A Guide to the Great Indoors: Week Seven

Hello and welcome to the seventh installment of the Guide.

I hope these resources offer you some joy and respite in this very sad time.

The tragic killing of George Floyd and the racism it has brought to light are topics that rightfully weigh heavily on our hearts and minds. Light is good. Everything exposed by it becomes visible.

Quote of the Week:

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life, love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life, light illuminates it.”

— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS

1. Bloomsday: Bloomsday celebrates the life of Irish writer James Joyce. It starts at the crack of dawn on June 16th, the day on which Joyce’s entire novel Ulysses takes place. People dress in period clothing and read Joyce's excerpts from the modernist masterpiece. (In New York, there is a really fun morning party at the Bloomsday pub!) Not sure why you should read Ulysses? Watch this Ted Talk, conveniently named Why You Should Read Ulysses. New York’s Symphony Space will be hosting Virtual Bloomsday on Broadway so we can celebrate from home. Performers include Stephen Colbert, Malachy McCourt, Fiona Shaw, Culum McCann, Hugh Dancy, and Claire Danes. FYI, Symphony Space is a great theater on 95th and and Broadway. Right now, you can stream films, readings and more.
2. Hamilton: To celebrate Independence Day, Disney is releasing Hamilton Live! on Disney+ on the eve of July 4th. Here is the trailer. Take time if you can before Father’s Day to listen to the sweet Dear Theodosia, a song Aaron Burr sings to his baby daughter.
3. Top Netflix Comedy: If you need something to binge, I highly recommend Mindy Kaling’s new show Never Have I Ever which is currently streaming on Netflix. It is about a first generation Indian-American high school student making her way in the world. Watching the 10 episodes in two nights is in my book as a top quarantine 2020 experience.

BOOKS AND OTHER READING

1. New JK Rowling Book: On May 26th, JK Rowling released the first chapters of a new children’s book called The Ickabog. More chapters will continue to be released over the next five weeks. June 3rd, the book began its serialized release in other languages. Bonus: Rowling would like children stuck at home to illustrate the book! Winning works will be used in the final version of the book to be published in November. Find out more about the Illustration Competition and check out the rules for entry. Click here to check out some of the drawings submitted so far. You can also post art on Twitter using #TheIckabog. They are really great!
2. Actors Read Harry Potter: Each chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is now being narrated by members of the cast (stage and screen). They are currently at Chapter 11, but you can easily go back and listen to the others at any time. If you are in the mood for a wizarding movie in addition or instead, here is a list of where you can stream all the HP movies. For more HP, check out JK Rowling's Wizarding World. Find out which house you belong in and check out a ton of fun and games for kids.

EDUCATION

1. New York Historical Society: The New York Historical Society (pictured above) is an American history museum and library located on the corner of 77th St. and Central Park West right across from the American Museum of Natural History (see below). The Society generates research, presents exhibits, and creates public programs geared towards exploring the New York experience. Its newest project, History Responds, is a call to action for New Yorkers help document the COVID-19 crisis. It could be something that shows what life is like for healthcare and essential workers, what it is/was like to be sick, be home, work remotely, learn to cook, be creative and more. Did you get 10,000 emails from the owners of your storage unit saying “We are here for you?” Send them in! By way of history, the Society began documenting impactful events in this manner after September 11th. In History Responds for Teens, the Society asks teenagers to start and keep diary entries about their experiences and share them. If you are sick of hearing about sickness, the Society also posts a Recipe of the Week. Each is handwritten and dates anywhere from 1840-1874. The almond cake looks good with the timeless trifecta of 1 lb. each of butter, sugar and flour. If you enjoy all these offerings, why not go online to visit the museum’s collections and plan a future in-person visit. I recommend you stop by this 1768 portrait of four colonial children by John Durand and this Thomas Cole painting dramatically titled “The Course of Empire: The Savage State.”
2. Natural History Museum: New York’s iconic American Museum of Natural History, founded in in 1869, is one of the largest natural history museums in the world. Check out the Big Bones and Dino Dig starting Friday, June 5th at 1PM ET to participate in a tour of the “Big Bone Room” given by AMNH paleontologists. For those who are not aware, the "Big Bone Room" is where the museum stores massive bones that are anywhere form 65 to 210 million years old (see this video for background). The tour continues with a visit to a live dig at the Morrison Formation, a rock unit in the western United States from the Late Jurassic Period (155 million years ago). There will be a live Q &A as well. There are any number of things you can see and do on the museum’s website. I highly recommend Ology, a kids’ science site featuring games, stories, videos, and projects on kinds of “ologies” (e.g. anthropology, astrology, marine biology, etc.). If you haven’t seen it, follow up the visit with the movie Night at the Museum.

TREAT OF THE WEEK

Summer Stage: SummerStage, run by the City Parks Foundation, is New York’s largest free performing arts festival. Every year, it brings over 100 performances to 16 city parks across the 5 boroughs. Given the current state of things, the City Parks Foundation has launched SummerStage Everywhere, which will allow all to enjoy digital performances every summer weekend. Here is the line up so far. You can watch the shows on their YouTube channel. The first shows is on June 13th and everyone is invited to the after party. Enjoy!