July . . . She Will Fly* (Or How I Spent My Summer Vacation)

*APRIL, COME SHE WILL, Paul Simon

How the good times fly! The summer is half over, and we have yet to open our pool. I won't discuss my lack of writing (altho' I have done some editing). Attaining my goal of finishing the 1st draft of my current WIP by September is looking less & less likely by the minute.

All of my energy has been focused on getting Y-Chromo into the university of his choice. Last week, TV Stevie & I drove him downstate for Freshman Orientation, which left us with a couple of free days.

We spent one morning in the local Barnes & Noble, paradise for me. We made plans to catch up with a couple of my husband's long-time friends: Danny and Murray. We took the train into Manhattan, then caught a cab from Penn Station to Murray's place. En route, we passed the red carpet spread out for baseball's ALL-STAR GAME parade , a sight which thrilled TV Stevie.

Murray lives in a fifth floor walk-up studio apartment. It was very cool sitting in a room with framed photos and platinum discs from multiple countries celebrating Sean Paul's success. When Danny showed up, with copies of his newest book, DISGUISED AS CLARK KENT, I was transported back to the late sixties/early seventies, when my friends and I would sit around all night and discuss culture and how the world was going to hell.

On that warm July afternoon last week, on Manhattan's upper east side, we revisited those questions and decided:

• the world is still going to hell;
• Bob Dylan's last couple of albums are sheer genius;
• TV & I are the only true Dylan fans whom Danny knows who liked I'M NOT THERE;
• these days, a liberal arts major in college is worthless and that Y Chromo is scathingly brilliant for majoring in Mathematics and Education.

Murray shared the stories behind his nickname, Murray "Gump".

1. When Yankee pitcher Cory Lidle's plane tragically crashed into a Manhattan high rise in Murray's neighborhood, the national media caught Murray looking up at the devastation; one of the cable news networks used that shot as their open to the story.
2. In late 1980, Murray was in a cab when he noticed a commotion outside the Dakota, He later learned that John Lennon had just been murdered.

Danny is considered the 'go-to' guy when it comes to comic book culture; the cable news folks regularly call on him for his expertise. He's a 'talking head' on the History Channel's Batman Special.

That afternoon in Murray's apartment felt like a sliver of my real life; something I've been missing for a while; something I think I want to retrieve.

In conclusion, while I actually may not be writing, I'm teasing the well with creative folks outside of my usual milieu.

Hope your summer is going well!