ALLPOSSIBLE

Since arriving back in New York, I have been asked by pretty much everybody if/when I am moving to Austin (including myself). I practically walked off the plane rehearsing the "Why We Should Live in Warmer Climes Soon" speech I would repeat upon entering my apartment. And then New York did this super nice, totally typical, please, baby baby, please thing that it always does when you threaten to leave: it turned on the sunshine, turned up the heat, and threw a rejuvenating road trip upstate to some magical hiking trails right in my lap.

Sucked

Right

Back

In.

Naw, it's not always so easy to stay here. I am prone to opening up the Let's Change Everything valve full blast when I see a new way of living. Call it life experience greed. A good trip or sometimes even just a good read will toss me into real evaluatory lifestyle contemplation. I am glad for the anchors here: the endearing Frenchman who replaces my brokedown bike frame with his dreamy Peugeot castoff, the applause and hugs I get from coworkers when I show up for my first shift back, the warrior ladies who agree to meet at 7:00 am on Sunday morning to drive hours upstate to wander around in steep rocks and mud all day, my boyfriend who is always turning over the soil and planting anew in this place he has also called ten years a home.

Though it makes me sad not to be texting my Texans that all I have to figure out is whether to get a 10- or a 15-foot UHaul and to hold open the door for me, I do love planning for a month of Austin retreat next Spring, concentrating and amplifying each other's dreams and fun. I also love finding new ways to look at this familiar place, asking myself what I think would change about life in a different city, examining the barriers I put on taking risks here simply because I think I know how NY works, putting new energy into making dreams come true BECAUSE I know how NY works.

Thanks for the 80 degree Monday, New York. I guess I'm still yours.

Tha's me on the roof of the Whitney Museum (did I mention 80 degrees today?). Special thanks to Danny Durtche whose craftsmanship is highlighted in the exquisite Laura Poitras exhibition happening for another two weeks at the Whitney Museum of Art. I highly recommend that anyone interested in personal privacy or who was alive on September 11, 2001 make it a point to see this remarkable show. It succeeds on both a political and an artistic level in a way no show does that I have yet seen.