Thursday, May 26, 2005

An Opening

The students of Parsons School of Design had their thesis show last night. Hubby and I took the train into Manhattan again to see daughter #2's exhibit--which you can see below.



She replaced the door leading to a rest room in the gallery with another door that had an LCD screen. Instead of the usual man or woman symbol, the picture changed--or morphed--from a man into a woman and back as people passed the sensor installed above the door.

It was a popular exhibit and a few people actually used the rest room--both men and women. Daughter #2 stood by filming the reactions. Hubby and I presented her with roses to celebrate the occasion.

Of course, getting to Parsons by subway was a new experience. Neither my husband nor I had been on a subway in at least thirty years. We've gone into the city, but we've driven our own car. So last night, when we tried to get the Metro card to open the turnstile to enter the subway, we did not have any success until the subway attendant told us we had to swipe the card through with attitude. "You're in NY now," he said. "You've got to do it with attitude."

Okay. I swiped that card more forcefully and it did work.

There are homeless people here and there in the city. Yesterday was a cold, rainy, and dreary day. I saw one bag lady so covered in black plastic bags leaning on a cart also covered in black plastic that at first I thought she and her cart were a pile of garbage.

Nevertheless, I find the subterranean world of Penn Station fascinating with all the shops, restaurants, and bars far beneath the street. We had arrived in Penn Station at rush hour and the swarms of people running for their trains is--in itself--an amazing sight to see.

5 comments:

Live, Love, Laugh said...

I loved the exhibit, what a ingenious idea!

Your night sounded so exciting, one
day I plan to go to Manhattan, I have always wanted to go there!

Anonymous said...

Your daughter had a unique and interesting idea. It must have been fun to watch.

You actually drive in the city? You are braver than me. I always take the train.

Leann said...

What a unique idea and clever idea.

I've only heard stories of subways...and they aren't good ones..lol..someday, like "live,love,laugh" I'll get to Manhattan. I'm sure it will be facinating for a simple country girl like me.

K. said...

I agree that Penn Station is a very interesting place. Should be, considering how many people enter NYC from that gateway.

Robin Bayne said...

Sounds very interesting!!

Penny, would you like to exchange blog links?