Archive for the ‘DUGABO’ Category
wildly luminous
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In yesterday’s posting, a object d’art was found along Laurel Hill Blvd. At the foot of that ancient byway lies an intersection with Greenpoint Avenue, and the bridge named for it. The street lamps are often utilized by your humble narrator as “something to hide from oncoming traffic behind” and recently I’ve noticed some odd graffiti popping up on them.
Not your usual “gangsta” braggadocio or “tags” nor “ironic hipster commentary”, these involve the bible.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The scrawl I’m referring to on this pole, which is on the western corner, is not the interesting tidbit about people of Korean abstraction which is written on the masking tape holding the pen- instead it’s the “Sin is the Devil” which caught my attention.
In the American King James version, at least, this correlates to 1 John 3:8
“He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”
Hmm.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Maybe I’m just stupid, but Psalms 141.6 doesn’t include the quotation above, which most likely comes from “Romans 5:13- For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”
The Psalms quotation would be “Their rulers will be thrown down from the cliffs, and the wicked will learn that my words were well spoken“.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
DUGABO (or Down Under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp), it would seem, can now boast of hosting a foe of evil.
Wonder what might happen should they spy the Blissville Banshee as she floats down the Newtown Creek, spy the occultists who make altars in area cemeteries, or wonder at the tales of an antique and quite spectral locomotive passing the Bliss Tower on its way to Deadman’s Curve at Berlin Hill?
Would we see an exorcism in DUGABO?
ALSO, this Friday:
My own attempt at presenting a cogent narrative and historical journey “up the creek” is up coming as well-
Your humble narrator will be narrating humbly on Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M. for the“Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385” as the “Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show” is presented to their esteemed group. The club hosts a public meeting, with guests and neighbors welcome, and say that refreshments will be served.
The “Magic Lantern Show” is actually a slideshow, packed with informative text and graphics, wherein we approach and explore the entire Newtown Creek. Every tributary, bridge, and significant spot are examined and illustrated with photography. This virtual tour will be augmented by personal observation and recollection by yours truly, with a question and answer period following.
For those of you who might have seen it last year, the presentation has been streamlined, augmented with new views, and updated with some of the emerging stories about Newtown Creek which have been exclusively reported on at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
For more information, please contact me here.
What: Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show
When: Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M.
Where: Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
sober and solitary
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The other day, your humble narrator was seeking adventure and illumination amongst the mouldering tombstones and oil soaked sands of Blissville. This is an industrial stretch, closer to DUGABO than it is to DUKBO, with the cyclopean walls of Calvary Cemetery defining the northern side of the street and an unbroken facade of industrial buildings and warehouses on the the south, which is also the direction in which the fabled Newtown Creek might be found by those that seek it out.
This is formerly one of the most loathsome stretches of the Creeklands- home to oil works, distilleries, and fat rendering plants.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
On the gates of what was once the vast rendering plant of Van Iderstines, a noxious industrial combine which was reviled by its neighbors during the century it squatted squamously upon this spot, this artwork was observed. This was no mere graffiti scrawl, instead this was an affixed installation, one which was obviously prepared elsewhere.
Content and subject matter are curious… and more than curious…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator grew interested upon noticing the presence of the double helix in the design, and the labeling which is meant to indicate the various amino acids which DNA is composed of. The “genetic code” as it is called, is actually represented by just four letters representing the chemical nucleotides which form the “double helix”- G,A,T, and C.
The four bases found in DNA are adenine (abbreviated A), cytosine (C), guanine (G) and thymine (T)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A secondary piece was hung nearby, this one showed greater restraint than the first, but absent the chaotic charisma of the first.
Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if the fences and gated properties of the Newtown Creek waterfront became a sort of guerrilla gallery for local artists. Imagine mile after mile of bizarre conceptions and twee fever dreams installed in the dead of night by a virtual and quite fey army of artists. Not “tagging”, of course, just tacking up something on paper whose impermanence was part of its very composition. Do the art on rice paper or something that will just turn to pulp when it rains.
A friend of mine once did an ad agency mailing for some “green” client, and her gimmick was to use paper into which flower seeds were embedded at the paper mill (and it was printed using soy inks, of course), and you were meant to just plant the advertisement in a pot after reading it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Being the sort of damaged individual that you’ve come to expect me to be, Lords and Ladies, an attempt was made to decode this particular painting. It soon became apparent that expertise in organic chemistry would be required to profoundly critique it, something which it would be foolhardy to attempt. A cursory scan of the various formulae revealed that some of these are indeed actual chemical descriptors for amongst other things- restriction enzymes.
The usage of the infinity symbol and the other text is a mystery to me, but overall I liked the art.
ALSO, this Friday:
My own attempt at presenting a cogent narrative and historical journey “up the creek” is up coming as well-
Your humble narrator will be narrating humbly on Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M. for the“Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385” as the “Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show” is presented to their esteemed group. The club hosts a public meeting, with guests and neighbors welcome, and say that refreshments will be served.
The “Magic Lantern Show” is actually a slideshow, packed with informative text and graphics, wherein we approach and explore the entire Newtown Creek. Every tributary, bridge, and significant spot are examined and illustrated with photography. This virtual tour will be augmented by personal observation and recollection by yours truly, with a question and answer period following.
For those of you who might have seen it last year, the presentation has been streamlined, augmented with new views, and updated with some of the emerging stories about Newtown Creek which have been exclusively reported on at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
For more information, please contact me here.
What: Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show
When: Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M.
Where: Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
guarded inquiries
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There are lots and lots of Newtown Creek oriented things going on in the next week or two. Tonight is a meeting of the Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee which will be in Greenpoint at the estimable Newtown Creek Wastewater Wastewater Treatment Plant. Details are below.
What: Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee DEP Meeting
When: February 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility, 329 Greenpoint Ave. (not in the visitor’s center, ask at the guard box)
– photo by Mitch Waxman
More details on the event listed below can be found at the Newtown Creek Alliance website, but this will be a joint DEP/DEC show which is aimed at (and I quote):
As part of development of a water quality improvement plan for Newtown Creek, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are holding a public meeting to present information and obtain public input. NYSDEC and DEP want to consider and, as appropriate, include comments from the public in the Newtown Creek Watershed/Waterbody Facility Plan (WWFP) before it is finalized. A WWFP is the initial step in the process toward achieving water quality goals for Newtown Creek. Following final WWFP approvals, DEP will commence the Long Term Control Plan for Newtown Creek.
What: DEP/DEC meeting on the Newtown Creek Watershed/Waterbody Facility Plan
When: Wednesday, February 22, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Where: The Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Facility Visitor Center 329 Greenpoint Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11222. Enter at the intersection of Greenpoint Avenue and Humboldt Street
My own attempt at presenting a cogent narrative and historical journey “up the creek” is up coming as well-
Your humble narrator will be narrating humbly on Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M. for the “Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385” as the “Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show” is presented to their esteemed group. The club hosts a public meeting, with guests and neighbors welcome, and say that refreshments will be served.
The “Magic Lantern Show” is actually a slideshow, packed with informative text and graphics, wherein we approach and explore the entire Newtown Creek. Every tributary, bridge, and significant spot are examined and illustrated with photography. This virtual tour will be augmented by personal observation and recollection by yours truly, with a question and answer period following.
For those of you who might have seen it last year, the presentation has been streamlined, augmented with new views, and updated with some of the emerging stories about Newtown Creek which have been exclusively reported on at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
For more information, please contact me here.
What: Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show
When: Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M.
Where: Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Lastly, the keen intellect of the Newtown Creek Alliance’s leadership will be on display, as they emerge from that hidden base maintained by the group somewhere in the vast watershed- I’m not allowed to say where it is, nor could I- as I’ve been blindfolded every time that I’ve been brought there. This will be a public meeting, wherein the status of ongoing projects will be explored and presented cogently.
What: Newtown Creek Alliance Public Meeting
When: Monday, Feb 27 at 6pm
Where: LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Avenue, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 E500 (E Building) Directions and map
Magic Lantern Show in Ridgewood
Your humble narrator will be narrating humbly on Friday, February 24th at 7:30 P.M. for the “Ridgewood Democratic Club, 60-70 Putnam Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385” as the “Newtown Creek Magic Lantern Show” is presented to their esteemed group. The club hosts a public meeting, with guests and neighbors welcome, and say that refreshments will be served.
The “Magic Lantern Show” is actually a slideshow, packed with informative text and graphics, wherein we approach and explore the entire Newtown Creek. Every tributary, bridge, and significant spot are examined and illustrated with photography. This virtual tour will be augmented by personal observation and recollection by yours truly, with a question and answer period following.
For those of you who might have seen it last year, the presentation has been streamlined, augmented with new views, and updated with some of the emerging stories about Newtown Creek which have been exclusively reported on at this- your Newtown Pentacle.
For more information, please contact me here.
Project Firebox 30
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It lives on the corner of Van Dam and Review, and clearly remembers when the self storage place across the street was a pickle factory. Like all long time residents of Queens, it can barely recognize the place these days, but carries on and sallies forth on the daily round. It’s not old enough to remember the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge burning down, twice. Neither does it remember Gleason’s trolleys nor the vast funeral cortèges that emptied the Five Points as they proceeded to Calvary. Memory is not a strong point for its kind, for as a watchman, the sole function it must serve is to raise the alarum.
The Newtown Pentacle 