BE Ch 9 summary + ?

[Allen Ruch]

I loved the sway! One of my favorite things was to go to the bar at the Windows on the World. Sure, the drinks were expensive: but the view! They used to have those kind of bubble-out windows, you could step into the window and lean out, your whole body suspended 100-odd floors above lower Manhattan, it was incredible. The restaurant at the top was reported to have one of the most sophisticated wine cellars in New York City. I also saw Philip Glass give a performance right between the towers one summer day, such a lovely memory. 

Rich—you worked there!?! Wow, that's impressive. I never worked in the Twin Towers, but I did work in an office in the Empire State Building, 55th floor. There were: no screens, no locks, no barriers on the windows. Like, you could open the window and just jump if you wanted. It was CRAZY. The winds up there....just mind blowing. Like that say, it did rain *up* on occasion. We used to open the window and lean out as far as we could, hooking our feet into the baseboard radiator-thingie. 

Pynchon nails the description there, being in a crow's next. Sometimes—this was a tech job I had, BTW—I had to work 24 hours straight. And in the morning, the fog covered the city below, you couldn't see anything but your brother the Chrysler Building, the only other spire large enough to poke up from the mist. 

I still do love this city. 

—Quail

Great Luna song: "Going Home." (1994). Still makes me cry a little whenever I hear it:

"The Chrysler building
Was talkin' to the Empire State
The Twin Towers
Were talkin' to each other...
Sayin' all is forgivin'
I love you still
And we're home, home
Goin' home..."


On 12/15/21, 5:24 PM, "Pynchon-l on behalf of rich" <pynchon-l-bounces at waste.org on behalf of richard.romeo at gmail.com> wrote:

    I can attest to that sway, having worked in the South Tower on floors north
    of 90, about 10 yrs before 9/11. felt it particularly in the restrooms

    rich

    On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 4:28 PM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:

    >  BE chapter 9 summary
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    > scene change: Next day Horst takes sons to WTC, which apparently has 5
    > foot sway range, maybe more in storm. “Hey! I’m a day early, you
    > surprised?” “No and also try to quit leering, Horst? I’ll be out of here in
    > a minute.” Is that a hardon? She has retreated into the shower too quick to
    > tell.  Chapter ends on interesting Note: On days of storm, according to
    > Horst’s co-tenant Jake Pimento, it’s like being in the crow’s nest of a
    > very tall ship, allowing you to look down at helicopters and private planes
    > and neighboring high-rises. “Seems kind of flimsy up here,” to Ziggy.
    > “Nah,” sez Jake, “built like a battleship.”
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    > --
    > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
    >
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    Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l