From Generation To Generation

Monday, February 17, 2020

As we we do every year on this day, we celebrate the birthday of Michael Jordan, another superstar.  Since his branded steakhouse in Manhattan closed over one year ago, we went for a good time to The Palm West Side, 250  West 50th Street, where I relished an 18 oz. sirloin.  I had a glass of very well matched wine to go with it.

I can't wait until next year. 
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If you are feeling romantic wherever you are, the New York Times offers one novel "that explores matters of the heart" in each of our United States.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/10/books/50-states-50-love-stories.html

It's an interesting collection.  I have to admit reluctantly that New Jersey was my favorite.
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If it's too late for romance, the real estate section lists the best and worst places to recover from a divorce, based on economics and "relationship-based" factors, such as gender balance and percentage of single people by location.  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/realestate/wheres-the-best-place-to-recover-from-divorce.html

When I cut the cord, Minneapolis (#1, best) never came to mind.  Instead, I headed to the Holy Land (#50, worst) in a hurry. 
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One might characterize the story of Fairway Market being battered economically as a tale of misplaced love.   https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/how-private-equity-ruined-fairway/606625/   (Thanks to my brother for this.)

In brief, the MBA hotshots loved making money more than running a business.  "At Fairway, the growing weight of its debt load—almost $280 million by 2016—limited the grocery chain’s ability to compete." 

 

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Yes, I'd like to come over for dinner, but I don't want you to be too inconvenienced.  So, please consider this collection of one-dish meals published by the New York Times.  I am not endorsing each and every concoction, but there are enough alternatives to satisfy even me. 

https://nyti.ms/2w7dXWB
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“The pace of the average New Yorker is not only too fast, it is deadly,” according to a diagnosis of "Newyorkitis" that emerged in 1901.  https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/inflammation-place

The "physical symptoms [include] such as nearsightedness caused by looming buildings limiting vision in every direction, irritated ears from the constant noise in the streets, and a 'rapidity and nervousness and lack of deliberation in all muscular movements.'"

Keeping this peril in mind, we welcomed grandson Boaz to spend a couple of days with us.  While there are no prophylactic measures to ward off Newyorkitis, I intend to supply him with ample carbohydrates to keep his strength up.  We began his visit tonight with a performance of "Little Shop of Horrors," which contains just enough sadism to please an above-average 12-year old. 

Wednesday, February 19, 2020
According to the New York Times, "[t]he steady exodus of African-Americans has caused alarm and grief in Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, where black people have shaped the history, culture and political life."  I am not in a position to speak for African Americans or the city of Chicago, but I have a different reaction when substituting proper nouns, Jews for African Americans and New York for Chicago. 
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/16/us/black-families-leaving-chicago.html

This mobility is as American as apple pie.  I am a New Yorker, a thorough urbanite, and have chosen to remain such, even while almost every relative of mine, however connected, is scattered from Englewood, New Jersey to Shanghai, China.  I don't believe that the motivations differ group to group.  "Many black Chicagoans have taken only small steps away from the city, resettling in nearby suburbs in Illinois or Indiana that offer more highly rated schools and a lower cost of living." 

Indeed, Chicago and New York have to find ways to keep ordinary folks at home, those who work and shop at Fairway, not just those who gut it financially.  But, why fault those people who seek their little patch of green?

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Thank you, Boaz; if not for you my first visit to the Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Avenue, Astoria, would still be in the future.  Instead, we spent a couple of hours in this marvelous place, which seems to incorporate every aspect of motion picture and television production, cameras and projectors and television sets and makeup and sound effects and set design and costumes.  Also, a major exhibition of Jim Henson's work with Muppets, video clips, drawings, early unrealized projects and late unrealized projects.  And, the current exhibit -- Envisioning 2001: Stanley Kubrick's Space Odyssey.  Grandfather and grandson alike were enchanted.  

As if it couldn't get any better, directly across the street sits Tacuba, 35-01 36th Street, an excellent Mexican restaurant.  It occupies a large space, gaily decorated, not crowded at lunch time.  I had Enchiladas de Pollo -- two rolled tortillas with shredded roasted chicken, salsa verde, Mexican cheeses, crema, avocado and radish salad ($18), not cheap but superb.  

To end the afternoon, we drove over to the house in Astoria where Boaz spent his first 2-1/2 years.  He was thrilled to see it and we were happy to take him there as part of our intergenerational adventure.