Episode XXIII: Middle Earth America

Hello, all you zany friends of mine!

Well, despite all my best intentions, I have waited another few months to crank this letter out. As you can see, though, I now have a much better (and cleaner!) format with which to compose my ramblings. I hope you enjoy it, and are able to navigate through the wasteland with not too much difficulty.

When we left our beloved heroine, she was in the midst of picking her life up (yet again), this time to move it into a house in the Garden State. The tree-hugging San Francisco vegetarian willingly placed herself in the state where the nearest nuclear power plant is expired but hasn’t been shut down yet; where there are more malls in a square mile than you can shake a stick at; and where GMO’s reign supreme. Despite (or perhaps because of?) her descent into Middle America, SuperMaren continues to have her adventures; after all, one does not have to be on the top of a skyscraper in New York to soar among the clouds.

I am now safely ensconced in my new home, which is absolutely wonderful. As you can see in the picture below, it’s rather picturesque and extremely suburban. The first person to welcome me into the neighborhood was Jack, the mailman. I kind of felt like singing, “Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neigbor?” a la Mr. Rogers. I have become involved in the everyday tasks of keeping the house clean and maintaining the garden as well as the pond in the backyard (which has goldfish! I’m trying to train them to be attack fish...I may have to introduce some piranhas at one point or another). I also now have a car, thanks to Ray, who just bought a new car and handed his old Saturn over to me. I now think up menus to cook for the week and I listen to NPR in the car. I think I actually might be turning into a grown up! Either that, or Suburbia is really starting to grow on me. Should I be worried?

Ironically, as soon as I moved out of New York, I started to get calls for gigs in New York. These past couple of weeks, I sang at the Bard Music Festival in Annandale-on-Hudson, in the chorus for Mahler’s 2nd and 8th Symphonies. What a wonderful experience! Not only did I have the chance to work with some incredibly talented musicians, but I got to stay in a dorm aptly called “Ward Manor” (it was, literally a manor, with ivy climbing up the walls ) on the campus of Bard College, which is one of the prettiest campuses I have ever seen. Not only that, but while I was up there for the festival, I had a chance to go hiking down to the Hudson River and exploring to nearby mansions. Not a bad way to make a living!

Next month, I’ll be performing in the chorus with the New York Philharmonic doing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and a John Adams world premiere. I got a call for that horrible High Holy Days gig, but I asked for a more money (to compensate me for all the hassle I knew I would go through) and he said that he couldn’t afford it...I’m rather relieved, since I really didn’t want to be singing with Rabbi Napoleon again. I’m still planning on having a recital this year, but the more I try planning it, the more obstacles are thrown in my way. I’m hoping to shoot for early winter, perhaps in November sometime; I’ll keep you posted.

So I am thinking about having a Halloween party here at the house...whaddya think? I’ll work carpools out with those of you in New York who have no cars, and we can have a rip roarin’ time. I really want to see you all, and what better way to show my new home off than with my friends?

I hope you are all well. Please take care, and let me know how you are doing! I miss you!!!!