Hofstra Tour

Here are some pictures of where Jess works. Hofstra University is located in Hempstead, NY (for a map, see "Melon Hosts the Debates"). There are about 13,000 students at Hofstra, and it offers a surprising number of graduate degrees. It's a beautiful campus and I'm sorry I didn't snap these pictures while more leaves were on the trees.

This is the New Academic Building, where the music department office and my office are located. I think this building is only about three years old.


This is the door to my office. Check out my homemade nameplate and the hanging homework assignments that my students NEVER bother to pick up!!!


I have a nice bookshelf and filing cabinet in my office, and notice the cute little tea kettle on my desk—part of my "CCL image" at Hofstra! :)


Opposite my desk area I have a computer! But I'm the only office in the music department without a Mac :(


I have a nice Yamaha piano in my office as well—much nicer than the piece of firewood Breighan and I shared at CCM last year. (But I'd give it all up to have you back, Breighan! I miss you!)


I teach in a building on the opposite side of campus. Here is Part I of my walk to class:


And now Part II of my walk:


My classes are in Monroe Lecture Hall. This is where music students spend most of the day. The music library and all the practice rooms are in the basement. Sometimes it's nice not having the students loiter around the New Academic Building; however, this setup makes it surprisingly hard to develop a rapport with your students outside of class, and virtually no one makes the haul across campus to visit my office hours.


My classroom is a miniature lecture hall, so it's on a slight slope. The piano was out of tune by week 5, but the stereo is actually quite nice and I can hookup my iPod. Check out the oldschool chalkboards; I love 'em but I miss the document cameras at CCM.


This concludes the Hofstra Tour. I hope this post, while boring for some, saves my parents from a very long commute on the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) just to see where I work. (Not to mention my day begins at 5:30am, which is 4:30am Iowa time.) But speaking of the LIRR . . . stayed tuned for the upcoming Transit Tour!

What the . . . ?!

Our neighborhood is beginning to reveal its true colors. Check this out:


This man sits on a stoop three doors down from our apartment. At first we smiled and gave him a big Midwestern "hello!" It's not uncommon for New Yorkers to flat-out ignore your very existence, so we didn't think much of it when he didn't respond. Eventually he started to creep us out and Melon became alarmed by his constant stare as she walked by. She finally got up the courage to tell him to mind his own business when . . . low and behold . . . his left hand fell off!

Yep, he isn't real!!!

What a relief! It must be a Halloween decoration, we thought. (But it was September.) Okay, so this household is particularly festive. I'm sure it'll disappear after October. (But he's still here and it's now late November.)

Confronted with the realization that this odd man might be around for awhile, we gave him a name: Woody. In some respects he's our favorite neighbor; he doesn't play loud music or strew litter about our streets. He simply keeps an eye on everyone and sets a pace these two non-New Yorkers can handle.

No Flippin' Way!

Well it turns it out we have a built-in medicine cabinet in our bathroom! We've lived here for three months and yet discovered it only this morning. Suddenly our tiny, seemingly storage-less apartment just got a bit bigger!

PT Hazards

Public transit (PT as Jess likes to call it) is one of the things that makes NYC so great. Sure . . . its not always as quick as driving, but you can get amazing amounts of work done while the train takes you to your destination.

I have to admit, I'm pretty lucky. Jess's commute is 2 hours at the quickest; for me to get to Brooklyn College it takes about 15 minutes—45 minutes to the Graduate Center.

Another advantage of public transit is that you don't have to deal with other discourteous drivers. No one cuts you off, you don't have to worry about someone running a red light, and no traffic tickets! (Though, you are at the mercy of your fellow commuters remembering to shower!)

Also, subway riders are surprisingly quiet. Without the ability to use a cell phone, most commuters ride in silence. The subway itself is loud, but in a strangely soothing way—like "white noise" or a thunderstorm.

The quiet of the subway is in stark contrast to the "booty" music that often rocks your car while driving through downtown Cincinnati. I'm convinced that many of the problems I had with my car while in Cincinnati resulted from it being "shaken" by the other people's music!


The relative quiet of the subway used to be a boon to my productivity! Recently, however, I've noticed a disturbing trend. In increasing numbers, young subway rider's headphones are turned up nearly beyond control. These inconsiderate commuter's iPods are so loud that you can hear them all the way across train. Its nearly impossible to analyze the intricacies of a Mahler symphony or read the latest New Yorker article while your commuter neighbor's iPod is blaring in your ear!

In my opinion this is worse than the "booty" music that shook my car in Over-the-Rhine. At least I could rock out to that music. On the subway, I'm stuck listening to the musical equivalent of an annoying fly; unable to participate along with it but forced to listen to it, I get almost nothing done. Without cars of their own, I've come to the conclusion that:

Election Night . . . Moseley Style

Hey everybody! Hope y'all voted today! Brian and I are watching the results and enjoying a couple of beers. Give us a call!