three things

1. is it terrible that i can't find my glasses so i've been wearing old glasses i can't really see through because the prescription is too weak and also they're really scratched and i haven't even really looked for my newer glasses for about three months?

2. i just ate at vanel, which is a new soul food restaurant, their terminology, on first avenue between 5th and 6th streets. it was so incredibly good! not the fried chicken so much, as the mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. oh, and the crispy and moist cornbread, served with melted butter and fresh garlic to dip it in, italian restaurant style. plus, all the plates had paprika decoratively sprinkled around the edges, so you know they mean business. i'd never even had mashed potatoes like that before. i think it's what kentucky fried chicken tries to go for; i'd always wondered. i assumed there was some kind of meat stock in it or something, so i didn't save any for my boyfriend, who is a vegetarian, but then i found out that all of their sides, including the mashed potatoes, are vegetarian. i should have saved him some because they were just amazing. but i ate it all. it's the kind of thing you go all the way up to harlem for. that is if you're not me, someone who never rides the subway.

3. there is a really weird painting in there of a black child looking out a window at a lawn--the point of view of the painting is from the outside--and in the grass are three little teeny tiny kkk dudes in the white conical hats and everything. i didn't look at it for very long--i only noticed it as i was leaving--so i can't do a whole art history thing on it, you know, theorize about what it means and all that, and anyways i never was very good at that anyway, but i had to wonder, at least, who would want to look at kkk dudes while they're eating? parenthetically, the only people i've ever seen in there, and they've been open for a couple months, are black.