Well Met in Yonkers

Today being a gorgeous summer day, and my day off, I decided to head across town to Lenoir Preserve, on the west side of the City of Y______. Feeling ambitious, I scrambled down a steep path that connects to the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, and walked south to Shonnard Terrace, where I turned around. On my way back north, I met a handsome fellow on the trail:

I couldn't believe how bold this young stag was. By moving very slowly, shifting my weight to one foot, then gliding the other a few inches, and making no sudden moves, I was able to get to within about six feet of him:

I was close enough to him to see the glistening wetness of his nose, and the tarsal glands that will serve him during his rut.

At a certain point, I decided it was time to continue north and, because the stag was so uncharacteristically bold, I didn't want to turn my back on him. He and I circled each other warily, and as soon as I picked up my pace, he trotted a short distance away to watch warily. I had never gotten so close to a live, wild deer before.

When I got to sculpted lion south of Odell Ave, I decided that I would do some "exploring", and found a precipitous "goat path" that led, after a vault to the top of a four foot retaining wall, to Untermeyer Park, which deserves a blog post of its own. The pillars you can see in the background of the picture in my linked post are at the top of the narrow, steep path. Here's a view of the Aqueduct Trail from the park:

Having had enough scrambling uphill and down, I decided to walk through Untermyer Park, and its gorgeous gardens (the park gained a measure of infamy during the Son of Sam spree and resultant "Satanic Panic". The park is now known for its beautiful "Persian" gardens, and was occupied by some lovely, mainly elderly, garden aficianados. I must have made quite a contrast to them, a big, sweaty, grubby figure making his way to the exit.

A short walk up Broadway (the same Broadway that stretches from Lower Manhattan to the Canadian border) brought me back to Lenoir Preserve. The deer in the preserve were more shy than my friend from the Aqueduct Trail.

Keep F___ing that Chicken, Chickenhawk

There is a quote that is commonly attributed to Einstein, but which was probably originated by the author Rita Mae Brown in the 1980s: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." This quote perfectly describes the 40th vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act in the GOP-dominated House of Representatives.

Apparently, the GOP believes that that opposing Obamacare will help them in the 2014 midterm elections. It's a case of repeating the same failed policy, in the hope that it will help them pick up some congressional seats. Same... old... playbook. Oddly enough, FreedomWorks has an even more bizarre gambit to rally the opposition to Obamacare:


"We're trying to make it socially acceptable to skip the exchange," said Dean Clancy, vice president for public policy at FreedomWorks, which boasts 6 million supporters. The group is designing a symbolic "Obamacare card" that college students can burn during campus protests.


I don't know how they expect to gin up the youth vote by replicating the social protests of the 1960s- seriously, I preferred Barack Obama to Hilary Clinton in 2008 precisely because I didn't want to see yet another election portrayed as a referendum on the Vietnam Era.

FreedomWorks actually treads on dangerous ground by having a campus protest that hearkens back to the burning of draft cards. Throughout the "War on Terror" era, College Republicans have been notoriously pro-war but anti-enlistment. College Republicans burning "Obamacare cards" on campus would only serve to remind other students that these young conservatives are a bunch of cowardly chickenhawks- a couple of "Yellow Elephant" posters in the background of these protests should send them skulking off in shame... if they had shame.

Another Passing, Way Too Young

Last week, Faye Hunter, the bassist/vocalist of the criminally undersung band Let's Active (led by legendary producer Mitch Easter), died at the age of 59, apparently by her own hand. Once again, we have lost an extremely talented individual who had received critical acclaim, but not mainstream success.

Ms Hunter's lovely voice and bass virtuosity are perhaps best showcased in the song A Room with a View:





Perhaps the band's best known song was Every Word Means No:





I don't know what challenges Ms Hunter faced, and have nothing profound to say about her circumstances, I merely wanted to help to ensure that her passing was not unsung. Ms Hunter brought a lot of joy to her fans, I imagine I'm not the only one to wish that her later days were filled with more joy.

Note: There is no such thing as too much joy.

Burglary Suspect

"Yeah, I heard you, that's why I came. I understand you don't have a lawyer... you're just lucky that I was up and about at this ridiculous hour to bail you out."

"Look, I know you claim to be innocent, but you were picked up on private property wearing a ridiculous burglar mask, like something from a cheesy cartoon, or a fast food commercial. It's no wonder they were suspicious when they picked you up."

"Yeah, I know you didn't have any stolen goods on you, but you'll probably face a trespassing charge at the very least. What the hell were you doing on that property at that hour, wearing that mask?"

"What? Somebody told you there was a fancy masquerade there at that hour? Fool, remember that Cinderella had to leave the masquerade ball at midnight... those kind of parties don't start at midnight! Look, I think you were being set up... the real thief wanted you to be the patsy while he committed the crime. Judging from the items missing from the property, I immediately thought of a criminal who sorely vexed me for a long time... but he's been dead for two and a half years- unless he faked his death... but that only happens in bad movies."

"What? Never mind, you're free to go, and take off that ridiculous mask!"

Bricolage is the Word of the Week

Last Tuesday, I I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see their "Punk" exhibit. One of the four aspects of the punk aesthetic expounded on in the exhibit was bricolage, the incorporation of "found" objects into art or material culture. Yesterday, I headed across town to the Hudson River Museum to check out the Fantasy River exhibit by Colombian artist Federico Uribe. Talk about a perfect example of bricolage! Here's a video in which the artist describes this exhibit:





While Uribe seems to disavow a larger political message, I found that his use of trash to create sculptures of plants and animals sent a message about consumption and its effects on the worldwide environment. The exhibit opened with a statement from Uribe and the museum staff. Uribe fashioned colorful birds from discarded shoes and a hippo from old computer keys. One of the most striking pieces was a sculpture of the head of a zebra fashioned from pencil stubs:

The sculpture of the zebra was incorporated into a wall mural of a zebra herd fashioned out of strips cut from bicycle tires:

In one of the trees sculpted from old books, I found a copy of the execrable Bobos in Paradise by the odious David Brooks. Finally, somebody found a use for this particular bit of crapola:

I hope my uproarious laughter didn't adversely affect the other museum visitors' viewing experience.

All told, the "Fantasy River" exhibit was a colorful, imaginative tour de force. Not only was it a bright fantasy landscape, but it forced the viewer to reconsider trash and consumption. We so often throw away unwanted goods in a cavalier fashion, with no thought of repurposing them. For another take on this aspect of the exhibit, the blog Everyday Trash has a nice piece, accompanied by a wonderful slideshow.

After taking in the exhibit, I headed north, over the border to Antoinette's, to get a cup of their mind-bogglingly good coffee, a sandwich and a brownie. It being a gorgeous day, I decided to eat my lunch in Lenoir Preserve, back over the Yonkers border, and to follow it up with a short stroll through the grounds. The Hudson peeked through the trees of the preserve at times, a real river even more beautiful and fantastic than the fantasy river in the museum.

A Blast from My Corporate Past

Before heading in to work this afternoon, I decided to stop by a supermarket near my workplace to pick up a box of granola and a container of yogurt for a frugal dinner. As I was approaching the supermarket entrance, I recognized a former coworker of mine from my days working for a Fortune One Hundred corporation. I hadn't seen her in about ten years, but she looked like she hadn't aged a bit (for the record, she's an extraordinarily cute woman). She is still working for the same employer. We chatted for a good while, catching up on old coworkers, her children (one out of college and living in Queens, the other in his last year of college, studying sports medicine and physical/occupational therapy). We always got on well, and our impromptu reunion was very pleasant.

I am glad to say that I made my break from Corporate America and the attendant grind. I don't miss the office, I never had wacky adventures or grand vistas on the job. On my current job, I am never at a loss for material, it's not the "turned on the computer, got coffee, started pounding the keys" sort of slog I used to have. Sure, I work weekends and a lot of holidays, but I can't even complain about that.

Given how Corporate America has gotten even more toxic and predatory in the past decade, I don't think I'd ever go back.

Carlos Danger's Weiner

I live about four blocks north of the Bronx, so I am not eligible to vote in the upcoming NYC mayoral elections, but I do follow NYC politics, as the fate of the City of Y______ is inextricably intertwined with that of NYC. Personally, I prefer John Liu, the city's current comptroller, but this post is about Anthony Weiner. Yeah, Weiner... he was recently forced to admit that, even after the fallout from the Snapadickpic scandal abated, he was engaged in "sexting" with a young lady. Cazzo di merda, Weiner, these aren't even real sex scandals, they're just juvenile stunts... I mean, he blew his Congressional gig and his mayoral election, and he didn't even get off? Bill Clinton would've made sure he got his casbah rocked, but Weiner's just a wannabe.

The whole sordid Weiner tale just reeks of a weird combination of hubris and numbnuttery. Weiner has an attractive and accomplished wife, but he spends his free time sending sexually charged missives to young women that he meets online? Sheesh, I think he likes the power trip that he feels from stringing along women barely old enough to vote for him, but his self-preservation skills are a little underdeveloped. Seriously, the guy has impulse control issues, and his lack of judgment should render him unfit to be the mayor of Palookaville, much less the Big Apple. And really, "Carlos Danger" was his pseudonym? It sounds like a character from a rejected "Austin Powers" sequel. Couldn't he have used a more clever nickname, like Miles O'Toole, or Anthony Weiner?

I think that, after this grilling, Weiner is done. He really needs to seek help with his sexting problem. The New York City public certainly doesn't need this weiner running the show. Frankly, Weiner's wife should consider tossing him out on his buns.