Gunillocentrism – web diary of a freelance journalist

Of course I missed the plane. I always miss planes.

And I love the feeling when I all of a sudden get an extra day… Since the packing is already done*), the apartment has been cleaned, most of the errands have been executed etc (that’s partly why I miss planes) there is an ocean of bonus time to concentrate on indulgences when one has missed a plane.

So now I will be able to go down to Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s cool restaurant Spice Market and hang out with my friend Annika….then on to Fulton Fish Market again, this time with a tape recorder.
Of course, going to Spice Market is all about working! I need to talk to their pastry chef Pichet Ong about his academical background, for a Gourmet column.

Let’s see if I make it to the flight tomorrow. I’m on the waiting list!

/Gunilla

*) This is how the packing was done: I shoveled all of the red and black clothes, no matter what kind of garments they were nor if they were dry or not, directly from the drier and into a sack. I squeezed that sack inte one of my bags, and then filled the rest of the bag space up with binders, receipts and books (=my company)… Done! But of course, tomorrow I believe I will have an ocean of time to re-pack…

I spent this night listening to, writing about and doing a radio piece on George Bush’s speech on Iraq. Then, it was quite fun to go downtown in order to report on something completely different: the Fulton Fish Market.
It has been on the very same spot since the 1820’s (!) but will soon move to a modern facility in Bronx. The workers will get a cleaner work environment; the market place will be more efficient; the city will be able to build a fancy pleasure boat marina – but something will get lost on the way. New York is a city where you actually see people _working_, and at this market there is lots of magic spinning around between 00 and 08 AM. I talked to some of the fish mongers, amidst giant fishes and boxes with clams, and they are quite sad to leave. They were fun to interview: some of them were real characters: with tattoos, bandanas, and fat cigars in the mouth, chatting with each other while loading enormous tuna fishes and squid.
Pictures of Fulton Fish Market

Now I have to pack my life and company togheter in no time! I need to clean my flat, show it to a presumptive flat mate/sublettee, sort out all of my papers and receipts (tons of them), wash my clothes, pick up a portfolio, get a new passport from the consulate, pack my clothes, and ten thousands other things – in three hours. The plane leaves in seven hours from now. I tried to change my ticket so I could go tomorrow, but it would have cost me almost $2,000! Hilfe! I would need another week here!

/Gunilla

When I was hanging out at JFK today (no, my camera was nowhere to be found!!!) I checked out one of the coolest buildings that I know of: the TWA terminal, designed in the end of the 1950’s by the Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen (1910–1961).

When TWA merged with American Airlines in 2001, the terminal was closed. Apparently, no airline wishes to operate it as a passenger terminal, because of its physical and aeronautical limitations. But as you can see, it is a symbol of an era when flying was a very glamourous act.

I never flied with TWA, so I have never been inside the terminal. My relation with the building is that I acquired a picture of it, during one of my first trips in New York when I pretended to be an art collector. It hangs in my little studio apartment in Stockholm and represents New York and travelling there quite nicely: Interior photo by Ezra Stoller. When the picture was delivered to me, I thought the gallerist who sold it had fooled me, because it didn’t say “JFK” but “the Idlewood Terminal”. Of course, the terminal wasn’t called “JFK” until later, I then realized.

There has been a lot of activism going on to preserve the beautiful building. See for example here:
Designs for Modern Living: Saarinen’s TWA Terminal in Danger
New York Architecture
America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places 2003: TWA Terminal, NY
or here:
Fast Company: Meet JetBlue, Evil Corporation?

But it will not be used as a terminal, rather as something inbetween lots of other terminals and gates. This is the plan of JetBlue Airways and Port Authority, but it is still contested by for example Municipal Art Society.

For now, it just stands there and waits for renovation.
I and a photographer have tried to pitch a story on flight food to Swedish lifestyle magazines. Unfortunately as of yet with no success, but I still like the idea: That Marcus Samuelsson of Aquavit would present ideas for great gourmet inflight food boxes, and that we would take pictures of them in that air terminal.

I thought the building was completely empty and closed. But today, I could see that at least they have one security guard there, so the door was open (of course, she wouldn’t let me inside, so I could only peek in). There might still be a chance our idea could be realized (if we could sell the story, and get permission to do it from the Port Authority).
Unfortunately, they have bad experiences of letting people in – last year, the art crowd managed to trash it completely! See: “Art Exhibition at JFK Airport’s TWA Terminal Abruptly Shut Down”. Trashing such a beautiful building, how could they?!

/Gunilla

I just landed at JFK Airport, straight from Denver. This was a so called red-eye flight, i e overnight. And I really do have red eyes – you don’t get much sleep onboard a full aircraft!
But before I leave the airport, I have to submit another text on the golf and on Annika…
It’s foggy here in New York! Not the beautiful weather I had anticipated for my last days in the city.

/Gunilla

A Swedish victory in the US Golf Open would be a miracle at this point – Annika Sörenstam as well as Liselotte Neumann have to do a bunch of birdies and eagles to make it from now… I hear myself start saying all the clichés that sport reporters are being ridiculed for, such as “anything could happen”.
Well, at least right now those teenagers – Michelle Wie, only 15; Morgan Pressel, only 17, and Paula Creamer, only 18 – have problems, too. It is a little scary when _that_ young people are that good.

/Gunilla

By the way, the Swedish midsummer celebration in New York that I attended on Midsummer Eve (June 24) was fabulous. I had no idea there were so many people with Swedish affiliations in New York in June – Swedish-Americans of all ages, Swedish expats, Americans with Swedish girl-friends. bilingual children…and a few curious, Japanese tourists.

Cutest visitor: Elfie von Kantzow Alvin (who moved to New York in 1948 and never seems to want to leave!) in her mother’s traditional Vingåker costume.
Nice backdrop: Statue of Liberty.
Too long: the queues to the food and the elderberry squash. The event was extremely crowded.
Anyway: highly recommended.
Traditional Swedish Midsummer Celebration in Battery Park City

But I have this weird habit, a clear sign this profession has gotten on my mind completely. It seems I cannot attend an event just like that, without taking pictures. So I did (this was at the good old time when I still had my camera…).
Most commercial shot: Swedish USA ambassador Jan Eliasson with a garland of flowers in his hair. Unfortunately, I don’t think I can upload images on this blog.

/Gunilla

It doesn’t go too well for the Swedes… Annika Sörenstam has gotten closer to the top, but only a little. She has five shots to go to the leaders. There is still a chance she wins, but it has become very slim.

Obviously, I bring misfortune to all the Swedes I go to cover. A lot of antiklimaxes: Kenny Bräck had to quit the race in Indianapolis, Annika Östberg didn’t get a determination of her prison time by the Board of Prison Term in California, and Annika Sörenstam has bad luck here. Well, at least the latter started before I came.

Golf is a tough sport to cover for journalists, I discovered! It’s not enough to just sit and watch. If you want to the see the game you have to walk fairly quickly. I followed Annika Sörenstam during her last 10 holes, and there was not much time to sit around and rest.

And then I had to send lots of texts very quickly. Sports texts always have to be written in something like five minutes. But I think it worked out – you can see my first, draft-like version here: DN - Sport - Sörenstam har inte gett upp segern. I wrote two updated versions, but they are not on the net.

It sucks to always be six to nine hours behind deadline time in Sweden, in this case eight! And I guess I shouldn’t mention this, but I have dropped my new expensive, fabulous camera behind somewhere!
Now, time to go back downtown Denver and find about where to eat a deasent meal and to track that camera down.

/Gunilla

Hey,

I just arrived to the media centre at the Cherry Hills Country Club in Denver, where the US Open is being held.

I’m here to cover Annika, of course. Or Annika Sörenstam, as we think of her in Sweden. I think she is an even bigger name in the US than in Sweden.
2005 U.S. Women’s Open

If you have followed the game, you know that Annika – who is here to take her third Grand Slam-title – was only number 22 after two days. But there are two more days… She just started, and I will try to go out in the field and see if I can find her. And the other Swedes – there are so many of them here. You wouldn’t think Sweden is an arctic country with a very short golf season. Well, of course that’s the reason the players move to Arizona and Florida.

Since this is the first time I am covering a golf event, and the second time I am covering a sports event at all, I am pretty clueless. I’m here for The Annika Story and will have to avoid all golf terms carefully in my texts. Luckily, Aftonbladet’s golf reporter Thomas Tynander has promised to be my guide into this mysterious world, so stay tuned!

/Gunilla

This is the very coolest thing I have seen anyone do with a Mac:
Graham Hicks iBook dressed up in Michelin map

I want to copy the idea! Luckily, I have my former computer to play around with for it.

Here’s how to do it:
TronBook | Applefritter

Hmmm.. it seems pretty complicated…

/Gunilla

Idag hoppas jag att jag *äntligen* lyckas hyra ut min lägenhet i juli och augusti. Jag har jobbat heltid med det i flera dagar nu, inte helt produktivt. Roligare att skriva artiklar. Ångestframkallande att riskera att få lägga ut $3,000 i hyra helt i onödan.
I kväll: midsommarfirande i Battery Park för första gången; sedan – flyg till Denver och US Open! Det är 35 grader i skuggan där…

Två viktiga och spännande saker att tänka på:
• ska jag hänga med på Greenpeaces klimatforskningsexpedition längs med Grönland i augusti? (Bara chansen att få säga “kan jag få en biljett till Nuuk, tack” på resebyrån lockar mig.) Jag kan inte komma på en enda tidning som skulle vilja ha mina reportage om det, än mindre sponsra min resa.
• ska jag be att få skriva en “behind the scenes på generalförsamlingen”-bok, om Jan Eliassons år på FN?

Borde inte förresten Jan Eliasson hyra min lägenhet, i väntan på ett stiligt residens vid Central Park där han ändå lär hamna i höst? Efter allt hans prat om vikten av att vistas på fältet borde han väl visa att han också menar det. Två månader i Harlem skulle bli en strålande pi`ece de conversation på många kommande diplomatmiddagar.

/Gunilla