SuperMom
Last weekend my mama came to visit. But first...
On Friday night Dustin had tickets to a couple of New Yorker Festival writer's events. I was the fortunate recipient of his second tickets, and the first event was held in the most gorgeous church on the Lower East Side. The interview was focused on the American Dream and the authors Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides), T.C. Boyle (World's End) and Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth). They were fab! Although Lahiri came across as having a rather sour disposition, she had some very insightful things to say about the craft of writing, including a sentiment about writing being the most foreign land of all.
Between events, we had tacos at this cute place on the LES. I have no idea what it's called.
The second event was with Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha), Anne Enright (The Gathering) and Tobias Wolff (This Boy's Life). Their talk was about family secrets, and it turned out to be pretty interesting because all three said that their families were perfectly normal. I liked something Enright said - the interviewer asked if it was difficult to write about people with a pre-existing relationship; that is, it's probably easier to write about two people who just met, because you can start from the ground up, but is it harder to write about people who already know details about each other? And Enright said very matter-of-factly, "Well, I don't think families DO know each other. They know the way they were fifteen years ago. Families don't let each other change."
One thing I thought was funny was that both moderators of the discussions seemed incredibly nervous. But I suppose if I spent my days holed up writing at The New Yorker and had to interview legendary and Pulitzer Prize-winning writers in front of a crowd of intellectuals, I'd be pretty damn nervous myself.
Speaking of families, my mom came to town the next morning. She'd gotten tickets to "The Daily Show" so she hopped on over for the weekend. It's easy to do things like that when you're a fabulous retiree. We'd made plans for Saturday to have our hair done together as we both had out-of-control growth going on. After I showed her my apartment and we had some breakfast, we headed downtown for our appointment.
We both got good cuts, even though cutting about one and a half inches from my head somehow took an hour and a half.
Afterward we went for an early dinner/late lunch at a lovely little bistro called Sala.
Ain't she cute?
The place was impeccably decorated.
As we walked down 17th Street, we passed a mannequin shop, which had a crazy little window display (but what else are you gonna do when you're selling mannequins?).
Our next destination was another event from the New Yorker Festival, an interview of Stephen Colbert. Naturally, they don't let us take photos during the event, so this is all I've got.
The event was great - Colbert is incredibly smart and funny and pretty much my dream man. It was cool to see him out of the character he plays on The Report.
The next morning, we met up with Shannon at Nice Matin for brunch. It's funny to think that two of the most important women in my life don't know each other that well - even though I talk about them to each other all the time! It was great to unite two pieces of my heart... beginning with a delicious meal. Mom had some insane egg dish.
A few tables away was John Lithgow, just kickin' it solo and reading the paper with his coffee.
After breakfast, I wanted to show the ladies the Superhero Supply Store, so we took the long trek to Park Slope. As I've always felt awkward about taking photos in there, I used this opportunity as a visitor to get as many as I could.
Here is where I spend every other Sunday.
Through the portal you can see into the tutoring center, where they were having a creative writing workshop that day.
My mom, ever the adventurous spirit, decided to partake in the cape tester. At the store we volunteers like to say things like, "I'm a certified cape tester" or "I majored in cape testing" etc. Dahlia, my fellow volunteer, showed Mom how to test her cape. First, Mom selected a fetching gold sparkly one.
Then you get up onto a platform with lights and a fan beneath you to test out some poses.
As Dahlia showed her, first you must look for evil.
Then you must fly across the five boroughs to the scene of the crime!
Then you flex your muscles for an adoring crowd.
Then you pose valiantly for the newspapers.
Next, Shannon tried out the Devillainizer. This is one of my favorites. You put the villain into the chamber and they must answer questions to determine their villainy level.
After answering questions like, "Do you own a secret island lair?", Shannon was classified as Realtor-level villain and had to recite a vow to not do things like overprice condos.
Meanwhile, customers young and old were testing capes.
We perused the selection of super supplies like Slow-Burning Fuse, Magnetism, Time Travel and these rad X-Ray glasses.
And Invisibility-Detection Goggles!
Shannon looks about one breath away from giggling a snort.
The ladies looked through the rest of the store, at wares such as an Index of Good and Evil in the U.S.
I personally devillainized Mom.
She picked out some AWESOME rock-star sunglasses.
Whenever anybody makes a purchase, we make them put their items in "The Vault" and recite the Vow Of Heroism while we go up to the office and "use our sidekick-level math skills" to calculate their total.
We chat with the customers from a mic in the office above and give them their total once their purchase "has been activated."
Then it was back to Manhattan via the subway and a little girl talk dish session.
The next day, it was time for "The Daily Show!" I was lucky enough to get out of work early to head to the far West Side and hang out in an hours-long line (which was TOTALLY WORTH IT). I'd seen a taping of the show a few years ago when some friends from AZ came to town, but it was at the old studio, so this was still a new experience.
I love this sign above the entrance.
The holding area:
Once you get into the studio, you can't take photos or they'll beat you senseless, so this is the best I've got:
I get giddy just looking at a studio. I really miss production. The show was great - even though there were no correspondent bits, the guys in the "on the campaign trail" packages came out to greet the audience after their sections aired. Tim Robbins was the guest and he's just as cool in person as he is on the big (or small) screen.
That was Mom's last night in NYC. On our way back to my house, we passed a church on a side street. I peeked through the door windows and suggested we go in - and boy was it beautiful inside.
This Jesus was huge!
It was an amazing weekend with my mom - I got my hugs in and tried to savor our time together to make it last till Christmas. I'm very, very fortunate to have a mother whom I not only love because she's family, but whom I love deeply as a person - as a friend and mentor and confidante. Not many people have that, but I am very grateful to say I do.
love,
*jenna*
On Friday night Dustin had tickets to a couple of New Yorker Festival writer's events. I was the fortunate recipient of his second tickets, and the first event was held in the most gorgeous church on the Lower East Side. The interview was focused on the American Dream and the authors Jeffrey Eugenides (Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides), T.C. Boyle (World's End) and Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth). They were fab! Although Lahiri came across as having a rather sour disposition, she had some very insightful things to say about the craft of writing, including a sentiment about writing being the most foreign land of all.
Between events, we had tacos at this cute place on the LES. I have no idea what it's called.
The second event was with Roddy Doyle (Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha), Anne Enright (The Gathering) and Tobias Wolff (This Boy's Life). Their talk was about family secrets, and it turned out to be pretty interesting because all three said that their families were perfectly normal. I liked something Enright said - the interviewer asked if it was difficult to write about people with a pre-existing relationship; that is, it's probably easier to write about two people who just met, because you can start from the ground up, but is it harder to write about people who already know details about each other? And Enright said very matter-of-factly, "Well, I don't think families DO know each other. They know the way they were fifteen years ago. Families don't let each other change."
One thing I thought was funny was that both moderators of the discussions seemed incredibly nervous. But I suppose if I spent my days holed up writing at The New Yorker and had to interview legendary and Pulitzer Prize-winning writers in front of a crowd of intellectuals, I'd be pretty damn nervous myself.
Speaking of families, my mom came to town the next morning. She'd gotten tickets to "The Daily Show" so she hopped on over for the weekend. It's easy to do things like that when you're a fabulous retiree. We'd made plans for Saturday to have our hair done together as we both had out-of-control growth going on. After I showed her my apartment and we had some breakfast, we headed downtown for our appointment.
We both got good cuts, even though cutting about one and a half inches from my head somehow took an hour and a half.
Afterward we went for an early dinner/late lunch at a lovely little bistro called Sala.
Ain't she cute?
The place was impeccably decorated.
As we walked down 17th Street, we passed a mannequin shop, which had a crazy little window display (but what else are you gonna do when you're selling mannequins?).
Our next destination was another event from the New Yorker Festival, an interview of Stephen Colbert. Naturally, they don't let us take photos during the event, so this is all I've got.
The event was great - Colbert is incredibly smart and funny and pretty much my dream man. It was cool to see him out of the character he plays on The Report.
The next morning, we met up with Shannon at Nice Matin for brunch. It's funny to think that two of the most important women in my life don't know each other that well - even though I talk about them to each other all the time! It was great to unite two pieces of my heart... beginning with a delicious meal. Mom had some insane egg dish.
A few tables away was John Lithgow, just kickin' it solo and reading the paper with his coffee.
After breakfast, I wanted to show the ladies the Superhero Supply Store, so we took the long trek to Park Slope. As I've always felt awkward about taking photos in there, I used this opportunity as a visitor to get as many as I could.
Here is where I spend every other Sunday.
Through the portal you can see into the tutoring center, where they were having a creative writing workshop that day.
My mom, ever the adventurous spirit, decided to partake in the cape tester. At the store we volunteers like to say things like, "I'm a certified cape tester" or "I majored in cape testing" etc. Dahlia, my fellow volunteer, showed Mom how to test her cape. First, Mom selected a fetching gold sparkly one.
Then you get up onto a platform with lights and a fan beneath you to test out some poses.
As Dahlia showed her, first you must look for evil.
Then you must fly across the five boroughs to the scene of the crime!
Then you flex your muscles for an adoring crowd.
Then you pose valiantly for the newspapers.
Next, Shannon tried out the Devillainizer. This is one of my favorites. You put the villain into the chamber and they must answer questions to determine their villainy level.
After answering questions like, "Do you own a secret island lair?", Shannon was classified as Realtor-level villain and had to recite a vow to not do things like overprice condos.
Meanwhile, customers young and old were testing capes.
We perused the selection of super supplies like Slow-Burning Fuse, Magnetism, Time Travel and these rad X-Ray glasses.
And Invisibility-Detection Goggles!
Shannon looks about one breath away from giggling a snort.
The ladies looked through the rest of the store, at wares such as an Index of Good and Evil in the U.S.
I personally devillainized Mom.
She picked out some AWESOME rock-star sunglasses.
Whenever anybody makes a purchase, we make them put their items in "The Vault" and recite the Vow Of Heroism while we go up to the office and "use our sidekick-level math skills" to calculate their total.
We chat with the customers from a mic in the office above and give them their total once their purchase "has been activated."
Then it was back to Manhattan via the subway and a little girl talk dish session.
The next day, it was time for "The Daily Show!" I was lucky enough to get out of work early to head to the far West Side and hang out in an hours-long line (which was TOTALLY WORTH IT). I'd seen a taping of the show a few years ago when some friends from AZ came to town, but it was at the old studio, so this was still a new experience.
I love this sign above the entrance.
The holding area:
Once you get into the studio, you can't take photos or they'll beat you senseless, so this is the best I've got:
I get giddy just looking at a studio. I really miss production. The show was great - even though there were no correspondent bits, the guys in the "on the campaign trail" packages came out to greet the audience after their sections aired. Tim Robbins was the guest and he's just as cool in person as he is on the big (or small) screen.
That was Mom's last night in NYC. On our way back to my house, we passed a church on a side street. I peeked through the door windows and suggested we go in - and boy was it beautiful inside.
This Jesus was huge!
It was an amazing weekend with my mom - I got my hugs in and tried to savor our time together to make it last till Christmas. I'm very, very fortunate to have a mother whom I not only love because she's family, but whom I love deeply as a person - as a friend and mentor and confidante. Not many people have that, but I am very grateful to say I do.
love,
*jenna*
posted by jenna-marie at 5:58 PM
2 Comments:
I positively hate that my adorable girl lives so far from me, yet I positively LOVE that she lives in the most spectacular city on earth for me to visit! Were she living in Omaha...well, perish the thought!
Thank you for a wonderful weekend I will always remember. I, too, am most blessed by what we have between us.
I am so happy that I was finally able to meet your mom! Thank you for taking time out of your visit to share her with me!
If I didn't snort that day I def. did when I looked at the Superhero Supply Store pictures. hilarious!
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