Stacy Horn

I’ve mentioned before that I’m addicted to the rescue efforts and videos of Eldad Hagar, who founded Hope for Paws. I’ve always had cats, but I love all animals, and it just lifts my heart to watch these videos, like this one. If you are ever having a bad day, watch a bunch of Eldad’s videos. It’s pretty much impossible to not feel at least a little better afterwards. For the record, although Hope for Paws focuses on dogs, he rescues other animals and even once rescued a donkey.

But I was thinking about how even if a dog has been abused and abandoned and has been living on the streets for years, they rehabilitate quickly. Very soon they are loving dogs, living happily in someone’s home. It’s the best part of the videos, watching them get bathed, and all their wounds taken care of, and then seeing them in their lives afterwards.

I know cats who are born feral will most likely stay feral unless there’s some sort of human intervention while they’re still very young. But what about lost or abandoned cats who were once someone’s pet? I just don’t hear much about them. Do they die? Get subsumed into a feral colony? Do the ones who are found and rescued live happily with us again?

A missing dog from my block. Very sad. The owners put flyers everywhere in the neighborhood. I wonder what happened. The flyer says he was taken. Very different than lost.

For the past few years Nigel Lythgoe, who created the best reality tv show ever, So You Think You Can Dance, has sponsored what he calls National Dance Day. They create a few routines and upload instructional videos, people around the country learn them, and then on National Dance Day everyone dances them together in various parts of the country. This year it falls on July 26th.

There’s never been anything in New York until this year. Now it’s going to be part of Lincoln Center Out of Doors and people are going to gather in front of the fountain and dance the routines. What a fun spot to dance! I can’t think of a single friend who will want to do this with me though. No matter. I’ll see if I can get someone to film me doing it.

I just checked my blog to see if I ever took a picture of the fountain and I found this. You don’t see the whole thing unfortunately.

It feels like our country keeps sinking and sinking and sinking. We’re behind so many countries in just about everything. What is there to celebrate about us?? Seriously. On the 4th of July, what can I point to that our country is doing that is truly great? And please don’t name things other countries are doing, and better.

I know I sound so negative, but I’m still reeling from the recent revelations about Blackwater, and the supreme court decision about Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby will still pay for viagra and their male employee’s vasectomies. How is that fair and just? I know this is a very difficult issue to find a middle ground on, but the Affordable Care Act was amended so birth control could still be provided by the insurer, but without direct involvement by the religious organization. I don’t understand why this wasn’t sufficient.

This makes me thoroughly committed to the idea that government should now be the sole conduit for healthcare.

The pool where I will soon be spending all my evenings going back and forth and back and forth, 140 times a night. 140!!

The Gay Pride parade always ends a few blocks from where I live and every summer, for the rest of the day and night, my neighborhood explodes with happiness. It’s wonderful. On the civil rights front, things are getting better and I get to bask in the joys of progress, and the slow realization of the promise of freedom.

Except last night I also watched the CNN series The Sixties, which focused on the civil rights movement of that decade, and now I’m upset all over again about what has happened to the Voting Rights Act. If you want to get even more upset, but see a glimmer of hope, read this piece in The Atlantic. It’s not long!

I realized I’m not familiar with all the key players in the civil right movement, and I was doing a lot of googling last night to catch up. I need to read more books. And then I started worrying about whether or not kids are being taught this thoroughly enough in school. Does every child know who Dave Dennis is?

I didn’t know Floyd Mann’s name until I saw a documentary last year. The Governor of Alabama was telling a representative from the Kennedy administration that it wasn’t possible to protect the Freedom Riders. He turns to Mann, the Director of Public Safety, and says, “tell him Floyd.” And Floyd said, “Governor, I’ve been in law enforcement all my life. If you tell me to protect them, I’ll protect them.” Makes me tear up every time I read those words.

A few pictures in my neighborhood. First, a human work of art.

This guy was funny. He’s dressed like such a bad ass, with the skull on his head and everything else, and yet he was a complete sweetheart, posing with a big smile whenever anyone asked.

The person on the right here however, agreed to pose with the guy on the left, but I can’t quite read his expression. Such an enigmatic look.

Every summer Parks & Recreation sponsors two contests that take place at all their pools in the City.

First, everyone who swims 25 miles between July 7th and August 29th gets a tshirt. Piece of cake, you might say. But there are only two times of day when you can swim laps: the morning between 7 and 8:30am, aka the Early Bird division, and the evening between between 7 and 8:30pm, aka the Night Owl division. You have to pick one of those times/divisions and only the laps you swim during that time period get counted. AND, this is only Monday through Friday. This means you get 7 1/2 hours a week to rack up those miles.

(Exception: I just looked and you can enter both divisions and I have to clarify if that represents a third division, or just that you’re allowed to compete in both divisions.)

The second contest is about the men and women who swim the most miles in their division between July 7th and August 8th. At each pool there will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners for the top male and female swimmers in Early Bird division, and the same for the Night Owl division. Oh, there’s one more contest. There is also a trophy for the men and women who swim the most miles of everyone at all the pools in the City.

Last summer I was in the women’s Night Owl division at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center and I came in 3rd!! Okay, that’s because only 3 of us were competing. Ha! But still!! I finished with 32 miles, which I learned was a respectable showing after seeing how the swimmers at other pools did. Correction: I checked and I came in 3rd with only 27 miles!

There’s a wonderful dinner party at the end of the summer for everyone who swam at least 25 miles, and who came in 1st, 2nd or 3rd place in their division.

I am once again entered into the women’s Night Owl division. Wish me luck! Honestly, I feel like I have a lot less energy for this, but I couldn’t resist entering. I can’t say no to a competition, apparently. I included a link in the first paragraph, in case you’re in NYC and you want to enter too.

Here is Bleecker with my 3rd place trophy from last year. Luckily, it neither taste good nor made a particularly fun chew toy.