After negotiating the sale of some old furniture, we walked to the Morris-Jumel mansion, where the new rose garden was in full bloom.
The grounds of the mansion are constantly improving; the last time we were here, they were just installing the brick borders of the garden beds. Now, they already seem as if they've been here for a long time, which is always a sign of a good gardening decision.
Stephen mentioned to the supervising gardener that we lived (and gardened) a block away. "Oh, that's a rough neighborhood," the gardener said. The conversation did not last much longer, as you might expect.
The path along the eastern edge of the grounds has been completely transformed, with the addition of climbing roses and other flowers.
The air smelled like roses.
A vegetable garden has been installed in the northeast section of the grounds, which gets full sunlight and does not seem to be a rough neighborhood.
THe front of the mansion still needs some work, but with everything else happening on the grounds, it was easy to be optimistic.
We walked east on Count Basie Place to Paul Robeson Boulevard.
I admired an old apartment palace on the corner, which I once used as the setting for an unpublished novel I wrote. I always thought it would have been an interesting building to live in, thanks to its views of the East River and the Bronx.
On 155th Street -- now in the heart of Sugar Hill -- a bus passed filled with tourists, no doubt enjoying the perfect day and soaking in the local history.
We couldn't resist going in to the cemetery when we realized it was open. We stopped to admire a monument to James Audubon, who used to live nearby.
I don't think this is his actual grave, because the back said it was just a "monument," but it might be.
In either case, it was an impressive structure.
As always, I fantasized about being buried in this cemetery.
As with Pere Lachaise in Paris -- where the communists were lined up and shot during the revolution of 1870 -- there has been political violence at this cemetery.
Wherever I'm buried (or -- more likely -- scattered), I hope it's near some deciduous conifers, such as these larch trees.
In 1826, the cemetery used to charge only fifty cents for infinite upkeep of the gravesites, which is apparently a problem now.
Or maybe the dead don't really mind, given that they are surrounded by such lovely trees and beautiful summer light.
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06/01/2014
ORDER HERE
A RADICAL NEW MYTH ABOUT SEX, FAITH, AND THOSE OF US WHO WILL NEVER DIE
A young boy wanders into the woods of Harlem and witnesses the abduction of his sister by a glowing creature. Forty years later, now working as a New York City homicide detective, Gus is assigned to a case in which he unexpectedly succumbs to a vision that Helen is still alive. To find her, he embarks on an uorthodox investigation that leads to an ancient civilization of gods and the people determined to bring them back.
In this colossal new novel from the author of The Metropolis Case, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice collides with a new religion founded by three corporate office workers, creating something beautiful, illogical, and overwhelming. Part sex manifesto, part religious text, part Manhattan noir—with a dose of deadly serious, internet inspired satire—#gods is a sprawling inquest into the nature of faith and resistance in the modern world. With each turn of the page, #gods will leave you increasingly reborn.
Praise for #gods
“#gods is a mystery, an excavation of myths, an index of modern life, a gay coming-of-age story, an office satire, a lyrical fever dream, a conspiracy. One of the most ambitious novels in recent memory—and a wild, possibly transformative addition to the canon of gay literature—it contains multitudes, and seethes with brilliance.” —Mark Doten, author of The Infernal
“Matthew Gallaway’s #gods is a novel so brilliant, so funny, so full of strange and marvelous things, I couldn’t stop writing OMG WTF I <3 THIS SO MUCH in its margins. It’s rare to find a novel that so dazzlingly reinvigorates age-old meditations on faith and f&!*ing, art and eros. Luminous, enterprising, and sublimely cheeky, #gods tells the story, the myth, the dream of the human soul in all its glorious complexity.” —Suzanne Morrison, author of Yoga Bitch
“Matthew Gallaway’s storytelling manages to be both dreamy and serious; lean and luxurious. His words carry an incantatory power of mythic storytelling where beauty and savagery wrap around each other like bright threads in a gorgeous tapestry.” —Natasha Vargas-Cooper, author of Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America
“If the ancient gods were just like us, only more so, then the same could be said for this strange, wonderful book, in which the mundane sorrows and small triumphs of very ordinary lives glow ever so slightly around the edges, sometimes quite literally. At once an oddly romantic send-up of dead-end office culture and an offbeat supernatural procedural, #gods is terrifically weird, melancholy, sexy, and charming.” —Jacob Bacharach, author of The Bend of the World
'It’s to the credit of Matthew Gallaway’s enchanting, often funny first novel that it doesn’t require a corresponding degree of obsession from readers, but may leave them similarly transported: the book is so well written — there’s hardly a lazy sentence here — and filled with such memorable lead and supporting players that it quickly absorbs you into its worlds.'
-- The New York Times
Music: Death Culture at Sea and Saturnine
Listen or download songs and records from my indie-rock past with Saturnine here and Death Culture at Sea here.
Music Video: Remembrance of Things Past
Watch the rock opera Remembrance of Things Past written and performed by Saturnine and Frances Gibson, starring Bennett Madison and Sheila McClear.
Video: The Chaos Detective
The Chaos Detective is a series about a man searching for 'identity' as he completes assignments from a mysterious organization. Watch the first episode (five parts) on YouTube.