Holiday photo and newsletter

The theme of this year's photo is "1969." It's an update of our 2004 holiday photo, whose theme was "1957":

Read the newsletter here: tarpstreetjournal2016.blogspot.com.

Read more about the making of the photo here: aboutphoto206.blogspot.com.

Story time at The Cademon School

He-he.

'Twas the Ninjas 'fore Christmas

I did a guest blog today for BookReviewMama.com in celebration of National Ninja Day:

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the village
Not a pirate was stirring to plunder nor pillage.
The wind 'gainst the windows was all one could hear
'Til at last came the voice of a wee buccaneer:

(Read the full post here.)

Kindness

We need to choose to be kind to one another. 

Life is short. Don't piss it away being mad at the people who love you.

Central Park's Lost Playground

When Samuel and I did our Central Park Playground Challenge (running through sprinklers at every Central Park West playground from 100th Street to 81st Street), I wondered why there was such a big gap with no playgrounds between 81st and 67th Streets.

I found a map that indicated there had once been a playground just north of West 77th Street.

Like most Central Park playgrounds, it had been constructed in the 1930s by controversial city planner Robert Moses--some say as a way to keep kids within enclosed areas of concrete and chain link fence where they couldn't wreak havoc on the rest of the park.

But there are enough people bashing Robert Moses that we don't need to pile on.

Suffice it to say that there was supposedly a playground north of West 77th Street.

Notice I said supposedly.

I searched the city library archives to find a photo, and the only one I found was this mangled, spider-webby image:

I tried to mentally locate it and I couldn't. I recognized the church, the Kenilworth at 151 CPW, and the San Remo at 146 CPW. But something looked wrong. The problem: they were in the wrong order.

Flipping the picture gave me this image:

Bingo.

But that's not north of West 77th Street, as indicated by the map. It's south of West 77th Street.

Here's what it looks like today:

Here's the old photo superimposed over the new:

Mystery solved. Long live playgrounds. Long live Central Park.

Saturday walk with Ethan

" I don't think we as a species have a right to make anything out of denim except jeans."

My post-birthday gift

I needed a gift to myself. It's a Frank Lloyd Wright blueprint and elevation rendering from 1942. Not in great shape, so I'll have to figure out how to press and frame it.

I have always loved the graceful lines of his architecture. But I think he was an arrogant a-hole.

I wish for his sake that he had been a decent human being. "Am I going to be an artist or a human being?" It's not an either-or choice. Being a decent human being should be the price of admission, and any other accomplishments you layer on top of that.