I like zoos. A lot. It probably results from living on the top floor in an apartment building facing the Bronx Zoo as a young child. Looking through the apartment window you could see the zoo. The lions are a much better alarm clock than the wind up mechanical ones of the 1950s. My mom took us to the zoo every day for a walk (that was in an era when zoos had free admission). The elephants were my faves and I would always show them my new toys and clothes. An ice cream on a stick was part of the journey. And yes, I have seen a duckbill platypus hundreds of times.

I know it is not politically correct to like zoos. Oh well, there are times when I am not politically correct.

I like to go to zoos on Thanksgiving morning. It seems like there are about 50 people in the zoo (you can sometimes walk for many minutes without seeing another visitor). You can get right up to the windows to view the animals. You can take pictures you would never get in the usual crowds.

Zoos are the anti-“cable tv news channels.” On Thanksgiving if you go to the zoo you can ignore the other kind of Fox. That species is even less politically correct than I am.