Form Over Funtion

On our way to board the uptown train Saturday night at the South Ferry stop. After being packed into cars like sardines most of the time, we had the whole shebang to ourselves! Kind of eery.

Greeted Sunday morning with some summer showers.

We took shelter from "The Storm" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In order to get behind the more recent fashion trends we went to the Alexander McQueen show at the Met. McQueen made a name for himself as an outrageous and talented designer, before taking his life year. We marveled at the metallic feathers, asymmetrical tartans, bondage buckles, balsa wood skirts and jakets, red lab-slide skirt, face-cloaking headpieces, fresh foliage, and more.

"I especially like the accessary for it's sadomasochistic aspect" - A.McQ.

Jellyfish Armadillo Boot - Spring Summer 2010 collection

Had a fair and square meal at Haru sushi.

Then said goodbye and headed off into the wild blue yonder.

Breakfast of Champions

Up and out, on the trail by the crack of noon!

(Now that school is officially out for summer)

A day dedicated to the foodies...

Warning: Animal advocates and PETA friends should not venture any further down the page than the scone.

For breakfast we've moved on from the traditional Special K and to Special L. L for Levain Bakery and Land. Nothing better to kick start the weekend than a run in Central Park followed by the best oatmeal raisin scone

available and an 8 0z. dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie back. Then on to some curry and the famous green dumplings from Land

thai. Yum.

After recovering from the morning's investigations we moved on from letter L to M. M for Minetta Tavern and their Monstrous Black Label burger comprised of delectably rare, (and I normally only order medium well), 45 day, dry-aged, prime beef cuts. We launched this expedition with a Guinea hen and foie gras terrine, accompanied by an absinthe cocktail.

There's not much left to do after that.

The Spice of Life

Heralding from the unofficial chai capital of North America, (where chai was an intellectual elixir long before Starbucks was a verb), I thought it obligatory to sample the offering at Joe. The chai - eh. I like a bit more kick. Stick with the coffee and the architecture. It IS a COFFEE house, mind you. And the cap was excellent.

Talk about kick and consistency, this guy, (the dark blur on the right), has been on the same corner, sparring with the same lamp post every time I have gone running in the morning for the last three summers. That is stick-to-it-ness! The picture is a little out of focus because I was trying to take the shot in stealth mode - this dude is a little scary and definitely buffed - I certainly wouldn't want to get under his skin!

Update: a couple days later I saw him while on my run and and he was standing around on his corner, with two other guys, just shooting the bull, (must have been warming up mentally).

Last day of institute - the week goes by sooo fast.

In the morning session, Carl Anderson tied up the package:

-Went over record keeping - what to look for, plan for,

etc

-Goal setting - lines of growth: topic choice, making meaning, developing topic, envisioning, text fluency, focus, detail, voice, conventions, revision, editing, repertoire of purposes, repertoire of audiences

-Looking for class trends when planning units of study and mini-lessons

In Dahlia's section we worked on persuasive letters and reviewed a variety of tips.

This is Dahlia singing:

Think, think, think,

Touch and tell,

Sketch and write, sketch and write

-to the tune of "Shake Your Booty", with shoulder digs on the sketch and write part.

The closing celebration was studded with (adult) students reading outstanding pieces of writing that they had worked on this week. And Lucy let us fly off with some final words of wisdom: Remember the power of revision - reread, rethink, rewrite, and continue to see the magic anew. And, revision is most powerful in the company of colleagues.

Magic potions for after hours -Tea and spice stand at street fair in Greenwich Village

Tanked up at Italian restaurant Tramonti with an Arugula, Radicchio, Endive Salad, Pizza, Pollo.

Cultured it up with some theatre and saw Memphis -the best musical of 2010

Some of the less ornate decor in the multi-leveled powder room at the Shubert Theatre.