Don't Cry For Me, Argentina

Monday, November 26, 2018

On Saturday, I attended the 60th reunion of the Stuyvesant High School class of 1958.  It was the third reunion for our class and it was decidedly low key.  From a graduating class of 725 boys, just over 30 old men (girls weren't admitted for more than another decade) attended, along with a few compliant wives.  20 years ago, almost 200 people came to the first reunion for our class; 10 years ago, over 100.  The real star of the event this time was the school building, erected in 1992 on landfill from the construction of the ill-fated World Trade Center, overlooking the Hudson River.  

The old building on East 15th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue was a dump.  It opened in 1907 and operated on double sessions from 1919 until 1956, subject to a huge amount of wear and tear.  The (not-so-new-anymore) new building has an impressive gymnasium and cafeteria, laboratories for a multitude of scientific disciplines, but, keeping with tradition, cranky elevators.  The other significant change from the old to the new was the composition of the student body.  Our classmates were Jewish boys, today they are likely to be Chinese girls.

. . .

I am not sure whether it was a form of dyslexia or a simple distraction that caused me to think that the headline "Will Mitch Run for President?" referred to Mitch McConnell, the most loathsome American politician around today, in my humble opinion.  (I can't even find words for the other guy.)  Momentarily, I was giddy with the thought that the man whose announced goal was the failure of Barack Obama as president would be judged by the population at large.  

McConnell might have had to explain why, in his powerful role in the Senate for 8 years, he never offered alternate policies, suggested improvements or negotiated deals  in the critical areas of healthcare, immigration, or environmental regulation.  While he never seemed to resort to the public vulgarity or insults of the current president, his ugly treatment of Merrick Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court had no precedent.  

Alas, it was Mitch Landrieu, former Mayor of New Orleans, who was being touted.  McConnell's destructive career will not be put to a real test.  We remain at the mercy of the voters of Kentucky, a state without a professional major league baseball, football, hockey or basketball team.

. . . 

I was back at the new Shakespeare & Co. bookstore/cafe, 2020 Broadway, this afternoon, Stony Brook Steve treating.  It is proving quite popular, maybe because the prices are reasonable (you can get at least two cups of coffee for under $10) and the coffee is very hot, which may not bring people in, but keeps them seated longer drinking cautiously. 

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

I went to lunch at New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe, 50 Mott Street, an attractive setting with more than 50 lunch specials including rice and soup, priced at $5.95 to $7.95.  My companion agreed to a plan that I have used there before, order 3 lunches for 2 people, still not spending much money.  After splitting 3 hot and sour soups, we shared shrimps in lobster sauce, beef with scallions and spicy sliced fish.  The soup was tangy, but the shrimps and the fish, though carefully prepared, needed more oomph. 

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Finding myself in midtown at lunchtime, I tried Kati Roll Company, 49 West 39th Street, a successful new venture in Indian cuisine.  The joint is long and narrow.  You order on your right just inside the front door and, if eating in, try to find room at one of a dozen two tops in the back.  The long wall on your left is exposed brick, partially covered by weathered Bollywood movie posters.  Other space is covered by unfinished wood planks.  

The menu is simple, but interesting.  15 "rolls" and 2 rice bowls are offered.  The rolls contain vegetables, chicken, beef, shrimp or goat wrapped in your choice of paratha or roti (flat Indian breads).  Several of the rolls are labelled unda, having a scrambled egg laid inside the wrapper, becoming effectively an Indian egg roll.  I chose an unda chicken roll ($6.95) and a beef tikka roll ($6.20), each almost 6" long and nearly 2" in diameter.  They were cooked to order with a generous portion of meat and good spices.  The unda chicken roll was especially good, but the beef was a bit dry although it had supposedly been marinated in yoghurt.  A little scoop of raita on the side would have moved the tikka roll up in rank.  

. . .

Kudos to Arnie Weintraub.  After lunch, I headed up to Mt. Sinai Hospital on Fifth Avenue and 100th Street to visit a friend scheduled for surgery.  Entering the towering atrium of the Guggenheim Pavilion, I heard piano playing.  Sure enough, in the middle of the lobby, there was Arnie Weintraub, stalwart member of West End Synagogue, playing the piano to entertain visitors and staff passing through this vast space.  Arnie volunteers every Wednesday and deserves thanks for bringing a homey touch to this somewhat forbidding setting. 

Thursday, November 29, 2018
Copa Libertadores is the pinnacle of South American soccer competition.  This year, the finals came down to a historic finish.  From all over the continent, the championship would be decided by two teams from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Boca Junior and River Plate, somewhat akin to the New York Yankees and the New York Mets in the World Series.  Of course, in 2000, the Yankees and the Mets were in the World Series.  (I went to the first game at Yankee Stadium, wearing a Mets cap, the only World Series game that I have ever attended.) 

However, Buenos Aires outstripped New York in at least one regard -- rioting.  Last Saturday, River Plate fans attacked the Boca Juniors team bus on its way to River Plate's stadium, resulting in injuries to several players.  The game that day was postponed as were several proposed alternatives.  https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/nov/25/copa-libertadores-second-leg-final-called-off-again
 

The game has finally been rescheduled for December 9th in Madrid, Spain, in the hope that a trip across the Atlantic Ocean will help cool temperatures. 

An insightful column in The New York Times attempted to explain this craziness.  "In a country where many see their soccer team as the principal source of their identity, where far too many feel they have little else to live for, and where the economy is struggling and inflation rampant, it can have much more serious consequences for fans."  https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/26/sports/copa-libertadores-boca-juniors-river-plate.html

That's the key, "the principal source of their identity," because they don't have hockey or baseball.  Those folks in Buenos Aires obsess on only one sport.  As a typical New York sports fan, I get worked up over my teams, plural.  The awful performance by the New York Giants last Sunday put me in a foul mood for 24 hours, that is, until I went to see the New York Rangers play the Ottawa Senators Monday night at Madison Square Garden. 

With the overlap of the professional sports seasons (I don't take college sports seriously and I no longer pay attention to professional basketball), baseball April-October, hockey October-June, football September-February, there is always something for me to be excited about.  Something different, different teams, different venues, different players, different rules, different strategies.  There is so much going on that I can't just get nuts over one team in one sport.  I may rant and rave over one result, but I usually have a quick turnaround to another contest, shouting at 11 men on a grassy rectangle, 6 men on an icy surface, 9 men on a big diamond.  Who has time to riot?

Notice how I observed above that mean-spirited Mitch McConnell comes from a place without any professional sports teams.  So, he has no outlet for his meanness but politics, at our expense.