History. Everywhere.

Twice a week I pass these Bryant Park beauties on my way to the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, where I am currently having lots of fun doing historical research using J.H. French's 1860 Gazetteer of the State of New York (which you can access for free at archive.org, if you're into that kind of stuff.) The first time I saw these horses rearing their heads by the 6th Avenue park entrance, I thought of Hector, the Tamer of Horses - or Breaker of Horses, it depends upon which translation of The Iliad you hold close to your heart - but it turns out these are scaled-down models of a hundred foot Falkirk, Scotland sculpture entitled "The Kelpies." Mythological, water-borne horses, Kelpies were said to haunt the loch and river waterways, transforming into lovely women to lure men to their deaths. But the sculptor, Andy Fox, by using native work horses as his models, and Scottish iron in tribute to the glory of its industrial past, created these images to pay homage to Scotland's history and resilience, which in light of the vote for Scottish independence in September, holds great resonance within the UK right about now.

History binds us, ties us, to the past and the present.  Look up.  It's everywhere.

For more information on "The Kelpies" follow this link:
http://www.thekelpies.co.uk/

Money. That Clinking Clanking Sound.

Too many of us have not yet received the promised financial assistance from New York State via the New York Rising program, and this demonstration in Island Park, NY  protesting the snail's pace of recovery, was held two weeks ago, concurrently with our counterparts in Brooklyn. It was bad enough that FEMA's help in the direct aftermath of Hurricane Sandy was arbitrary and inconsistent; the wounds have only multiplied 18 months later as debt increases, hope wanes, and government incompetence has driven so many of us to the brink of despair. We soldier on, wading through snarls of red tape and the complaisance of our elected officials to force action for those homeless with a mortgage, or for those seeking some sort of reimbursement for home repairs that drained bank accounts dry.