Archive for the ‘DUKBO’ Category
DUKBO 2 DUGABO
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My beloved creek…
After visiting the Maspeth Plank Road and Maspeth Creek as well, my next destination involved a walk through Blissville, and then to the Kosciuszcko Bridge’s bike and pedestrian path. If you haven’t figured it out, that’s the view from ‘up there’ in the photo above.
I was heading over to Newtown Creek Alliance HQ, in Greenpoint, to touch base with a few former colleagues and extant friends. Oddly, I was actually experiencing emotions, of the sort which literature has suggested to me that the normal humans might. Odd.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Several mentions at the start of this series of NYC posts have alluded to the fact that this trip was actually a bit of an emotional journey for me.
Possibly the last chapter in the broken ankle story? Hope so.
In many ways, I needed to see what my physical capabilities actually are now, and so I returned to the place where I’ve defined that sort of thing for the last sixteen years – since the last major medical situation I found myself in, when I experienced a heart attack at 39. It was a bad moment for me personally, of course, but the recovery from that incident led to everything I’ve been doing ever since – including this, your Newtown Pentacle.
Needless to say, I was in a heightened emotional state during this four day stint. Remarkable, a couple of times I was actually displaying inner emotions to other people. Normally, my armor is up and other than brief flashes of annoyance or anger, trying to read me is difficult.
Never, ever, let anyone know what you’re actually thinking.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The struggle, during the whole recovery period from the broken ankle, was to ‘remain chipper.’ Getting depressed wouldn’t have helped, at all, and I did the usual great job of suppressing and containerizing my emotional tumult, with the intention of releasing the enclosed pressure at some future point, when expedient.
As I always say: Freak out after the crisis.
A lot of this sort of thinking, I think, is a direct reproach of how my Mom handled the world. She had one reaction to everything, a screaming and sweaty fit of anger aimed at whomsoever caused the agitation. Everything was treated with the same intensity. Russian fighter jet just fell out of the sky, and crushed the family car? Spilling a few coffee grinds on the kitchen counter? Dad has cancer? My hair is wet? Too much salt on her fries at the diner? Same reaction, everytime.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was Day 3 of the NYC trip, and by this point the ankle was actually pretty sore. Exercise days have been spaced out, with at least a 72 hour recovery period of low activity following a walk. The joint still swells up on me, a situation which the surgeon tells me could last as long as two years after the reconstruction surgery. It was indeed swollen by Day 3, but I was still able to scuttle around pain free. It was the end of Day 4 when it started giving me some trouble, but I was already slouching roughly towards LaGuardia Airport by that point.
Did I mention how hot it was? That’s the end of my Monday morning moaning and self introspection.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in Pittsburgh, I laugh and laugh when people describe traffic as being heavy. Even in a slow down ‘rush hour’ scenario, traffic in Pittsburgh is still moving at 10-20 mph. The Brooklyn Queens Expressway at the Meeker Avenue exit, however, was moving at the average speed of vehicle traffic in NYC, which – last time I checked – is estimated to be about 3.2 mph. It was lovely, the way that the sunlight filtered through the shimmering engine exhaust.
The Kosciuszcko Bridge was left behind, and your humble narrator reentered the street grid in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section. It would be about a 3/4 of a mile scuttle to get to DUGABO (Down Under the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge Onramp) where NCA HQ is found at 520 Kingsland Avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Boy, they just don’t have sewer plants in Pennsylvania like this one, I tell’s ya. We got’s a mammoth series of scary factories out here though, like Brooklyn used to.
After arriving at NCA HQ, I began drinking copious amounts of water, rehydrating after a sweaty few hours on Newtown Creek’s ‘mean streets.’ Several friends actually made a special trip to coincide with my visit, and we had a bit of an NCA reunion going on for a bit. I was faklempt.
Back tomorrow with more.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“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.
First DUKBO
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Kosciuszcko, men have named you, Kosciuszcko… I’m told by native speakers of the Polish language that it’s pronounced ‘Kos Shoos Ko’ instead of ‘Kos Kious Ko’ or any of the other English language variants commonly offered by residents of the area.
I’ve spent a LOT of time on and around this bridge over the years. The entire replacement project was documented over a multi-year period, and I was there when Cuomo pressed the big red button and lit up the bridge while Billy Joel played ‘New York State of Mind’ at Madison Square Garden. I was also there when a different big red button was pushed to demolish the old bridge.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The Recreational Vehicle or ‘RV’ situation is very much present on Review Avenue alongside the bridge in Blissville. The semi trailers parked along this stretch are carrying municipal solid waste, which is scratched out of the sewer flow by the NYC DEP and then carried away by private contractors. The contractors often leave their quite full truck trailers parked nearby the sewer plants, in industrial zones, for sometimes weeks at a pop. According to one of the former DEP Commissioners this does not happen, despite me having personally presented photos of the circumstance to the management team. Imagining it, I guess.
Again, a wrinkle of NYC’s Parking laws allows a vehicle with commercial plates to park in an industrial zone indefinitely. RV’s have commercial plates, so…
Today’s ‘Bah!’ goes right here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One scuttled up onto the ramp which connects the Kosciuszcko Bridge’s pedestrian and bike lanes to Queens. As you’d imagine, it was quite a bit warmer up here, and especially so when I reached the main section of the span over Newtown Creek.
Traffic was standstill/rolling forwards at under 5 mph on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, which the bridge carries.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a well practiced pathway for me, back when I lived in Astoria. I’d often find myself having to go to Greenpoint for a Newtown Creek Alliance event or meeting or something, and I’d use 43rd street through Sunnyside to get to the Kosciuszcko. Alternatively, I’d walk up 39th street to Skillman, hang a right, and then a left on Van Dam. The K-Bridge path was a few steps shorter, and far more interesting visually. Also, no homeless shelters to pass by on this route.
It’s not the homeless, really, it’s their friends who come to visit them at the shelter that are the problem.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’d suggest clicking through to Flickr for the shot above, which is a mega massive panorama of the ‘DUKBO’ section of Newtown Creek. Queens is on the right, Brooklyn on the left, with the shining city of Manhattan forming the backdrop. North, south, and west.
Me? I continued on, shvitzing along the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The next destination would be in Greenpoint, at Newtown Creek Alliance’s HQ at 520 Kingsland Avenue nearby the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. About a mile’s walk. I stuck to building shadows to avoid the sun, threading my way through the industrial zone.
Back next week with 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.
Archives # 048
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Circumstance and weather often decide how active your humble narrator is at any given time. Sometimes it’ll actually be bad weather that draws me out and about, contravening logic and sense, whereas any random injury or odd medical situation can idle the camera and force me to shelter in place at HQ for extended intervals.
The recent ankle situation is one of those random injuries, for instance. Normally, it’s two short walks (approx 3-5 miles) and one long one (8-10 miles) every week. Given that the ground in Pittsburgh, at this writing, is covered in a half inch of hard clear ice and I’m recovering from a busted ankle – discretion is the better part of valor.
In 2013’s ‘linger strangely’ I apparently needed to release a poop into the wild, the urgency of which was a torment while transversing from LIC back to Astoria while on a photo walk. Furthermore, I decided to write about the experience. Y’know… Pittsburgh has public bathrooms deployed all over the place… just imagine that, New Yorkers.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m sure it’s going to be agony when it warms up this week and I attempt my first outing. This week’s posts are being written on Friday the 6th, as a note. I know where my first photo session will be, and I’ve been planning it for roughly a month since the cast came off. It’s as important to know where you’ve been as it is to have a plan for where you’re going.
2015’s ‘cyclopean endeavor’ saw a humble narrator focusing in on the Queens side progress of the Kosciuszcko Bridge replacement operation. This was just a part, of course, of a multiple years long series of posts.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Back in Astoria, when the weather wasn’t on my side, or I just didn’t feel like wandering around Newtown Creek at night, I’d set up the tripod on my porch and shoot the moon. Like Subways entering the station, moon shots are HARD to pull off, but they’re all about the technical side of things. The satellite is moving quite a bit faster through the sky than the naked eye would suggest, and the combination of a super bright subject set against the fuligin darkness of the night sky… t’aint easy. More fails than wins.
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.
2017’s ‘second search’ saw me playing around with the moon, camera wise.
“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 #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 #016
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Jesus!
Also, it’s been just shy of six weeks since the broken ankle interrupted my preconceptions and existential plans, and I’m still spending most of my time either sitting in a wheelchair or hobbling about on crutches. Thereby, archive posts are being offered, which draw on the abundance from prior years, here at Newtown Pentacle, which has been updated on a mostly daily basis since 2009. The conceit at work in choice of presenting past work is that each of the postings featured in these archive trios is that they were published on this date, in their respective year.
Famously, when Newtown Pentacle was first launched, your humble narrator avoided colloquial or conversational styles of language and instead filtered everything through a deliberately archaic HP Lovecraft styling. This framing device is one I used to discuss First Calvary Cemetery in LIC, as in this 2010 post, and it was the search for Gilman.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The good news is that I’m meant to be visiting the surgeon this week, and if I’m lucky, and the healing process has proceeded along with expectations, your humble narrator’s prison door might get unlocked soon. Cross your fingers for me, lords and ladies. I really need to get out of the house.
On this date in 2018, this post was published, describing part of a car trip out to South Brooklyn with my Pal Val.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As stated in the past, this process of ‘looking back at the road I walked’ has been very interesting – psychologically speaking. First thing I can tell you is this: I’ve got a lot of dead friends. Saying that, I know a LOT of people, so… law of averages, but… the second observation is that I did not leave the confines of NYC for something like ten years in a row.
Wow… no wonder I’m all ‘effed up.
In 2021, this ‘visiting Pittsburgh’ post arrived in your inboxes.
“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 