“My God, look,” she said, pointing to Lang. “He’s in a suit!”
Lang stopped folding and looked up at her.
“It’s just . . . to see an artist all clean and dressed, and in a suit,” she sputtered.
Lang smiled and said, “Well, my kimono was at the cleaners.” He resumed folding.
“You’re good at the origami,” the woman said. “Have you done other jobs?”
Lang said, “Yes, in fact, I have. For years, I was a physicist.”
The woman grabbed her husband’s arm again and gasped, “Oh, my God!” While she was recovering, two men ambled up. “Do people, like, pay you?” one of them asked. Before Lang could answer, the other guy, brandishing a baby lamb chop, asked if he knew how to make the Statue of Liberty.
“Yes, I do,” Lang said. “I’m not going to make it right now, but I do know how to do it.” He put aside the piece he was working on, and took a new sheet of paper from the stack. He creased it, flipped the paper over, creased it again, lined up the edges, smoothed the sides together, pinched it here and there, and tugged on one edge. He did this with quick, meticulous movements, his hands crossing back and forth over the sheet as if they were tracing a melody. Suddenly, the sheet of paper crumpled and then opened into a shape—a tiny violinist, sawing away at a violin.
“That’s just crazy, man,” the guy holding the lamb chop said. “I mean, wow.”
So there, we’re officially designating origami as the cool trend of 2007. (We reserve the right to amend this at anytime.) Take an origami class to show your friends how ahead of the curve you are and check out more classes at the Y and Makor starting in March and April.
Remember the old schoolyard challenge of 
