One of the great things about New York - or any city where you are actually out on the street with other citizens/gangstas - are the random things you see and hear. Occasionally these are hilarious. I have many examples myself, but because I never had a place to record them, I have sadly forgotten […]

A very cool new Google maps mashup that measures the walkability of your (American, Canadian or British) neighborhood, by figuring out how far you are from the necessities of daily life. I was pleased with my checks: my old Minneapolis neighborhood (anybody here from Seward tonight?) got a “very walkable” 83/100, and of course our […]

One of the great things about New York, one of the reasons I think why people love it so, is because it is so accepting. Anyone can go to New York, and wake up the next day a New Yorker if they so choose. No guarantees about what will become of you, of course, but […]

Grief
E detto l’ho perché doler ti debbia!
Inferno, xxiv, 151
Snow coming in parallel to the street,
a cab spinning its tires (a rising whine
like a domestic argument, and then
the words get said that never get forgot),
slush and backed-up runoff waters at each
corner, clogged buses smelling of wet wool . . .
The acrid anger of the homeless swells
like […]

Robin
House Wren
Chickadee (on a branch a foot from my face)
Cardinal
Woodpecker (Hairy or Downy, according to the book, or maybe a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker)
A small gray bird, not any of the above but could be practically anything else
Crow
—–

Coming back from a place where I didn’t find what I was looking for, I thought of octopus balls and got off the subway. Otafuku, on 9th Street between 4th and 3rd, is a tiny place where the only seats are the bench outside and where they make tako-yaki and okanomi-yaki (which I think means […]

Coming home from the train tonight on a warm, clear evening, I was walking along 43rd Street near 6th Avenue, aside the temporary clearing caused by the construction of the new Bank of America tower across from Bryant Square Park. I saw a small group of tourists pointing and taking pictures and knew before I […]