This is Edward Hopper’s New York, the emphasis is on the possessive, and for all its audience-friendly fare, this is a more challenging show about his rule of the city.  In paintings we know well and many we don’t, as well as some insightful works on paper and writing, the artist long labeled a realist becomes the architect of his own personal fantasy metropolis.  He almost completely dispenses with street life and traffic, ignoring skyscrapers and the Brooklyn Bridge, and inserting imaginary buildings where he pleases; he peeks into private homes from high rises and overlooks his own neighborhood from the rooftops.  He turns offices, restaurants and movie theaters into stages for just one or two actors.  He paints windows and shop fronts without glass, as if he could just reach in and touch the people and things inside.  In a revealing section of the exhibit, Hopper even takes on infamous urban planner Robert Moses over the remodeling of Washington Square Park.  For most of his life and career, Hopper resided at 3 Washington Square North, and judging from his correspondence with Moses and others, he seems to have viewed the park as his own backyard.  He first wrote an offended letter to Moses in 1936, complaining about the condition of the lawns and fencing that blocked the park’s greenery.  He later sent him a second, more urgent letter, fearing eviction from an expanding New York University, and received a condescending reply, suggesting he take his concerns up with the school chancellor.  Displayed near the letters are watercolors and works on paper made of Hopper’s roof with Washington Square in the background.  Air shafts, water towers, and chimneys crowd into these images, merging into a kind of surrogate skyline—a private mini-city.  “Hopper’s identification with this view signals his personal interest in this place, claiming not only the space he rented within the building but everything he could see from that vantage point,” writes exhibition curator Kim Conaty , in her catalog essay.  Organized by Conaty (who heads the museum’s drawings and prints department) with senior curatorial assistant Melinda Lang, the exhibition of around 200 objects interweaves recently acquired archival material with an impressive number of important paintings on loan from museums across the United States.  (One of the exhibition’s many revelations is that some of Hopper’s New York paintings are on view in other cities; “New York Office” is in the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and “Sunlight on Brownstones” is in the Wichita Art Museum.)  Hopper himself came to New York from the suburb of Nyack across the Hudson, commuting by ferry to art school before moving to East 59th Street in 1908 and finally settling in his longtime home on Washington Square in 1913.  His early oil sketches show the city as he saw it from the water, with huge ferry docks and a passing tugboat emitting smoke.  He was fascinated by bridges, particularly the Queensboro (as they were called in Hopper’s day) and Manhattan Bridges, which opened shortly after he moved to the city, as well as the Williamsburg and Macombs Dam Bridges already in use.  He depicted their steel girders and cantilevers and the view from their spans:  the grassy stretch of Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island), the tops of the apartment buildings jutting out over the Delancey Street ramp.  Liana Kramer  See Edward Hopper’s Fantasy Island at the Whitney until March 5, 2023 a t the Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, Manhattan; (212) 570-3600; whitney.org  https://localtoday.news/nj/point-pleasant-beach-boardwalk-named-one-of-njs-great-places-93336.html   

A fisherman from the U.K. caught a massive carp that looked like an irregularly sized goldfish in a lake in France earlier this month.  The bright orange fish weighed in at 67.4 lbs and was appropriately named The Carrot, according to Bluewater Lakes, which manages a lake in the Champagne region.  The angler who caught the fish, Andy Hackett, said it took a 25-minute battle to pull the giant carp out of the water, according to BBC News.  "You're gonna need a bigger bowl," was everyone's first thought, Hackett told BBC News.  The lake is known for its massive carp.  The Carrot is a hybrid of a leather carp and a koi carp and was introduced to the lake 20 years ago, according to BBC News.  Caitlin O’Kane  See video at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uk-fisherman-andy-hackett-giant-goldfish-the-carrot-67-pounds-bluewater-lakes-france/   

Earth now weighs six ronnagrams:  New metric prefixes voted in by Daniel Lawler  Say hello to ronnagrams and quettameters:  International scientists gathered in France voted on Nov. 18, 2022 for new metric prefixes to express the world's largest and smallest measurements, prompted by an ever-growing amount of data.  It marks the first time in more than three decades that new prefixes have been added to the International System of Units (SI), the agreed global standard for the metric system.  Joining the ranks of well-known prefixes like kilo and milli are ronna and quetta for the largest numbers—and ronto and quecto for the smallest.  The change was voted on by scientists and government representatives from across the world attending the 27th General Conference on Weights and Measures, which governs the SI and meets roughly every four years at Versailles Palace, west of Paris.  https://phys.org/news/2022-11-earth-ronnagrams-metric-prefixes-voted.html   

Known to be the oldest consecutively run footrace in the world, the 127^th YMCA Turkey Trot is an 8k Thanksgiving Day tradition that attracts nearly 14,000 people of all ages and running abilities to the City of Buffalo each year.  Whether walking, jogging, or competitively running, the YMCA Turkey Trot offers all a high-spirited, fun-filled way to kick off your Thanksgiving holiday while supporting a great cause.  A variety of pre-race and race day volunteer opportunities are also available.  YMCA Turkey Trotters play a vital role in helping youth, families, and seniors connect with the resources they need to learn, grow, and thrive.  Proceeds raised from the Turkey Trot help fund vital YMCA programs and services that empower youth, improve community health, and provide support to our community’s most vulnerable.  YMCA Buffalo Niagara is a charitable community based organization committed to providing programs designed to build a healthy spirit, mind, and body for all.  https://stepoutbuffalo.com/event/127th-ymca-turkey-trot/   

The Return of the Wild Turkey by Jill Lepore  In New England, the birds were once hunted nearly to extinction; now they’re swarming the streets like they own the place.  Sometimes turnabout is fowl play.  Published in the print edition of the November 28, 2022 issue of The New Yorker, with the headline “Squawk on the Wild Side.”  https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/28/the-return-of-the-wild-turkey   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2596  November 25, 2022