We Are The Ones - Obama

Beautiful message of hope.

OBAMA!

Wow, he was amazing!
This has to be our next president.

OH YES!

New York, I Love You.
I do, I really do!

Embedded

If you live in the Tampa Bay area, don't miss the Jobsite Theatre production of Embedded. You have this weekend and next to get out there and get yourself all riled up for the election. Hilarious, infuriating, unique, intelligent, it's good, provocative theater. And the masks are really so cool.

It's Joe!

Obama/Biden sounds really good to me. I'm feeling encouraged and excited. But they've got lots of work to do. Especially since we have all seen in the last few elections, and historically, how Republican presidential campaigns "can degenerate to the rankest kind of ruthlessness and ugliness, usually at the expense of the Democrat.
Joe Biden is a good model to follow here. A few months ago, after being asked on MSNBC about attacks on Senator Obama that were being unleashed by Senators McCain and Joe Lieberman, Mr. Biden said:
'I refuse to sit back like we did in 2000 and 2004. This administration is the worst administration in American foreign policy in modern history -- maybe ever....Every single thing they've touched has been a near-disaster.'
A populist message and a willingness to take the fight to his opponent is Barack Obama's ticket to the White House."
Read the rest of Bob Herbert's column in today's New York Times.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

See where some big corps are placing their influence.
Think about where you place yours.
FedEx, HP, Merrill Lynch, not so much.
Citigroup, Google, JPMorgan Chase, that's more like it.
Time to let them know what you think. Money talks.
Read more about it in today's New York Times.

My CDC Guy

Steve began working for CDC right out of college and I remember when he was climbing the tenements of NYC, roaches dropping into the cuffs of his pants, to let people know they had once had sex with someone who had an STD. He was working on AIDs before there was a name for it. He's traveled the world to bring health care and education to third world countries, working not only on STDs but maternal health as well. I'm really proud of what he has done and how cool is it that they put him on the cover of this new book!

Groundbreaking!

This morning we broke ground on the new North Tampa Branch. I worked there years ago and loved it, headed it up for 6 years. I'm excited to be the Chief over this library and thrilled the crummy old building is gone. The new one will be huge and beautiful and ready in about a year. It poured down on the ceremony but it was joyful just the same.
That's a bunch of Friends of the Library with Joe and me, wet but very happy.

Brooklyn Bride

I'm so proud of my Brooklyn Bride, and Groom. Aren't they incredible? And it's so cool how their wedding has been making the rounds on the web.

Eight Strikes and You're Out

"Without taxing fossil fuels so they become more expensive and giving subsidies to renewable fuels so they become more competitive — and changing regulations so more people and companies have an interest in energy efficiency — we will not get innovation in clean power at the scale we need.
That is what this election should be focusing on. Everything else is just bogus rhetoric designed by cynical candidates who think Americans are so stupid — so bloody stupid — that if you just show them wind turbines in your Olympics ad they’ll actually think you showed up and voted for such renewable power — when you didn’t."

From Thomas Friedman's excellent Op-Ed piece in today's New York Times.

In Ptown

Our drive from NY to Ptown was not only long and hard, but also included an encounter with a big pickup truck in the middle. Right after crossing the Bourne Bridge, we entered one of the many roundabouts that seem to have no rules or lanes, just lots of confused drivers. One of them saw her exit and didn't see me. So our peaceful week in Ptown started with an accident that created stress, pain and expense.

But, eventually, we made it to the tip of the Cape and to Four Gables. This year we stayed in the wonderful contemporary apartment called Hollyhocks. So comfortable and nicely decorated and stocked, French doors and access to the outdoors from every room, we had everything we needed to feel a little spoiled and a lot at home. One of my favorite things about Four Gables is how green it is. They provide the motivation and means to recycle just about everything, and compost too.
You can see more photos of the place on the website, but here are some of the things we loved about the place.

A great deck for relaxing and reading.
The dogs loved the fenced common yard that is filled with artsy touches and beautiful plants. We loved being able to open the doors to the deck and letting them out first thing in the morning.The dogs loved the inside of the apartment as much as the outside; so did we.The west side of Provincetown, where we stayed, is very much New England and we enjoyed the short walk to town.We also visited Val, Tony and their new dog, Toby, in their little cottage at the far east end of Ptown.
Toby is a friendly, sweet, and very handsome boy.

We all wandered the town,
and Dylan tried to convince us to buy him a stroller so he could ride everywhere. Marley said he'd consider riding in it too from time to time. Maybe someday.
We met Val, Tony, and their friends Ron & Buzz, for breakfast with a view one morning.We did a lot less than usual in Ptown this year. The weather wasn't great all that often and we had to contend with my arm pain which involved wasting lots of time at a medical clinic and some alternative treatments. But we did see a couple of plays in Provincetown and in Wellfleet, visited both Wellfleet, which is really a nice town we'd consider staying in sometime, and Orleans, and got a lot of sleep and reading in.

Then, after a solid two days of intense but uneventful driving, we made it back home. We are all so happy to be home after this very long vacation. Daisy was thrilled to rejoin the family.

Thanks to everyone, in Tampa and Hillsdale, Brooklyn, Provincetown, who made this vacation great for us.

Driving to Provincetown

"Honey, I told you the whole world is headed to the Cape this weekend"
Terri-Lee Burger, Brooklyn, NY, winner of the Cartoon Caption Contest in the August 11 & 18, 2008 issue of The New Yorker.

Bruce!

They kept us waiting two hours that last hot night of July in NJ, but they were worth it!

Three Hot Tickets

Tuesday evening, July 29th, Central Park, Crosby, Stills & Nash. Peace, love & harmony, can't ask for more than this.

Wednesday we went to the new TKTS window in downtown Bklyn and got great seats to see the Pulitzer and Tony winning August: Osage County. Very powerful, emotional theater.

And then, Thursday, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Traffic, tolls, crowds, and a two hour wait for the concert to get started due to a major accident that kept people from getting there on time. Not us, we were early, so waited about three hours, actually. I think Mark and I were the only ones who brought books to read while waiting in the stadium.  But finally...it was loud and wild and we loved him, loved them, loved it all.

Hot Town, Summer in the City

We made it to Brooklyn only hours after Jesse & Thom returned from their Portland Oregon excursion. After a brief and stormy visit to Brooklyn Flea, Jesse & Thom, Helen, Mark and I hopped a few Bklyn bars.Then we settled in for some amazingly crispy and delicious pizza, and this huge calzone, at Lucali.
The next day Mark and I met Jesse for lunch in Soho near her new job. And watched her walk back to the office before heading down to the lower east side for a bit of shopping.
Uptown the next day Mark and I headed to the roof of the Met to see the Jeff Koons balloon sculptures.Love how New Yorkers enjoy their parks. Central Park is spectacular. Prospect Park is nice too, and we enjoyed a picnic by the lake one day.
Prospect Park is pretty trashy though, so Mark did his bit to clean up the environment.

Another day we went to MoMA to see Home Delivery, interesting show about prefabs.
There was a great little show of Picasso sculpture at MoMA too.

The boys really enjoyed hanging with Helen while Mark and I ran around. Our last night in the city, Mark and I met up with Jesse and Thom for dinner at La Paloma in the Village for some good Mexican food.


We ended up back in Brooklyn at Beer Table.

Fun time, but there's more. Next up: the hot tickets we managed to fit in to the trip before heading northeast to a cooler climate.