Yohoshua Day One: Museums

When Yohoshua and Lizzie, his sister, arrived on Friday I knew we were in for a wild week. There cell phone didn't work and they had no way of getting in contact with anyone for more that a staic-filled minute. When they called me to tell me they were at Penn Station and heading to Sam at 2:30 all seemed to be good. But by 4 they had not yet reached Sam's and I had images of Joshua cheerfully following a homeless man down a tunnel or somehow managing to get off a train in the Bronx. But all was well and he did eventually show up.

I had plans to meet Kareem for breakfast on Saturday. I then got a call from Yohosh saying they were headed to the Guggenheim. I knew the two guys would want to hang out, so I arranged that we all meet at the Gugg (as Kareem calls it). I was so excited to not only see Kareem, but Michelle Weiner as well! Weiner had been our original link, when she had stayed at my shared apartment years ago. We caught up on her job at a Synagogue (The Gogue) and Kareem's Kenya plans while we waited for Yohosh and Lizzie to show up. Yohosh came running from a side street, signature blck shirt but with black pants! The khakis are gone! We all ended up at EJ's with some of Kareem and Weiner's other friends (they are in for a wedding).

After a long lunch, Yohosh, Lizzie and I headed over to the Gugg. I haven't been to many shows here, really only the Richard Prince exhibit, which was interesting as a retrospective but I didn't personally love it. The current, and soon to close, Cai Guo-Qiang has some interesting pieces which caused me to wince more than genuflect. There was a river in the middle of a gallery which kids pushing themselves down the water in a yak-skin canoe and snakes in lit up bags and yellow birds in cages. Odd. I did like the central exhibit inspired by car bombs, and the (thank god not real) stuffed wolves leaping into a glass wall. I was excited to see such a political show all together. There was also an exhibit of students' work through the Gugg's Learning Through Art progra, which I really enjoyed. While viewing the students' work, I ran into Kiva. KIVA! We hadn't spoken since that fateful freegan day all those years ago. She seems good, and we had a nice if slightly awkward time catching up. By the time we left each other Yohosh and Lizzie were already downstairs and ready to go so I was sved from the really boring pieces at the top of the museum.

From there we took a little walk through Central Park and headed to the Met. By far the best exhibit we saw was Jeff Koons' show on the roof. It was a beautiul day, which a gorgeous view, and tasty cocktails named after the three Koons pieces. I got the Coloring Book and Lizzie drank a Yellow Dog, in the national spirit Josh got a Coke. We stopped on the roof 3 times between exhibits so that we wouldn't miss the sunset. We went together through the different galleries we each chose; Josh loved the sculptures, Lizzie enjoyed the modern and pop art sections, and I managed to squeeze in some photography. Of course, we didn't miss the superheroes fashion exhibit, which was ok but not as exciting as the previous blog fashion exhibiton.

Our feet were killing us, and it was somehow after 8 when we left the Met. We headed West and South down to Greenwich Village for some (in my opinion) shabby Mexican but Lizzie, who's only just started eating Mexican food this week, thought it was wonderful. I guess it is a somewhat American (in the largest sense of the continents) treat and who am I to say no to a burrito? By the end of the meal jet lag had caught up with them and I was exhausted as well. We went off our separate ways; Lizzie and me to sleep, Josh to find Sam and get a drink. We'll see if he's still woozy this morning :)