Color and gritty brightness, Manhattan in February. Words on the sidewalk at Greenwich Avenue and 7th. Self-portrait in a convex subway mirror. A favorite scruffy mailbox. Subway mosaic. And the western sun hitting me hard as a I turn down 11th Street.
We walk around Manhattan every December 25th—this year in preparation for our dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Here are some photos from our walkaround. We were surprised at how much was going on, mostly for tourists, in Little Italy. It was hopping, especially at the Cannoli King.
Looking east a little after sunrise on Christmas morning, from our Greenwich Village apartment. The first photo is the same view as the second—but seen through the fisheye lens.
We walked from Greenwich Village to the Morgan Library today. It must have been 10 degrees F. But we layered up and made it in good shape. Then saw several good exhibits, including one about Charles Dickens on tour. Here are some photos, in no order, taken on the walk...
It’s an annual thing with us—a long Xmas day and evening walk around Manhattan. These time we specialized in the Lower East Side, Chinatown and the East Village. Here is a selection of photos from the day. Click on any image for a larger view.
It was a cold, cold weekend. But lovely in Greenwich Village just the same. Took a few pix. Click on any image for a larger view and a permanent URL.
Al Filreis is Kelly Professor, Faculty Director of the Kelly Writers House, Director of the Center
for Programs in Contemporary Writing, Co-Director of PennSound, and Publisher of Jacket2—all at the University of Pennsylvania. Among his books are Secretaries of the Moon;
Wallace Stevens & the Actual World; Modernism from Left to Right, Counter-Revolution of the Word: The Conservative Attack on Modern Poetry, 1945-60; 1960: When Art & Literature Confronted the Memory of World War II & Remade the Modern (2021); and The Difference Is Spreading: Fifty Contemporary Poets on Fifty Poems. His new book is The Classroom & the Crowd: Poetry & the Promise of Digital Community (2025). He has taught a massive open online course, "ModPo," to 315,000 participants in 192 countries since 2012.
Founder/Faculty Director, Kelly Writers House—intro video ][ events calendar
Convener/teacher, “ModPo.” an open online course on modern & contemporary U.S. poetry—overview of the course ][ intro video
Publisher of Jacket2 magazine—my Jacket2 commentary series ][ "First Readings"
Producer/host, PoemTalk podcast series—co-sponsored by Kelly Writers House & the Poetry Foundation
Director of the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing—Creative Writing ][ RealArts internships ]
Co-founder & co-director of PennSound—50,000 files ][ 15 million downloads annually
Teacher & host, "Kelly Writers House Fellows"—since 1999 ][ Susan Sontag, John Ashbery, Jamaica Kincaid, Laurie Anderson, Adrienne Rich, Joan Didion, John Edgar Wideman & more
Teacher, "Representations of the Holocaust"—a course on survivor testimony ][ my holocaust site
Click on the image for information about the book.