Sunday evening, sun setting behind the world’s tallest water sphere.
(NJSunset.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
FBCUbrd.jpg
Blackboard in the fellowship hall at First Baptist Union, possibly after a kids’ Sunday School class. What can it all mean?
(FBCUbrd.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
AMNH Demotes Pluto
Please do indulge me in just one more AMNH entry tonight, but I just wanted to point out that, in yet another great stride for the Holy Cause for the Demotion of Pluto, the solar system exhibit at the Hall of the Universe (under the Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center) has been seamlessly updated to exclude Pluto as a planet, mentioning it instead as a major member of the Kuiper Belt. This is right and decent and proper, and we praise the AMNH for their rational and progressive stance.
Central Park West
While at the AMNH we very wisely decided not to have lunch in the museum itself, and instead walked out into the cold to have lamb gyros and coffee at Niko’s, a cramped but delicious Greek diner at W 76th and Broadway.
Walking back along W 77th we found a little string hanging on the fence of a schoolyard, which when pulled would ring a bell on a tree. A little sign by the makeshift bellpull complained of vandals, while nearby a toy train announced the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, two days over by then.
AMNH – Philippines
One thing I was especially interested in seeing at the AMNH was if they had a display for the Philippines in the Culture Halls, and how accurate and up-to-date that would be. I didn’t find it in the Stout Hall of Asian Peoples, where I would have expected it, but rather in the Margaret Mead Hall of Pacific Peoples, near Indonesia.
The display is a bit small, and looks like it hasn’t been updated any time recently. Mostly a smattering of artifacts, crafts, and old photos. As with most of these amusingly archaic Culture Halls, the general impression depicted is that the Philippines is a land of exotic tribal savages. Photos of the exhibit:
AMNH
Yesterday was spent at the American Natural History Museum in New York — my first visit. Being acquainted with the sciences, I was much more interested in the AMNH as a classic historical landmark than as a museum; I was there for the novelty of old, unrenovated displays and their quaint, outdated views of the world. Nonetheless, the museum proved a source of fascinations both historical and scientific, and I had great fun snapping photos of halls and display cases, old and new, and of tourists, signage, and my lovely wife as well.
The full AMNH photoset is here. Some highlights:
NJ Thanksgiving 2007
We spent Thanksgiving with Amy’s family at her grandma’s house, with a dinner of broccoli soup and shrimp cocktail and mashed potatoes and turnips and sweet potatoes and creamed onions and of course a rather large roast turkey (dark meat for me), followed by apple, cherry, and pumpkin pies. I also recall vegging out in front of the TV alternating between the Hitchcock Marathon on AMC and the Ghost Hunters marathon on Sci-Fi, both of which were lulz-tastic. Here are some photos, which may occasionally include my brother-in-law Bob. (Full photoset here.)
Banahaw in US News
Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to open up this week’s U.S. News and World Report to page 60, where you’ll find my article “The Draw of a ‘Holy Mountain,'” on Mount Banahaw in the Philippines, part of a larger series on Sacred Places.
I’ve never actually been to the “pilgrimage” parts of Banahaw myself, (though my family does have history in Majayjay) so I asked family and friends who’d gone on trips with the Rizalistas, looked around Pinoy weblogs and photos for travelers who had been on pilgrimages, and tried to order Fr. Gorospe’s book “Banahaw: Conversations with a Pilgrim to the Power Mountain.” (The book was, unfortunately, out of stock at Alibris and would not have arrived in time for deadline, but I gleaned enough from excerpts to provide sufficient material.) The article has been edited down for space, but if you’re at all interested, you can read the original, longer draft here.
FallAmy.jpg
Amy amidst suburban Fall color in New Jersey.
(FallAmy.jpg uploaded by brownpau.)
