A Nap for the City That Never Sleeps

Never say never.

Who would think that a city like New York would stop all of its activity for a day. We are so used to being able to ride subways day and night and buy groceries any time we want. Still, being locked up in one's house is not as bad as, for example, losing power - something I dreaded the most. I didn't buy extra food or extra water, but I did charge all of my electronic devices.

Luckily for me, even though the lights blinked throughout all of Monday evening, the power stood up to the challenge, which made me appreciate the place where I live even more.

And not only that. It is amazing that nowadays people are able to predict natural disasters and get ready for them. Imagine what would happen to the people residing in zones A, B and C if they didn't know they needed to evacuate (I'm sure there are still some who didn't) and to the subways, still covered in water. Sandy did caused a few deaths, but had we not been ready for it, there would be many more casualties. Modern technology is something we are used to and often don't appreciate. Yes, in most cases it's just a matter of convenience, but when there is a natural disaster, knowing saves lives.

Of course, knowing freaks us out as well. Had we not known, we would probably sleep better, not worrying about what would happen. We would not have to reassure ourselves and others that "it's just going to be a lot of wind and rain." We would just relax and go on with our lives until it hit us.

Personally for me, since I live outside of all danger zones, the hurricane turned out to be nothing more but the wind that fiercely knocked at my door all night and the rain that locked me up in my house for two days, Monday and Tuesday. It was scary, but it did give me an extra day to sleep and study indoors. Having no desire to observe the natural disaster outdoors, I didn't even think of coming out. The whole city is closed down - where does anyone want to go?

The subway system is still out, but the buses resumed the service; therefore, the city gradually awakens from its short nap. It will take time to repair the damage, but time and hard work will heal the wounds. What we need to remember, though, is that as New Yorkers, we almost never see time stopping and the city sleeping. We often feel that the guy with a bicycle is going down the subway stairs too slowly and it's because of him we miss the upcoming train. In reality, however, life happens, and we don't need to get upset and annoyed. Instead, we must always make the best out of every day. Life goes by so quickly that it's not as important to miss the train as it is devastating to rush through the life and miss the best of it.

Counting Crows in Port Chester

Adam Duritz
Counting Crows in Port Chester, NY

Touring the country and giving the fans a chance to hear and see them live, an American alternative rock band, Counting Crows, made an appearance last night at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. The formula of a successful performance usually consists of three components: a lively crowd, dedicated musicians and a comfortable venue, and this Tuesday, October 23, all three played in unison.

Walking into the Capitol Theatre, one noticed right away that the venue was enormous, and the ceilings were high, and the sound was loud enough to make talking to friends or bartenders problematic. At the same time, it did not overwhelm anyone's ears or leave people temporarily deafened. It was, indeed, a perfect venue for the concert, since the bars and the restrooms were conveniently located close to the main area with the stage, so, even if one got distracted from the performance to get a beer or a cocktail, he or she could still hear the band, and did not miss anything.

The bands that started the evening played alternative rock as well, but the crowd was just getting into the mood, more enthusiastic about buying drinks, or getting a "21+ bracelet," for that reason. The venue even felt half-empty because people spread around, chatting, and many, probably, were still on the way. On the contrary, when Counting Crows appeared on stage (with about 10-15 minutes delay, which made the crowd boil with anticipation even more), everyone gathered in front of the stage, ready for a great show.

The Capitol Theatre stage

And a great show it definitely was. The lead singer, Adam Duritz, was singing his soul out, constantly moving around and interacting with the audience. The rest of the band was also all-in; one could feel that they loved being there and playing for the crowd. The concert began with newer songs that not many people knew, and there was less applause as compared to the end of the night when almost everyone was singing along and clapping their hands (amongst absolute favorites of the evening was, for example, the song "Friend of the Devil"). There was a lot of screaming to the point of voice loss, and plenty of pictures and videos were taken using the newest technology smartphones. The love for the band united the crowd, and everyone was friendly and polite towards others (that is, if you closed your eyes on beer cans, plastic cups and other garbage left on the floor after the show).

As the evening progressed, in addition to the light effects that would go from illuminating the stage to covering it in darkness, there were also shades on the ceiling. In the beginning of the concert, the shades looked like gentle orchids that moved clockwise, and towards the end the shades appeared in the colors of sunset, followed by screen-saver-like blue bubbles. The audience was torn between taking pictures of the band and observing the ceiling light play - so beautiful it was.

And last but not least, the staff of the venue was nice and sweet, giving the crowd a warm welcome at the door and politely showing them around inside the venue. Their "Have a nice evening" and "Thanks for coming" sounded sincere and professional at the same time. A nice good-bye is often the reason for another visit. After all, the ambiance is always one-third of the success of any performance.

Overall, the Counting Crows concert in Port Chester turned out to be a memorable night, one of those that inspire a non-fan, or a not-quite-fan to research the band online or even buy an album. Needless to say, those who already loved the band were happy to see them in the area and enjoyed the concert with a few hundreds of people who gathered there for the same reason.

The Chord of Two Cultures

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freewebs.com

This Monday, October 15, the Mid-Manhattan branch of New York Public Library hosted a poetry reading, organized by non-profit NYC-based CAUSA ARTIUM and the Debut Prize Foundation (Debut is a literary competition of beginning Russian writers under 35). During the event, both Russian and American poets had a chance to read their poems and converse with each other. The three Russian poets, Dina Gatina, Alla Gorbunova and Lev Oborin, were the Debut Prize winners at various times. The event was moderated by David Lehman, an NYC-based editor, literary critic and poet, who was upbeat and positive throughout the evening as he introduced each poet and read extracts from their works.

The reading was quite fast-paced. Every poet was given 12 minutes (3-4 poems, on average). The Russians were reading their poems in their native language, and translation was provided for each poem by John William Narins, the executive director of CAUSA ARTIUM. Therefore, understanding Russian was a plus, but not a must. Surprisingly, even for those fluent in both languages the translation was helpful, since modern poetry is generally hard to listen to. The last means of organization - rhyme - is no longer crucial, and it was at times really difficult to stay tuned. When the translation was provided, however, the audience was given a second chance to dive into the meaning of each poem and think it through one more time.

The first poet to take the stage was Dina Gatina, a young and well-known in Russian literary circles poet, who spoke only in Russian, and her interaction with the audience always included the translator. Her poetry was built on repetitions, often in the most unexpected places, and she let them speak for themselves providing no explanation at all. Her poetry reflected on her surroundings and showed how she perceived the world. When interacting with the audience, she seemed shy and uncomfortable, but at the same time, she was confident in her word choices and statements.

Gatina was followed by a Poet Laureate of Brooklyn 2010 and a poetry professor, Tina Chang, who was born in Oklahoma and raised in New York City. In contrast to Gatina, Chang gave a foreword for her every poem. She spoke about how a wolf in her poem was tied to her childhood fears and her being a mom, and she also shared her interest in Chinese culture and literature and her fascination with the Chinese Empress Dowager, who appeared in one of her poems. Chang's performance started the wave of the poet-audience interaction that other readers continued.

The next poet up was Alla Gorbunova, who is not only a poet, but also a translator, reviewer, journalist and a university teacher. She addressed the audience directly, with a mixture of Russian and British accent, and she talked a little bit about her poems. They were quite short and sophisticated with reflection on life and the world around us. The images of nature also played an important role in many of Gorbunova's poems. When she chatted with the audience, her voice was weak and trembling, whereas when she read her poetry, it was loud and vibrant. Russian poets, in general, seemed to stay within their own shell, while the Americans smiled wider and talked more eagerly.

After Gorbunova another American poet, Heather Christle, the winner of the 2012 Believer Poetry Award, took the stage. She was sweet and talkative, and she mentioned her fascination with Russian poetry in addition to giving a preface to some of her poems. She held the audience's attention, and her images, for example, "a small husband," were creative and simple at the same time. Christle stole the audience's hearts, and received a great amount of applause when she finished her last poem - the shout out to a Russian poet, Vladimir Mayakovskii.

When the women poets had shared their work with the audience, it was the men's turn to keep the evening going. The next poet after Christle was Lev Oborin, the youngest of all the poets who attended the reading. At the age of 25, Oborin is already an accomplished figure as a poet, critic, literary translator from English and Polish and an editor of the Russian edition of Rolling Stones. Oborin was the only poet who used rhymes more or less consistently at the end of his lines, and Narins did a marvelous job of recreating them in his translations, for which the author thanked him during the reading. The most memorable Oborin's image was the ducks getting sucked in by the softness of the bread people threw at them.

And last but not least, there was Matthew Yeager, whose longest poem, as announced by the moderator, David Lehman, took up 12 pages. Yeager is a successful poet and award-winning short film maker, who also won the 2009 Barthelme Prize in Short Proze and two McDowell fellowships. He read only two poems of his, but the first one, "You Are Henry Hudson," was a very long one, of which he warned the audience beforehand. Yeager was the most confident speaker, and he didn't feel shy to use a strong word in his poems. Despite the length of the poem and constant repetitions, the poet managed to hold the listeners' attention till the end and received a round of applause for his reading.

The evening ended with a conversation between the two cultures. The poets got a chance to ask questions and exchange ideas. Amazingly enough, even if we live on different sides of the world and are fascinated with dissimilar historical figures, we are contemporaries, and we have similar experiences, and it is very well reflected in our creative work. Given the language barrier and the cultural gap, the poets sounded in unison, related to each other and happily shared what was meaningful to them. As the world is becoming global, and as New York continues to be the capital of the world, let us hope that there will be more intercultural art lovers meetings during which we can get acquainted with each other and learn from each other.

Why Are We So Sensitive to Curse Words?

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"Brooklyn is the shit," said Rachel and Tamara, two acquaintances of mine, addressing their friend who had just arrived from Italy.

"Why do you say Brooklyn is shit?" he asked, perplexed.

"Not shit. The shit. The difference is, you see, the shit is really-really good, and shit is really-really bad. Do you understand?"

I smiled listening to it. Curse words never have a good answer for "why." You just learn what they mean and use them when you're angry or upset. But, being just words, why do they insult us so much and why we often feel uneasy when hearing them?

I personally noticed that obscene words of another language do not insult me as much as the foul speech of my own language, and I don't like teaching people bad Russian words. Not that I don't know them or don't ever use them. I just feel that they are reserved for certain situations and should not be dropped around in vain. Therefore, the first reason why curse words are so disturbing is because they create the effect of shock on people who hear them. However, if used often enough, they lose their "magic power."

Second of all, it is the purpose of using the words that shakes us most. People swear when they hate or disrespect someone, or when their patience reaches its limits. Think about it: if you're really angry at your parents or your teachers, you are not likely to curse them out because you feel their authority and do not want to show disrespect, whereas when talking to your friends or acquaintances, you feel more comfortable and might use a word or two. It used to be considered impolite to swear in front of "a lady" (any woman, basically), and I still appreciate when people apologize to me if they said something inappropriate.

Third of all, if we look into the nature of many "bad words," we can see that many deal with religion. God damn, for instance, or hell. If we look into the origin of the word profanity, we can see that it is literally translated from Latin profanus as 'before (outside) the temple,' meaning 'desecrating what is holy,' according to Wikipedia. In other words, they first appeared as the expression of blasphemy - the words that were unacceptable to use. And even though we no longer make that connection, we still feel that there's something wrong with using them.

And finally, the society has strong associations, stereotypes, if you wish, with people using curse words in their everyday life. We don't expect a professor to use foul language, while a truck driver is almost expected to drop "an f-bomb" here and there. We think that it has something to do with education and the way the person is brought up, or with his or her politeness. Thus, when we hear a nasty word, we right away make an assumption that the person who said the word lacks culture.

And nevertheless, profane words are just words, and they are an important part of our language. It is not accidental that people create euphemisms to replace "bad words" - we need them to express the boiling point of our emotions. However, we must always remember that there are other people around us, and that by using inappropriate language we might offend them or leave an impression contrary to the one we would like to leave.

What Makes a Great Zumba Instructor

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sangwann.olx.com.mt

Inspired by Sharisse Francisco 

and other wonderful  instructors

Born as improvisation of a traditional aerobics class, Zumba dancing is practiced to a fun mix of Latin and international music. The concept of Zumba is to turn your workout into a party, and dance off your extra calories while having the time of your life. There is a variety of movements that you need to repeat after the instructor, but what you're really aiming at is to keep dancing and burning calories, even if you can't do it right at first.

The concept is wonderful; however, after I have taken different Zumba classes all over the city, I must say that not every class drew me in. Of course, a whole lot depends on the location and price, but most importantly, it is the instructor who makes us come back week after week for more, and in my opinion, the perfect Zumba instructor is someone who:

1. Is easy to follow. Zumba is very fast and intense, and at first, it's hard to keep up with an instructor, especially if it's all new to you. It is frustrating when you feel like you are always dragging behind the class. While everybody is jumping up and down, you're still getting your footwork right, and all you want to do is to never come back to the class. Therefore, it is awesome when the instructor constantly reminds you of what you're supposed to do and shows beforehand what the next dance will be like, or - even better - slows down at first and speeds up by the end of the song. This is crucial for the beginners, and is often the reason why they stay motivated throughout the class.

2. Is "all there." It is important to feel the positive energy and see that it is not only you who sweats the extra weight out. It helps when the instructor is also working it and is excited about the music and the moves. On the contrary, if the instructor plays with her hair putting it up and down throughout the whole class, starts the class late, or lets the class go early all the time, you feel that she (or he) is not fully there with you.

3. Doesn't encourage long pauses. You are always allowed to drink water or take breaks whenever you wish if you feel that the workout is too much for you; however, you don't want to be left hanging while the instructor is searching for the next single. It breaks down the workout for those who are not new and want to push themselves even harder. It is even worse when you're asked, "What are you guys want to do next?" Most people come to Zumba to do what they are showed to do, and questions like these frustrate people, and not only the new ones.

4. Is in tune with everyone. Sometimes when there are lots of people in the class, it becomes difficult to see the instructor and to perform well. It is amazing when the instructor catches that and moves around to help people get back on track. Sometimes there's only one person, who is totally lost, and if it's you, you definitely appreciate when the instructor comes around and assists you.

5. Keeps it simple. Some people are better dancers than others, so if the choreography is too difficult, those who have two left feet are likely to give up on Zumba and never come back to the class. If one song is more difficult than the other, that's fine, as long as the whole class doesn't feel like a ballet rehearsal to the newbies.

6. Leaves you with sore muscles. When you work out and don't feel sore, you probably didn't push yourself hard enough. Zumba is a very intense kind of exercise, and it should leave you with some minor muscle pain, and good instructors will make sure that your whole body is working.

7.And finally, you know you had a great instructor if the last song came as a surprise. You don't want to suffer through the class and long for it to end. You want to have fun and make the best of it, so if it feels like an hour lasts a week, you should probably look for another class.