baroque chalkboard

twitter started online. then became mobile. you can tweet on the toilet. i protested twitter for the longest time and finally caved a few weeks ago. as someone who works at an ad agency, i had to see what would make people PAY to send out witty repartee as a form of marketing.

i found that it can be fun, a short form of blogging and a way of sharing fun tidbits. i used to do this through facebook, but realized i would be changing my status far too often and therefore break the basic rules of protocol involving facebook etiquette. 

we learn manners at a young age, but the rules of style are something that comes with growth and over time. we are used to fashion that ironically pokes fun at social media, but sometimes, things have been taken a step too far:

these lovely pieces really let people know that you are really hip. after all, who is cooler than a SUPER MAYOR. as a self-loathing PC user the last thing i want is a constant reminer of the “Blue Screen of Death.”

printed stockings might be “in” this season, but i do not think this is what they are referring to. also, it looks like whoever wears them is asking for a stalker.

today i had some errands to run on the UWS. this is a place i never venture.  i am a downtown girl by style and nature.  granted, my people reside on the uws and i feel very at home there, and today i found yet another reason (besides my friends and the innumerable shuls) that the area feels like home.

while walking to the subway, i passed a relic of my past, emack and bolios.  growing up in new jersey, there were two of these beloved ice cream stores in my home town.  both had porches that my family and i would sit on and enjoy classic, and inventive homemade flavors of ice cream and frozen yogurt.  it was also where the girls soccer team met every year before the first day of school. my high school crush took me there for a date once (insert bashful smile).

unfortunately, the stores closed and with them, childhood and teenage memories.  i never thought i would see one again until visiting my college boyfriend in boston. he took me to what he thought was the greatest place and when i saw the sign i couldn’t have been more excited.

tonight felt the same way. i had no idea that emack’s was in new york, and after some searching on the website, i found that there is also one in soho. despite the large price tag for a small, i couldn’t help but call my boyfriend and offer him some grasshopper pie. i chose the coffee chip yogurt.

the walk down memory lane continued as i headed toward the subway, passing josie’s where the bf and I went to dinner before dancing under the stars at tavern on the green.

chalkboard: also known as a blackboard, a piece of slate that can be reused. sometimes magnetic. not always. often employed by teachers as a learning tool. the highest grade are made of porcelain.

i never loved the white boards. i loved that if you really wanted something to never be erased on a blackboard, and if you pressed with all your might, you could still go back to your second grade classroom and see RD&BS (albeit barely there) but etched into the corner of the arithmetic bearing menace at the front of the room.

baroque:emphasizing dramatic, often strained effect and typified by bold, curving forms, elaborate ornamentation, and overall balance of disparate parts.

yes, many “blackboards” are green, but the ones that inspired this blog are two that i found while hunting for some decor for my new york apartment. i love things that are modern, with a gothic twist.just take a peek.  these chalkboards looked too special to just jot down my packing list for the weekend or chores to be done.  i allow my guests to write on the blackboards and leave messages, thoughts, exclamations, and the like.  something special belongs within their frame, as does with these posts.

things, thoughts, and feelings forgotten and then found again. they may be erased but can be rewritten. that is the beauty of chalk. water and rain can wash it away but if what was there truly means something, then you cannot ever truly forget it.

even if nobody reads my chalkboard but me, i have a place i know i can share some of the things that have been dropped in the lost and found of my wanderings in this space.