Archive for February 2025
Viewing Beechview, then…
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After my long orthopedic hermitage, recently experienced, your humble narrator is experiencing a lot of emotion. A lot of this unwanted mental activity occurs in the form of impatience which draws on a surprisingly huge and newly arrived reservoir of rage.
Fairness is stuff for children, but there’s an inner child within me who just had to endure multiple months of hellacious pain and the existential horror of having to rely on others for my basic needs. A big part of this recent experience involved just having to just take it when somebody threw a curveball at me. That time is done, and I’ve got a new list.
Normal circumstance sees me bleeding out all of this extra emotional energy via exercise. The lack thereof over the last five months has seriously impacted me both psychologically and physically. My patience for other’s foibles and stupidity has never seen as low a bar as the one in place right now. That time is done, and slapping my feet against the ground is literally all that I want to do right now. Go, go, go.
Filthy black raincoat, Sabbath on the headphones, camera in hand, your humble narrator groaning and cussing. Scuttling along.
First stop for me on this particular walk involved the Pittsburgh community of Beechview, found right next door to HQ in Dormont.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The plan for the day involved catching a T light rail at the ‘Fallowfield’ stop. The T leaves behind running at street grade in the manner of a Trolley here, and the tracks continue onto a cantilevered series of bridges set against the steep hills. That means that you’ve got a series of interesting views here, all of them overlooking a very well lived in residential area. Beechview hosts the steepest street in North America, which is not too far from here. I’m planning on paying Canton Avenue a visit soon, but the ankle isn’t ready for that one yet.
Speaking of, the shattered joint was behaving itself. My gait is still considerably slower than previously, but the limp has alleviated and my foot was hitting down with full heel strikes that were followed by full rolling steps with kick off’s from the toes. This reality has started a series of psychological responses in me that have little to no basis in fact, but are part of how I motivate myself. As John Lydon opined ‘anger is an energy.’ Saying that, I’m also kind of nuts…
‘Nobody thought I’d recover from all this so quickly, even the docs, and there are many out there are sorry to see that I have regained my feet. Hell, they all wanted to see me fail and disappear. Everyone enjoys watching me suffer. My misfortune must have been a moment of celebration for the many who seek my destruction. I’m hated, like an animal – the disposed, despised, and dispossessed…
I will show them all! Soon, I will begin working on my own race of Atomic Supermen, with whom I shall conquer ze vorld!’
Other than that, the jungle is my home, yo.
(In reality, literally everybody around me has been super supportive and accommodating during this nightmare. Principal amongst the many is Our Lady of the Pentacle. Special mentions for my neighbor Charlotte, who picked me up from the hospital after surgery, my pal Brent who drove my car around with Our Lady a bit in order to keep the hybrid battery charged during my wheelchair interval, and my Pal Val who sent me a box of black and white cookies and a deck of cards shortly after the injury to cheer me up. Have to also throw one out o my pal Vinny for sending me an issue of Weird New Jersey to read when I was deepest in the trench. Also, to all of my friends who have had to endure talking to me on the phone – thanks.)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As described above, in what’s working out to be a Friday manifesto, the T transitions at this station from running at street level with asphalt embedded tracks, to a series of rail bridges that span the valleys below. My plan, incidentally, didn’t involve catching a ride at this particular station, I was just there for the views.
The bridge which the T rides on also offers a long pedestrian walkway between this and the next stop, a path which I wanted to check out.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Pittsburgh bound T arrived, and turned onto the bridge. I hung around a minute, getting a few shots of its passage. Then I leaned into the scuttle and started down that pedestrian bridge leading to the next stop. The ankle was performing as well as could be expected, as far as a reconditioned OEM part goes.
Seriously though, whereas I was extremely aware of the joint and its various new quirks, the walking was pretty easy and I wasn’t experiencing much in the way of pain.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the pedestrian bridge mentioned above. I wasn’t planning on getting ‘busy’ up here but next time I come through it’s going to be my smaller prime lenses, which can shoot through fence holes, will be installed on the camera instead of the big zoom lens.
Amazing that after two and change years, I’m still scouting locations. Feature rich environment, Pittsburgh is. When it warms up in a month or two, looking forward to coming back to some of these spots at opportune times of day.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My chariot arrived at the second T station which the pedestrian bridge had carried me to. This was a low platform station, so the first step onboard involves pulling yourself up into the thing.
Back next week with more, more, 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.
Ups and downs in Greenfield
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Circumstance found your humble narrator transiting through Pittsburgh’s 15th ward, where the community of Greenfield can be found. Quirky and idiosyncratic in terms of the layout of its streets, Greenfield is set against a steep hill overlooking an area called ‘The Run’ by ordinary people, but I’m told the real estate crowd uses ‘Lower Greenfield’ instead. Valuation is the only thing that matters, yo.
The views on hand from Greenfield are worth the price of admission, I’d offer, and I’m already planning on coming back here for a sunset when time and opportunity allow. Neat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was piloting the Mobile Oppression Platform, a Toyota, down the hill towards the flatter sections of the City where the high speed roads heading downtown are found. Couldn’t help but pull over a couple of times to capture the scene. Fascinating spot – and from what I’ve been told – Greenfield is a pretty decent place to live. According to recent statistics, the average closing price for one of these pictured Greenfield houses, in 2024, was $212.4 K.
When you get to the depths of the hill, things get a little complicated. There’s a narrow switchback at the bottom, a couple of them in fact, which I could easily see a van or truck getting snarled into and trapped.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just before turning out of Greenfield and into neighboring Hazelwood, one last quick stop for a photo. This one looks over the Monongahela River. The black bridge closest to you is the ‘Hot Metal Bridge,’ with the arch of the ‘Birmingham Bridge’ right behind it.
I seem to have conquered the microorganisms which invaded the physical plant over the weekend. Feeling a LOT better today, but am still rather fatigued from all the coughing and fever. Cannot win, me.
Back tomorrow.
“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.
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Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Still under the weather, your humble narrator is, but new material will be occurring again here tomorrow and beyond. I’m still struggling with getting the schedule back to normal on this publication, but it’s a one man show and what with a) the ankle, b) the flu, c) the weather – it’s been a bit difficult to get ahead of the deadlines. Normally, I’m operating at least a week or two away from what’s going live here, but these days it seems like the pixels are still wet when published.
Back tomorrow with something different 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.
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Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator has been compromised by an Upper Respiratory Infection, one which is very little fun. Seems to be on the mend, but it knocked me out for a couple of days – cough, snot, digestive stuff. As stated – no fun.
Be back tomorrow with the product of a walk I took over the weekend.
“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.
Don’t try this at home
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Firstly, every single one of these shots were recorded from within the Mobile Oppression Platform (a Toyota), while your humble narrator was behind the wheel and in the midst of some ultra mundane activity or brain numbing task, somewhere in Pittsburgh. The camera was with me, as always, riding in the passenger seat and vouchsafed within a padded knapsack. Sometimes traffic was at a dead standstill, or it was a red light that I was sitting under, or maybe I had just pulled over to the side of some road here or there. What I’m trying to say is that I wasn’t using a mirrorless DSLR while the car was in motion. That’s a bad idea.
Additionally, all of these were focused on through the windshield of the car. Just wanted to get that out of the way, and mention that’s it’s arguably the worst idea you ever had if you’ve decided to take photos while operating a motor vehicle that’s in motion.
There is no such thing as multi tasking, instead you’re doing two things poorly and not paying enough attention to either.
Depicted above is the Oakland section of Pittsburgh, where PITT and Carnegie Mellon are headquartered, along with a gaggle of museums and churches.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Downtown Pittsburgh is seen above, nearby the triangular peninsula found at the adjoining of the three rivers. That’s the Gateway Center development, pictured above, which is quite close to one of the subterranean ‘T’ light rail stations. The T is in subway mode in this section, traveling through a repurposed RR freight tunnel under the city.
Circumstance has seen me appearing in several sections of this city which are unfamiliar, with this section less so. Downtown is an easy reach from HQ, and fairly easy walking as it’s more or less flat.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
About five miles away from Downtown, this shot was gathered somewhere along the invisible border of the wealthy Squirrel Hill and Shadyside sections. It’s amazing seeing one family dwellings like these so close to the center of a city. As a note, this area is significantly higher in altitude than the previous shot from downtown.
A complaint which I’d offer the software engineers at Google Maps and other GPS based navigational software, about their routing in Pittsburgh, revolves around altitude. Yes, a particular route – when viewed from top down in a standard map view – seems shorter because it shaves a quarter mile off the trip, but if the suggested route involves me having to climb up and down a thousand feet on a hill, I’m not really saving anything, am I?
I’ve had Google maps steer me onto dirt roads to save a minute of travel time, which evaporates immediately when I have to slow down due to conditions. It also has a programmed tendency to route traffic through residential areas, which is good for absolutely no one.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Everyday ends with a drive back to HQ in the Dormont section, where Our Lady of the Pentacle awaits with Moe the Dog. Pictured above is what rush hour traffic looks like, on Pittsburgh’s Liberty Bridge, heading for the ‘tubes’ or Liberty Tunnel. The landform that the tunnel punches through is Mount Washington, which has been described here many times. Again, car is sitting at a dead standstill, with my foot depressing the brake fully. Not moving.
There’s traffic lights which control the bridge’s intersection with the tunnel, which has to be one of the worst traffic designs I’ve ever seen. Guess who laid it out? Robert Moses and his Triborough crew, that’s who, working as consultants for Pittsburgh ‘back in the day.’
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The 1924 vintage Liberty Tunnel is 1.795 miles long, and provides access from the Monongahela River shoreline through Mount Washington to the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. It provides egress to several primary and secondary arterial roads (‘stroads,’ as transportation geeks would name them) leading to the various boroughs, towns, and municipalities which populate Allegheny County in this area. The county and the city are separate entities, although their footprints largely coincide.
I like blasting Black Sabbath in this tunnel, with the windows and moon roof open. The echoes are fantastic, and I like to fantasize about how annoying it must be for fans of the beeping and beats sort of music that’s popular with the youngins these days.
I think that during this particular crossing, ‘Lord of this world’ was playing.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m old enough to not be a fan of night time driving anymore, so an attempt is made to get home before the vampires come out. The Liberty Tunnels feed me out onto a roadway called ‘West Liberty’ which eventually becomes ‘Washington Road.’ Luckily, it’s only a 15 minute drive back home once you exit that tunnel.
Back tomorrow with something different 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.
The Newtown Pentacle 