Cypresses

When I came home from Paris, I felt like a genius just because I knew how to make acceptable chitchat effortlessly, and how to do things like mail a letter. I wasn’t quite so much of a dummy in New York, but I am not fluent in the language of New York. I did have […]

Moving

What is it like to quit your job, move out of your house, and travel halfway across the country? I’m so glad you asked. In 1649, my ancestor, Harmen or Herman Schurmann or Scheuerman, moved out of his house and traveled across a choppy ocean. He probably had a job here, or the prospect of […]

Three Birds of Fifth Avenue

I planned to explore the most quiet, boring areas of the museum, partly out of self-defense. First I ate lunch in the Met’s cafeteria. Always eat first. It was the wine I had with lunch that gave me the bravery to take my heavy bag up to the coat check, hand it to a young […]

Whitney, June 28, 2013.

When the elevator opens on the third floor, there is a big stripe across the wall. Except no, there isn’t a stripe on the wall, people are walking up to, and under, the stripe, and it isn’t a painting, people are in the painting, and it’s not a painting. The last piece I saw that […]