Stacy Horn

One of the best holiday traditions for city dwellers are all the Christmas tree stands. You’re walking along the same sidewalks you zip through every day, but now they are filled with trees! That smell like pine! And they are all over the place. The concrete jungle turns green. Ish.

I went inside Tiffany’s for a walk down memory lane. I’ve worked there as Christmas help twice, many years (decades) ago. The store was empty! In December! When I worked there it would have been insane this time of year. It would have been an absolute mob scene with people crowded around every counter, especially this one, the Elsa Perretti counter. That’s where I worked both times, and the reason why it was always the most crowded was it had a section of affordable jewelry in addition to a high end selection.

It’s like the Apple Store where I went last week. Empty. I know people shop online now but still. Where are the tourists?? And, if nothing else, jewelry is so much prettier in person.

Doesn’t this shot have an Edward Hopper feel? Not just the emptiness, but that Hopper sense of loneliness and isolation.

There must be something to do when a Supreme Court justice goes off the deep end. These words of his should get him removed, there has to be some minimum standard, like racists not allowed, due to the monumental conflict of interest:

“There are those who contend that it does not benefit African-Americans to get them into the University of Texas, where they do not do well,” Scalia said, “as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school … a slower-track school where they do well.”

An interesting change I’ve discovered about aging. My favorite museum to go to is the Met, for sheer variety. Whatever I’m in the mood for is there in some form or another. But it used to be there were tons of pockets that were boring to me. I’ve noticed though that over the years less is boring to me. Now, pretty much everything is of interest.

Like this thing. I didn’t write down what it is or where it came from and of course I’ve forgotten, the other side of aging. But I walked around it, fascinated. Look at that little guy climbing up the … whatever it’s called.

First, I didn’t get any closer to the tree at Rockefeller Center, because crowds.

Second, as I said before, I wasn’t blown away the windows I was passing by as I walked up Fifth Avenue. So I spent some time photographing other people looking at the windows.

I enjoyed the ones where they decorated the entire building, like Harry Winston’s. There was actually more going on than I show here. Every window going up to the roof was decorated.

Tiffany’s always does a good job. Instead of going for pizazz, they build these small, charming tableaus, which are Nutcracker-magical.

My other favorite was Bergdorf Goodman’s windows, for the color, drama and sparkle.

My last shot is at Barney’s, where they had a guy making ice sculptures right there in the window. Unfortunately I arrived when he was cleaning up after the last one and I was too impatient to wait for the next one.

I’ve been meaning to make this point for a while.

In an effort to crush Obama and prevent him for being effective, the republicans have been chipping away at him in a way that has slowly eroded respect for the office of the President of the United States. They started this with Clinton, but they pulled out all stops with Obama. The moment when one of them shouted out “liar” when Obama was speaking indicated all gloves were coming off.

The thing is, by wearing away at the respect for the office, that made attaining this position viable for clowns like Trump. They are the ones who made it a joke and so jokers can run.

An old friend of mine, John Heartfield, posing in front of some of the artwork of his grandfather, dadaist John Heartfield, at the Neue Galerie. Heartfield is most known for his political art during the Nazi period in Germany, artwork which landed him at number five on the Gestapo’s most-wanted list. It’s an astounding show and it’s coming down on January 4th. See it while you can!