Actress/comedian/writer Wendy Spero, author of Microthrills: True Stories from a Life of Small Highs, was supposed to perform last week at Makor with Annabelle Gurwitch and Beth Lapides in a night offering “Dispatches from the L.A. Literati” with three former New Yorkers. Unfortunately, Wendy had to cancel at the last minute due to “emergency gum surgery"—a bad break for someone who tries to make a living by talking. The show went on, as it always does, so for now you’ll just have to be entertained by her in the written form until the next time she makes it back here.
How many years, apartments and what neighborhoods have you lived in NY/LA?
NY: I grew up in a small one bedroom apartment with my mother on the Upper East Side, in Yorkville, and I was there until I left for college. After college I moved into a three-bedroom, six floor walk-up on 95th and Madison and lived there for many years with at least twenty different roommates - all vaguely sketchy - from Craig’s List. Eventually I moved to Park Slope near this fabulous pottery store that also sells finger puppets - The Clay Pot. There were a lot of babies in that neighborhood, and I’m fairly baby-obsessed, so that worked out well. And those babies were slightly more down-to-earth than than the babies on Madison. But Tasti-D-Lite hadn’t yet come to Brooklyn and that was a bummer.
LA: I’ve been living in West Hollywood for two years now.
What’s your best (or worst) NYC taxi/LA freeway story?
NY: A few months ago I went to NYC and left my suitcase in the trunk of a taxi. I had a mild meltdown, and called “311” - the lost and found department - and this woman was like, “I’m going to need you to take a deep breath, ma’am. Okay...I’m going to tranfer you...but I will stay with you. I WILL stay with you. We will find your bag.” She treated it like a “911” call. She contacted the taxi company and the cab drove back with my bag the next day.
LA: I once accidentally went on a freeway. (I recently learned how to drive and would never ever dare purposely go on a freeway). It was a very “Clueless” moment, and my instinct was to get out of the car and yell for help, but I remained relatively calm and luckily it was very backed up, and I got off at the next exit.
What era, day or event in NY/LA’s history would you like to re-live?
NY: I’d like to relive Halloween in the 80’s as a child in New York City. I lived in a high-rise apartment building, and I got to trick or treat by riding up and down the elevator - all while wearing socks. I never had to wear a puffy jacket over my costume or ruin a look with a clunky pair of snow boots.
LA: I think there was a day last year when it rained. No mudslides or anything, just your basic rain. It was cozy. I’d like more rain.
Describe that low, low moment when you thought you just might have to leave NY/LA for good.
NY: I was working as an assistant for this executive-y guy in an office as a day job. One day I spilled French dressing on his message pad. Then I got eyeshadow glitter all over his budget reports for the fifth time. I knew I wasn’t capable of working in an office anymore and had to change my life and learn how to drive and move to LA, where there seemed to be more acting gigs.
LA: I just got to LA. Well, two years ago, but it feels like a few months. I haven’t had to leave yet, but when I do, perhaps, leave for good, I’m not sure it would be a low moment.
What was your best dining experience in NY/LA?
NY: For my (I think it was 10th) birthday I went to a restaurant called Woods with my grandparents. And they befriended a tall woman with a protruding jaw who was seated nearby. She said she was a singer. She eventually joined our table and sang “happy birthday” to me. After we left, a waiter came running after us, asking what it was like to talk to Carly Simon. We didn’t know who that was, but it was exhilarating to know that I had had contact with an actual famous person. My second best dining experience was when I was like, five, and I went to the Tavern on The Green with my grandfather and had eggs benedict. I remember being very uncomfortable in my tights - they were falling down in rolly bunches towards my ankle. But it was the fanciest place I’d ever seen, and someone there gave me a maroon balloon towards the end of the evening.
LA: All sushi places are orgasmic.
With a nod to Milton Glaser/Randy Newman, how much do you really love NY/LA?
NY: I love New York more than words in a Q&A could ever express.
LA: Not that much. A little. I love it a little.
What happened the last time you went to LA/NY?
LA: I took a door off of a Mercedes on Melrose.
NY: I got a 103 fever ON the plane there. I spent a week in my mother’s very cluttered apartment without internet and I couldn’t watch TV because my mother’s set is below the rim of the bed, so you have to be sitting perfectly upright to view anything. Then I got pink eye at JFK on the way back.
If you could change one thing about NY/LA, what would it be?
NY: I would make it a thirty minute train ride from LA.
LA: I’d demand people walk on the streets, so I could properly people-watch.
The End of The World is finally happening. What are you going to do with your last 24 hours in NY/LA?
NY: Get stoned, go to Dylan’s candy bar, and then rummage through the stuffed animals at FAO Shwartz.
LA: Sit on the trolly at The Grove mall and marvel at the fountain while eating a super ripe peach from the farmer’s market. In February.
Is your baby having trouble napping? You’re not alone. We received a number of emails and comments this week from parents with nap-related questions. In the week’s edition of Ask the Parenting Center, 92nd Street Y Parenting Center Director Sally Tannen offers nap advice.
First, the questions:
Jane: I am sleep-training my second child (4 months). The sleep training went well for both for the nighttime, but naps are a nightmare. My first cried through every nap and never fell asleep until 1 year of age. Now my second is doing the same. I have tried nursing him to sleep and laying him down awake, but drowsy. How do I get him to nap?
Brian: We have a 10-month-old who sleeps thru the night (7:30 to 6:30 am). We have followed Dr. Weissbluth’s book since she was 4 months old. Our problem is with naps. She only sleeps for 30-45 min (around 9:00 and 1:00). We have to put her down fully asleep or she cries for almost an hour before sleeping for 30 min. What can we do to improve naps?
Thanks,
Brian
Cristiane: I have a 7-month-old daughter who sleeps pretty well at night. We put her down between 6:15 and 6:45pm. She usually wakes up once at midnight for a bottle and goes right back to sleep. She has even started to sleep through the night a couple of times. She then wakes up between 6am and 7am. My problem is with daytime naps. She had gotten into a schedule of down at 8:30am sleeping for 45-60 minutes and then again at 12:30 sleeping for 1 or even 2 hours. Recently though, about one hour after waking up, she is sleepy again, but if I try to put her down before 8:30am, she WAKES UP! She only sleeps for 45 minutes at the most, sometimes only 30 minutes. She then gets sleepy again at 11am. Again, if I try to put her down before 12:30, she wakes up! Although she is crabby until 12:30. She has also started to only sleep for 30 minutes. When she wakes up too early from a nap, should I let her cry back to sleep? I tried once and had a wailing child! I have tried the late afternoon nap, but that is impossible. It was fine at 5 months, but she no longer wants it. I also find that if she does take even a 30-minute third nap, it interferes with an easy bedtime. Thanks!
The response:
Sally Tannen: A few parents have recently asked questions about naps. For infants, there is really no such thing as a nap, until 3 or 4 months of age. Newborns cry for all sorts of reasons, none of which you can control. As they get older, the naps will start to regulate and you will be able to recognize that magic moment when your baby is getting drowsy. They will get slightly quiet, they will start to stare off, and they will become calmer. Some babies do better on a schedule, where they’re home, and the baby is in the crib at the same time every day, lights off, etc. And others are content to nap in the stroller while you are out and about. It’s probably true that the quality of the nap is better at home rather than in the stroller, but I think it’s a matter of knowing what your baby needs and responding accordingly!
Sally Tannen
Director, 92nd Street Y Parenting Center
Gothamist goes cuckoo for cocoa and points us toward New York magazine’s roundup of the best hot chocolate spots in the city. We have a few “research” ideas to help you augment the list.
Neil deGrasse Tyson caught our attention recently when the Discovery Channel aired a special during its “Armageddon Week” about the most likely ways the world could end. Fun stuff like a doomsday asteroid, global warming, super volcano, black hole, nuclear war and robots inheriting the Earth made the list. Tyson was one of the most engaging speakers on the program and he had us on the edge of our seats (but holding tight with a firm grip) as he described how we’d be sucked into the sky, limb by limb, if a black hole ever got too close. We should note this scenario terrified us the most since Earth, even our entire solar system, would surrender to the gravitational pull as well and no longer exist. While the other end times possibilities are no less encouraging, at least there would be a planet around even if it took thousands of years to be inhabitable again. Tyson comes to the Y on Thursday with Robert Krulwich to discuss Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries. Get a seat, glue not required.
One indisputable fact of New York life is that it’s teeming with high-powered, talented people who are attracted to the city’s energy. A lot of these people end up speaking at the 92nd Street Y.
That’s why, the next time you’re in town, I suggest you go to the Y Web site and see who’s on tap for the week. Tickets are often available at the door. It’s a quick subway ride uptown on the No. 6 train. There are lots of decent restaurants in the neighborhood.
Grab a bite to eat, then go hear someone unbelievably interesting and smart. With most lectures costing $25, it’s much cheaper than a Broadway show and just a few dollars more than the Nova Scotia salmon and cream cheese on a toasted bagel at the Carnegie Deli.
As you leave the building after an invigorating evening and prepare to hail a cab to go back to your hotel, you can say to yourself, “This is New York!”
We’ll restrain ourselves from excerpting the entire article. Check it out.
The final installment of this season’s Reel Pieces series with Dr. Annette Insdorf took place last Thursday with special guest Edward Norton. It was the 20th anniversary season of the series and the 25th year of Dr. Insdorf’s involvement with the Y. This past December, the Y’s Charles Simon Center for Adult Life & Learning held a special benefit dinner in honor of both Insdorf and 25-year Y veteran Jeff Greenfield (more on him later). The below tribute to Insdorf was screened that evening and features Sir Ben Kingsley and Holly Hunter.
If you missed out on this season of Reel Pieces, subscriptions for next season will be on sale in August. They go fast.
Canonist‘s Steven I. Weiss, friend of the 92Y Blog, launched a new blog today—Iconia—that expands his focus on religion into the arts. He writes:
Iconia is a blog about the intersection of religion and art, authored by Menachem Wecker. It’s the first of what will hopefully be several specialty blogs to launch under the Canonist banner. Wecker is a journalist who has covered art and religion for numerous publications, and is a past associate editor of B’nai Brith Magazine. Besides his regular arts columns in The Jewish Press and his gig at DCist, Wecker has written for such publications as NYArts Magazine, New York Press, the Forward, American Jewish Life, the Arlington Catholic Herald, and the Arab American News. He is a graduate of CampusJ, and was Arts & Culture Editor for the Yeshiva University Commentator while an undergraduate.
Looks like a great start with a diverse collection of news roundups and interviews.
The 92nd Street Y/Makor also has plenty of its own faith/arts programming. Check out ongoing events in the Makor Gallery, Artists-in-Residence and later this week, Siona Benjamin talks about her Jewish-Indian Art.
Violinist Jennifer Koh will join pianist Reiko Uchida here February 14 for a special concert that includes the New York premiere of a new work written for them by Jennifer Higdon. As a musician with a lively interest in writing and literature, Koh always has interesting things to say about the works she performs. We asked her for her thoughts on the February 14 program below and she obliged with these audio program notes.
JANÁČEK: Sonata for Violin and Piano
SCHUBERT: Sonatina for Violin and Piano in D Major
HIGDON: String Poetic New Work (92nd Street Y Co-Commission, New York Premiere)
KURTÁG: Selections from Signs, Games, and Messages
SCHUMANN: Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in D minor, Op. 121
Download the MP3 [8.7 MB]
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Spiritual Journeys: Informal and participatory group explores themes of each Jewish month through unique imagery exercises, learning and sharing, created and led by Rabbi Joyce Reinitz, ACSW
China and Her Neighbors: Tibet with Karl Debreczeny, curatorial fellow at the Rubin Museum of Art and a specialist in Sino-Tibetan art and history
An 80th Birthday Tribute to Galway Kinnell with Robert Bly, E. L. Doctorow, Mark Doty, Cornelius Eady, Edward Hirsch, Marie Howe, Yusef Komunyakaa, Anne Marie Macari, Sharon Olds, Grace Paley, Gerald Stern and C.K. Williams. This is a free event at Cooper Union.
Shabbat Synagogue Sampler: Spend the first Saturday morning each month at a different Manhattan synagogue, guided by the rabbinic staff of the 92nd Street Y Bronfman Center for Jewish Life.
Matthieu Ricard on Happiness: World-famous Buddhist monk who left France, where he had a promising career in cellular genetics, to study Buddhism in the Himalayas 35 years ago.
Body Language Analysis: Stephen Colbert vs. Bill O’Reilly
Body language expert Tonya Reiman knows how to read nonverbal cues, and no one offers richer material for such analysis than modern-day TV news personalities. She’ll be here at the Y in March for a workshop on how to master your body language—but for a preview, watch below for her insightful analysis of Bill O’Reilly’s “tongue protrusion” and Stephen Colbert’s finger-pointing.
New York Times “Critical Shopper” columnist Alex Kuczynski has lived in New York long enough to experience “extra room” dreams—a phenomenon Adam Gopnik mentioned here Tuesday night. She has also experienced Botox as a former “cosmetic surgery addict,” and writes about it in detail in her book Beauty Junkies. Today, she refuses to even use nail polish. She’ll be here Monday night with a diverse panel to discuss Why Smart Women Still Care About Their Looks. But first, she takes on the 92YQ.
How many years, apartments and in what neighborhoods have you lived in NYC?
In college, from 1986 to 1990, Barnard and Columbia dorms, and two sublet apartments. Then Red Hook, Brooklyn. My boyfriend would meet me at the subway stop and walk me home to the occasional lullaby of automatic weapons fire. Prince Street for about a minute. Then Gramercy Park, in a studio apartment with a Murphy bed that folded out of the wall. During the entire time I lived there, I had this recurring dream: I would open the door to my closet and it was actually an enormous extra new room! Then I would wake up and be bitterly, bitterly disappointed. Then I moved to the Upper East Side, 81st and Lexington. The woman who had lived in it before me died in bed there, but that didn’t bother me. She must have had good karma. Then I moved to a new apartment with my husband. So, in 20 years, seven apartments.
What’s your best (or worst) NYC taxi story?
A very young, and obviously new, driver was at the wheel of the taxi. He was a lousy driver and he had no idea where he was going. I said, Buddy, you are way too young and way too inexperienced to be driving this taxi. Stop the car. He did. He thought I was going to get out. I went to the driver’s side and told him to move over and let me drive. To my amazement, he did! I drove myself home, with him next to me on the front seat, looking utterly bewildered. When I got out, I gave him a big tip. And my doorman was plenty surprised.
What’s your New York motto?
Seize the day. Because when you’re dead, you’re dead for a r-e-a-l-l-y long time.
Describe that low, low moment when you thought you just might have to leave NYC for good.
I’ve never had that moment! Should I have had that moment?
Who do you consider to be the greatest New Yorker of all time?
David Dinkins, because he married me and my husband in our apartment. And then, when my sister accidentally signed her name on the marriage certificate where it read, “Bride,” instead of the line that read “Witness,” he very kindly ran around our apartment trying to find White-Out.
What was your best dining experience in NYC?
Discovering Greek yogurt with honey and nuts at Likitsakos Greek Market on Lexington Avenue and 80th Street. Discovering the delicious salad at Café Boulud: frisee, bacon and a warm egg right in the middle. Discovering the Grand Marnier prawns at Shun Lee West. Discovering La Creme Cremaillere pistachio ice cream, and then discovering that it’s made in New York out of the famous La Cremaillere restaurant in Bedford. Getting a house account at 21. Even though I never use it, I have it, and that makes me feel very grown up. My most nerve-wracking dining experience was at E.A.T. and I sat down right next to Jerry Seinfeld, and then realized who I was sitting next to, and then I felt terribly awkward, because I didn’t want him to think I was some sort of stalker who had intentionally chosen that seat so I could sit next to him. So, if you’re reading this, Jerry Seinfeld: I didn’t mean to sit next to you! I had no idea that was you! In any event, the whole thing was so upsetting I couldn’t even eat my soup.
Of all the movies made about or highly associated with New York, what role would you have liked to be cast in?
If Roy Scheider had had a girlfriend in Marathon Man, I would have liked to play that role. (Roy Scheider, of course, being New York’s greatest iconic leading man—you know, slightly worried, slightly intellectual but really physically fit. Remember the scene of him doing the push-ups off the side of the bed in his boxer shorts in his Paris hotel room???) Unfortunately, he didn’t.
What happened the last time you went to L.A.?
I signed copies of my book at a bookstore in Beverly Hills. The publicist arranged to have cookies with the book’s cover image imprinted on the front. She told me they would be “keepsake” cookies for the audience. I asked her why they would be “keepsake” cookies. She said, “Because no one in L.A. actually EATS cookies.”
If you could change one thing about New York, what would it be?
The fact that it’s so far from Ketchum, Idaho, my other favorite place.
True, it’s not even February, but this is the best time to register your child for summer camp, or apply to be a camp counselor. The 92nd Street Y’s Camps in Rockland County have a program tailor-made for your child’s interests and needs, but they fill up fast. See the video below for the full tour.
We held a special reception for a diverse group of New York City bloggers on Tuesday night before Adam Gopnik and Patty Marx of The New Yorker gave a playful talk on what they love and hate about living in New York. It’s a topic that bonds us all as we stand around its bottomless well, throw wooden nickels in and hope subsidized rent wishes come true. Thumbs up: the tons of options available 24 hours a day even if you choose not to leave your apartment. Thumbs down: rats. Adam and Patty comfortably mingled with the bloggers (Patty: Don’t you people know there’s a State of the Union tonight? Blogger: Tivo.) and the bloggers did their best to navigate a room without name tags. (We’ll fix that next time.) Check out roundups from Huffington Post’s Eat The Press, Galleycat, Emdashes, Lux Lotus and Culturebot. Here are pictures from the evening though we admit they are largely washed-out and of poor quality. Next time we need to make sure to invite photobloggers.
Felix Salmon (right) asks Adam Gopnik (center) if he would accept a one-on-one lunch invitation from a random reader. Probably not, but late afternoon coffee is possible. Very French of him.
Is your baby waking up too early? In this week’s edition of Ask the Parenting Center, 92nd Street Y Parenting Center Director Sally Tannen addresses an email we received from 92Y Blog reader Jeanna.
Jeanna: My son is 14 months old. I have used Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child from the time he was 3 months old and everything I’ve tried has worked… up to this point. He is waking up too early—5-5:30am every day. I don’t believe he is getting enough sleep because he is clingy and grumpy and can barely stay awake until Nap 1 at 9am. He has a good “to bed” routine—dinner, bath, story time, then bed that starts at 5pm, so he is usually down, asleep by 6:30pm. No wake-ups in the night, just early start in the AM. I don’t go to him until 6am, but he still wakes up too early. This has been going on for about 2 months. I’ve tried keeping him awake until 7pm (once), but he woke up even earlier the next morning. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeanna
Sally Tannen: Jeanna,
It sounds like you are doing everything right.
Try putting some books in his crib so he can look at them when he wakes up. It’s great that you are not going to him right away. You may just need to go to bed earlier yourself while he is in this phase. Nothing lasts forever!
Does This Look Like the Happiest Man In the World?
From an article published earlier in the week on UK’s The Independent:
To scientists, he is the world’s happiest man. His level of mind control is astonishing and the upbeat impulses in his brain are off the scale.
Now Matthieu Ricard, 60, a French academic-turned-Buddhist monk, is to share his secrets to make the world a happier place. The trick, he reckons, is to put some effort into it. In essence, happiness is a “skill” to be learned.
His advice could not be more timely as tomorrow Britain will reach what, according to a scientific formula, is the most miserable day of the year. Tattered new year resolutions, the faded buzz of Christmas, debt, a lack of motivation and the winter weather conspire to create a peak of misery and gloom.
But studies have shown that the mind can rise above it all to increase almost everyone’s happiness. Mr Ricard, who is the French interpreter for Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, took part in trials to show that brain training in the form of meditation can cause an overwhelming change in levels of happiness.
Actress/comedian/writer 
New York Times “Critical Shopper” columnist 
