Ken vs. the City

Yesterday I went down to the Billy Graham Crusade in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens. Yesterday was a scorcher, and the place was packed, but luckily the FDNY shot some water into the air where people could cool down.

The old boy is 86, and some say it’s probably his last crusade in New York. I’ve never actually heard Billy Graham before. He’s not a very dynamic speaker, and his message is very plain. But it’s the same old gospel we know and love and it’s the same one people need to keep hearing because even those of us raised in the church forget it. There were probably 20,000 people there just on Sunday.

It started with music from some spanish guy, the Gaither Vocal Band, the Brooklyn Tab. and Mercy Me. Then Michael W. Smith sang a couple of songs. None of them interested me very much. They’re not my style; I was waiting for Billy. Then Billy Graham got up and talked about Noah and the end times and the urgency of repentance. It’s all stuff I’ve heard before, but it’s stuff I always need to hear.

There were two lone protesters there saying that Billy Graham is leading people to hell. And he, along with James Dobson and others are evil men. I tried talking to the most flamboyant guy. He just said that God is to be feared, and unless we understand that, we can’t be saved. Duh. He can squash you like a bug. That’s why Jesus came to save us. I know that. But no matter what questions he was asked he couldn’t explain satisfactorally why he was on one side of the protestor-fence and I was on the other. I guess some people get a sense of importance out of protesting something.

Afterwards I ran into some friends of mine and we went out to eat at a fabulous greek restaurant in Astoria. We were going to go to a place called the Stone Cold creamery (or Cold Stone, I forget which) afterward, but we were all too full. I’ll have to go back there. Especially if they have anything called a “stunner.”

Things are going well. I’m finding myself busier and busier (which I really like). I have my internship, and I’m helping with a few web sites. I’m still looking for freelance work at one of the papers, which I have to do at the end of the week because I work all day at the beginning.

Today after work I was looking around for a used CD store. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find a store that sells cheap used CDs in New York. Eventually I gave up and went to Tower Records. There was some R&B singer giving a mini concert for the release of one of her albums. It was the wierdest thing. I was trawling through the store shopping for all the obscure music that I like and there was this R&B show going on around me. It was like a dream I once had after eating a whole pizza.

Any way, I bought an mp3 player and I’ve been looking for decent music to fill it up with. I’m cheap and I’ve mostly been looking online. I found that Havalina (www.havalinaland.com) has their whole Russian Lullabies album for download on their website. It’s an old album, but it’s my absolute favorite. I strongly recommend it.

I went to the Chinatown Ice Cream factory again. I just want to say again how great this place is. They’ve got all these wicked different flavors, but sometimes things are just wrong. Their flavor of the week is wasabe. Let me tell you that God did not make wasabe ice cream for a reason. Spicy and creamy were never meant to be put in the same bucket.

I encourage anybody to go down there and taste the concoction just for the experience, but keep in mind that spicy ice cream is just not kosher. I ended up getting black sesame and lychee.

“Wisconsinite” I think that’s how you say it.

It’s wierd. Now that I’m in New York, everything Wisconsin is cool. Cheese curds are cool. Brats are cool. The Packers are cool. Even Polka is cool. It seems like most everyone you meet here is from somewhere else. Someone remarked to me that you identify with your place of origin because it gives you a sense of identity in the city.

I suppose that’s true. One of the first questions I ask when I meet someone new is, “Where are you from?” The rest of the conversation proceeds from there. Something like “Oh, that place is neat.” or “Oh, I’ve never been there before, but I hear the fish are great.”

For me right now I love talking about Wisconsin and Stevens Point. It would be so cool if there was a Wisconsin restaurant here in the city. It could serve brats, cheese curds, lefse, and Point and Leinenkugel beer. There could be entrees like the Hodag Burger or the Door County Omelette. Around cranberry season there could be a cranberry special or something. And during football season. There could Packer specials and with special discounts if you wear green and gold or something during a Packer game. (which, by the way would be on the big plasma screen) There could be cribbage, sheepshead and euchre nights. Oh, it would be so much fun.

But ok, then. Back to the real world…

Right now I’m listening to a man playing classic rock tunes in the Seaport. It reminds me of how much I miss my guitar.

I’m not that good, but there’s something about picking up a guitar any playing that’s theraputic. It reminds me of all the times I drove back and forth to work and school in my 1983 LeSabre with the analog radio (with the clicky buttons) turned to the Beatles, LedZep, or Piny Floyd, trying to keep the other drivers from seing my lips move. Dang it, I know the words to all the songs this guy is playing.

It also reminds me of my Christian punk rock phase. I listened to all the crappy little indy and Tooth & Nail punk bands. I wanted so much to be a punk, to be a crappy little rock star. But you can’t do that when you’re a perfectionist. Unless I’ve practiced something ’till it’s “real good,” I hate having people listen to me. Because “real good” meant “perfect” to me, I never played for anyone.

One of the things I’m trying to drill into my head is that nothing I do can be perfect. If I write something, it won’t be the greatest story ever written no matter how much I want it to be. I was talking to someone earlier today and I called New York a “meatgrinder.” It’s actually more of a forge. It’s a big place with lots of people, and to be noticed you need to work hard even if you’re work isn’t “perfect.” If you jump into the forge, you will either be tempered and purified or incinerated. Obviously I hope to survive or I wouldn’t be here.

When I played the guiter it wasn’t perfect, but it was not bad. What I write is not perfect, but it’s pretty good. The trick is learning how to press ahead in spite of a lack of perfection. Obviously if I was a poor writer that would be foolish. But I’m not. I’m pretty good.

For those of you who don’t know, my sister is studying in Spain for the summer. She’s been sending out long emails to her friends almost daily and I suggested that she start a blog of her own. It’s called My Life Is Not My Own, and even has some fabulous pictures of her adventures over there.

I’ve added her blog to my little collection on the left. If you’d like to visit it, the URL is http://www.kimmaaaaay77.blogspot.com. Right now she’s updating it with some stuff from May, but the pictures are really cool.

This is the second week of my internship and I love it. I read news articles and press releases all day long. I’m writing short articles about technology, advertising and online business. The company is small, so I also do miscellaneous stuff that keep things from getting boring.

It feels so good to have someone relying on you to get things done. I absolutely hate jobs where people don’t really care about your work. Even if you do make “quota”, or whatever they happen to call it, it makes you feel like your work has no value. With a smaller business, your work directly influences the success of the company.

Obviously business success doesn’t have a ton of value in the scope of eternity, but it does affect people. And having that kind of responsibility just makes you feel good.

I found this neat blog from Michael Yon, a journalist currently in Iraq. He also posts photos. His blog provides some great insight into the people and culture of Iraq as well as American and Iraqi soldiers. And the photos of things that haven’t been “exploded” give the conflict more than one dimension. They say a picture’s worth a thousand words. That’s what journalistic photography should be, people.

http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/

I’ve added his blog to my list. His travels through Iraq and the photos are very refreshing– It seems open and honest. It’s a welcome change from regular TV news.

Getting writing gigs is tough. Especially if you’re like me and have zero references and only a few clips. This past week I decided to try a new strategy. I gathered together the addresses of a couple of newspapers here in the city, and I went to visit their respective editors.

I started with the New York Sun because it’s a small paper, relatively new, and their office is located within walking distance of where I live. It was actually really easy to talk to a real person because their office is small. But the editor was out when I was there, so I left my resume and I’m going to call next Wednesday.

Yesterday I went to visit the New York Post. Turns out their building security wouldn’t even let me in the door without an appointment. I called up to the features editor to try and make an appointment, but she was out. (boy, editors are busy. They’re always out.) I left a message and I’ll call again on Wednesday.

Yesterday I also stopped by the New York Times. It was really intimidating because it’s one of the oldest and most circulated newspapers in the world. After my experience with the New York Post’s security I decided to call up first. I asked the receptionist on the phone if I could speak with the features editor. Turns out the Times doesn’t have a features editor. Yikes I felt dumb. I guess that shows I really don’t read the Times much. (It is a buck after all, whereas the Post and the Daily News are each $.50)

I’ve been checking out the two commuter papers they have here, AM-New York and Metro. They have a lot of Associated Press stuff, which means they might be short-handed. I’ll try them next week.

Many of you guys have commented on the list of blogs on the left. It’s a free service called Blog Rolling. It even checks those sites for updates. I had it move the most recently updated blogs to the top of the list and put a little *asterix next to it.

I’m a bit of a tech geek, but my taste in gizmos and gadgets is a little bit different than most. If something catches my eye, I go out of my way to get the latest and greatest version of it, and then use the crap out of it until it either breaks down or becomes ridiculously obsolete.

I’ve added two tech blogs to the list. Leo Laporte’s blog and Kevin Rose’s blog, both formerly of TechTV fame. If you have a blog or a web site you think I’d be interested in, let me know. I’m always love to see what other people are writing.

Well, it’s late. There’s an old Frank Sinatra movie, The Man with the Golden Arm on TV right now. I’m going to finish watching it and go to bed. So till tomorrow, ciao.