BIRTH | John Ashbery

John Ashbery

July 28, 2020—Today is John Ashbery's birthday. I was privileged to live in the same building in Chelsea, Manhattan for half his life. We shared the management skills of an overqualified young woman who cleaned our apartments. 

He was a generous man, and did a reading an an exhibition of the art of Brigid Marlin. He had just published "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" (1974) and Brigid was similarly fascinated with convexity and had done several self-portraits of that nature. John Ashbery when I spoke with him was always thoughtful and instructive. 

Here is what Garrison Keillor says about him:

He was born in Rochester, New York (1927), and raised on a farm near Lake Ontario. He worked as an art critic in Paris and New York in the 1950s and '60s, and his poetry has been influenced by abstract expressionist art. It's also often called "difficult." "I'm quite puzzled by my work too, along with a lot of other people," he told Contemporary Authors. "I was always intrigued by it, but at the same time a little apprehensive and sort of embarrassed about annoying the same critics who are always annoyed by my work. I'm kind of sorry that I cause so much grief." He's won nearly every American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, and a MacArthur "Genius" grant. In 2009, he became the first living poet to be the subject of one of the Library of America's "Collected Poems of ..." series. The Oxonian Review remarked: "It is a fitting honour for a man whose decades-long reign as one of the high priests of the contemporary American poetry scene has always been something of a paradox. Having received nearly every major award for achievement in the humanities, he continues to incite considerable debate as to whether his poems 'mean' anything at all." Ashbery told the London Times: "I don't find any direct statements in life. My poetry imitates or reproduces the way knowledge or awareness come to me, which is by fits and starts and by indirection. I don't think poetry arranged in neat patterns would reflect that situation. My poetry is disjunct, but then so is life."

GYM MEMBERSHIPS | Disclosures, Cancellations

NY State Senator
Brad Hoylman
 (D-Chelsea, Manhattan)

February 29, 2020–I was pleased to see that New York State Senator Brad Hoylman (D-Chelsea, Manhattan) succeeded yesterday in getting his bill to protect users of commercial gyms through the State Senate.

Hoylman chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.

His legislation is called the "I Wanna Quit The Gym" bill. It will protect New Yorkers who sign up for gym memberships from Roach Motel-type contracts that you can get into easily but can't get out of.

The contracts automatically renew until you figure out the magic words that get you released from them. This curse is not restricted to gyms, but you have to start the remedies somewhere.

I remember how easy it was for me to sign up for a gym membership years ago in Chelsea. They had a card table outside the front door with balloons tied to the table and warm, welcoming signs. Anyone could sign me in. A signature and a check and I was a member. Smiles and welcomes all around. Same thing when I signed up for a trainer.

Years later, when my job and daily routine changed and I decided to exit, the situation was very different. I handed in my reservation the same way I signed up, at the membership desk. But the monthly bills continued to come.

I went back to the branch and I talked to several people. The membership manager looked puzzled about how on earth to make this happen, as if I was the first person ever to ask for this. She even called a meeting together with several other people from the branch, to see if together they could figure out how to address this challenging request. In retrospect, forgive me for my thinking that she was showing them all how to talk to people who want to resign. Chat them up without giving them the information they need.

It turned out that I could not resign at the branch where I was gladly signed up. I had to follow a complex sequence involving a registered letter to an address that no one could remember.  

By the time I discovered what to do, in stages, several months had passed and I never was refunded the money for the months when I was no longer using the gym and was still paying for it. I still remember vividly at being rankled at the asymmetry of joining versus resigning.

"Exercising regularly is tiring enough," Hoylman said in promoting his bill. "New Yorkers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops simply to quit their gym and join another." You can say that again.

Senator Hoylman's bill will require gyms to disclose details about pricing and provide easy ways to cancel service.

At the very least, there should be symmetry between signing up and cancelation. If you can sign up at the branch, you should be able to cancel at the branch. If you have to send a registered letter to an obscure address to resign, they should make it just as difficult to sign up so you remember the drill.

As Hoylman said: "Too many gyms, subscription boxes and other companies use misleading offers and promotions to lock unwitting customers into long-term contracts that are ridiculously difficult to get out of. I’m grateful to Leader Andrea-Stewart Cousins for passing this strong consumer protection legislation that will help save New Yorkers money."

Bravo, Senator. It's about time. Now the bill goes to Assembly Member Dinowitz to push through the Assembly.

WELLESLEY '66 | At Agora Gallery to See Margret Carde's Art

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Classmates assemble at home of Hachikō (fur ball far left) and Alice Tepper Marlin '66 (far right).
Photos by John Tepper Marlin, who sometimes writes about the #ArtBiz with that hashtag...

Wellesley is famed for its alumnae networking,
and the Class of 1966 is no slouch in that department.

Wellesley group in front of the Agora gallery.

Margret Carde, Wellesley '66, was one of the artists in the "Life Is But a Dream" Exhibition at the Agora Gallery at 530 West 25th Street.

This is near the High Line in the Chelsea area of New York City.

The show opened on May 22 and on Thursday May 24 had a reception for the New York City art community. The show continues through June 12, 2018.

The buzz at the gallery during the visit by the Wellesley class visit was voluble. The Thursday evening time slot is popular among the throngs of Chelsea gallery-trippers.

Margret peers out from among a group of
admirers of her art.

The Agora Gallery was founded in 1984 by an artist. 

It uses an innovative membership approach, allowing newcomers or mid-career artists access to the gallery scene in New York on a cooperative basis.

The membership revenue allows the gallery to require a lower sales commission on art than is currently asked by most upscale gallery owners in New York City.

Alice with Margret, in front of
one of Margret's paintings.

Margret says she creates her ephemeral, pastel-colored scenes inspired by her "emotional experiences and the thrill of viewing open land and sea."

After the gallery visit, the class group regrouped for dinner at the Red Cat Café, a block away on Tenth Avenue.

Other posts on the Wellesley College Class of 1966: Longhouse Reserve 2015. 50th Reunion 2016. Eclipse 2017.

CHELSEA | June 4–Rally to Save Oldest House

This house was a major stop for Harriet Tubman and others who aided fugitive slaves from the south.

I have written about it before on this blog and on Huffington Post (65 "Likes").

Rally is June 4 at 2 PM.

This is the only building in the Underground Railway left in Manhattan. Support the preservation of what is left in New York City of the Underground Railway. 

Location Hunting in New York City

King Kong Hugs the Empire State Building

I posted something on a hunt I engaged in with Alice and a friend of ours in Paris last year. We were looking for the locations of scenes in "Midnight in Paris". The post has had quite few visits.  But right here in New York City there are so many possibilities for location hunting. I found out that tours are conducted with that theme.

Here are some of the locations that tour groups look for:
- Tiffany's, where Audrey Hepburn decided "nothing bad can happen here".
- The building where Superman rescues Lois Lane
- The Empire State Building, from which King Kong fights off airplanes
- The building from "Friends"
- Central Park where Robert Redford went barefoot
- The place where Spider Man fights the Green Goblin
- The spot where Marilyn Monroe's skirt blew up
- The place where the ghost scare starts in Ghost Busters
- The numerous court buildings around Chambers Street where "Law and Order" is filmed
- Or the Chelsea streets near the "Law and Order" studios where the crimes are tracked down

What's your favorite New York City location?