Prior to the Joseph O’ Connor’s literary reading, I had never heard an author read his or her work. When I was in elementary school, I met Frank McCourt among others, but I never had the chance to listen to them read their own work. Did they have specific voices for each character? What tempo did they read at? Mostly, I was interested in how my readings differed from theirs. Joseph O’Connor gave me the opportunity to analyze this.

I went to see an opera at the Metropolitan Opera House yesterday, and while at the time at the opera, I looked over the architecture. The architecture is the perfect example of late 60s modernism, when the movement, in my opinion, was declining. The exterior of the opera house is a stone gray cube with some arches but not much else, which was the element that modernism strived for. Inside are concrete curving stairways covered in red carpeting, but not only were the floors carpeted but the walls were carpeted.

I am going to go right out and say this, I did not like the Joseph O'Connor reading. Part of this is because I have a hard time sitting still for long periods of time, though there were other reasons too. His voice, though I heard some people praising it, was melancholy and dull, and it didn't really catch my attention much. Also, the excerpts he read were a bit too long as well. Though he was kind enough to tell us how long each excerpt was, the excerpts were still quite long, according to him, each about eight minutes long.

  Now that we are wrapping up on our discussion of dance, I thought I would share my final thoughts on this art form and the Fall For Dance Festival at the New York City Center. Unlike most of my fellow peers, I have never been to museum exhibits, theatre and dance performances, and concerts. I am the New Yorker who lacked New York culture, and IDC has allowed me to gain a sense of the culture of New York.