Archive for September 2014
mad and fantastic
Busy bees, and misanthropy, in today’s post.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The insect above was busily raiding Our Lady of the Pentacle’s herb garden one recent afternoon. Accordingly, I chased it around from blossom to blossom with a camera and flash. Soon, it was chasing me around. Such is my lot. The bee was merely attempting to shoo a representative of NYC’s human infestation away, something for which I can hardly blame it. There’s too many of us.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One shouldn’t be surprised at the various indignities and inequities commonly experienced along the daily round, I suppose, given that many of the places I find myself have the word “hell” in their place names. Over in Manhattan’s Hells Kitchen, for instance, this taxi garage was queerly devoid of human habitation. A good start, I guess, but there’s still too many of us.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down on the Lower East Side, in an area once known as “Jew town,” this laundromat scene reminded me of certain Edward Hopper paintings. The facility was offering the humans housed therein a chance to remove the soils and bodily excreta which had accreted into their textile garb – using a variety of semi caustic chemicals, detergents, and mechanically agitated hot water. There’s way too many of us, and I fear that what this city could really use is a good plague.
Someday a real rain will come and wash these streets clean…
Sorry for the misanthropy, I get a bit “Travis Bickle” when my back hurts…
“You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”
photo courtesy wikipedia
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Walking Tours-
Saturday, September 27th, 13 Steps Around Dutch Kills
Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura, click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, September 28th, The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek
Walking Tour with Brooklyn Brainery, click here for tickets and more info.
half impassable
I’d say I was getting old, as if I wasn’t already there.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few archive shots in today’s post, as your humble narrator is busy licking his wounds. A tear to the skinvelope on my left foot, a minor injury, has been causing me to walk “funny,” or at least funnier than usual. The changes in my normal gait have, over the course of the last few days, created a few sore muscles in the lower back. This, in turn, has transmitted along the entire spine. Accordingly, today, I’m a hunched over malcontent given to emanating odd sighs and groans whenever a transition from sitting to standing is required.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The foot injury itself is decidedly superficial, a few irritated and or raw spots on the top layer of skin that don’t “hurt” but which are uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the affected area is found deep within my shoe, and walking mile after mile has caused further irritation on the tender spot. I’m a bit like a tropical flower, it would seem – delicate. I can tell you that twenty years ago, I could have laughed off a bleeding hole the size of a ping pong ball, whereas today an overly large pimple is capable of reducing me to bed rest. Summon the clergy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, I have a long list of pedantic tasks to accomplish before the computer and a longer list of books that require reading. Unfortunately, infirmity means I won’t be walking that much for the next couple of days in the hope that my skinvelope will regenerate enough tissue to protect the underlying firmament of tendon and muscle. The back thing has to sort itself out, as usual.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Walking Tours-
Saturday, September 27th, 13 Steps Around Dutch Kills
Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura, click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, September 28th, The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek
Walking Tour with Brooklyn Brainery, click here for tickets and more info.
mournful planets
Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Many times have I commented on the odd causality surrounding certain dates in the historical record. Obviously – September 11 has become the center of attention for NY historians since 2001, but this is a week wherein propitious events seem to have happened over the centuries. To begin with, the European discovery and description of our little town seems to have begun some four hundred and five years ago today.
In 1609, September 12th was the day that a fellow named Henry Hudson sailed up a certain river after having noticed two or three large islands in a natural harbor, onboard a Dutch East India Company ship called the Halve Maen.
Oddly enough, September 12th is considered to be the anniversary of the Battle of Marathon by scholarly sources.
Then there’s the First World War, and September 12th is the day that Gerry decided to dig in – which began three and a half years of trench warfare.
from greatwar.co.uk
From 12th September 1914 the German Army began to “dig in” on the high ground of the Chemin des Dames ridge on the north bank of the river Aisne. The Germans dug defensive trenches with the intention of securing the position and preventing any further possibility of withdrawal. This battlefield area witnessed the beginnings of entrenched positions and the change from a mobile war to a static deadlock between the opposing forces. From this date the entrenchments would gradually spread along the whole length of the Western Front, would become deeper and more impregnable and would characterize the siege warfare fighting of the Western Front for the following three and a half years.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As mentioned in the past, your humble narrator has been writing a bi-weekly column over at Brownstoner Queens.
There’s a few of these posts which I’d direct you to check out, including:
- Thousands of Gallons of Oil Dumped Into the Dutch Kills Tributary This Summer –
A scandalous act, and the impressive investigative prowess of the DEC are brought to bear - Introducing: The Smiling Hogshead Ranch, LIC –
Wherein an urban farm and community garden project on Skillman Avenue can finally be recognized - From High Above LIC –
Shots from atop the Z Hotel in LIC, and I finally get to meet Borough President Melinda Katz. - New York Consolidated Card Company Building –
A profile of the Dutch Kills factory building. - My Beloved Creek –
A boat trip with the AnchorQEA superfund contractors down my beloved Newtown Creek.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oddly enough, I’ve got this weekend off from tours and obligations.
I plan on attending Kevin Walsh’s Forgotten Tour #83, which will explore Little Neck and Douglaston, in an effort to ameliorate my utter ignorance about eastern Queens. Also, I just received my paper back copy of Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker” from Amazon, so there’s a bit of reading I’m anxious to get into.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Upcoming Walking Tours-
Saturday, September 27th, 13 Steps Around Dutch Kills
Walking Tour with Atlas Obscura, click here for tickets and more info.
Sunday, September 28th, The Poison Cauldron of the Newtown Creek
Walking Tour with Brooklyn Brainery, click here for tickets and more info.
cold and humorless
Well, here we are again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
September 11th is the only thing that can make a New Yorker flinch, a subject which causes all of our carefully cultivated callouses to fall away. City people have thick skins, but the subject is still raw around these parts.
A world ended thirteen years ago.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
War came to New York City that day, and we weren’t ready for it. There were no air defenses at the ready in the defacto capital city of the United States that morning, when the Twin Towers fell. This is something one still finds stunning.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Here’s to absent friends.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
plutonic gulf
Supermoon, September version.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Monday last was when one might expect to witness the so called Harvest Moon, which was coincidentally a “Supermoon” as well. As one who seldom needs a reason to stare at the moon shaking his fist, with camera gear in hand I surmounted the roof of HQ and set up shop to do some night time photographic stuff. Nothing too esoteric was found in my camera bag, other than a 2x tele extender for my long lens, just for those who might be curious. The main bit of required kit was ultimately a tripod. The shot above is looking east along Astoria’s Broadway in the direction of Woodside and Jackson Heights.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Amongst the worst sorts of weather for trying to get shots of the night sky, there were vast seas of wind driven clouds that were boiling about and occluding the moon. Seeing that a break in the clouds was coming and that an interval of clear sky was blowing in from the west, I decided to just sit and be patient up on my roof, so I was soon texting Our Lady of the Pentacle to let her know that I hadn’t fallen off the building and that I’d be up occupied up here for awhile. While I was waiting, I listened to a historical podcast by Dan Carlin about the opening shots of the First World War.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, she popped out into somewhat clear sky, and Selene was wearing her halo. The light from this moon was strong enough to cast shadows, which illuminated the rooftops all around me. The podcast was busily describing the massive Wehrmacht efforts in France, and the absolute heroism of the French armies who were ground into bloody paste before it, while your humble narrator was busily clicking away at the one thing which all humans from the beginning of time have had in common – staring up at the full moon while awestruck by its otherworldly fluorescence.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
The Newtown Pentacle 