"She didn't take any of the damn cats though," said Ms. Murli. It was the first time she’d cussed all day.”
HILARIOUS!!!! Most people who visit Rikers Island only come for the exhilarating and uplifting atmosphere of the place; at most they might return home with a prisoner in tow. Never a cat! A real shame! https://youtu.be/0hL-fpCsGR8
Not me!! I'm married with children...I'm broken like a bucking bronco...completely and totally domesticated...I was a "feral cat" in high school and college, but that was beaten out of me long ago...I do love sushi, though
Great reporting on the cat lady of Rikers. I worked in their PR office in the late 1970’s -- around the time she began her career as a correction officer -- when the prison population was a fraction of today’s and the island far less built up. There was so much lawn you could spot pheasant there. Wasn’t aware of the cat population back then. It probably exploded along with the prison population. Wonder if there’s a correlation?
Interesting question Ralph! According to the Post article, there were about 500 cats on the Island in 2001, and 23,000 inmaates. Now there are about 300 cats and 7,000 inmates. So it seems more like a reverse correlation.
I can't believe you did PR for the DOC. What a crazy gig!
I don't know about you, but feral cats frighten me more than possums!
Of all the animals that I can think of, I think cats would much prefer being "domesticated" than "feral:" it just suits their personality better...cats are the "Marie Antoinette's" of the animal world..."Let them eat fish-cake!"
Anne!!! You remain one of my favorite (and perhaps #1) destinations on Substack. You are SO GOOD at this I wonder some times whether you pull off your mix of topics in the unconscious realm. Two topics that capture the very range of human behavior. (1) People who commit to an effort for decades to serve the city and manage the cat population. How do people gravitate to such??? (2) The impulsive human who must catch the solstice and store a blast of photographs on their smartphone that capture this fleeting moment.
Both of these behaviors are so cool and so different. I wonder if there are many who are drawn to both??? So many have been building monuments to the solstice for centuries. That burst of sun has remained relevant even though Stonehenge and Machu Picchu probably figured the Sun revolved around the Earth. None of it matters, it is just cool to look at!
You've activated my primitive brain -- great!!! I immediately figured Amazon algorithm points such a person to holsters for their sidearm and a holster for their phone to capture equinox photos. In both cases, the propensity to wear such items as fashion accessories is tied to the "notice me gene" a formerly recessive gene now made relevant by Tik-Tok and the Kardashians. Many years ago we were out at a dinner with friends. A 1960s muscle car show was in the metro. There was a classic mid-60s Pontiac with out of state plates parked prominently in front of the restaurant (notice me). At the bar was a man in stylized cowboy boots (notice me) and a holster with what looked like a Hollywood prop of a gun (notice me) as if he might square off with a Sergio Leone bandit.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT and it is fun to watch!!! I am sometimes envious of people who are nostalgic Anne. I am not particularly. More of a fan of assuming there's more new stuff to discover and correct what we got wrong.
I credit my wife with one of my favorite observations ever!!!!! Recently, some car companies dug up the nostalgia of two door muscle cars again from the 60s you could buy again. We sat in a black version of one with a dark gray interior and my wife remarked it is like sitting in a coal bin. Why would anyone want one of these??? Everytime I see someone driving one of the them I just smile and think coal bin.
My 30 year old son owns a 1970 Buick GTS clone. If he's behind you at a stoplight and you see the car in your rearview mirror you might think the Grim Reaper had arrived. There is no other way to describe the car other than "badass!"
as for the pontiac car story and as counter-balance to that need for attention you mention and in a hopeful context: this weekend i chatted with a man of Finnish descent who grew up in a house at top of hill from where i stay in a trailer on lake superior in the upper peninsula...the house is one story and small and id never seen anybody there so engaged him immediately in conversation...tuurns out a dilapidated outbuilding next to it had been a gas pump and garage i this rural outpost until 1958. What he did NOT mention but another neighbor told me the next day was that when the Ford motor co. got ready to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2003 it tracked the 20 millionth model-A ford down to his father's possession (his dad typical of the time drove down to Detroit in the 40's and bought it for his own father at not much of a premium for $550 and it was photographed in that garage and handed down to the gentleman i met who still has it in nearby in his late mother's home (his mother had cooked and cleaned for the original Henry Ford at his beloved Huron Mt. club summer home!) and never talks about it much but has offered to show it to me as well as employ me to do some odd jobs....there are still people who retain humility and self respect and hmmmmm not all of them are Scandinavian immigrants lol
Great story!! My father owned a beat up Model A when I was just a twinkle in mom's eyes. The brakes were bad and he would have to use the law of gravity often to come to a stop. In fact Dad rounding a corner too fast ( must of had a tailwind that day) bounced off the side of a Cadillac occupied by a Mafioso named Pete, couldn't stop and kept rolling! It's a good thing all Model A's were black; you seen one, you seen 'em all!
ahhh this is great and evidence how one topic (in us "writers" anyways) can lead to drawing out of memory.....i must say its too bad your dad didnt have the advantage of the 20,000,000th model off the line because damned if the great great grandson of Ford didn't sign a 10 year lease to tour the car around the country in 2003 COMPLETELY REFURBISHED can you imagine!@!!
local guy in Lanse at the time was hired for part of it and in the process sure enough they found the tell tale # and it was alot of digits!!!...wonder whatever became of ole pete???
PETE?? I'm so glad you asked: Pete and his wife lived right next door to us on Lansing Avenue, on the Eastside of Youngstown, Ohio, when Youngstown was the "Murder Capital of the USA," and "Little New York," because of the gangster activity. Pete was in charge of a "franchise" of whore-houses and his wife was the Madame(s) of them all.
Well, one night, as Dad told the story, the big-boss, "Moosie" Caputo, paid Pete a visit and about an hour later Pete had a heart attack and died!
Which brings up the story of how Dad knew Moosie...Dad, in his adolescence, was a caddie at the only municipal course in the city, the Henry Stambaugh Golf Course, referred by my Dad as "The Muny."
Anyhow, my dad and his teenage buddies in the caddy-pool were having lunch outside on the lawn when Moosie Caputo pulled up and jumped out of the car with a gun in his hand and was going to shoot a caddy named Don Cannatti; it seems word was out that Don Cannatti took the "brass-knucks" (that was Dad's slang for brass knuckles) to Moosie Caputo's brother the night before and Moosie was going to kill Don on the spot! My dad and all the other caddies were cryng and begging Moosie not to shoot Don; they said, "Moosie, you got the wrong guy!" Somehow they convinced him and Moosie drove off in pursuit of another caper...
You see, King (can I call you that??), my Dad was on the fringes of it all his entire life; his Uncle Sam owned a bookie joint on the square in Downtown Youngstown where Dad was a runner as a teen and in those days you couldn't spit without hitting a gangster. Dad was a poker player of renown, so he was immersed in the culture, right up to the line, but never (Ok, rarely) crossed it.
What a great story Appleton. I am a NY native but became a happy transplant to the Midwest (MN) around 30 years ago. While there are many things that shape communities and regions, I have no doubt that the large Scandinavian community has shaped MN into a very unique place. I highly doubt I would count a couple of Finnish-Americans amongst good friends if it had not for taking that fork in the road. One of my book club members owns a Model A and drives it occasionally. He is a "car guy" and I think he also has a muscle car or two :) Jerry is a humble guy :)
MN. has ever been a fascination for me and as yet unexplored!! temptingly close in this brief discovery of the western Upper Peninsula (in third year of part-time) and in fact the Ford's owner had a friend visiting from over by Brainerd and of course i wanted it to be the boundary waters lol and his story of Finnish heritage (he grew up here in the settlement of Hermann) is astounding. His grandfather came from Finland at age 12 alone escaping domestic turmoil and ended up raising family, building a log house and working jobs in the forest and for local ford mills...i found the old homestead with his directions recently and the surname resonates here: "Lahti" is Fiinnish for "bay" and he ended up surrounded by many of Superior's wondrous bays.
At Ellis island they removed the first part which meant "gold"....the town i met them in is Aura the Swedish word for "plow"....i always thought the midwest was ohio i got ALOT to learn!!!
My writing often meanders about life here. I have family in Michigan that takes in the UP on occasion. The Brainerd Lakes region is FANTASTIC if you decide to explore. MN is VERY DIFFERENT for the Midwest. While the growth is modest I believe it is the only state north of the Mason Dixon line that simply grows. Every other state in the North has been losing population for 50+ years it seems. During my work career the number of regional transplants escaping rural life for the progressiveness of the Twin Cities is durable. I think all of the state universities in WI, ND, SD, IA and to a lesser degree MI and IL gravitate and relocate here. Extremely diverse economy and remains on the progressive side it seems so it is the only game in town for a young person. Not sure that is always good. I have a brother in MI -- I always think of Terry Nichols and the shadow group kidnapping a governor --- eek. It seems the uncertainty and pivots in the economy have created a weird unrest between urban and rural. MN spends an enormous amount to ensure urban-rural equity in education. It never seems to be a battle as it is everywhere else. After COVID our biggest problem was a $17B surplus.
I am avid into genealogy. My best rename story is a relative of my wife came in as Baaregaard and became Burger. I think they were Danish. The BWCA and Quetico are OOTW.
"That burst of sun has remained relevant even though Stonehenge and Machu Picchu probably figured the Sun revolved around the Earth. None of it matters, it is just cool to look at!"
Today I wrote about Carl Sagan -- he was good at getting us to think about stuff too -- I am proudest that I eventually connected Carl with Led Zeppelin -- something neither Carl nor Robert Plant would have expected I suspect :)
The high point of my career at DOC came when correction officers were recruited to drive children to school during a school bus drivers strike. I landed the front page of the Daily News with a photo of a correction officer gingerly helping small children into a prison van. It was all downhill from there.
Not for the first time I find my brain turning your stories into a Tom Waits song - I can almost hear Ribot’s solo on “The Cat Queen of Riker’s Island” …
Thank you Jason and Anne for helping illuminate our very strange Manhattanhenge tradition! I'm always a little sad to miss it. But never sad enough to actually travel to Manhattan to see it😂
Fascinating story about the cats- there are amazing people out there doing wonderful work for animals! Thank you for including the links on how to donate - I'm a huge cat lover and will be helping them via their Chewy wishlist
So funny, BA! I lost a LOT of subscribers with the Jordan Peterson. So far, no fallout on the cats thing though. I think because the cat people know, deep in their hearts, that cats are the devil's fingertips.
Anne, I just read your story about Gloria Murli, and I thought to myself, I gotta help out! So I went to Chewy and I sent Riker's Island pet Rescue $100 for cat food and litter and just in solidarity.
I, myself, have signed up to help rehabilitate the prisoners by having a gang of them to my house everyday this summer to learn the trade of landscaping...they will be dropped off each morning and picked up after sundown...
you can imagine how excited my wife is over the news ( I told her, "Remember snitches get stitches!")...in fact the entire neighborhood is rallying behind the idea...at least I THINK that is what the rally is for???
ANNE! JASON! What a brilliant piece on Manhattanhenge - thank you so much for answering my questions! 🥳 Such a thrilling read - and gosh, that PICTURE!
As for the Cat Queen of Rikers Island - wow. Your and Gloria's words are a great lesson around life, compassion and humanity. "Her weapon of choice? "A sense of humor," she said." 🙌
Oh I'm so glad you enjoyed it Rebecca. Thanks for a great question. I've always wanted to know more myself and felt vaugely ridiculous about being a Manhattanhedgignoramous.
Happy you enjoyed Ms. Murli as well. She's a cool lady!
I'm so thrilled that you found such a fabulous Manhattanhengehead to share the wonder of the spectacle, Anne! And of course you've still got July to check it out for yourself! 🌞 No taking snaps from the middle of the street though, eh?
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want “Manhattanhenge Day” set aside as a National Holiday…in fact, “Manhattanhenge Eve” should be the party-day that the day before Thanksgiving is!!! Make the Ball drop in Times Square for “Manhattanhenge Eve”!!
“Manhattanhenge is a time, twice a year, that the sun rises and sets at pretty much the same angle as the grid streets of Manhattan. So if one were to stand on 14th, 23rd, 42nd, 34th or 57th Street and look straight down east to west, the sunset will be framed perfectly by the Manhattan skyscape.”
OMG!!!!!!!! If I take away one memory from the weekly mirth and merriment of the Café Anne Newsletter, it will be of “Manhattanhenge!!!” JUST FANTASTIC!!! Now that should be a word in the National Spelling Bee!! https://youtu.be/VpVM63wzV9o
I can just see the Spelling Bee contestant hearing, "Manhattanhenge" and saying, "F-ck!!"
And then asking the judge, "Can I have the alternate pronunciations, parts of speech, definitions, can you please use the word in a sentence and WTF is the word's origin??!!"
So happy you enjoyed Ms. Murli's story Jane. Its funny you lived in Manhattan for such a long time and knew nothing of it, but I think it only started to gain traction as a "thing" well after you left.
i have a feeling you WILL go back for the one that only eats "expensive tinned food" ... how could you NOT want to plumb THAT mystery, all the compelling mystical allure of Manhattanhenge aside except of course for the fact that it should have a "d" in it somewhere....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
So funny! I wish it was because this cat is ultra-queenly and self-cherishing. The boring reality, however, is that Sondra can't eat dry food because she gets "impacted." Too much information? Haha sorry!
in a way, aren't we all just feral cats on Rikers Island waiting for our Gloria Murli to save us?
All I know is that when the end times come, I want Ms. Murli on my zombie squad.
"She didn't take any of the damn cats though," said Ms. Murli. It was the first time she’d cussed all day.”
HILARIOUS!!!! Most people who visit Rikers Island only come for the exhilarating and uplifting atmosphere of the place; at most they might return home with a prisoner in tow. Never a cat! A real shame! https://youtu.be/0hL-fpCsGR8
im more like a vintage guitar buried on shelf of pawn shop begging for new set of strings and the right set of expressive hands to appreciate....heh
LOL Such a vivid image Appleton King!
well needless to say the visual imagery would disabuse of any of the uhhhmmmm artistic "word-play" charms.....but you'll have that (wink)
Not me!! I'm married with children...I'm broken like a bucking bronco...completely and totally domesticated...I was a "feral cat" in high school and college, but that was beaten out of me long ago...I do love sushi, though
Great reporting on the cat lady of Rikers. I worked in their PR office in the late 1970’s -- around the time she began her career as a correction officer -- when the prison population was a fraction of today’s and the island far less built up. There was so much lawn you could spot pheasant there. Wasn’t aware of the cat population back then. It probably exploded along with the prison population. Wonder if there’s a correlation?
Interesting question Ralph! According to the Post article, there were about 500 cats on the Island in 2001, and 23,000 inmaates. Now there are about 300 cats and 7,000 inmates. So it seems more like a reverse correlation.
I can't believe you did PR for the DOC. What a crazy gig!
i know right??!!! like trying to market the wood that goes into those spring loaded small mousetraps as if they were maple used for "scrabble" letters
“I hope you enjoy the resulting story, even though it is sadly about cats and not dogs.”
ARE YOU CERTAIN THOSE AREN’T POSSUMS??!!!! Very common error!!
“I figured anyone who devotes their free time to herding wild cats on a notorious prison island is likely an interesting character.
No Duh, Anne!!! That goes without saying!!!
"But if you're not aggressive here, you're not going to survive," she said. "You can't be a wallflower and start crying. Doesn't work."
That’s been my mantra since I’ve joined the Café Anne community!!
JRB! LOL!
I don't know about you, but feral cats frighten me more than possums!
Of all the animals that I can think of, I think cats would much prefer being "domesticated" than "feral:" it just suits their personality better...cats are the "Marie Antoinette's" of the animal world..."Let them eat fish-cake!"
Remember to try to use *PMP! instead of LOL!
*Peed My Pants!"
WOW! I think Einstein found that correlation existed when he discovered "relativity."
Ralph -- I am envisioning a morning meeting with cronuts discussing how to improve the SEO of the DOC to improve image.
Anne!!! You remain one of my favorite (and perhaps #1) destinations on Substack. You are SO GOOD at this I wonder some times whether you pull off your mix of topics in the unconscious realm. Two topics that capture the very range of human behavior. (1) People who commit to an effort for decades to serve the city and manage the cat population. How do people gravitate to such??? (2) The impulsive human who must catch the solstice and store a blast of photographs on their smartphone that capture this fleeting moment.
Both of these behaviors are so cool and so different. I wonder if there are many who are drawn to both??? So many have been building monuments to the solstice for centuries. That burst of sun has remained relevant even though Stonehenge and Machu Picchu probably figured the Sun revolved around the Earth. None of it matters, it is just cool to look at!
Can't wait for next week.
Mr. Dolan thanks for pointing out this juxtoposition, which I did not notice! So yes, totally unconcious!
It would be fun to make a prison guard/Manhattanhenger Venn diagram. Will put on my to-do list!
You've activated my primitive brain -- great!!! I immediately figured Amazon algorithm points such a person to holsters for their sidearm and a holster for their phone to capture equinox photos. In both cases, the propensity to wear such items as fashion accessories is tied to the "notice me gene" a formerly recessive gene now made relevant by Tik-Tok and the Kardashians. Many years ago we were out at a dinner with friends. A 1960s muscle car show was in the metro. There was a classic mid-60s Pontiac with out of state plates parked prominently in front of the restaurant (notice me). At the bar was a man in stylized cowboy boots (notice me) and a holster with what looked like a Hollywood prop of a gun (notice me) as if he might square off with a Sergio Leone bandit.
Things keep changing but nothing ever changes.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT and it is fun to watch!!! I am sometimes envious of people who are nostalgic Anne. I am not particularly. More of a fan of assuming there's more new stuff to discover and correct what we got wrong.
I credit my wife with one of my favorite observations ever!!!!! Recently, some car companies dug up the nostalgia of two door muscle cars again from the 60s you could buy again. We sat in a black version of one with a dark gray interior and my wife remarked it is like sitting in a coal bin. Why would anyone want one of these??? Everytime I see someone driving one of the them I just smile and think coal bin.
My 30 year old son owns a 1970 Buick GTS clone. If he's behind you at a stoplight and you see the car in your rearview mirror you might think the Grim Reaper had arrived. There is no other way to describe the car other than "badass!"
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XcxvshL77f1KXmfolcgAdW7OQJPDAY5L/view?usp=drivesdk
fun video -- my first car had vent windows -- cool!
as for the pontiac car story and as counter-balance to that need for attention you mention and in a hopeful context: this weekend i chatted with a man of Finnish descent who grew up in a house at top of hill from where i stay in a trailer on lake superior in the upper peninsula...the house is one story and small and id never seen anybody there so engaged him immediately in conversation...tuurns out a dilapidated outbuilding next to it had been a gas pump and garage i this rural outpost until 1958. What he did NOT mention but another neighbor told me the next day was that when the Ford motor co. got ready to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2003 it tracked the 20 millionth model-A ford down to his father's possession (his dad typical of the time drove down to Detroit in the 40's and bought it for his own father at not much of a premium for $550 and it was photographed in that garage and handed down to the gentleman i met who still has it in nearby in his late mother's home (his mother had cooked and cleaned for the original Henry Ford at his beloved Huron Mt. club summer home!) and never talks about it much but has offered to show it to me as well as employ me to do some odd jobs....there are still people who retain humility and self respect and hmmmmm not all of them are Scandinavian immigrants lol
Great story!! My father owned a beat up Model A when I was just a twinkle in mom's eyes. The brakes were bad and he would have to use the law of gravity often to come to a stop. In fact Dad rounding a corner too fast ( must of had a tailwind that day) bounced off the side of a Cadillac occupied by a Mafioso named Pete, couldn't stop and kept rolling! It's a good thing all Model A's were black; you seen one, you seen 'em all!
ahhh this is great and evidence how one topic (in us "writers" anyways) can lead to drawing out of memory.....i must say its too bad your dad didnt have the advantage of the 20,000,000th model off the line because damned if the great great grandson of Ford didn't sign a 10 year lease to tour the car around the country in 2003 COMPLETELY REFURBISHED can you imagine!@!!
local guy in Lanse at the time was hired for part of it and in the process sure enough they found the tell tale # and it was alot of digits!!!...wonder whatever became of ole pete???
PETE?? I'm so glad you asked: Pete and his wife lived right next door to us on Lansing Avenue, on the Eastside of Youngstown, Ohio, when Youngstown was the "Murder Capital of the USA," and "Little New York," because of the gangster activity. Pete was in charge of a "franchise" of whore-houses and his wife was the Madame(s) of them all.
Well, one night, as Dad told the story, the big-boss, "Moosie" Caputo, paid Pete a visit and about an hour later Pete had a heart attack and died!
Which brings up the story of how Dad knew Moosie...Dad, in his adolescence, was a caddie at the only municipal course in the city, the Henry Stambaugh Golf Course, referred by my Dad as "The Muny."
Anyhow, my dad and his teenage buddies in the caddy-pool were having lunch outside on the lawn when Moosie Caputo pulled up and jumped out of the car with a gun in his hand and was going to shoot a caddy named Don Cannatti; it seems word was out that Don Cannatti took the "brass-knucks" (that was Dad's slang for brass knuckles) to Moosie Caputo's brother the night before and Moosie was going to kill Don on the spot! My dad and all the other caddies were cryng and begging Moosie not to shoot Don; they said, "Moosie, you got the wrong guy!" Somehow they convinced him and Moosie drove off in pursuit of another caper...
You see, King (can I call you that??), my Dad was on the fringes of it all his entire life; his Uncle Sam owned a bookie joint on the square in Downtown Youngstown where Dad was a runner as a teen and in those days you couldn't spit without hitting a gangster. Dad was a poker player of renown, so he was immersed in the culture, right up to the line, but never (Ok, rarely) crossed it.
What a great story Appleton. I am a NY native but became a happy transplant to the Midwest (MN) around 30 years ago. While there are many things that shape communities and regions, I have no doubt that the large Scandinavian community has shaped MN into a very unique place. I highly doubt I would count a couple of Finnish-Americans amongst good friends if it had not for taking that fork in the road. One of my book club members owns a Model A and drives it occasionally. He is a "car guy" and I think he also has a muscle car or two :) Jerry is a humble guy :)
MN. has ever been a fascination for me and as yet unexplored!! temptingly close in this brief discovery of the western Upper Peninsula (in third year of part-time) and in fact the Ford's owner had a friend visiting from over by Brainerd and of course i wanted it to be the boundary waters lol and his story of Finnish heritage (he grew up here in the settlement of Hermann) is astounding. His grandfather came from Finland at age 12 alone escaping domestic turmoil and ended up raising family, building a log house and working jobs in the forest and for local ford mills...i found the old homestead with his directions recently and the surname resonates here: "Lahti" is Fiinnish for "bay" and he ended up surrounded by many of Superior's wondrous bays.
At Ellis island they removed the first part which meant "gold"....the town i met them in is Aura the Swedish word for "plow"....i always thought the midwest was ohio i got ALOT to learn!!!
My writing often meanders about life here. I have family in Michigan that takes in the UP on occasion. The Brainerd Lakes region is FANTASTIC if you decide to explore. MN is VERY DIFFERENT for the Midwest. While the growth is modest I believe it is the only state north of the Mason Dixon line that simply grows. Every other state in the North has been losing population for 50+ years it seems. During my work career the number of regional transplants escaping rural life for the progressiveness of the Twin Cities is durable. I think all of the state universities in WI, ND, SD, IA and to a lesser degree MI and IL gravitate and relocate here. Extremely diverse economy and remains on the progressive side it seems so it is the only game in town for a young person. Not sure that is always good. I have a brother in MI -- I always think of Terry Nichols and the shadow group kidnapping a governor --- eek. It seems the uncertainty and pivots in the economy have created a weird unrest between urban and rural. MN spends an enormous amount to ensure urban-rural equity in education. It never seems to be a battle as it is everywhere else. After COVID our biggest problem was a $17B surplus.
I am avid into genealogy. My best rename story is a relative of my wife came in as Baaregaard and became Burger. I think they were Danish. The BWCA and Quetico are OOTW.
"That burst of sun has remained relevant even though Stonehenge and Machu Picchu probably figured the Sun revolved around the Earth. None of it matters, it is just cool to look at!"
Great, great analogy!!
It is the magic of Anne that gets our minds working and harkening back to the dark recesses.
Anne is not only the Microsoft Excel Tsarina of the Spreadsheet, she is the magician of the stimulating "idea." You are too, Mark!!
Today I wrote about Carl Sagan -- he was good at getting us to think about stuff too -- I am proudest that I eventually connected Carl with Led Zeppelin -- something neither Carl nor Robert Plant would have expected I suspect :)
That connection was envisioned long ago by Albert Einstein and his theory about "Spooky Action At A Distance!"
https://www.space.com/35676-einstein-spooky-action-starlight-quantum-entanglement.html#:~:text=Entanglement%20is%20what%20Einstein%20referred,separated%20by%20a%20great%20distance.
I think Robert Plant just liked J.R.R. Tolkien :)
The high point of my career at DOC came when correction officers were recruited to drive children to school during a school bus drivers strike. I landed the front page of the Daily News with a photo of a correction officer gingerly helping small children into a prison van. It was all downhill from there.
LOL (which makes me a terrible person?) I'm afraid to imagine, Mr. Gardner...
https://www.correctionhistory.org/html/chronicl/nycdoc/1979schoolbusstrike/rikerschoolbuses.html
Ohhhh I wonder what kind of candy?
Not for the first time I find my brain turning your stories into a Tom Waits song - I can almost hear Ribot’s solo on “The Cat Queen of Riker’s Island” …
Ms. Murli IS a Tom Waits song for sure!
"night cats at tha diner"!!!
Might be easier to adapt to the Redbone hit from 1971:
https://youtu.be/UyNYL2lUSMs
FUNNY!!!!!
Thank you Jason and Anne for helping illuminate our very strange Manhattanhenge tradition! I'm always a little sad to miss it. But never sad enough to actually travel to Manhattan to see it😂
LOL same here Jillian. But I'm FOR SURE going to check it out in July, unless I don't!
Anne!! PMP!! "FOR SURE going to check it out, unless I don't"
lol
Fascinating story about the cats- there are amazing people out there doing wonderful work for animals! Thank you for including the links on how to donate - I'm a huge cat lover and will be helping them via their Chewy wishlist
Oh that's great to hear! Thank you for your generosity Renee! And thank you for subscribing as well. Your surprise item is in the mail! :)
Anne! "I hope you enjoy the resulting story, even though it is sadly about cats and not dogs." First Jordan Peterson, and now this? The outrage!
So funny, BA! I lost a LOT of subscribers with the Jordan Peterson. So far, no fallout on the cats thing though. I think because the cat people know, deep in their hearts, that cats are the devil's fingertips.
I know no such thing 😤
PMP!!!
Anne, I just read your story about Gloria Murli, and I thought to myself, I gotta help out! So I went to Chewy and I sent Riker's Island pet Rescue $100 for cat food and litter and just in solidarity.
Wow! What a generous donation Therry!! Thank you! This makes me sooooo happy. :)
Aw, Anne, it was YOU and that Serious Big Cat whose picture you posted! Even rescuers got to be calling him Sir!
He's a beauty, isn't he? I wish I'd had the space to post more kitty photos. There were some many beautiful and also very funny cats in the trailer.
That is such a noble gesture!! it really is!
I, myself, have signed up to help rehabilitate the prisoners by having a gang of them to my house everyday this summer to learn the trade of landscaping...they will be dropped off each morning and picked up after sundown...
you can imagine how excited my wife is over the news ( I told her, "Remember snitches get stitches!")...in fact the entire neighborhood is rallying behind the idea...at least I THINK that is what the rally is for???
https://youtu.be/0QO8spFnlSE
ANNE! JASON! What a brilliant piece on Manhattanhenge - thank you so much for answering my questions! 🥳 Such a thrilling read - and gosh, that PICTURE!
As for the Cat Queen of Rikers Island - wow. Your and Gloria's words are a great lesson around life, compassion and humanity. "Her weapon of choice? "A sense of humor," she said." 🙌
Oh I'm so glad you enjoyed it Rebecca. Thanks for a great question. I've always wanted to know more myself and felt vaugely ridiculous about being a Manhattanhedgignoramous.
Happy you enjoyed Ms. Murli as well. She's a cool lady!
I'm so thrilled that you found such a fabulous Manhattanhengehead to share the wonder of the spectacle, Anne! And of course you've still got July to check it out for yourself! 🌞 No taking snaps from the middle of the street though, eh?
So glad you asked this question, Rebecca! It's such a quirky tradition--perfect for Anne's newsletter.
Thanks, Jillian! I felt it sounded right up Anne's street - well, the streets illuminated by Manhattanhenge, that is! 🤣
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want “Manhattanhenge Day” set aside as a National Holiday…in fact, “Manhattanhenge Eve” should be the party-day that the day before Thanksgiving is!!! Make the Ball drop in Times Square for “Manhattanhenge Eve”!!
YESSSSS! 🙌
“Manhattanhenge is a time, twice a year, that the sun rises and sets at pretty much the same angle as the grid streets of Manhattan. So if one were to stand on 14th, 23rd, 42nd, 34th or 57th Street and look straight down east to west, the sunset will be framed perfectly by the Manhattan skyscape.”
OMG!!!!!!!! If I take away one memory from the weekly mirth and merriment of the Café Anne Newsletter, it will be of “Manhattanhenge!!!” JUST FANTASTIC!!! Now that should be a word in the National Spelling Bee!! https://youtu.be/VpVM63wzV9o
OMG I love the idea of the kid who gets "Manhattanhenge" and then slowly trying to puzzle it out...
I can just see the Spelling Bee contestant hearing, "Manhattanhenge" and saying, "F-ck!!"
And then asking the judge, "Can I have the alternate pronunciations, parts of speech, definitions, can you please use the word in a sentence and WTF is the word's origin??!!"
So fun to imagine!
Oooooooh, I love her!! Thanks for sharing this beautiful story. And I somehow knew nothing of Manhattanhenge!! So thank you for enlightening me.
So happy you enjoyed Ms. Murli's story Jane. Its funny you lived in Manhattan for such a long time and knew nothing of it, but I think it only started to gain traction as a "thing" well after you left.
Anne, I really enjoyed your writing on Ms. Murli and your curiosity to tease it out with questions!
So glad you enjoyed Nick! Thank you!
i have a feeling you WILL go back for the one that only eats "expensive tinned food" ... how could you NOT want to plumb THAT mystery, all the compelling mystical allure of Manhattanhenge aside except of course for the fact that it should have a "d" in it somewhere....grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
So funny! I wish it was because this cat is ultra-queenly and self-cherishing. The boring reality, however, is that Sondra can't eat dry food because she gets "impacted." Too much information? Haha sorry!
i think you may suspect by now i am in no way allergic to tmi.....its like tinned food!!!
I recently came across the Daily News front page in our basement. Does that make me a hoarder? I’ll send you a photo.
Deal!!!