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“April showers bring May flowers.” This year, New York City had enough rain and cool
weather in April to help the City bloom with “May flowers.” New York City begins to be an outdoor city
in May with lots of free activities.
Free May
Events
May Conservatory
Concerts. New York City is home to
three world famous music schools (conservatories), Julliard, Mannes, and
Manhattan School of Music. Concerts end in May for the school year. Check the School bulletin boards for
concert schedules and directions. Don’t miss the Manhattan School of
Music’s “Salute to American Musical Theater” (see below).
Bronx Museum First
Fridays! May 2, 6-10pm, live bands and DJs. D or B to 167 St./Grand Concourse, exit rear of station and walk
south along Grand Concourse 2 blocks
Brooklyn Museum First Saturdays. May 3, Sat, 5-11pm. Free art, music, dancing, etc. www.brooklynmuseum.org/visit/first_saturdays.php.
2, 3 trains to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum at Museum
entrance.
Lukeman Sings Newman @ South Street
Seaport. May
8, Thurs., 7pm. May 9, Fri.
7&11pm. Free admission but reserve early to avoid
disappointment at: info@dimaproductions.com. 219
Water St. at Beekman St. 2 or 3 trains to Park Place or Wall St. and walk east to the East River. See
map on bottom right of second page.
Jazz Museum of Harlem Jazz
Concerts, May 6, 13, 20, 27 (7-8:30 pm).
May 8, 16, and 29 (6:30-8:30pm).
Free, reservations
(212)348-8300. Harlem School
of the Arts, 645 St.
Nicholas Ave. near 141st St.
A,B,C,D to 145th St.
Salute to
American Musical Theater, May 15-17,
Fri-Sun, 7:30 pm. John Borden
Theater, Manhattan
School of Music. 1 train to 116th
St., walk north on Broadway to 122nd St.
Dance Parade. Sat. May 17,
1pm on. Parade starts at W. 32nd St.
between 5th Ave.
and Broadway, proceeds to Union Square
and E. 13th St.,
then turns right onto 5th
Ave. to Washington Square
Park for performances
and DJs.
Fleet Week starts May
21. Navy sailors from all over
the world will visit NYC, including Times Square. .
Largest Dog
House in the World in Times Square @43rd St.
Weds, May 21.
Lower East Side Festival of the Arts, May 23-25, Fri-Sun 6pm, showcasing performers, musicians,
dancers, etc. @ Theater for a New
City, 155
1st Ave. Street festival Sat. on E. 10th St. from 10-6.
Arbiters of
Style: Women at the Forefront of
Fashion from the 18th
Century to today. Starts May 21. Fashion
Institute of Technology
Museum, Tu.-Fr, noon to 8pm and Sa. 10am-5pm. Seventh
Ave. at 27th St.
Washington Square Outdoor Art
Show, May 24-26. Over 200 artists exhibit around Washington Square
in Greenwich Village. A,B,C,D,F to West 4th St and walk east to 5th
Ave., 6 to Astor Place and walk west to 5th Ave.
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May Day,
May 1st: May Day, the 1st
of May, is celebrated around the world.
It means something different in different countries. In some countries like the USA, it is
not an official holiday but it celebrates spring and the coming of
summer. In others, it is a celebration
of workers.
Mother’s Day, May 11: Most cultures also honor their
mothers on special days. Mother’s Day may
have emerged from ancient festivals dedicated to mother goddesses. In the United States, families celebrate
Mother’s Day by giving their mothers flowers, cards, and/or gifts. (Fathers will have their day too this year
on June 15.)
Memorial Day, May 26: In the United States,
Memorial Day honors those who died for this country in war. Memorial Day began in 1865 to mark the end
of the Civil War between the North and South.
It is often celebrated with parades and visits to a cemetery to honor
and remember servicemen and women (people who served in the military).
The following poems were written after
World War I, a terrible bloody war lasting from 1914-1918. The fighting took place primarily between
the Allies (the US, Britain, France,
Russia, etc.) and the
Central Powers (Germany
and Austria-Hungary). At the time, it was known as the “war to
end all wars.” Sadly, it was not.
Grass, by Carl Sandburg (1918)
PILE the bodies high at Austerliz* and Waterloo*
Shovel them under and let
me work—
I am the grass; I cover
all.
Pile them high at Gettysburg*
And pile them high at
Ypres* and Verdun*.
Shovel them under and let
me work.
Two years, ten years, and
passengers ask the conductor:
What place is this?
Where are we now?
I am the grass. Let me
work.
*Famous battlefields with terrible numbers of
deaths--Austerlitz and Waterloo from the early 19th Century
Napoleonic Wars, Gettysburg from the American mid-19th Century
Civil War, and Ypres and Verdun from World War I.
In Flanders Field, by John McCrae (d. 1918),
Canadian World War I doctor
Û(The poem continues, as follows--)Þ
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks*still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns
below.
We are the Dead. Short
days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw
sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and
now we lie
In Flanders* fields . . . .
*”Larks” are a kind of
songbird. “Flanders” is the general name for parts of Northern Europe that
today belong to France, Belgium, and Holland.
Flanders contained some of the bloodiest battlefields of World War I.
Map of Lower Manhattan
South St. Seaport on East River
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