New York City

I was at Columbia University in New York City last week, presenting PEPt at the ACM International Conference on Service Oriented Computing. I report on technical details of my trip in my technical blog.

I arrived on Monday the 19th at JFK around 4:15pm. I took a Super Shuttle to the hotel. It took 2 1/2 hours! I was the last stop. But I got to see alot of Manhattan during the drive. And I sat next to a young Brazilian model who now lives in Salt Lake, of all places. She moved to Salt Lake, reluctantly, with her parents. She was in New York on a modeling assignment. I mention Flavia's time in Brazil, our recent trip there, and Julian's modeling/acting gigs. Bianca's her name.

I checked into the Excelsior Hotel ($219/night) then ate at a restaurant nearby. Clear skies, a waxing crescent moon, 44 degrees F at 8pm. I was the only customer until another couple arrived and talked about their iPods (and this is not a geek restaurant). I finished my salmon and Zinfandel and returned to my room to write my presentation - the reason I'm here. (I actually did not end up writing my presentation until Wednesday afternoon, just two hours before I gave my presentation.)

Each day, Tuesday through Thursday, I take a taxi from my hotel on 81st street to Columbia University on 116th street - $9 with tip each direction.

On Tuesday night I took a taxi to BAM, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, to see a play: FAUST/HOW I ROSE, John Jesurun's panoramic, multimedia, contemporary retelling of the centuries-old tale staged by Mexico City-based director Martin Acosta. Jesurun's multimedia stage design integrated sets and video projections: a large mobile showed a continuously changing stream of images. Truth be told, I fell asleep, just as I did when I took Flavia, Venus and Chiara to see Aeschylus' THE PERSIANS in Berkeley.

After the play I went to the Alphabet Lounge in Alphabet City in Brooklyn - a real dive. However, a friend of mine from the conference was sitting in on harmonica with a blues duo. They play some extremely raunchy tunes by Jelly Roll Morton. In particular, the lyrics to one can be found here -- search for "stump".

On Thursday night I met a coworker from Sun who works in New York, Mark Roth, for dinner in the Village. Afterwards we went to the legendary Village Vanguard jazz club to hear Renee Rosnes on piano, Walt Weiskopf on tenor and soprano sax, John Patitucci on bass and Victor Lewis on drums. We got great seats right at the front. I really didn't know Renee nor Walt. I went because John is a great bass player and Victor has been around forever. For me, Victor really stood out - powerful (how old is he?), tasteful and inventive.

I returned home Friday night, the 19th, to Flavia, Tika and Suni. This week we have Thanksgiving with Julian, Venus and Chiara at our home.

more pictures...

emergence

what does a word mean?
a word means what is in your mind
a word means what has been said by mouths in time
a word comes first---what it means come later

later means first one thing than an other thing
the other thing is later

so, first sounds, then what they mean
first music---and dance---then emergence

emergence is the appearance of some thing new
not there before but made of what is already there

appearance is some thing seen or thought or felt

before means first one thing then an other thing
the first thing is before

already means you can use it
not some thing from no thing
rather, some thing from some thing
---emergence

which still leaves the mystery
of something from nothing
---of the first thing

something is there
nothing is not there
mystery is a bridge

search back---each thing dissolves
(push forward---new things appear)

dissolve means to disappear
disappear means to become nothing
become is to emerge

disappear is becoming backwards

(& backwards is another tale...)

Harold Carr 11 2004

New York City

emergence