Swine Flu

I've not seen or heard anxiety about Swine Flu in the city from anyone but the news anchors, but on my way home yesterday I watched a woman surreptitiously shove a face mask into her pocket when exiting the G train that runs between Queens and Brooklyn.

That assurance didn't keep my best friend from admonishing me to be safe and stay healthy, calling this morning to say, "don't go around licking any pigs. Or any catholic prep school boys; they really started the whole thing. Not that you have any preference for licking catholic prep school boys. Just sayin'." Apparently I come across to my nearest and dearest as having a penchant for licking swine. Who knew?

That said, wash your hands, people, and cover your mouths when you cough.

First published at NYC to the Nines

Happy Birthday to Me (and to You!)

Hobbits give presents to other people on their own birthdays. Not very expensive ones, as a rule, and not so lavishly as on this occasion; but it was not a bad system. Actually in Hobbiton and Bywater every day in the year it was somebody's birthday, so that every hobbit in those parts had a fair chance of at least one present at least once a week. But they never got tired of them.

J.R.R. Tolkein, The Fellowship of the Ring

Saturday is my thirtieth birthday.  I am more excited about this natal day than I have been since I was six, when birthdays meant party dresses and white ankle strap sandals and My Little Ponies and strawberry shortcake with chocolate ice cream. I'm not certain that there's one particular reason for my enthusiasm this year, more that many lovely things are coming together in early May and birthday just adds to the fun: moving to Brooklyn, meeting new people and making new friends, hosting more house guests in a month than I have in a year, and taking every opportunity to see friends from far and wide who occasionally pass through NYC.

Being that I'm so happy, I wanted to share the joy with a Hobbity sort of celebration.  Being that I'm not comfortable enough in this house (yet) to arrange a dinner party, nor am I confident enough in my oven's constancy to bake souffle or a torte, my gift must be of the musical variety. I've thus assembled a playlist - sorted roughly by genre - of thirty-one tracks that I adore. I wouldn't necessarily call these out by name if you asked me for a list of my "favorite songs," but they are among my most oft-played tracks in iTunes. I hope that everyone who reads finds something to enjoy.

1. Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O'Connor, and Edgar Meyer
   Appalachia Waltz - First Impressions
2. Solid Brass
   Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral (from Wagner's Lohengrin)
3. Vanessa Mae
   Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor
4. Marc Shaiman and studio orchestra
   Rodgers and Hammerstein's I Have Dreamed (arranged for The American President)
5. Christianne Cargill
   Green Fields of France
6. Ceann
   The Last Ones Standing
7. Indigo Girls
   Become You
8. Ed Miller
   The Prince of Darkness
9. Carbon Leaf
   The War Was in Color
10. MacTalla Mo'r
    The New Colossus
11. Sligo Rags
    The Whiskey Never Lies
12. Indigo Girls
    Hammer and a Nail
13. Dar Williams
    What Do You Love More Than Love
14. k.d. lang
    Hallelujah
15. Live
    10,000 Years (Peace is Now)
16. Moby
    Porcelain
17. Uh Huh Her
    Common Reaction
18. Seabird
    Rescue
19. Ministry
    NCIS Theme Remix
20. Indigo Girls featuring Pink
    Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate
21. Great Big Sea
    Straight to Hell
22. Jimmy Buffet
    Fruitcakes
23. Rachel Loy
    Big Sky
24. Joni Mitchell
    Both Sides, Now
25. Savage Garden
    Affirmation
26. Dixie Chicks
    Not Ready to Make Nice
27. John Barrowman
    Being Alive (from Company)
28. Cherry Poppin' Daddies
    Here Comes the Snake
29. Duke Ellington
    Mood Indigo
30. The Brian Setzer Orchestra
    Jump, Jive, an' Wail
31. Linda Eder
    The Impossible Dream (from Man of La Mancha)

First published at NYC to the Nines

Subway Art

Beginning my fifth week of living here, my underground-travel-anxiety is greatly diminished.  I still get anxious when service changes require me to take an unfamiliar route at a moment's notice and I'm the route (and thus the station exits) are dark mysteries, but for the most part I no longer steel myself before walking down the steps into a station.  I've even learned to love Express trains.

My favorite ride is on the morning rush Q train. The cars are very crowded, which means that if I hang back, I can get a standing spot by the door looking across at the starboard side of the train.  And that is a terribly cool place to look, thanks to Bill Brand, who created an art installation of still panels that morph into a "motion picture" as trains speed by. I watch his Masstransiscope every time I can position myself to catch a glimpse of it. (My favorite bit is the leaping squid near the end of the piece.)

After the Masstransiscope, the Q barrels out onto the Manhattan Bridge.  On a day like today the brilliant morning sunshine glints off of the Manhattan skyscrapers and the East River, careening sparkles and shine around the train. And it turns out that I'm a sucker for viewing the Empire State Building, from anywhere.

As the Q is an express, once the train reenters the tunnel in Manhattan it barrels right through several stations before reaching my stop at Herald Square. Prince Street is one of those skipped and when I have that great viewing spot by the door, I turn around to see Carrying On from the Port-side of the train.  Miniature art is fascinating to me, as are silhouettes, as is a concept that revolves around typical people of a time and place caught in the act of ordinary living -- it's fantastic.  At some point I'll have to plan a field trip to Prince Street just to look closely at each image.  (Not such a hardship, considering Dean and DeLuca is around the corner...)

So, Danny Bu and Phoebe Felts, it took me just under a month to learn your appreciation for the subway. Thanks for sharing!

Soundtrack to this morning's commute is courtesy of my Celtic Favorites playlist:

• Arabesque, The Gneeveguilla Reel
• Ashley MacIsaac & Terry Radigan, The Wedding Funeral
• Banshee in the Kitchen, The Girls Set
• Bow Triplets, Boys from the Blue Hill
• Cady Finlayson, Lanigan's Ball
• Carbon Leaf, Life Less Ordinary
• Carbon Leaf, Love, Loss, Hope, Repeat
• Carbon Leaf, The War Was in Color
• Carbon Leaf, American Tale

First published in NYC to the Nines

Small-town Transplant Confession #1

I don't answer my door after dark, unless I'm expecting someone to ring the bell. Not sure if that's the action of a wary person living alone or a paranoid idiot, but it is what it is.

First published at NYC to the Nines

Tis an ill cook that cannot lick his own fingers

When I was a teenager, I was obsessed with eating what I called "Shakespeare meals" -- selections of breads and fruits and cheeses that i could eat without utensils, while lounging around reading. With the 90 degree weather experienced in Manhattan today, my sunburn-on-top-of-sunburn-tortured skin, and the unavoidable fact that tomorrow is Monday and a return-to-work day, I am reveling in a Shakespeare meal for dinner.

Fresh-from-the-oven multigrain baguette, sliced on the diagonal

A round of handmade mozzarella cheese

A pair of grilled Italian sausages, also sliced on the diagonal

A small bowl of tomato bruschetta

An enormous bunch of red grapes

Giving free reign to my artistic sensibilities, I've piled the bread, cheese, fruit, and sausages onto a wooden serving plate and set the earthenware bowl of bruschetta just next to it.

My camera batteries are dead, else I'd share photos. It's the most visually delightful meal I've eaten in ages.

First published at TheNines

Dating Rule #746

I will not date someone who shares my given name.

At some point I need to actually write these down in a list, with an order.

As I said to a colleague last night, I've been blessed/cursed with certain traits:
• A short attention span
• An infinite ability to amuse myself
• Zero tolerance for fools

That being the case, happening upon a woman who captures my interest for more than an hour is rare. On top of that, I'm a bit of a bitch, so the likelihood that the same person I'm interested in is similarly intrigued is about .00000001%

Alas, this one wasn't meant to be. :)

First published at TheNines

How I Did it at 43Things: Continue Simplifying My Life

43Things is a website devoted to goals. The premise: "Discover what's important, make it happen, share your progress. Find your 43 things." How I Did It posts document the completion of goals.

How I did it:
I started by looking at the stuff in my life -- and boy was there a lot. 

I come from a long line of pack-ratters, have a large family that likes giving presents, and am magpieish by nature so I had accumulated vast quantities of stuff.  And I was in a mental state of wanting to always acquire more stuff -- mementos of occasions, reminders of people, lists of experiences -- trackable, tangible proof that I had existed and done things and enjoyed them.  This informed my interests: I spent a lot of time faffing about online or watching nonsense television or reading trash, losing myself in stories of how other people -- real or fictional -- chose to live and do great things while doing nothing of substance myself.

On 43things, I stumbled across the goal of "give away 50 things I don't need," and thought, I can do that.  And I made it a focus --- I gave away easily 25 carloads of things I didn't need through Salvation Army and Freecycle, giving items of beauty and value to people I loved who would appreciate/use them more than I did.  And when I completed the goal, I chose to do it again. And again.

As I got rid of things, I realized that I had more time on my hands to develop hobbies and interests. I learned how to garden by planting vegetables and seeing what happened. I learned patience as a result, and started learning how to cook.  As I cooked more meals from scratch, I learned how to appreciate the tastes in food -- and the work that went into growing each element of a meal -- and stopped buying and eating processed junk.  Making meals from scratch led to developing more of my crafty talents -- creating useful, beautiful items myself rather than relying on mass-market industry to produce them for me.  I found joy in the ordinary, everyday activities of humanity -- made extraordinary by my new way of looking at the world, seeing it with eyes grown accustomed to a larger view than my own little life.

And over time, I realized that I'd stopped caring about the status quo -- who had what, who wanted what, who passed judgment on what others thought, felt, looked like, desired.  My life -- the weeks, days, and hours of it -- is now about finding and experiencing joy. What could be simpler than that?

Resources:

• 43 Things
• Make Do and Mend
  
• Walden, Henry David Thoreau
• Three Bowl Cookbook

It took me 3 years. It made me joyful See more progress on: Continue to Simplify my Life

First published at 43Things

a song outside my window

Today was exceptional.

• I spent the evening at a restaurant named Love is the Message, filled with fantastic art, celebrating Patty's 28th birthday with great food, great drinks, and tremendously cool people.
• I missed my subway stop on the way home only to get off the train in a new area and walk through rain-drenched streets, noticing cherry and magnolia blossoms in the shadows cast by door lanterns, and smell fresh earth from garden plots and window boxes, watching the play of light and shadow on the imposing steps and balusters of beautiful brownstones.
• I saw the Empire State Building lit up in green for Earth Day, and when I stood on my stoop and looked into the sky over Brooklyn, the clouds had cleared and the darkness was deep enough to make out a faint scattering of stars.
• I stepped inside to a message sharing that not one but two of my dearest friends will be in New York next weekend to celebrate my birthday with me, "if that's okay" with me.
• Tomorrow my aunt and cousin are coming to hang for a couple of days, and I found a fantastic restaurant to take them to for dinner (on the aforementioned long walk home).

Happy Earth Day!

First published at TheNines

How I Did It at 43Things: Move to NYC

"Heart-wrenching and incredible."

 

How I did it:
When the opportunity came up at work to relocate to our Manhattan office, I jumped at the chance.  Circumstances being what they are, I had a solid six months of work to do before I could be ready to "pack up and go," so I used them to my advantage.

1. Researching the city. What did I love about this place? What was I looking for in a home? Who did I know and whose opinions did I trust? 
2. Deciding on a neighborhood. Ultimately I chose to live in Brooklyn and commute to Manhattan, to put a little distance between my workaholic days and my home life -- I found a neighborhood that reflected the version of NYC that would give me the experience I craved. 
3. Budget Appropriately. NYC is an expensive place to live. If I hadn't spent 6 months saving every penny, I would not have been able to move while retaining the lifestyle I'm used to (living alone, in an apartment with space to move, in a place where I feel safe, and having a bit set aside for forays to the theatre and concert halls) without seriously strapping my finances or going into debt. 
4. Plan the Logistics. Sign the Lease, get the keys, pack, hire movers, arrange deliveries, plan to do a great deal of waiting for service providers to show up and do their thing. 
5. Get acclimated. Take the time to get to know the neighborhood, the people, the local flavor, the fun. Pay attention to organized groups -- who are they, what are they arguing about, what's the main agenda of the area? Immerse yourself in the culture, and become part of the world.

Lessons & tips:
Walk -- a lot -- before you move to the city.  My legs ached for the first 3 weeks I lived here, from walking long distances on concrete.  Similarly, buy good quality walking shoes and rain galoshes/boots.

Learn how to read a map and navigate the subway. The kindness of strangers is a blessing, but can't always be counted on.

Smile. A lot.

Resources:
Craigs List
Nelson Aybar
MTA
Facebook, for connecting with neighbors and neighborhood groups
CENYC

It took me 8 months. It made me elated.  See more progress on: Move to NYC

First published at 43Things

"But you can never leave"

I attempted to explore my environs-beyond-the-necessary yesterday, for the first time since moving here.  I say "attempted," because my original mission -- cycling across the Brooklyn Bridge and taking photographs of my favorite statues in Battery Park -- was an utter failure. It seems that cartographers add roadways to maps in such a way that is perfectly logical for vehicular operators, but completely useless for cyclists.

I navigated to the Bridge with relative ease and could see the neo-Gothic towers and the impossibly thin suspension wires taunting me from the bike lane on Tillary Street, but after my third successive circle of Tillary to Adams to Sand to Jay directed by uniformed officers at each intersection, I called it a day for exploring Brooklyn, instead.

Downtown Brooklyn was terrifically shiny in the early-afternoon sunlight.  I found the Transit Museum, which looks like a terrific rainy Saturday activity, and passed what looks like a delightful vintage clothing shop named Redress -- I couldn't help but chuckle over the apt name, both for the wares on display and the attitude of many who eschew new, new, new.  Though come to think of geography, the shop might have been in Cobble or Boerum Hill.

I rode about two miles along Dean Street, through areas where apartment listings were offered to me by a few different people.  Beautiful brownstones and row houses, lovely trees and little gardens, but I passed -- almost exclusively -- young, affluent, straight white couples with small children.  Lovely people, I'm sure, but I'm glad I chose a neighborhood with a more authentic representation of the diversity present in Kings county.  By the time I returned to Fort Greene Park, I was glad to wave to the elderly Russian couple walking their dog, smile at the boys playing ball and shouting at one another in Carribean French, greeting the people of all ages "stooping it" in the afternoon sunshine on my block, Spanish, Korean, and English phrases flying on the wind.

There's a place for me here.

First published at NYC to the Nines

How I Did It at 43Things: Decorate my Flat

 "Making home a haven is the necessary next-step after moving."

How I did it:
I've lived in 7 spaces over the last 5-1/2 years, so have become an expert at packing things up, moving them someplace new, and unpacking them efficiently. Making sure that the new space elicits a warm, welcoming invitation to settle in and *live* is quite a bit more difficult -- but, frankly, more necessary.

1. Get rid of everything that won't actually live in the space to be decorated. As soon as I signed the lease on my new flat, I arranged a time to take detailed measurements and photographs. I constructed a scaled layout of the space on graph paper and determined what furniture and belongings would fit.  Those that didn't were listed and sold on Craigslist.

2. Make note of light and traffic flow; what are the problems? My flat has great traffic patterns and large windows with sunny Eastern and Western exposures, but because the living room is in the center of the flat that room is very dark.  A serious lack of storage was also a concern (one tiny closet, no built in storage places, lots of kitchen cabinets). Also, the bathroom was large but the layout lacked function.

3. Research solutions.  I picked up a couple of books specifically for apartments and combed through the photographs and the tip sections looking for solutions specific to my problems, as well as ways to capitalize on my strengths (great traffic pattern, large windows, gorgeous kitchen). I designed an organizing system for the closet that would allow me to store clothes effectively, bought a half-dozen storage boxes for under the bed, and put some vintage suitcases and wicker cases to work in the living room and landing strip. I also hung a coat-and-hat rack on the back of the door.

4. Arrange objects of beauty in ways that are pleasing to the eye. I arranged artwork and practical textiles into color groupings and placed them throughout the apartment. Blue and chocolate in the bedroom; scarlet, gold, and purple in the living room; ivory and red in the kitchen; ivory, navy, and chocolate in the bath.

5. Figure out what works -- and what's missing.

My first thought was that I desperately needed to paint the walls -- but after living with white for a few weeks, I really grew to like the fact that the "canvas" disappeared and my art and furnishings popped. I'll save painting for a time when I feel like I need a change. 

My style is very eclectic and homey (afghans and quilts rather than satins and silks), so what I realized I was missing were more elements to capitalize on that -- namely, family photographs for a selection of empty frames. 

The big windows let in vast swathes of light during the day, but also at night, when I'm trying to sleep! Finding dark curtains and hanging them in a way that completely blocked the windows as well as installing light-and-noise-blocking liner was a must.

The hardwood floors are gorgeous, but having area rugs in the bedroom and bath was necessary, too. 

Finishing off each room with an array of candles to improve incidental lighting, remove shadows, and improve ambiance was the finishing touch.  (I debated bringing fresh flowers and plants into the house, but apart from a single philodendron in the living room, have opted for window-boxes of flowering herbs, instead.)

Lessons & tips:
Precursor: starting with William Morris' rule of simplicity is a definite aid. "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."

Set a budget. My decorating set-up cost about $475 -- including a closet organizing system, decorative shelving for the bathroom, a couple of throw rugs, baskets and boxes, curtains and rods, and various hooks and hardware -- plus the cost of a few tools I hadn't planned for (a screw-gun/power drill, a stud finder, and a set of bolt cutters).

Don't be afraid of trial and error -- or asking a professional's advice.

Resources:
Lowe's Hardware  Having a credit account here allowed me to budget in advance for my projects, gather the things I needed, do the work in the space, and pay the bill over the course of a month.  Lowe's also has a great return policy, so when I bought more than necessary, it was easy to bring the items back.
Floorplanner I ended up using a tape measure, graph paper, and several super-sharp pencils, but considered floorplanner.  Looks like a great system for arranging floorplan layouts for those who prefer computer-generated plans.

Colour Lovers A great resource for looking at color pairings in new ways, even if some of the trends are eye-burningly bad. (I wouldn't have thought to add purple to my living room without inspiration from this site.)

It took me 3 weeks. It made me pleased See more progress on: Decorate my flat

First published at 43Things

Book Nerd

In an effort to keep tabs on my to-read pile and keep it from growing completely unwieldy, a list.

Fiction
Life, the Universe, and Everything, Douglas Adams
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless, Douglas Adams
Young Zaphod Plays it Safe, Douglas Adams
Catharine and Other Writings, Jane Austen
Sandition, Jane Austen and A Lady
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, Susannah Clarke
Kushiel's Mercy, Jacqueline Carey
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
The Crimson Petal and the White, Michel Faber
Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier
The Wagnerian Romances, Gertrude Hall
Brooklyn Bridge, Karen Hesse
The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri
Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri
Atonement, Ian McEwan
The Emperor's Childern, Claire Messud
Ahab's Wife or The Star-Gazer, Sena Jeter Naslund
Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky
Black and Blue, Anna Quindlen
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
The Volcano Lover, Susan Sontag
Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc, Mark Twain
Fingersmith, Sarah Waters
The New York Stories, Edith Wharton
Tanglewreck, Jeanette Winterson
The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

NonFiction
Dream It. List It. Do It., 43things.com
The Stranger & the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adms, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum - the Smithsonian, Nina Burleigh
Players, Bertram Fields
Put Your Life on a Diet, Gregory Johnson
The Story of Goethe's Life, George Henry Lewes
Wandering Home, Bill McKibben
The Audacity of Hope, Barack Obama
Walking Brooklyn, Adrienne Onofri
The Young Hemingway, Michael Reynolds
The Green Book, Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen
The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
Lighting the Way, Karenna Gore Schiff
The Innocents Abroad, Mark Twain
Refuge, Terry Tempest Williams



I'll regularly update this post with links to reviews or commentary as I cross these off -- and inevitably add others.


First published to NYC to the Nines

How I Did It at 43Things: Become Car-Free

"This goal and the work to achieve it were so completely worth it."

How I did it:
I have wanted to be car free since I first lived in an area of urban sprawl, 6 years ago. While I looked into different modes of transportation (biking, buses, walking), none were practical in an area that didn't have the infrastructure to support car-free living -- not owning a car and requiring friends and family to chauffer you is not a car-free lifestyle.

When I was offered the opportunity to relocate for work, I looked expressly at the area I was moving to and found a neighborhood that would allow me to sell my car and get by without requiring regular driving.  I have access to the subway and a fully integrated bus system.  I bought a bicycle and pulled a sturdy backpack out of storage.  I snagged a little-old-lady wheeled cart for toting heavy things around on foot.

Lessons & tips:

• My legs really hurt for the first ten days, as I got used to self-propelled transportation of up to 10 miles per day. Increase "walking for exercise" habits before adopting a "walking for transportation" system.
• Learn to read maps very well; getting lost is more painful and time-consuming when you have to power yourself back to the right place.
• Live by lists -- multiple trips to single locations are far more costly in terms of time because you forget one vital item.
• Delivery services are life-savers -- I have ordered in very heavy orders of bulk groceries, mail-ordered some home-improvement supplies, and am actively seeking a dry cleaning service with delivery.

Most of all, pay attention to what you really want. I hated driving, hated owning a car, and hated the incredibly expensive costs associated with vehicular transportation. But I loved and valued my autonomy, so that was more important to me.  Make sure that you have a system in place enabling you to access the things you need/want/depend on before you throw away the system that works -- even if that system is full of flaws.

Resources:

• http://www.streetsblog.org/
• http://www.mta.info/
• Department of Motor Vehicles

It took me 6 years. It made me joyful See more progress on: Become car-free

First published at 43Things

Progress at 43Things: Learn to Not Fear the Subway (1)

I hate being underground or underwater. Small spaces don’t bother me so much as the idea of being confined, buried in a substance I can’t climb out of. Tunnels are no big deal, but you couldn’t convince me to climb down a manhole. Snorkeling and Scuba Diving provoke serious panic attacks (ever tried to breathe through hyperventilation while strapped to an oxygen tank?), despite repeated attempts to overcome them.

This is becoming more of a problem for me now that I live in New York City. I live in Brooklyn and work in Manhattan, so at least five days a week I need to take the subway between the islands—underground and underwater.

I’m doing fairly well with the regular trips on local trains; I stand rather than sit; take deep, calming breaths when the doors open at each station stop; and focus on awareness of my surroundings and the idea of expansiveness within the city. Express trains are more difficult—much longer periods of time in between station stops, and some delays on the tracks without warning or announcement.

I’m moderately more comfortable now than I was when I arrived on March 28, but I still have to give myself a mental pep talk before I get on the train. That’s not going to be an acceptable long-term way of living.
If I can become more comfortable now than a was just a few weeks ago, I should be able to get to a point where this anxiety won’t be such a big part of my life.

See more progress on Learn Not to Fear the Subway

First published at 43Things

Car Free

I can't say for sure whether being car-free is a benefit of living in New York City, or if moving to Brooklyn was a side effect of deciding, finally, to stop relying on a car as my form of transportation.

It's been two weeks since I last sat in a car (for the moving trip to Brooklyn), and three since I owned my little Alero.  I haven't taken a cab, nor have I wished to rent a car/drive in that time -- although the soaking I received after walking over a mile in a downpour (twice!) on my first Friday here did have me questioning the wisdom of relying on public transport.

The really cool thing about being car-free is that there are so many other opportunities for travel.

* I walk, a lot. Even if I only travel between home and my office in a given day, I have about forty minutes of brisk walking (including anywhere between 6 and 18 flights of stairs, depending on which subway station I use).  I've lost about six pounds in the last two weeks, and my trousers fit better than they have since last summer.

First published at NYC to the Nines

Education, Part II

Do not assume that all libraries have bookdrop windows for returning materials outside of business hours. Those branches of the BPL which are within close proximity to your home do not have such an amenity. Make note, for future reference, of each branch's extended service hours so that you can easily return materials.

After Saturday's chilly rain and wind, Sunday was a lovely morning for a bike ride, though.

Seriously, is a library bookdrop just a suburban/rural thing, or are there urban libraries with the option?

First published at NYC to the Nines

#amazonFAIL

I'm sure you've all seen what amazon.com has done to restrict access to gay and lesbian themed books (or as they term such works, "adult content") over the past couple of days -- if not, start with Sam's super-quick catch-up entry and work in through the links.  Below is the letter which I sent via the customer service form, voicing my displeasure.

Dear Amazon.com,

I am deeply, deeply offended over your policy with regard to the exclusion of gay and lesbian literature from search results and bestseller lists. As a broad-minded reader who has a long history of purchasing books, music, and numerous other products from the amazon marketplace; as a professional who has used the amazon webstore capabilities in conjunction with nonprofit business ventures; and as a lesbian reader who has sought to purchase books from amazon.com precisely because of the ease of finding works by new authors via cross-recommendation, I am appalled to learn that you are intentionally limiting the scope of audience for an entire community of writers and artists.

The stated rationale behind this new policy has raised my hackles. "In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude "adult" material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature." As a bookseller, one of your most sacred social responsibilities is to promote the broadening of individual minds, the opening to new ideas, the education of self and community through promotion of the printed page.  If you wish to cater to those who have no wish to see particular material in search results, by all means build a permissions-based filtering system and educate your customers how to use such technology for their benefit. (Permissions-based marketing dramatically improves sales; you may find that building such a product would be of great benefit to you for reasons other than appeasing the ignorant.) If you wish to take on the onus of protecting minors from exposure to topics which may not be age-appropriate, by all means be as proactive as cable television and institute maturity rankings on your products. But by restricting access of the average user to only those materials in your catalogue which you deem "acceptable", without explanation of what is and is not considered appropriate (I notice that search results which had previously returned Rita Mae Brown's "Rubyfruit Jungle" no longer return that novel or others with LGBT themes, but return explicitly erotic heterosexual themed works), you have turned your service -- a powerful engine of commerce capable of adding great depth and breadth to the experience of shopping for books -- into a bullying tyrant.

Turning my back on amazon.com will remove many conveniences from my life. My family and I all use the wish list function to search for, shop for, and recommend gift ideas.  My company has a corporate purchasing account that my staff regularly utilize to procure the latest guides, manuals, subscriptions, and books with ease, and without the need for multiple billing accounts. The list of recommendations designed expressly for me, based on items which I have purchased and rated is detailed and delightful, after years of honing through multiple accounts. But none of these features of convenience are worth the cost of my self-respect in supporting a corporation and a mind-set that is discriminatory and, frankly, vile.

I will be monitoring your Customer Announcement pages over the next ten days.  If nothing is done to address or reverse this policy within that time frame, I will be taking my personal and professional business elsewhere, and advising my family, my friends, my company, and the readers of my blogs to do the same.

With greatest sincerity,
Lissa

Education, part I

You live in the city now. Your front door locks behind you. Therefore, it's good practice to grab your keys and tuck them in your pocket when you step outside at 5:30 in the morning to put the trash by the curb. Especially when it's pouring down rain.


First published at NYC to the Nines

Have you ever seen a dog with dreadlocks?

That pretty much sums up my first week in New York. I nearly tripped over the schnauzer-sized dog with full-body, perfectly maintained dreads on Wednesday afternoon, and haven't stopped giggling about him since.

I'll be very glad when I've acclimated to city living; right now my legs hurt (from insane amounts of walking and stair climbing), my head aches (from the constant auditory stimulation), and I'm exhausted (see above (plus moving stress)). BUT I'm also bouncing around with happiness and excitement and gleeful, wry observations.

My flat is lovely; I'm still amazed that I found this little gem on my very first day of pounding the pavement! The quiet, unassuming little house has two other tenants. D is a student at Pratt University and P is a professional boxer; both guys are friendly and have been kind and helpful. Mom and Dad spent a couple of days with me this week, working on home improvements and such, and the cozy little place (perhaps "expansive" by local standards) is now fresh and homey. Photos coming once I find my camera. And remember how it works.

My office is fabulous; my coworkers are kind and welcoming, my boss and most of my teammates are a short train-ride away (rather than a four hour drive), our volunteers and patients are clearly uplifted by the environment and staff attitudes, and there's a Starbucks across the street.

Apart from working on the flat, working at the office, walking several dozen miles, and eating a ton of really great food (guac quesadillas at Pequena, chicken barbecue at The Smoke Joint, cheese blintzes at Juniors), I can't say that I've done much, but that shall change by this time next week.

"I think I'm gonna like it here!"

First published at NYC to the Nines