Wednesday, November 25, 2009
foreign lands
I have returned safely from my travels amongst the infidels of New York City. sadly, said unbelievers did not prove particularly receptive to the dirty truth.
a few of them put on a great play, though. being entirely unqualified to write an actual review of a stage performance, I will simply say that I enjoyed "The Mustard Seed" and I look forward to future work by Chris and Alvin and the rest of the Gadfly gang (careful with that link: the reverend nature of the posterior you may encounter doesn't improve the view).
as for the city itself, well, I have mixed feelings. it was, despite warnings to the contrary, a fairly excellent place to travel by one of the church's preferred means: Carrie Sue's old bicycle. the pedestrians weren't particularly mindful, and double-parking is alarmingly common even in the middle of Manhattan, but in my six days riding, the closest I came to disaster was on a leafy pedestrian/bicycle path at the north end of Riverside Park with nary an automobile in sight.
Central Park did not impress. it is amazing that somebody had the foresight to set aside such a large piece of land in the middle of such a densely built metropolitan area, but it seemed oddly sterile to me. I certainly don't approve of most of the plant choices, but that's true of exactly every public park I've ever been to. it just seems a shame that in such a very large park visited by so very many people that the only edible plants are there by accident (weeds) or for strictly ornamental purposes. the oaks and lindens certainly make an immense amount of food, but not the kind that is likely to be used by any but the savviest visitors. however, I did have some fun there:
that is, if it isn't otherwise clear, a minister of the first church of dirt jumping out of a tree into a pile of leaves. other tree-climbers not pictured: Jon, Chris, and Maria. Maria runs Curio Confections, a small business you should patronize. immediately. Jon puts out fires but refuses to save kittens from trees. Chris drinks wine and sodomizes consenting females and also knot-holes, which can't consent.
not much else to say about New York City, really. it is what it is. I'm sure excellent things and awful things go on there that are invisible to the casual visitor.
traveling by train once again proved to be fairly interesting. a sample of folks I met: a fellow who showed me the intricate art he had previously scalpeled into his chest and stomach; a young man moving from Maine back to Marysville, Washington due to his family's destitution; several drunks; and a generous fellow from Minneapolis who left me, among less interesting things, some Chicken of the Sea smoked oysters in oil and some delicious chili lime almonds. I saw a lot of country. I read some books. I ate some chili lime almonds. folks don't give away chili lime almonds on airplanes. folks don't abandon their scotch and sodas in the lounge car for you to drink on airplanes, either. do airplanes even have lounge cars? also, it was a free trip courtesy of Amtrak's Guest Rewards program. sign up for their credit card and you'll get enough points for five free train trips from Seattle to Portland. the first church of dirt does not generally condone the existence of consumer credit, but hey: free train rides.
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