The Newtown Pentacle

Astoria, Queens rules.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Having sense enough not to schedule any walking tours against the Jewish holiday last weekend allowed me to have an actual day off last Saturday. Our Lady of the Pentacle and I decided to take a stroll around the neighborhood, soon finding ourselves nearby Astoria Park. Having company such as Our Lady along on my perambulations is a pleasant change to my normally lonely round, although one does have to slow his gait. Our Lady doesn’t dawdle, instead I walk preternaturally fast.

from wikipedia

A loner is a person who avoids or does not actively seek human interaction or prefers to be alone. There are many reasons for solitude, intentional or otherwise, and “loner” does not imply a specific cause. Intentional reasons include spiritual and religious considerations or personal philosophies. Unintentional reasons involve temperament, being highly sensitive, having more extreme forms of shyness, or various mental disorders. The modern term “loner” can be used with a negative connotation in the belief that human beings are social creatures and those that do not participate are deviant.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Yom Kippur is one of those holidays I’ve never understood. “Day of Atonement” and all. If I need to atone and account for my actions to some sort of extra dimensional super being who invisibly observes all that I do in minute detail, it will be after I’m dead and am standing in front of some supernatural court. Also, I have very little that I feel guilty about, as I don’t go out of my way to screw others over nor hurt them. It meant a lot to my parents, this day of atonement, but I’ve never had any use for all the shouting and jumping about that religions bring.

from wikipedia

Anthropophobia or Anthrophobia (literally “fear of people”, from Greek: ανθρωπος, ánthropos, “man” and φόβος, phóbos, “fear”), also called interpersonal relation phobia or social phobia, is pathological fear of people or human company.

Anthropophobia is an extreme, pathological form of shyness and timidity. Being a form of social phobia, it may manifest as fears of blushing or meeting others’ gaze, awkwardness and uneasiness when appearing in society, etc. A specific Japanese cultural form is known as taijin kyofusho.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

We spotted this roughly scrawled graffito over on 20th avenue, on the fenced walls adjoining the ConEd property. Odd, ironic, and frankly- a bit more literate than the stuff you normally see around the ancient village. I did not see anybody wearing a hunting cap lurking about, and kept moving. It was nice actually having a day off, something one such as myself doesn’t get much of these days.

from wikipedia

Holden Caulfield is the 16-year-old protagonist of author J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. Since the book’s 1951 publication, Holden has become an icon for teenage rebellion and angst, and now stands among the most important characters of 20th-century American literature. The name Holden Caulfield was used in an unpublished short story written in 1942 and first appeared in print in 1945.

Upcoming Tours

Saturday- September 21, 2013
13 Steps Around Dutch Kills Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura- tickets on sale now.

Saturday- September 28, 2013
Newtown Creek Boat Tour with the Working Harbor Committee- tickets on sale now.

“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle