Art Culture Politics
-
Prothonotary
A protonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) has been hanging out with the lions in front of the New York Public Library’s main building at 42nd Street for the last couple of days. Paparazzi and police lines… no, just kidding, but those photographers sure are sorta-kinda like hunters, aren’t they, trying to “bag” their bird? When I…
-
Storm King
The colors of fall at Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY. (Thanks to Nate for the use of his camera.) A beautiful fall day.
-
CCD, Incorporated
Last week’s news about the discovery of a virus-bacteria link in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has been wrecking havoc with honey bee populations, got a lot of excited play among those of us who love bees. The story, however, turns out to come up a little short. Seems the lead researcher is in the…
-
Bad to the bone
One of the great joys of the library, and to a certain extent the bookstore as well — although tempered there by the odium of commerce — is browsing. Yes, the same word is used for the internet, but it is not the same. Differences: the serendipity and physicality, for two, and the winnowing done…
-
Geological Ruminations II
A trip to Iceland concentrates the mind on the subject of volcanism. Split between the separating-at-two-centimeters-a-year North American and Eurasian plates, Iceland is astride a tremendously deep plume of magma known as a hot spot. It has some major volcanoes, including Grimsvotn, Katla, Hekla, Krafla, and Laki. In 1963, a whole new island, Surtsey, named…
-
Community Gardens Need Your Help
The operating authority for community gardens not held in trust is ending in September. New rules have been proposed by both Parks & Recreation and Housing Preservation & Development, the two city departments that control the land under the gardens. Many gardeners and community members feel the proposed new rules just aren’t strong enough. The…
-
City of Water
Today: a couple of double-crested cormorant youngsters still on a nest on U Thant Island in the East River. Which, of course, isn’t a “river” at all. At best it’s a tidal strait. The Burmese U Thant, meanwhile, was the third Secretary-General of the UN (serving 1961-71); the island is a canon shot across the…
-
“Meditation & water are wedded for ever”
Purple sandpiper and blue mussels on the coast of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Winter 2010. Today is City of Water Day, when we are reminded that New York City is an archipelago. Only the Bronx, pronging south from Westchester Co., is a part of mainland North America. “Archipelago” is a Italian-rooted word for the island-speckled Aegean…
-
Club Dead
I didn’t get worked up about the killing of Prospect Park’s Canada geese. There are better ways of managing overpopulations of species that do too well in association with people, but otherwise I wasn’t particularly moved. I know other people were, to the extent of holding a vigil for the dead birds. But Canada geese…
Backyard and Beyond 