17 November

Return from New York

by Jon Katz

Loved this lunch shot at the hot dog palace nearby

  November 17, 2009 – We got back from New York City this afternoon.  It was a wild, exhausting and quite productive and wonderful trip. Stayed in Tribecca, at a small, quiet hotel. Breakfast with my agent. Lunch with my editor, who has accepted “Rose In A Storm” and is mulling a publication date. We agree that I would do a collection of short stories – fiction – about the connection people make with dogs when they enter their homes and lives. Tentatively called “When The Dog Came Home.”
  Saw three plays – “39 Steps,” “God Of Carnage,” and “Our Town” (Thornton Wilder).
  Saw many museums. The New Museum of Contemporary Art on the East Side, the Met, the Museum of Modern Art. Loved the Robert Franks exhibit there, saw “Madame X” by John Singer Sargent, and then spent hours in MOMA looking at photographs and paintings. Walked for many miles, all over SOHO, Chinatown (had Dim Sum there), Tribecca, the East and West Sides, across the  Brooklyn Bridge.
 We hung out with my daughter Emma, and went to movies and dinner with her. Found great Thai restaurants, ate with cab drivers at an Indian restaurant, walked the World Trade Center site and saw the new tower going up there. Had dinner with old friends, and some new ones. Rode the subway, walked, took cabs. Found great breakfast haunts. Maria found cheap places to buy stuff – first time I had ever seen her buy anything much. And she didn’t buy much.
  Loved NYC, and resolved to spend more time there. It’s not far away, and it was great to hang out with Em. Also happy to get back to the farm. Got a riotous greeting from the dogs. Frieda was generally good, only busted out once but returned shortly on her own. Didn’t eat anything as far as we know. Came home to laundry, e-mail, messages, bills, potholder orders. And novels and short stories due. Didn’t take many photos, but I liked a few and will post a couple.
  I hadn’t been to New York in awhile. I got my first job there, at the NYTimes. Worked for CBS News, Rolling Stone there. Lived there three times in my life. Got beat up and arrest there. Fell in love there. Covered riots there. Spent a lot of time there.
  I love the energy. Coming home, I love the quiet. I can have both.

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