Grand Central, African Art, and “A Show of Unity”

New York Meetings

On Friday I went to New York City, as I love to do. First I met Chike, a Nigerian man who has lived in Los Angeles for many years. He found my blog some time ago and we started corresponding. “I’d be so honored to meet you,” he said. “I’m coming to New York on Nov. 9. Any chance we could get together?”

My friend Marilyn and I were looking for a time to visit the Metropolitan Museum again; we do this every six months or so. I was able to combine the events.

Chike and I met at Grand Central. “Grand Central Terminal is one of the country’s great architectural achievements and New York City’s unofficial meeting place with thousands of people choosing to meet . . . at the opal-faced Main Concourse Information Booth Clock.”

He had the same reaction most first-time visitors do – what an amazing building! The ceiling of the Grand Concourse has twelve constellations and over 2500 stars painted on it. Then there are the marble stairs and the many restaurants. We had a quick breakfast before taking subways in different directions.

Jewelry at the Met

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art I met Marilyn who had already bought our tickets. We decided to see the jewelry exhibit first. I’m so glad we did.

The exhibit is called Jewelry The Body Transformed.

One of the early pieces was a pair of gold sandals ca. 1479–1425 B.C. from a tomb of wives of one of the Egyptian rulers.  

I was surprised to find a Benin brass sculpture. The head is of an Iyoba, the mother of the Oba who is the supreme ruler of the Benin kingdom. The Met’s website gives a description: “With its high and narrow collar, extensive hair ornament, and pierced crown, this commemorative head of an iyoba dates from the eighteenth or nineteenth century,”

The real collar, still worn by an Iyoba today, is made of coral beads. Coral beads also encircle her forehead. The hair ornaments would probably be ivory.

There were a few other items from Africa too. One was the bracelet decorated with a car! It’s from the 19th century Fon people of the Kingdom of Dahomey, next door to Nigeria.

Then the straw necklace, also from Africa, which was striking! Both are in the photo above with the sandals. African art was well represented!

After that we headed to the dining room. Our order of grilled scallops took so long that we didn’t even see the exhibit on Armenia that had caught my attention in the first place! Maybe I’ll have to go back!

Trevor Noah Cancelled!

But Whoopi Goldberg came instead! The ADL event was “A Show of Unity.” Our part was near the beginning. We sang our two songs, “America the Beautiful,” and “Respect.” The fabulous soloist did most of the work!

The Double Up Dance Studio’s Team Leggoo, a racially mixed group, pranced onto the stage at the beginning of “Respect.” They leapt, twirled, and showed amazing synchronized jazz moves.

A synagogue ensemble sang two songs. (I didn’t think they were as good as our choir.) We were treated to a classical guitar performance from a Latino student playing Turkish music. He had come to the guitar through the K.E.Y.S. program which funds musical training in schools.

At rehearsal the week before, and for the concert, I was next to a science teacher in Bridgeport named Aurora. We had plenty of time for conversation yesterday since we had to report for a sound check at 2. The event didn’t start until 5!

One of her friends had been given tickets she didn’t need, so Aurora and I took two. She had sung in the Klein Auditorium before and knew her way around. During our wait, she led me through back corridors to the auditorium so we could find our seats.

Back in the waiting room we snapped some pictures.

When our set was over, we gathered our belongings and headed to the back row of the orchestra seating. We watched the rest of the show.

Whoopi was fantastic. She has such talent and has used it well. As my daughter said today when I was raving about Whoopi, “That’s why she’s so famous!”

I wish I could remember more of what she said! I recall this: “I remember seeing pictures of Black people being hosed for demanding their rights. I thought that was so strange.”

The interviewer Alisyn Camerota asked her how she felt about receiving the Academy Award. Whoopi said, “It wasn’t a surprise. I just assumed I would get it!” What confidence!

She made us laugh as she encouraged us to keep fighting for justice.

I told my friend Kathy at church on Sunday morning that Whoopi was appearing instead of Trevor. She told me about being “photo-bombed” by Whoopi during the March on Washington last year. The group from our Unitarian Church posed for photo and didn’t realize, until they were looking at the photos later, that Whoopi was in the picture!

I had planned to share a wonderful sermon by my friend Margaret tonight but I’ve run out of energy and space. Next time for sure!