Author Archive
expatriated counterpart
Not being crass here, but it’s Tuesday.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just the other day, a series of “No Parking” placards were discovered as having been affixed to every possible surface on my block here in the Astoria section of Queens. The every surface part included the street trees, which is a personal peeve of mine.
On the assigned day, a group of people arrived with heavy equipment. I think they might have been Antifa, since they started towing any cars in violation of the placard announced edict. Ubiquitous are they, those rascals.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Antifa began cutting into the trees with power tools.
A great tumult was occurring up the block, but I couldn’t see what was happening past the bluish smoke likely emanating from a great bonfire of christian bibles which the leftist mobsters had brought. The smoke could have been coming from hot asphalt, but bible burning is far more likely. From the look of the atmospherics, Antifa had the books immolating. Organized, they are, these rascals.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Antifa is a word which starts with an “A,” just like Al Qaeda does, so there you go. Additionally, I heard from a friend named “X” who has another friend whose name starts with a “Q” that Antifa is in league with the Reptilian Bilderbergers and cooperates with those shadowy internationalists in a secret plot to redefine all of the world’s amphibians as genderless and to force America into drinking Soy Milk so as to devalue Cow Milk and thereby embarrass the sitting President. Once again, “Big Soy” is at the root of all things. I swear I saw Nancy Pelosi poke her head up out of one of the sewers to check on the progress of her secret army here in Astoria.
Where Antifa got all of this heavy equipment, obviously, boils down to one core fact – corruption, gender neutral salamanders, and Soy Milk go hand in hand.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Only an Antifa dump truck would bother to install a cover over its bin. What are they trying to hide? I’ll tell you what – they’re stealing our valuable asphalt and then air mailing it overseas to the Communists in China, using the Post Office. The reason they want you to wear a mask is that when everybody is masked, you’re anonymous, and just a number (of the beast). “Anonymous” is another leftie group which the TV tells me I’m supposed to be scared of, which also starts with an “A,” and so does the word “Asphalt.” You’re starting to see the connections now, huh? Suppose China is actually one huge guy, with the physical mass of half of the earth’s population. That’s scary too. When they say “China,” they mean him.
Have you heard about the other Antifa campaigns?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Antifa stole the ocean and freed the fish. Antifa has established a socialist moon base. Antifa has started partnerships with the Mexican Drug Cartels, the Muslim Extremists, the Social Justice Warriors, the Achievement Awards Recipients, Hillary Clinton, the “Libs,” and even the Demon Rats. Antifa has torn down entire mountains which offend them. Antifa is gay married to the sister of the guy who runs CNN, who is cousins with the salesmen at PayLess who sells Michelle Obama’s publicist shoes.
Antifa came to Astoria and stole my street. Now we have carnage, and rubble.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Man, I have got to start my right wing blog sometime soon. Cannot tell you how much fun it is to pick a faceless enemy and just make shit up about them on the fly. Sounds crazy? Not crazy enough is the rule if you want to pull in the angry old people. I got to experience some of the Qanon world recently, which is just spectacular in its viewpoint. It presumes a near omnipotent level of capability and competence amongst Government employees. I spend a lot of time around these sort of people, Civil Servants, I mean – here’s what I’ve learned.
These folks couldn’t tie their own shoes, let alone pull off any of the stuff that the more paranoid elements of our society ascribe to them. The photos in today’s post, wherein a supremely well coordinated and practiced group of NYC DOT workers mill the surface of a street in Astoria, is really is the best you can hope for in the Civil Service category.
Also, I’ve met some people who identify as Antifa, and they are kind of giant hippies that have no real understanding of the historical roots they’re pulling on. As the song says, you don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, July 27th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
under catechism
Once more, the breach is a Monday, so unto it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One week ago today did a humble narrator ride the subway for the first time in 140 days. An appointment for an inquisition about my homeostasis required a visit to the island of Manhattan, where a team of medical professionals awaited me with forms and needles. One was measured, weighed, scrutinized closely. At one point, a woman walked into the room and jabbed a barb into my left arm. Vials, she filled, with my blood. Test results were arrived at, and the Doctor intoned that one might just keep on living, for just a little while longer. One of the tests was for Covid, which confirmed my assertion that – so far – I’ve been lucky enough to avoid infection.
The subway ride was uneventful, but for the chin mask guy who alternated between grasping the subway pole and jamming his fingers into the various mucous membrane lined holes on his head.
Seriously, I’ve always wondered about the characters in Zombie movies who a) either pretend that what they’re seeing isn’t happening, b) hide the fact that they’ve been bitten and are infected, c) start fights over unrelated to the crisis issues which end up getting everybody killed. Then, along comes Covid, and…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One wandered a short few blocks after being the subject of scientific scrutiny, and a decision to splurge a bit was arrived at. Instead of climbing back down into the sweating concrete bunkers of the MTA, with their piston driven clouds of disgust, one instead summoned a ride back to Astoria. Mask on, windows open, one rode back to Queens in the manner of a big fellow. The driver’s name was Mohammed, he hailed from Pakistan originally, and we had a long conversation about the relative virtues of several Halal Food Carts which we were both familiar with. I still recommend the guy in the food truck on Steinway and 34th for that particular fix.
I have not missed Manhattan at all, thought I.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As is my habit, since I try to take advantage of the fact that I’m actually paying for the ride, the camera was busy as we exited the island of Manhattan and crossed over the spectacular Queensboro Bridge. As you can see, last Monday was one of the hot hazy and humid days which have plagued the Megalopolis for the last week or so. At least here in Queens, nobody grasps my arm and pops holes in it to draw out my blood.
Tomorrow, some shots from the City bringing the show directly to my front door.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, July 27th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
unpremeditated specimens
Friday is Shabbos, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A last look from a recent trip to Randalls/Wards Island, which looks like the future but it’s an 80 years old version of future here in the House of Moses. Another cool thing about Randalls/Wards is the presence of the inspiration for Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum in the Batman universe. There’s also a sewer plant, the Fire Dept. Academy, all sorts of Cop infrastructure… the City keeps a lot of its toys here.
As mentioned, this day trip was a bit of a scouting expedition for my pal Val and I, looking everywhere and anywhere for interesting photographic opportunity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally, I couldn’t stop shooting the whole time I was there. Pretty much everywhere I looked, there was an interesting point of view. Our trip to the island occurred in the late afternoon and early evening, next time I come here I hope to do so in the morning to see what that looks like.
I am definitely coming back here, and next time I’m thinking about coming out on foot via the pedestrian approach on mighty Triborough.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Speaking of, me and my pal Val piled into her car and we headed back to the blessed shores of the ancient village of Astoria. She forked over a bunch of bucks in tolls crossing to and from on Mighty Triborough so to recompense a plate of food was bought for her at one of the neighborhood’s new out door dining piazzas.
I treated myself to a burger and a couple cups of Guinness, thereby calorically undoing whatever benefit the days exercise would have brought.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, July 20th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
kindred eccentrics
Thursday’s just kind of happen, huh?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I could talk, in a completely uneducated manner, about inverted trusses and why they’re cool. Instead, I’d refer you to google and tell you to read up on what an actual engineer has to offer on the subject. That’s the Hells Gate Bridge, as seen from its western base on Randalls/Wards Island. Surprisingly, this section of the rail bridge is a bit different, visually at least, than the more familiar section (to me) that towers over Astoria Park on the Queens side.
As mentioned earlier in the week, Randalls/Wards Island is a novel place for me, one which I incongruously haven’t explored. My inclination is to go the other way, towards my beloved Newtown Creek, when I’m taking the camera out for a walk.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I was able to get up close and personal with Hells Gate, and stood directly in front of its masonry pier when shooting the inverted truss structure pictured above and below. The bridge is part of the NY Connecting Railroad, which runs first to Sunnyside Yards and then the East River tunnels into Manhattan on the Queens side. It continues over Randalls/Wards, where the bridge ultimately connects to the Port Morris section of the Bronx and the Oak Point Rail Yard. From there… well… as mentioned in earlier posts, what I know about the Bronx wouldn’t fill a thimble.
This shot points eastwards on the right, towards Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You just can’t help but do some abstraction around this bridge, with all the structural steel flying around. Oddly enough, Hells Gate has no structural lighting kit, and at night all you can see is a silhouette with the odd navigational signal or blinking aviation beacon attached to it against the night sky. The bridge is the property of the Amtrak outfit, and you regularly see their Northeast Corridor passenger trains crossing it. There are also freight trains, which are more often than not operated by the CSX company. I’m not sure if other rail companies operate on this former New York Central Railroad Company span.
As long as you’re googling inverted truss bridges, you might as well search for Operation Praetorious. That’s the one where Nazi saboteurs wanted to blow the Hells Gate Bridge up during WW2, an operation foiled by the Greatest Generation’s Antifa. Those ubiquitous rascals are everywhere, ain’t they?
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, July 20th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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.
adroitly pumped
Wednesday has happened again.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Still on Randalls/Wards Island, but looking wistfully towards Astoria Park and Queens whilst under the Triborough Bridge, imagine my joy at the sudden arrival of an NYPD Harbor Unit vessel which pushed through the scene. There’s a base and berth for the gendarmes on the Harlem River side of the island, but I don’t know if that’s where they coming from or going to.
One refuses to use the secondary name for Triborough Bridge, or for the Queensboro, until they rename the Brooklyn Bridge as the Michael Bloomberg Bridge. Sounds crazy, huh? Renaming Mighty Triborough or the majestic Queensboro after other politicians doesn’t? No respect, I tell ya, no respect.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s no possibility that something like what you see above can cross in front of my lens with me not being drawn to capture it. I’ve talked about this many times during tours conducted on the Soundview Ferry line, but Triborough is one of the great historical feats of civil engineering and industrial power. There’s a theory which postulates that this bridge is the reason that WW2 went as well as it did for the United States, offering that the Triborough operations orders for steel alone restarted that entire sector of the American economy during the darkest years of the Great Depression. Factor in the labor, the concrete, the forest of wood needed for scaffolds…
That’s something to consider, while looking forward at the next few years.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Randalls/Wards Island offers an up close and personal look at another one of NYC’s wonders, the Hells Gate Bridge. Carrying railroad tracks rather than vehicle lanes, as Triborough does, this arch bridge is thought to be the most permanent structure in the entire city. Supposedly, long after the Empire State Building has collapsed and the other East River bridges have been reduced down to masonry piers with no span between them, the Hells Gate will still be more or less intact.
In the foot steps of giants we do walk.
Note: I’m writing this and several of the posts you’re going to see for the next week at the beginning of the week of Monday, July 20th. My plan is to continue doing my solo photo walks around LIC and the Newtown Creek in the dead of night as long as that’s feasible. If you continue to see regular updates here, that means everything is kosher as far as health and well being. If the blog stops updating, it means that things have gone badly for a humble narrator.
“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 