Archive for June 2021
local manifestation
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Well, you just had to figure that as soon as I was able to ride the trains again, y’all would be seeing multiple posts of trains here, huh? It has been a fairly nightmarish couple of weeks for a humble narrator, watching the world roll by while he’s been stuck in multiple holocausts of zoom meetings. Last week got gobbled up preparing for a virtual lecture on Dutch Kills for the Queens Public Library, which is online at the Queens Memory Project in case you’ve missed the dulcet sounds of my voice, followed by social obligations. After that, I got sucked into community board stuff.
Additionally, a little side project of mine for the last few months has been walking candidates for office in LIC around Newtown Creek and detailing problems or opportunities which the successor to Jimmy Van Bramer in the 26th council district will find landing on their plates. You very well might want to defund the cops, candidate, but you’re also going to have to form an opinion about a Federal Superfund site where 17,500 blue collar jobs can be either saved, magnified, or thrown away – in your potential district.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, Community Board breaks for the summer as do several of the various obligatory meetings for Newtown Creek. I’m actually heading up to the Empire State Building observatory this evening to do some shooting. One desires perspective, and when putting together the presentation for the Queens Library mentioned above I came to realize that all of the “top down” shots I’ve got of Newtown Creek have the old Koscisuzcko Bridge in them. Have to maintain the image library, me.
Additionally, as far as summer stuff goes, Our Lady of the Pentacle turned me on to a couple of great offers by Amtrak for regional rail travel. Might just take advantage of that, and take the camera out for a few day trips to the lesser Cities of North America.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Snap back answers are a big part of the current problem when discussing anything these days. So’s virtue signaling. Why do you have to have an opinion about everything?
Are you a racist? Probably not, but you’re a lying fool if you don’t admit to harboring prejudices. Are you an idiot? Probably not, but if you don’t offer that there are things you are completely ignorant about you are similarly a lying fool. There’s being a fool, and then there’s being sinister and weaponizing all of this current cultural bullshit going on for short term political gain. I’ve already seen “me too” weaponized.
As an example of weaponized politics, a casual friend of mine who is running for office in Flushing just got booted off his community board because the old guard thereabouts decided they didn’t like him or his opposition to a real estate mega project. This fellow is obviously East Asian in ancestry, but the specifics of his ethnicity never came up in the decade or so that I’ve known him. We mainly talk about food and transit, truth be told. As it turns out, he’s Korean, which I discovered on social media. This ethnicity thing became an issue since the specifics of race are very important to the anti racist lefties (dichotomy much?) who think that not building luxury condos is racist, and this fellow’s enemies – on the left – are accusing him of taking money from Pyongyang and acting as a Communist sleeper agent for North Korea. Wow.
Great thing about riding the trains again is having time to ponder, and think.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
mistily defined
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few weeks ago, three young fellows drove a car into the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek in Long Island City and died. Somebody has erected a roadside memorial at the spot that they drove into the water.
According to the cops, these three unfortunates were proceeding down Borden Avenue at a prodigious rate of speed. They didn’t make a certain turn and instead headed for this dead end under the Long Island Expressway, and their vehicle went airborne and into the water. The cops and Fire Dept. brought out divers and all sorts of equipment but couldn’t save the trio.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A view of the same spot, from about a block away.
The official narrative is that the speeding car hit skateboard ramps, which caused them to go airborne. Something I haven’t mentioned during the pandemic is the sudden and unofficial creation of a skate park on the Borden Avenue street end at Dutch Kills. I’ve encouraged everyone who either knew about it or was involved with it to apply for “Open Streets” status which would have seen barriers erected but nobody every listens to me until something awful has happened. That’s when they admit I was right.
“Yes Commissioner, this is a great idea but Greenpoint has a history of industrial fires so maybe putting that high pressure gas main in this spot is a bad idea, next week there’s going to be a recycling plant fire directly across the street and next month a semi is going to drive through the sewer plant’s fence and land where the main is meant to go.” “Yes, City Council Member, but building out 35,000 units of residential without creating a single new hospital bed is short sighted… what if a plague sets up in NYC, which according to our history happens every so often…” “Yes, Mayor, but decking the Sunnyside Yards will be fiendishly expensive and you’re running the risk of radicalizing the otherwise stable and predictable political system of Western Queens and destabilizing…”
Call me Ezekiel, for I am a prophet.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As to the narrative revolving around this traffic accident, which cost three young men their lives… I seriously doubt the skateboard ramp theory since – as you can see – the ramp is quite intact and anything a car might touch when it’s moving at 100 mph generally doesn’t remain intact.
Why do I care? Nothing matters, nobody else cares, and we’re all going to hell in a handbasket. Get yours, I’m going to get mine, and then get the ‘eff out of this hellhole. I’m done.
As a note, today’s the anniversary of the General Slocum disaster.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
clamoured forms
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Riding the trains again, that’s me. As stated previously, I never thought I’d come to a juncture in my life where I missed riding the subways but I guess that’s what a fairly unprecedented public health emergency teaches a guy. The shot above, of course, wasn’t captured within the system. Instead I was scuttling down Skillman Avenue on my way to do a thing. I’m also “doing things” again. Had my very first live and in person meeting in the last 16 months just last week. Everybody in the room was vaxxed, naturally.
A humble narrator finds himself in a weird place these days. As I’ve mentioned to several people in the last month or so, I no longer have any tolerance whatsoever for other people’s bullshit. Used to be that I’d make excuses for you, or try to explain the many reasons why you’re justified acting like a walking/talking asshole. No more. No second chances. Piss me off just a little bit these days and it doesn’t matter how long we’ve known each other – you’re done. If you’re somebody I didn’t like all that much to start with… woof.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I find that the angst and anxiety I was experiencing throughout the pandemic has transformed into red hot anger. What the hell is wrong with you people? Are you all really this stupid and selfish? Those are questions which have been soundly answered, and the answer is “yes.”
Accordingly, my inclination is to say “Ok, no more Mr. Nice Guy,” and to stop pretending that I’m a better person than I actually am. Patience is no longer a virtue I exhibit. If there isn’t a payoff for being decent, I’ll just go the other way and get mine. Fuck y’all. This is an inclination which I’m currently struggling with.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
While I’m trying to figure out how to quell all of the anger and disappointment I’m carrying around with me, I’m also trying to find a way forward which doesn’t involve me screaming at people at the top of my lungs about minor sleights and annoyances. Just this morning, I had to instruct my bagel guy to stop talking and just listen to my bagel shepherding instructions with an “I’M TALKING NOW, JUST LISTEN.” I apologized afterwards, and tipped him well for the affront, but holy smokes am I currently a lit fuse waiting to go off. Sorry Jose, wasn’t your fault.
Best thing, I think, is to solitarily hit the streets with the camera and lose myself in a few audiobooks. It’s been a while since I listened to “The Dunwich Horror” so I’m going to start trying to calm myself with a bit of my old pal Howie Lovecraft.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
earthly year
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recent endeavor found a humble narrator walking a friend back to their Jackson Heights digs, followed by a night time stroll back to Astoria via Woodside. One is generally not enthralled with taking photographs of residential structures, or shops. My preferential subjects are usually heavy and maritime industrial, transportation and related infrastructure, cool cars and trucks, and the occasional angry bird.
Woodside, of course, is heavily residential but it does have its charms.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I don’t know what the scoop is with this apparently abandoned church building, but I’m sure there’s at least one neighborhood ghost story told about it. That’s just the nature of things, or it should be.
C’mon, zoom in on the the windows. Is there a demon staring out at you from behind the glass? Must be. Tell me what you see in there? Spooky!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m always fascinated by the polychromatic lighting offered by the various forms of street furniture in Queens. That’s what the professionals call traffic signals and street lamps and all the other gear they install – fire boxes, bike racks, benches, hydrants. Street furniture is kind of a catch all phrase for the stuff which allows us to do our thing. If it’s well deployed, you don’t even notice its presence.
Back next week with more at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
boughed orchard
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Another evening walk in Long Island City. Pictured above is a 1915 built structure which has been dubbed as “The Point LIC” by its current owner. For much of the 20th century it was called the “Paragon Oil” building, but when it was built and opened it was called “The Subway Building” and the uppermost floor was – in fact – Queens Borough Hall during the tenure of BP Maurice Connolly.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Given that I’m able to take the trains again, I’ve been doing so.
One of the things I missed during the pandemic was the ease and low cost of getting around using mass transit. I found myself forced into paying through the nose for ride share services whenever I wasn’t able to simply walk somewhere. I was able to justify the risk of coming into contact with one stranger, but couldn’t rectify the possibility of sharing an atmosphere with dozens of strangers at Covid’s high water marks.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Yup, still working on this shot.
Getting close. I’m only going to be satisfied when I hit a crimson and orange sky behind the train, but that’s just a matter of right place/right time. If you’re moving through Queens Plaza at anytime between 8:15 and 8:45 and you notice a deconstructed pile of old man waving a camera about in the direction of the Silvercup sign, that’s probably going to be me. Don’t say hello, I’ll only disappoint you in person, and you might be horrified.
I have that effect on people.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 