Oh, I know I’ve been absent from the blog. It’s not just the blog. I’ve been absent from everything. There was the school year, all that grading to be done, and then WisCon, and then I went to Colorado to grade AP exams, and then the end of the school year, including even more grading, and then graduation, and then I think I slept for about a week.
One nice thing about summer vacation, so far, is that I’m rediscovering my neighborhood. It’s a great time of year to do that–on Saturdays, Bedford is closed to cars, as part of the Williamsburg Walks program. We’ve been getting visits from the fancy ice cream truck, too, and there’s finally something other than root vegetables at the McCarren Park Greenmarket.
Even better, last weekend was the Northside Festival. Four days of music, art, and related events, all within about a mile of my apartment. The furthest we had to travel was up to Greenpoint for a Bishop Allen show, but most of what we saw was within just a few blocks. (Including the Hold Steady! Who put on a fabulous show, despite the audience’s inexplicable tendency to throw half-full cups of beer around!) The best surprise of the weekend, though, was the benefit for the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls. I think we were expecting, I don’t know, performances by alumne or supporters. What we were definitely not expecting to see were a bunch of ten-year-old girls totally rocking out in the back room of the Lovin’ Cup Cafe. I’m completely serious about this–we saw one group of pre-teen girls who were better performers (in terms of both stage presence and musical skill) than at least one or two of the other bands we saw during the Northside Festival.
Music festivals and gourmet ice cream aside, though, I’m just enjoying the day-to-day of my neighborhood. It’s almost a full year since we moved, and I feel at home here. So that’s something.
Posted Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 2:58 pm. Filed under: personal.
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