Summer in NYC, 2010

NYC is replacing the old broken slats on the Coney Island boardwalk with new ones. The uneven boardwalk is such a big part of Coney Island's charms; I worried it would look too new but they've taken the trouble of having matching the old and the new and you almost can't see the difference - the new wood just has a more reddish hue and is even "sustainably harvested."

The Wonder Wheel is still there though, thank goddess. I've never actually ridden it, but I'm glad it's there, a testament to a time when toys were mechanical and had gears you could see physically do their work, not just computer chips whose machinations few of us understand.

Whilst in New York I had the chance to go to the Cloisters for the first time, which was incredible. It's a museum fashioned from an old European monastery and full of medieval art. Leading up to the museum is an incredible heather garden, which is full of all sorts of lavender.

and beautiful flowers:
The real highlight was seeing for the first time The Unicorn Tapestries in person. I'm not sure what it meant but it looked to me like a fable of the clash between paganism and Christianity... and probably was supposed to be about the sacrifice that Jesus made but I saw it as a commentary on the subjugation of paganism and with it that is beautiful and natural and free...
Another highlight was going to one of my favorite places in NYC: the American Folk Art Museum, which had a great exhibit on folk art only by women. One cool piece was a quilt by a woman who, before she had the right to vote, used her quilts to state which political party or candidate she supported. Apparently, the rooster was the symbol of her party at the time. What I liked about this, apart from its brilliant style - is that it shows the myriad ways that women throughout the ages have found to express their intelligence and political beliefs - to participate in a democracy that had yet to acknowledge the value of their contributions, and wouldn't do the same for black women for many years to come...

Close-up
And then there's just beautiful crewel embroidery...

And crazy tripped out geometry.
Close-up

And who says women aren't good at math?

from flowers to BP and back again

There is a bug in the machine.

According to A People's History of American Empire, by Howard Zinn, British Petroleum was established after the CIA and British government orchestrated a coup to overthrow Prime Minister Mossadegh in Iran in 1951 for nationalizing Iran's oil. In his statement, Mossadegh said, "My only crime is that I nationalized Iran's oil and removed the network of colonialism and the political and economic influence of the greatest empire on earth." Immediately following the coup, the Anglo-Iranian oil company was renamed British Petroleum. U.S. Oil got 40% cut.