Stupid Shit Sarah Lawrence Kids Say, Part 2...

Thomas Jefferson: Hipster Friendly

It’s a classic Sarah Lawrence paradox: You go to the most expensive private school in America, and yet you’re a hipster. How do you simultaneously brag about how much money you have while demonstrating how unique you are? This is how…

A group of Sarah Lawrence students sit at a table in a coffee shop, doing whatever. There are three of them, perhaps all girls, perhaps not. One line that comes out is, “I used to do that when I was a girl, and now that I’m not a girl, I still do that.” Whatever, that's a digression in itself...

A fourth student comes in, definitely male -- pink knit sweater, purple polo shirt underneath. Completely unique. He pulls from his pocket a stack of fresh, crisp bills an inch thick, bound together with a blue hair tie.

“Check this out,” he says, flipping through the greenbacks like playing cards. Then he pulls one from the pile and hands it to one of the girls.

Stupid Shit Sarah Lawrence Kids Say, Part 1...

Study of an SLC boy/Cheetah Farmer’s Vainglorious Attempt to Get Laid, As Seen Through the Eyes of a Drunk Fly on the Bar…

(I copied the following virtually verbatim from my notebook. I sat on a barstool with a notebook, next two three Sarah Lawrence undergrads at the Station House on a Friday night. This is what I heard. I could have cleaned it up more, but I felt it more important to leave it as is…)

Isn’t it cute how the SLC boys try and talk about sports like they have a clue? Some attempt to display masculinity in front of his female companion. And it looked like he almost had a chance. Until her friend showed up. He tried to compensate by ordering the same drink as this perceived interloper. I was the only one who noticed, a different kind of interloper in this humorous exchange.

Too bad for him, the source of his efforts is a worthless pursuit, a typical Sarah Lawrence girl -- too preoccupied with talking to the older, wiser bartender about the cider that she is drinking, comparing the Magners to the Bulmers of Europe, her subtle way of displaying how she is a world traveler, or, in reality, a teenager who spent a year abroad. Everything is done so subtly. You’d hardly even notice if you weren’t paying attention.

Seeing his chances fading with her interest, the SLC guy walks away, to put a dollar in the juke box. Very clever.

A minute later, “oh, this is my song,” to get the attention back, and after a few notes, that canned hipster follow-up, “you probably don’t know this song.” Neither girl does. Score one point for the Sarah Lawrence boy.

“It’s New Order,” he says. I guess they’re too young to know who New Order is, but he obviously is not. It’s almost as bad a smokescreen as talking about cider with the bartender. So subtle.

Ressurection at Woodlawn Cemetery...

Last winter, I took this photo of a mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx..

I happened to be walking around the same area yesterday and photographed the same masoleum, but from the opposite side. This is what I ended up with. Click on the photo to take a closer look...

Views From the Back Porch...

Not to be outdone, the sunsets at the house were pretty good too...

Cape Cod Sunsets...

 As I spent my morning with the birds, so too did I spend the evenings with friends, watching the sun disappear over the water... 

Native Birds of Cape Cod

Every day of that week I spent in Cape Cod began the same: sitting on the back deck of the house, sometimes with a coffee, sometimes a beer, once a glass of Jameson 12 year, staring out at the lake, waiting for the various wildlife to come out of hiding. Particularly the birds.

 Ruby-throated hummingbird - Female (females lack red throat patch)

Northern Blue Jay

 American Goldfinch - Male 

Going Home.

The plane was full of promise. It carried men from ten different nations, joined together to celebrate the opening game of a new season. For some, it was a fresh start. There was one of the first Russians to have his name etched on the Stanley Cup, almost 20 years ago, sitting with a Czech whose name was added twelve years later. For others, it was a last stop. A three-time NHL all-star who thought this would be his final pro season before retirement. There was a Swede who took home Olympic Gold in 2006, sitting with players from the Russian and Czech National squads, now all one team. A 1,000 game NHL veteran, now a coach, joined with teenage prospects whose careers had yet to begin.

In one fell swoop, three generations of hockey were lost, leaving a void that will remain in the sport indefinitely. While the tragedy struck on the far side of the world, the painful reach of such an event is long and stinging. It’s been a long and rough summer for hockey, and now, the day after the unofficial end of summer, it has been hit with the darkest day in the history of the sport.

Along with all of the upstarts and veterans there was 23 year-old Alexander Vasyunov, who spent the bulk of last season playing in my hometown for the Albany Devils of the AHL. In 50 games this season, his third in the Devils organization, he amassed a respectable 25 points. More importantly though, he was called up to play with the New Jersey Devils as a replacement for injured players on several occasions, scoring a goal and tallying four assists in his 18 games with the parent club.