Teaching the Controversy

79th St and Central Park West, New York

The plaque says, “Addressing the Statue,” and notes that while some love the historic statue, others abhor the clear subservient stance of the Native and African American.

In fact, the plaque does not so much address the statue’s problematic nature as leverage it to invite visitors to enter the museum “to learn more,” one of the natural long-term outcomes of Ronald Reagan’s charge to mediate everything in the marketplace.

A few months ago the statue was surrounded by stanchions to keep anti-racists at bay. Evidently the Museum has calculated that zealousness to have abated.

White House Planter

87th St and Central Park West, New York

There’s an apartment building on the corner here which styles itself “the White House,” I’m not sure why. Every year I promise myself I’m not going to post pretty pictures of flowers – not my thing – and every year, as we emerge from the slough of Winter I demur, especially following this plague year. These were in the planter in front of the White House.