Archive for the ‘Photowalk’ Category
ornate and exotic
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– photo by Mitch Waxman
Maddeningly, lucky captures like the ones featured in today’s posting have been pretty rare for me of late, but here’s three from the proverbial “right place, right time.” Whilst crossing the devastations of Laurel Hill last week, enroute to a meeting in Brooklyn, those dense atmospheric conditions which had all but occluded the visual presence of Manhattan, just an hour earlier, suddenly cleared up. The burning thermonuclear eye of god itself omnipotently bathed the accursed earth in its radiation, driving away the rain laden clouds.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, I was skulking and scuttling the periphery, along an obscure pavement, of the polyandrion of the Roman Catholic Church- called Calvary. Bearing witness to this sudden explosion of majesty and inadvertent stage lighting, for one such as myself, was fraught with danger. Having grown increasingly nocturnal over the winter months, your humble narrator let slip an audibly fearful hiss when that light- which had traveled 93 million miles in seconds and was aimed directly at me- struck my shadow tempered skin. At once, I was moving eastward- and toward safe harbor in the perennial shadows of DUKBO (Down Under the Kosciuszko Bridge Onramp) scuttled I.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Luckily, as it was late in the day, this luminous event was short lived and the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself now floated low to the horizon in the northwestern sky. Enormous volatility in the air and surrounding cloud systems lent an effusive quality to its emanations, which oddly framed the so called Freedom Tower- a megalith nearing completion on the site of national tragedy and aspiration. To one such as myself, however, such things are better left for others to contemplate, enjoy, and discuss. There is no place for me in the company of others. My place is here, along the Newtown Creek, and amongst the tomb legions.
Project Firebox 61
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Out of order is what the sign says, with instructions to instead call 911 or some other specialized number for the Queens Fire dispatchers. There are several fire boxes bearing similar screeds which have been seen around Sunnyside in recent weeks, so my guess is that some central switch or relay is out somewhere. Imagine the horror of this scarlet watcher, unable to reach out to its distant firehouse to summon aid. This box also carries an option for summoning the gendarme, by the way, a feature I remember as originating sometime during the second or first Koch administration.
shrank away
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the posting “perfect service” a few days ago, the tableau of a Con Ed street repair was described. The gentlemen who performed this repair left behind a safety cone sitting on top of the manhole cover to their street pit. Two days later, the cone was moved for a time by a group of gentlemen with a giant masonry saw powerful enough to cut street.
It was all very exciting.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After packing their saw back up onto a truck, they replaced the cone.
One is beside himself waiting for the next pulse pounding installment. Will someone come with a drill, punching holes in the asphalt? Will the entire block drop through the subway below? Lasers, perhaps? I will keep you posted.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Happy place… happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place… …happy place…
eternal day
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Last weekend, a social engagement found Our Lady and myself breaking bread with another couple at an Indian place here in Astoria. One of our quartet is a Federal Employee, who was describing the practical effects of the so called “sequestration” upon the mechanics of the Government. Simple transactions, such as getting a tax return check or obtaining a new passport, will be delayed. She continued that in her case, she would simply not be able to go to work for a period, despite the urgency of her task.
The paroled child molesters whom she normally polices will simply have no one looking after them.
What could go wrong?
All the way up the food chain, however, chaos will ensue as Federal functionaries are furloughed, and the Defense Department has to start laying off soldiers. Medical research will also be hard hit.
Remember that a motto of the far right wing, when referring to the Federal Government, is to “starve the beast.”
Remember that when the Cubans invade Texas next winter.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Visions of the Roman Senate and Pompey Magnus danced in my head, and the sound of galloping horses approaching the Rubicon clouded my hearing. I tuned out my friend entirely, as I just couldn’t discuss the subject without blowing my cool. All I could taste was fire, but after all, I had just eaten an entrée at an Indian restaurant.
After dinner, a new policy was decided and is announced today.
As of now, whenever a subject upsets or annoys me, I am going to block it out and go to my happy place.
In my case, that happy place is a bakery, and I shall blot out the reality of my situation and just think about cake. No more parables, politicians nor portents for me, not anymore, just pastry.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Intercession with the human hive is a good thing, allowing one to form opinions and offer new questions for expert answering. As many of the answers which have been offered in recent years have often forced one to retreat back into his “happy place” and resort to living in nothing more than a world of his own imagining- anticipation of visiting this inner paradise of baked goods often in the coming year nearly overwhelms.
Also, I make this sewer cover as 1910’s-20’s. How about y’all?
unthinkable gardens
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– photo by Mitch Waxman
Here’s a little slice of life, from Astoria…
The public litter baskets are regularly emptied around these parts, DSNY does its thing well. The thing is, DOB does its thing pretty good too. Hence- they spend a lot of time looking for illegal sublets and apartments. One of the methods they use to determine the address from which a particular violation might emanate from are reports submitted by the DSNY and DOH inspectors who enforce the recycling rules. If a two family house is putting out more than a certain amount of garbage, for instance, it triggers further interest from these inspectors.
The inspectors are good at their job too, by the way.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Of course, what officialdom doesn’t reckon is whom they are dealing with, here amongst the blessed hills of raven haired Astoria. A significant proportion of the population hereabouts was born overseas, and will relate tales of civil disobedience and outright partisan warfare against varied regimes- those of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Tito are mentioned by older inhabitants. Younger residents will relate their antagonistic relationships with governments, and having stood tall before the dictatorial policies of (amongst others) Mubarak, Thatcher, and several South American military “Juntas.” They do not fear Michael Bloomberg.
Resistance to bureaucracy is baked into their bones, and it is impossible to make them do something which they don’t want to.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Accordingly, local custom has developed wherein the residents of these illegal apartment conversions are simply using the corner litter basket for household trash in order to not reveal the location where they are living.
Subsequently, the corner litter baskets are no longer usable for their intended purpose. Consequently, trash and litter are wind blown and gather wherever nature decides to deposit them, which is more often than not the sidewalks and fence lines of legal abodes. Said legal abodes are then ticketed for not cleaning the pavement, according to statute. Also, since the pavement is already covered in trash, there are no societal cues offered to discourage the populace from just dropping additional trash wherever they can.
The litter baskets are full up anyway.
The Newtown Pentacle 