a fitting finale, I guess

this penis building in Ypsilante, MI:

the midwest leg

In Ann Arbor, MI, they have the first Borders ever:
The door is newly purpled at Cassie's house in Ann Arbor:

Here's the restaurant in Cleveland where we ate breakfast lunch and where Harvey Pekar eats. I might have seen him, but I don't know what he looks like:

unsafe driving

between Elkton, MD and Cleveland, OH

The thing about driving on the express way is that you have to have, I think, an inordinate amount of trust in the people driving in front of and behind you. I don't have that kind of trust. I get really nervous when anyone gets close to me at all when I'm driving because how the hell do I know that they are not going to slam on their breaks or ram into the back of the car I'm driving. Maybe it won't even be accidental; maybe it will be some kind of intentional but random terrible car-crashing. This is what I'm thinking about when I'm driving for hours and hours these days. I'm thinking about how remarkable it is that all of the people driving around me are kind enough and talented enough not to crash into Cassie's car even though they could at any second.

My Dad taught us that our family motto is, "Trust but verify," which is probably why I'm thinking this.

the city of brotherly love

Cassie, looking so tiny:

a delicious cheesesteak:

Apparently, there are hundreds of murals in Philadelphia, but we only saw a few. This one's dedicated to the work of W.E.B. DuBois in Philly:

In the Dumpster Divers' Art Gallery on South Street. This piece is called screwing Yellow Hill. There's a handwritten description of the piece by the author right there in which he explains that everything here is litter he picked up on Yellow Hill and lamenting the carelessness of litterers in Yellow Hill:

lots of blue things in the Dumpster Divers Gallery:

still more Dumpster Diven stuff:

South Street, Philly. Home to really freaking sweet thrift stores:

Arriving into Philadelphia, PA. I like this city:

Southward, ho!

Cassie on Pleasant Beach in I think Connecticut:

At the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, they have an exhibit of the work of Shepard Fairey, the guy who did that Obama poster, and TONS of other cool stuff. But I couldn't take photos in the gallery so I took a photo of this in the lobby:

They also have this really sweet computer lab that's angles downward like an auditorium but with no stage, just a window that shows you that you're sitting out over the harbor:

And here's Cass and I standing in the lobby:

can'tstopwon'tstop

According to Josh, "the most important landmark in Boston" is this Citgo sign:
artist, Cassie Jo Cleary:

The belltower in which Paul Revere signaled one if by land and two if by sea:

Looking out the window of the oldest bar in America:

Look at all these 21st Century folk eschewing the all those old fashioned reference books in favor of the World Wide Web (even though using those books would require using that cool ladder!):

inside the Boston Public Library:

same thing:

goto

I was going to write about the "show" we saw in NYC, but then Cassie did. Articulately and eloquently. So I don't feel the need to anymore.

I've also been planning on writing some long, boring post about the purpose of travel. It occurred to me when we were wandering around in the Guggenheim that we spend a lot of time and money going places to use our eyes on new, cool stuff. And not just our eyes, I know. We also use our noses, ears, fingers, and tongues on new, cool stuff. And pretty much that's why we travel? I don't think so. But I really don't feel like writing any further since I'm already painfully aware of how dumb I'm making myself out to be right now.

Also, we're probably not going to Delaware now, so I won't have a chance to post this video clip and write, "Hi. I'm in Delaware." unless I do so now.

more fone fotos

In backwards order of taking.

Harvard flags that use textspeak (the last of which is incomprehensible to me):
(UPDATE: Cassie says that we do know what it means. That it means "May the force be with you," but I'm not convinced because no one says that about going to class. Josh suggested that it could mean "May the fish be wet underwater," which is also true. I still don't know what it means.)

haha. "FUCK!" in Harvard Square:

Their campus is okay but our quad's WAY better:

Cassie's favorite:

"really bad Portuguese music" according to our hosts:

lots of lights and flags for the Portuguese festival, The Feast of the Blessed Sacrament in New Bedford, Massachusetts:

Apparently, this town is really Portuguese because when the New England whalers would go looking for help for their whaling missions, the currents of the Atlantic take boats from New Bedford, MA straight to the islands off of Portugal and then right back to New Bedford. Huh.:

the mills and small beach in New Bedford:

more to come on this fellow later (preview: OMG.)

the theater where we saw the worst piece of theater ever theatered:

Spanish Harlem:

graffiti wall of fame at 106th and Park:

Off camera this looks more like "ASS TRANSPORTATION." I had to take a picture because of the connection I felt with my favorite part of Sister Act II, when Sister Mary Clarence is standing in front of the door to where she'll be teaching and it says "MUSIC ASSROOM."

a community garden in East Harlem:

part of my favorite exhibit at the Studio Museum Harlem, a collection of photography by area high school students:

cross-stitch in the Studio Museum Harlem!:

the Apollo:

the library at Colombia's main campus, which I saw on my way to the Teachers College bookstore:

cell phone photos of NYC

in order from last taken to first taken while here

drooping > sagging:

hard to see, but this is a fire hydrant busted and flooding the street:

I think this is inordinately funny:

"It's the B to the R the O the O-K, L-Y-N that's the place where I stay" NOT:

We could see this lady's butt:

someone not afraid of heights wrote that:

the Brooklyn Bridge, as cool as everyone said it would be, I think:

so many plastic bottles:

Hi, Cassie:

This photo doesn't do justice to the hecticity of this sitchiation:

a WTC memorial in Greenwich Village:

I'm crazy about the font used for the 168th STREET sign

Coming off the Jersey Turnpike onto the Washington Bridge. I was SO EXCITED.