Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa

I don't have any photos or paintings of my great grandfather but I do have some excerpts from his memoirs, starting with this account of his early childhood in Wisconsin. He married Carlyle Goodrich's daughter in 1902 and her reminiscences of life on the Great Plains also survive, in addition to quite a few of her paintings, including one of her father which hangs in my house.

The Homeless-Industrial Complex, Part II

This is one of my favorite jackets. It's just a fleece, it crackles with static electricity when I take it off, it's hard to keep clean and fluffy, and it says Parliament of Canada / Parliament du Canada on it. I got it in 2001 when I was working in homeless services. I also have a black winter jacket with a broken zipper that says “DHS Night Patrol” in shiny black letters across the back, but it isn't very useful because of the broken zipper. I do get a lot of comment about the “DHS Night Patrol” bit though – no one has ever heard of the Department of Homeless Services so they always think it is from Homeland Security.

The Homeless-Industrial Complex, Part I

Outreach

written ca. 1999

edited 6/20/2012

I wrote this in the winter of 1999, just after I had started working for the city. It is an account of one of my first times going out with an outreach team.  Parts of it make me cringe a little and I can clearly tell in certain sentences that I am just repeating what someone has told me  Still, it is an historical document of sorts.  I have changed names where I think that is a good idea.

I get off work around five o'clock and leave our building on the west side to walk over towards City Hall to catch the 6 uptown. I have no idea what it would be like after dark to walk down the deserted streets of the South Bronx, but my own neighborhood was similar and, by now, felt very safe to me. I cross under the Bruckner Expressway, foolishly looking the wrong way at one point, and came to the avenue I'm looking for. In any case, the streets are not deserted at all. A lot of people live here.

Great-Great-Grandpa

Carlyle Goodrich 1847 - 1910
painted by his daughter Mattie

As to Carlyle Goodrich, he achieved his ambition of moving back to a Vermont farm. His farm diaries begin again, chronicling the old daily round, but now my father begins to appear in them, known at first as "the baby", and soon thereafter, as he reached the important age of four, as "Carlyle".

"Tell Carlyle when he comes up to Vermont, or Barre, grandpa will harness up old Kitt and we will drive to Aunt Sarah and Cousin Ella and Blanche and Carlyle may drive old Kitt and won't the wheels go round and won't the dirt fly."

 - from an unpublished manuscript by Charles Hoyt

Notes from a World Music Catalog, part 4

An occasional series about the heyday of World Music, analog recordings, John Storm Roberts and Original Music.

Part Four, Buying the LPs, continued.

Well!  It has been some time since I last posted anything.  The lassitude accompanying the end of the year has taken its toll on the blogging center of my little brain.  So even though I have been revising this particular post over and over in my head for months, I am going to put it up now to get the ball rolling again.  The photos are not particularly good (and even really good photos could not possibly convey how beautiful the LPs actually are), but they will have to do or I will never get on to the next project, which is highlighting some of John's formative influences through his catalog entries.  So, Happy New Year!  Go sit down somewhere quiet and really listen to some lovely music.

Euskaltel Euskadi

I don't remember what year it was (I'm not very good at remembering things like that), but I was living in Washington Heights when I was persuaded to adopt a soon-to-be-homeless cat. He came with a soft black carrier with a pink bow tied onto it and a name that was completely unsuitable. Luckily I no longer remember the name either.

Alain Robbe-Grillet reads Richard Scarry to his child bride.

Of the town, it is possible to see five buildings. Although some of them are attached directly to each other, they have the appearance of separate structures. Dominating the view is a building labeled Town Hall. It is the highest structure, although there is a smaller building that appears to be nearly as high but just because it is situated further up a small hill. A trick of perspective.

The Town Hall is a red-ish color that may be the result of paint, though it will seem later that it is probably some sort of stucco. On the left side it is seen to be a clock tower. Entrance to the tower is through a blue door recessed into the building at the top of four steps. Surrounding the doorway is a white border with a decorative lintel at the top. This border continues along the base of the clock tower but is absent from the rest of the building. To the right of the door is a small, narrow window with an arched top that is divided into six panes vertically and two horizontally.