NYC, Very Hot; 826NYC, Very Cool

Posted on June 08, 2005 by Matt Ufford

A sweltering day: East Coast humid, heat coming from the pavement more than the sun. As usual, though, 826NYC is cool, almost chilly, as the air-conditioning and Ted’s breezy irony shape our climate.

This morning was the school year’s final Storytelling and Bookmaking field trip. Twenty-two second graders from PS 261 arrived from Boerum Hill. With the help our highly caffeinated volunteers, PS 261 produced one of the finer stories in recent history for H. Mildew Books—the story of ChickenFingers Geraldo (a robot chicken who lives in space), his friend Flower Foxx, and how their quest to New York City is disrupted by landing in Long Island, suffering a case of lovesickness, and—of course—battling Godzilla. (Godzilla, for the record, played against type as a jealous ex-lover.)

Merely the tip of the extra-cold iceberg for our superhero volunteers. The backyard deck is now finished, complete with furniture created from leftover scraps of wood. Abed and Byu, two of our regular drop-in students, christened the deck with some inspired recorder practice. Ironically the outside deck and wooden furniture built by volunteers seem sturdier than the wobbly minimalist IKEA tables inside the center.

Posted by Matt Ufford