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Squirrel in the Birdfeeder
by Joseph Scalia 01/19/2008Neighborhood: Across the River, Long Island
There has always been something about the change in seasons, something that has stirred me to make changes in my life. I was married in winter and divorced in the spring, started a new job in fall and quit in the summer. That’s probably why it was in the beginning of winter when I decided [...]
Mouse, or: The Botched Mercy-Killing
by Arik Gabbai 12/16/2006Neighborhood: East Village
Of the millions of New York City’s undomesticated rodents, only one has caused me grief. I was raised in suburban Los Angeles, and so pre-war apartment living with pre-war apartment problems are new to me—and mice, specifically, have never threatened to pester me in my home. As summer turned to fall, however, my roommates and [...]
The Beauty is a Beast
by Laren Stover 08/17/2006Neighborhood: West Village
I saw him first. He was lounging; a big grey parrot perched above him while lizards slunk and swaggered in a terrarium nearby. Our eyes met; his were big and dark and luminous against pale coloring. He yawned. Stretched one arm up in a dramatic arch. There was another fellow right next to him, but [...]
Scrambling Along the Roots and Rocks
by Jessica Allen 08/10/2006Neighborhood: Harlem
We took the train to the very top of Manhattan, exiting the subway into a neighborhood of large boulevards and boarded-up storefronts. Black sedans cruised by and occasionally stopped to ask us if we needed a taxi. At 9:30 on a Sunday morning, it was already steamy. This was only our fifth Sunday in the [...]
The Bird Funeral
by Lucy Baker 07/27/2006Neighborhood: Midtown
This morning I saw a dead bird on 52nd Street. It was lying on its back on the sidewalk in between Park and Madison Avenues, in front of a Duane Reade Pharmacy. Its feet were in the air. At first I wasn’t sure if it was dead. It looked like it was just dozing, sunning [...]
Chicago Has Its Merits
by Ryan Kenealy 06/04/2006Neighborhood: Lower East Side
Chicago has its merits. For example: my apartment has a large garden in the front yard where I am sequestered if I wish to smoke because of my girlfriend Bertie’s so-called allergic reaction to cigarette smoke, which she has failed to show any scientific documentation for, but that’s another story. It could be 15 degrees [...]
Cat Fantasia
by Thomas Beller 06/03/2006Neighborhood: Chelsea
For several hours one afternoon last week, the unremarkable interior of a midtown hotel room was transformed into a kind of cat fantasia for the nineties, featuring some of the more exotic and genetically up to date entries in the Ninth Annual Cat show, which was recently held at Madison Square Garden. Cats were perched [...]
There’s No Rainbow on the FDR
by Josh Lefkowitz 05/31/2006Neighborhood: Upper East Side
It was an unseasonably cool Sunday evening in July, and, like the weather, I was feeling a bit out of sorts. I was looking for a new job and getting used to the pressures and angst of being in my first serious relationship. Walking on 78th Street between First and York, heading to the subway [...]
Dog vs. Duck
by Gabriel Cohen 08/22/2005Neighborhood: Central Park
The model boat pond in Central Park is often the scene of fierce competition, but on a recent sunny afternoon I witnessed a real life-or-death struggle. A yellow retriever named Sam bounded away from his owners and plunged into the water to chase the pond’s resident ducks. At first only a few passersby noticed what [...]
Doin’ the Pigeon
by Marian Hailey-Moss 04/25/2005Neighborhood: Upper West Side
While walking down Columbus Avenue by the Planetarium one day I saw a man on his hands and knees, pulling weeds under a big tree in Theodore Roosevelt Park. He looked like he might have the lowdown on the area—and whether it was pigeon-friendly. “Why do you ask?” he asked. I told him that my [...]
All Hail Pale Male
by Thomas Beller 12/16/2004Neighborhood: Upper East Side
Photo: Lincoln Karim It looked like a crime scene. Yellow ticking cordoned off part of the sidewalk next to the awning of 927 Fifth Avenue, at 74th Street. Across the street a two-person camera crew stood shivering next to their tripod. They were journalists, it appeared from a distance; on closer inspection, they were journalism [...]
Something About Turtles
by Thomas Beller 02/14/2004Neighborhood: Central Park
There was a time, not long ago, when turtles enjoyed a brief vogue in New York City. Turtles whose shells weren’t much bigger than a silver dollar were sold on street corners all over Manhattan, and people crowded around to buy them. In the midst of this turtle trend, my friend Kip moved back to [...]
