Thursday, September 16, 2010

Battle of the Kittehs: Louis vs. Ella

Ladies and Gentlemen!  Fleming International brings you the all-out, hard-hitting, brawl of the century!  Two competitors will battle for superiority of sleeping spots, prime petting position, and complete dominance of the domestic domain!

Let's introduce our fighters:

In the red corner, weighing in at 12 lbs, and reigning Heavyweight Champion of the Apartment, Louis "I Was Here First" Cat.


In the blue corner, weighing just 5 lbs and barely qualifying for this class, Ella "Smaller and Faster" Kitten.


These two combatants were brought together originally to live peacefully in their shared apartment.  But that peace was soured when Louis balked at Ella's brash behavior in making herself comfortably at home in his space.  The two squared off and quickly agreed to a multi-bout tournament to determine, once and for all, which cat would reign supreme.

Louis Cat, born February 2009, is the Brute of Brooklyn.  His style is direct and forceful, right in line with a typical feline fighter.  His favorite tactic is to use his front paws to tap his opponent on the head, as if to toy with them, then pin them down with his body.  He'll give chase if he has to, but prefers the pounce-and-kick method to running around needlessly.

Ella Kitten, born May 2010, is the newcomer and is challenging Louis for the title for the first time. She's fast and light, and makes full use of the tight spaces around her to gain a tactical position.  Though inexperienced, she has a natural talent for flanking her opponents.  Her strategy of running and hiding may paint her as the weak one, but when the claws come out, she's a whole lot of sharp.

Who will take home the Champion belt?  Will experience and brute force overcome speed and agility?  Will the undercat uproot the reigning Champion?  The two competitors will take the ring each day until they determine how to coexist in the same space.  Daily bouts will go on until the referees call an end and split them up to rest for the next match.  Eventually, though no one knows how long, Louis and Ella will declare a victor or a truce.  This commentator is hoping for the latter, though I'm sure we're in for a heck of a show.

Images: Naddya Chavez

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The Last Lock

I've been putting off this post.  Perhaps because I never really like it when things end.  Perhaps because I've been awfully busy keeping the two kitties from killing each other.

The last Saturday evening in August, Lynn and I headed up to the George Washington Bridge to find the last lock in the Key to the City project.  We had almost stopped by this particular lock after running around the Bronx, but in the end were too tired to continue and really wanted to head up to the GWB around sunset.  So it was left as the last thing on our list.

The bridge itself is quite remarkable in its own right, built between 1927 and 1931 and becoming the longest suspension bridge in the world for some time.  With 14 lanes of traffic (two levels), it's still the bridge with the highest vehicular capacity in the world.  The chief engineer, Othmar Ammann, built six major bridges in and around NYC, including the Verrazano, Whitestone, and Triborough bridges, which I cross often going to and from Brooklyn.  The architect of the GWB was Cass Gilbert, who I always seem to run into.  Gilbert had originally planned to encase the towers of the GWB in granite with his favorite Beaux Arts flourishes, and even put a restaurant at the top of the east tower.  However, the Great Depression delayed these plans, and eventually everyone came to love the now-iconic "bare bones" steel lattice.  They do make the bridge immediately distinguishable from any other suspension bridge.

When we arrived in the neighborhood of Washington Heights on the Manhattan side of the bridge the sun had already sunk below the horizon, but the twilight colors still stretched across the sky.  We walked up the ramp onto the pedestrian walkway and came to a gate left wide open.  This gate held the lock we were looking for at one time, but I'd heard long ago that the lock was missing and the gate was left open until midnight anyway.  But we weren't really there to open anything this time.  We were there to enjoy a beautiful view of New York from high up on the span of the bridge and the wonderful summer evening air.

It seemed natural that the end of our month-long trek to every corner of NYC should end here, with a beautiful skyline vista and a sunset to see it off.  It seemed natural that this grand tour of my home should end on the bridge that brought me in when I moved here permanently.  In many ways, this whole project has re-acquainted me with the city.  It's broken down my routine destinations and habits in favor of places I'd never been, or sometimes had even heard of.  We need that every once in a while: the chance to see our home from a different perspective and find new appreciation and astonishment in what's been there all along.

I'm grateful for the journey this project provided, and even more so for the people who shared it along the way.  Thanks Julie, for bestowing the key upon me in Times Square.  Thanks Lynn, Andy, Sandy, Sarah, and Julie (different Julie) for coming along for the ride.  And thanks Julie (yet a third), Tom, and Rachel for being game to run around the city with strangers and having a great time.


View Key to the City - GWB - 8/28/10 in a larger map