The People In Your Neighborhood: Lili Taylor
When did you start doing trapeze?
About four years ago. My husband was teaching a writing class at Omega [in Rhinebeck, New York] and there was a trapeze rig set-up there with a discount for faculty, and so I started flying. I soon realized I loved it, and so they told me to come to Streb when I was back in Brooklyn. I really found something I love. Yoga doesn’t work for me, and I don’t love going to the gym, but I love this because there’s just so much to learn—the learning is just endless.
How long have you lived in Brooklyn? I remember seeing you a lot, riding your bike on the streets of Manhattan, but that was probably about 15 years ago now.
Well, I’ve been in Brooklyn for probably eight years. I was in the West Village for about 20 years, and I ride my scooter now instead of my bike, but I still like to interact with the city. You know, I’m glad that I’m not hugely famous, because if I couldn’t interact with the city, well, that’s what it’s all about. Because they say New Yorkers live long, not just because they walk a lot, but because of the daily interactions, and being able to take in the multitude of things that are being communicated by the people on the streets. There’s so much information, and it’s really good for human beings to take in other human beings all the time.
So you enjoy the community aspect of Brooklyn? Having a writer for a husband, I’d imagine that you partake in the local lit community.
It’s a great community here, writing-wise. I love BookCourt. And I have a space at the Brooklyn Writer’s Annex, which is great. I’m not a big writer, but I need to keep busy when I’m not working. Writing is a fun thing to do, and I thought, well, I’m going to do an experiment. Am I just procrastinating, or do I need a space of my own? And it turns out I really do need to leave the house. I find that I’m just not as focused at home. I find a myriad of excuses. And then when I’m at the space, I keep plowing forward and then all of a sudden I’ve got something. It’s like a room of one’s own.
Where else do you like to go to be alone?
Prospect Park. I’m a birder. And it’s a great park to bird in.
How do you feel about raising your daughter in Brooklyn?
I love it. I love Brooklyn. I love Manhattan, too, but Brooklyn has the feeling of being a little more intimate, at least the neighborhood I’m in. And one example of that intimacy was the time my daughter lost her monkey. You know, her “Hoo Hoo Ha Ha.” She’s had it since she was born. It’s one of those. And we got home one night and realized it wasn’t with us. It was eight o’clock, bedtime, and it was pouring rain. And we put our gear on and we went out and we went looking because we had no other choice. And we didn’t think we had any chance of finding it, but I thought we wouldn’t be able to sleep if we didn’t at least look. And then someone had put Hoo Hoo up on a gate and his little legs were all splayed out and his arms were hooked on to that gate and to me that felt like the fabric of the neighborhood. Someone had picked up a lovey, put it on the gate, and that’s the neighborhood. I wish everyone raising kids could have this. If you’re running late, a neighbor will pick your child up. It’s a great net.
You spend a good deal of time filming on location, so when you get back to Brooklyn, what’s your perfect day like?
Scooter over—I love the scooter, because I get to do a lot of things spontaneously—to Prospect Park at about 10am and spend about two or three hours in there. And then scoot back and grab a coffee at Van Leeuwen, that little space by the Bergen Street subway stop. They make ice cream too, but I love it as a coffee shop. And then just walk along Court Street, sit by my window and look and see what’s going on in my backyard. And then pick up my little one. It’s just sort of being open to things that might happen, like an interesting conversation that you might hear, just two people on their stoop. You never know what might happen. It’s like Humans of New York, only it’s right there.
Follow Kristin Iversen on twitter @kmiversen
For more information on Streb, visit streb.org