Stacy Horn

Is anyone watching The Bachelor? How on earth could anyone fall for Chris? He seems perfectly nice, but come on. He said he couldn’t follow one of his dates because she talked too fast. Except she was speaking at a perfectly normal speed, and anyway she wasn’t talking about international economics! What she was talking about could have been followed by a 1st grader.

I’m bringing this all up though because I want to talk about contestant Kelsey’s comments after telling the story of the unexpected death of her husband. First, she couldn’t remember the name of his cause of death. Who could ever forget that?!? Then her utterly bizarre comments to the camera after telling Chris what had happened. Someone on another blog attributed them to a sort of PTSD, which made sense to me.

What stood out to me was how her comments revealed something about what goes on in the background, and how the producers of the show encourage people to think of their lives. A quick recap. After telling about what happened to her husband Kelsey said, “Isn’t it amazing? Tragic, but amazing. I love my story!”

She goes on to say: “I know this is a show about Chris, but this is my love story, too. This is the unfolding of somebody who’s been through something so tragic and you get to watch her pick up the pieces and grow into another person and into another relationship.”

She’s has taken her story and shoe-horned it into a narrative that will fit this show and now she intends to act it out. I convinced there’s a producer in the background saying, “If we made your story into a movie, what would be our pitch? Who is the heroine? Who is the antagonist? How can we sell YOU?” I could see how someone who is grieving might latch on to distancing herself in this way from what happened and from her feelings.

It’s been a billion degrees below zero lately. I took this on Roosevelt Island. I wish I had zoomed in on the beautiful icy trees.

Oh wow, someone can’t let go of Christmas. This is new. I passed this by on the way to choir practice last night. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen it before and I walk down this street every Tuesday night. So someone just put this up.

Thank you, someone. It’s really quite lovely. The robins are a sweet touch.

I spent almost an entire day at the Surrogate Court Building yesterday! I started at the Municipal Archives, then on to the City Library, and then finally up to the 7th floor, and the Division of Old Records. That’s where I took these pictures.

I was allowed to walk around and explore, which was heaven for me. The first case I pulled had Elliot Spitzer’s name on it! But all my research was focused on the 19th century. I was looking into an early 19th century execution, and a later 19th century insanity hearing.

Just walking around in halls and rooms like this, where the past is preserved and cherished, is a mood enhancer for me. The place is practically thrumming with the stories of everything that ever happened in our city, nothing every really dies here, or is forgotten, and it’s comforting for me to be there.

I noticed someone came to my blog searching on Lantus and I wanted to share this tip. If your cat has been diagnosed with diabetes and the vet has prescribed Lantus you’re probably experiencing severe sticker shock right now. I researched the best costs for Lantus insulin and this is what I’ve found.

A 10 ml bottle of Lantus costs $250 (best price I’ve found not online). The bottle contains 1000 units. But, as you’ve learned, or will learn, it expires after three months so you have to throw it away when you’ve only used only 180 units. (For a cat getting 1 unit twice a day. 2 units x 90 days = 180.)

A box of five 3ml Lantus pens costs $400. Each pen contains 300 units. Now bear with me: it’s a bigger investment up front, but each pen lasts three months so that $400 investment lasts you 15 months. In the same amount of time, if you bought by the bottle, you would have spent $1,250. This works out even if the cat is getting 2 units twice a day (but the pens would last a year vs 15 months).

There are probably less expensive places to buy insulin online or in Canada, but buying the pens vs the bottle would still be the better way to go.

People photograph this little wooden house all the time. It’s pretty up close, but I noticed from across the street it looks less idyllic, against that big, unattractive building behind it.

I’m meeting with my editor today to discuss my new book about Blackwell’s Island. Life is good when you have a new book in the works. I’m putting together a “to-do” list and everything on my to-do list is something I’m chomping at the bit to do. There is not one thing that I need to research that I am not absolutely fascinated by. The first item up on my holy grail list (things that will be hard to uncover, but I’m determined to succeed) is to learn whatever I can about an 1828 murderer.

I think I’ve posted before how no matter I’m writing about, I always uncover a murder. Well, with a book about a place like Blackwell’s Island, which housed a penitentiary and a workhouse and a poorly run almshouse and lunatic asylum, murder was always going to be in the cards.

Another picture of my neighborhood on the night before the non-Blizzard of 2015. I shouldn’t be mad about the blizzard that didn’t happen. It caused me to take a walk that night and it was so pretty and serene out. There was something enchanting in the air. Everyone was stockpiled and ready for something exciting to happen.