Archive for January 2014
sleepy inefficiency
Just cannot stomach the indolence, and not for one minute more…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Like Yogi and BooBoo, my busy time of the year seems to come between March and November. Accordingly, the month and change during which I have little reason to wake up at all that falls between Thanksgiving and the second week of January. During this a period a short break is enjoyed. A humble narrator watches a lot of TV, sits around, and entertains the dog. Not too much excitement comes along, and annually, this is when I get a bit itchy for fun.
from wikipedia
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression, winter blues, summer depression, summer blues, or seasonal depression, was considered a mood disorder in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year experience depressive symptoms in the winter or summer.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV and DSM-5, its status was changed. It is no longer classified as a unique mood disorder but is now a specifier called With seasonal pattern for recurrent major depressive disorder that occurs at a specific time of the year and fully remits otherwise. Although experts were initially skeptical, this condition is now recognized as a common disorder, with its prevalence in the U.S. ranging from 1.4% in Florida to 9.7% in New Hampshire.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a good time to design new business cards, work on the book, and back up the hard drive. I also work on updating portfolios of photos, and retouching work, showing off notable jobs accomplished during the prior year. Lately, that includes blog stuff as well. One of the recent jobs which I’m kind of proud of is the redhookwaterfront.com site, for which I provided photos and did some historical workups and also did general blog writing. Check it out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have a couple of short adventures planned for the next few days, out there in the cold wastes, and hopefully there’ll be some cool stuff encountered to tell y’all about. Never know what Queens wants to show you next, as out of all the Boroughs, she’s the most coy.
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singular beetles
My friend Gil Lopez makes people in Queens want to eat bugs.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Discover Edible Insects” is what the invitation said, adjuring me to join with others interested in Entomophagic practice. My pal Gil Lopez, who works with Greening Queens Library, was going to be conducting the session at the Library on Greenpoint Avenue and 43rd street so I said “sure.”
from wikipedia
Entomophagy (from Greek ἔντομον éntomon, “insect”, and φᾰγεῖν phagein, “to eat”) is the consumption of insects as food. Insects are eaten by many animals, but the term is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; animals that eat insects are known as insectivores. There are also some species of carnivorous plants that derive nutrients from insects.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gil is from the Deep South, yet has no discernibly southern inflection to his voice, which is a little suspicious. He is, however, a heck of guy- and one of the proprietors at Smiling Hogshead Ranch (an urban farm in LIC). He pulled a pretty nice crowd, I have to say, especially for a library on a cold Monday night in Queens.
from livescience.com
As the human population continues to inch closer to 8 billion people, feeding all those hungry mouths will become increasingly difficult. A growing number of experts claim that people will soon have no choice but to consume insects.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Gil helps run a composting program at this and other libraries and is a pretty serious example of practicing what you preach. Like I said, cool guy. Except for when he makes children eat insects. He had several commercial preparations with him, and ordered several pizzas.
from insectsarefood.com
Bugs are safe to eat as long as you purchase them from a reliable source or raise them yourself. You do not want to take bugs from the wild because you don’t know what sort of pesticides or other chemical sources they’ve come into contact with. A good rule of thumb to follow is to avoid eating any brightly colored, hairy or spiny bugs, as they are likely to be poisonous. Most caterpillars are similarly inedible. In all cases of food consumption, a safe and reliable source equals a safe and healthy die
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The insects were sprinkled liberally about, which made the pizza appear to be a sort of comedy prop- not unlike latex vomit or a rubber chicken. Both of which I personally would eat first.
from fao.org
In Western societies – where protein is still largely derived from domesticated animals – insects are virtually synonymous with nuisance: mosquitoes and flies invade homes, the former leaving behind unwanted bites; termites destroy wood possessions; and some insects end up in meals (triggering the disgust factor).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are certain things which I just cannot do, lord and ladies. I don’t eat anything with mushrooms, for instance, because they are evil. The excuse that “that ain’t kosher” is only true in some cases, as apparently Moses had a taste for grasshoppers when he was living with the Goyem in Egypt.
Me, I ain’t Moses.
also from fao.org
Common prejudice against eating insects is not justified from a nutritional point of view. Insects are not inferior to other protein sources such as fish, chicken and beef. Feelings of disgust in the West towards entomophagy contributes to the common misconception that entomophagy in the developing world is prompted by starvation and is merely a survival mechanism. This is far from the truth. Although it will require considerable convincing to reverse this mentality, it is not an impossible feat (Pliner and Salvy, 2006). Arthropods like lobsters and shrimps, once considered poor-man’s food in the West, are now expensive delicacies there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Living the sort of life that I do, trying to be fully aware of everything all the time because if I don’t… I’m fully aware of the fact that I’m ingesting bugs all the time. How many times have I mentioned the presence of rat droppings in the slipstream atmospherics of the subway? Thing is, I’ve got to just chalk this one up to food prejudice. I’ll only consciously eat vertebrates, when meat is involved, when sitting down to a meal.
from eatocracy.cnn.com
By some experts’ estimates, the average person inadvertently downs about one pound of insect parts a year, in foods as varied as chocolate (which can contain 60 insect components per 100 grams by law in the United States), peanut butter (30 insect parts per 100 grams) and fruit juice (up to five fruitfly eggs and one to two larvae for every 250 milliliters).
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I took Marine Biology in High School, so instead of dissecting a fetal pig or frog we did lobsters and clams. You should never, ever, make an attempt to understand what the anatomical details and employment lifestyle of common table items if you desire to continue eating them. Never ate sea bugs on purpose, and especially since I learned the true meaning and ramifications of the word “bioaccumulator,” which will damn us all.
What I mainly learned in Marine bio was that ultimately, only the worms will win out.
from wikipedia
Details of delusional parasitosis vary among sufferers, but it is most commonly described as involving perceived parasites crawling upon or burrowing into the skin, sometimes accompanied by an actual physical sensation (known as formication). Sufferers may injure themselves in attempts to be rid of the “parasites”. Some are able to induce the condition in others through suggestion, in which case the term folie à deux may be applicable.
Nearly any marking upon the skin, or small object or particle found on the person or his clothing, can be interpreted as evidence for the parasitic infestation, and sufferers commonly compulsively gather such “evidence” and then present it to medical professionals when seeking help. This presenting of “evidence” is known as “the matchbox sign” because the “evidence” is frequently presented in a small container, such as a matchbox.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The photographer never eats at the same time as the guests, of course, so unfortunately all the bugs were consumed by the group shortly after service. A good time was had by all, and there were a few kids who obviously loved the whole “Edible Insect” experience. Eating bugs at the Queens Library on a Monday night in January, adrift on the sea of an entomophobic’s nightmarish visions.
from wikipedia
Entomophobia (also known as insectophobia) is a specific phobia of one or more classes of insect. More specific cases included apiphobia (fear of bees) and myrmecophobia (fear of ants).
The symptoms associated with this phobia are similar to the symptoms manifested with many other irrational fears. An entomophobic is likely to experience enough anxiety upon viewing or otherwise coming into contact with an insect that he or she experiences a full-blown series of panic attacks. With extreme cases, the individual may lose consciousness for a short period of time. Uncontrollable weeping or a strong desire to flee from the area are also common signs that indicate an individual is suffering with this particular phobia.
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scented waters
Solitude and the solemnity of my beloved Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It has officially been three weeks since I laid eyes upon Newtown Creek and it is official, I miss her. The sense of desolating isolation, the abandonment of hope, the loneliness of it all. Often have I wished that there were more people who could appreciate her for what she is, but most of those who encounter the Newtown Creek have an immediate desire to somehow alter her. Me, I try to appreciate her for what she is and leave behind only a set of footprints.
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, being introverted or prefer quiet over commotion.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Most of these people are carpetbaggers from out of state think tanks, Albany bureaucrats, or do gooder types who moved to hipster Brooklyn in order to catechize the unwashed. They’re not bad folks, in fact they’re well intentioned, but seriously- leave the old girl to herself. She’s got enough problems with the Feds crawling over the place, and neither of us like too much in the way of company.
from wikipedia
Loneliness is a complex and usually unpleasant emotional response to isolation or lack of companionship. Loneliness typically includes anxious feelings about a lack of connectedness or communality with other beings, both in the present and extending into the future. As such, loneliness can be felt even when surrounded by other people. The causes of loneliness are varied and include social, mental or emotional factors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Most New Yorkers couldn’t find her on a map of the 5 boroughs, despite Newtown Creek’s position at the center of it. She’s like some ancestral specter, lurking at the flickering edges of a candle’s light, and only seen by those who truly wish to. Disregard her story, and her dangers, at your own peril, for until you accept what she is and what’s happened here over the centuries…
from wikipedia
The encounter with the shadow plays a central part in the process of individuation. Jung considered that ‘the course of individuation…exhibits a certain formal regularity. Its signposts and milestones are various archetypal symbols’ marking its stages; and of these ‘the first stage leads to the experience of the SHADOW’. If ‘the breakdown of the persona constitutes the typical Jungian moment both in therapy and in development’, it is this which opens the road to the shadow within, coming about when ‘Beneath the surface a person is suffering from a deadly boredom that makes everything seem meaningless and empty … as if the initial encounter with the Self casts a dark shadow ahead of time’. Jung considered as a perennial danger in life that ‘the more consciousness gains in clarity, the more monarchic becomes its content…the king constantly needs the renewal that begins with a descent into his own darkness’ — his shadow – which the ‘dissolution of the persona’ sets in motion.
“The shadow personifies everything that the subject refuses to acknowledge about himself” and represents “a tight passage, a narrow door, whose painful constriction no one is spared who goes down to the deep well”. If and when ‘an individual makes an attempt to see his shadow, he becomes aware of (and often ashamed of) those qualities and impulses he denies in himself but can plainly see in others — such things as egotism, mental laziness, and sloppiness; unreal fantasies, schemes, and plots; carelessness and cowardice; inordinate love of money and possessions — …[a] painful and lengthy work of self-education”.
The dissolution of the persona and the launch of the individuation process also brings with it ‘the danger of falling victim to the shadow … the black shadow which everybody carries with him, the inferior and therefore hidden aspect of the personality’ — of a merger with the shadow.
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regarding life
Color please, bright and saturated, tall glass with lots of ice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This interminably frigid period has brought an abundance of dark gray into the sky, or so I am told. An unavoidable consequence of such atmospheric phenomena, one such as myself is possessed of the need to witness and be exposed to color. Bright, saturated, vibrant color. Accordingly, I’ve reached into the archives for today’s post. What’s more colorful or cheery than Mt. Zion Cemetery, after all?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another shot in Queens, this time of the estimable Kosciuszko Bridge immersed in the emanations of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself in the westerly sky. Spanning the antiloquacious depths of the Newtown Creek, the great steel monster will meet its end at the hands of state officials and municipal contractors quite soon, or so they tell me. One grows older by the minute, as does this bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve always loved this lucky shot. Right place at the right time, a passing squall of thunderstorms had produced a phenomena known as Mammacular Clouds. I happened to be in town for a friends birthday and spotted the otherworldly lighting at work around the Chrysler Building. This is what it really looked like. Could use some of that kind of light in January.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
cold and cramping
Lurid shimmerings of pale light, that’s what I’m about.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The hours one spends marching about Queens are severely impinged upon by weather during the winter months, a fact injurious to both health and morale. A humble narrator attempts to fill the empty hours productively, but there is little solace for one such as myself in hours spent in the office. Perhaps relocating to a warmer climate is in order? That would mean that New York City had finally beaten me, and that a life long grudge match had been lost.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The various medications which my staff of doctors prescribe to manage those ailments which bedevil and weaken my material form have a certain downside – inducing a particular fragility to my homeostasis when the temperature dips down. Simply said, cold weather such as that which the City is experiencing is actually painful. Vital ichors run away from the extremities, and one begins to experience the sense of being in a long dark tunnel which terminates in a distant but brightly lit aperture. I call that aperture “April.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The hard reality of this, I’m only a quadragenarian after all, has made me truly love to see the oil companies delivering the fuel that stokes all the furnaces and boilers. I propose a new secular holiday, one which celebrates the constancy and efforts of the oil truck man, without whom we’d all surely freeze to death. Brr.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 