Stacy Horn

My book about Blackwell’s Island is the most fact-heavy book I’ve ever written, and I feel completely intimidated by the fact checking job in front of me. I’ve learned over the years that no matter how careful you are, mistakes abound, and you have to check every single last fact, every word of a quote, every thing you assert. It’s a big job. Oh Jesus, I’m freaking out just thinking about it. Excuse me while I faint, be right back …

It’s important to get it right. Even though plenty of people (historians) are aware of Blackwell’s Island and what went on there, this is still largely an untold story, and even for historians, the stories I’ve uncovered and have chosen to tell are new. I also did the math, which I will triple check, and discovered some surprising and new crime stats. I want to check all those figures again, because I think some people are going to question them.

A dog walker and his charges on 14th Street.

Susan Brownmiller has a new book which is coming out on March 31: My City Highrise Garden. Susan is a friend who lives in a pretty fabulous apartment not far from me. It’s the envy of everyone who has visited. From the Library Journal: “In this charming collection of essays, feminist journalist, activist, and author Brownmiller writes with passion, humor, and complete candidness about 35 years of gardening on the 20th-floor terrace of her Greenwich Village apartment … Memoir lovers and gardeners alike will enjoy these adventures in urban gardening.”

I’m a new fan of gardening books, and I love the idea of reading about a garden so close to me. Susan is probably most known for her book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape. But her other books include, Seeing Vietnam, In Our Time: Memoir of a Revolution, and Waverly Place.

A film shoot I passed by on 11th Street last night, on my way to choir practice.

I was talking about school uniforms with some friends and I wanted to upload a picture of my school uniform to show them. That’s me in the center front row, with the bow on top of my head. We also had these cute hats, that were kinda like Peter Pan hats, but without the feather.

I saw Get Out on Saturday. It’s a horror movie about racism from Jordan Peele (of Key and Peele). The audience I was in applauded at the end, it was so much fun. And horrifying! Catherine Keener freaked me out the most, she is a very scary bad guy.

Everyone did a great job, but the leads Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams were stand-outs, as was Catherine Keener, as I already mentioned, but Lil Rel Howery! He was the lead guy’s best friend, and he had the most fun and funniest part. I’m just realizing that anything specific I could say about why, or my other favorite parts, would contain spoilers. Just go.

A shot from Valentine’s Day, when the Empire State Building was lit up in red.

One of my favorite tv day/night of the year. I watch the pre-pre-show, then the pre-show and of course the show. This year I’ve seen a lot of the movies so I have opinions. The ones I missed: Hacksaw Ridge, because it’s Mel Gibson violence-porn, Hell or High Water, (I started it but couldn’t stick with it) and Fences, because it looked too much like a static play. Two that I didn’t watch but wish that I had: Captain Fantastic and Loving. Loving looked too upsetting, and I wasn’t even aware of Captain Fantastic.

Update: I watched Captain Fantastic and I’m now rooting for Viggo Mortensen.

I found this stray photograph, misfiled. I forgot to note the date. It could be from last year. We had a decent snowstorm last year. But this is my block.