So after my Saturday teaching, I headed in to the city to meet my buds, Lori and Ralph at the Whitney museum. Unfortunately we only had a couple hours. The Whitney is really great - probably my favorite modern art museum. I love the MoMA for it's display of impressionist and post-impressionist works but I LOVE the Whitney. I really love how I can understand the abstract, non-representational pieces there. I don't have to wonder what the artist was thinking about when s/he created the piece. With a little help from some of the descriptions, I can understand the political/societal symbolism in the work. The installations are very interesting, as well as the short films. This is a gallery that truly makes you think. I felt like a kid the whole time - exploring each piece with intense curiosity. I didn't have enough time to see everything so a trip is definitely in store for the future!
Afterwards, we went to dinner at Connolly's Pub in Times Square . There we met up with my Irish and Celtic music group. Following dinner, we went up to see Shilelagh Law. I believe some of the members of the band are either NY cops or firefighters. They were absolutely awesome. Their tunes were very raucous and showed a nice interpretation from Irish-Americans. It was nice being there in a diaspora, if you will: it made me feel like I was back in Dublin for a moment, only from the viewpoint of descendents of Irish immigrants. I was starting to put all the cultural pieces together. I still have a lot to learn about this culture steeped in tradition, but I was well on my way. I enjoyed a nice few pints of cider as we rocked out to traditional Irish tunes. I was so happy I could experience this type of group at this particular time.
We walked back to the path and witnessed hot dogs still being made at 2am. Fun was had by all.