Miami Day 3

And on the third day, Zahir went to the Freedom Tower and he saw an art exhibit on the Negro Baseball League, and he saw that it was good.  He was pleased and it was well-pleasing....especially given the fact that entry to this travelling show was completely free.

The exhibit entitled, We Are The Ship: The Story of the Negro League Baseball, is a collection of about 40 portraits and other scenes referencing some of the greatest figures from the heyday of the League, whose players, it needs to be said, rivalled the White baseball league.  All of the paintings are by the talented Kadir Nelson.  The exhibit runs till January 8, 2012.

I found the colours on these canvases so very vibrant.  Nelson captures the strength and determination, the dignity and professionalism of the men of the Negro Baseball League with a uniquely identifiable style all his own.  Each painting I approached took my breath away....not just the realistic execution of the pieces but the sad back story of segregation and ultimately, due to the overwhelming skill of players like Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige, recruitment of the cream of the crop from the Negro Leagues into the Major Leagues.  My pictures do not do the paintings the justice they deserve, but I think you will still be impressed and know why I am gushing over these paintings.  Click on the pictures to have a closer look.

 The Freedom Tower

Kansas City Dugout, 2005, Oil on canvas

First Colored World Series, 2006, Oil on canvas

 Detail, First Colored World Series

Bullet Rogan, 2004, Oil on canvas

Detail, Bullet Rogan

Josh Gibson, 2006, Oil on canvas

 Martin Dihigo, 2006, Oil on Canvas

Martin Dihilgo, detail

Diz and Satch, 2004, Oil on canvas

 Detail, Diz and Satch

Groucho Marx

"Outside of a dog,” he once proclaimed, “a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read."

Source: More Intelligent Life

Poem by Ruth Stone

Mantra

When I am sad
I sing, remembering
the redwing blackbird’s clack.
Then I want no thing
except to turn time back
to what I had
before love made me sad.

When I forget to weep,
I hear the peeping tree toads
creeping up the bark.
Love lies asleep
and dreams that everything
is in its golden net;
and I am caught there, too,
when I forget.

Miami Day 2

In some ways today was a wash: It has rained all day and after a long first day, I awoke bleary eyed at 11 a.m. Had breakfast at a nearby iHop (all day breakfast) where the service was brisk and courteous, unlike many, many other place and locations, including the hotel I'm staying at.

I Was going to go to a place called The Freedom Tower. The tower is an exhibition venue and has a show on the Negro Baseball League. The link is a review of the exhibit by the Miami Herald.

The show, "We Are the Ship,” is by an award winning artist/illustrator--Kadir Nelson. The Miami Herald wrote, "42 breathtaking oil paintings and drawings rich with emotion fill the gallery, capture the soul and bring to life the story of professional pioneer black baseball players."

Read a lot at the hotel and napped some in the afternoon. Later, in the day...went to a street called the Miracle Mile. The area is respledent with high-end shops, valets, beautiful girls standing outside chic little stores with umbrellas in hand to assist customers to walk the 10 steps from the valet parking to the store.

I ended the day by reading and then watching a now defunct TV series called Firefly on Netflix. Tomorrow the plan is to drive downtown, catch the exhibit, then into Miami Beach, do some shopping for a gift for the kids and then hit the beach for as long as I can. Later, I will have to return the scooter and make my way back to the hotel by bus.

Miami Day 1

Last time I flew out of Toronto was a complete debacle. See my post La Floride...this time was not so hectic. U.S. Customs did not even blink at my overly Muslim looks.

Got into Miami at 9 a.m. and took shuttle to the hotel amidst all the humid-hot-chaos of Miami Airport. Something to be avoided. The hotel is everything promised on Trip Advisor (pictures to follow).

After settling-in I made a call to rent a scooter for two days with Roam Rides. This outfit had good reviews on Yelp South Beach and is the only place which rents Vespas instead of plastic scooters from China. To get to the rental location I had to take the local buses to downtown Miami and change over to another bus (the 119). No one seemed to know anything about the bus heading into South Beach. Apparently, the 119 is actually known as the "S" bus. The driver on the first bus I hopped was surly and seemed to have no clue as to what the 119 heading into South Beach was. Similarly, no one on the bus, filled with low wage working types, seemed to know what I was talking about.

Downtown Miami was filled with heart-breaking signs of the homeless and those suffering from mental illness, some nattily dressed professionals heading home and many Hispanics (recent arrivals?) who did not speak much English. Finally, a young Black woman sporting a Best Buy polo shirt explained about the 119. Another half hour on an over crowded bus brought me to Miami Beach -- a world away from Miami.

By the time I got the scooter, had a coffee at Starbucks and consulted my iPad for the best and safest route to my dinner destination, it was fully dark. I scootered my way from the Beach across the Venetian Causeway (the quietest of all the causeways bridging to Miami) and through some pretty sketchy areas of downtown Miami. Areas with no street lighting, homeless people living beneath overpasses and dead end streets. Eventually, I made my way south to Coconut Grove: An extremely well kept, brightly lit area filled with chichi stores and white tourists.

It was about 8 p.m. by this time and I was very tired, wearing shorts and t-shirt in an area with scrubbed-clean tourists on walks from their hotels to shop and dine. I stopped in on a jewellery store to ask for directions and ended up meeting a Yemeni-Jew named, Avi. More on him later. Once again, Yelp did not let me down as the Indian restaurant--Bombay Darbar--was elegant, not too pricey, the food was great and the service was excellent. I chowed down without a care in the world.

I went back to the Yemeni Jeweler (get it...Jew-eler...a play on words but not anti-semitic in nature whatsoever). Avi is a man with a lined face but not aged looking. He has a full head of greying hair and a vivacity for life which even his recent personal setbacks have not dulled. Avi had talked to me for 20 minutes, when I had asked for directions previously and had asked me to come back to the store after eating. It was Avi that made the connection from the minute I walked in....he asked, "Are you Arab?" I explained to him that my father was born in Yemen but was culturally an Indian...and so on and so forth. He specializes in make Yemeni-like jewelry and we meandered through our thoughts on Arabs, Jews, Yemenites, Iraqis, women (he was very recently divorced), Indians among other topics. I bought some silver from him as a gift for my wife and he gave me a couple of trinkets to take to the kids. And then, after consulting my ipad, I headed back to the hotel at 10 p.m.

I am unable to add pictures to the blog through my ipad, but will do so on my facebook account. I haven't edited the above...so apologies or any errors.

Plans for Miami

I'm going to Miami for 4 days of R & R on November 17th. Anyone have any ideas about what to do, see...where to eat.

Here are The places I have looked at:

Scuba diving with South Beach Divers.. This will chew up a whole day and going for the whole day with a bunch of strangers could turn out to be a bore. Plus, I only have 3 full days to RELAX.  Scuba is fun but it's not lying on the beach like a whale.

Rent scooter with Roam Rides.. They have good reviews on Yelp and considering the state of public transit from Miami to Miami Beach, might be a good investment and cheap way to get around to....the Dolphin Mall!. If you've been to this place, drop me a line.

I've also found a few well reviewed restaurants, but if you have any suggestions I'd be happy to hear from you.

And, of course, the daily trip to the beach.

Get Together with Zap

This is for Terri, Pam, Russell...I'm polling people on Facebook to see when they can meet up.
Here r the options:
November 26, December 3rd, 4th, 10th
At either 10 a.m. Or 1 p.m.
For brunch or lunch?
So far suggested only Sunset Grill by Kelsey's in Whitby....suggestions are welcome.

If I'm forgetting anyone invite them too, please.

You can reply here by leaving a comment or e-mail me.

Keep an Open Mind

Just came across an essay by Paul Graham. One of the best pieces of writing I've come across in a long time. Definitely worth a 9th or 10th reading! Here's one sentence which I've always thought was true but have never been able to put quite so succinctly: "To launch a taboo, a group has to be poised halfway between weakness and power." within the context of the article, the statement is truly eye-opening.

Here's another tidbit: "When there's something we can't say, it's often because some group doesn't want us to."

The article is about taboos in our society and how to try and truly think outside the box. Check it out.

"Small Keypad, Old Hands"

ME: Mom you can just go to the app store and get the app for you iPad
MOM:  It’s too late here
ME: What do you mean?
MOM: It’s 9pm
ME: and…
MOM: It’s 9pm SOO I will have to wait until the morning to go to the apple store!!

Source: When Parents Text

Traveling on the T.T.C. Is Killing You

Just came across a study which states that "People with a lengthy commute show an increased amount of stress, get worse sleep, and experience decreased social interaction. A commute of 45 minutes carries such a cost to well-being that economists have found you have to earn 20 percent more to make the trip worth it. Length alone isn't the source of the problem: stress rises with a commute's variability, and for transit riders it rises with the unpredictability and overcrowding of a bus or train."
The study comes at a serendipitous time: I have decided to stop using the T.T.C. Starting next month. I hate the idea of driving the car downtown with just one person traveling, but it actually ends up being cheaper than buying a monthly pass. Add the frustrations of the daily delays through mechanical failures, sick passengers, over crowding, rude T.T.C drivers and commuters, and it becomes a no-brainer.
I have signed with car-pool services online but my schedule is too unpredictable to allow me to hop in a car with somebody who would most probably want to meet up at the same time each day.
Feeling a little guilty about this, environmentally speaking, but here I am anyways.

You da Man, Reece!

Just came across a picture Seth's friend.  Ain't he a picture of happiness.