The Valley of the Gods

First off, go Dems! Yesterday was the first day in, oh, twelve years that I felt good about politics and the political direction of the country. I actually smiled at the newspaper. Big ups to everyone out there in TV Land (perhaps more literal than I realize ...) who voted; big downs to the New York Post, whose front-page photo and headline of Britney getting divorced from that idiot was larger and more prominent than their headline RE: Democrats taking the House. But I guess I should not be surprised.

This morning I looked out the window and the sky and the fresh air was amazing. A weather front was over Manhattan, and there was a clear demarcation between dark grey clouds and clear sky beyond. The Empire State Building, too, which has many different faces, was a gunmetal grey that I always find particularly striking. The buildings of Manhattan, as seen from my roof or window, can appear very different from day to day, much like the weird red rock monuments of the American Southwest, particularly those of the Valley of Gods, which I have visited, on a quiet, post-rain morning, as I heard, for the first time, Van Morrison’s "And It Stoned Me" playing from the roof of a green bus.