Salads and Slugs

That salad and slug life is suiting me well. Each night, at least one but never more than three slugs, millimeter their way up and out of the drain in either the sink or the bathroom. That's my guess because I first notice them around the sink but they could come from the ceiling somewhere as I live on the top floor of a not new building. I share the building with a doctor's office, dentist's office, a pharmacy and a beauty parlor. The days here are very full and I'm happy with a salad to eat and slugs to watch at night.

The National, High Violet

A few hours ago my friend Blake sent me the new National record, "High Violet." My mom, who always brings up the episode of Oprah about Emotional Intelligence and the 'marshmallow test,' where the kid being tested can either take one marshmallow immediately or wait and he or she will be awarded a second marshmallow, would have been proud of me. I waited to listen to the album until I finished writing something that I am having to force out of myself. My treat was to turn out the lights, lay on my couch, close my eyes and fold my hands across my chest and listen. (I fold my hands when I think of it and more importantly, close my eyes whenever I can because this cuts down on energy loss but just like the calcium deposits signifying an excess of calcium, my behavior often shows an excess of energy. Tonight though I really just wanted to concentrate on the music.)
The sounds and lyrics brought me to a National show at Warsaw in Brooklyn with Rila, Blake and Lindsey, Polish sausage and sauerkraut. I thought about 'Weird Science,' and 'Can't Buy Me Love.' A review I'd read months back predicting the National getting bigger and isolating their core audience, simply by being thought has vanished from my mind, chalked up to filler words and filler thoughts, the norm now, in a world of filler news. I remembered a show at Webster Hall where I excuse me'ed my way up to the front of the stage to hand the singer a copy of my magazine during the pause between songs. And, as one thought ended and I wound up back on my couch, back in the music, I was off and running again.
The National encapsulate a spirit of New York City that resonates with me and they're the first to present it. They are not Velvet Underground or Paul Simon, Nice-n-Smooth, F.E.D.S. magazine or UTZ chips. They're carving out their own interpretation and sharing with their fans, their ever-changing relationship with a city and it's effect on their own personal development.

Ten hours ago, I was cleaning up a river with 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders. We had rubber gloves and we went for it: bottles, candy wrappers, styrofoam, shoes and other junk is out of the river. It looks great now. I was one of the last ones to start back for the school but a group of kids had waited for me. Our conversation was in Bulgarian and it as it often does, it drifted into talking about words. I said that I'm not a "kid," sort of joking because when we're playing basketball they call me by my first name and some just always call me Mr. Albin, mixing young and old. After we finished talking about ways we address people, one boy said, dismissing all other qualifications, 'You're our friend; that's what we call you.' This boy is hearing my new record but he doesn't really know any of my old ones. The person who hears "High Violet," and it's the first National record he or she hears, will love it for what it is and their appreciation of the band will only grow as they discover the work leading up to it.

I didn't pass the marshmallow test because I listened to the new album without an album cover in my hand, no artwork, no pictures. I'll never know how two would have tasted but this one was more than I imagined.

Smart Bar, FDR, William vanden Heuvel and Louis Kahn

I met Duff in Los Angeles and had a lot of fun talking to him. He told me about recording songs for Use Your Illusions I in a studio above the Smart Bar. I asked him if he'd ever gone to the Gingerman a few doors down but he said that pretty much all he did for nine months was record music and drink at the Smart Bar every night.

This photo is of my brother and me two weeks ago at Smart Bar. I can always have fun but inevitably I'm drawn back into the solitude necessary to study and write. This evening I came across an interview with William vanden Heuvel on Charlie Rose where he talks about "the long journey of a New York memorial to Franklin Delano Roosevelt designed by the architect Louis Kahn." It's worth watching; it took place on April 20, 2010.

William vanden Heuvel reminded me of Studs Terkel: a classy guy who lives fully, taking life seriously and having fun with that interpretation.

Students, Spring

I recently spent a couple of days in Sofia, a couple more than I expected because of the flight delays. My reason for the trip was to pick up my friends who were on their way to visit me but are now stuck in Paris due to volcanic ash clouds.

On the bus ride home I ran into Stancho, a guy from my village who talks about Viet Nam and Asian women every time I meet him on the street. The grass is green, trees are budding and spring is here. It felt good to see a familiar face and tomorrow it'll be nice to see the students. I'm always thinking about them and planning lessons for them. The brain never fills up. I know the names of almost all 150 students, 20 colleagues, countless people I have talked to on the street, at cafes or in book stores. Lots of these names are Bulgarian names that I'd never heard of before moving here. And, I still manage to think about nearly everyone I ever went to school with, played sports with or spent any time with.

One of my favorite things about each day is that I spend it in the presence of kids and old folks. That contact is good; never knew what I was missing.

Easter

I love seeing my brother Joe smile.

In the first photo we have Vlado and Julia between my parents and me. Vlado is from the village where I'm living in Bulgaria. Vlado left for America almost eight years ago and returned home to see his family for the first time. I loved meeting him and eating food that his mom made and just hanging out. I interviewed him about studying economics at Sofia University and eventually working at Yellowstone National Park, living in Detroit and then moving to Chicago. He came in and spoke to my 8th grade class. We all talked about our dreams, successes and failures.

Vlado's girlfriend, Julia is from Uzbekistan. They met each other six years ago in Chicago and they were able to communicate because they both speak Russian. I'm enjoying studying Russian and it was fun to have Vlado translate all the Russian songs I have been listing to lately. Turns out that my favorite song is all about smiles and their power to bring people together. Here are the lyrics to the smile song.

From the smile the nasty day is lighter,
From the smile the rainbow will wake up in the sky…
Share your smile
And it will return to you many times.

And then, highly probable
Clouds will suddenly dance
And grasshopper will play the violin.
A river starts with a blue brook
And friendship starts with smile.

From one sunny smile
Even the saddest rain will stop.
Sleepy forest will tell good bye to silence
And start to clap hands.

From the smile everyone will feel lighter
Elephant and even little snail
So let's everywhere on the Earth
Smiles turn on like bulbs.

Chicago, Warsaw, Nish

I left Bulgaria for the first time in a year. My destination was Chicago, to see my family. On the way there, I stopped for a few hours in Warsaw, Poland and I made great use of a layover.

I borrowed a taxi driver's cell phone, called a friend of a friend and everything was taken care of. I jumped on the bus and made my way into the center of town like I had been to Warsaw before. In some ways I have been here before. I grew up in Chicago. Everyone in Poland looks like someone I know. The girl I was going to meet had a few more hours of work and I didn't know what to do with myself because I was so excited. First I talked to everyone in H&M, then I smoked half a pack of Menthols and I am not even a smoker. I drank coffee and thought about Steve Nishimoto and how much he would love Warsaw.

Before I knew it I was in an illustrator's studio, then hanging out with Polish actors, artists and intellectuals. I watched home videos of one guy's last years Easter. He told me that the new thing is to bring out the machine after dinner and take everyone's blood pressure. checkin up on health.

I had big plans of writing on the airplane but a day and a half with only peanut M&M's in my stomach made me sleepy and I slept for about 9 hours. Wa laaaaa, I was in Chicago.