My Urban Sherpa

Buddha Dances, New York Smiles

 

Don’t miss the only east coast showing of “The Dragon’s Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan.” The Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) will display 87 works of “rare religious Buddhist art with a special focus on ancient ritual Buddhist dances” all from one of the most remote places on earth.

September 19, 2008 – January 5, 2009

 

Wisdom

I was delighted to stumble upon this brilliant work of Andrew Zuckerman and recommend it to everyone of every age, every background and every disposition. At a time when the world seems to be crumbling – it is heartening to know, and to be reminded, that the solutions we are seeking come from within.

Please take a moment to consider these words of WISDOM from Billy Connolly, Robert Redford, Desmond Tutu, Rosamunde Pilcher, Judi Dench, Jane Goodall, Bryce Courtenay, Chinua Achebe, Michael Parkinson, Mary Quant, Frank Gehry, Bill Withers, Jacques Pepin, Clint Eastwood, Chuck Close, Malcolm Fraser, John Hume, Madeleine Albright, Wole Soyinka, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Willie Nelson, Alan Arkin, Senator Edward Kennedy, Kris Kristofferson, Andrew Wyeth, Ravi Shankar and Graham Nash.

We love NYC pigeons

Now that pigeon poaching has been identified as a genuine problem, how about some love for the much-maligned Columba livia, a.k.a. Rock Pigeon (The bird formerly known as Rock Dove)?

According to BirdWeb.com, the Rock Pigeon is “originally from Europe, Northern Africa, and India” but was “introduced it to North America in the 1600s.” Since then, of course, “numbers have increased significantly as more and more of our country is urbanized.”

For some, the feral pigeon could be viewed as a nuisance (e.g. droppings, nests, etc.). But in all the thousands of years Columba livia have dwelled on this planet, did any of them ever feel the need to invent, say, nuclear weapons? No Rock Dove created pesticides, napalm, Agent Orange, or the internal combustion engine; you can’t blame cigarettes, greenhouse gases, hydroelectric dams, or waterboarding on a pigeon; and rest assured no non-human conjured up zoos, animal experimentation, factory farming, or the rodeo.

Dog spelled backwards…

It’s Monday morning at 8:30 as I enter Central Park at West 72nd Street. I’ve done this trip before so I expect to see dogs. New York loves dogs and Central Park is Manhattan Island’s biggest dog run. For no particular reason, I decide to count how many dogs cross my path before I exit the Park at East 60th Street.

Even a cat lover like me can appreciate a dose of early AM canine energy.

I’m past 30 as I stroll by the Sheep Meadow Café: dogs of all shapes, sizes, ages, and breeds. Human companions almost as equally diverse. By the time I reach the Mall, I’ve encountered 60 dogs. When I get to Balto, it’s over 70.

As I approach the zoo, the dogs are now on leashes but no less plentiful. The artists are setting up shop for the day when I hit 80. I glance up at an American Elm and see a solitary raccoon watching me…and all the dogs.

Just before I exit the Park on my way to the W Train, Dog #81 strolls by and I’m sure it’s gonna be a good day.

(Mickey Z. can be found at www.mickeyz.net)

The Central Park Literary Walk

The Central Park Mall runs from 66th to 72nd Streets. On its south end, you’ll find the incomparable Literary Walk. Flanked by quadruple rows of American Elms (look up and you just might see a red-tailed hawk), the walk features statues of William Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott Scott, and…Christopher Columbus?

Brett’s a Jet

At 4:00 pm (EST) on Sunday, September 14, Brett Favre makes his Meadowlands debut as a New York Jet against the suddenly vulnerable New England Patriots.

(Photo Credit: Hans Deryk, Reuters)

Top of The Rock

The month of September just may be the best time to enjoy a 360Ëš experience of New York: 70 stories up at Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

Holy Gotham, Batman didn’t invent the name

During the time of King John (1147-1216), there was a village in southern England called Gotham. According to writers Jerome Agel and Walter D. Glanze, Gotham gained notoriety because its citizens “were said to have feigned stupidity so that the king would not want to come and live in that area.” The label was first bestowed on New York by Washington Irving in a letter of February 13, 1807, in the Salmagundi Papers: “Oh! Gotham, Gotham! most enlightened of cities!” Eight million people later, it seems the nickname has done precious little to stop anyone from wanting to live in Irving’s native city.

The World Trade Center

Photograph by Lloyd Ziff

While we, along with you, are looking forward at what the next few weeks will bring us for the next few years, we also can’t help looking back today.

More than just the Twin Towers, the World Trade Center was a complex of seven buildings, encompassing over 10 million square feet of office space on 16 acres and was owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

*One World Trade Center was 1,368 feet high (417 meters)

*Two World Trade Center was 1,362 high (415 meters)

*Architect: Minoru Yamasaki (Emery Roth and Sons consulting)

*Engineer: John Skilling and Leslie Robertson of Worthington, Skilling, Helle, and Jackson

*Construction began on August 5, 1966 and required excavation to bedrock 70 feet below the structures. That bedrock was later used as landfill for the Battery Park City project

*By the time of the April 4, 1973 ribbon cutting, construction of the World Trade Center had cost $1.5 billion.

* 2,974 people (+19 hijackers) died in the attacks on 9/11; mostly civilians of more than 90 different countries. One death from lung disease was ruled by a medical examiner to be a result of exposure to dust from the World Trade Center’s collapse — how many more are uncounted or will be forthcoming, are a future matter.

Astoria reading: September 11

Buzzer Thirty presents a provocative and fun literary/musical event.

Where: Waltz-Astoria

When: Thursday, September 11 at 8:00 pm

Who:

Author Mickey Z.

Singer-songwriter Val Turner

Poet Eliot Katz

Waltz-Astoria

23-14 Ditmars Blvd.

N/W train to Ditmars Blvd.

(Directions online)