New York City

The High Line #newyorkadventure #travel

October 30, 2015 by admin

This is the first in a series of posts I’ll be writing about our New York City adventures. Enjoy!

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We’re happily ensconced in the East Village of Manhattan, where we will spend the next five months. Tomkins Square Park is 50 yards west of our apartment, and community gardens abound. Tree-lined streets soften this part of the city, marrying nature with the crowded civilization that comprises New York.

We are taking daily walks, exploring parts of the city we haven’t before, despite visiting our daughter here for the past nine years.

On a perfect Sunday afternoon, we ventured out of the neighborhood and to the High Line. We’ve walked it before, but a new section has opened since our last visit, so we checked it out.

The tracks remain as plants grow among them.

The High Line was once a train line and now is an elevated park with a walking path. When the train tracks went into disuse, plants seeded themselves. While work has been done to tame the plantings, they include a number of hardy native species. On this visit, I enjoyed the asters in particular, which are blooming profusely. I grow asters in one of my blueberry beds in Washington State as a companion plant, and I find the purple flowers irresistible.

An outdoor restaurant graces the 14th Street entrance, and there’s also a place to get drinks while on your walk. The train tracks remain as part of the decor and fit in nicely with other art scattered throughout. Of course, nothing makes a New York City park more complete than the New Yorkers themselves, dressed in everything from blue jeans to full-length gowns. A group of monks (or at least they were dressed like monks) wandered the High Line to beg, and we saw more than one bride and groom having photos taken. If you want to “people watch,” head to the High Line!

Nadine Galinsky Feldman is the author of The Foreign Language of Friends, When a Grandchild Dies: What to Do, What to Say, How to Cope, and the upcoming What She Knew.

Vampires, Sex, and…Dan Rather?

June 13, 2012 by admin

A visit to NYC is always good for several blog posts, but Julie Farrar of Traveling Through asked me to share my experiences at Book Expo America (BEA), so that seems like the place to start.

My much-beloved editor, Jill Bailin, met me at BEA on its last day, Thursday, June 7. Jill and I met via Elance for The Foreign Language of Friends, and she’s now shepherding me through Blood and Loam, showing great kindness and compassion as I work through this challenging novel. She’s also a BEA veteran, having been a few times before, so she showed me the ropes.

Here’s me with my book at the New Title Showcase at BEA.

BEA, for those not familiar, is a trade show that connects publishers to booksellers. Attendees can hobnob both with emerging and well known authors, and I was just a few feet away from Dan Rather himself as he chatted with those in a long queue to meet him. Dan looks pretty good, even better than on television, I think. Even at my age, I can get a bit starstruck at times.

Before Jill came along I had about an hour to myself, so I explored the electronic publishing booths. I’ve learned a few things from e-publishing The Foreign Language of Friends (which I’ll probably blog about at some point), so I had LOTS of questions for potential future vendors. Of course, I made my way over to the Amazon booth, where they were presenting their Kindle Direct Publishing program. We heard from Diane Darcy, a successful e-book author who has made more than a million bucks in the past few years through the program. Darcy is a prolific writer of romance with “a touch of magic”. Although I don’t see it emphasized on her website, I heard “vampires” when she was introduced. It seems as though the book-buying public still can’t get enough of vampires and zombies. Darcy has slapped up something like 27 books onto Amazon in the past few years. I don’t know how many of them she had already written, but e-publishing seems to work in favor of volume producers. I can’t say I learned anything from the talk, but it’s always inspiring to see an author in person who is doing well.

And, of course, sex sells. If you have any questions, just look at the 50 Shades of Gray trilogy. At one point Jill and I meandered over to a booth with a huge banner of a man and woman in a steamy embrace. The guys working the booth had shaved heads, bulging muscles, and tight t-shirts that said, “Got Sex?” You know, I’m not a prude, but I am…private…about certain things. We chatted politely with the guys in the booth and then slipped away.

Jane Friedman wrote about self-published authors walking up and down the aisles trying to get reviews or other exposure. One guy was handing out bookmarks saying, “I’ve decided that I’m going to change my title. I’d love to hear from you about what you think would be a better one.” I kind of thought that was clever. Besides, I’m sympathetic to authors and know that it’s hard to get heard above the noise.

It’s clear that publishing continues to change, and even BEA doesn’t know exactly what to do with those changes. This year, for the first time, they let readers in, so they’re aware of the need to appeal directly to book buyers who may not go into bookstores anymore. In the meantime, we walked aisle after aisle of beautiful books, many still lovingly crafted. I ran across a gardening book filled with gorgeous, four-color illustrations, and drooled (not on the book, mind you). There will always be a market for vampires and sex, but the good book still exists. The reader still exists. Those who love to hold hardback or paperback books still exist. In this crazy e-book world, a world which I have embraced, a crowd still comes out to celebrate books, and that’s a good thing.

I”m sure I’ll be sharing more about NYC, but for now, I”ll leave you with a few pics:

One of the new World Trade Center buildings. Out of the ashes…

Re-creation of Monet’s Givenchy gardens at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

Hubby with his daughter, Sarah, while taking an afternoon walk in Central Park.

Good Morning, Monday! NYC is “Occupying” My Thoughts

October 10, 2011 by admin

“Please don’t get arrested.” These were some of my stepdaughter’s parting words last night. We’re visiting New York City and feel the magnetic draw of the protests going on in Lower Manhattan, protests now being replicated in cities around the country and even the world.

I’ve also been told by my kids to turn my music down. Of course, I don’t listen. I’m a Baby Boomer after all, and I grew up thinking that you can’t trust anyone over 30, and if it’s too loud, you’re too old. I’ve given up the former, having passed 30 decades ago, but it’s my kitchen and I’ll dance in it, dammit.

Maybe I’m naive, but I’m not concerned about getting arrested. We took a preliminary look early yesterday as we wandered down to Washington Square Park, where protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement held a meeting the day before (having relocated due to growing size). Not much was going on yet, though we did see a small band of young men marching with signs and chanting, “We are the 99%!” A number of park police were milling around, with other police cars circling. Interestingly, the Starbucks at the corner claimed its restrooms were out of order. The park was filled with young people waiting, with “Occupy” written in chalk on the concrete — near another sign with an arrow pointing to “Jam Sesh.” In the meantime, a father threw a football to his son. Other families brought their children to play, as though it was a typical Sunday. Later, I saw a woman about my age with a sign — she is one of the 99% — and more evidence that this is not just a movement for unemployed young people.

When I needed to find a restroom, we had to walk several blocks away. I thought about the politics of bathrooms, recently described in one way in the book The Help, and now shown to me here, in this day and age, as a way to discourage protest. Hit people at the point of their basest needs. We eventually found a place that welcomed us as long as we purchased something — which I always do anyway. Inside one of the coffee shops, a group of young people were gathering. A sign outdoors invited people to come in and “join the movement. So, apparently not all business owners are disgruntled about the protesters — some welcome them.

We left before the day’s main event — after all, our primary plan is to visit Sarah. We had a normal day in New York, taking in a Sunday matinee of the musical Follies with Bernadette Peters. How does that woman stay so gorgeous? She’s ten years older than I am. Sure, one can get “work done,” but she has the trim, fit figure of a woman much younger. And her voice is amazing. I wasn’t wild about the musical, but she’s fabulous.

Today, though, we plan to head down to the protests. We attended last year’s Rally to Restore Sanity, and it feels as though Occupy Wall Street provides an outlet that the rally did not. While the rally provided plenty of entertainment and a spirit of solidarity, it was clear that something else wanted to happen, needed to happen, in order to shake up the status quo. A lot of younger people were disappointed that the rally didn’t provoke a movement, so they set up their own.

Normally I’m not political here at A Woman’s Nest, but I would just like to say this: Americans, regardless of political affiliation, have the right to assemble and to demonstrate. The media first ignored the protests, and now have begun to villify the protesters. I have seen enough online to not trust what’s being reported in general, and I want to see for myself what is happening.

Here’s what I do know: I am neither young nor a hippie. My husband and I are not on the dole in any way, shape or form…and yet I, too, worry about the infiltration of corporate interests into our government, including the Supreme Court. I get angry when I hear of hard-working Americans losing their jobs and then being treated as though it’s their fault. Yes, there are always people gaming the system, but I believe those represent the minority. I grew up in a household where manufacturing was the primary industry, and unions helped my father earn a living wage to support his family. Those people that I grew up with worked hard and were the backbone of this nation — so I know they are not the lazy bums that certain politicians would have you believe that they are.

I have a sister who is a teacher, and I know that much of the nastiness in the media about teachers is not true, either. She works hard, including during the summer, and is a single mom. She tutors on the side to earn extra income, and has coached as well. She is hardly living high on the hog.

I also know that unarmed people who have been corralled into a pen don’t need to be pepper-sprayed.

This is why I need to see for myself what is happening at Occupy Wall Street. I am a proud American who loves my country and wants it to be better, and I support the passion of those who march in hopes that they can make a difference. And, in case you plan to ask me, I support that right for Tea Partiers, too, even though I find their politics distasteful.

My plan has been to focus on “lightness” this month, but part of lightness is having freedom and a government that works for the good of the people, so I intend to explore more of that this week. At this point I don’t know how the blog will look — normally I have my book and blog recommendations and some sort of feature. I may or may not deviate from the plan this week. Sarah said, “Please don’t get arrested.” My friend Samantha said, “Please don’t get hurt.” I don’t plan on either, but if we’re writers, we can’t pass up a good story. This turmoil, this messy democracy, the cries of the people — none of it is “light.” But perhaps, as this group begins to find and articulate its message, we can see down the road a lighter future for our country. I hope so.