A scary plane ride, a disturbing event on the subway, and an evening of fabulous theatre marked my first day in New York for the Blogher 10 conference.
I do not like to fly and it makes me nervous to be so far away from my kids. So a long and turbulent flight with nothing but time to think about how far we were from Los Angeles was not fun for me. The first part of yesterday’s flight was actually great, I slept a little and then read about 100 pages of “This is Where I Leave You.” (Don’t worry, no foreshadowing there)
About 3 hours along the flight became pretty turbulent and at one point, “Poof!”, the televisions went off. I told my husband that losing power to the television could not be a good sign. He looked at me puzzled. “Are you wearing the noise cancelling headphones to cancel out the sound of my voice?” I asked him. I was still slightly annoyed that the flight attendant had to physically take his upgraded business class ticket out of his hand so we could sit together back in coach. The flight attendant said, “You love birds need to sit together.” The husband gave me a look that said, “If I have to.”
After I got the husband to take off the headphones, the pilot, who sounded a little sleepy, announced to the cabin that one of the three generators blew out. But not to worry because he only needed two to fly the plane and they had started up an auxiliary one to provide adequate power to the cabin. This did not stop me from worrying.
We landed just fine and I was relieved to get off the plane. Yay! Our fun was starting! And then we got on the subway.
I love the subway and thought it was a much better alternative than paying for a taxi. I was wrong. I sat down 2 seats away from a woman on a train heading for Manhattan. A small Indian woman sat down in between us. The woman on the left shoved her and said the train wasn’t just for her. The Indian woman shoved her back and said she didn’t think it was just for her. The first woman started yelling and swearing and said the Indian woman couldn’t talk right and she should get the hell out of America. She continued by saying that if the Indian woman didn’t learn her place “I will cut you.”
The Indian woman and I became very still until the first woman got off of the train. I asked her if she was okay and she said, “It happens all the time.” Really? “Yes, all the time. You cannot change things.”
I know how the world works, and also know that racism is alive and well and thriving (take Arizona’s immigration law), but it was very disturbing to see first-hand. And I can’t get the look the Indian woman gave me out of my head – sad, resigned.
Because this is New York, the day can change on a dime and that’s what happened. The husband and I made it to our hotel, checked in, cleaned ourselves up, and headed to the theatre.
I had the hardest time buying our Broadway tickets. I wanted to see something really fun and it came down to “How could anyone be more fun than Kristin Chenoweth?” I love her in everything she’s ever done. So, we went to see “Promises, Promises”.
The show was AMAZING!!! Sean Hayes was funny and had a surprisingly good voice. Chenoweth’s voice was incredible to hear live. It was funny, well acted, and the whole cast was great!! Some of the songs weren’t great, but all in all, it was fantastic.
What a strange and interesting day. Can’t wait to see what the conference is like tomorrow.