tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-152827022024-03-07T14:11:08.034-05:00Obsidian Kitten"One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it--it was the black kitten's fault entirely." (L. Carroll, <i>Through the Looking Glass</i>)
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Obsidian Kitten knits, sings, works crosswords, looks for new hobbies, dotes over a tortiseshell cat, and writes. Herewith we chronicle her adventures in NYC and beyond.
Welcome, and thank you for visiting the OK Corral.Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.comBlogger498125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-72548373730863604022013-06-29T15:37:00.000-04:002013-06-29T15:37:37.741-04:00216 Cards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3tHe4xTmnYIhHmc6Rk1Uuk2ED108oNYVKdMYJB1FWnV2HRrt3KR74qgGWc6kmAMcAVARHm6G3hsfXCWe54qzWRskPDEbXYkVBMiyRv-dUnNWjpgZas8vTRHG6KiF5DhmSz5O/s1288/PostcardBoxOpen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC3tHe4xTmnYIhHmc6Rk1Uuk2ED108oNYVKdMYJB1FWnV2HRrt3KR74qgGWc6kmAMcAVARHm6G3hsfXCWe54qzWRskPDEbXYkVBMiyRv-dUnNWjpgZas8vTRHG6KiF5DhmSz5O/s320/PostcardBoxOpen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I started collecting postcards on family road trips when I was 8 or so. This chocolate-colored card box holds many that I bought in gift shops and motel lobbies at 5 or 10 cents a piece. When I realized I was beginning a "collection" (in addition to my collections of cat miniatures, pennies, used calendars, and stuffed animals), I added the ones my mother had sent to me on business trips and those my grandparents mailed on vacations and cross-country drives. Note the paper dividers for each state that I carefully wrote out in my well-practiced 5th-grade script. Most are from the 1970s and '80s. I had no idea that one day they'd be "vintage postcards"--or would be such a Grimm's fairy-tale forest of memories, odd and long-forgotten.<br />
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<i>"The Buccaneer Motor Lodge, Jekyll Island, Georgia"</i></div>
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Two days ago Mr. O'Kitten asked me if he could borrow a few cards for a show he's working on, a theater production that has something to do with unsent postcards. I pulled out the plastic index card box and opened it to show him how many old cards I had (and, admittedly, to mull over how I felt about lending them to the theater for a few weeks).</div>
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I pulled out a couple of entirely random examples to show him my odd little collection's diversity, and, in doing so, discovered that I had a story to tell him about each card I drew out of the small box. The Buccaneer Motor Lodge, for example, was the motel we stayed at several times on annual family vacations to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jekyll_Island">Jekyll Island</a>. The card is surely from the late '70s, and I love the carefully posed couple gazing endearingly (if a bit stupidly) into each other's eyes. I remember the pool (kidney-shaped, which makes it no more appealing) with water as warm as if it had been artificially heated.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9znbXg04D7EfWSLTaqn7fyMStJkmCG1LInHQf_qcaCw2NpEbKgyEq_P4ZCUaKcCVkxeOJvvxhjyP-QCN5Ac6gSMteg7fI0tK8mEhP7JxjqWNl79ZyXnTF9Ot0xi-LI3SKzlKj/s1600/BuccaneerBk.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9znbXg04D7EfWSLTaqn7fyMStJkmCG1LInHQf_qcaCw2NpEbKgyEq_P4ZCUaKcCVkxeOJvvxhjyP-QCN5Ac6gSMteg7fI0tK8mEhP7JxjqWNl79ZyXnTF9Ot0xi-LI3SKzlKj/s320/BuccaneerBk.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>"Spacious accomodations and activity-filled days make this</i></div>
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<i>the perfect family resort...located on the beach of historic</i></div>
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<i>Jekyll Island, 3500 acres of pure pleasure on the Atlantic.</i></div>
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<i>Golfing, swimming, fishing and tennis are yours to enjoy year</i></div>
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<i>'round on this Golden Isle."</i></div>
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I'd gone back to Jekyll at some point, perhaps in college or shortly after, and the beach was so much narrower...I'm still not sure how much of that has to do with memory (everything is so much bigger in childhood) and how much with erosion (possible damage from 1989's Hugo?). The Buccaneer postcard reminds me of sitting on the edge of that pool once with my twin second cousins Ashley and Mandy who were from Florida and loved to swim (I didn't), and of the boardwalk stroll from the motel to the beach, through the live oaks, palmettoes, and yucca that would be strung with <a href="http://audramayphotography.tumblr.com/post/28916081975/these-spiders-are-all-over-jekyll-island-they-are">spider webs booby-trapped with large, leggy, jewel-like spiders</a>. Watching seagulls and crabs alike scurry across the beach, and hopefully not stepping on any jellyfish. Hunting for unbroken <a href="http://www.flickriver.com/groups/sanddollar/pool/interesting/">sand dollars</a>. Eating key lime pie.</div>
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<i>"Main Entrance to <b>JEKYLL ISLAND</b>, GEORGIA. Year</i></div>
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<i>'Round Beach Resort, operated by the Jekyll Island</i></div>
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<i>State Park Authority. Located approximately eight</i></div>
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<i>miles from Brunswick, Georgia, just off U.S. High-</i></div>
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<i>way 17 (Alternate). Color by C.L. Marsh"</i></div>
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In another random example pulled for Mr. O'Kitten, we discovered that my grandmother visited Michigan in 1983 and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltinPU5cPiM">Lawrence Welk show</a> on the Sheridan Motel TV was a notable highlight.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qOH9P3egk15IFstTryMS7g0pMpF2LR3BeQSS4_-TlbWPwnmzcQjnFRuvNeoWqZ3iRVDheoXusPe417cvCwydlA36HYdlXxz09uY1d6EoInprPIRw0M-lbJxHYCmKnIPBKEun/s1600/veldheers.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qOH9P3egk15IFstTryMS7g0pMpF2LR3BeQSS4_-TlbWPwnmzcQjnFRuvNeoWqZ3iRVDheoXusPe417cvCwydlA36HYdlXxz09uY1d6EoInprPIRw0M-lbJxHYCmKnIPBKEun/s320/veldheers.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>"Veldheer's Tulip Gardens Photo: John Penrod"</i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-eETC73L2svSNwJee8ttc5zzq2ihyphenhyphencjWbTRKrCZZgiB06UL3tv3QXpimKvF5lsWksIaCfMjLK2UvdtAwnj6qu6iSNg2kM3WXNnQNEAciMKoxdgBC_1pnfHIGgJqSs4IJjVQj/s1600/veldheersBk.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV-eETC73L2svSNwJee8ttc5zzq2ihyphenhyphencjWbTRKrCZZgiB06UL3tv3QXpimKvF5lsWksIaCfMjLK2UvdtAwnj6qu6iSNg2kM3WXNnQNEAciMKoxdgBC_1pnfHIGgJqSs4IJjVQj/s320/veldheersBk.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>"<b>VELDHEER'S TULIP GARDENS</b> - One of the many</i></div>
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<i>delightful experiences at Holland, Michigan, is a</i></div>
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<i>visit to these colorful gardens. Windmills, authentic</i></div>
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<i>Netherlands costumes and magnificent bursts of</i></div>
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<i>myriad plantings treat the eyes and tempt the senses."</i></div>
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After additional examples, I realized that the box was rich with the sediment of childhood and family and memory. I'd carried the box--small and portable as it was--with me from place to place, mostly adding cards from friends, like this 1988 postcard of Times Square sent to me by Mike on his first visit to New York City. </div>
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He writes, "I did finally get to see New York. Yeah. And it was truly out-of-hand! There certainly are a lot of bizarre and wonderful craziness-types of things going on, huh? ... We did Antique Boutique, <a href="http://manhattan.about.com/od/neighborhoodguide/ig/East-Village-Photo-Gallery/East-Village-Tower-Records.htm">Tower [Records]</a>, Canal St., the Theater District, just about everything we could in a day. But I liked the roller rink in Central Park."<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitu0-va54Gh_p18vcWhwcgIDkSAA0ATWMoRoj93zPbmugjlFbDlSBgs5gNycY5z5BDnvPJIdZdc0e8tr1JC2h0EpGvuFUPfa-HkrTrvqCQADWQ1TT6x8bIXzqCtTeVA0V7ZxhI/s1600/TimesSq88.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitu0-va54Gh_p18vcWhwcgIDkSAA0ATWMoRoj93zPbmugjlFbDlSBgs5gNycY5z5BDnvPJIdZdc0e8tr1JC2h0EpGvuFUPfa-HkrTrvqCQADWQ1TT6x8bIXzqCtTeVA0V7ZxhI/s320/TimesSq88.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<i>"NEW YORK CITY, Times Square </i></div>
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<i>in the heart of the Theater District"</i> (1988)</div>
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I didn't realize that corner had changed quite so dramatically until I found his card, but then again, it <i>has</i> been 25 years.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbqvMDsuJapBxW9HrQW5eUNndiejQwVaPilWiBk8t79iu-9_UVvnEvkC2moPBMbjqM7LS_4e22bBA3y6elzT6anrwGljoBZJ8RsUqzN_vrVhseljTU7szpaPvx5J-QkecwfDye/s533/32broadway-46thst.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbqvMDsuJapBxW9HrQW5eUNndiejQwVaPilWiBk8t79iu-9_UVvnEvkC2moPBMbjqM7LS_4e22bBA3y6elzT6anrwGljoBZJ8RsUqzN_vrVhseljTU7szpaPvx5J-QkecwfDye/s320/32broadway-46thst.jpg" width="299" /></a></div>
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Times Square, Broadway and 46th Street, 2012</div>
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Coca-Cola still has the advertising space, but the building that held their advertising is gone. On the left (west) side, NYC created a pedestrian mall by closing Broadway to traffic. You can see another "new Times Square" building on the right. (No more "girls working their way through college" in this neighborhood!)<br />
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Best of all, to my initial collection I had added a precious thirty or so cards that my grandmother entrusted to me because she knew I'd appreciate them (and save and take care of them). She had cards from as early as the 1920s, mostly mailed to various family members, and both the colorful fronts and carefully-inked backs are brimming with stories. </div>
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This is one my grandfather sent during his few weeks <a href="http://www.campblanding-museum.org/history.html">in boot camp</a> in 1944 to my Uncle Berni, who would've then been about age 4. Grandpa likely bought it at the PX. He was fond of cards with goofy cartoons on them, and the over-use of quotation marks.</div>
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<i>"After Visiting the Fountain of Youth,</i></div>
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<i>This is How I Feel"</i></div>
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<i>"Florida, land of sunshine, is the Winter Playground of</i></div>
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<i>the nation. Every known form of outdoor pleasuring is</i></div>
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<i>pursued without the necessity of considering winter condi-</i></div>
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<i>tions -- for winter skies are always smiling and December</i></div>
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<i>breezes are balmy as May."</i></div>
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My grandfather writes, "Hi "B": "Burnie" "You" tell your "Mother" Daddy was in here (see other side of card) and that "she" better be careful when I (daddy) come home. "B" Daddy had a drink out of this well. Boy! Oh Boy. It wasn't good. Ha-Ha. Love, Daddy, a soldier." No mention of outdoor pleasuring or balmy breezes, but maybe it was too hot for either in Jacksonville, Florida, in August.</div>
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I still have at least 210 cards in the box, so I have a lot more to write about. Stay tuned.<br />
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In addition to her cards, a lifetime of memories, and a book of "Her Stories," <a href="http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2006/06/pictures-of-grandma.html">Grandma</a> encouraged me to "keep writing and painting." I miss her so much, and think of her every day. Thank you, Grandma, for all the gifts and all the memories.<br />
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As I close my 501st (!) Obsidian Kitten blog post (a blog I'm so glad I was able to share with you), I'm happy to say I plan to keep writing--and sharing the seemingly boundless creativity you and Grandma Warner shared with me all throughout your lives.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8iXEqe7DIYiBzlaQCabIP2yd86-Gttosiunoqv4mwgfFrEHWWrZ-XAPXM3orSlUOaN9UPRZcSoHqM669QfAOKK0v1ZMVg0KdbU-zMVM_TiTP-znzP5zedvzEdD9QHIE1cTVxa/s935/DallstownSq.jpg_NEW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8iXEqe7DIYiBzlaQCabIP2yd86-Gttosiunoqv4mwgfFrEHWWrZ-XAPXM3orSlUOaN9UPRZcSoHqM669QfAOKK0v1ZMVg0KdbU-zMVM_TiTP-znzP5zedvzEdD9QHIE1cTVxa/s320/DallstownSq.jpg_NEW.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="274" /></a></div>
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My cousin Tonya, <a href="http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2008/02/my-grandma-1917-2008.html">my grandma</a>, and me, </div>
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in my grandmother's beloved hometown of Dallastown, PA</div>
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<br />Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-57553878779132078362011-12-03T14:26:00.015-05:002011-12-03T16:17:11.188-05:00You Can Throw Your Shells on the Floor, and Dining Out, 1970s Style<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/peanuts.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/peanuts.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Last night we went out to dinner with my 4 year-old neice. She assured me that the restaurant, a steakhouse, served "cowboy food," and, best of all, they gave you unlimited peanuts and allowed you to throw the shells <span style="font-style:italic;">right on the floor</span>! No, really, <span style="font-style: italic;">right on the floor</span>!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/Peanuts_on_the_Floor.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 205px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/Peanuts_on_the_Floor.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>This was her new favorite restaurant (primarily due to the peanuts), but it turned out that on her previous visit, the wait staff had been decked out in cowboy hats and boots (but not last night). Also, much like at Johnny Rocket's, the waiters have to get up and dance when a particular song comes up on the jukebox. (It's not bad enough that they have to wait tables for what may well be less than minimum wage, they have to perform every half hour? Secondly, and perhaps directly related to the aforementioned humiliation--these poor kids couldn't line dance to save their lives.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/txroadhouse.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 209px; height: 279px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/txroadhouse.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Observe the large quantity of peanut shells underfoot.<br /></div><br />Anyway, I got to thinking about what a big impression little things--like being allowed (nay, encouraged!) to throw peanut shells on the floor--make on you when you're four years old, and I had a childhood flashback of the Betty Crocker Tree House restaurant. In my memory, the place is as magical as Disneyland...decorated like a tropical forest, full of birds (fake birds) and complete with a chirping soundtrack that assured me that they were all about to come to life. Apparently this early General Mills restaurant venture was short-lived (1968-1973 or so) and I could only find two photos.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/bettycrockertreehouse.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 191px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/bettycrockertreehouse.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Hey everyone, it's the '70s!<br /></div><br />The Betty Crocker Tree House I remember was in Columbus, Ohio (<a href="http://columbusrestauranthistory.com/restaurant/history.htm">on Morse Road</a>, according to my internet search). Mr. O'Kitten also remembers one, which must've been on Long Island. Google found one <a href="http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoenix-area/192459-how-do-you-remember-phoenix-stories-49.html">in Scottsdale, AZ</a>. I found <a href="http://bit.ly/sv9K5S">an ad in a 1973 newspaper</a> that indicates that there were 3 of them. Maybe that was it?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/PhotoBCTH.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 363px; height: 312px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/PhotoBCTH.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Tree House Restaurant is described in a 1970 Scottsdale newspaper: "'Dramatic' is the only word to describe the interior. Outside-inside labels the decor. Trees and greenery...make the Tree House bright and cheerful." ("Colorful garden colors" meant "adobe golds, tawny reds and browns, wildflower yellows, subtle olive greens...against a background of natural wood tones." Welcome to the height of '70s moderne! "Four pyramid skylights will provide natural sunlight for the trees that will grow inside." Which means that I <span style="font-style:italic;">didn't</span> imagine the trees. And the b/w photo (above) proves that I didn't imagine the cages of birds, either--check out the upper right of the photo. Whew!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/billknapp.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 175px; height: 175px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/billknapp.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My family didn't go out to eat very often, so it always felt special when we did. I remember celebrating my birthday (maybe my 5th?) at a Bill Knapp's in Michigan. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Knapp%27s">Wikipedia</a>, "Bill Knapp's 6-inch chocolate birthday cakes, officially known as Bill Knapp's Celebration Cakes, were regarded as one of the chain's dearest features." Now that you mention it, I do seem to remember being brought a cake. And it's the first time I remember celebrating my birthday at a restaurant, with people singing out in public. That's crazy!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/billknappsign.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 114px; height: 130px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/billknappsign.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/IHOPplacemat.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 379px; height: 254px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/IHOPplacemat.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">I miss restaurant placemats.<br /></div><br />The International House of Pancakes also reminds me of the 1970s. There was one near where we lived in Augusta, Georgia. I don't actually remember eating there (okay, maybe once), but the big turquoise A-frame roof was something of a landmark. We did, however, have a station wagon that looked a lot like the one on that placemat.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/ponderosa1976.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 283px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/ponderosa1976.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />We occasionally ate at Ponderosa. Our Ponderosa looked just like the one in the photo. Cafeteria-style restaurants were popular in the 1970s, and I remember getting my tray, going through the line (just like my school cafeteria!) and placing an order, then you'd get your steak or burger and it'd have that little plastic flag in it that was pink or red or whatever to indicate if it was rare, medium, or well-done. I love this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QY0m63_o2A">1977 TV commercial</a>, because it shows the exact plate I remember: the metal one that sat in that thick wooden base with the shaped handles. And the foil-wrapped baked-potatoes--awesome!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/ShoneysBigBoy.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 172px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/ShoneysBigBoy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Down South we had Shoney's Big Boy. It was a family-style restaurant, like Denny's, Bob's, or Frisch's. Apparently, Shoney's dropped the Big Boy from it's branding in 1984. We used to eat at Shoney's when my grandparents came to visit. It was one of those places that gave kids a coloring book and crayons (my niece was keen to get hers at the restaurant last night). I always found the "big boy" in his oddly checkered overalls a bit disturbing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/shoneys.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 167px; height: 238px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/shoneys.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The last place I want to mention is <a href="http://www.swensens.com/about-us/">Swensen's</a>. It's the place we went for very, very special occasions, like after my annual piano recital or special school perfomances. If you've never been to one, it's a "San Francisco-style" ice cream parlor, and the menu has great sundaes (I mean, "cable carfaits") with names like the Coit Tower and the Gold Rush. The best part, though, was the cookie.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/swensencookie.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 223px; height: 167px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/swensencookie.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-16734583446899229952011-11-22T15:18:00.032-05:002011-11-22T21:50:49.015-05:00Health Insurance and Some Thoughts on Medicaid<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/signs_eak.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 379px; height: 284px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/signs_eak.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Protester at Union Square, November 17, 2011. Photo: Edward Arrocha.</span><br /></div><br />One thing that's been on my mind over the past few weeks is the question often repeated on the news and in the media: what is OWS asking for? Granted, there is a detailed <a href="http://www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/">OWS declaration</a> outlining "a feeling of mass injustice" thanks to a "corrupted system" that includes inequality and discrimination; environmental destruction and oil dependence; corporate control of the media, the courts, the government, and the economy; bank bailouts, executive bonuses at taxpayer expense, and improper seizure of homes during the mortgage crisis; lack of regulation of campaign finance; the right to education, privacy, and health care; and more. I've seen OWS summed up as "Corporate Greed is killing the American Dream" and many more nice, short messages that fit neatly on a signboard.<br /><br />But at the heart of it, there is a focus on individual people and their own stories. I've heard it said again and again, "We all have a story." OWS includes the unemployed, underemployed, uninsured, and financially overextended, but it also includes many who are simply deeply concerned that our democratic system is broken and no longer provides equally for all of its citizens. I think, for the most part, people want jobs for fair wages; they want food (dare I say healthy food!), clothing, and shelter; they want health care for themselves and their families.<br /><br />Frightening <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/us/census-measures-those-not-quite-in-poverty-but-struggling.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share">new statistics from the </a><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/us/census-measures-those-not-quite-in-poverty-but-struggling.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share">the U.S. Census Bureau</a> place "100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it." </span> There are many who like to portray those on public assistance as lazy and undeserving of help and bemoan throwing their tax money into a "welfare state." <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/us/census-measures-those-not-quite-in-poverty-but-struggling.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share">The article</a> goes on to point out, however, that <span jsid="text" class="commentBody">"of the 51 million who appear near poor under the fuller measure, nearly 20 percent were lifted up from poverty by benefits the official count overlooks. But <span style="font-style: italic;">more than half were pushed down from higher income levels</span> [emphasis mine]: more than eight million by taxes, six million by medical expenses, and four million by work expenses like transportation and child care." In other words, more than half of the 51 million Americans in this borderline-poverty category got there by <span style="font-style: italic;">doing the right thing</span>: paying their taxes responsibly and taking care of themselves and their families by paying for health care, going to and from work, and paying for child care.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/americandrm_eak.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 355px; height: 267px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/americandrm_eak.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Protester at Union Square, November 17, 2011. Photo: Edward Arrocha.</span><br /></div><br />As for Medicare and Social Security, </span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}">there have been no cost-of-living increases to Social Security since 2009. <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/quickfacts/stat_snapshot/">55 million Americans</a> depend on this income to pay for their homes, food, and other necessities. Medicare allows them to pay for medication and the health care they need to live. The idea of cutting these programs is absurd -- Social Security benefits represent about <a href="http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/basicfact.htm"><span>41%</span> of the income of the elderly</a>. And <a href="http://www.policyalmanac.org/health/medicare.shtml">before Medicare was </a><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://www.policyalmanac.org/health/medicare.shtml">enacted in 1965, just 56 percent of seniors had hospital insurance</a>. We--all taxpayers and all workers--pay into these programs. Cutting them will result in more homelessness, hunger, poverty, and needless suffering in the streets and public emergency rooms--resulting in more taxes and even higher insurance premiums.<br /><br />As one example of what people are looking for in their lives, I turn to health care and how badly people want--need--health insurance.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/svc_drm01.gif"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 393px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/svc_drm01.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Disaster Relief Medicaid was available to New York City residents from September 2001 through January 2002. Participants received four months of coverage through traditional Medicaid providers. </span></span></span></div><br /><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">I once read an article about how people had used Disaster Relief Medicaid (DRM) in NYC after 9/11. Officials at the time seemed to be surprised by two things. The first was how many people signing up for DRM were <span style="font-style: italic;">gainfully employed but didn't have any health insurance</span>, including business owners, construction workers, retail employees, even teachers. The second was how the enrollees <span style="font-style: italic;">used</span> DRM--they had their eyes checked and got glasses, they went to the dentist, they saw the ob/gyn and got physicals and labwork done.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11firehouse.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 271px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11firehouse.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.fdnysquad18.com/aboutus.php">Squad Company 18</a> Firehouse shortly after September 11, 2001. Photo: Chris Clarke<br /></span></div><br />The article illustrated one <span style="font-style: italic;">crucial</span> point to me -- officials making policy are pathetically out of touch with their consituents and what they need. It was no surprise to me that people who work--often 60 to 70 hours a week--have no health insurance, as this was true of most of my friends. It also was not news to me that people want to get glasses, go to the dentist, and have regular medical check-ups.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11missing.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 422px; height: 274px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11missing.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Wall of posters searching for people missing after September 11, 2001. Photo: Chris Clarke</span><br /></div><br />According to New York State's <a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">report on the DRM</a>, the program was implemented by mandate from </span></span><span class="messageBody"><span class="text_exposed_show">Governor Pataki </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">about two weeks after 9/11 with a "streamlined" application process. "Infrastructure-supported communication with Medicaid computer systems suffered severe damage. Public transportation was disrupted. Information necessary to establish eligibility was not readily available. Faced with the likelihood of increased health care needs, and the inability to conduct business as usual...a new, time-limited program called Disaster Relief Medicaid/Family Health Plus [was created]. ... The DRM program was unprecedented, and so was enrollment. Thousands of New Yorkers signed up between September 2001 and January 2002. Thus DRM became an unintentional laboratory for examining the consequences of a radically simplified approach to government-funded health care." [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 5</a>] Mr. O'Kitten was among the 342,362 New Yorkers who enrolled. [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 21</a>]<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11rayspizza.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 262px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11rayspizza.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Ray's Pizza in the West Village papered with posters searching<br />for people missing after September 11, 2001. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"> Photo: Chris Clarke.</span><br /></div><br />Unlike the traditional Medicaid application, DRM allowed you to have higher income ($716/month for individuals, $968/couples) and the only requirements (besides income) were that you be a NYC resident with a Social Security number. The application itself was reduced from 8 pages (plus supporting documents, like bank statements and pay stubs) to a single page. Approval was reduced to 1-5 days from 1-3 <span style="font-style: italic;">months</span>. [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 13</a>]<br /><br />Interestingly and importantly, "Providers reported discovering a number of early cancers, early-onset heart disease, and previously undetected diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and HIV among DRM recipients." And how much of a savings in <span style="font-style: italic;">actual dollars</span> (not to mention prevented suffering) does such early detection represent? [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">p.7</a>]<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11downtown.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 255px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/9_11downtown.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Lower Manhattan shortly after September 11, 2001. Photo: Chris Clarke.</span><br /></div><br />Here's the report's documentation for the DRM enrollees' use of eye care and dental services: "Generally, utilization of Medicaid services by DRM enrollees was consistent with the regular Medicaid population. Exceptions were Dental ($125 million), Laboratory ($4 million), and Eye Care Services ($5.8 million), which were utilized at higher rates; and Inpatient Services ($194 million), which were utilized at a lower rate." </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">[<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">p.7</a>] "More than 9,000 individuals [</span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">2.7%] </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">utilized an inpatient service." </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">[<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 15</a>] </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">Notably, "Nearly 23 percent of hospital admissions were for drug and alcohol treatment." [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 15</a>] Also of note, "More than 19,000 women sought treatment for gynecology services." </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">[<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 15</a>]<br /><br />So what happened to DRM? "DRM was originally intended to provide four months of health care coverage. As the program evolved, it was decided to give DRM enrollees the opportunity to obtain regular Medicaid without a gap in coverage. This opportunity became the Transition Program. Following the four-month DRM authorizations, most enrollees (about 90 percent) were granted extensions, during which they could file a full application for regular Medicaid/Family Health Plus." [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 21</a>] "As of February 2003, there were 150,676 DRM enrollees, or 44.3 percent, who were ultimately transitioned to regular Medicaid or Family Health Plus from DRM." [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 22</a>]<br /><br />The report notes a few interesting things in its conclusions. For instance, "The interviews and focus groups confirmed that, for some people, the life circumstances that create the need for Medicaid often prevent people from obtaining the documentation required to prove eligibility." [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 48</a>] Any illness that affects physical mobility would certainly fall into just such a life circumstance, as would mental illness. It would also be difficult for someone juggling many hours of low-wage work and child care to spend a day filing for Medicaid. You have file in person (which means taking the day off of work and finding a babysitter) and you may be required to return if you don't have all the proper documentation with you, which is almost a given since they always seem to come up with something you didn't bring with you.<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/frankklein.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 213px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/frankklein.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Marylanders seeking help flood the Baltimore County office<br />of the State Department of Social Services. Photo: Frank Klein</span><br /></div><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />For a glimpse at how daunting the application itself is, you can <a href="http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/family_health_plus/application.htm">look at it here</a>. As for the required documentation, the DRM report points out, "Some individuals, primarily those who work “off the books,” have problems in documenting employment. Others who have difficulty include seasonal workers whose previous year’s returns may not reflect their current situation, workers with a variety of temporary jobs, and self-employed individuals with irregular income for multiple services. It also appears that the types of employment that do not offer health insurance are often the most difficult to document." </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">[<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. 48-49</a>]</span></span><br /><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">"[DRM] Participants’ health status varied considerably. Many of the participants felt they were in relatively good health and needed only routine preventive examinations. They had often lived with dental problems, allergies, and chronic pain without receiving treatment except in emergencies. About ten percent of the participants had chronic health conditions such as diabetes, lupus, high blood pressure, and cancer that require ongoing care. Many stated they would do “whatever they could” to purchase the medications and treatments as often as possible. <span style="font-style: italic;">Their economic situation did not allow them </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">to have the kind of health care their medical situation warranted</span> [emphasis mine]. Each focus group had one or two elderly participants with at least one, and often multiple, serious, chronic health care problems. They could not afford to purchase the medications and treatments that were not fully covered by Medicare (even if they were enrolled)." [<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. A-8</a>]<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/optician-nyc-01.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 367px; height: 206px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/optician-nyc-01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />"The many reasons for applying for DRM reflected participantsʼ diverse health needs. Many participants used DRM for preventive services such as check-ups, mammograms, pap smears, prostate exams, and lab tests. Dental services was mentioned most often. Receiving vision care was also a commonly used service. One participant saw a psychiatrist to help him with his reaction to 9/11. Those with previously diagnosed chronic health problems often enrolled to receive care they could not always afford in the past, including medications. <span style="font-style: italic;">Many said they </span> <span style="font-style: italic;">signed up to receive health care services they knew they needed but could not afford </span></span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"> [emphasis mine]. </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">A number of individuals had relied on emergency room visits for treatment in the past." </span></span><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show">[<a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">P. A-8, 9</a><a href="http://bit.ly/vsq5Lu">]</a></span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/congressvoting.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 413px; height: 300px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/congressvoting.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><cite><a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/images/vc53.jpg">Congress Voting the Declaration of Independence,</a></cite></span><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />Edward Savage and/or Robert Edge Pine. <cite></cite></span><span style="font-size:85%;">c. 1776. Oil on canvas.</span><br /></div><br />"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed." [The <a href="http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html">Declaration of Independence</a>, July 4, 1776.]<br /><br />If we are indeed a First World country, and believe in Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, it is indeed shameful that any one of us should endure ill health when modern medicine can relieve us of our suffering.<br /><br /><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-19470"></sup>“Does it make you a king<br />to have more and more cedar?<br />Did not your father have food and drink?<br />He did what was right and just,<br />so all went well with him.<br /><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-19471"></sup>He defended the cause of the poor and needy,<br />and so all went well.<br />Is that not what it means to know me?”<br />declares the LORD.<br /> “But your eyes and your heart<br />are set only on dishonest gain,<br />on shedding innocent blood<br />and on oppression and extortion.” <p> Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: </p><p> “They will not mourn for him:<br />‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’<br />They will not mourn for him:<br />‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’<br /><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-19474"></sup>He will have the burial of a donkey—<br />dragged away and thrown<br />outside the gates of Jerusalem." </p>Jeremiah 22:15-19<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/helpus_eak.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 313px; height: 415px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/helpus_eak.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Protester at Union Square, November 17, 2011. Photo: Edward Arrocha.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><span class="messageBody" ft="{"type":3}"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /><br /><br /></span></span>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-34759924076996790952011-11-18T19:32:00.007-05:002011-11-19T01:10:07.077-05:00OWS: Marching on November 17<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/unionsq11_17.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 301px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/unionsq11_17.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Rally in Union Square. Photo: Chris Clarke</span><br /></div> <style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Yesterday was November 17, and Mr. O'Kitten and I went downtown to join the Occupy Wall Street march. I didn't really know what to expect, or even where to go exactly, but after Bloomberg's wee hours closure of Zuccotti Park, seizure of the <a href="http://peopleslibrary.wordpress.com/">OWS People's Library</a> (containing over 5,000 books), and subsequent harassment of people trying to go in and out of the Zuccotti Park, I was determined to participate in some small way.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">I knew that there were actions planned beginning at 7am at the New York Stock Exchange and continuing throughout the day, but I had a noon appointment and Mr. O'Kitten had a class. We met up around 2pm just a few blocks from Zuccotti Park at Foley Square, which was already being barricaded by dozens of police officers. Mr. O'K was coming from City Hall, where there had been hundreds of marchers, police in full riot gear, and tension in the chilly autumn air.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/13starflag.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 302px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/13starflag.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Marchers on Lower Broadway. Photo: Chris Clarke</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Mr. O’K reported that he’d been among a sizeable group of marchers heading south, and we met them coming back up Broadway in a drizzly rain. Dozens of police officers in single file walked alongside the enormous group, ordering anyone who stepped off the sidewalk back onto it. The NYPD officers occupied an entire lane of Broadway and we filled the sidewalk in the cold drizzle. I have no idea how many blocks of marchers there were, but when we crossed Canal and proceeded through SoHo, our chants echoed off of the tall cast iron buildings and filled Broadway with a tremendous chorus of voices. People stood in every storefront to see what was going on, taking photos and video along the entire route, many waving and smiling in solidarity. The windows and fire escapes over Broadway were also full of on-lookers, some waving their own posters and signs of support.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The rain stopped as we reached Union Square, having covered a distance of about three miles. We threaded our way alongside the Holiday Market (which was barricaded off), moving slowly through a narrow passage toward 16th Street. The entire northern half of the park was already full. The portion of the OWS protesting oppressive student debt had already begun, and I had no idea how many marchers were still behind us, yet to arrive.</p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/unionsquare_eak.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 448px; height: 335px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/unionsquare_eak.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Rally in Union Square. Photo: Edward "Eak" Arrocha<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">At this point I’d like to address the criticism that OWS "does not have a clear list of demands." As you look at photos or watch coverage of OWS, you will also notice signs with different viewpoints on them. However, one unifying point is the shared feeling that our current political system does not equally serve every citizen, but is biased toward (if not actually owned by) the rich and powerful. Convenient shorthand for this idea is the "1%," indicating "the richest 1% of people [that] are writing the rules of an unfair global economy" that does not work for most of us (perhaps 99% of us). There is the opinion that this is not democracy, accompanied by a strong desire to fix it.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">The <a href="http://www.nycga.net/resources/declaration/">Declaration of the Occupation of New York City</a>, drafted in late September, does include a list of grievances that includes inequality and discrimination; environmental destruction and oil dependence; corporate control of the media, the courts, the government, and the economy; bank bailouts, executive bonuses at taxpayer expense, and improper seizure of homes during the mortgage crisis; lack of regulation of campaign finance; the right to education, privacy, and health care; and more.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">We left Union Square and headed back downtown, to Foley Square. For two blocks, we were allowed to march in the street. This seemed odd to me, even as we triumphantly spread out across Fifth Avenue. Mr. O'K and I were somehow within a couple hundred people of the front of the march. At Fourteenth Street, we were blocked by a police barricade across the entire intersection. Shouts and gestures of "Go back! Go back!" began. Of course, turning a crowd of thousands around would be difficult, even if the massive group could successfully employ something like the <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/163767/we-are-all-human-microphones-now">People's Microphone</a>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Then it seemed like we could go forward. Cheers ensued.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But we were mistaken. "Turn around! Turn around!" Confusion. Drums were beating. People were chanting, waving flags. So much energy was contained in the thousands of bodies standing there with their hearts pounding and muscles coiled after walking for miles in the chill rain and then rallying, chanting, applauding and cheering in the park. The need to surge on was strong. The line of officers and police vans was like a small, frail dam trying to hold back a tsunami. A potentially very angry tsunami.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I overheard some people yelling, "Go around! Go around!" and I asked someone, "Can we go around? Because that's what we should do.” I tried to see the police officers over the heads of the crowd but I couldn’t. “I bet they want a confrontation." </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Just then, a handful of people began shouting, "Sidewalk! Sidewalk!" We headed for it.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">When we got close, a small knot of guys was similarly trying to figure out what to do. One of them was saying, "I think we should push through. We have thousands of people here. We can take them." </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">"But <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">can</i> we go around?" I asked.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">"Well, there's a sidewalk, but it's just a trickle."</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">"If you try to push through, there'll be a confrontation," I said. "I bet they set up this blockade on purpose. We should just go around."</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">"It'll take forever to go around," he said. "I have friends in that building right there I can call," he added, indicating the opposite corner, where the second-story windows were papered with big signs saying "Occupy Students and Teachers/Take Back That Which is Yours." People were standing in the windows, waving their fists in the air. He looked at his phone.</p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/fifthave11_17.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 435px; height: 326px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/fifthave11_17.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street. Photo: Chris Clarke</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">His friends started yelling, "Push through! Push through!"</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I grabbed Mr. O'K and pulled him toward the corner. "I don't want to get caught here if there's going to be a battle with the police. If we can go around, we should. I bet they set it up like this to channel people onto Fifth Avenue and then stop them at the barricade on purpose. Let's go."</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">On Fourteenth Street, when we were moving again, about half a block from the barricade, another guy concurred with me. "They thought they could stall us there. The best thing is to keep moving--be flexible. They wanted to stop the march and wait us out."</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I don't know if the police were that smart or not, but it occurred to me later that even if they <span style="font-style: italic;">hadn't</span> planned to trap thousands of marchers in a dead end, it couldn't have worked out better for them. I still don't know if there were any altercations at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, but I hope not. All I know is that soon enough we were heading across the south end of Union Square and turning south to head back down Broadway, close to the head of a column of thousands of marchers, and evening was falling.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/fifthavesign11_17.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 450px; height: 338px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/fifthavesign11_17.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">Union Square. Photo: Chris Clarke</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">It wasn't as cold as it had been in the afternoon, and there hadn't been any more rain. We made much slower progress than we had earlier in the day. The police regrouped almost as quickly as the marchers, and soon enough we were again flanked by a long column of officers. They walked in the western lane of Broadway, and we filled the sidewalk, doing our best to let pedestrians through. I noticed some things I hadn't earlier in the day, like the helmets most of the officers wore, which looked like motorcycle helmets that also covered the neck. Many of them had clusters of zip ties, the kind they use for handcuffs, hanging at their knees, and their batons looked really long and shiny.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">There were about five helicopters in the air, one of which was a police helicopter hovering really low overhead. Police cars kept careening down Broadway, sirens yowling, interspersed with several NYPD buses--the kind they transport prisoners in. We passed a number of NYPD Communications Command Unit vans, their rooves full of James Bond-looking spy stuff. I also noticed a number of officers with hand-held video cameras filming us as we marched by.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/NYPD_Comms_Command_Unit.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 207px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/NYPD_Comms_Command_Unit.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <p style="text-align: center;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;">An NYPD Communications Division Command Post</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">All through the day, I was continually impressed by the diversity of the crowd. As I mentioned in my <a href="http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2011/11/okitten-returns-visits-ows.html">previous OWS post</a>, the media’s depiction of OWS protesters as a bunch of disenfranchised "hippie kids" is completely inaccurate. I saw people of many nationalities and skin colors, all ages, and all different backgrounds. Occasionally someone along the route would yell, "Get a job!" and inevitably a number in the crowd would shout back, "I have a job!" So obviously OWS includes both the employed and the unemployed. For awhile we were marching between a group of about eight children (the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/17/children-occupy-wall-street-education_n_1100408.html">New York Children’s Brigade</a>) between eight and ten years old who were very concerned about the environment and education and two couples who looked to be in their sixties.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal">When we finally got to Foley Square, I was astonished that it--like Union Square--was already packed with people. And there were presumably thousands more threading their way toward Foley Park; the column was still making its way down from Canal Street, nearly a mile behind us. It was about 6:30, it was dark, and we were both tired and hungry, so Mr. O’K and I made our way toward the subway.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Right outside the City Hall station, we passed two of the NYPD prison buses we'd seen earlier, both full of people wearing white T-shirts with "99%" emblazoned on them. We stood behind the barricades that lined the street in front of the Manhattan Municipal Building, waving our signs and chanting in solidarity until the buses pulled away, with people cheering and applauding as they passed. It turns out that these buses held the 99 people who had, in a premeditated act of civil disobedience, been arrested in a sit-in earlier on the Brooklyn Bridge. The number intended to draw attention to Occupy Wall Street's message: that OWS represents 99% of Americans.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">The most inspiring thing that I've seen happen over the past week--to myself as well as to others--is that our city officials' actions (and those of Mayor Bloomberg in particular, who happens to be America's <a href="http://www.forbes.com/forbes-400/list/">12th wealthiest person</a>, worth nearly $20 billion) have caused many people to feel a sense of moral indignation that has long been lying dormant. Subsequently, our political awareness has awakened, pulling us out of our frustration and apathy and spurring us into action.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I thank OWS for setting these events into motion.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx3aVCfn9NDCU_rLcNWFvl2CdK8sUQFkAHhMIUhVo96dXxleJ5G_yYQljP61ui8gC6vxu71iCzcBv4' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-39603210128657694162011-11-15T21:06:00.009-05:002011-11-15T23:12:31.928-05:00O'Kitten Returns; Visits OWSI know you haven't heard from me in a year, but fortunately rumors of my death were greatly exaggerated. I'm alive, I'm well, and I'm still living in <a href="http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2009/04/i-heart-ny-part-4-my-neighborhood.html">Queens</a>. I haven't felt much like writing, but lately a subject has captured my attention and I'm going to post a bit about it. That topic is <a href="http://occupywallst.org/">Occupy Wall Street</a> (OWS).<br /><br />When protesters began sleeping down in Zuccotti Park on September 17, I admit I thought it sounded pretty ridiculous. I pictured a few unemployed hipsters from Williamsburg with nothing better to do and figured after a week or so, when no one paid them much attention and their numbers failed to grow, they'd all pack up and go home. I had no idea that the "Occupy" idea would not only grab hold here, but would gain traction around the world, giving me as well as many others hope that maybe, just maybe, things might actually change.<br /><br />In late October, I saw this:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jg6f3n_WEE&feature=player_embedded#%21">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jg6f3n_WEE&feature=player_embedded#!</a><br /><br />And I was inspired by Marsha Spencer. I thought, I can knit. I may not be down at Wall Street, but it's getting cold, and I can knit some hats. So I knit steadily for about two weeks.<br /><br />On Friday, November 4, I headed into downtown Manhattan just as dusk was falling. I assumed that it'd be easy to find OWS when I got off the subway at Wall Street --every time I've ever encountered or participated in a protest, you can hear the roar of the crowd from many blocks away. But Wall Street was quiet, as it usually is after 6 pm on a weeknight. There were a few people in suits leaving office buildings, some police officers hanging about the subway entrances and in doorways here and there, and a few mounted on horseback. No crowds. It looked almost exactly like this:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/WallStNite.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 419px; height: 313px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/WallStNite.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo: <a href="http://rightherenyc.blogspot.com/2011/10/occupy-wall-street.html">rightherenyc.blogspot.com</a><br /></span></div><br />I realized I didn't even know where Zuccotti Park was. (It was called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuccotti_Park">Liberty Plaza Park</a> until 2006, which sounds much more familiar.) I walked back and forth on Wall Street--finding no park, and no crowd. Wall Street is actually only eight blocks long (actually, Manhattan is pretty narrow down there anyway) and after I covered about half of Wall Street, it occurred to me that the park might not even be <span style="font-style: italic;">on </span>Wall Street. Fortunately, signage for tourists abounds in the financial district, and I quickly located Zuccotti Park on a map and headed west to Broadway.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/zuccottimap.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 357px; height: 324px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/zuccottimap.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Zuccotti Park is that little green bit close to the center of the map,<br />just above the red A marker.<br /></div><br />First I saw a row of food trucks, falafel and halal, tacos and fruit smoothies. I imagine they originally were daytime denizens, feeding analysts, traders, and tourists, but now they can stay around the clock for the occupiers, news media, and additional tourists. Their generators were humming but the park itself was quiet. It was chilly, in the 50s (10-13C), but not windy and the snow that we'd had the previous weekend was long gone.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/halal.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 393px; height: 282px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/halal.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo: Washington Post<br /><br /></span></div>Here again, I admit I was expecting the 33,000 square-foot (3,100 m2) park--home to hundreds of people with no plumbing for seven weeks--to be rank, smelly, noisy, off-putting, and disorganized. It was <b>none</b> of these things. I have an extremely sensitive nose, and, to my amazement, there was <span style="font-style:italic;">nothing</span> smelly or dirty about the park. And it was <span style="font-style:italic;">quiet</span>. No crazy drumming circles, no one doing drugs, no one playing hacky sack, no pervasive smell of pot wafting over the grounds. Imagine.<br /><br />There was a broad path through the park lined by clearly marked areas, mostly with tables and chairs and people with literature and info available: Library, First Aid, Comfort (where I saw a number of coats and winter clothes, and left the hats and wristwarmers I'd <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Knitters-for-the-99/122211957884817">knitted</a>), Press Inquiries, Sustainability, Food, Civil Rights, Legal, Media, and many more.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/nyc-liberty-plaza.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 413px; height: 274px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/nyc-liberty-plaza.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo: <a href="http://javiersoriano.com/">http://javiersoriano.com</a><br /></span></div><br />After one pass through the quiet park, I went out and circled back to where I'd come in. The sidewalk around the park was wide and clear, completely clean and impediment-free. On one end of the park a few flyers had been taped, most prominently the <a href="http://www.nycga.net/resources/good-neighbor-policy/">Good Neighbor Policy</a>, which I'd also seen on large posters within the park. It included "zero tolerance for drugs or alcohol anywhere in Liberty Plaza; Zero tolerance for violence or verbal abuse towards anyone; [and] Zero tolerance for abuse of personal or public property."<br /><br />When I'd come in, I'd noticed a group on the stairs at the end of the park. One person would say a few words, and then the group closest to them would repeat the words so the surrounding crowd could hear what was said. I've since learned that this is the "<a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/163767/we-are-all-human-microphones-now">People's Microphone</a>" that circumvents NYC's requirement for an “amplified sound” permit, which would ban microphones, speakers, and even bullhorns from Liberty Plaza. Well, no wonder it's so quiet down there. With drumming "limit[ed] ... on the site to 2 hours per day, between the hours of 11am and 5pm only" by OWS' own <a href="http://www.nycga.net/resources/good-neighbor-policy/">Good Neighbor Policy</a>, the group seemed to me far from troublesome, at least in the way it's been depicted in the press.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/talib-by-griffin-lotz.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 408px; height: 271px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/winter11/talib-by-griffin-lotz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo: Griffin Lotz<br /></span></div><br />Now if you disagree strongly with the <b>ideas</b> behind OWS...well, that's a whole different discussion. But if (as I was inclined to do back in September) you're just complaining that they're a bunch of dirty, disorganized hippies (and, until now, has anyone used that word since the 70s except for Cartman?), you're just plain wrong.<br /><br />I've been particularly saddened by the news of recent evictions of occupiers <a href="http://capitoilette.com/2011/11/15/oakland-mayor-jean-quan-admits-cities-coordinated-crackdown-on-occupy-movement/">in Oakland</a> and, last night, here <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/15/us/new-york-occupy-eviction/index.html">in NYC</a>. What city officials don't seem to realize is that such actions are only going to serve to make the Occupy movement stronger, because those of us who may have started out on the fence are going to take sides.<br /><br />As they say, "You cannot evict an idea."<br /><br />My friend Brian Scott has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZmPK_Fc0XY&feature=share">some wonderful photos of OWS here</a>.Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-57222813309349883662010-10-24T13:47:00.004-04:002010-10-24T14:11:15.575-04:00Best Contest Idea Ever: The Alien and The Kitty<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://foowahu.deviantart.com/journal/34286265/"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 258px; height: 338px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/fall10/queen_Alien.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />My best-contest-ever award goes to Nicole Peterson’s “<a href="http://foowahu.deviantart.com/journal/34286265/">The Alien and the Kitty</a>” contest, being held now in memeory of <a href="http://foowahu.deviantart.com/gallery/#My-Cat">her cat</a>. The contest is titled "Nepenthe," the one who chases away sorrow. Contest entries will be artworks including her cat and the creature from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_%28film%29">Alien</a> interacting to illustrate the theme. Such a cool idea! Contest deadline is October 31.<br /><br />Pretty cool prizes, too. <a href="http://foowahu.deviantart.com/journal/34286265/">Contest rules and details here</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://foowahu.deviantart.com/journal/34286265/"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 340px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/fall10/Elegant.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><center>Nicole's beautiful cat.</center>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-56943223804546451952010-09-19T20:39:00.003-04:002010-09-20T15:37:46.014-04:00And We're Walkin...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/walkin.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 132px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/walkin.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30108677@N08/3557515261/<br /></span></div><br />New York is a pedestrian city, and one of my favorite things about living here is not owning a car.<br /><br />A month ago I got a pedometer. My grandfather used to have one, and I was fascinated that it counted his steps every day. His wasn't digital, but was simply a counter that ticked off every time he took a step. He was a very active man, and since he knew the length of his stride, he could tell you the number of miles he walked in a day.<br /><br />I <a href="http://www.thewalkingsite.com/10000steps.html">read</a> that ideally one would walk 10,000 steps in a day, which is close to 5 miles for the average person. Over the past 30 days I've averaged 6700 steps a day, or about 3.2 miles (a little over 5 km) -- without really trying (although I admit the pedometer has inspired me to walk a bit more than I normally would). Pretty amazing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://popupcity.net/2010/04/99-walking-men-worldwide/"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 371px; height: 204px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/99-Walking-Men-NYC.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I love New York.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size:85%;">http://popupcity.net/2010/04/99-walking-men-worldwide/</span></div>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-39074908338047881352010-09-01T15:05:00.009-04:002010-09-01T15:43:56.331-04:00The Last Hurrah of Summer<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/dog-days.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 226px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/dog-days.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Seems to be the Dog Days here in Queens--it felt like autumn last week and now it's in the 90s (32+ C) again. Ah well, my favorite season of the year will be here soon enough.<br /><br />I'm working at <a href="http://www.bobbiandthestrays.org/">Bobbi and the Strays</a> two days a week now and it's the most satisfying job I've ever had. (Here are <a href="http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2007/07/working-is-for-chumps.html">a few examples</a> of things to which I can compare grantwriting for an animal rescue, if you're curious.)<br /><br />It's keeping me busy, so there hasn't been much blogging. And if I hadn't already grown slothful about my blog, along came Facebook. Now if I have so much as a half-formed thought or a funny link, I just slap it into Facebook and that's it. No more blogging necessary. Facebook, drive-thru fast food windows, and remote controls are going to destroy our civilization, I tell you.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/facebook.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 188px; height: 250px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/facebook.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>But can you eat it?<br /></div><br />And now for today's <a href="http://smallexpectations.blogspot.com/">link of total awesomeness</a> (thanks to <a href="http://www.moderncat.net/">Moderncat</a>, of course):<br /><br /><a href="http://smallexpectations.blogspot.com/2010/08/dancing-cat-block-party.html"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 439px; height: 440px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/dancingcat.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Check out <a href="http://smallexpectations.blogspot.com/">her blog</a>...tons of funny and her illustrations are absolutely terrific. And hey, maybe you'll want to bring something to the block party while you're at it!Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-48062566485984945862010-08-15T16:50:00.007-04:002010-08-15T18:18:20.731-04:00The Bacon Party<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/iheartbacon.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 153px; height: 153px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/iheartbacon.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Over apple-wrapped dates at a tapas restaurant, an idea was born, and enthusiasm for it grew rapidly. A bacon-themed party...yes! It was brilliant! We would collectively clog our arteries and gain untold pounds all in the same evening. Word spread rapidly and there was talk of bacon donuts, bacon ice cream, and bacon bikinis.<br /><br />In the end no one wore a bacon bikini, and Apple Pie with Cheddar-Bacon Crumble was the dessert of choice although, in all fairnesss, two fearless guests did make Bacon Ice Cream, it just failed to reach the desired consistency: it was described as "swampy" and unfit for public consumption. (Disappointing, that.)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/apples_bacon.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 188px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/apples_bacon.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Ingredients for the <a href="http://www.grouprecipes.com/49871/bacon-crumble-apple-pie.html">Apple Pie with Cheddar-Bacon Crumble</a>.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/crumble.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 188px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/crumble.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The cheddary, bacony crumble.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/applebaconpie.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 215px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/applebaconpie.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The finished pie. (Can I just tell you how excited I am that Mr. O'Kitten is baking again?)<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/pigsnblanks.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 227px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/pigsnblanks.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Preparing pigs-in-blankets with bacon inside.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/macnchz.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 221px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/macnchz.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I made macaroni and cheese cassarole with bacon and scallions. Mac and cheese is one of only two things I can cook. (The other is spaghetti carbonara which, incidentally, also has bacon in it.)<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/bakedapples.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 311px; height: 232px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/bakedapples.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Baked maple syrup-glazed bacon-wrapped apples. Some were cayenne peppered. Amazing.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Bacon Explosion</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/exploWIP.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 241px; height: 180px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/exploWIP.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>A few months ago we spotted <a href="http://www.bbqaddicts.com/blog/recipes/bacon-explosion/">The Bacon Explosion</a> online somewhere. I was skeptical, but Mr. O'Kitten was determined to make it, and the Bacon Party was the perfect occasion. He got the gorgeous thick-cut bacon (shown above) and the sausage (below) from <a href="http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/1182/faiccos-pork-store">Faicco's Italian Specialties</a> (known around here as "The Pork Store") in the West Village.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/therub.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 199px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/therub.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The Bacon Explosion involves weaving bacon into a mat, adding some dry rub, cooking the bacon, layering on sausage and barbeque sauce, rolling the whole thing up and adding more seasoning, then grilling or, as in our case, baking the whole thing.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/exploWIP2.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 306px; height: 229px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/exploWIP2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/exploWIP3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 224px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/exploWIP3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The Bacon Explosion, ready to go into the oven.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/2explos.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 279px; height: 208px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/2explos.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Just out of the oven.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/cutexplo.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 181px; height: 239px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/cutexplo.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Slicing the Explosion.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/openexplo.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 203px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/openexplo.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/explosion.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 296px; height: 222px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/explosion.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I really didn't have any idea how extraordinary The Bacon Explosion would taste. Mmmm...<br /></div><br />We didn't get pictures of all of the food, so here for your perusal is the complete menu:<br /><br />Potato Skins with Cheddar and Bacon<br />Baked Maple Syrup-Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Apples, Dusted with Cayenne Pepper<br />Bacon-Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Almonds<br />Bacon Cheddar Apple Quiche<br />Macaroni and Cheese with Bacon and Scallions<br />Pigs in Blankets with Bacon<br />Bacon Explosion with Biscuits<br />Green Salad<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span>Apple Pie with Cheddar-Bacon Crumble<br />Assortment of sherbert, sorbet and ice cream<br /><br />For you knitters, I even <a href="http://gildingthesilly.blogspot.com/2008/07/knitted-bacon-bookmark.html">knit a piece of bacon</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/cara_emma.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 224px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/cara_emma.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Emma made some new friends.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/Defibrillator.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 283px; height: 229px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/Defibrillator.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>And fortunately, we didn't need one of these.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/dietcoke.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 215px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/summer10/dietcoke.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>To everyone's disappointment, we couldn't find this. Maybe next time...<br /></div>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-55366673527816102912010-03-13T09:33:00.001-05:002010-03-13T09:35:20.584-05:00With Friends Like These...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://gizmodo.com/5492305/friday-night-funnies-8-images-to-close-out-the-week/gallery/"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 338px; height: 338px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/march101/deductions.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-51976848158215969052010-03-09T19:16:00.002-05:002010-03-09T19:28:33.723-05:00Not Your Mother's Urban Sombrero<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://jezebel.com/5489430/march-madness-at-j-peterman-choose-your-own-artsy-adventure/gallery/"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 334px; height: 598px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/peterman.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Mr. O'Kitten is a big fan of J. Peterman--both the <a href="http://www.jpeterman.com/">J. Peterman-in-real-life catalogue</a> and J. Peterman-as-Elaine's-boss on Seinfeld. I post <a href="http://jezebel.com/5489430/march-madness-at-j-peterman-choose-your-own-artsy-adventure/gallery/">this</a> for him because it is highly amusing:<br /><br />"...There's a formula to the Peterman descriptions, and it goes like this: Drop the name of a Noted Person (Hitchcock, Hepburn, Churchill). Drop the name of a romanticized obscure-ish place. (Cannes, Kyoto, Seychelles). Mention an occupation in the arts or sciences (filmmaking; entomology). Be specific when it comes to colors (pink is dusty rose; green is celery; off-white is cream). And lastly: The last digit of prices can NEVER be a five or a zero."<br /><br />View <a href="http://jezebel.com/5489430/march-madness-at-j-peterman-choose-your-own-artsy-adventure/gallery/">the gallery</a> for scores assigned to ten amazing Peterman selections with their illustrations and absolutely astonishing descriptions. If you thought J. Peterman only existed on Seinfeld, you're in for a treat. If you've never actually <span style="font-style: italic;">looked</span> at the <a href="http://www.jpeterman.com/">J. Peterman catalogue</a>...well, hold onto your <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Urban+Sombrero">Urban Sombrero</a>.Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-5909189750345256402010-03-05T15:47:00.002-05:002010-03-05T16:01:37.137-05:00Hohohohohohoho<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/sodamachine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 360px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/sodamachine.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><center><a href="http://gizmodo.com/5485787/turn-modern-gadgets-into-soviet+era-relics">This</a> makes me think of the extraordinary potential one of my dear Severina's <a href="http://omnigraphicblogopticon.blogspot.com/2010/03/oh-humanity.html">dirigibles</a>, cat-shaped or otherwise.</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/dirigible.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 287px; height: 381px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/dirigible.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><center>If you make one quick-like (by next Tuesday) you can <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5485787/turn-modern-gadgets-into-soviet+era-relics">winwinwin</a>...</center><br /><br /><center><a href="http://omnigraphicblogopticon.blogspot.com/2010/02/ice-fail.html">On ice</a>.</center>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-51941425222982241512010-03-04T11:10:00.002-05:002010-03-04T11:11:15.992-05:00Oh Joy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/OhJoy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 396px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/OhJoy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-88243549077996329822010-03-03T13:21:00.003-05:002010-03-03T13:36:13.060-05:00Set Your Watch and Head for the Moon Base<div style="text-align: right;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/dali.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 377px; height: 274px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/dali.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Salvatore Dali, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Persistence of Memory</span>, 1931</span><br /></div><br />"The powerful earthquake that shook Chile on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and made days slightly shorter, a NASA scientist said.<br /><br />"Richard Gross, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, calculated that the planet's axis would have shifted by eight centimeters during the 8.8 magnitude quake, NASA said.<br /><br />"'If the planet's axis did shift by eight centimeters during the Chilean quake, days would have shortened by 1.26 microseconds, Gross calculated.'"<br /><br />From <a href="http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Chile+quake+shifted+axis+Earth/2636185/story.html">Chile quake shifted axis of the Earth</a>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/Moon-surface.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 415px; height: 311px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/Moon-surface.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Perhaps you've heard that they've discovered water on the surface of the moon. Maybe, like me, you found this fascinating, but wondered how much water: A couple molecules? A few drops? How about: enough for a moon base? That remains to be seen, but it's definitely <a href="http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091113-lcross-moon-crash-water-discovery.html">more than a few drops</a>.Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-56649029812851519302010-02-27T12:54:00.002-05:002010-02-27T13:42:09.044-05:00Bring Me My DusterAccompanied by backing vocals that sounds eerily like Hall and Oates, we herald the return yet again of skinny jeans, ankle leggings, and (shudder) even stirrup pants.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/GuessJeans.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 247px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/GuessJeans.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><center>These look eerily like something I would have squeezed<br /> myself into twenty-some years ago. I'm just sayin'.</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/legging.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 318px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/legging.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><center>And again, more of the same, but these days we go without<br /> the shoulderpads for counter-balance on the upper quadrant.</center><br />As I am no longer quite as slim as I was when I last donned acid-washed jeans with ankle zippers, I am left to wonder where that indispensible item of my 1980s wardrobe could be hiding: the long duster. A google image search of "duster jacket" turned up little that resembled this versatile garment; similarly, no photos of "corey haim lost boys" showed that young man sporting one of his many dusters from the 1987 film; only a smattering of Etsy entries seemed to have the right idea.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/oliveduster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 295px; height: 382px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/oliveduster.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><center><a href="http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33382696">This</a> is sort of it, although more fitted than what I remember.<br /> I actually like it enough to consider ordering one.</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/linenduster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 385px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/linenduster.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><center><a href="http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27602710">This</a> is more of a coat, but I like it. Looks like something from<br /> the J. Peterman catalogue (which, incidentally, had no dusters).</center><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/camoduster.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 243px; height: 323px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/feb27/camoduster.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><center>Lousy photo, but the <a href="http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=35537499">right idea</a>. Sort of.</center><br />Fashion historians will probably note the similarity of our skinny jean/legging to the narrow pedal-pusher of the 1950s, and may wish to muse upon the historical trajectory of the duster from the American West through the 1920s to its 1980s resurgence. But I just want a nice long jacket to billow behind me as I disappear into dark alleyways. Is that too much to ask?Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-90090914622382401502010-02-22T14:50:00.004-05:002010-02-22T15:00:47.554-05:00Undercover Berd<a href="http://gizmodo.com/5477181/undercover-bird-feeder-slows-crime-in-its-tracks">Undercover Bird Feeder Slows Crime In Its Tracks</a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/January10/500x_birdfeeder2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 234px; height: 324px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/January10/500x_birdfeeder2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Don't skip the <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5477181/undercover-bird-feeder-slows-crime-in-its-tracks">comments</a> section:<br /><br /><span class="ctedit">"I have a birdbath disguised as a prostitute on my lawn. If people slow down when they see it that's just their fault."</span><br /><span class="ctedit"></span>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-39511087535473701232010-02-14T12:06:00.003-05:002010-02-14T12:40:25.995-05:00Happy V-Day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/rebelgull.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 287px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/rebelgull.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Happy Valentine's Day to you all. This picture has nothing to do with Valentine's Day, but it made me laugh hysterically this morning.<br /><br />An acquaintance of mine has put together a wonderful resource for all animal-lovers, but especially those of us in the NYC area. <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Front_Page.html">The New York Companion</a> is a free, bi-monthly, New York City-based newspaper that exclusively reports animal news and has a <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Front_Page.html">great website</a> with comprehensive lists of links to <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Pet_Friendly.html">pet-friendly restaurants, bars, hotels, and stores</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Dog_Runs_Intro.html">dog runs and parks</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Health_Codes_Intro.html">health codes</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Cruelty_Laws_Intro.html">cruelty laws</a>, <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Vet_Intro.html">veterinarians</a> and <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Volunteering_Opportunities.html">volunteering opportunities</a>. It doesn't matter where you are, you can get a free online <a href="https://www.newyorkcompanion.com/Subscription.html">subscription</a> and it's definitely worth checking out.<br /><br />In other news, Mr. O'Kitten's Muni cat got a little recognition over at the <a href="http://www.randomcatproject.com/?p=439">Random Cat Project</a> and I made a couple bibs and a hat, which Emma modelled for you before I gave them to the friend's newborn baby for whom they were intended.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/DSC04949.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 303px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/DSC04949.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/DSC05003.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 366px;" src="http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx181/obsidiankitten/DSC05003.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-31506938870811397462009-12-28T21:11:00.001-05:002009-12-28T21:14:16.903-05:00You Know I Love Spot<a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/12/28/funny-pictures-and-lacking-typos/"><img style="width: 394px; height: 302px;" title="funny-pictures-star-trek-cat-wants-burger" src="http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2009/12/funny-pictures-star-trek-cat-wants-burger.jpg" alt="funny pictures of cats with captions" /></a><br /><br />Doesn't "grammatically" have two 'M's?<br />But I quibble with their sentence fragment...<br /><br /><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/"></a>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-3281909942910076762009-12-12T16:44:00.005-05:002009-12-12T16:49:36.569-05:00Cat RandomnimityMr. O'Kitten took the photo in <a href="http://www.randomcatproject.com/?p=426">this post</a> at <a href="http://www.randomcatproject.com/">The Random Cat Project</a>. If you haven't been to the site before, it's kind of cool.<br /><br />At the moment I'm fighting with iPhoto--am I the only one who hates this program? I don't need its useless attempts at <span style="font-style:italic;">face recognition</span>, of all ridiculous things. All I want to do is resize my pictures and give them titles and be able to find them again later. This does not seem like too much to ask.<br /><br />I've also managed to fill up an entire photobucket account over the years so I just have to start up another one and we should be good to go. I'm a bit annoyed with photobucket, too, but hey, it's free so yeah-okay-whatever.<br /><br />And yes, there has been knitting. More to come...Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-2512365610736831352009-12-12T02:41:00.004-05:002009-12-12T02:45:01.595-05:00I Was Depressed for Six Months but...I was depressed for six months, but then I saw this:<br /><br /><object width="500" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0unGIZ9YGdA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0unGIZ9YGdA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />I'm all better now.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more to come.Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-13425759671629596552009-06-12T10:01:00.002-04:002009-06-12T10:04:04.072-04:00Speaking of a Box...<a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/06/10/funny-pictures-this-2/"><img style="width: 416px; height: 344px;" class="mine_4255592" title="funny-pictures-you-have-a-very-dangerous-box" src="http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/funny-pictures-you-have-a-very-dangerous-box.jpg" /></a>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-37475317823263830662009-05-26T14:52:00.002-04:002009-05-26T15:14:21.187-04:00Cats on Tuesday: Out of the Box<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/feb07/bday_grrl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 120px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/feb07/bday_grrl.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/tuescats.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 120px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/tuescats.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><strong>Cats on Tuesday: There's Just Nothing Like A Box</strong><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04891.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 383px; height: 215px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04891.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>At first Isis was in the box.<br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04890.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 373px; height: 211px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04890.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Then she got out of the box, so of course Morgan had to go in and inspect the box.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04893.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 345px; height: 280px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04893.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Isis had to inspect Morgan inspecting the box.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04895.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 343px; height: 212px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04895.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>As you can see, Emma was satisfied to observe the proceedings from a safe distance.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04901.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 357px; height: 223px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04901.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Although she was sure she had seen her enter it, Isis had some difficulty ascertaining whether or not Morgan was still in the box.<br /></div><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=sohopixie6&postid=26May2009&meme=ct"></script>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-55657176595646909012009-05-23T01:37:00.004-04:002009-05-23T01:50:34.725-04:00Super Duper Uber Tiny<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/june09/rosetta.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 389px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/june09/rosetta.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>What is this? It's the <a href="http://blog.longnow.org/2009/05/21/what-13500-pages-micro-etched-into-nickel-looks-like/">Rosetta Disk</a>, with 13,500 pages of data describing 1,500 languages etched onto a tiny nickel data chip. To see an individual page, you'd need a 500x microscope. Thanks to <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5266087/what-is-this">Gizmodo</a> for yet another fascinating tidbit (and I do mean tidbit).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 302px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/june09/RosettaBW.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>According to <a href="http://rosettaproject.org/projects/pangloss/">The Rosetta Project</a>, "Fifty to ninety percent of the world's languages are predicted to disappear in the next century, many with little or no significant documentation."Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-3416360061479861252009-05-21T18:11:00.003-04:002009-05-21T18:28:07.240-04:00Why the Cats Like Mackenzie<a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2009/05/21/funny-pictures-as-it-walks/"><img style="width: 371px; height: 269px;" class="mine_4083737" title="funny-pictures-kittens-follow-baby" src="http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/funny-pictures-kittens-follow-baby.jpg" alt="funny pictures of cats with captions" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/">Lolcats</a> offers one theory as to why Emma likes Mackenzie so much. Of course, Mack also pets her and brings her all her cat toys (and I do mean <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> her cat toys). She even puts treats and toys under the bed for shy Morgan.<br /><br />I'm sure being a <a href="http://obsidiankitten.blogspot.com/2009/05/cats-on-tuesday-our-new-treat-dispenser.html">treat dispenser</a> doesn't hurt her reputation with the household felines, though...Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15282702.post-67261002137731367232009-05-19T09:26:00.004-04:002009-05-19T10:01:05.867-04:00Cats on Tuesday: Miss Morgan in Repose<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/feb07/bday_grrl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 120px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/feb07/bday_grrl.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/tuescats.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 120px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/tuescats.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><strong>Cats on Tuesday</strong><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04884.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 368px; height: 275px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04884.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04886.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 371px; height: 245px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04886.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />A poet's cat, sedate and grave,<br />as poet would wish to have,<br />was much addicted to enquire,<br />for nooks to which she might retire,<br />and where, secure as mouse in chink,<br />she might repose, or sit and think.<br />I know not where she caught her trick,<br />nature perhaps herself had cast her,<br />in such a mold philosophique,<br />or else she learn'd it of her master.<br />Sometimes ascending, debonair,<br />an apple tree or lofty pear,<br />lodg'd with convenience in the fork,<br />she watched the gard'ner at his work;<br />sometimes her ease and solace sought,<br />in an old empty wat'ring pot,<br />there wanting nothing, save a fan,<br />to seem some nymph in her sedan,<br />apparell'd in exactest sort,<br />and ready to be borne in court.<br /><br />~ William Cowper (1731 - 1800)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04888.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 334px; height: 256px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04888.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cowper">Cowper</a>, a prolific poet and hymnist, is still known today for such quotations as the following:<br /><p>God moves in a mysterious way,<br />His wonders to perform;<br />He plants his footsteps in the sea,<br />And rides upon the storm.</p> <dl><dd><i>Olney Hymns</i> (1779)--'Light Shining out of Darkness'</dd></dl>He also suffered from severe depressive episodes and numerous suicide attempts, convinced that he was condemned to hell eternally and that God was commanding him to make a sacrifice of his own life. Translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey, prolific writer, and hailed by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as "the best modern poet," Cowper remains one of the most influential poets of his time.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04889.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 331px; height: 221px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/DSC04889.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ode to <a href="http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Spot">Spot</a></span><br /><br />Felix Catus, is your taxonomic nomenclature,<br />an endothermic quadruped carnivorous by nature?<br />Your visual, olfactory and auditory senses<br />contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.<br /><br />I find myself intrigued by your subvocal oscillations,<br />a singular development of cat communications<br />that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection<br />for a rhythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.<br /><br />A tail is quite essential for your acrobatic talents;<br />you would not be so agile if you lacked its counterbalance.<br />And when not being utilized to aide in locomotion,<br />it often serves to illustrate the state of your emotion.<br /><br />O Spot, the complex levels of behaviour you display<br />connote a fairly well-developed cognitive array.<br />And though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend,<br />I nonetheless consider you a true and valued friend.<br /><br />~ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_%28Star_Trek%29">Commander Data</a>, Starfleet, United Federation of Planets<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/spot.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 182px; height: 158px;" src="http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j79/sohopixie6/ConT/spot.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.blenza.com/linkies/autolink.php?owner=sohopixie6&postid=19May2009&meme=ct"></script>Obsidian Kittenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18142418658550510965noreply@blogger.com12