Cobra on the Loose in New York

Cobra on a Carpet, Marrakesh (September 23, 2002)

For the last couple of days news headlines have alerted New Yorkers that a venomous cobra is missing from the Bronx Zoo. Thinking back through my files of images, I remember taking this photo of a deadly cobra with his two serpent friends in the background while on a family vacation in Morocco....no zoom lens, nothing. There's not much space between me and that snake who was poised and ready to have me for lunch. For some reason, I leaned in to get a good shot. I really don't know what I was thinking!

All of Manhattan has been abuzz (dare I say, a-twitter even) with the news of the missing (or escaped?) reptile. Some clever person has given the "snake on the town" a voice with a hilarious twitter account that chronicles his travels and activities as a tourist in is very own city. Amassing over 150,000 followers in just a few days, here are some of my favorite entries to date:

__________

Enjoying a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery. This is going straight to my hips. Oh, wait. I don't have hips. Yesss!

Getting on the ferry to Ellis Island. Let's hope this goes better than that time on the plane.

Taking the Sex and the City Tour!!! I'm totally a SSSamantha.

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Temple of Dendur really kicks some asp.

Getting my morning coffee at the Mudtruck. Don't even talk to me until I've had my morning coffee.
Seriously, don't. I'm venomous.

Holding very still in the snake exhibit at the Museum of Natural History. This is gonna be hilarious!

Dear NYC, Apples and snakes have gone together since the beginning.

Origami Cranes Around Brooklyn

As I was leaving for work last week, I saw this beautiful strand of origami cranes floating in a tree. I pass McGolrick Park in Greenpoint daily, but this bright morning was different. The sun was streaming through the colorful strands, and a gentle breeze gave them movement. Luckily, I had my camera in my coat pocket (as I sometimes do) and took advantage of this special moment. I thought for sure that by day's end, the Parks Department or the elements would have ruined this impromptu work of art but they remain. I glanced downward and saw a cluster of votive candles was left directly under it. I assumed it was some local group's response to the tragedy in Japan. After doing a little sleuthing on the internet, I was somewhat right and found that there's more to the story....

The project was created by local musician and songstress, Niabi. It started as a way to keep idle hands busy and combat the endless winter. An ancient Japanese legend states that the person who folds a thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish by the mystical creature. Following the legend, the simple act of folding paper has evolved into something more for the artist in light of Japan's crisis:

"I want to give my wish away to someone who needs it more than I do.

 In short, it is my prayer for peace."

In the same week, I was walking through another section of Greenpoint and found this tiny red crane above.  I also found a stash of origami paper in my own art studio. The crane's symblic imagery even appears as a motif on the paper. I don't know how to make anything from it, but I admire its patterns and colors - and all of the little paper animals that seem to be cropping up around my section of Brooklyn lately too.

Museum Buttons - Collecting

Every time I come back from a museum visit, I dutifully put my little metallic badge in a jar that I have for such items. I don't even remember how this peculiar little collection started. It was probably when I first noticed that there was a different color every time I went. It soon became a small obsession like hunting for the prize at the bottom of the cereal box - collect all five! 

Most of the buttons are from multiple visits to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art each emblazoned with a giant "M" diagrammed like Leonardo's Vitruvian Man. They are from the days when I was a student practically living in one perfectly-ventilated environment or another. Others are from the New Museum, the Whitney, the MFA in Boston, DIA in upstate New York, the Morgan Library, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (identified and distinguished by the gryphon on a colorful background). As I see them all spread out, I realize, that's a lot of looking at art!

Happy Monday

Zoe, Montauk (August 21, 2010)

Jane's Bliss, Montauk (August 21, 2010)