Bob Dylan wanted to be Woody Guthrie, or be as great as him, which was not possible, for Bob Dylan nor for anyone. But everyone can learn from Woody Guthrie.
There is a fine website about Woody, http://www.woodyguthrie.org/. It starts with these words of Woody's:
A folk song is what's wrong and how to fix it or what could be
who's hungry and where their mouth is or
who's out of work and where the job is or
who's broke and where the money is or
who's carrying a gun and where the peace is.
Woody Guthrie, born 14 July 1912, Okemah, Oklahoma, died 3 October 1967, New York City, New York.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, July 01, 2012
Fireworks Return to Ithaca (on Monday 2 July)
After an absence last year, Independence Day fireworks return to Ithaca this year.
The problem last year was lack of venue, as Ithaca College decided not to host the event anymore. The year before, an errant missile set fire to a roof there. Maybe that's not the reason, but if it had been our roof, it would be a good reason.
This year, the show will be at Stewart Park, where there are few roofs.
It's the first time there, so there are bound to be problems, mostly around transportation and parking. They're saying it's okay to park in the nearby school parking lots, but we think spaces will prove pretty limited, and getting out will be a nuisance (at fireworks shows, unlike festivals, everyone leaves at the same time).
That same issue holds for the TCAT buses people will clamor for at the end. But they are free, and hopefully will be plentiful.
Biking is good, but you'll have to lock your bike to someone else's. That should work; they'll be unrideable, and too heavy to carry away (there will be no car trunks in the vicinity).
Our favorite question about the fireworks show is, What time does it start? Because you don't need to answer that question.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
The problem last year was lack of venue, as Ithaca College decided not to host the event anymore. The year before, an errant missile set fire to a roof there. Maybe that's not the reason, but if it had been our roof, it would be a good reason.
This year, the show will be at Stewart Park, where there are few roofs.
It's the first time there, so there are bound to be problems, mostly around transportation and parking. They're saying it's okay to park in the nearby school parking lots, but we think spaces will prove pretty limited, and getting out will be a nuisance (at fireworks shows, unlike festivals, everyone leaves at the same time).
That same issue holds for the TCAT buses people will clamor for at the end. But they are free, and hopefully will be plentiful.
Biking is good, but you'll have to lock your bike to someone else's. That should work; they'll be unrideable, and too heavy to carry away (there will be no car trunks in the vicinity).
Our favorite question about the fireworks show is, What time does it start? Because you don't need to answer that question.
Steve Burke
for Ithaca NY Blog
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Book Review: "Sweet Talk" by Stephanie Vaughn
As an avid reader generally, and good Cornell alum particularly, I cultivate in my home library (humble as it is) a catalog of books by other alumni, and Big Red faculty.
As a well-reading Ithacan yourself (don't be humble), you know the stalwarts: E.B. White, Nabokov, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Archie Ammons, Richard Price. (Personally, I would add Albert Goldbarth, one of America's greatest poets, and my funniest teacher.)
Among newcomers, most prominent is Tea Obreht (MFA, Cornell 2009), whose 2011 debut, "The Tiger's Wife," was named a top-five novel of the year by the New York Times.
No doubt, there are many more I don't know. Which means they must not be as good, right?
Not necessarily. Stephanie Vaughn teaches at Cornell, and has for a long time, and her book of short stories, "Sweet Talk", unknown to me until now, is splendid.
So it must be new, if unknown?
Yes and no. The book is a re-release. It was published in 1990, and has long been out of print.
Who rediscovered it, I don't know. But they're to be commended and thanked.
Research shows that "Sweet Talk" got good notice when first published. Critics praised Ms. Vaughn, and connected her to the popular "minimalist" movement of the time. She was compared to two of its foremost figures, Raymond Carver and Lorrie Moore (both of whom, coincidently, like Ms.Vaughn, lived in and wrote about upstate New York).
The critiques and comparisons, heady as they were, should have helped Ms. Vaughn's career. Apparently, they didn't. She never published another book.
It might be that the critics missed the mark, and though well-meaning, sold Ms. Vaughn short, not reflecting her true strengths.
In truth, Ms. Vaughn's work is quite dissimilar to the minimalists. Their so-called "KMart Lit" was unadorned fare about ordinary people in circumstances generally ranging from cloudy to doomed. The writing was plain, to reflect the grimness and gloom.
Ms. Vaughn's characters are ordinary, but that's about as far as she goes with the minimalists. Her characters' problems are mundane, but are presented with enough absurdity or complexity (betrayal and lice, in one story; a failing relationship and a broken car radio on a cross-country trip, in another), to make them not deflating, but delightful, at least in the telling.
The minimalists' world is empty bottles, rusty cars, and thrift-shop shoes. Ms. Vaughn's is not so threadbare. But even when she treads there, she is extravagant, as in the start of the story called "Other Women":
Suddenly the world is composed of infinitely divisible parts, and things, it seems, grow bigger as they grow smaller. An atom, once a tiny creature, is now a giant compared to a quark. And inside the quark, who knows? Maybe a whole universe of colliding specks, some of them red-haired, some blond, some sleek and dusky-skinned, some of them with silicone implants, and some of the plainer ones, like me, still going to the shopping center in thrift-shop shoes.
To put Ms. Vaughn in a school with minimalists is to hold her back. She is scientist, philosopher, poet.
Above all, she is simply a great and painstaking writer. Throughout, in every story, she supplies great sentences. Some are poignant (and scannable):
Then Megan slides into sleep, where she may say something strange or terrible, which no one will hear, a message spoken to herself but kept forever secret.
Some are plain and clear-eyed, without luster (though not without humor):
Uncle Roofer was a big, friendly, gap-toothed man, a little heavy in the handshake, hot-tempered and smiling all at once.
Uncle Roofer was a diabetic who drank bourbon.
Uncle Roofer was an alcoholic who ate lithium for lunch.
One day Uncle Roofer and the bourbon and the lithium got into the same car and drove to a Browns game in Cleveland. On the way back, they met a concrete retaining wall.
Last but not least, as seen here, Ms. Vaughn is funny: without sarcasm, slapstick or silliness, thank goodness. She is seriously funny. She made me laugh at a character's death with sounds of the vowels she chose.
Altogether, this is a writer. Cornell and Ithaca would be proud of her, if they only knew her. We hope she will become well-known with these stories, and with new ones, soon.
As a well-reading Ithacan yourself (don't be humble), you know the stalwarts: E.B. White, Nabokov, Toni Morrison, Thomas Pynchon, Archie Ammons, Richard Price. (Personally, I would add Albert Goldbarth, one of America's greatest poets, and my funniest teacher.)
Among newcomers, most prominent is Tea Obreht (MFA, Cornell 2009), whose 2011 debut, "The Tiger's Wife," was named a top-five novel of the year by the New York Times.
No doubt, there are many more I don't know. Which means they must not be as good, right?
Not necessarily. Stephanie Vaughn teaches at Cornell, and has for a long time, and her book of short stories, "Sweet Talk", unknown to me until now, is splendid.
So it must be new, if unknown?
Yes and no. The book is a re-release. It was published in 1990, and has long been out of print.
Who rediscovered it, I don't know. But they're to be commended and thanked.
Research shows that "Sweet Talk" got good notice when first published. Critics praised Ms. Vaughn, and connected her to the popular "minimalist" movement of the time. She was compared to two of its foremost figures, Raymond Carver and Lorrie Moore (both of whom, coincidently, like Ms.Vaughn, lived in and wrote about upstate New York).
The critiques and comparisons, heady as they were, should have helped Ms. Vaughn's career. Apparently, they didn't. She never published another book.
It might be that the critics missed the mark, and though well-meaning, sold Ms. Vaughn short, not reflecting her true strengths.
In truth, Ms. Vaughn's work is quite dissimilar to the minimalists. Their so-called "KMart Lit" was unadorned fare about ordinary people in circumstances generally ranging from cloudy to doomed. The writing was plain, to reflect the grimness and gloom.
Ms. Vaughn's characters are ordinary, but that's about as far as she goes with the minimalists. Her characters' problems are mundane, but are presented with enough absurdity or complexity (betrayal and lice, in one story; a failing relationship and a broken car radio on a cross-country trip, in another), to make them not deflating, but delightful, at least in the telling.
The minimalists' world is empty bottles, rusty cars, and thrift-shop shoes. Ms. Vaughn's is not so threadbare. But even when she treads there, she is extravagant, as in the start of the story called "Other Women":
Suddenly the world is composed of infinitely divisible parts, and things, it seems, grow bigger as they grow smaller. An atom, once a tiny creature, is now a giant compared to a quark. And inside the quark, who knows? Maybe a whole universe of colliding specks, some of them red-haired, some blond, some sleek and dusky-skinned, some of them with silicone implants, and some of the plainer ones, like me, still going to the shopping center in thrift-shop shoes.
To put Ms. Vaughn in a school with minimalists is to hold her back. She is scientist, philosopher, poet.
Above all, she is simply a great and painstaking writer. Throughout, in every story, she supplies great sentences. Some are poignant (and scannable):
Then Megan slides into sleep, where she may say something strange or terrible, which no one will hear, a message spoken to herself but kept forever secret.
Some are plain and clear-eyed, without luster (though not without humor):
Uncle Roofer was a big, friendly, gap-toothed man, a little heavy in the handshake, hot-tempered and smiling all at once.
Uncle Roofer was a diabetic who drank bourbon.
Uncle Roofer was an alcoholic who ate lithium for lunch.
One day Uncle Roofer and the bourbon and the lithium got into the same car and drove to a Browns game in Cleveland. On the way back, they met a concrete retaining wall.
Last but not least, as seen here, Ms. Vaughn is funny: without sarcasm, slapstick or silliness, thank goodness. She is seriously funny. She made me laugh at a character's death with sounds of the vowels she chose.
Altogether, this is a writer. Cornell and Ithaca would be proud of her, if they only knew her. We hope she will become well-known with these stories, and with new ones, soon.
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