Triangle Fire March 25, 1911(1)

When I read questions on NYC Travel Forums, I always chuckle when people say they've done the Tourist stuff, what's next. There are so many places to explore and interesting things to do and learn that I will never run out of possibilities. I started this blog, to give visitors and residents a sense of the possibilities of this City. I am only 1 of the 8 million plus explorers who live here. The Internet makes it possible for you to do a lot of research into your interests before visiting. These two posts will give you an idea of how my NYC journeys begin. I encourage you all to follow the links that interest you and add information as comments.

Last fall, Justin Ferate, a great NYC tour guide and a mentor to many of us, sent out the lecture calendar of the Victorian Society in one of his periodic informative emails. I put a spring lecture about the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire on my calendar and promptly forgot about it.

A few weeks ago, a reminder email was sent with some other info about an exhibit at the Grey Art Gallery of NYU on East Washington Square. I realized the lecture was already on my calendar. Later that day, on my way to a NYC Tourguide's Association (GANYC) committee meeting at the Angel Orensanz Center, I stopped in at the Visitor Center gift shop of the Tenement Museum. The book that jumped off the table and said "buy me" was called Triangle by Katharine Weber, a novel about the fire that you might not find in the gift shop link but you will find here in the link above.

Triangle was a fast read. It was an outlandish mix of "oldest survivor", August Rush, real narratives about the fire, feminism, Sept 11th, and a bit of a mystery. The characters were well drawn even if they were not always believable or likeable. While I thought pieces were missing on first read, a close reread of some sections did put all loose ends together.  After reading the book, I was inspired to go to the NYU Grey Art Gallery exhibit to learn more about the fire.....continued here.

Comments

[Sue]

Katharine Weber, the author of Triangle, is speaking at Temple Emanu-el , today, Wed March 23rd.

[Michael]

Love your blog
from:
The Mutual Friend

[Sue]

Thanks! Great seeing you on the 4th. You and Charlene should go see Romeo and Juliet in Yiddish.