Color within the lines

Social Commentary

It seems to me NYC is one of the few cities where it's acceptable to be alone. Most people cling to their group, directing ALL energy and focus onto each other while allowing all strangers to become fixtures of the background-obstacles to be avoided, dismissed and ignored. I find it easy to slip through this city, in my own world, rarely interacting. It doesn't feel awkward to be by myself. It's as if there's an underlying agreement that in a city saturated with human energy it's acceptable and rare to have moments to yourself. And since I wander far and wide, unlike native residents, I'm always the unknown new person. This actually makes it all easier because the probability of me running into anyone I know, and them wondering why I'm alone, is in the thousandths of a %. It's a curious combination of freedom and lonliness. Or maybe it's maturity that allows me to slip through the social norms w/out care or consideration.

A nasal education

Each day presents new challenges for chemorecognition. The microscopic sensors w/in my nose are continually assaulted shortly after leaving the house....The neighbor has burned toast again, the deli down the street is frying some poor creature, someone urinated in the corner recently, the singed hair smell of overheating subway brakes, the plentiful cologne, BO, perfume aromas, and all those unidentifiable smells... I probably never want to know the identity of or source. But never do I settle into the comforting smells of decomposing leaf litter, sweet fragrance of plant sex or reassuring smells of organic processes. For those I must travel at least 2 hours away from this heavily homosapianed environment.
Even the rain has a pungent, lived in smell...

Cat Pack

One hot day, while Deniro was sprawled out along the wall, I discovered he is indeed a he. The video below is the only demonstration I've ever seen of altruism from a male cat towards kittens I don't think are his. It's pretty dark but if you look closely to the left of him you will see a kitten chowing on some treats. Watch his reaction and how he tolerates the kittens as if they were his children.


More Kitten Therapy









There are three stray cats who hang out in the awkward space between my apartment building and the yards (yes there are places here with yards!) of houses on the next block. Since moving in, I've come to know these 3 vagabonds about as well as you can know any semi-ferral mammal. I assure you that as the summer progresses, more stories will be added....but first, the background:

As you can see from the pictures, these three are always seen together...a strange thing for ferrel cats. BUT it seems the two tiger stripped cats (Pacino & Deniro) are actually kittens from a previous litter. The black & white cat (whom I'll call Billy after Miss Holliday) has a litter of 4 kittens which I discovered late one night- video & the story coming soon. Although she has 4 little ones in tow, Pacino & Deniro still hang around, glaring jealously from a distance as the kittens partake in a feast whenever they desire. All three linger under the neighbors window (seen in the last picture) for the occasional toss of mysterious food. We've developed a relationship, though their skittishness is difficult to cope with. When I come home and open the windows, they stare hopefully and are attentive to my moves inside the house. Of course, they don't have a TV either so I suppose I'm the best entertainment they have in this dreary vacant, in-between space. I continue to struggle with the dilemma of tossing my own mysterious food from the window: if I start feeding them will they decrease their valuable service of balancing the populations of other, more irritating critters? Am I just participating in the larger problem of ferral animals due to human irresponsibility? Is it really my place to subsidize yet another mammal breeding uncontrollably in a geographic location with such strained resources? Why can't I just naively enjoy the interaction without it becoming a deeper philosophical debate?

The 4 kittens are fat and sassy, taking over the alley way and generally being adorable in their predatory practicing. I'm a bit concerned because I haven't seen Miss Holiday (the black and white) or Pacino in several days. The kittens are following around Deniro (the close up picture w/one white leg).

Kitten Therapy: Video of a practicing predator

Just when I’m starting to loathe the city.....

There are many compensations to tempt me away from my Midwestern comfort zone. For example, I normally head to City Hall Park for lunch as a way to reconnect with greenery & life, but today there was a push cart festival across the street. Being the curious cat that I am, I had to check it out, this little block party. There was a good blues band, the usual jewelry vendors and caricature artists. And then, just as I reached the end of the party…..the Cinnamon Snail. A vegan cart!!! And the selection of desserts! OH MY! I started with the chocolate, mocha cookie crunch doughnut and the cinnamon snail. Instantly I was reveling in culinary bliss! For once, I (or my mom) didn’t have to make the sweet treat! Oh, the luxury of just indulging the sweet tooth with out foresight, planning and cooking! The doughnut was so good I forgot to take a picture :)

Fun with other humans

Chess….a game formerly for nerds and intellectuals is a spectator sport. Every day, all day, chess games are played in City Hall Park with quiet , intense enthusiasm and dedication. Of course this was a temptation I couldn’t resist and so I coerced another EPA intern to join me in an amateur game of chess. One thing I should point out, is the sex ratio of chess…..when we entered the park, all of the tables and spectators were a diverse group of men. We procured a table, set up my pitifully cheap pieces and quickly drew the predatory and critical observation of numerous skilled players. After a few minutes of observation the unspoken silence barrier between players and observers was broken with people questioning us about whether we were competitively playing. Our awkward responses solicited the help of a fellow EPA person who gets together with other EPA players (all men) and we were quickly re-learning the strategies of the game. While we played, occasional angry, cursing outbursts from the other tables indicated how seriously this endeavor is and how truly out of place we were to simply attempt to remember how to play the game. We played through out game, with much coaching and joking about the quality of the pieces, and hope to join this tradition. Keep checking back for contrasting pictures of my the pathetic pieces and the accepted pieces.

Coping Skills

In the absence of a TV, I have jumped ahead in the progression of life to the nursing home experience by purchasing a 750 piece oval puzzle. The selection of cheap puzzles is dismal and I’m dismayed to report my $10 purchase of what is a rather mediocre representation of goldfinches. But seeing as how the most dramatic bird I’ve seen in Brooklyn or NYC is a hybridized pigeon or mutated sparrow, the rendition of goldfinches in full mating colors will have to do. At night I pour a glass of cheap wine, crank the tunes and drift away into a problem with a clear beginning, end and solution….if only I dedicate enough time to staring at it. There is a certain peace that comes when two, then three, then more, pieces fit perfectly together and the picture becomes clear. Puzzle therapy is a real thing and should be prescribed for all graduate students.