Jul 16th, 2009
I know it’s not Halloween or anything, but I’m still thinking about city-vs.-country scariness, and this idea (thanks Jen) that in the country, no one can hear you scream. Another myth on the On The Media myth-busting episode (which I recommend) is an investigation of the famous murder of Kitty Genovese in 1964 Queens, which, [...]
Jun 24th, 2009
As the Mythographer prepares to visit her hometown in Maine this summer, she’s reminded of a conversation she had maybe 12 years ago with her college roommate, a native New Yorker. At this point, I was a Mainer planning to visit New York for the summer. And the two of us were talking about which [...]
Apr 14th, 2009
Three of the Mythographer’s favorite words are “according to legend,” especially when they are memorialized in bronze on a historical plaque. And such a plaque can be found in the Mythographer’s backyard, otherwise known as New York City’s Inwood Hill Park, where it is affixed to a boulder in the corner of a large field surrounded by paved walkways. “According to legend,” the plaque reads, “on this site of the principal Manhattan Indian village, Peter Minuit in 1626, purchased Manhattan Island for trinkets and beads then worth about 60 guilders.”