Dialann | Issue 16, October 2014

N EW YO RK O C TO B E R 2 0 1 4

Get a notebook, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies.

P R E S I D E N T S P E N C E R W. K I M B A L L

NEW YORK

OCTOBER 2014

Our family Susan Jane Hibdon Joyce Dustin Tyler Joyce Fiona Claire Joyce Colin Everett Joyce

ISSUE 16

TA B L E

36 PAGES

of C O N T E N T S

N EW YO RK O C TO B E R 2 0 1 4

Where we live 192 Linden Street, 2nd floor Brooklyn, New York 11221-4504 Where we work/go to school Susan

on the front cover Fallen autumn leaves on Wilson Avenue near our apartment.

Dustin Consulting, taking care of Fiona and Colin, cleaning, and looking for a job fiona Grade: Prekindergarten Teachers: Sandra Gomez and Carmen De Leon P.S. 147 Isaac Remsen 325 Bushwick Avenue Brooklyn, New York 11206-3404

DUSTIN | 9 OCTOBER 2014

Dialann — Irish for “journal” — is published quarterly at New York, in January, April, July, and October.

ISSN 2334-3230 (print) ISSN 2334-3249 (online) Published by Dustin Tyler Joyce dtjoyce.com Printed by Blurb blurb.com Sans serif text is set in Hypatia Sans.

Serif text is set in Adobe Text.

This issue was finally completed in October 2017. (Hey, we have three children in our family now, so we’re busy — cut us some slack!)

14 C O V E R S T O RY

on the BACK cover Fiona and Susan in our cabin at Promised Land State Park, Pennsylvania.

DUSTIN | 31 JULY 2014

B O O K R E P O RT

14 The High Line

By Dustin | The third and final phase of Manhattan’s groundbreaking urban park-in-thesky finally opens.

A VISIT TO

20 The Danbury Railway Museum

By Dustin | Our family took a day trip to the end of the Danbury Branch of Metro-North’s New Haven Line — and visited a railway museum, of course.

Original content is available for noncommercial use under a Creative Commons license. Some material in this issue was produced by others; material used under a Creative Commons license is identified by “CC” and the license type and version. For more information, visit dialann.org/copyright

24 Can a book about maps really expand a geography junkie’s mind?

By Dustin | A review of On the Map: A Mindexpanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks by Simon Garfield.

WE BELIEVE IN CHRIST

26 Preparing for a mission

By Dustin | A talk Dustin gave in the sacrament meeting of the Pineville Ward, Charlotte North Carolina South Stake, Sunday, 23 July 2000.

29 All alone

By Susan | Even in a city full of strangers others in need don’t have to suffer all alone.

THE JOURNAL SUSAN

The family that camps together The Hibdons got together for a week of camping and adventure in the Poconos.

PAGE 4

dialann.org

DUSTIN

That time I tried out for a game show I always knew that it was my destiny to win a million dollars on TV. Until it wasn’t.

PAGE 8

FIONA

Or, Life in the Woods After just a week in a cabin, I think I might like life in the woods even more than life in the city.

PAGE 10

COLIN

These are a few of my favorite things My big sister, rubber duckies, toy trumpets, and nice bottles of milk — so much to love!

PAGE 12

M I LESTO N ES

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2014 J U LY 12 Long Beach, Long Island, with Dustin’s family for Fiona’s birthday 14 Fiona gets a library card for the first time, from the New York Public Library 15 Fiona (4) 17 Dustin and Fiona to Hackettstown, New Jersey, on NJ Transit’s Morristown Line, part of Dustin’s goal to ride Greater New York’s entire rail network 17 A giant crater suddenly appears in the Yamal Peninsula, Russia, and scientists are at a loss to explain it, leading to widespread—and sometimes wild—speculation on its cause.

The most likely explanation: an underground explosion of water, salt, and natural gas, the result of climate change Malaysia Airlines flight 17, on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 on board, is shot down over eastern Ukraine by a missile fired by Russian separatists 25–1 August Camping with Susan’s family at Promised Land State Park, Pennsylvania

AUGUST 9 Michael Brown, an 18-yearold African American man who was unarmed, was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. It was the latest in a string of incidents in which police used fatal force against young black men, leading to protests and political debate in the St. Louis area and across the country 14–17 Dustin and Fiona to Frederick, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. 23 Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve breaks ground for the Meridian Idaho Temple 24 A 6.0-magnitude earthquake near Napa, California, is the largest to strike the Bay Area since 1989’s Loma Prieta earthquake

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27 In response to Moscow’s claims that its troops are entering the Ukraine by mistake, Canada’s delegation to NATO tweets “Geography can be tough” with a map clearly marked “RUSSIA” and “NOT RUSSIA” →

4 Fiona’s first day of school: prekindergarten in Ms. Gomez’s class at P.S. 147 Isaac Remsen in Brooklyn. She goes for one hour that day and for two hours the following day. Monday, 8 September, is her first full day 11 Fiona goes to bed with her “pacifizer” for the last time.

On Friday, 12 September, she and Susan had a slumber party celebrating the end of her pacifier days, and on Monday, 15 September, Fiona and Dustin shipped the pacifier off to Grammy (see page 11) 12 Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, the first double-leg amputee to participate in the Olympics (see Dialann 8.12), is convicted of “culpable homicide” (a charge similar to manslaughter) in the death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. He was found not guilty of murder the day before 15 After a yearlong closure to repair damage from Hurricane

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21 President Thomas S. Monson, president of the Church, rededicates the Ogden Utah Temple after a major remodeling that lasted three and a half years

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It was the state’s first bear attack since 1852 and only the second fatal bear attack in the state’s history

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31 China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress, decides that Hong Kong cannot democratically elect its own leader in its next scheduled election, planned for 2017, leading to widespread protests in Hong Kong in the following weeks

SEPTEMBER

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Sandy, the Montague Tubes reopen, returning the R train to its normal route between Manhattan and Brooklyn For the first time since the government began tracking data in 1976 more Americans are single than married 20 Dustin baptizes Joanne Carol Lavoglio

The third, final, and northernmost section of Manhattan’s groundbreaking High Line park opens (see page 14) 28 Daniel and Tiffany visit

18 September With 1,617,989 voting “yes” (45%) and 2,001,926 voting “no” (55%) on the question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?” Scotland chooses to remain a part of the United Kingdom, preserving the union that has bound Scotland with England since 1707. An astounding 84.6% of registered voters turn out; 97% of eligible voters, which included, for the first time, 16- and 17-year-olds, had registered. While Britain—and its flag, the Union Jack—survives, it will not be as we know it: in order to convince Scots to vote “no”, the U.K.’s central government in Westminster has promised to further the “devolution” of powers that began with the reestablishment of the Scottish parliament in 1999.

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Mo CO LO R KEY holidays travel birthdays events in our lives events in the Church world events

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THE JOURNAL

The family that camps together promised land state park 25 JULY– 1 AUGUST 2014 The Hibdons got together for a week of camping and adventure in the Poconos.

The sign on our cabin

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To the Poconos! his year, the Hibdon clan decided to get together again, but instead of going to Donner Lake, we decided to try a new place: Promised Land State Park in Pennsylvania, which I discovered by searching for lakes with camping in the Poconos. I’m glad we found it, and I hope we go back again.

On Friday, 25 July, after a few days of family emails discussing supplies and arrival times, Dustin and Fiona went to pick up our car from New Jersey.

While they were gone, I read a blog post titled “Why I Took My Kids’ Toys Away (& Why They Won’t Get Them Back)” and I was inspired to go through Fiona and Colin’s toys and pack up a lot of them. I decided that I’m okay with building toys (blocks, for example), art supplies, and musical instruments, but other than that, I tried to get rid of as much as possible. Most of them weren’t trash, of course, so I stashed them away until we could take them to Goodwill. It was convenient that Fiona had decided to go with Dustin, since I couldn’t have culled the herd with her present. It was also convenient that we were about to leave town for a week, so that she wouldn’t notice that some of her toys were gone.

When they got back around 14.00, we were already far behind schedule. I had estimated that we would leave around noon and get to the cabin around 15.00. We packed up and I adjusted our estimate to 17.00. We drove and drove, but we hadn’t had any lunch, so we decided to stop at about the only place there is near the highway in Troy, New Jersey: Dunkin’ Donuts. We finally got into the vicinity of the state park as the sun was setting. It was then that we discovered that Dustin’s phone, which we had been using to navigate, had no service — and we didn’t know how to get to the park.

We drove down one road, state highway 447, that looked promising (no pun intended), but the bridge at the end was closed, so we had to turn around. At the end of 447, where it branches off from Pennsylvania highway 191 in East Stroudsburg, there is a retro-looking roadside ice-cream stand called Mary Anne’s Dairy Bar. I suggested we stop there for directions. I hopped out of the car and asked the teenage girls working there if they knew how to get to Promised

Land. One of them did, and she gave me very good instructions. (Apparently people stop there all the time seeking directions, so she had some practice.)

We finally got to the cabins a few minutes before 22.00 — very late and very dark (as forests are).

Grammy and Papa had a brand-new flashlight for Fiona. She was thrilled to use it to find our cabin, which was a cozy two-room affair built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. It had an electric cooking stove, a wood-burning stove for heat, a refrigerator, and a table and chairs in one room, and four bunks in the other. It had a front porch with a picnic table, and in an outbuilding just behind the cabin was a bathroom with hot running water and a shower. Even in the summer it’s pretty chilly in the Poconos, especially at night, when the temperature usually dips into the 50s (10°–15°C). We curled up on our bunks — which, honestly, were not that comfortable — and went to sleep.

A week of fun, adventure, and family Grammy and Papa discovered that a church just up the road from our cabins was having a rummage sale.

The entire family ambled up to the sale right first thing after breakfast on Saturday, 26 July, but of course we didn’t really need or want anything there, especially after getting rid of so many toys a few days earlier. Michael found an electric frying pan that would be great for his crew trips. Dustin found two tennis rackets for $1 each, which seemed like a great idea since we can take them across the street and play on the handball courts. Fiona found a wooden bear that she bought for, I think, $1.50 — her first purchase ever. She was very pleased.

The next day, Sunday, 27 July, I woke up sick.

We hadn’t really planned to go to church, because it would have been really far anyway. Dustin took Fiona and Colin with the rest of the family over to the lake, where they found some wild blueberry bushes!

I’m sad I missed that part. They picked a lot, I think.

Meanwhile, I was throwing up on the path to the bathroom. Fortunately, though, I felt better right after that. I never did figure out what was wrong, since I had eaten the same things as everyone else.

That afternoon, Karen threw a birthday party for Fiona. We had an egg-and-spoon race in the road, and Fiona dropped her egg pretty much instantaneously.

We also played pin the tail on the donkey, although I’m not sure it was a donkey — it may have been some other animal — and also I think we used tape instead of pins. There were two Sarah Lee cakes, one vanilla and one chocolate, as well as streamers and flower banners and cupcake papers full of candies.

SUSAN One of the rustic cabins at Promised Land State Park

Colin

The group

Bob . Karen . Fiona Ellen . Susan . Michael . Papa

Fiona & Grammy Karen & Susan make tie-dyed shirts D I A L A N N O C TO B E R 201 4

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Mama & Fiona

Fiona & a feather

treehouse Nay Aug Park . Scranton

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Colin & Papa

Near the church where the rummage sale took place was a little dam, and above that was a beach where we went to play on Monday, 28 July. Karen and Bob had brought some beach toys, including a mask and snorkel and a purple inner tube. Fiona loved it. Her judgment was not always great, but she was very enthusiastic about hanging around right next to Karen and Bob, who fished her out when necessary. Colin liked splashing around.

Later that day, we all drove to a town north of the park called Hawley. It was one of those really cute litte towns with a nice Main Street (and, impressively, even some things off of Main Street), a nice library, and a creek running through it. We walked around a bit and explored some shops. There is also an old silk mill outside of town which has been converted into a hotel and some shops, with a trendy-looking but nonfranchised coffee house named Cocoon in a building out front. We also stopped there, of course.

On Tuesday, 29 July, we started the day working on tie-dyeing shirts that Karen brought.

Michael made one, and Karen made one for Colin and one for Fiona. I made one, too, and sadly it ended up looking more like the pox rather than the cheerful sunbursts I was going for. Fiona’s tie dye shirt is still one of her favorite shirts to wear, and it’s still very bright, unlike the tie-dye shirts I remember making when I was little.

Later, we drove to Scranton, which is Pennsylvania’s sixth largest city and the nearest large city to Promised Land State Park. Scranton is also the setting of the TV show The Office and is nicknamed, as we learned while we were there, “The Electric City”. As it turns out, it has kind of a nice downtown. I suppose that’s not a surprise, since older small cities generally did have nice downtowns. It’s just not what I think of when I think of Scranton, probably because The Office is set in a grungy suburban office park.

We explored the lovely old Lackawanna train station, which is on a hill on the edge of downtown. Unfortunately, no passenger trains stop there anymore, though the platforms are still there. But at least it has not been abandoned or demolished, like so many other lovely train stations across the United States: it has been converted into a hotel, and we think would be a pretty cool place to stay sometime.

We also visited Nay Aug Park, which is the largest park in Scranton. The Nay Aug Gorge right in the middle of the park, with a covered bridge over it, was really lovely. We also went to a huge tree house. One of the trees supporting the tree house we were in had a little door on it, which I had forgotten until Fiona reminded me. Actually, I still have no recollection of it, but there are pictures, so I guess it happened.

On Wednesday, 30 July, we went on a hike on the Little Falls Trail on the other side of the lake.

There were some people out, but not a lot, and I was a little nervous about bears — especially when, partway around the loop, we found a giant pawprint in the mud. It was not a dog paw. We made sure to make plenty of noise as we finished our hike.

Throughout the week, when we weren’t out on hikes and exploring, Grammy and Papa’s cabin was the hang-out zone. Colin spent a lot of time hanging out on a blanket in front of their cabin. He wasn’t that stable yet, so sometimes he toppled over backwards, but it usually wasn’t a big problem for him.

Fiona found a big rock she could sit on.

Someone had scaled a fish there, so she collected a lot of fish scales. There were plenty of opportunities for exploring, so that she did not feel any need for toys.

She even told us that she wanted to live there, in the cabin, because there was so much to do and she liked being able to walk over to Grammy and Papa’s house every day. I also showed her that she could eat some of the plants nearby, though sorrel was the only one I was sure about.

There was plenty wildlife, too. We heard

woodpeckers pretty often and sometimes managed to spot them in the trees. On Thursday, 31 July, Dustin repeated the Little Falls Trail hike with Grammy and Papa. At the beginning of the trail, near the top of the creek, several people were gathered looking at something in the water. Grammy, Papa, and Dustin looked and saw a snake taking a swim.

Some people, including Papa, reported bear sightings near the cabins. Dustin made a habit later in the week of waking up before everyone else and sitting in our rental car. The seats were much more ergonomic than the hard beds in the cabin, which gave his back a chance to recover from the previous night’s sleep, and he could listen to NPR. He also hoped to have his own bear sighting but, unfortunately, it never came.

On Friday, 1 August, our week of fun, adventure, and family came to an end. When it was time to go, we packed up all of our stuff, including a lot of stuff that had been purchased at Goodwill or at the rummage sale so we could drop it off at another donation site. (It’s always nice to get rid of stuff.)

And, sure enough, when we got home, Fiona didn’t even notice that some of her toys were gone. d

Cabin guestbook This is the message — in Susan’s own handwriting — that Susan and Fiona left in the guestbook in our cabin.

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THE JOURNAL

That time I tried out for a game show 6 AUGUST 2014 I always knew that it was my destiny to win a million dollars on TV. Until it wasn’t.

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Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in the United States1 on 16 August 1999, the same day my senior year of high school began. It was hosted by Regis Philbin, who was already a well-known talk-show host, and it became an instant sensation. It was the first TV show to offer a million-dollar top prize, and it became the talk around many water coolers around the country—and in my German III class, where the previous night’s episode was enthusiastically recounted and critiqued every class period.

I suppose I was a fan myself, and I watched pretty often. I even once tried to get on the show when I was in high school. At the time, hopefuls had to call a toll-free 800 number and use their touchtone pad to answer three questions of increasing difficulty. When I called, I aced the first two questions,2 but the third one had me stumped. “Put these names in the song ‘Mambo No. 5’ in the correct order.” Four or five names were then stated, and I was supposed to touch the 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 keys on my phone in the order the names were sung in the song.

What?! I thought. I can’t even keep those names in the same order when the song is playing, much less when I’m supposed to regurgitate them now!3 That was the end of my Millionaire aspirations.

Until this week, that is. WABC, the local ABC television station here in New York, posted an audition announcement to its Facebook page.

“WANT TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?” the post asked.

“Here’s your chance! Auditions for Millionaire are being held in NYC on August 6th, 7th and 11th -14th.

Go to millionairetv.com for details. GOOD LUCK!”4 I shared the post, and its accompanying video, to Susan’s Facebook page, noting, “We should audition!” That was Sunday. I didn’t do anything about it until Tuesday, when I went to millionairetv. com myself to sign up.5 I offered a couple of dates when I would be available and submitted my info, and a short time later I got an email telling me that I was confirmed for Wednesday, 6 August, at 18.30, and that I should arrive 15 minutes early.

The auditions were held at the headquarters of ABC Television, 57 West 66th Street in Manhattan.

I’m pretty familiar with the area because that’s right around the corner from the Manhattan New York Temple. I knew how to go straight there: the L train to the 1/2/3. I hopped out at the 66 St-Lincoln Center subway station and marched right over. There was already a line down the sidewalk on 66th Street, which I assumed was full of Millionaire hopefuls. But I was also feeling a little timid, and a little silly trying out for a TV game show, much less one I hadn’t

W

ho

watched since high school. So I went to the end of the line and asked the last person what the line was for. She said she was there for the 6.30 audition, and I figured I was in the right spot (hoping, of course, she meant the 6.30 audition for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and not for a soap opera or something).

We ended up waiting in that line for a while— well past the 18.30 time we had been given. I struck up a conversation with my fellow standees, including Joanna from Astoria, Queens, and Farhat from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Joanna and her husband were planning on moving soon to Parkchester in The Bronx, and Farhat was staying the night with her son and grandchildren in Jersey City. Finally the line started moving, and into the building we went, straight into the employee cafeteria, which was windowless with subdued lighting and whose walls were lined with framed posters for ABC shows.

The first thing we had to do, of course, was pass through a metal detector. (It’s what you have to do pretty much everywhere in our post-9/11 world.)

After collecting my phone and keys, I was handed a large brown envelope that I was instructed not to open until I was told. The envelope had the number 198 written and circled in thick black marker in the upper right-hand corner. Take a seat at any of the open tables, I was told. I ended up sitting with the good and familiar company of Joanna and Farhat. There was a Scantron form for each of us—something, like Millionaire, that I also hadn’t seen since high school. Jeff joined us at our table a few moments later. He said that it was his sixth time trying out for the show.

Then the woman who had handed me the envelope—who was way too chipper and energetic, as if either she had had too much caffeine or she was hoping that a Broadway producer was among that evening’s auditioners (or both)—started giving us our instructions. We were to place our belongings under our chairs and to turn our cell phones off— not vibrate or silent or airplane mode, but off. If she heard our phone during the test, we were out.

(Another throwback to high school and college.) We were to use the mechanical pencil provided and write our name and the number on our envelope on the Scantron. We had 10 minutes to take the 30-question quiz. And we began.

I thought the quiz was relatively easy. There were a couple of questions I wasn’t sure about, and a couple of others I made educated guesses on.

(As it turns out, FeS2 is fool’s gold, not pewter as I had guessed, but Coca-Cola was invented by John Pemberton.) Joanna wasn’t so sure, and Farhat

DUSTIN bluntly stated, “I bombed.”

The staff came back with the scored quizzes and said that those who passed would have their numbers—the ones from the envelopes—announced.

They were to move to the other side of the room and await an interview with an associate producer.

Everyone else was free to go. The super hyper one started calling out the numbers. It wasn’t long before she called out 198. I was in. So was Joanna, whose number, 126, was called out a short time after mine.

We gave our condolences to Farhat and Jeff and moved to the other side of the room.

I brought along the book I’m currently reading,6 but by that point the excitement and the chatter in the room—which would make it difficult to hear my name when it was called—distracted me too much from reading. So I sat there, but the others at my table weren’t nearly so chatty as Joanna and Farhat had been. I eventually moved to a table closer so I could more easily hear my name and ended up speaking to someone who teaches geography to sixth graders in a school just outside Philadelphia. It was definitely a better way to pass the time than sitting in silence.

Then I heard my name.

Emma introduced herself and shook my hand. We sat down and she complimented me on my handwriting, which is what people usually do when they first meet me. She then asked me a few uninspiring questions. Among them, what’s on my bucket list—but not travel and debt, because that’s on everyone’s bucket list. Which I understood, but I was stumped. I’m debt-free, but I’d love to check more places off my bucket list. Eventually I asked if mode of travel might be considered, and Emma relented.

So I told her that I’d love to ride the entire Amtrak system, and she said that that was pretty unique. She added that her father was hoping to “take that train in Canada that goes from, like, Toronto to Vancouver or Seattle.” It’s called the Canadian, and I said that I’d love to take that trip, too.

Emma said that I should get an email in two or three weeks stating whether I was in the contestant pool and containing further instructions. And with that our very short interview was over and I left.

On my way home I stopped by the store and got some cookies-and-cream Pop-Tarts to celebrate getting to speak with an associate producer. (PopTarts are my Achilles’ heel.)

At noon the next day, I got an email updating me on my status. “Thank you for your interest in being a contestant on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,’” the email began. It continued: “You have not been selected to be a potential contestant. We appreciate your continued interest in the show and thank you for taking the time to audition with us.”

And that was that. At least I did it. It was fun. Susan auditioned on Thursday, 7 August, and received her rejection email yesterday. “We came.

We auditioned. We got rejected,” I announced on Facebook.

The sign showing Millionaire hopefuls where the path to TV fame and fortune begins: at a nondescript emergency exit door in the middle of a blank wall at ABC’s headquarters on West 66th Street.

DUSTIN instagram.com/p/rX-RxMRWvk

“But that’s okay. I’m not bitter,” I explained to my online friends. “I haven’t seen their stupid show since high school anyway. Those people can’t help it if they suck.”

I guess I’ll just have to go earn a million dollars the old-fashioned way. Which, I guess, is a pretty decent destiny, too. d NOTES 1. The American version was based on an existing British show of the same name (with a top prize of £1 million instead of $1 million, which makes it 1.5–2 times more valuable than the American version, depending upon the exchange rate).

2. As I recall, one of the questions was on the geographic order of states from east to west or vice versa. Super easy for a geography geek like me. I don’t remember the other question.

3. For the record, in the chorus the order is Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina, Sandra, Mary, and Jessica, and there’s a line toward the beginning of the song that states, “I like Angela, Pamela, Sandra, and Rita.” Yeah, I was not going to be able to remember that.

4. Sic. Whoever runs WABC’s Facebook page has a tendency to CAPITALIZE WAY TOO MUCH. 5. Right after signing myself up, I submitted Susan’s name. She auditioned on Thursday, 7 August, at 17.00. She was also ultimately rejected.

6. On the Map: A Mind-Expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks by Simon Garfield (New York: Gotham Books, 2013); see page 24 in this magazine.

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Or, Life in the Woods After just a week in a cabin, I think I might like life in the woods even more than life in the city.

Fiona had a smile on her face for much of the time we were at Promised Land State Park.

DUSTIN | 18.27 EDT, 27 JULY 2014

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his summer we went camping in a cabin. It was so great. We got to sleep in bunk beds in a little cabin, and our bathroom was in a house outside.

In the morning, we would get up and

walk to Grammy and Papa’s cabin and have breakfast with everyone: Grammy, Papa, Ellen, Karen, Bob, Michael, and Martin. Charlotte and Heather couldn’t come. We went exploring around the cabins, and near Grammy and Papa’s cabin we found some fish scales. They were really pretty and I put them in the pouch that Mama made for my magnifying glass. I also found out that

there are some little heart-shaped leaves that you can eat and they taste kind of sour.

One day Mama was sick so she stayed in the cabin and the rest of us went to the lake. There were blueberry bushes there and we picked blueberries.

When Mama was better, we went back to the lake and went swimming. I tried Charlotte’s mask and floated around on a purple floaty thing. But mostly I didn’t float, mostly I just fell out of the floaty thing over and over. One time the water was kind of deep and I let go of the floaty thing and I sank down with my eyes open. I tried to push off with my feet to get out but them Bob grabbed me. It was so fun and so silly!

We also had a birthday party for me. There were two cakes, one was vanilla and one was chocolate. We made tie-dye t-shirts and we had an egg race.

I dropped my egg on the road so we started over. Maybe a raccoon ate the egg I dropped! We played some other games too. And we visited a giant eagle’s nest.

Even though we didn’t have very many toys, I really liked going to the lake. I liked our cozy little cabin and sometimes I wish we lived there instead of in New York City. d

FIONA Or, birthday party in the woods Photos from Fiona’s birthday party at cabin № 3 Tuscarora at Promised Land State Park, Pennsylvania, 27 July 2014.

Fiona says goodbye to her ‘pacifizer’ An excerpt from an email Susan sent to her mother, Monday, 15 September 2014: We boxed up Fiona’s pacifier last night [Sunday, 14 September]. I don’t think I have ever been so proud of her. I had stashed it away since Friday afternoon [12 September], so she hadn’t even seen it, and, aside from one time on Saturday afternoon when I caught her borrowing Colin’s, she hadn’t used or even asked for a pacifier. On Saturday night, when she went to bed with her string blanket, she tried holding on to her string but she said, “It just does not feel the same. It doesn’t feel normal!” Then, yesterday when I brought her pacifier out again to pack it up, she popped it into her mouth and snuggled with her string blanket one last time. She said, “Mama, it feels normal!” She said it with such bittersweet joy that it made me a little sad.

Dustin took some pictures of her with it for the last time, and then started taking the plastic wrap off of the box she picked out. When she saw that, she hopped off my lap and went right over there to put her little pacifizer inside. It seemed a little bit like she wanted to hurry so she wouldn’t change her mind. Then we put it into the shipping box and she helped tape it up, and then turned to me and said, “Mama, I still feel a little bit sad.” I told her I understood and that I was proud of her. I think I might have been at least as sad as she was.

I guess little girls have to stop using pacifiers sometime, but I kind of wish they didn’t.

Anyway, you can be expecting a package sometime soon, although we haven’t mailed it yet. What a good little girl we have. We are very lucky.

Love, Susan D I A L A N N O C TO B E R 201 4

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THE JOURNAL

These are a few of my favorite things My big sister, rubber duckies, toy trumpets, and nice bottles of milk — so much to love!

Little man: From an excursion on MetroNorth/NJ Transit to the end of the Pascack Valley Line in Spring Valley, New York, a favorite photo of Colin emerges.

DUSTIN | 30 JUNE 2014 POSTED 2 JULY 2014; SHOPS AT NANUET, NANUET, NEW YORK instagram.com/p/p8vUbCRWqv

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N

ow that I can get around on my own — I keep hearing Mama and Daddy mention that I’m not really “crawling,” but it works for me — there are some things I go back to again and again.

My favorite person, of course, is Fiona. I wiggle myself over to her whenever I can. She can do so many cool things. A while ago, she taught me how to shake my head from side to side so I get dizzy. Whoo, so much fun!

I could do that for five whole minutes without getting distracted.

We also have some little yellow ducks that I like to play with. They come in different sizes and some of them squeak. One of them has a spiky hat on, and that’s kind of interesting to chew on. They also float in the bathtub.

Not that I’m really into baths.

Not long ago, I learned how to use the blue and red trumpet that Mama and Daddy had shown me so many times. I can make four different noises on it: blowing out or breathing in, on the end of it or the top of it. It’s so satisfying to make such a loud noise. I think I like loud noises.

Another thing I love is my bottle.

There’s nothing like a nice bottle of milk when I’m done playing. Or while I’m playing. Or when I wake up. Or while I’m falling asleep. Mama and Daddy keep saying that I should fall asleep without a bottle, but why? Why would I want to do that when I could drink milk and fall asleep at the same time?

It is a little uncomfortable when I drop the bottle and roll on top of it while I’m asleep, mostly because that causes all the milk to leak out all over and get me and my bed soggy. But it’s not a big problem, really. I think I’ll continue my bedtime bottle as long as possible. d

COLIN Instagramming Colin’s first summer 1 Monday, 7 July On the bridge

COLINTRACKER TOOTHTRACKER

1

4 Monday, 18 August On the swings

So far, tooth. The first one!

Woohoo!

UPPER RIGHT

LEFT LOWER

15 October 2014 instagram.com/p/qJsJvoxWky

2 Tuesday, 22 July In the water

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TRAVELTRACKER

5 Wednesday, 3 September In a crate

1 STATE Pennsylvania 25 July 2014 instagram.com/p/qxM8-ZRWof

3 Monday, 4 August At the beach

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6 Tuesday, 9 September Straphanging

FIRSTTRACKER Appearance in a YouTube video 23 July 2014 “Colin eats solid food for the first time” youtube.com/watch?v=qRIK8hlkRZg Partaking the sacrament 21 September 2014 Haircut 26 September 2014 And there’s video! youtube.com/watch?v=50BdCA3fvwM

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L H I G H N E

THE

The third and final phase of Manhattan’s groundbreaking urban park-in-the-sky finally opens.

the past few F O R years, the buzz among urban planners, locals, and visitors alike has been about the High Line. “Have you been to the High TEXT & Line?” “The High Line — INSTAGRAM PHOTOS

BY DUSTIN have you seen it?” “You M A N H AT TA N should really check out the 22 S E P T E M B E R 201 4 High Line.” “I love the High Line.” High Line, High Line, High Line … Marcia, Marcia, Marcia … it seemed to be all anyone could ever talk about. But, c’mon, I thought, it’s just a park. How special can a park really be?

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It turns out, pretty special.

The High Line is a 2.33-kilometer (1.45-mile) linear park built

2 1 2

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Track A restored section of the original track.

atop an old elevated freight rail line on Manhattan’s West Side. Its southern end is at Gansevoort Street near the border between the Meatpacking District and Chelsea. It runs parallel to the Hudson

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River waterfront for a few blocks and then continues northward,

End of the line Looking over the railing at the High Line’s southern end, at Washington and Gansevoort streets.

paralleling Tenth Avenue to West 30th Street. At 30th it makes a

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stores trains. The High Line’s northern end touches West 34th Street

sharp turn west and wraps around the West Side Yard, a large rail yard adjacent to Penn Station where the Long Island Rail Road

O C TO B E R 201 4

WEST 34TH STREET

The Rail Yards WEST SIDE YARD

KEY

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PHASE 1 Opened 8 June 2009

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10

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WEST 30TH STREET

Gansevoort Street → West 20th Street

elevator

information

stairs

food

restrooms

shop

Flyover

NINTH AVENUE

WAY H IG H

SPUR To be completed in 2018

WEST 28TH STREET

TENTH AVENUE

West 30th Street → West 34th Street

S ID E

PHASE 3 Opened 21 September 2014

WEST

West 20th Street → West 30th Street

ELEVENTH AVENUE

Pershing Square Beams

PHASE 2 Opened 7 June 2011

WEST 26TH STREET

11 7 6

WEST 23RD STREET

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access via ramp

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Chelsea Thicket WEST 20TH STREET

WEST 18TH STREET

Tenth Avenue Square

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Northern Spur Preserve Chelsea Market Passage

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WEST 15TH STREET

Sundeck & water feature

WEST 14TH STREET

3 3 Bridge This skybridge over West 15th Street, as seen from the High Line, connected the factory and offices of the National Biscuit Company, better known as Nabisco. Today the factory is Chelsea Market, and the bridge is somewhat reminiscent of the Bridge of Sighs in Venice.

Gansevoort Woodland Overlook

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2EVO

NS

T OR

instagram.com/p/tQMYu1RWrZ MAP ADAPTED FROM THE OFFICIAL HIGH LINE MAP PRODUCED BY THE FRIENDS OF THE HIGH LINE

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ET

RE

ST

4 5

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Straight ahead Looking north toward the massive Hudson Yards project as the High Line cuts a straight line through a dense cluster of older, converted industrial buildings and newer residential blocks. instagram.com/p/tQPP6fxWvd

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Tenth Avenue The city becomes the stage through a large panoramic window in the Tenth Avenue Square. instagram.com/p/tQNTlIxWsl

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6

7 across from the Javits Center.

Those 2⅓ kilometers are filled with trees, bushes, flowers, and other plants, which in turn are abuzz with insects and alive with singing birds. Visitors wend their way along a path through and under and in between the densely-packed buildings of a former industrial district, now being turned into high-priced apartments, condominiums, offices, and incubator space for startups and entrepreneurs.

We visited for the first time shortly after we moved to New York three years ago, and I finally understood what all the buzz was about — I was a convert.

That first visit was to the first two phases of the High Line that were then open: phase 1, from Gansevoort Street to West 20th Street, which opened 8 June 2009, and phase 2, from 20th to West 30th Street, which opened 7 June 2011.

And last month, on 21 September, the highlyanticipated phase 3, which comprises the remainder of the High Line from 30th to West 34th Street, finally opened to the public. I was excited to see the completed project, so the next day, on 22 September, Colin and I

8

went to check it out. We started at the southern end and walked through phases 1 and 2 before walking through phase 3.

If I’m honest, phase 3 was a bit of a letdown. The official line is that the northernmost section of the park retains the landscape and flora that characterized the High Line in its days as a derelict freight railway

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7

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Diamond skin Many of the new buildings along the High Line have bold, avant garde design.

Chimney art Art inhabits both the High Line and the walls of the buildings around it.

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Fire escape Older buildings along the High Line are being restored and reused in a renewed neighborhood. instagram.com/p/tQOzVTxWuo

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— largely, as we lay people would call them, weeds. On a bright, sunny day, it feels incredibly exposed: not only do the dense buildings below West 30th Street give way to the wide openness of the West Side Yard, the Hudson River, and the open streets around, but there are few trees in phase 3. Altogether it lacks the feeling of enclosure — like a leafy, green security blanket almost — that, for me, makes the first two phases of the park so special.

Beyond that, the platform being constructed over the West Side Yard on which the massive Hudson Yards project is being built will eventually be at the level of the High Line,

9

which will then become a landscaped space

10

what makes the High Line so special is that it is

on the perimeter of the Hudson Yards. Part of elevated above the surrounding city, separated and offering a respite from it. Doesn’t that go away if the surrounding city is brought up to the same level?

That’s not to say there’s nothing to like in phase 3. One highlight is a sunken area above West 30th Street where children can crawl hamster-like through tunnels and compartments. This is also the part of the line where one can best see that it was at one time a functioning rail line, with more of the rails and ties left in place, and even the occasional switch machinery which has been removed in the other phases of the line, left in place here.

And the views of the West Side Yard, Midtown Manhattan, and the Hudson River are sweeping — that is, until the rail yard and Midtown are obscured by the Hudson Yards.

Itself obscured by a lack of vision, the High Line, like so much of the most beloved parts of our cityscape, was almost demolished. (Parts of it, totaling about half the original viaduct’s length, were in fact dismantled in 1960 and

9 Switch A bit more of the rail infrastructure for which the High Line was first built has been preserved in phase 3. instagram.com/p/tQVo35RWpY

10 Construction sight A forest of scaffolds at 10 Hudson Yards, which will be the first completed tower in the massive development. instagram.com/p/tQVgDQxWpM

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1991.) Now its transformation is finished, and it creates a green ribbon of respite through some of the densest development on earth. It has been 80 years since freight trains traveled the West Side Line in 1934, and 34 since the viaduct closed in 1980. It has been well worth the wait. d

12

11 11 Urban explorer Colin looks out over the Flyover. instagram.com/p/tQRDzoxWiQ

12 Rail yard Out-of-service Long Island Rail Road trains await the afternoon rush hour as Midtown looms beyond.

One day this view of both the yard and the skyline will be obscured by the Hudson Yards. instagram.com/p/tQXa5ixWsQ

13 LIRR A dual-mode engine — which can run on both thirdrail electrical power on western Long Island and diesel power in the east — sits in the West Side Yard. instagram.com/p/tQYMO0RWtm

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20

A VISIT TO

THE

DANBURY R A I LWAY M U S E U M DA N B U RY, C O N N E C TI C U T 12 A U G U ST 201 4

TEXT & PHOTOS

BY DUSTIN

D I A L A N N O C TO B E R 201 4

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ALCO 2-6-0 Mogul (1907) Boston & Maine 1455 This steam engine was built by the American Locomotive Company, or ALCO, in Manchester, New Hampshire. instagram.com/p/rnySZixWug

spread, PAGES 20–21 EMD FL-9 (1960) New York Central 2013 Built by Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) and painted in New York Central “Lightning Stripes” by Metro-North to celebrate the 150th anniversary of rail service on the New York Central Hudson Division. instagram.com/p/rnXLYMxWje

INSET, PAGE 21 A lantern hangs from a post outside the railway post office car. instagram.com/p/rnOvkFRWme

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s I complete my quest to ride all the rails in Greater New York — including the region’s three commuter railroads, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North, and NJ Transit — it’s nice to have something actually to go to at the end of each line. Such was the case in our last issue, when I wrote about my visit in July 2014 to The Glass House, the residence of the late architect Philip Johnson in New Canaan, Connecticut, at the end of the shortest and westernmost of the three branches off Metro-North’s New Haven Line (see Dialann 15.12).

The following month, in August 2014, our entire family took a day trip on MetroNorth along the next of the New Haven Line’s branches going east, to the end of the line in Danbury, Connecticut. And what did we go to at the end of the line? A railway museum, of course!

The Danbury Railway Museum is housed in the city’s former Union Station, which was built in 1903 following the consolidation of the three railroads that served Danbury — the Danbury and

A

Norwalk, Housatonic, and New York and New England — into the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad. In its heyday in the early 20th century, the station was served by as many as 125 trains a day. After World War II, passenger ridership declined, as it did pretty much everywhere else in the country, and the number of trains dwindled. So did Danbury’s downtown as shoppers fled to a new mall built on the city’s former fairgrounds 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to the southwest. But the old train station held on and escaped the wrecking ball, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

In 1993, however, the building’s use as an actual train station came to an end when Metro-North closed the station in favor of a stop just down the block. Danbury now sees 28 trains a day on weekdays, 14 to and 14 from New York, most of which require a connection at South Norwalk or Stamford.

There are just 12 trains a day — 6 in each direction — on weekends. The present station is a five-minute walk from the museum.

But thanks in part to the foresight of the city’s then-mayor, Gene Eriquez, who didn’t want to lose another downtown building to urban blight, a group of local railfans and volunteers got together to open a railway museum in the old station and its adjacent railyard. On 29 October 1995, with the mayor in attendance, the restored station was dedicated, and in 1996 the museum opened.

Today the station building houses a gift shop, a collection of vintage railroad memorabilia, and, of course, a model railroad. Outside in the yard there are over 60 pieces of rolling stock, ranging from engines to passenger coaches to freight cars. Most of yard exhibits can be viewed just from the outside, but there are a few cars visitors can go into. Our favorite was a vintage railway post office.

After our visit to the museum, we had lunch at a nearby pizzeria and took a quick jaunt down Danbury’s Main Street, lined with trees and a number of nicely restored old buildings. Then it was back home, on the train of course, with one more segment of Greater New York’s passenger rail network — and one more railway museum — checked off on our list. d editors’ note: Much of the information and some of the text in this article and the accompanying captions are from Wikipedia and the Danbury Railway Museum’s website, danburyrailwaymuseum.org.

TOP LEFT Class PBr Coach Bethlehem Steel (1925) Reading 1547 This passenger car was built in 1925 by Bethlehem Steel. The backs of the rattan seats could be moved to either side of the seat to allow passengers to face toward the front or the back.

TOP right PRR Class BNM-70 Baggage/Railway Post Office Car PRR 6507/6563 This railway post office was built in February 1910 for the Pennsylvania Railroad and has been completely restored. It was our favorite car at the museum.

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BOTTOM LEFT EMD FL-9 (1955) New Haven 2006

BOTTOM right Susan, Colin, and Fiona take a short break from exploring trains.

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B O O K R E P O RT

Can a book about maps really expand a geography junkie’s mind?

BY DUSTIN

have always been a geography junkie.

Well, at least since 2nd grade anyway. That’s when my Aunt Linda gave me a Fisher-Price Discovery Map of the United States. Each state had a small hole in it that displayed a picture, and on the left-hand side of the map that was a light-blue dial. As you turned the dial, the pictures displayed a different piece of info for each state, including its capital — which is how I learned the capitals of all 50 states by the age of 8.

That map was probably the foundation of the geography knowledge that led me to win my middle school’s geography bee all three years I was there, and to win third place in the state geography bee when I was in 7th grade.

So I was eager to read On the Map: A Mindexpanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks

by Simon Garfield, whose Just My Type — “A Book About Fonts” — I had read previously (see Dialann 12.13). Mr. Garfield didn’t disappoint.

The easiest way to explain what On the Map is about is to say that it’s a history of cartography.

Which is true, but only partially. The book is organized in exactly the same way as Just My Type: generally in historical order, but the chapters are organized a little more thematically than they are chronologically. So while earlier chapters deal with ancient thinkers and the great explorers of the Age of Exploration and later chapters deal with digital cartography and GPS, the reader will not necessarily come away with a list of the dates when technological innovations happened or why or by whom.

As in Just My Type, between many of the chapters is a short interstitial, with a brief story relating to or expanding on the surrounding chapters.

Many of the book’s best tidbits are found in these.

In one, for example, Mr. Garfield explains that the common belief that the phrase “Here be dragons” marked unknown regions on old maps is simply untrue: there is no record that Hic sunt dracones appeared on any old map. In later ones, Mr. Garfield explores the map room that helped Winston Churchill and his allies win the Second World War, gender differences in reading maps, and why people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries believed it was plausible that Mars had canals — indeed, a planet-wide irrigation system — built by intelligent life.

Also as with Just My Type, sometimes On the Map can be a bit dry; it is, after all, a book about maps. And, like many nonfiction books these days, it’s

I

On the Map: A Mind-expanding Exploration of the Way the World Looks

by Simon Garfield Edition published by Gotham Books, New York, 2013

Read 24 July–19 August 2014 24

A Fisher-Price Discovery Map of the United States, circa 1989. (Thanks, Etsy shop specializing in vintage products, for this otherwise impossible-to-find image!)

The image in the little peephole in each state is changed using the blue dial, which switches among six categories: capital, scenery, landmark, person, fun fact 1, and fun fact 2.

ROWAN FLETCHER-GIBBS VIA THE JUNKIN SAILOR/ETSY IMG0.ETSYSTATIC.COM/004/0/8086796/IL_570XN.469631940_HIAE.JPG

probably longer than it needs to be, with 445 pages (including acknowledgments), 22 chapters (albeit usually short chapters), 15 interstitials, a foreword, an introduction, and an epilogue (and a bibliography and index, which bring the total length to 464 pages, not including the contents and other front matter).* The particular edition I read, published by Gotham Books in 2013, appears to have been edited for an American audience, trading British spellings such as organise for their American equivalents. But only clumsily so. Generally, the language has not been “translated”, leading to an awkward mix of American spellings and British phrases. And once I ran across a “boot” (instead of a car “trunk”).

But, in the end, can it live up to it’s claim that it is “mind-expanding”? Well, in my case, it certainly can. The final chapters close the book with an exploration of all the places we find maps in the world today, including video games, such as Skyrim, that are essentially giant maps (and apparently come with printed maps to help players navigate them). There’s an image of Saul Steinberg’s famous cover illustration

The cover of the 29 March 1976 issue of The New Yorker, featuring Saul Steinberg’s famous illustration View of the World from 9th Avenue. This cover was parodied by The Economist (inset) on the cover of its issue for 21–27 March 2009, on the 33rd anniversary of The New Yorker’s cover.

for the 29 March 1976 issue of The New Yorker, a New Yorker’s view of the world which shows, in typical self-absorbed New York fashion, an outsized and overly important Manhattan, along with everything else. And the last numbered chapter in the book, 22, is on “Mapping the Brain”. Though I was certainly familiar with that phrase and concept, it hadn’t occurred to me that encephalography should be included in a book about cartography.

Maps have become so ubiquitous in our world today that it’s easy to forget how much we rely upon them. After all, I carry what is quite possibly the most detailed map of the world ever created, Google Maps, around with me every day in my pocket. At any moment, I can open a new tab in my internet browser and find a map of almost any place on the planet, including a full-color satellite image and, increasingly, recent imagery of what it looks like from the street. In such a world, it’s easy, even for a geography junkie like me, to forget how important and difficult a science cartography is, and how special maps are. Even I am far removed from my days of poring over maps of states, metropolitan areas, and city centers in my mom’s Rand McNally Road Atlas (thankfully, I still have a road atlas myself, though, it dates from 2007 and, sadly, probably hasn’t been on a road trip with me since then).

Mr. Garfield perhaps said it best: “The resulting maps also have an effect on the way we learn to see things. When we’re looking at maps on our dashboard or on phones as we walk, we tend not to look around or up so much. It is now entirely possible to travel many hundreds of miles — to the other end of a country, perhaps, or even a continent — without having the faintest clue about how we got there.

A victory for GPS, a loss for geography, history, navigation, maps, human communications and the sense of being connected to the world all around us” (page 384). d * Add this sentence to the list of things that are probably longer than they need to be.

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WE BELIEVE IN CHRIST

Preparing for a mission A talk Dustin gave in the sacrament meeting of the Pineville Ward, Charlotte North Carolina South Stake, Sunday, 23 July 2000.

BY DUSTIN

This is the fourth and final installment this year in which we record the talks Dustin gave in church as a youth. ood morning! My name is Dustin Joyce. For those of you who don’t know my family and me, we actually used to live in this ward back when it was the Third Ward, but we ended up in Fourth Ward, or Carmel Ward, when the boundaries were redrawn. But, now we’re back. I just haven’t been in this ward a lot because things would come up and it would be more convenient for me to attend Carmel Ward. But I’m here today, since I have to give this talk.

In January, I’ll be turning nineteen. At that time I’ll be donning the dark suit, name tag, and bike helmet that characterize the Church’s missionaries around the world. At this time, I’m preparing to serve a mission, and that’s what my topic is today: preparing for a mission.

At the mini Missionary Training Center that this stake had with the Central Stake at the beginning of last year, participants were given something that President Hinckley once said. It was a list of ten “gifts” that the Church’s missionaries should bring home with them from their missions. Those ten things are:

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1. Knowledge of God and Christ.

2. Knowledge [of ] and love for scriptures.

3. Increased love for parents.

4. Love [for] people who[m] you serve.

5. Appreciation for hard work.

6. Knowledge of importance of teamwork.

7. Recognition of importance of good dress and demeanor.

8. Appreciation of the beauty and value of personal virtue.

9. Faith to act and courage to try.

10. Humility to pray.1 In my talk today, I’d like to present ten2 things that future missionaries can work on now to help prepare them serve missions from which they can bring these ten gifts home.

1

Want to serve a mission I don’t believe that you’ll do anything as well as you should do it unless you want to do it. Same goes for a mission. You need to want to serve a mission. Wanting to serve a mission is the first step in choosing to serve a mission.

To you young men in the congregation: you know that you should serve a mission. Your parents and Church leaders have told you you should, and you’ve seen the examples of many of the men around you in serving a mission. A President of the Church, President Kimball, if I’m not mistaken, once said that you don’t have to go on a mission. Young men are only as obligated to go on a mission as they are to pay tithing, attend Church meetings each Sunday, and obey the commandments. Proclaiming the gospel to 26

the world is a part of the three-fold mission of the Church, and it’s a commandment.3 And I know that some of you who should and need to serve a mission don’t want to. So you’ll have to start a little bit farther back.

Want to want to serve a mission. It’s kind of like what Alma said about faith in the Book of Mormon: But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.4 You can want to have faith if you don’t already have it, and you can want to want to serve a mission if you don’t already want to serve a mission. But, no matter where you begin, at some point you must want to serve.

2

Choose to serve a mission The next step is to choose to serve a mission. You can want to serve a mission all you want, but until you choose to serve a mission, it ain’t happenin’. Consciously choosing and making it a goal to serve a mission will help “get the ball rolling,” so to speak, on the rest of your preparation to serve. When you and your parents and the other people around you who can help you prepare know that you have chosen to go, you can then begin working on some of the other things that I will be talking about. It all begins with a choice.

3

Learn to recognize and invite the Spirit Learn to recognize the Spirit. More than anyone or anything on your mission, the Spirit will be your guide, it will be your motivator.

But there is someone out there who absolutely does not want you to serve a mission and tell the world about the truth that you know — I think we all know who that someone is — and you must be able to distinguish between the feelings he’ll give you and the feelings that the Spirit of the Lord will give you.

Recognizing and using the Spirit for the time of your mission will give you incredible experience in recognizing and using the Spirit throughout your life. In life, there’s no greater guide or gift that you can have than the Holy Ghost. With his guidance you can make any decision you need help with, such as where to go to college, what to study and college and what to do as a career, where to live, and whom to marry, among many, many others. He will help you when you’re having problems, he will comfort you, and he will help give you the greatest joy you can have in life. And learning who he is and what he’s all about may just begin in the mission field for many of you.

Once you’ve learned to recognize the Spirit, learn how to invite him and the feelings he brings back into your life often. There are many, many ways you can invite the Spirit into any situation.

Bearing testimony, singing a hymn, praying … these are just a few of the very obvious ways to invite the Holy Ghost into your life often. Use them, practice them, and the Spirit that you will have as you prepare to serve an honorable, full time mission will greatly help you and will be something that you take with you on your mission.

4

Get to know the scriptures Get to know the scriptures. They will be your textbooks in teaching and your instruction manuals in life. For example, as you are preparing for a mission and as you are on a mission, one section of the Doctrine and Covenants will greatly guide you in all you do and say. Some call it the “Missionary Constitution.” It’s Section 4, and, just in case you haven’t heard it before, here it is: Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.

Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.

Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul; And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.

Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.

Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.5 If you are in seminary or have yet to begin seminary, here’s a word of advice: learn your scripture mastery scriptures! They contain the gospel in a nutshell, and you’ll have to memorize many of them at the MTC anyway.

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Be excited about the gospel Be excited about the gospel. People aren’t going to be interested in what you have to say if you say it like this: “We believe in God, [yawn] the Eternal Father, and in his [yawn] Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost [yawn].”6 Paul was excited about the gospel, and he spent his entire life after his conversion as a missionary. This is what he said to the members of the Church in Rome: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the

Jew first, and also to the Greek.7

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Earn money Earn money. You will have a greater experience on a mission if you help pay your own way. Work at a job where you’ll be comfortable and where you want to be, but don’t be prideful in choosing one. And save the money! You can go without something that you want in order to save the money you would have spent on it. Most likely, you’ll have to go without that thing while you’re on your mission, so why not start going without it now?

Dustin (left) as a missionary in the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission in February 2002 with one of his companions, Elder David Joel Glassett. They served together in the Bennion Utah Stake from 28 November 2001 to 20 February 2002.

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Learn to know and love foreign cultures Brother Jim McCulloch, at his son Pace’s missionary farewell last Sunday, mentioned that out of all the advice he was given when he was leaving on his mission years ago, three items of advice proved to be the most helpful. He called them the “Three ‘L’s of Missionary Work,” and they are: 1. Love the people.

2. Live the mission rules.

3. Learn to cook.

They have a lot to do with the next three things that I’m going to talk about. The first is the necessity to know and love foreign cultures. You must love the people you serve and whom you teach. Without that love, you’ll have no success.

Become familiar with cultures around the world.

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still need to know how people around the world live, because there’s still a chance you may be called to serve among them. If you know how they live before you go out in the mission field, it won’t be such a shock once you get there. If you have the opportunity to travel to a foreign country, or even to another part of the United States — believe me, some parts of America can seem like a foreign country — take it!

Take a foreign language in school to help familiarize yourself with how to learn a foreign language and also to familiarize yourself with other cultures. Watch PBS! Just do whatever it takes to get to love people who aren’t like you before you’re among them. It will be easier over here.

Along with learning to know and love foreign cultures comes learning to eat varied — and strange — foods. I have a problem with this one. No matter where you get called, you may have to eat some foods that you’re not familiar with. You either starve or learn. Even in the United States, cuisine can vary greatly from one region to another, and even from one house to another, with the melting pot of cultures we’re blessed to have here in America. Like before, if you learn now, it’ll be easier once you get out there.

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Learn to do housework Speaking of food, let me return to the three ‘L’s of missionary work: learn to cook. Learn to do household chores. When you’re out in the mission field, mom and dad aren’t there to do the dishes, cook, shop, clean everything, and do all the other things they do. You have to handle it all for yourself.

Learn to do it before you go.

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Live a morally clean life Finally, I’d like to talk about the last of the three ‘L’s: live the mission rules. Get practice doing that now. Live life’s “mission rules”: obey the commandments and keep the promises and covenants you’ve already made and will make before and after you go on a mission.

A lot can be said, of course, about living a morally clean life. There are reminders of being morally clean all around us. Here’s just a short list of things that and people who remind us to live good lives: parents; teachers; friends; Church leaders; general authorities, apostles; prophets; CTR rings; the scriptures; For the Strength of Youth; church books, videos, music, and magazines … the list goes on and on. But I’d like to mention something that the Prophet said when he was here8 a few years ago: the five “be”s that he told us to be in his talk: 1. Be grateful.

2. Be clean.

3. Be smart.

4. Be true.

5. Be humble.9 Follow these words of advice from the Prophet 28

as you are preparing for a mission, follow the commandments, and keep the promises and covenants that you have made and that you will make, and you’ll certainly have the Lord’s help in preparing for a mission, and when the Lord’s on your side, you cannot fail.

The question is frequently asked: Should every young man fill a mission? And the answer has been given by the Lord.

It is “Yes.” Every young man should fill a mission. …

Every man should also pay his tithing. Every man should observe the Sabbath. Every man should attend his meetings. Every man should marry in the temple and properly train his children, and do many other mighty works. Of course he should.3 PRESIDENT SPENCER W. KIMBALL

PAINTING OF PRESIDENT KIMBALL BY JUDITH A. MEHR, COURTESY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

Conclusion Going on a mission will be one of the greatest experiences you’ll ever have. Almost nowhere else can you gain the amount of knowledge about the gospel, life, yourself, and the world around as you will during the eighteen months or two years of your mission. In order to be successful on your mission, begin preparing for it now. Talk it over with your parents, your Church leaders, your Heavenly Father, and even your friends. Figure out how to handle things like college and financing. Decide what’s best for you. But remember that, if you’re a young man, going on a mission is the best thing you can do at that point in your life.

I know that sending missionaries throughout the world is one of the best things that the Church can do. I know that what the missionaries teach is true: the Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he is the Savior of the world; that the books that testify of him, the Bible and the Book of Mormon, are true; that the man who brought us the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, is a prophet of God; and that the Church has continued to be led by the Lord Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith’s successors as President of the Church, and that our prophet today, President Gordon B. Hinckley, leads us by divine inspiration. I know these things are true and I say them in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. d NOTES 1. Slightly different versions of this list were printed in The New Era, March 2007, pages 2–4, and the Church News, 23 December 1995 2. I noticed only when I was laying out this article that the talk actually includes only nine things, not ten—I inadvertently skipped number 8 when I recorded this talk in my journal back in 2000 (and, I presume, when I presented it).

3. Yes, President Kimball did say that: Ensign, October 1974, page 8; Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3 (1995 edition), lesson 25 4. Alma 32:27 5. Doctrine and Covenants 4 6. First Article of Faith 7. Romans 1:16 8. President Gordon B. Hinckley, then president of the Church, spoke at a regional conference in Dustin’s hometown, Charlotte, on Sunday, 25 February 1996. The regional conference was held in the Charlotte Coliseum, which, notably, is where Dustin’s high-school graduation also took place. The Coliseum was demolished on 3 June 2007.

9. President Hinckley added to this list in later talks and in his book Way to Be! Also check out “Ten Things to Know Before You Go” by President James E. Faust, The New Era, July 2002, page 4

few months after we moved to New York, I was on the L train on my way to school in the morning. I was standing near one of the doors when I realized something was happening near the next set of doors. I’m not sure if I heard something, or if I noticed everyone else looking, but I looked in that direction and realized that a girl, probably in middle school, was throwing up on the floor. No one moved. She was by herself (meaning that she wasn’t with a friend or a parent, though obviously she wasn’t actually all alone). I couldn’t believe that no one was doing anything at all.

Some people looked at her, and others sort of tried to ignore her. But no one did or said anything. So I walked over and asked if I could do something for her. Of course I couldn’t really do much; what can you ever do for someone who’s throwing up? But one thing you can do is make sure they don’t feel all alone, which I’m sure she did at that moment. She asked if I had a tissue. I didn’t, so I asked everyone else around if they had one. Three or four people offered up tissues and napkins. Another lady offered her a cough drop to take the taste out of her mouth. I asked if she was going to school or going home, and she said she had to go to school because she had a test. For goodness’ sake, she did not need to go to school, and I told her that her teacher wouldn’t mind her staying home if she’s sick, but she said she had to go.

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Even in a city full of strangers others in need don’t have to suffer

I have thought before that it would be kind of awful for my water to break on the subway when I’m “all alone,” meaning that everyone around me is a stranger. It is just beyond awkward to have some kind of sudden physical problem, especially a messy one, around strangers. I decided that if I ever see a woman’s water break in public, I will introduce myself and hang out with her until she gets where she needs to go or someone she knows arrives, because I know I wouldn’t want to be “all alone” in a situation like that. Very often, we can’t fix someone’s problems, but we can be there with them so they don’t have to deal with those problems alone. d

BY SUSAN

Susan shared this story with our family in family home evening on 4 August 2014.

BACKGROUND IMAGE: YUSUKE TOYODA | 24 NOVEMBER 2006 | CC BY-SA 2.0 FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/TOYOCHIN/308506555

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N O T I F I C AT I O N S

JULY–SEPTEMBER 2014 FA C E B O O K SUSAN 2 July 2014, 20.17 Impressive, eh?

SUSAN ▶ DUSTIN 7 July 2014, 17.20 Fiona just walked up and gave me a hug and said, “I’m so glad you fixed the toilet paper holder!” and walked away. 

DUSTIN 3 August 2014, 19.58 The past three days have been among the greatest in my life, because I’ve had a chocolate milkshake each day.

DUSTIN 19 August 2014, 23.26 Is it inappropriate to put pork barbecue on a challah roll?

Also because, each time I do, the song “Milkshake” by Kelis starts running through my head.

DUSTIN 22 August 2014, 22.39 Now, 63 chapters, 1,975 verses, and I’ve lost track of how many months later, we are finally done reading Alma with Fiona.

DUSTIN 5 August 2014, 19.07 I’ve come to the sad realization that new clothes can’t make me look younger. They can, however, make me look cooler. So, even if I still look like a thirty-something dad, at least I’m a cool-looking thirtysomething dad.

SUSAN, 23 August 2014, 22.36 I think the time has finally come for me to dispose of my ion flashcards from AP Chemistry. And, in case you’re wondering too—I have no idea what chemical I spilled on them to make those brown spots.

SUSAN 6 August 2014, 11.27 “Mom, he’s in a hot air balloon!”

DUSTIN 8 July 2014, 7.57 It’s spelled “whoa”. And, yes, I will judge you if you spell it another way.

SUSAN 15 July 2014, 9.47 We have a four-year-old! She has grown half an inch since last night, and she even made her first [intentional] phone call.

DUSTIN 8 August 2014, 22.00 We came. We auditioned. We got rejected.

But that’s okay. I’m not bitter. I haven’t seen their stupid show since high school anyway.

Those people can’t help it if they suck.

—feeling definitely not disappointed with Susan Hibdon DUSTIN 21 July 2014, 21.29 I’ve never read the Doctrine and Covenants in French. So I think I will.

DUSTIN 23 July 2014, 16.46 It’s surprising to me how often, when a kid at the playground wants to play with one of Fiona’s toys, he/she will come up and ask ME if he/she can play with it. I’m always like, “Kid, it’s not my toy. Ask HER if you can play with it.”

DUSTIN 1 August 2014, 21.24 If you’ve ever thought the war chapters in Alma go on and on, try reading them, six verses a day, with a four-year-old. They become interminable.

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DUSTIN 12 August 2014, 23.35 Two things about Fiona today that prove that she’s The Coolest.

SUSAN 23 August 2014, 22.57 Quote from an essay I wrote comparing the four books I was supposed to read the summer before AP English: “I suppose that since the definition of a plot is a problem that needs to be solved, the AP Board decided the bigger and more the problems, the better the book.”

SUSAN 24 August 2014, 16.35 The master chef at work. I guess she decided to get started on dinner while I was taking a nap.

1. She made a verb out of the word “hotel”, as in, “I can’t wait until we go hoteling again!” * 2. I found her singing “Down to the River to Pray” to herself as we were getting ready to leave this morning. No “Frozen” or other Disney songs around here! If our kids are going to sing to themselves, I’d much rather it be a traditional American spiritual. * The hotel part is likely not the main thing she’s looking forward to. It’s probably more about what we usually do when we stay in a hotel: order pizza, drink soda, and watch a movie.

DUSTIN 26 August 2014, 16.58 You shouldn’t smoke. But if you’re going to smoke, at least dispose of your cigarette in an appropriate receptacle. But if you’re going to toss it on the ground, at least use

@SEOIGH 8 July 2014, 20.42 This place. #Manhattan #NYC #Mormon #LDS

TWITTER your foot to extinguish it, you lazy jerk.

DUSTIN 28 August 2014, 9.51 On a sheet from the CDC that Susan and I received at Fiona’s pre-k orientation: “Act early by talking to your child’s doctor if your child … Resists dressing, sleeping, and using the toilet” Um, there are four-year-olds who DON’T resist doing those things? Those exist?!

DUSTIN 29 August 2014, 12.35 You know the United States Postal Service has seen better days when you can say, “Oh, there’s a crappy building. Must be the post office I’m looking for.” And you’re right.

DUSTIN 8 September 2014, 9.32 Fiona’s first full day of pre-k.

Okay, so I’ll admit it: it’s more emotional than I thought it would be.

SUSAN 12 September 2014, 22.27 Time for our “bye bye pacifier” sleepover!

@SEOIGH 2 July 2014, 16.16 Just ate too many Oreos in less than 24 hours. (Of course, is that really possible? Is “too many Oreos” a known quantity in the universe?) @SEOIGH 3 July 2014, 17.18 Should I mock someone who pronounces “tomatillo” as if it were an English word? @SEOIGH 3 July 2014, 18.54 Resisting the urge to go to Target just because it’s there. @SEOIGH 4 July 2014, 17.21 I love that it’s the #4thofJuly and I’m cold. #NYC #weather @SEOIGH 5 July 2014, 9.01 It’s 5 July and I’m sitting here with a sweatshirt on. #NYC #weather #loveit @SEOIGH 8 July 2014, 17.51 “Showtime” is the most dreadful word in the English language. #NYC #NYCsubway @SEOIGH 24 July 2014, 20.08 This is the main reason I donate blood: an excuse to eat these. (And all they cost was a pint of blood!)

@SEOIGH 29 August 2014, 8.58 @krispykreme > @DunkinDonuts Just saying. #donuts #orisitdoughnuts @SEOIGH 29 August 2014, 12.29 You know @USPS is in trouble when you can say, “Oh, there’s a crappy building.

Must be the post office I’m looking for.”

And you’re right.

@SEOIGH 10 September 2014, 21.05 Watching #POTUS’s address. Which always raises a good question for me: why are American podiums so ugly?

“This is my mom, and this is Fiona, and this is my favorite person, my dad.”

DUSTIN 29 September 2014, 22.43 Sometimes living in New York has its advantages. Like when the state pays you $350 to convince you that taxes aren’t too high.

@SEOIGH 28 August 2014, 9.00 I have come to learn that “right of way” does not exist in the New Yorker’s vocabulary. They either give it or take it when they shouldn’t.

@SEOIGH 30 August 2014, 18.36 #NYC is amazing. Just when you think you’ve found the nastiest grocery store on earth, you can always find one that’s even nastier.

DUSTIN 23 September 2014, 23.51 This photo hangs in a frame next to Fiona’s bed, and last night before bed Fiona got it down to show to Colin. This is how she explained who’s pictured:

Now, lest you feel sorry for Susan, don’t worry: in a week or two, Fiona will switch and say that her mother is her favorite person. It’s sort of what she does. In the meantime, I’m happy to claim the title for now.

@SEOIGH 15 August 2014, 13.03 Love the #DCMetro. Do not miss the annoying “doors closing” voice. #DC

@SEOIGH 5 August 2014, 22.10 The evidence is mounting that the #Bushwick #postoffice, 1369 Broadway, #Brooklyn, is the worst one in the country. #NYC @USPS @SEOIGH 11 August 2014, 8.13 Is it just me, or does holding a CD induce a tinge of nostalgia, like holding some relic from a bygone era?

@SEOIGH 18 September 2014, 13.13 Can’t say I’d want to do it all the time, but sometimes sitting here and spending the day playing the stock market is sort of fun. @SEOIGH 24 September 2014, 10.28 Just attended my first PTA meeting as a parent. It may be my last. @SEOIGH 25 September 2014, 16.26 Made it to #BayHead on @NJTRANSIT’s North Jersey Coast Line. 1,222 mi/1,966.6 km/89% of #1380miles completed. #NJCL D I A L A N N O C TO B E R 201 4

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I N S TA G R A M

@DTJOYCE 1 July 2014 Tribeca

@DTJOYCE 23 July 2014 Hell Gate Bridge

@DTJOYCE 8 August 2014 Prospect Park Long Meadow

Street name in decorative brick on an old building in #Tribeca.

World’s awesomest spot for a bike path. #nofilter #NYC

“One need never leave the confines of New York to get all the greenery one wishes — I can’t even enjoy a blade of grass unless I know there’s a subway handy, or a record store or some other sign that people do not totally regret life.”

— Frank O’Hara #NYC #Brooklyn #ProspectPark

@DTJOYCE 1 July 2014 Federal Hall

@DTJOYCE 5 August 2014 34 St-Herald Square Station

Dome.

Up and down. #NYC #NYCsubway

@DTJOYCE 28 August 2014 Queensboro Plaza

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@DTJOYCE 7 July 2014 Brooklyn Bridge

@DTJOYCE 22 August 2014 Rockaway, Queens

A morning walk with Colin.

At the beach.

A 7 train arrives at Queensboro Plaza as New York City’s new second tallest building, 432 Park Avenue, rises in the background. It’s 1,397 feet (425.8 m) tall, even taller than the Empire State Building. #NYC #NYCsubway #Queens #nofilter

@DTJOYCE 23 August 2014

@DTJOYCE 20 September 2014 Roosevelt Island Tramway

@DTJOYCE 26 September 2014 Jefferson Market Library

First Avenue, Manhattan. No matter how many times I ride this, these views never get old.

I’m grateful to live in a place where public libraries look like this.

@DTJOYCE 6 September 2014 Eleven Madison Park

@DTJOYCE 26 September 2014 Hoboken Terminal

@DTJOYCE 28 September 2014

Metropolitan Life.

Tiffany stained glass.

@DTJOYCE 19 September 2014 Rector Street

@DTJOYCE 26 September 2014 Hoboken Terminal

Seen on a shoe store in Lower Manhattan.

At least they’re honest?

Almost home.

Just something we ran across in the neighborhood. It’s pretty rare to find a car that’s as short as a four-year-old.

Growing up in New York: Chess with friends in the stairwell.

@DTJOYCE 29 September 2014 #Brooklyn #architecture under a Brooklyn blue sky. #NYC #nofilter D I A L A N N O C TO B E R 201 4

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T H E G A L L E RY

First day of school. Ever.

8 September 2014, 15.02 edt Fiona is excited after a successful first-ever day of school. She is in Ms. Gomez’s prekindergarten class at P.S. 147 Isaac Remsen here in Brooklyn.

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Wiehle-Reston East The first phase of the D.C. Metro’s long-awaited Silver Line finally opened 26 July. Dustin and Fiona spent the weekend with Nana, Randy, and Amanda at their home in Frederick, Maryland, 14–17 August. Of course Dustin and Fiona went to check out the new line and the five stations in its first phase. Wiehle-Reston East is the line’s current western terminus, though phase 2 will add six additional stations and take the Silver Line into Loudoun County, Virginia, via a stop at Washington Dulles International Airport. Phase 2 is projected to open in 2018.

DUSTIN | 11.25 EDT, 15 AUGUST 2014 | instagram.com/p/ruVFZGRWoY

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ISSUE 16 O C TO B E R 201 4

— SUSAN, WRITING IN THE GUESTBOOK IN OUR CABIN AT PROMISED LAND STATE PARK SEE “THE FAMILY THAT CAMPS TOGETHER”, PAGE 4

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