By Keith Michael It’s the afternoon of the longest day of the year: Saturday, June 20th, the summer solstice. With me safely typing at my computer, Millie has declared that she is off-duty: corgi-flat to the floor, eyes closed, ears back, nose to the corner. This is distinctly different than her various seemingly feng shui-inspired
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Flyover
By Keith Michael A snowball whizzes across the street. That’s about the time one has to snap an identification onto a bird flying high above even the modest scale of our West Village buildings. Let me get this out of the way right at the beginning. Does one need to name a bird by species
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Viruses and Cancer
By Mark M. Green (Abstracted from “A Scientist’s View of Almost Everything,” by Mark M. Green, 2019) Cancer patients in the 1800s were observed, too often to be chance, to be relieved of their cancerous tumors when they were ill with respiratory problems. When viruses were discovered later in that century, it was hypothesized that
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Bird of the Year 2019
By Keith Michael We are standing under the canopy of a cloudy winter sky on the corner where the 14th traditional presentation of the Annual West Village Bird of the Year Awards, “The Millies,” is held. This tourist-confounding intersection of West 4th and West 12th Streets is where a rosy-hued House Finch was heard and
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Let’s Get Real About Aging
By Gail Evans On December 3rd I met with 85-year-old George Held in his West Village apartment to interview him about aging. He taught in the English Department at Queens College for 35 years and was a Fulbright lecturer in Czechoslovakia under Soviet rule. Held is also a prolific poet, editor, translator, essayist and book
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Disappearing Diamonds? Diemut Strebe’s Redemption of Vanity at NYSE
“I’m wearing a 20-carat diamond on my necklace. What, you can’t see it? Believe me, it’s gorgeous!” Imagine if all our jewelry was invisible. What would it be worth? Artist Diemut Strebe wanted to find out the answer to this question. What is the intrinsic value of an object? Of a work of art?
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Visitation
By Keith Michael My phone vibrates on my desk. I hit “Send” on a work email before checking the message: Text? Gmail? Facebook messenger? Instagram notification? Millie’s photograph, of course, is the wallpaper on my phone. Her doe-like corgi eyes look up out of the palm of my hand, virtually, ever-hopeful for a treat. Tapping
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Talking Dirt in The Village
By Aaron William Perry, with Joanie Klar Our village—The Village—is the most fertile ground of American culture: magnificent, gritty, thoughtful, proud. Long before vogue terms like influencer or cultural creative entered popular parlance, generations of the most thoughtful, creative, and influential figures generated great turns in the evolution of our culture. Here, we walk atop
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Take the Reins and End the Slaughter
By Anastasia Kaliabakos Approximately 100,000 horses are transported annually across the United States border to be slaughtered for the sake of human consumption. People seeking to profit off of these magnificent animals cram them into crowded trucks without food or water—oftentimes for over 24 hours—to meet their demise in slaughterhouses, where many are gruesomely dismembered
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Bringin’ It Home
By Keith Michael Millie is lying a few feet away while I’m editing photos—still catching up on my summer “takes.” Because I haven’t clicked on an image looking remotely like a bowl of kibble, Millie’s corgi gaze is equivocal. The combination of scrolling past an August shot of an Osprey from the Salt Marsh Nature
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In the Catbird Seat
By Keith Michael Meew. Meew. Meew. Presumably, that’s how the Gray Catbird got its name. At some point in ornithological history when the omnipotent Bird Naming Caucus convened on a backyard summer porch, someone drawled, “Oh, you’re ranting about that bird braying like a cat? I just call it that damn gray cat bird.” Done.
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“Wild West” Ad Culture on Facebook Targets Youth
IMAGES ON SOCIAL MEDIA POSTED BY THE SAN DIEGO LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER, @mxdavidmx and @darrow81. In a first of its kind, Facebook has been co-opted to advertise a pharmaceutical drug. Like Russian influence on the U.S. election, the use of social media targeted at vulnerable populations raises important questions. By Kambiz Shekdar, Ph.D.
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For Every Season
By Keith Michael …tern, tern, tern. It’s hot out here. A moment ago, when I offered Millie a treat to join me for this walk to Hudson River Park, with classic corgi insolence she raised her head from her chill spot under the air conditioner, inches from her water bowl that might jingle with the
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A Race for the Cure: The Research Foundation to Cure AIDS
By Karen Rempel Dozens of Pride Parade spectators stopped by for a photo op at the Research Foundation to Cure Aids (RFTCA) display on Seventh Avenue, near the 9/11 Memorial Tiles display. All genders and no-genders were welcomed to wear the crown and carry the torch for the cure to AIDS. RFTCA President and Founder
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Space Shot
SPACE SHOT: One of The World Science Festival’s events at Skirball Center was The Right Stuff: What it Takes to Boldly Go, featuring appearances by Michael Collins (Apollo 11 Commander), Scott Kelly (who spent a year up in the International Space Station, and Leland Melvin, (former NFL Wide Receiver who served as an engineer on
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Duck Tales
By Keith Michael Disclaimer: No ducks have been harmed in the writing of this article. However, be forewarned that all my duck tales are not warm and fuzzy. I need to write this quickly while Millie is napping. Any mention of something potentially cuter than a corgi (such as a downy duckling) starts her off
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Climate Change Victories
By Tom O’Keefe New York State has witnessed two major climate victories in recent weeks. First, on May 15th, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation rejected the Williams Company’s proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline which would have carried fracked gas under New York Harbor off the coast of the Rockaways to Long Island.
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Let the Sun Shine
By Keith Michael Overheard on the street: “Who decides when is the first day of spring? Do a bunch of people sit around a table and say, ‘This would be, like, a good day?’” It’s hard for me to imagine thinking that “spring” is merely a marketing ploy and not that there are grand rhythms
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Drink Your Tea
By Keith Michael Millie’s bounding “corgi kibble dance” inspired by a small handful of kibble tossed onto the floor is just the distraction needed for her while I sneak out the door. I’m on my way to the Hudson River Park Trust offices at Pier 40 for a meeting planning another summer of Sunday morning
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Is Your Habitual Procrastination Making Your Depression Worse?
By David Parker I’m David Parker and I’ve suffered with severe depression and anxiety since I was a young child. Fifteen years ago I was living alone in London having separated from my then wife, and I was suffering through an extreme bout of depression. I recalled a friend’s advice that if bad thoughts were
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Two by Two
By Keith Michael Honking and braying, a Canada Goose family flies across the promenade in front of us onto the lawn. Millie seems nonplussed as the geese immediately get industrious at their grass maintenance routine. Corgis are herding dogs, but maybe the geese are already orderly enough that Millie doesn’t feel the need to intervene,
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Food Scrap Collection
By Ede Rothaus As one of the most environmentally aware neighborhoods in New York City, the West Village continues to further its efforts to ‘reuse reduce recycle.’ A strong example of this is our local food scrap and curbside organics collection program. Funded by the New York City Council (and its Speaker, Corey Johnson) for
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Cutting Edge
By Keith Michael We’re bumping up and down on that end-of-spring seesaw when weather forecasts careen between a balmy 60 degrees with blue sky one day to below freezing with a nor’easter and wintry mix pending the next. Deciding how many layers to put on or take off is a cardio-sport. On days like this,
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Life on Earth in Perspective
By Josef Eisinger © In 1930, during the early days of radio broadcasting, Albert Einstein admonished a radio audience in Berlin not to consume the fruits of science with as little intellectual curiosity as a cow chewing its cud devotes to botany. Since that time almost a century of astonishing scientific and technological advances have
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Headaches and Their Management
By Susan Elrich, MD Many, many New Yorkers suffer from headaches at one point in their lives, and do not know how to approach managing them. There are different kinds of headaches and different causes for them, so treatments vary. Headache types discussed here include migraine and tension-type headaches. Cluster and other headaches are beyond
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Bird of the Year 2018
By Keith Michael As the National Audubon Society wraps up this Year of the Bird 2018—bringing international attention to the plight of countless bird species and the effects of climate change for us all—it is time, once again, here in the West Village, to celebrate our local ecosystem with the 13th Annual Bird of the
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Hank Kee Topic of the Month: Why All the Robocalls? Because they’re cheap! You can now call anywhere in the 50 states 24/7. If you’re getting more robocalls now you’re not alone. The reason for the proliferation is that technology has made it cheap. The sheer number of people that scammers can reach makes
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Hank Kee Topic of the Month: Shopping Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping days of the year, and they officially kick off holiday shopping online. Before buying anything online, there are two tools you should use to make sure you’re getting a good deal. www.camelcamelcamel.com is an Amazon product price tracker. It
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Not “The Duck”
By Keith Michael I throw a (small) handful of kibble across the floor. Millie takes up her cue to hit the boards for her famed “corgi kibble dance.” The Prelude: Two rapid spins. Act I: Pick up only one kibble, toss it in the air, pursue (into a far corner if necessary). Act II: Methodically
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Indian Summer
By Tom Lamia As I write, in mid-October, I am feeling moderately pleased at having finished the bulk of my annual fall list of chores. The boat has been returned to its winter quarters in Newcastle, ten miles up the Damariscotta River. The son and grandson of its builder will look after it while the
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Hank Kee Topic of the Month: Do You Know Who Has Your Personal Data? Besides Facebook and Google, do you know who has your data? What are they doing with that data? Have you heard of Google Timeline? What is Google Timeline? I recently received an email from Google Timeline. Google has information on
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First Class
By Keith Michael I feed my first of the month stamped envelopes of bills into the big blue mouth of the mail box on the corner and, of course, jiggle its jaw (as my mother taught me) to be sure that my envelopes haven’t gotten stuck in its craw. Yes, I still pay bills with
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Tech Tips & Tricks
By Peter Rooney Topic of the month: Safety There are many scams online, but perhaps the most insidious is the “Scareware” scam: “Your computer has been infected, but we can help.” How it works: A window pops up about a legitimate-sounding antivirus software program like “Security Tool,” and alerts you that your machine has been infected
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Yes, Virginia…
By Keith Michael …there is a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. How do I know this? Because I’m looking at one right now “doing its sapsucker thing” on the trunk of a ginkgo tree at the end of my block. But I can’t “prove” that I’m seeing one, because every time I raise my camera to try to
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Gotta Go!
By Keith Michael Another Sunday. Another walk in Hudson River Park. At the end of her leash, Millie has already walked me around her neighborhood block this morning, taking care of corgi-business, and now I’m walking myself (at the end of my own inner leash) along the river promenade, absorbing the view. The summer is
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Oh, Baby
By Keith Michael August is when a wave of baby birds appears in the trees, on the park lawns, and from the windowsills. Recently fledged, their metronomic chirps to “Feed me, feed me” are a familiar sound of summer. My corgi Millie’s metronomic bark to “Feed me, feed me” is, likewise, a familiar sound of
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Horses that Heal: The Extraordinary Impacts of Therapeutic Riding
By Anastasia Kaliabakos Everyone has heard of American Pharoah and Justify; however, does anyone know about Sugar, Tito, or Duncan? When most people think of horses, they associate them with Western movies, racing, carriage rides, and even a pleasant vacation beach ride. Those who work with horses on a regular basis know that they are
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Sunday in the Park
By Keith Michael Even though it’s still a few days before the official start of summer, it’s already swelteringly hot. And for some reason, rather than looking at me pleadingly over her shoulder to take her back inside to the air conditioning, this morning Millie’s leash is taut toward the river. The sun glares off
