Goin' to Hang With the Gays, Yeah!!!

A bulk of our (so far, completely fascinating) J-school experience involves covering individual beats--each of us reporting on a separate neighborhood for the entire time we are in the program. We were given our assignments for our neighborhood beats today. We knew this was coming, so we were all a bit excited and anxious to find out where our second homes would be for the upcoming months. The very informal ceremony of handing out neighborhoods was held with a tiny bit of fanfare--one of our professors (Wayne Svoboda, an amazing writer and Fulbright scholar) stood at the podium in front of the whole class, called each of us by name and then picked our neighborhood out of a hat. I was a little scared that I'd get some place out in East Queens or the Bronx--somewhere that would not only be difficult to get to, but that I've had little to no experience in. So imagine my surprise (and luck!!) when the prof says, "Kathryn Lurie," and then picks "Manhattan District 4" out of the sea of neighborhoods. Some of us had our laptops open to identify these areas immediately, so I was able to see that I, in fact, have Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen! I sooooo lucked out! (My sympathy goes out to Megan, who lives in Staten Island and got assigned to Far Rockaway.)

Morning Commute

I have been commuting into midtown from my grandmother's house in Morristown, NJ, for a week now, and will be doing so until Wednesday. We move into our new place on Thursday. The commute involves a 15 minute drive into town to grab the train, and then about an hour on the train until we get to Penn. Not horrible, but definitely not ideal. My express ride on the Q to midtown from Brooklyn will be most welcome. Getting up at 5:30 AM is not agreeing with me very well. In my sleepy daze, I seem to misinterpret things here and there.

Take this morning, for example. . . . If you've ridden on NJ Transit, you know the trains--2 seats on one side, 3 on the other. This morning I had the misfortune of getting the middle seat between two rather hefty guys on the 3-seat side. The guy to my right, who had the window seat, was dozing, his headphones connecting his head to his Walkman. (Yes, you read that right, he had a Walkman, which he had resting on his shoulder between the window and his head.) Anyway, he woke up and said to me suddenly, "Susan? Get out!" I looked at him in utter confusion (and to be honest, a little bit of terror) and mumbled, "Excuse me?" He patiently repeated himself: "Excuse me, I'm getting out." OHHHHH, I thought. That makes much more sense.

News at 11

So. This month marks a huge change in my life. I am moving to New York City and beginning graduate work at the City University of New York's new Graduate School of Journalism. When I began the tedious grad-school application process, I knew that I would apply to NYU and Columbia. I didn't intend on applying anywhere else, but then I read a New York Times article about this new journalism school that had just opened that was a part of CUNY, and it sounded terrific, so I decided to apply there as well.

After the essays, tests, interviews, etc., I got accepted at both NYU and CUNY and waitlisted at Columbia. The reason I chose CUNY--for anyone who's wondering, as I have had a lot of people express their surprise at my selection of CUNY over NYU--is because after I spent a lot of time researching all three programs, I came to the conclusion that the CUNY program is the most progressive, interactive, and attractive of the three. The (completely Mac-based) facility is amazing--it's housed in two stories of the old Herald Tribune building in Times Square, and the new New York Times headquarters are being built directly next door. I fell head over heels for the program, and I love that it's public education, and it has a terrific faculty--professors who have worked (and in a lot of cases, like most adjunct profs, still do work) at CNN, Rolling Stone, Newsday, the New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Forbes, etc. These people have won Emmys, Pulitzers and the like, and I'm so excited to start learning from them.

Nate (one of my very best friends who's moving with me to NYC) and I got an awesome 4-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn and we are moving in on 8/30. I am already in the city because my orientation starts tomorrow. Today I was at the school to let the techies there install all this awesome new software on my computer. (Seriously, we got hooked up.)

I was very sad to leave Metroland, but the time had come. I was feeling a bit burnt out, and I was dealing with some difficult circumstances. But I love the paper and hope that they get a new website going and make the changes they have talked about recently.

That is the update for now. Plenty more to come. Wish me luck!

Baby!

I went to Allentown, PA, to attend a reunion of my mom's side of the family this weekend. Lots of people were there--a lot of whom I haven't seen in a number of years. Here is the newest addition to the family, Harmony (my cousin Renee's second daughter), taking a snooze on yours truly. There's really nothing better than holding a sleeping baby. She's so sweet and well-mannered.

Lyric of the Day

"Dead Man's Curve . . . /Never think in time to swerve/Till my lesson has been learned/Yeah, one more lesson learned."

--from "Pendulum" by Garrison Starr

Tidbits of Conversation

Jan: If I love Death Cab do I have to start wearing makeup?
Me: Mmm maybe just a bit of eyeliner.
Jan: I can do that.

Kristie's Baby Shower

My girls. . . . Kristie with a 7-and-a-1/2-month-old bun in the oven. I think Kate's still getting over the shock of the size of her tummy.

Kristie shows off some of the clothes she received for her unborn daughter.

Little Fiona (one of Kristie's nieces) helps with the presents.

Me with my new little friend Aidan, who, as I was sitting on the floor, kept on running up to me and plopping down in my lap, thus winning my heart. He's such a cutie!

That Travis, He's a Riot!

Me: I'm writing my letter of resignation. Weeeeird.
Travis: E-mail it to Brodeur on accident. Ask him to pass it along to Steve.

**NEWSFLASH!**

I am resigning from Metroland. My last day will be Aug. 16. More to come!

My Life:

*grin*

Waiting in Line. . .

. . . for Harry Potter!!

Trees Are Smart

(Found in the parking lot outside the office.)

Best Of Wednesday

Get me the holy hell out of here.

Oh How I Love My Sushi

Lunch with Kim in Portland.
I love it I love it I love it I love it.
I could eat it forever.

Go See It

So, I went the other evening to see the new Harry Potter movie with Mitch and his girlfriend, Kathy. I loved it. It is definitely the best one to date. Of course, it's always better to have read the books first, but this is the first movie in the series during which I didn't feel like I'd be a little lost if I hadn't read the books. My brother pointed out, "They gave you just enough information before leaving the scene," which is a really accurate statement. They switched up some details, but all in all, it worked. And! It's only about 2 hours and 10 minutes long--the shortest of all the movies to date--for a book that was more than 800 pages long. The director, David Yates, (who also did a great made-for-TV film called The Girl in the Cafe) did a terrific job.

Venice, Cont.

Among other things (canals, for instance) Venice is known for its masks. . .

. . . and its glass.

Hotel Bauer, where we stayed. It was gorgeous.

A taxi station in front of the Rialto Bridge.

A little girl feeds the pigeons in St. Mark's Square.

A view of St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco), with St. Mark's at the far end.

Venice!

A view of one of the canals. Just beautiful.

One of the ubiquitous gondoliers. We did not take a gondola ride because it was a bit on the expensive side--100 Euros for a half hour. And that was standard. We asked around.

A dusk view of the Bridge of Sighs. This bridge was built in the 16th century and the view from it was the last criminals were granted before they were imprisoned. According to Wikipedia, it got its name from Lord Byron in the 19th century, who thought that prisoners would sigh at the beautiful view of Venice.

A "parking lot" outside our hotel. In the background, a city bus goes by.

A beautiful street view.

Santorini, Greece

These poor donkeys were the saddest creatures ever, sweltering in the sun. There were hundreds of them. Their purpose is to climb up and down the steps that scale the side of the volcano that Santorini is perched atop, carrying tourists who pay for the ride. We opted to take the cable car to the top, and to walk back down.

This is the view from the top of the above-mentioned steps. Laura and I walked down them very carefully--we slipped on the polished stones every few feet. Damn those flip-flops!

Aha! As we sat and ate lunch at one of the outdoor restaurants perched in the side of the mountain, Laura and I spied our Swiss cohorts on a deck below us.

A beautiful view of a church in the side of the mountain.

Santorini has a very wide selection of absinthe--and, the shopkeeper told me, a very long list of American buyers, to whom the Greeks ship their wares.

A gorgeous staircase complimented with perfectly matching flowers.

Some European Graffiti

Found on the main drag in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Found in a small piazza in Venice.

Pretty Picture

This is what happens to my hair when I have no time in the morning.