Working from "home"

Only two recordings today, and they've happened at our hotel and so Rose and I got to have a nice day of working from "home." Our hotel has a most wonderful patio and I was able to spend most of my non-recording time out there, enjoying the New Mexico heat.

For lunch we just walked out of our hotel and found The Grove Cafe and Market, where I enjoyed the Farmer's Salad: mixed greens, golden beets, asparagus, yellow pepper, tomato, marcona almonds, goat cheese and a lemon basil vinaigrette.

It was really yummy, even though it was wet goat cheese, which is not my favorite. For dinner we went to a nearby pizzeria, but I didn't take a picture and the food wasn't that great and thus: they don't get to be here.

All in all, though, a good productive day in Albuquerque.

New Mexico Redux

In Albuquerque, NM for days of recording, this time with Rose, this time actually recording in a Middle School inside a Navajo reservation.
Today though, we recorded in Crownpoint, NM, at an elementary school. During lunch hour, I just crossed the street to get me some Navajo Fry Bread. Essentially just a bunch of food trucks (and they all sell the same things) park on this expanse. It's not like there's a lot of traffic, but there's just enough.

 

I felt a little out of place and "outsider-y" so I went for a truck that looked clean, but not too crowded. 

I went for your regular old fry bread, which looks a lot like my own Dominican yaniqueque: flour, eggs, water fried on oil. Sprinkle some salt. It tastes pretty similar, but it really is not quite the same. 

And because I don't know the next time I'll be around one of these trucks I had me what they call a veggie "Navajo Taco." On a bed of fry bread you get pinto beans, lettuce, cheese tomatoes. It was delicious, super delicious.

I also "got to" drive back from Crownpoint to Albuquerque, where we are spending the night.

That's So Raven!

So, Mi Cariño's closest friend Kristie and her love Emily are in town - which is a great excuse to not do anything work related today, as it's a long weekend! Well, for regular people. I'll be working on Memorial Day, but that's no reason to not enjoy today!

We got up around 7am, which is pretty early for a Saturday, and took the subway to the Great White Way - we wanted to get cheap tickets to see "Once" on Broadway, which I've been dying to see, and it happens that it's one of Emily's favorite movies too. I figured 8am arrival would be okay, although secretly I wanted to be THERE at 7. But since I needed Mi Cariño with me, and the last time I made her wait in line at a Broadway cheap ticket line the 7am arrival wasn't needed, I compromised and moved it up one hour. I wish I had had the wherewithal to take a picture of the line when I arrived! Days with matinees get a long line, but there were at least 30 people ahead of me. And there was no way to know if everyone was interested in one ticket or two. So, Mi Cariño and I decided to go for a sure thing and we walked over to Sister Act, which is another musical I've been wanting to see, but not something that was really a priority.

Regardless, we got there with barely people on the line, and we scored sweet cheap tickets on the first row, smack dab center. The main character would be played by Raven Symone, and so we figured, eh, it would be fun! And it was. Somewhat. We got matinee tickets, arrived just in time for show to begin, and enjoyed Raven's acting - her style suited the slapstick thing the show had going. The problem: the songs were all original. They didn't sing any of the awesome renditions used in the movie. And to make matters worse, the original songs weren't that great: they lacked that whole gospel-y but hip thing that the songs from the movie have. It was good for a laugh, though, and it was nice to be right there.

After the show, we made our way down to Union Square even though it was pouring, so that we could eat at S'Mac. I got a surprise Mac'n'Cheese, since I had a moment of disconnect from when I was looking at the Menu and voicing what I wanted. This thing had figs in it and what not. But it was good and tasty nonetheless.

Future Master of Social Work

Got an email yesterday from Silberman - I've been accepted! I don't know how I feel about this yet. I can't say anything at work until I decide if I can actually afford to go to school, afford to leave my job... regardless, mi Cariño sent me this lovely puppy to celebrate. It's a pretty competitive program, and the only program I applied to, so allow me this moment of bragging happiness.

Huzzah!

Crossroads

So, back in February I applied to the Silberman school of social work at Hunter College. After almost three years of working at StoryCorps, I started looking for the next step, what was going to happen next. Today, I interviewed at Silberman. Silberman is the only school of social work that actually interviews its applicants.
About 9 of us were in this room with one of the Silberman professors. We talked about ourselves, trying to sell our experience and making it sound like we were great for Social Work. I was nervous as hell, hearing all of the other applicants talk about their experiences and their psychology and sociology degrees. I tried to keep telling myself that this was a room full of potential social workers - they'll be nice, right?
And everyone was nice, really, although the experience was still nerve wracking. I was pleased that the professor had heard of StoryCorps, and it made me feel validated. I feel like I presented myself in a professional manner... hell, I dressed up and everything! Silberman is not at the old 68th street Hunter campus, which I'm glad about - everything was new and shiny since they've only been using that building for a year.
I don't know. I don't know if they'll let me in. I don't know if I want to be in. This could completely change my life.

Participant Recommendations

On our last day of recording in Syracuse, one of our participants spoke about the Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, in Cazanovia, NY - about an hour away from Syracuse proper. So the moment that work finished, the three of us piled up on the car and headed over.

Cazanovia is what you picture when you say "small suburbian town." We drove past main street before making it to the Art Park.

After spending some hours around, we drove back to Cazenovia proper, walking around "Main Street searching for what to eat. We eventually decided on The Lincklaen House. The place was chock full since apparently one of the local High Schools was having prom, and the kids were using the outside steps for pictures. One couple even were having dinner in the restaurant area, and the three of us struggled to not "aww" at them during their date. I enjoyed having Grand Marnier Salmon - pan seared Atlantic Salmon with sauteed spinach rice pilaf and a grand marnier butter sauce. It was quite delicious and I ate every bit of that.

After dinner we continued walking around main street, getting an ice cream first, we went off to Lakeland Park to look at Cazenovia Lake. 

Today, we were up early to take the plane back to New York. I said goodbye to Syracuse by watching some Golden Girls. Not a bad visit at all. 

Hello Nature!

Our third day in Syracuse, we tried to do something fun after work, so right after our last recording we hightailed it to Clark Reservation State Park to enjoy some nature and me time.

Commanding nature. 

After all that nature bonding we were ready for food. We tried to get some Mexican, but the place was chock full and super busy and with an over 40 minute wait and so we moved on to the next door neighbor, Munjed's Middle Eastern Cafe. The place's decor made me a little nervous, but the food was tasty enough. I had a combo plate that combined some hummus, lamb gyro meat, spanakopita, and some greek salad.

It was worth it, and tasty. Not a bad day in Syracuse.

Hello Syracuse!

Mariel and I took one of the newest Facils on her first trip - kinda local but there were planes involved. Welcome to Syracuse!
The flight there from NY is short - we spent more time waiting for the plane than on the plane itself, I felt. Once we arrived though, we went out in the search of food. We decided on Eva's European Sweets, a Polish Restaurant, which apparently has been around forever.

The place had a really funky vibe, with about a gazillion knicknacks on top of every available surface.

We chose to share an order of the potato pancakes, and each ordered a different set of pierogi's.

The potato pancakes made me wish we weren't sharing an order. My pierogi's were the potato and mushroom and frankly I wasn't too wowed by them, but I did taste Mariel's and Katie's and they were delish.

After food, Katie and I went to the Erie Canal Museum to kill time while Mariel went off with the car. We got to see replicas of Canal boats

And other nifty things about the Canal. We finished the evening by walking around downtown Syracuse, were we saw some woman putting these "hats" on these sculptures:

 We couldn't figure out the point, but they looked cute.

All in all, not a bad first day in Syracuse.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Finally it's Cesar and Bruce's Wedding! It was the event of the year, for sure: ceremony in Queens, party time on Broadway.
Everyone was dressed to the nines, everyone wore lovely hats. The grooms looked perfect, with Cesar wearing a most perfect train. Some pictures!