Archive for December 2024
Archives #042
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
That’s the Dutch Kills tributary of Newtown Creek, as seen from the former Uneeda Biscuit factory in Long Island City, which is currently called LaGuardia Community College’s building C. I shot this one right before the first ever press conference that I was supposed to speak at on behalf of Newtown Creek Alliance, and this was also the first time I met Rep. Carolyn Maloney. She taught me how to smile for the cameras, and offered the trick of mushing your tongue up against the back of your teeth while grinning to cover up any gaps in the dentition.
In 2010, ‘Hunters Point Avenue Bridge Centennial, Dec. 11’ was published, hawking a free event which – as it turns out – was the first Newtown Creek event that had my name on it. This event is where all the tours and boat trips and Creekathons started. It’s also the last time that my pal Bernie Ente attended one of these goofy events before he got sick and passed away.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of the things which I consider as being pure serendipity is that during the years I was focused on Newtown Creek, a mad king in Albany decided he wanted to replace the Kosciuszcko Bridge. I’d swing through the work zone about every two weeks and do a photo survey of the project. Eventually, I was invited to join the stakeholders group, which gave me onsite access. In the end I managed to record the scene before, during, and after the construction project played out.
In 2014, ‘worse because’ brought readers to DUKBO – Down Under the Kosciuszcko Bridge Onramp – on the ragged border of Maspeth and LIC.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Want to know why everything costs more these days? Corporate consolidation, that’s why. The concrete sector of the building industry in NYC, for instance, has been purchased away from ‘family’ companies by a national conglomerate – bit by bit. Monopolies charge whatever they want for their product, as there’s no competition.
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are pulling posts that went public on this date, in their respective years, going back to 2009. This practice will continue until I’m back on both feet full time, and new photos and stories can be gathered. For anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I broke my left ankle at the end of September.
2015’s ‘flat platform’ explores what the modern version of NYC would be like if we were still using pack animals to move things around instead of using trucks and other vehicles.
“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.
Archives #041
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Happy Monday, lords and ladies. Progress, recovery from the injury wise, continues here at HQ. Hoping that sometime towards the end of this week or the start of the next… I might just be able to wield the camera again. Cross your fingers, mine are.
I think I’ve mentioned it previously, but since I started receiving physical therapy treatments for the ankle recovery my healing factor has gone into overdrive. This week’s posts are being written on Thanksgiving, I’d mention, so you’re a few days into my future while reading this.
These archive posts are reaching into Newtown Pentacle’s backups, and are pulling posts that went public on this date, in their respective years, going back to 2009. This practice will continue until I’m back on both feet full time, and new photos and stories can be gathered. For anyone who hasn’t heard the news, I broke my left ankle at the end of September.
2013’s ‘monstrous guilt’ appeared today, addressing a few of the many accusations leveled at your humble narrator in the early days of this publication by various malcontents and madmen back in Queens, in a post illustrated with photos of walking around in Manhattan. Paranoid, much? Sheesh. Don’t miss a certain subsection of y’all at all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m still under Doctor’s orders to wear the walking boot when I’m out and about, but around HQ I’ve just been instructed to wear just a pair of my normal shoes again. I’ve also been growing capable enough to handle the bare minimums of adulthood again, cooking light meals and such.
Just watch, though… the day I say ‘I’m going out to go get some shots’ is the same day a blizzard appears and buries Pittsburgh in thirty stories of snow.
2014’s ‘faint draft’ saw me attending the christening and launch of the NYC DEP’s newest (at the time) sludge boat on Ward’s Island in the East River.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It grinds that I’ve lost three months out of my life to this experience, but hey – I’m still kicking. I’m constantly reminded, however, that time grows short and the shadows are stretching out long. I’ve got a lot of dead friends, Y’see.
Time is precious, don’t piss any of it away if there’s a choice about it.
2015’s ‘marine things’ is a lament about another friend of mine dropping dead, this time it was Staten Island’s own John Skelson.
“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 