"Bronx keeps creatin' it
And Queens keeps on takin' it..."
...........................................................................................
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH
FORDHAM UNIVERSITY
BRONX, NY
Ah, nice to flee the Zailckas' residence for a few brief hours.
For the past couple of days, they've been filming some Hillary
Swank flick on my block; and the production trailers have been
lined up on both sides of my shy street, choking off traffic,
infuriating (perpetually furious) cabbies, knotting the sidewalks
with electrical cords and inflaming our nights with 1,200 volts of
high-electric Hollywood light. In addition, the neighbors
(strange specimens) have been acting up as well. Just last night,
I woke to the sounds of one of them tottering in his windowsill,
threatening to jump to his suicide, while his ever supportive
girlfriend urged, "do it! do it! do it!" Awesome. "Move to the
country," my parents keep telling me. And what? Miss all of this?
Anyhow, sundown found me hitching a ride up to the Bronx with Tom--
Whom I've neglected to tell you about, haven't I? And that's a serious
oversight on my part. Because he happens to bear the title 'coolest
person I know' (after you, that is). Tom used to be Jimi Hendrix's
personal driver. In addition, he's shuttled the likes of the Stones, the
Kennedys, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, the whole Studio 54 gang, really,
and just too many legends of rock, art and literature to count...
Although I do pester him to recount them all--along with details of their
more illicit behaviors--while we change lanes, circle off-ramps, listen to
Bluegrass Junction on XM radio, and just generally get lost en route
to readings in Connecticut, New Jersey, or some saner town upstate.
So, like, the Bronx rippled by our windows, with faces, with sign flare,
with fervor and forgetting. And Tom and I passed time by talking about
Bronx's places of interest. "Botanical Gardens?" No, neither Tom nor
I could say we'd ever been. "Bronx Zoo?" Yes, both of us. Although,
personally, I think the Gorilla Forest is profoundly depressing. I mean, God,
the way they catch your gaze through that glass? With their furrowed brows and
those big, moist eyes? It's like gazing on prison 'lifers.'
Anyway, before you could say "primate" Tom and I were nosing
into handsome Fordham University...I almost went to Fordham.
For college, I mean. You didn't know that about me, did you? But
it's true! Ask my parents. Or better yet, ask John What's-His-Name.
He saw me there back in '97 when I was taking a college tour.
Now, I hate to play favorites...Actually, that's not true. I adore playing
favorites. And I don't mind saying tonight's event at Fordham was my favorite
in months, thanks in no small part to Kristen Woodford and her gang
of peer educators, who were kind enough to take a spontaneous
group photo with me. Girls: thank you, thank you! For your coffee,
and your posters, and your free-book giveaway. I even walked away with
my very own Fordham blanket! It is draped, as we speak, over my shuddering
shoulders...My apartment is as cold as a morgue.
Anyway, on that note... Goodnight my dear ghosts and goblins.
I'm waaaay tired. How tired? You ask. Let's just say I dozed off
during that lingering "waaaay"...
Trick,
(No, wait... Treat)
love,
your Koren
posted by Koren at 6:10 PM
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