Alanna of the lovely blog A Veggie Venture tagged me for the 23/5 meme, in which one goes back into blog archives to one's 23rd post, lights upon the fifth sentence of said post, and delves for deeper meaning. Ahhh, here we go:
"As I've mentioned before on this site, shopping was more difficult."
There I am, yammering once again about the things I can't find in our neighborhood. However, context is a gem. I wrote this while talking about some of the places we had discovered in East Harlem when we moved here upon leaving Park Slope. This particular post was to celebrate our yummiest local bakery, La Tropezienne, which remains a favorite stop whenever we walk up First Avenue to treat ourselves to a pie at the one and only original Patsy's Pizzeria on First and 117th.
Pondering the line again, however, I'm thinking about the fact that after two years here in El Barrio (or as the glam set would say, SpaHa), we've just decided to renew our lease for another two. Our slumlord (whom we recently discovered listed as number three on a site called NYC's Worst Landlords) has, for some reason, decided to charge us only a standard rent stabilization hike. This is strange because he made it clear to us when we signed our first lease that our apartment is not stabilized, which means that he could have gone up to the "luxury" guideline he has listed on the lease rider. It's also strange because when you read the press about him, it's pretty clear that his heartstrings were not tugged by our or indeed anyone's tales of woe. The answer must lie in the fact that he's busy with his 1400 (no exaggeration) code violations, and has decided not to tempt fate. In any case, it works in our favor, at least for the moment. Our apartment is spacious and reasonably (albeit cheaply) renovated, although our building maintenance is virtually non-existent. But at the moment, we're simply not willing to deal with the effort or expense of moving.
So for the moment, we're staying put. Who knows what may happen in two years? We could decide to move to the Left Coast, since we left our hearts in San Francisco (and New Orleans!) this summer. For all we know, good-hearted politicians may actually win elections and decide that both of us are urgently needed as education and technology liaisons on their cabinets, necessitating an immediate move to a nexus of power. Then again, we might win the Lotto and set sail for Alaska and Bali and the south of France. But for now, we have neighbors to greet and some small rootlets in what has come to feel like our community. What with Greenmarket excursions, weekly trips to Fairway and local markets that have begun to stock organic milk, as well as an occasional foray into the understocked, overpriced yet convenient Gourmet Garage, we've found our way through some of our shopping obstacles. And if things feel overwhelming for any reason, there's always pastry, as my 23rd post so kindly reminds me.
I've actually done a bit of searching to find someone to pass this on to, but I have a feeling that just about everyone who would be inclined to play has been tagged. If I'm wrong, well -- I'm leaving the baton on the table, so pick it up and play at your will.
23/5 tag--I love it! It's so weird and incongruous. Maybe we should start our own. Let's see--the first word that you find in your first blog that has three or more of the same letter in it should be the first and last word of your 111th blog? Nah, too complicated. How about--finding a palindrome and using the letters to describe a meal that could be eaten forwards or backwards (I have reference to the order in which you eat, not the direction you are facing, nor the orifice you, uh, nevermind)? Nah, only works for food blogs. Tell you what, just keep writing, Julie, we love it. (By the way, hope your cold is fading.)
Posted by: Joe Bellacero | October 04, 2005 at 08:32 AM
But Joe, honestly -- don't you think we should introduce some memes into the education-blogging community? Maybe it could liven things up! But it would have to be something light-hearted -- none of this "15 Ways That 'No Child Left Behind' Legislation Has Ruined Education in Your District" kinda stuff...
Posted by: Julie | October 04, 2005 at 11:04 PM
I have PD planning on my mind, so forgive me for this, but hey...this is a great revising game for the classroom! In our writing grps next week, we were going to look through chunks we have so far, pick one that we want to spend more time with, etc....So how about one option for the next step--take the fifth sentence (or first sense impression reference, or first phrase that starts with "from" etc.) and write a new chunk...THEN choose which one to spend your time with...?? Julie or Joe, have you used this in the classroom?? How would the "tag" part work?
Margaret
Posted by: Margaret Fiore | October 10, 2005 at 10:38 AM
Margaret, I've often used exercises similar to this as part of a journal or notebook "walk" with students...
Posted by: Julie | October 13, 2005 at 02:38 PM
You can tag me. But I don't have 23 posts yet...
Posted by: patriciaj | January 26, 2008 at 11:06 PM