Cross Town Thoughts
Hillary meeting with her war team at New York Historical Society two blocks away. General Petraeus heading a National Security Advisory Group in a round table session made to mimic a Situation Room. Nobody around on 76th Street on a hot afternoon as she was whisked in the side door.
Her “nurse” and “epipen guy” in tow. 
Two flawed presidential candidates. Commander-in-Chief forum on the Intrepid. Should be Trepidation. Stranger Things? That’s a crazy Netflix show. 80’s spoofy scary comedy. Okay. Better than the election.
Over in Flushing Meadows. Is there any more boring U.S. Open ever? Lame. Literally. Defaults. Walkovers. Johnny Mac is apoplectic. So are we. Pouille.
Go Garoppolo! No.
In a poignant and important memoir, J.D. Vance tells the story of his Appalachian white working-class life in the context of this year’s angry crude political mood. Futility is the focus in a tale of the generational subculture of poverty made worse by addiction and abuse. 
Like Glass Castle and Blood Bones & Butter, Hillbilly Elegy portrays individual triumph over family dysfunction beyond belief. In Vance’s case he makes the miraculous climb to become a Marine, Ohio State grad, Yale Law scholar. Even with all of that, he cannot escape his roots. They remain current in his struggle to overcome bouts of ire at the bleak prospects left to the kin, classmates and community he left behind. Add drug epidemic to the scene as in every small town America today. It puts into sharp focus the reasons for this election year’s desperate yearning for change.
Bad seeds dominate Netflix Happy Valley’s second season. Families in crisis tinged with pure evil and violence in rural Yorkshire, England. Addiction plays its part as well. Repeat the theme with Ray Donovan’s clan. It’s always about family matters.
Down the street art. Windows tell stories. A colorful ventana of varied views. Open-minded homage to many philosophies on the left. A closed curtain on the alt-right. Political panes.
Kudos and congratulations to the University of Chicago. Sent acceptance letters with the caveat that incoming freshmen will benefit from a true liberal arts atmosphere. Freedom of expression encouraged. There will be no ‘trigger warnings’ nor ‘safe spaces’ for students here. All Commencement Speakers Welcome!
The joke’s on the GOP. And FauxNews. Many have speculated that no one was more surprised than the Donald himself at becoming the Republican Presidential Nominee. Especially since he’s always pretty much been a Democrat. But. As has been presented by media insiders like Mark Halperin and a full-fledged essay in The Atlantic, we can guess at his end-game.
It’s not to be President, which his self-sabotage and resistance make obvious. It’s to form Trump News Network. TNN. On-air talent will include ex-Fox-bots and loyal Trumpettes. Run by Roger Ailes and Steve Bannon. Ann Coulter and Matt Drudge will join the team. Howie Carr will have his own call-in show. Moonbats, hacks and rump swabs beware! This is TNN.
Off-Broadway Uptown Play. Engagements by Lucy Teitler. Three separate engagement parties as backdrop to betrayal and subterfuge in farcical ménage à cinq vignettes. Fast-paced laced with allusions to Victorian literature. Excellent 5-character cast. Michael Stahl-David as Mark will be Bobby Kennedy to Woody Harrelson’s LBJ in Rob Reiner’s new movie. Fun.
Sultry antidote. Watermelon recipes. Refreshing. Recently at Jean-Georges’ Nougatine, had a simple watermelon and goat cheese salad. Superb.
Alternate side of the street parking. Dr. Husband’s new hobby. There is strategy. Technique. Patience. And luck. Even a red Ferrari owner gambles with an open spot. 
Who’d do that?
Burning Down the House. No. Not Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s Donald Trump dilemma.
A new novel by Jane Mendelsohn. Her work combines David Byrne’s classic Talking Heads songs with Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre in a new Broadway musical. Sounds cool. Right? Too bad it’s a minor aside to the main plot. What? Yup. Never a clear connection to the story of anti sex-trafficking causes. I don’t mind a political agenda. Just don’t pose it as a fictional work. Other that that. The cover attracted me to the depiction of the San Remo on the Upper West Side. Problem was. Everyone in the book lives either in the Village or on the Upper East Side. Calling all editors. Anyway. Liked the cover. Love David Byrne.
On a balmy afternoon. Just take a walk around the block. Our neighborhood affords architectural gems. The Kenilworth. Its mansards from France’s Second Empire. Transported to days of Louis-Napoléon and Eugénie. One of many landmark buildings close to home.
Olympics are so boring anyway.
Unprecedented. Trump’s Campaign. Expectation that he’d pivot for the general election by media stalwarts and Republican establishment. Quashed. He never promised traditional political tactics. Trump continues to savor crowd adulation at his rallies. Watching himself on Fox. Retaliating with late night tweets. Party of Lincoln? Pffft. Party of Trump. He puts his label on everything. Why would a major party be any different? His behavior remains that of a petulant adolescent. Presidential? Never. Consistently UnPrecedential.
Side Trek . NYC 