Archive for the ‘Borden Avenue Bridge’ Category
sense of pursuit
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Oh boy, I’m all ‘effed up…
Just the other day, while innocently searching through Calvary Cemetery for a certain interment (wholly separate from the one described yesterday), your humble narrator must have suffered some sort of seizure. That would explain the malign paranoia which suddenly infected and disordered my thoughts, birthing a desire to move to a more populated section of the ancient villages for the sake of safety alone. The last time misgivings such as these came upon me was during a November 2009 trip to hoary Mt. Zion, when I was menaced by a certain group of children and their curiously polydactyl feline.
As always, it was a rambling walk-that half dogtrot/half stumble which I call scuttling- that had brought me to the place, and handicapped any chance of escape or avoidance of those extant dangers encountered in the Newtown Pentacle.
As always, solitude and otherness and massive vulnerability were my companions. As always, your humble narrator- physical coward, feckless quisling, and the least of men…
As always, an Outsider.
from wikipedia
The World Health Organization’s ICD-10 lists avoidant personality disorder as (F60.6) Anxious (avoidant) personality disorder.
It is characterized by at least four of the following:
- persistent and pervasive feelings of tension and apprehension;
- belief that one is socially inept, personally unappealing, or inferior to others;
- excessive preoccupation with being criticized or rejected in social situations;
- unwillingness to become involved with people unless certain of being liked;
- restrictions in lifestyle because of need to have physical security;
- avoidance of social or occupational activities that involve significant interpersonal contact because of fear of criticism, disapproval, or rejection.
Associated features may include hypersensitivity to rejection and criticism.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was just a trick of the light- the shadow of some statue distorting through thickly polarized prescription sunglasses.
Often, when the brain cannot make sense of; or is overwhelmed by a flood of sensory information; it will perform a sort of short hand during the processing of visual or auditory observation. That’s why kids see dragons in the clouds, and representations of cultic deities are often presented as having spontaneously appeared on foodstuffs. It’s the way the organ functions– using pattern recognition.
That’s why, as my steps hurriedly swept over and through Calvary’s dusty desolations, I chose to ignore that shadowy and peripheral shape which seemed to be dogging my progress and declared it to just be an hallucination. If only it didn’t seem to be the same shape- everywhere I went- there it was- ducking around a tombstone or slipping around a tree.
One observance in particular upset my delicate equilibrium, and forced me to ingest a dosage of the esoteric prescription drugs which my doctors advise consumption of whenever one of “my spells” comes upon me.
Light headed from the medications, the abyssal potions were useless- and your humble narrator was thunderstruck- consumed by cowardice and shock.
from wikipedia
Blasphemous thoughts are a common component of OCD, documented throughout history; notable religious figures such as Martin Luther and St. Ignatius were known to be tormented by intrusive, blasphemous or religious thoughts and urges. Martin Luther had urges to curse God and Jesus, and was obsessed with images of “the Devil’s behind”. St. Ignatius had numerous obsessions, including the fear of stepping on pieces of straw forming a cross, fearing that it showed disrespect to Christ. A study of 50 patients with a primary diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder found that 40% had religious and blasphemous thoughts and doubts—a higher number than the 38% who had the obsessional thoughts related to dirt and contamination more commonly associated with OCD. One study suggests that content of intrusive thoughts may vary depending on culture, and that blasphemous thoughts may be more common in men than in women.
According to Fred Penzel, a New York psychologist, some common religious obsessions and intrusive thoughts are:
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- sexual thoughts about God, saints, and religious figures such as Mary
- bad thoughts or images during prayer or meditation
- thoughts of being possessed
- fears of sinning or breaking a religious law or performing a ritual incorrectly
- fears of omitting prayers or reciting them incorrectly
- repetitive and intrusive blasphemous thoughts
- urges or impulses to say blasphemous words or commit blasphemous acts during religious services.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Shaken, and stirred as well- transit from the cemetery into the surrounding “once upon a time” hamlet called Blissville was accomplished by crossing Greenpoint Avenue at Gale Avenue and a hurried flight was carried out along the concrete of Borden Avenue. Two sets of footprints were carved into the sooty deposits which distinguish the walkways of the ancient village, and the second one sure wasn’t Jesus…
In shattered automotive glass and an occasional plate glass window, notice was additionally made of a skirting movement just at the edges of perception. As mentioned- my cognition was altered by the pharmaceutical remedies offered and prescribed by my concerned doctors, but something odd really did seem to be following me.
Before long, I found myself at Hunters Point in Long Island City by the East River… but we’ll be talking about that in a few days…
I had decided that if this specter insisted on stalking me, it was in for one mighty long walk…
more tomorrow…
from wikipedia
A hallucination may occur in a person in a state of good mental and physical health, even in the apparent absence of a transient trigger factor such as fatigue, intoxication or sensory deprivation.
It is not widely recognized that hallucinatory experiences are not merely the prerogative of those suffering from mental illness, or normal people in abnormal states, but that they occur spontaneously in a significant proportion of the normal population, when in good health and not undergoing particular stress or other abnormal circumstance.
The evidence for this statement has been accumulating for more than a century. Studies of hallucinatory experience in the sane go back to 1886 and the early work of the Society for Psychical Research, which suggested approximately 10% of the population had experienced at least one hallucinatory episode in the course of their life. More recent studies have validated these findings; the precise incidence found varies with the nature of the episode and the criteria of ‘hallucination’ adopted, but the basic finding is now well-supported.
a ghastly plot
“Newtown Creek for the Vulgarly Curious” is a fully annotated 68 page, full-color journey from the mouth of Newtown Creek at the East River all the way back to the heart of darkness at English Kills, with photos and text by Mitch Waxman.
Check out the preview of the book at lulu.com, which is handling printing and order fulfillment, by clicking here.
Every book sold contributes directly to the material support and continuance of this, your Newtown Pentacle.
profound discouragement
– photo by Mitch Waxman
With my favored vantage on Dutch Kills, the estimable Borden Avenue Bridge, once more accessible– I’ve been making it a point to aim my wanderings toward its general direction whenever I can summon the fortitude to brave the ice. As crazy as it sounds, and regular readers of this- your Newtown Pentacle- have become fairly accustomed to crazy, I really missed this little bridge for the nearly 2 years it had been undergoing emergency repair.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Perhaps its because this is the first section of the Newtown Creek that I actively explored, researched, and made it a point of documenting. Maybe its simply because this is the most easily attained of the Creek’s tributaries for one who walks, or that it seems to be the most “down on it’s luck” section of the vast watershed and I’m drawn by nature to the runt of the litter.
English Kills in far off Brooklyn makes for far better cautionary tales, but there’s just something tragic about Dutch Kills that always draws me in.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An actual “out loud gasp” escaped my food hole when I discovered that the resident Crow of the Borden Avenue Bridge had not been forced out of his shanty by the long construction project, and if anything- the fellow had been building additions to the ramshackle hut constructed from found materials.
Last time that I had pointed my lens at this character was in the February 3rd posting of 2010 titled “affordable housing development on Borden Avenue“.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The smell of a wood fire was wafting from the Crow’s slapdash of plywood, tyvek, and sheet metal- a vague scent which crowded its way into the otherwise extant perfumes normally associated with Dutch Kills.
For those of you who haven’t been reading the Newtown Pentacle since inception- “Crow” is a term I picked up from the neighborhood in Astoria that describes the armies of itinerant scrap metal collectors who find profit in other people’s waste- “put something shiny out on the sidewalk, and the crows will show up and take it” is a common aphorism around my part of Astoria.
I’ve assigned this crow a name “Blue Crow”, but both the “red crow” and the “burgundy crow” have been mentioned previously.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There’s a bunch of these folks I’ve been spying on, and I’ve even heard rumors of a criminal group who pilfer the white bronze monuments and copper fittings of area cemeteries to sell the valuable metals on the scrap market, but I have yet to regale you with tales of the other- and quite polychromatic- crows who hold the “Green Recycling Jobs of Tomorrow, Today”.
One has also wondered, and more than wondered, at what foul congress the Blue Crow might have had with that which cannot possibly exist in the velvet deep of the malign Dutch Kills.
for silver
“Newtown Creek for the Vulgarly Curious” is a fully annotated 68 page, full-color journey from the mouth of Newtown Creek at the East River all the way back to the heart of darkness at English Kills, with photos and text by Mitch Waxman.
Check out the preview of the book at lulu.com, which is handling printing and order fulfillment, by clicking here.
Every book sold contributes directly to the material support and continuance of this, your Newtown Pentacle.
Guess what
– photo by Mitch Waxman
So, I went out for a walk today. My only intention was to begin carving off some of the lard which has been quickly accumulating about my midsection during the gluttonous holiday season, but found my steps drawn toward the flat marshlands of Hunters Point and Long Island City as I descended from the swollen hills of Astoria. Following my shadow, it wasn’t long before I started seeing… the Cats… again. My odd habit of turning left whenever a feline shape presents itself led me directly to the Borden Avenue Bridge…
WHICH WAS OPEN TO TRAFFIC!!!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There was still construction activity going on, but a quick check with one of the guys in high visibility colors revealed that the structure’s roadway was available. The sidewalks were still being worked on, and safety barriers were present- but the long running project seems to be nearing an end. I’m not sure if the bridge is “officially open”, but at least today it was.
Thank you, weird Cats of the Creeklands.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I should mention that this structure is one of my favorite locations along the Dutch Kills tributary, from a photographic point of view, and an uncharacteristic giddiness seems to be filling me at the near return of a long cherished vantage point. Check out what I mean here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The official truth, from the NYC DOT site is:
Borden Avenue is a two-lane local City street in Queens. Borden Avenue runs east-west extending from Second Street at the East River to Greenpoint Avenue. The Borden Avenue Bridge over Dutch Kills is located just south of the Long Island Expressway between 27th Street and Review Avenue in the Sunnyside section of Queens. Borden Avenue Bridge is a retractile type moveable bridge. The general appearance of the bridge remains the same as when it was first opened in 1908. The bridge structure carries a two-lane two-way vehicular roadway with sidewalks on either side. The roadway width is 10.5m and the sidewalks are 2.0 m. The west approach and east approach roadways, which are wider than the bridge roadway, are 15.3m and 13.0m respectively. The bridge provides a horizontal clearance of 14.9m and a vertical clearance in the closed position of 1.2m at MHW and 2.7m at MLW.
As part of the construction of Borden Avenue in 1868, a wooden bridge was built over Dutch Kills. This bridge was later replaced by an iron swing bridge, which was removed in 1906. The current bridge was opened on March 25, 1908 at a cost of $157,606. The deck’s original design consisted of creosote-treated wood blocks, with two trolley tracks in the roadway. Character-defining features of this bridge include the stucco-clad operator’s house, four pairs of rails, and a rock-faced stone retaining wall. The gable-on-hip roof of the operator’s house retains the original clay tile at the upper part. Although alterations have been made, the bridge is a rare survivor of its type and retains sufficient period integrity to convey its historic design significance.
The Department of Transportation has identified a pocket of contaminated soil which has been classified as “contaminated non-hazardous”. As such, it poses no significant health risk to workers or the surrounding community. However, precautionary measures will be taken and every effort is being made to remove and dispose of the contamination quickly, yet safely, within all New York City and State guidelines. A Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for the removal and disposal of the contamination has been submitted to the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for review and approval. Upon receipt of the NYSDEC approval, the contractor will prepare a new construction schedule and commence work under the terms of the permits. At this time, a date for the resumption of work is unknown which precludes an accurate prediction of a new anticipated completion date, although every effort will be made to complete the project in the late Fall of 2010. All posted detours will remain in effect until further notice.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Further official truth is found in the DOT’s Weekly Traffic Advisory of Saturday January 1, 2011 to Friday January 7, 2011
Borden Avenue Bridge over Dutch Kills (at 27th Street): This Bridge was closed December 31st 2008 for emergency reconstruction and reopened December 24, 2010 to two-way traffic. This closure was to necessitate NYCDOT Bridge major construction activity. Single lane closures will resume after January 2, 2011 to complete sidewalk and punch list work.
The Newtown Pentacle 