Month: June 2021

  • Personal Review: “Offside Constantly” by Camille Bordas

    (The short story “Offside Constantly” by Camille Bordas, was featured in the June 28th, 2021 issue of The New Yorker.)

    I have had a soft spot for stories that deal with grief, because I am still dealing with the grief of my mother’s passing. This affection explains why I was such an avid supporter of “WandaVision,” and still list it as one of the best TV shows of 2021, as it was a story about how even the best people can fall victim to, be consumed by, and ultimately, deny that they are in mourning. That once you start down that path, it is very difficult to get out of it. “Offside Constantly” is another story of a protagonist dealing with the effects of grief, and how to deal with those emotions.

    From the start, teenager Johanna is talking about death, or how people die. Her brother has recently passed, and she is dealing with a probable case of narcolepsy, but it cannot be confirmed because her mother won’t allow a spinal tap. We learn about Johanna’s obsession of getting her brother’s obituary listed in a magazine, and her attempts at helping another girl at school deal with her mental issues. Her mother comes across as caring, and her father is distant, but both seems to be handling their grief away from Johanna’s observations. When the climax of the story arrives, Johanna’s actions have changed though she explains that she hasn’t changed her mind.

    What I read was smartly written, but I would also categorize it as a “something-yet-nothing happens” story. Yes, clearly things happen; a plot was set forth, a climax occurred, and there was a resolution, but it felt like nothing happened. I think this was caused by the narration of Johanna, who never seemed too concerned for anything, other than a moment when her parents showed some affection towards each other, which upsets her, as she sees it as they are returning to “normal.” I understand that teenagers can be angsty and attempt to portray themselves as disinterred in everything, but this teenager talked like she was over 30, which left me feeling that the character lack authenticity. Grief can manifest in numerous different ways for each person. There isn’t one way to mourn, and we should allow people the breath of space to discover, or learn, what their new normal life will be as loss now accompanying them. I apricate that “Offside Constantly” took the time to look at the loss of a sibling, but I never could understand why Johanna wanted to share this with me, as I don’t think the story decided if her situation was dire, and needed to be corrected.

  • Missing Friends and Theatre

    The other day, a very good friend of mine, let’s call him “Shawn”, who lives back in Dallas, posted some pictures of a performance he took part in of “A Midsummers Night’s Dream” for the Shakespeare Everywhere company. He posted a video as well of the cast backstage. Then another friend put up some pictures of a group of our college friends, some I have known for close to twenty years, all going to the show. I was really excited and happy for “Shawn” to be in front of an audience again. He’s a theatre whore, and that is meant as a complement, as his joy and excitement of preforming is boundless and contagious.

    I won’t lie, I do miss my college friends, and it would be nice to see all of them in person again. (Which is possible now!) It would appear that we are all approaching forty still in one piece, and having learned a thing or two. I didn’t so much have a pang of missing out, in so much as I had a pang of missing talking to them. I miss the diversity of our group, and their individual experiences that they brought. But I miss how we all made each other laugh.

    The other thing that happened was that I got a little bug in the back of my head that kept saying to me, “You miss audiences, too.” The last time I performed for an audience was in September 2018, in Eau Clair, Wisconsin – almost three years. Normally, I would say that I miss the camaraderie of a being in a cast, and working together, But… But, I started thinking about being in front of people, making them laugh, or making them pin-drop silent hanging on the next word that comes out of my mouth. I miss fighting to get an audience on your side, or when they get ahead of you and you have to catch up to them… To be a player in a troupe of actors…

    Stupid theatre whore making me want to be a theatre whore…

  • Visiting Crowley Vintage & Antiques

    This past weekend, Saturday to be exact, I made the pilgrimage to Crowley Vintage & Antiques in DUMBO, Brooklyn. I had to go to the REI Flagship store to exchange my hiking boots as they were half a size too small, pick up a daypack too, and since I was so far downtown, if I just went a few more stops on the F train, I could be in DUMBO. Crowley Vintage & Antiques is open to the public on the weekends now, so I thought what the hell, I’ll go check it out.

    Back in March, I wrote a blog about my interest in Ivy Style clothing, and that I followed @crowley_vintage on IG. At the time when I wrote the blog, I made a joke about the place being way out of my price range, but I still kept following Sean Crowley’s posts as I wanted to stop by his store one day. I think what I am fascinated by is the act of looking formal. We all have gone over a year being extremely casual, and even when I was working, which was in the arts – a notoriously idiosyncratic casually dressed industry – I preferred to dress for work in a tie and sportscoat.

    When I made it to DUMBO, I found the building easily; Getting to the shop took me a minute. Clearly, I took a wrong turn, and was forced to take an elevator to the third floor, but soon enough I found the shop which was located across from a staircase I somehow missed finding on the first floor.

    Crowley Vintage & Antiques was exactly how it is presented on IG. Not a very big shop, but organized very well so nothing feels overwhelming or random. I went looking for the Summer Madras shirts and sportscoats, which was an immaculate collection. Everything was a quality piece and in very good shape. I especially liked the collection of framed pictures, which I was very tempted to ask about. I didn’t, as I thought of this as a fact-finding mission. Though Sean greeted me as I came in, I didn’t converse with him, as I wanted to experience the shop for myself. I was in the shop for about thirty minutes, and I did enjoy myself. I have a feeling I will return when I need to add a better piece to my wardrobe, or if I have an event to attend, and want to have something special.

    As I walked out of the shop, I took the staircase down, which put me to the left of the exit/entrance of the building. (See, I took a wrong turn, that’s all.) As I was about to head out of the building, a guy walked in, looked left and right and then asked me, “Do you happen to know where Crowley Vintage is?”

    “Hang a left and up the stairs.” I said.

  • Hiking Review: Leon Levy Preserve and Loop

    This weekend, the hike we chose was the Leon Levy Loop in Westchester County, near the Connecticut border. This was a little father out than we normally go, an hour from the City. Also, we went out on Sunday, instead of our normal Saturday, due to errands, such as going to REI to exchange my boots for a half size large, (And true to REI’s policy, they exchanged the boots, no questions asked) and I wanted to get a proper daypack for our hiking adventures.

    Another reason I picked the Leon Levy Preserve was that there were the “ruins” of the Black Mansion on the trail. I thought that this would be a little more exciting for the kid. Such as “discovering” some ruins and exploring the grounds sounded like a fun adventure for her. The land used to be a summer home estate, but fell in to disrepair, then was ravaged by a fire. The Jerome Levy Foundation donated the money to the Town of Lewisboro to purchase the land, and to create the preserve and trails.

    The Leon Levy Loop was the type of trail we were looking for. The was rated as “easy” and I will agree that it was, which makes it very kid friendly. The main Blue Trail was wide and well maintained. The canopy of the forest made the hike cool on a very hot and humid day. We saw a handful of other families on the trail that morning, but by no means did it feel crowded, which let us feel like we could explore unencumbered. We ventured off on the Pink Trail to take a look at the ruins of the guest house, which the kid loved. Her imagination was intrigued, and she came up with wild stories of what happened at the house, long ago.

    In our one hour+ hike, we didn’t even cover half of the Preserve, which was great, as we all enjoyed it out there. As we returned to our car at the trailhead, we decided that this was a place we would like return to, and explore the other trails around the Preserve.

  • ODDS and ENDS – England v Scotland, REI, and Father’s Day

    I have no one to talk to about this, which makes me think I am the only American watching EURO 2021. I know that’s not true as the matches are on ESPN, but still… No one to talk to about it. Today, England is playing against Scotland which has all kinds of implications for this group. If England wins, they pretty much are guaranteed to move on to the knockout round. While Scotland, at the bottom of the group, has to win to stay alive. Then there is all of that history between the two nations, and I am sure that some idiot out there has all of his BRAVEHEART memes rip roaring to go.

    On Saturday, I will head to REI to see if their 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed Policy is for real when it comes to hiking boots worn once. I am fully aware that I was upsold on some boots over Memorial Day, but they are just a half size too small. I can feel my toes rubbing against the top of the boots. I know it’s not an end of the world problem, but I think if I were to hike longer than an hour, then I would have a real issue. Anyway, to find this out, I had to ware them, so, let’s see what they do. Balls in your court REI!

    Speaking of which, at least REI that is, I’m also going to pick up a day-backpack while I’m at the store tomorrow. Yup I’m buying more gear as a Father’s Day gift to myself. As with my wife’s birthday, in which I played no part in planning, so that she could have exactly what she wanted, I have also been granted this gift. So, I’m getting a daypack, and on Sunday, the whole family is going out for a hike in the woods. If you would have asked me a year ago what I wanted to do on Father’s Day, I would have told you sleep, and sleep late. Now, I want to get up early and sweat in the woods. It’s been a strange year.