sogucited

watch out of the used condoms and overly friendly rats.

new york state.
it’s not just a city.

but my favorite thing about the Eastman House is the Dryden Theater.

excellent films old and new, classics, cult films, foreign, indie, visiting film makers, special events… amazing!

I love the way the curtain in front of the screen slowly rises as the house lights dim.

love, love, love, love the Dryden!!!

One of the very best things about Rochester

utica is my hometown. I moved away 15 years ago but I go back to visit my family.
there are one or two things about it that are pretty cool.
it’s the largest refugee relocation center on the east coast. there are people from all over the world living in utica and really revitalizing it. if you want to meet people from sierra leone, bosnia, haiti, vietnam, burma, russia, peru, etc. etc. with amazing (and often heart breaking)stories, you can do it in utica. i hear there are bosnian discos there now.
there’s also munson william proctor institute of the arts which is a really excellent gallery. it’s far better than the memorial art gallery in rochester and i personally think it’s better than albright knox in buffalo.
utica has a rich history and amazing achitecture is everywhere—sadly much of it decaying and disappearing rapidly.
the old psychiatric hospital (orignally the New York
State Lunatic Assylum) is amazing! i’m dying to get in it.
and the food in utica is pretty good. i don’t know anywhere else to get tomato pie!
housing costs are also very low. You can rent a 3 bedroom house with a yard for far less than a studio apartment goes for here in rochester. of course, there aren’t a lot of jobs.

Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony are buried here.

but living there is for the birds!