Attempted Bloggery: nest

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Sunday, February 22, 2026

My Entries in the Moment Cartoon Caption Contest for Winter 2026

Moment magazine's Cartoon Caption Contest for the Winter 2026 issue anticipates spring. One elderly, Orthodox man's shtreimel has a bird's nest up top and a younger man wearing a similar hat comments. According to the good folks at Wikipedia, a shtreimel "is a fur hat worn by some Ashkenazi Jewish men, mainly members of Hasidic Judaism, on Shabbat and Jewish holidays and other festive occasions." The drawing is by cartoonist Benjamin Schwartz, a keen observer of people, hats, and nature. My captions appear below.

"Shmuel, your shtreimel shows it to be shpring."
"Humane, yes, but it doesn't count as a mitzvah."
"Where can I get some feygl for MY shtreimel, Feivel?"
"We never use the hat check but if we do we leave a tip."

A mitzvah is a commandment, but commonly it's used to mean a good deed. Feygl, in Yiddish, are birds. No Orthodox man would ever check his hat. What was I thinking?

March 24, 2026 Update: The Finalists

July 4, 2026 Update: The Winner

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Sunday, October 1, 2023

Bird's Nest in the City: Peter de Sève Proposed New Yorker Cover Art

Back in 2004, a red-tailed hawk named Pale Male and his mate at the time Lulu made headlines in New York City and beyond when their nest was removed from an upscale Fifth Avenue apartment building. The co-op received a lot of negative press. The board soon reversed itself and made provisions that allowed the birds to build a new nest. That episode was in all likelihood the inspiration for a New Yorker cover proposal by illustrator Peter de Sève. The rough was not accepted by the magazine, although it did appear in the 2009 monograph A Sketchy Past: The Art of Peter de Sève. The original art was sold on eBay in a charity auction in late 2017.

Peter de Sève
eBay listing ended December 23, 2017

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Original-de-Seve-drawing-for-unpublished-New-Yorker-cover-to-benefit-Ink-Well-/322949793001?nma=true&si=YQGb25QThn5Fxe78BW8tTy6VzZY%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Peter de Sève
eBay item description

Peter de Sève
eBay bid history
It seems the winning bidder left two separate bids high enough to win two days apart.

"The Legend of Pale Male" Trailer

Note: Readers in possession of original art by Peter de Sève are encouraged to submit images to Attempted Bloggery.

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Monday, May 18, 2020

My Entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #710

Shh! Don't disturb my entry in The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest #710 for March 18, 2020. The drawing is by Julia Suits.

"He does too know we're here."

May 25, 2020 Update: The Finalists

June 1, 2020 Update: I voted with Chicago.

June 15, 2020 Update: The Winner

Note: In last week's Caption Contest, cartoonist P. C. Vey summoned the elevator from hell. I suppose my caption wasn't hot enough. Take a ride down (not down memory lane, just down) with Contest #709.

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