Archive for the ‘newtown creek’ Category
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.
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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.
Archives #013
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My beloved Creek, how I miss thee… This shot looks towards Brooklyn’s Greenpoint from LIC’s Blissville along the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge. What’s missing here is a rail bridge which used to connect LIRR freight trains to the Brooklyn side, where the Mobil Refinery used to stand.
Today, another archives post from broken ankle country (#brankle) greets you, with all represented posts having been originally presented on this date in their respective years.
This 2015 post discusses the garbage train in LIC’S Blissville section.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I always figured that if I broke an ankle it would be all the way back in Brooklyn at the end of English Kills, which is also the end of Newtown Creek, and is found some 3.8 miles from the East River. I never liked going back here alone, either. Too easy to get hurt and too difficult to get help if you did.
This 2017 post visits the actual last mile of Newtown Creek in Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
End of December in 2022 is when I left NYC and moved to Pittsburgh. No regrets, I would add. Again, it’s an interesting thing for me to recollect about the actual sensory experience of this particular day when viewing the photos. I remember the day this shot was captured as offering near perfect weather conditions for a long walk.
This 2023 post from October 23 involved me trying to ‘get back on the stick’ exercise wise, after an interval of being stuck at home while caring for Our Lady of the Pentacle after she endured a medical procedure. A year later and our positions have reversed, and I’m the one in trouble.
Back tomorrow.
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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.
Archive #011
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Progress continues here in Pittsburgh, as far the recovery from the broken left ankle injury goes. To wit, this is the first of these archive posts that I didn’t have to throw together in a panic on the morning it was meant to publish. What that also means that is that my thought processes are recovering, and the sensory ‘noise’ introduced by the pain transmitting up from the ankle and foot is beginning to fall off a bit. This is being written on Saturday the 19th, btw.
Back in 2009, I was walking over the Pulaski Bridge – spanning the fabulous Newtown Creek – when the bridge opened for maritime traffic, as described in this posting from October 21 of that year. I find this sort of thing exciting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’m hoping to be able to drive again fairly soon. What’s been holding me back is the physical reality of getting down the same flight of stairs that I broke my ankle on, then out the door to the driveway, and finally getting into the car without killing myself or incurring any new injuries. It’s a palaver, every little thing is. Taking a dump requires ten minutes of planning and careful execution just to get into position on the porcelain.
October 21 in 2012 is when this post was published, which discussed a random tugboat that I encountered while out on NY Harbor.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The last time I experienced the lack of purpose I do now was during COVID, but at least then I was able to go out at night and walk the deserted sidewalks of the concrete devastations in LIC. No walkie for me for a long while, with long walks not being possible on an even longer timeline. I might have to switch over to bike riding!
This 2020 post ruminated upon getting what you want and not having to act like some boring and ideological ass to achieve it.
“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 #007
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s the little things… like crossing your legs when sitting… that you miss when orthopedically challenged. The cast on my busted ankle is made of those fiberglass bandages which the Doctors like, and it’s both heavy and omnipresent. Even when asleep, you’re aware of it. Existential comfort is dearly wished for, even as the pain levels off.
This 2014 post details the existential dread I always experience while waiting for something interesting to happen, or for a subject to just pass in front of my lens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The busted ankle event occurred roughly a month ago, which kicked off an interval of some of the most challenging weeks I’ve ever experienced. Pain, painkillers, the annihilation of personal dignity, and the loss of ability to take care of all the little needs which pop up during the course of your day. I’ll never take being able to use the bathroom freely for granted again, for instance, nor drop a pen on the floor without worrying about causing a dog related crisis.
In 2019, this post discussed the fact that I had grown jaded as far as all the cool stuff I used to see, on the regular, back at Newtown Creek and NY Harbor in general.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Your humble narrator is crunched up in a sitting position, and aching to get some exercise. My phone’s health app just informed me that I’ve taken 3,495% fewer steps than usual in the last month. Yesterday, my step count was 45. I miss taking photos and moving around big and interesting landscapes. Hell, I miss standing.
Another series of shots from a 2021 Amtrak trip, which were captured in Washington D.C., are contained therein this post from October 15th.
“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 #004
Thursday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Continuing with the archives posts today, due to a humble narrator’s broken ankle dealie. I screwed up the whole date thing yesterday, thinking that it was the 11th rather than the 9th, so there you go as far as a window into how messed up my brain is at the moment.
This post from 2013 details an art project on the old Mobil refinery site in Greenpoint, designed and executed by Jan Mun and Jason Sinopoli in partnership with ExxonMobil. Miss those days.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve grown bored with the Police body cam footage thing, and am honing my list of ‘20 things not to do when the Cops show up’ list for future dissemination. #3 is ‘not threatening to track them down and rape their families when you get out of jail.’ The Cops react badly to that one.
Compositional magic in photos? Umbrellas are discussed in this context in this post from 2018.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Seeing my beloved Creek in these photos really grinds as -surprise- I was scheduled to be back home for a few days next week. Had plane tix and everything. Best laid plans and all that, huh?
Here’s a few shots from Newtown Creek in this 2019 post,
“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 