I'm trying to bring myself back into the school mode. This weekend was nearly a complete detachment from things educational (still did the 10/10/10 event and Sylvester Manor internship, but generally speaking there was a noticeable absence of school work).
Friday, after lazing around all day doing school work and such, worrying about the piece I'm supposed to write for THINK, I went to campus with a box of pears that I brought back from upstate with the intentions of giving them to the THINK crew and explaining that I couldn't write it. They weren't in the office and Sal was on campus, so he and I met up and went for a couple beers at John Harvards, a local brewery. We chatted about the MTA and development issues in NYC and other things.
After those couple sizable brews I had to head out east to Shelter Island. I drove into Greenport, parked my car by the ferry station and packed up my things and hopped on the boat. Getting off on the Island I realized how special of an opportunity it was to bike to the event at the Shelter Island Historic Society. The weather this weekend was better than one could ever ask for. There was a crispness to the air, but not cold by any means. The sky was illuminated by an incomprehensible amount of stars and biking to the contradance was such a pleasant experience.
I was supposed to get to the event at 8:30, but didn't make it until about 9:15. I made it to the last of the dances. By that time nearly everyone was in the middle of the barn dancing in circles with each other. Earlier, I was told, that the dance was led outside and there was about 200 people dancing under the stars together. After the last dance there was a story telling session. It was MC'ed by this woman from Brooklyn and there was a large group in the crowd of people from Maine... an interesting contrast, but it worked out really well. The stories generally centered around food, but other than that they were far from the same. One was about a grandmother's pie recipe, another about farting from beans, another about a "buck for a duck, a duck for a fuck, a fuck for a duck, and a fucked up duck that got hit by a truck" another was a reading from a poet about the logging camps in Maine and the cook for the camps.
After the stories and free wine the volunteers cleaned up and then headed back to the Manor. I biked into the camping area to find a big open field... no trees for hammocking, but that being a good thing. There's a spot between the Manor and the harbor with cut grass and large spacious trees. I set up beneath them, but wasn't quite tired. I went out to the open lawn to this wrought iron chair and a large flat log, laid down on the log and looked up. Caught about 3-4 shooting stars before settling back in to the hammock. There was an angry duck in the harbor that occasionally made these loud noises. The breeze felt chilly and I was glad to be in my warm sleeping bag.
At one point, two people walked down the lawn from the Manor, set up on the edge of the harbor and began playing fiddles... It was sensuous. Truly blissful.
Eventually I fell into a light, but worthy sleep and woke up to a clear sky again in the early morning. At 7 this yoga instructor came and led a yoga session on the grass between the manor and water. There was a breakfast laid out of granola, yogurt, bagels, etc.
After a crisp outdoor shower I biked back to the Historical Society to help clean up and from there, biked to the North Ferry and made my way to LLK and then on to Paumanok for work. Columbus Day weekend is one of the busiest and Ursula, Charles and Salim are away in Germany so Karen was there as well as all of the regulars. Karen and myself declared our role as "the keepers of ambiance" for the day and our goal was to ensure that a proper ambiance was maintained for the mutual benefit of the staff and the guests... so this naturally entailed drinking :-). What a day!
After we finished cleaning up the lot of us gathered a cheese plate and some glasses and made our way outside. Kareem and Karen were studying for some exams and what not, so after a few glasses of wine I went in to listen. It's great to have the opportunity to learn from the winemaker about his tasks and the theory behind the work.
I left after a bit and headed back to Stony Brook, picked up Camile and her friend Rusty and headed on home. We had a bit more wine and some brews before heading next door where they were having a bit of an afterparty for homecoming. I got drunk... more than I have in a while. Woke up the next day and was ready for a day of work with the 10.10.10 event.
There ended up being about 25-30 people who came out and helped clean up. It was great! We worked in the garden and picked up around campus. The garden has a lot of potential and some good people working on it.
Afterwards I biked with Andrew, a member of the Env Club, back to the house and stopped and picked up beer and a cake for Alla's birthday - a cheesecake topped with fresh fruit. We originally planned on heading back to campus for a forum of green buildings, but the 6 of us decided instead to cook a big meal. We used the tomatoes from the garden and made a great sauce. Nick, my friend from Southampton and the one who's taking on the Garden project, and I made the meal. Toasted Italian bread with fresh chopped basil and garlic, mozzarella and sliced tomato with balsamic and olive oil. For dinner, the sauce had the fresh tomatoes and a variety of veggies. I made it extra spicy of course :-/ :-P but it turned out great. Everyone liked it and it gave Nick and I a good time to chat. It was perfect with 6 people, over the course of the night I had a variety of conversations with each and every one of them, separate and all together.
Most of the crew headed out after dessert and clean up - everyone helped out at one point or another. And Andrew and I talked a bit more. We discussed change and positive approaches versus negative approach and right before he had to leave I think there was a breakthrough in the conversation. I gave him an example of an alternative way of approaching an issue that he presented to the Environmental Club. Rather than being upset and thinking about an issue in a defeatist and negative way, it could have been seen as an opportunity for strong change. It meant a lot that he said it really got him thinking. He sent me a text soon after that he was really thinking about it. That felt good. Beforehand I felt this build up of tension that I think I was creating because I noticed the issue last week and haven't been able to address it and didn't know how. It was a relief for me and possibly the overcoming of a threshold of progress for him. He has a whole lot of potential for organizing and I think that was one aspect that could have held him back. If he can learn to sequester those types of challenges and form them into opportunity and away from discouraging and confrontational rhetoric he should do really well.
Before falling asleep I was cruising the super information highway and found a really interesting graduate school in Vermont, SIT Graduate Program of World Learning Take a look, I'm definitely applying!
Today is "back to work" somewhat. I wrote a report on yesterday's events with 350.org and 10/10/10 and have to meet up to discuss the Sylvester Manor internship.
Tonight is the dinner celebration for Alex. We're eating at Luce & Hawkins at Jedediah Hawkins. I want to go down to the speak easy that they have in the basement, order a scotch and reminisce about Prohibition.
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