Roadie: Roosevelt Birthplace, NYC

My wife outside the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace located on

East 20th Street, New York City. (2/24/17)

Last September,  my wife and I took a trip to FDR Presidential Library and Museum and this Winter Recess while visiting my stepson at college we found time to stop and take a tour of Theodore Roosevelt's Birthplace. Each of the multiple times over the past four years that we have been in New York City, Anne and I have endeavored to locate and visit National Park sites and monuments and this trip was no different. As a high school English teacher, I enjoy researching historical background relevant to various texts I use in class, but have never really felt like much of a student of American history. Visiting historical sites maintained by our U.S. National Parks Service, along with my wife's own passion for American history, has changed that.

Exterior of Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace. (2/24/17)

Close-up of dedication. (2/24/17)

Upstairs for "regular" visitors to the home, downstairs

for the help. We enter through the downstairs

entrance. (2/14/17)

Historical artifacts and documents with contextual information are

located in lower level. (2/24/17)

Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt's father, also named Theodore.
Due to the potential for confusion, the eventual president is
nicknamed "T.D." (2/24/17)

Living room where the Roosevelt's would

greet visitors. (2/24/17)

Living room. (2/24/17)

Close-up of living room chandelier. (2/24/17)

Bookshelf in TD's favorite room, the family library. (2/24/17)

Other than reading, the Roosevelt's also enjoyed looking
at the stereoscope--think old-timey View Master. (2/24/17)

The small velvet chair to the left of the fireplace was

specially made for TD whose skin was very

sensitive. (2/24/17)

The Roosevelt bedroom, where the future president

and his siblings were born. (2/24/17)

Close-up of chair in the bedroom. The circular silver hardware

on the wall opens to an early intercom system: the Roosevelt's would

open the apparatus and yell to the floor below. (2/24/17)

A two bedroom home, the parents shared one room and the

Roosevelt children, including TD, shared a second adjacent

room. It was dark and the "Exit" sign is the only structural modification

made to the reproduction of the original house. (2/24/17)

Close-up of porcelain doll in Roosevelt children's bedroom. (2/24/17)

The U.S. Park Ranger who conducted our tour did a fantastic job explaining each period room, sharing numerous anecdotes and offering valuable historical context. So much of what I learned from our tour is impossible to photograph, and I look forward to sharing these with my classes when the circumstances, and source documents, provide the opportunity. Like nearly every U.S. National Park Services site we've visited, I strongly recommend stopping by for an informative visit should you find yourself in the neighborhood.

Funko POP Goes My 2016

Believe it or not, this collection is small as compared to those of

Funko POP super fans. (12/30/16)

For better or worse, 2016 was the year I further expanded my collecting interests. While I have periodically purchased action figures (dolls!?) in the past, mostly unique or unusual characters, such as Batman's Native American counterpart Man-of-Bats, Lord of the Rings Ent Treebeard and the 2003 Hulk movie's David Banner/Absorbing Man amalgam, I have until 2016 avoided falling into the seductive trap laid by figure lines. My resolve was weakened this past year, as I responded to the siren song of Funko POPs.

If the allure of Funko POPs lies in the diversity of the line, it's strength is in the power of the memories they are capable of evoking. As I am in the collectables sweet spot (40+ years old, male, some expendable income, a fanboy), there are in incredible number of relatable characters. Whether reflecting childhood movie favorites (Flash Gordon), recent superhero comicbook interests (Ms. Marvel, Batgirl), cultural icons (Ghostbusters' Patty Tolan, Mel Gibson as Braveheart), or even literary mainstays (Cthulhu from the stories of H. P. Lovecraft), Funko POPs addresses itches that can be stretched. Like comicbooks and baseball cards, the acquisition of many come with an anecdote.

My first Funko POP Holy Grail: I travelled to multiple Walgreens over the course of

weeks to find this exclusive Ms. Marvel. Kamala Khan is one of the more interesting

comicbook heroes to be introduced in years. Was very excited to come across it in

an urban store I stopped at on a lark. 

A favorite character from a favorite movie, Vultan, played by Brian Blessed,

from Flash Gordon (1980). I was 11 when my brother and I went to see this in

theaters. Purchased this on annual excursions to Nee York City to visit my stepson

at college. It kind of became thing to find a unique Funko POP on each visit. 

The first real collectible based on H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos that I wanted was

also the first that I asked my local comic shop to find for me. Though unplanned, it

was also the first "Exclusive". Wish there were more POPs based on "Books" though.

A few months ago, I posted a picture of my POPs on Instagram. A former student wondered

in the comments, "Where are the female POPs?" She was right, at that point I had bought

only characters that were male. Ghostbusters (2016) was a movie I never expected to

like, but I was won over by the performances of the four leads, especially Leslie Jones'

portrayal as Patty Tolan. Jones' own cultural relevance has only continued to grow since.

A gift from my son this past Christmas following last Christmas' Howard the Duck.

Jack and I attended a local Sanders rally in June 2016 when the campaign

ball really began rolling, and I was excited to see his interest in politics develop.

Hawkgirl was an unusual impulse purchase from Barnes & Noble, which by the

way is an excellent source of POPs! I've never seen an episode of DC's Legends

of Tomorrow television show, I do, however, love recent depictions of the

Kendra Saunders Hawkgirl character in DC Comic books over the past ten years.

Also a New York Comic Con Exclusive, an event I have yet to attend but hope to... someday.

Funko POPs tell stories. These 6" figures (and bobbleheads) that prompt me to reflect on semi-important moments in my life as a fanboy and person. To my wife and others who have not embraced the collector's life, it is difficult to explain that these $10 "dolls" are worthy parts of my fandom. As someone who's been doing "this" for 30 years, long before "geek culture" became hip, I dig what Funko is doing with this line and look forward to continue supporting it.

Roadie: South Street Seaport Museum

The Peking at the South Street Seaport in New York City. (6/19/16)

Friday evening, my wife and I watched In the Heart of the Sea (2015) directed by Ron Howard and based upon the (far superior) novel by Nathaniel Philbrick. Despite lacking the passion of the book, and including some very odd camera angles intended (I think) to suggest some sort of artistic vision, one thing the movie did do very well is to recreate the Essex, the whaling ship that serves as the initial setting. Similar to our shared earlier film experience with Peter Weir's excellent 2003 historical drama Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on Dan O-Brien's novels, much of our viewing of the at-sea scenes were punctuated with comments such as "There is no way I could survive on a ship like that" or "I would definitely puke my brains out!"

It was during these scenes that I recalled we had indeed been on a boat not too dissimilar to that depicted in the movie... well, maybe not really, but it was an older vessel and we had toured it while it was moored to  a pier. Last month while visiting my step-son in New York City, one of the historical sites we found ourselves wandering into (in addition to the National September 11 Memorial and Hamilton Grange) was the South Sea Seaport. While there, we took in the South Street Seaport Museum and one of its display, the Peking. Neither a whaling ship nor war ship, the Peking was "one of the famous 'Flying P Liners'... [e]mployed in the nitrate trade..." The vessel was "made famous by the Irving Johnson film Around Cape Horn which documented her 1929 passage around the southern tip of South America in hurricane conditions." As part of our admission to the museum we were given a fairly self-guided tour of the ship.

Just as with the two aforementioned movies, touring the Peking reminded me how extremely unlikely it would be that I could survive at sea with fifty other people during an extensive voyage. I am more than well-equipped, however to tour interesting museums which permit an up-close experience with real history, a quality the South Street Seaport Museum has plenty of.

Roadie: National September 11 Memorial

Approaching the Oculus and One World Trade Center. 
(6/19/16)

As frequently as we have been to New York City since my step-son began attending Columbia University  three years ago, we have not made it down to Ground Zero. Until last weekend. Not much to add except to say that scale of the buildings lost is far greater than depicted in the news. It was wonderful to see so many people from a Variety of backgrounds respectfully visiting the National Memorial.

Map of National September 11 Memorial. (6/19/16)

Just one-half of the Oculus, the World Trade
Center Transportation Hub. (6/19/16)

The two structures certainly make for a unique profile. (6/19/16)

One World Trade Center as seen from the adjacent North Pool. (6/19/16)

The North Pool of the National September 11 Memorial at the site of Tower One.
Both pools are part of the design entitled Reflecting Absence, by
architect Michael Arad and landscape architect Peter Walker. (6/19/16)

Victims names are inscribed on bronze plates attached to the parapets of the
walls of the memorial pools. (6/19/16)

Waterfall close-up. (6/19/16)

Security at South Pool. (6/19/16)

The South Pool; both pools include man-made
waterfalls along the sides. (6/19/16)

In memory of the Orlando victims. (6/19/16)

South Pool. (6/19/16)

Despite many visitors, a suitably solemn memorial. (6/19/16)

An impressive memorial definitely worth a visit should you find yourself in New York City.