Stacy Horn

A few weeks ago I was feeling happy about Finney because I’ve been trying for at least two years to get him to lose weight, and he finally seemed to be getting a little thinner. I attributed that mostly to Bleeck who has been forcing him to be more active. He also just seemed happier, in spite of the constant workout due to the hurricane force-Bleeck.

But yesterday I picked him up and noticed he’s a lot lighter. He’s probably still bigger than most cats, but he’s definitely losing weight at too rapid a rate. Something is up. Also, his eyes look a little runny in this photo that I took just now.

Pulling back, you can see that not far away is poor Finney’s constant shadow, the baby Bleeck. Finney is such a good cat, he is mostly tolerant, but Bleeck so desperately wants Finney to love him more. I feel for them both. Finney is in Buddy’s old spot, by the way. Maybe Bleeck is thinking entirely different thoughts. Maybe he’s just biding his time until that spot can be his. Anyway, we have an appointment at the vet this afternoon.

I was remembering how sad Hudson Street had become, with all the empty storefronts. I’ve probably said this a million times before, but knowing what goes into starting a business I can tell you that for the people who started them, it’s terribly personal and painful when they fail. Imagine that scene from A Christmas Carol, when Scrooge and Marley are moving into the offices of their former employer Fezziwig. Fezziwig watches them from a carriage, looking like he’s going to die of a broken heart.

This is how Hudson Street looked before, in February, 2010:

And this is the same corner now. This was taken on a chilly day, by the way. I don’t know what is up with all these people eating outside! The place across the street which was also empty has a restaurant now. I believe there isn’t a single empty storefront on Hudson Street anywhere anymore (in the Village).

I just read this in the Times, about the Muslim Brotherhood’s position on women.

“A woman needs to be confined within a framework that is controlled by the man of the house,” Osama Yehia Abu Salama, a Brotherhood family expert, said of the group’s general approach, speaking in a recent seminar for women training to become marriage counselors. Even if a wife were beaten by her husband, he advised, “Show her how she had a role in what happened to her.”

“If he is to blame,” Mr. Abu Salama added, “she shares 30 percent or 40 percent of the fault.”

About a proposed United Nations declaration to condemn violence against women, “the Brotherhood said that wives should not have the right to file legal complaints against their husbands for rape, and husbands should not be subject to the punishments meted out for the rape of a stranger.

“A husband must have “guardianship” over his wife, not an equal “partnership” with her, the group declared. Daughters should not have the same inheritance rights as sons. Nor should the law cancel “the need for a husband’s consent in matters like travel, work or use of contraception”

Last week I watched Makers: Women Who Make America. In 1995 at a conference on women that was held in Beijing, Hillary Clinton said, “Let it be that human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all.” I remembered how for years, decades I believe, women tried to get our government to do something about how women in Afghanistan were being treated under the Taliban regime. Not our problem, was the attitude, when it soon would be. When you have a group of people who do not respect human rights and treat people like they are less than people, one of these days that group is going to be your problem.

If I’m remembering correctly, Makers ended with the point that the next battle for women’s rights would be fought on a the global stage. The complete Times article is here.

And on a ridiculously lighter note, I passed by this film shoot a week or so ago. These guys were shaking this bus while others filmed what was happening to the people inside.

You know how they say you should walk 10,000 steps a day? I always figured I must be walking that much every day, at least. Many years ago I decided to stop taking the subway and to walk everywhere I go. This isn’t as big a deal as it sounds, I don’t usually go all that far, but I walk even if I’m going to the Met (way, way uptown, like 80 blocks away, plus I have to head east).

I didn’t walk to my appointment at Mt. Sinai yesterday (101st Street and Madison) because I would have had to start walking too early in order to make it on time. And, when I was walking home afterwards, I got on the subway at 42nd Street. I was tired.

Even with cutting my walk short though, it was a ton of walking. Maybe an hour and a half of walking? Out of curiosity, I just calculated exactly how much walking I did yesterday, all told, and it came to 5.5 miles. How many steps was that? I just looked. For most people, a mile = 2,000 steps. So I made my 10,000. But the thing is, that was not a normal walking day for me. I figure on most days I walk around 2 or 3 miles. The website I looked at called that sedentary. You gotta be kidding me. On what planet??

I took this when I got on the subway. These are all the people who, like me, are going to die young due to our sedentary life styles. Those people who are sitting can just forget about it. Oh my god, I just noticed, there are no older people in this picture.

This was probably about two hours ago, so the white smoke hadn’t risen yet, but the media was poised and ready. The crowds going in and out of the church were pretty light, however.

The church is surrounded by these trucks with satellite dishes.

Apparently this place serves burgers in Heaven. Pretty cool job, making deliveries to Heaven. Damnit. I’m such an idiot. I should have followed him to learn where it is.