on the way to Puerto Rico

Dec. 23 2011

Seasick

• Julian Bond speaks on the civil rights movement

• Visualization art class and writing class

• Two free glasses of wine, aka Captain's dinner

As I got ready this morning my stomach was rolling from ship movement. Had breakfast on the deck under overcast skies but warm air. This morning we can see nothing but ocean. We are on the way to Puerto Rico. A half hour after taking a motion sickness drug, I felt much better. The ship is rocking some and we are getting our sea legs. We look like a bunch of drunks as we grab the walls to hold ourselves up.

Each meal is available at a sit down dining room or at the buffet. We seem to be using the buffet for breakfast and lunch because it is fast.

This morning we took an art workshop from a fellow that teaches at the Brooklyn Art Museum. He handed us thick paged blank art books which we will transform into a “visualization journal” of our travels. We will have 10 workshops. Neither Joan nor I are artists but looking forward to messing around with watercolors and collages and colored pencils on this trip.
I met a Scottish fellow with the last name of Campbell who is a professor on board teaching astronomy. There will be a meteor shower on January 4th. He will invite people on the 8th floor of the ship from 3 a.m. until daylight to observe. He is from Scotland and he also will run a class on Scotch. Tasting $80 and $90 a bottles of scotch.

Mid morning Julian Bond spoke in the Union lounge. Julian spoke about the history of the civil rights movement. We have many students aboard from Moorhouse college in Atlanta Georgia where Julian Bond attended college. Julian dropped out of college in the last semester of his senior year to become active in the civil rights movement and it was 10 years before he finished college. He took a class from Martin Luther King at Moorhouse. He says it is the only class King taught and there were only eight students in the class. Although Bond feels very lucky to have been in that class though, he claims typical of a college student, he remembers little from the class. Mr. Bond took questions from the audience and that was probably the best part of his speech. Someone asked about the Occupy Movement and he sees much value in it, pointing out that economic injustice is now a common topic of conversation since the Occupy Movement started. He is concerned about the movement over the winter since most of the U.S. is not conducive to “occupying” outdoors during the winter. Mr. Bond mentioned that President Lyndon Johnson did more for the civil rights movement than any other president. When asked what the biggesst civil rights cause was right now Mr. Bond said we must have justice, fairness and equality. We all have human rights. The best way to defend them is not to exclude anyone. We must extend civil rights.

The ship is chilly today and I found myself looking for my long pants and close toed shoes while inside the ship.
I spent some time on the deck today reading a book we will study in book group, The Lost City of Z (A tale of deadly obsession in the Amazon). It helped my motion sickness to sit outside facing the front of the ship.
Joan and I had lunch on the deck. Love walking up to a whole line of prepared food to graze. small steak, green salad, fruit salad and an egg salad wrap, followed by ice cream and small éclairs. Visited with a couple from Lansing MI and a fellow from NY that lives in a rent-controlled apartment that he has had for 40 years. He said he couldn't possibly be in Manhattan without it.

After lunch I went to a writing workshop at 2 pm. Wonderful teacher. She has been writing 12 years and has published several books with a new one coming out soon. She’s young, well organized and we started with some exercises on grabbing people’s attention with the first sentence.

Captain’s night dinner. Meant we got two free glasses of wine and were introduced to the ship staff. We had assigned tables so I met some new people. Two had been on previous SAS voyage in April through the Panama and enjoyed it so much they were back already. We had a good conversation about travels and retirement. Dinner was a small flat NY steak, Caesar salad, and the best cherries jubilee. Saw an evening show of a Brazilian singer and a guitarist in the Union lounge. Also a pianist. Both very good. Tomorrow we arrive in Puerto Rico.