Stacy Horn

On Monday, March 19th, at 7:30 p.m., Viking is hosting an event to celebrate the launch of the late John Leonard’s book, Reading for my Life. Sue Leonard will be there to talk about John’s life and work with Gloria Steinem, Victor Navasky and Colum McCann.

Where: Barnes & Noble space on E. 86th  and Lexington.  

You can read a review of the book here.

I took this the other night on the roof. I went up there hoping to see some special effects from the recent sun storm. I’ve never seen the aurora borealis and I heard that we might see it in our skies. It was pretty anyway.

I only just realized that this year is the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. You’d think you’d be hearing a lot about the Titanic and that there’d be tons of events to commemorate the date. I googled it and found almost nothing. There’s a memorial cruise, the National Geographic Museum in Washington is planning an exhibit, they’re releasing the movie Titanic in 3D. Oh! Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey) is doing a miniseries. That could be good.

I went downtown to the site of the former White Star offices, where the crowds went to learn news of the ship and the survivors. Their offices were at 9 Broadway, which is at the bottom of Broadway, and of New York. It’s very narrow there so I couldn’t get back far enough to get the shot I wanted. It was driving me crazy.

9 Broadway is the one with all the flags out front. I think this might have been the building I was considering as the home for Echo in the 1990’s. I wish I had this thing called … what is it called again? Oh, right. A memory.

I took this shot from the other side of the park pictured above.

Travel writer Daisann McLane (whose Ghosts of Hong Kong article won the 2011 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Gold prize) recently tweeted about how realtors in Hong Kong list apartments where people died, mostly by suicide. I just read through a page. I noticed that a lot of them killed themselves by “burning charcoal,” which I’ve never heard of. According to Wikipedia burning charcoal in a small, closed room is a popular method of killing yourself because it’s supposedly painless (although it might not be). Oh, the method was invented in Hong Kong!

“In order to prevent charcoal burning, the Hong Kong Government replaced the traditional countryside charcoal barbecue with an electric grill. Some non-government organizations worked with charcoal retailers to promote the message of “treasure your life” by putting “seek help” labels on the charcoal bags.”

Here is a sample:

“Young female texted and asked her boyfriend to meet her but he sent his sister instead. Victim jumped off the building in front of the sister.”

“99 years old male jumped off the building with no clothes while his wife went to the washroom.”

“Primary school teacher who broke up with her boyfriend, jumped off the building with a thick make-up.”

“Angry male chopped his ex-lover and jumped off the building.”

You can read more here.

A pawn shop on 14th Street. Lately I’ve become fascinated with pawn shops. The next step is actually going in one, but for some reason they also frighten me so I’m working myself up for it.

I thought I would show how One World Trade Center is coming along. The comparison view is not the same alas, but you get the idea. I took this yesterday from the cemetery behind St. Paul’s Chapel. You can see the different by comparing 1WTC to the building on its right.

This was in August, 2011.

For people like me, the release of the 1940 Census data is like Christmas to the infinity power. (More information from the National Archives here.) When I was working at the Census in 2010 and people asked me, “why do I have to answer all these questions,” it was so easy to answer! I would tell them all that I’d learned about my grandparents and great-grandparents from Census reports, and pretty soon they’d be asking me how they could access the reports themselves.

I’ve gone back to Census reports for every book I’ve written. For my book about singing for instance, I needed to track down Herman Melville’s apartment near Grace Church, and to confirm various facts about the sad story of Alexander Hamilton’s granddaughters. It’s endless!

Apparently the 1940 Census had a bunch of extra questions and I just can’t wait to see what I can learn both about my family, and all the famous and interesting people living in New York (and all over American) in 1940.

The New York Public Library is having an all-day program/event on March 24th. Response has been so tremendous they had to move it to a bigger venue so hurry up and reserve now if you’d like to go.

I was down at St. Paul’s Chapel this afternoon for their fantastic Bach at One series. You get to hear the world-class Trinity Choir and Trinity Baroque Orchestra for whatever you wish to donate. It’s a great deal.

I took this shot out front and …

… this was inside while we were all waiting. I love that Oklahoma sign (from the 9/11 days). I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Oklahoma because of that sign. (I have a million soft spots in my heart for other signs and other gestures from all over the country and the world.)