This is my goodbye post for Murderati. I adore you guys, and have had great fun writing here, and everyone in our gang has been lovely to me through some really tough stuff over the last few years: my dad’s suicide, my divorce, my move back to the East Coast, my struggles with writing and winter and all kinds of things. I will miss you all a great deal, and I thank you for your many kindnesses.
But I am really, really tired. I’m so happy to be back in my hometown of Manhattan, but I’ve moved three times since August while doing three extra rewrites on my fourth book (with my genius of an editor, who is a patient, patient woman,) and am just now getting my life back in order in many, many ways that require some better attention from me in real life.
And, hey, all kinds of really good shit has happened too. Like, after several years of this…
I’m hanging out with a really cool man who is great fun and very funny and kind, not to mention pretty damn “easy on the eyes,” as Grandmama Read used to say. And he is also NOT a psycho Republican, which is a huge plus after my last foray into the whole Y-chromosome thing.
So now when I think of The Lone Ranger, I think less of it pertaining to my social life, and more just for basic entertainment purposes:
And I DID finally finish that fourth book, which is called Valley of Ashes and is due out from Grand Central Publishing next August:
Plus my third book comes out in paperback this month, and I love the cover Grand Central did for that, too:
Last June, my kid graduated from Exeter,
and she got into her first-choice college,
and just made the Dean’s list at the end of her first semester, which is pretty fucking cool if you ask me.
Also, she just came out at the Junior Assembly in New York the week before Christmas, which my mom and I also did back in the day.
That was a rather stellar evening…
That’s my kid Grace on the right, and my niece Sasha on the left. I utterly adore both of them, and their escorts were terrific. (Jill Krementz took this photo. She is amazing and so very, very talented, and was very generous to document the evening for us.)
Here’s Grace in the Pierre Hotel ballroom, with her escort Dan:
Though I did miss having Lester Lanin there…
Especially since the new band didn’t throw beanies out onto the dance floor…
(Yeah, I just put Woody Guthrie and Lester Lanin in the same blog post. That’s how I roll. Because it is entirely possible to be a deb and anti-fascist. Just ask Eleanor Roosevelt.)
And I finally live in the neighborhood I’ve been wanting to hang out in for about the last year and a half: Inwood, on the far norther tip of Manhattan, just above the Cloisters:
It’s really beautiful here, and everyone is nice, and what with my apartment being a fifth-floor walkup, my ass is looking rather splendid these days. Which is pretty good, especially coupled with the cheap rent…
I mean, seriously… you look at this, and you don’t think “New York City,” right? It’s a very nice place to come home to on the A Train.
Okay, Duke Ellington is not actually ON the A Train in that video (because, hello, the A Train is a SUBWAY,) and I live way the hell above Sugar Hill in Harlem, but still, it’s a pretty nice tune to hum to yourself when you’re going express from 59th to 125th on your way home, you know?
Also, I think I have FINALLY relearned how to get off the 59th Street Bridge and onto the Long Island Expressway, which is the free way to get to the island and a pretty fine time to sing “The 59th Street Bridge Song” to oneself…
So, no worries about me, if you’re inclined to worry. I’m happy, I’m just exhausted.
I wish everyone a most wonderful 2012, and happy trails, and all good things… thank you for everything, you guys rock.
I'm completely torn between sincere congratulations and good wishes for you and a resounding aw, *crap* for me (except for the new books part, which are always a silver lining).
I'll miss your posts, your music, your images, and your admiration of gloriously evil shoes.
You're an inspiration, you are.
Happy New Year.
Huh. All these years, I thought that song was called "Feelin' Groovy." The things you learn on the internet.
Damn, Cornelia. I hate that you're leaving Murderati. I mean, sure, I'm glad that you're just happily exhausted, seeing as there are so many worse things for a person to be, but I'm going to miss you like crazy.
Thank you for all the amazing posts, the wild stories of your remarkable family, the mind-boggling pics, the links to unusual and entertaining things. Yours is a unique and vibrant voice and you're leaving one hell of a void here.
Take care of yourself, Cornelia. Keep accumulating the good stuff in your life. It's long overdue. One of these days we're going to meet up for that drink.
You left Brooklyn? #1 will be devastated. Will miss you here on Murderati but look forward to seeing you in the City. (What a great visit we had in July!)
Sarah, thank you, and we WILL bond over shoes and booze and/or other things at a future Bcon, demmit…
KD, thank you for your kindness, and I may yet blog again some day, but first I must nap. For about a month.
Keith, that was an awesome time indeed. Hoping to get to Cali sometime soonish. Hope to see you on BOTH coasts, and often.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, you guys!!
Best of luck, Cornelia. I'm glad to hear that things are going better for you, and I look forward to "Valley of Ashes."
Seems to be a season of departures – but you are among your own people at last, I think, and ready to rock onward.
Be well, be happy, and -for ghod's sake! – please write faster! I'm starvin' out here!
Cornelia,
I'm going to miss you on the blog, but hopefully I'll still see you at the conferences. I LOVE the covers for both your books above. Just gorgeous. Congratulations!
May 2012 be the year you get to relax. It looks like it's starting out that way.
Damn, Cornelia, we're going to miss you. Your blog posts are always way out there – works of art in themselves. Your family history has been an education.
Like Stephen, I love those book covers – especially the new one. Very striking! And many congrats on getting the book completed amid such upheaval.
I hope 2012 brings you every happiness. You deserve it 🙂
Wishing you lots of rest and continued good fortune.
I too will miss all the great multi-media posts and Reed family history lessons – but am thrilled there's a new book due to hit the shelves soon-ish.
Happy 2012!
Cornelia, I'm so sorry I missed your post. I wasn't expecting Murderati to be up on Sunday. Miss you, love. You always make me laugh and you even got me to break out the old pink and green!
Cornelia,
I didn't see your post until mine had already gone up.
I'm so sorry to see you go, but understand completely.
Please don't be a stranger . . .
I have suspected for some time that there was a man in this picture.
You deserve all good things in the New Year, Ms. C. Just make sure you get your ass to some conferences so we can shop or something. XX
Cornelia,
Can't wait to buy you a drink in Manhattan. Many congrats to Grace, My friend Judy Butterfield is there at Barnard now and loves it…having her senior year of it. It'll be great for Grace.
And as for you, my god, so glad the whirlwind of insanity is settling down in one place and with a love interest. It'll be great for you, your health and your sanity and hopefully good for your next book. Way to go to get that last one out in spite of all the moving and uncerttainly. You live in a fantastic neighborhood, love it up there.
You continue to be an inspiration on or off the blog. Come back and visit us, make us laugh, especially in our darkest moments. Love back at ya.
Oh Happy New Year, and I hope life treats you well. I sad because I really love the visual beauty of your posts, and you made it through all the hard times -and the good. Will you still do facebook? Will you remind us of the publication of your book? Fare thee well. I'm glad you are enjoying New York!
Best of luck, Cornelia. You are always entertaining to read, both in blogs and books.
Cornelia, the photos of Grace, Sasha and escorts are beautiful. Lovely debut.
Goodbye. We'll miss you; I hope things work out. Rest up, and take care!
Cornelia,
goodbye ….your writing, your posts, the way you *paint so vividly* with words. You TUNED me into a world I had heard of and thought *meh*…but through your words, gave it depth, breadth and gave it some LIFE…not enough to feel jealous nor envious..but maybe a little more understanding…and not so * oh, yippee-skippee, big deal ! whoop ! whoop!*
I shall miss you, Cornelia…take care, kit
I'll miss your posts Cornelia. I love that so many of them were delicious and insightful incisions into a history and life that so many of us would otherwise know nothing about. But we'll always have your books. Hitting Amazon right now for Ashes and Invisible Boy. And best of luck with whatever life sends your way!