Staten Island Advance Plugs Forgotten Borough (and its blogger)

Staten Island home owners: Cynthia von Buhler and Tevah Platt in front of Cynthia's house. Photo from an article about Staten Island's North Shore in Japion, a New York Japanese newspaper.
ON THE WEB
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Staten Island Advance
by Tevah Platt

Cynthia von Buhler, an artist with profoundly gothic sensibilities, was bound to fall under the spell of Staten Island's old, desolate and abandoned places.

House-hunting in 2005, she discovered the borough and snatched up an Iberian castle at the pinnacle of St. George.

Her "quest for a turret" made the New York Times' real estate section.

And ever since, Ms. von Buhler has been singing a siren song, luring New Yorkers willing to sail to the North Shore.

She's chatted with reporters with the Japanese weekly Japion, brought in adventurers from Forgotten NY, and, for the local and foreign crowd, maintains an elegant blog featuring Staten Island's cultural offerings: Forgottenborough.com.

In what was formerly titled the "Prodigal Borough" blog, Ms. von Buhler maintains the voice of an insider who is also an outsider, as in the tag line: "We took the ferry to Staten Island and decided to stay."

But notably, Staten Island has decided to stay with Ms. von Buhler.

Since buying a second home in pastoral Connecticut, she spends more time in New England than she does in New Amsterdam, yet she continues to blog and to tout Staten Island's North Shore.

Ms. von Buhler, who helped found St. George's SHOW Gallery, recently completed the children's book, "But Who Will Bell the Cats?" (Houghton Mifflin). She is among the artists to be featured at the upcoming Council on the Arts and Humanities for Staten Island (COAHSI) "Mapping Staten Island" Gala at the New York Container Terminal on Oct. 2, with a public exhibit Oct. 3.

Visit the blog at: forgottenborough.com and her new book's Web site: www.butwhowillbellthecats.com

Link to the article HERE.