At last - news from America

My sister has finally returned from a conference in Argentina, and I have access to the internet, so all the news I've been bursting to tell can start trickling onto the screen.  I have loads of photos, too, but they will have to wait until after I've attended the New York Public Library free lecture on Tuesday 26th: "Getting started with blogging".

I am bowled over by how rooted in its community this library seems to be.  There are masses of events and opportunities to learn, most of which are free: http://www.nypl.org/events.  Yesterday I went to see an exhibition of prints by Michael Dal Cerro on the 3rd floor of the Mid-Manhattan Library (across the street from the amazing beaux-arts NYPL building guarded by the famous lions).

Its a different place entirely from the "main branch" - scuffed and tatty, with some clientele familiar to anyone who's ever used a public library (that disturbing not-washed recently smell) but it was so busy and buzzy: there was a line about 5 metres long of people who'd seemingly popped in after work to check out books and dvds, and 3 librarians busy at the terminals to assist them.   I went in, stood behind a man prepared for a good long sleep (I guess) with his pillows and blanket, had my bag checked, but otherwise unchallenged.  On the art floor a reference librarian was constantly answering a range of questions - not just "where are the toilets", but "how do I find information about Arthur Miller" or "a video about Louis Kahn".  The exhibition proved to be 6 vibrant woodcuts on a wall - on the theme of the city, and, in particular, exploring how the car has become so central to our/American lives (a favourite soapbox of mine)    The influence of comic book art was clear, as well as, I thought, the influence of the science fiction aesthetic of mass-production (The Matrix, Alien II etc).  I thought I'd see if they had a copy of John Berger's "Ways of seeing" as I was hoping to attend classes at the Brooklyn Brainery on how to look at art (http://brooklynbrainery.com/), and when I checked the catalogue 4 of the 5 copies were out, but the last - very battered -  copy was on the shelf where it should be, so I sat down and spent a happy half hour studying.  All unhassled and for free.

The Brooklyn Brainery was booked up so I returned to Mid-Manhattan Library this evening to listen to Sharon Zukin, author of "Naked City" talk about how the gentrification of neighbourhoods in New York City's 5 boroughs has reduced the very "authenticity" that people seek by moving there.  In an audience of probably 200 people, about 20 appeared to be regulars to the lecture programme, and all enjoyed a thorough, if occasionally somewhat nostalgic, debate about change in the city and the homogenisation of communities  and consumer choices (yet another of my soapboxes - I'm starting to feel right at home here!)

Thanks to sightseeing with family and a bit of solo exploring I even recognised and had visited some of those neighbourhoods, more of which later.