Tag: Seuss

Clown Families Riding the Subway to Brooklyn

I spent most of the day in Manhattan with my kid because there is no school this week and it was a good day to have a midtown lunch date with The Daddy-Husband who works at Rockefeller Center.  We ate noodles at the Sapporo Japanese restaurant on 49th Street (We used to eat at Sapporo East all the time when The Kid took Japanese language classes at the 14th Street Y in the East Village.  Then there were virtually inevitable side trips to Toys R Us Times Square   (www.toysrustimessquare.com) and  FAO Schwarz® on 5th Avenue.  My Kid did an art project, bought some bedding for her doll and added “Cookie Monster” to her menagerie because last night we watched the “Cake Boss” episode where they made a replica of the Sesame Street set out of cake and fondant.

So after I, being a cultural Catholic, “got my ashes” at Saint Patrick Cathedral and My reluctant Kid got a blessing, we had dinner at The Brooklyn Diner (ironic right?!)

On the C train riding home we found ourselves in the same car as Dick Monday and Tiffany Riley and their kids, in town for the New York Goofs classes and on their way to the hosting home of yet another New York Clown Family.

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

“Do you like my hat?”

Actually that is not how we greeted each other– that’s some Dr. Seuss text…

So anyway…

It was fun to run into another clown family out and about in New York City.

We’re everywhere.

You’d be surprised!

What Color is Barack Obama

I spend quite a while yesterday morning online researching Sarah Palin’s racism both overt and implied.  So this evening on the subway when My Kid asked me what color Obama was…

I immediately started going through the Rolodex of my mind searching for facts I could tell her about his white mother from Kansas and his black father from Kenya and how the met in Hawaii and how some people get divorced. Also some foolish people with light skin like Sarah Palin decide not to like people who have dark skin like the Obama family, and say words like “those people” to mean they don’t want to even try to be friends.  Even though they are grownups, they have not yet learned the lesson of “The Sneeches” by Dr. Seuss.

Stalling for time I asked; “What do you mean what color is Obama?”

She wanted to know if he was BLUE or RED!  

I remembered an essay I once read by someone, who, attending a gay wedding and reception at a church in Seattle,  wondered what carefully crafted words about love and relationships would be prepared for the child who was marveling at the weird thing he had seen.  That strange thing the child had never seen before turned out to be a rotary dial telephone.