Trip to Manhattan with Nephew. By Geniusofdespair

J is my 16 year old nephew. We took him to the City without his parents! And, yes, he shook Anna’s hand bare-handed (see my post yesterday). I will let you know if he develops the bird flu.

I wanted to show J the men playing speed-chess in Washington Square Park most of all. The cold drizzle fizzled that idea. So we showed him the “Bitter End” where Bob Dylan played. J had never heard of Bob Dylan. We gave him a crash course in music as we knew it and got into an argument as to whether Bob Dylan should be classified as folk. It was tense but I think “Not Folk” won out because of that incident with the electric guitar at Newport.

Somewhere along the line I decided J needed a crash course on just about everything. I started talking about blacklisting, Edward R. Murrow and Eugene McCarthy until I realized I meant “Joe” McCarthy. At least I didn't call him Charlie McCarthy (which I am sure J would have found infinitely more interesting as he likes ventriloquists a lot). (Press read more)

We brought him to Chinatown and taught him how to bargain. he offered $8 on a $10 object and got it. Lesson learned. He and I had cannolis at Ferrara's in Little Italy (which was the highlight of my day).

After lunch we went to see a Guttenberg Bible and lectured J on moveable type. He was a good sport. He listened politely. I made him look up a lot. I didn't want him to miss any ornate ceilings. J didn’t seem that interested in Van Gogh’s letters written in French even though they were translated. But he was impressed and surprised that the paintings and drawings above them were real. We discussed how much they could be worth. This conversation was right up his alley. You could see the wheels turning. I think he was weighing the consequences of stuffing a small Van Gogh drawing in his sweatshirt or was he just imagining how many video games he could buy with it?

We talked about robber barons (we were in the J.P. Morgan Library/Museum after all) and lost J’s interest completely as we argued over whether comparisons could be made with Bill Gates. J made fun of a Matisse drawing, my favorite artist by the way. I think he was surprised that I could identify the artist from across the room.

All and all we had a good day with Nephew J who was very tolerant of his uncle and aunt. We put him on a train back to Long Island with visions of Morgan, McCarthy and Dylan dancing in his head.