New York Times

I hate to say it but the sports pages, I generally don’t read them. I like to watch sports but often the columns talk about sports in a way that makes it hard for me to understand. I often don’t know who they are talking about or I don’t know enough about sports so that a writer’s discussion of the minutia of a game will be completely over my head. Hence, this is the reason why I stay away from the reading the sports pages.

The writing of George Vecsey is something different. I am not sure exactly when I began reading Vecsey’s columns but I remember the first time, thinking what I had just read was a fluke. Then I began to look for his columns because I enjoyed them so much. I did not have to know all the ins and outs of the game to understand his columns; in fact I did not have to know anything about sports at all. The subject of sports for George Vecsey seems to simply be a vehicle for him to tell a greater story, the story people and human interaction. The playing of sports provides a superb stage for the examination of the human spirit.

There is no place better to find the best and worst qualities of people than on a sports field, be it on the 26 mile course of the New York City Marathon or daily grind of the Tour de France. George Vecsey eloquently reveals the human side behind the Adonis like athletes, like he did in his Sept 24 article “The ‘Other’ Armstrong is Bowing Out of Cycling in Style,” about cycling champion Kristen Amrstrong. He also brings the people behind the big names to life, like he recently did for his Oct 22 titled “Sympathy for the Umpires.” The crux of the article is we are all human and sometimes some of us have to pay more dearly for our mistakes than the rest of us. Vecsey’s seems to say love the sport for its human qualities and give a guy a break who usually does a damn good job is what I got from that wonderful article.

Please join us at the Mid-Manhattan Library on Wednesday Nov 18 at 6:30 PM on the 6th floor to listen to Mr. Vecsey talk about his work.

There is a story everywhere in New York City. Gotham is a collage of life stories, like a multifaceted crystal where each surface is a new and different tale. Every encounter, everything we see, people we know and don’t know all have stories. Most of the stories are unknown, most untold, but in reality there is a vast richness of unique experiences out there, waiting to be revealed. From Choi and Maria, the gentle and devoted Korean couple who run my corner bodega, to the beautiful line driven art work of Elbow-Toe, that skips across building walls and doors in and around Brooklyn, these are just pieces of the New York City story pie.

What makes a good story? Time, place, situation and most important the person who tells the story. A storyteller who puts words to paper, creating an engaging, intelligent and thought provoking piece, out of the seemingly ordinary, is nothing if not truly talented, gifted even. Dan Barry is one such person. He wrote the About New York section for the New York Times (currently he is writing the This Land section for the New York Times) for many years and those columns were made into a book City Lights: Stories About New York.

Dan Barry has given a voice to the people and places in New York City that would barely register on any scale. Through a combination of words and ideas he has unmasked the mundane of this city, revealing a poignancy and passion that lies just below the surface of all our lives. In 1000 word essays, Dan Barry has crisscrossed the city opening a window into the people and places that would otherwise be unknown to us. Some of the essays are heartwarming, some are tragic, but what City Lights best reveals is the heart and soul of New York City .

On Wednesday April 1, Dan Barry will be reading and discussing his book City Lights: Stories About New York at the Mid-Manhattan Library on the 6th floor at 6:30. Please join us for a wonderful evening.

In the recent New York Times feature, Shopping With…, designer Kelly Wearstler visited the Los Angeles bookstore, Potterton Books and revealed books that have inspired her. Many of Kelly’s inspiration books are in the collection of The New York Public Library including the article's pièce de résistance “A Speciman Book of Pattern Papers.” Although Kelly paid $3200 for the book, you can look at it for free at the Library. (Just keep in mind that you’ll have to look at it on site, but bring your camera—you can take as many pictures as you want.) If you can’t make it to the Library, there are some beautiful patterns on the Digital Gallery, including my new favorite, to the right. For while rare books may be expensive, inspiration is always free.

Here are some of the other books mentioned in the article:
(Unless otherwise noted, the books are at the Humanities Library)

"The Bathroom: A New Interior"
"Goodbye Picasso"
"The Hermès Shop Windows"
"Horst: Interiors" (at the Mid-Manhattan Library)
"The Shell: Five Hundred Million Years of Inspired Design" (at the Science Industry and Business Library)
"Ettore Sottsass : a critical biography"