[Image description: two green frogs are sitting on leaves, one above the other. Their skin looks somewhat translucent and fades from a bright green at the top of their heads to yellow at their toes. Their eyes are bulbous and white with black vein-like markings surrounding horizontal pupil slits.]
Stella the cat started her journalism career as an intern at The Village Voice twelve years ago. Following a short stint as a stringer at Newsday, the kitty wordsmith found a home as art critic for Time Out New York in 2011. Five years into what she’s long told friends was her dream job, Stella is starting to burn out.
Friends and co-workers say it’s starting to show in the cat’s work. An audit of her reviews of gallery shows over the past five years shows that her earlier pieces tended to be upbeat and positive. More recent reviews, however, are often biting, sarcastic, and spiritless.
“Stella’s probably been to, I dunno, 1,500 art openings at this point,” said Time Out assistant events editor Nicole Thackery. “She’s seen a lot of great art, but a lot of really bad stuff, too.”
Thackery thinks that all the bad stuff is starting to get to Stella.
“We’ve talked about maybe letting her take a sabbatical to work on some book projects she’s been kicking around,” said Thackery. “You know, clear her head, let her rediscover what she initially loved about this beat.”
[image description: Stella, a light orange cat, is sitting on a sidewalk next to a simple chalk drawing of a cat. Stella is looking over her shoulder directly into the camera and appears weary and unamused by the crude artwork.]
#NationalParkWeek is finally here! Go angling on the San Juan River or windsurfing at Lake Heron. http://www.nps.gov/npweek/ #FindYourPark #scenic
[image description: Two separate photographs, as vertical panels. The first shows several people fishing in small boats on the San Juan River and one in the foreground fishing off a dock. All of them are wearing long sleeves and hats, and facing away from the camera, making most identifying features indistinguishable. The person nearest the camera has short, light brown hair. The second photo shows a windsurfer on Lake Heron, with a red sail. The person is far enough from the camera that gender, age, and ethnicity cannot be determined.]
Fibromyangela 