Archive for the ‘Queens’ Category
tower chamber
Getting high in Western Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As some of you may have discovered, your humble narrator is bringing his personal brand of wide eyed paranoia to Brownstoner Queens in a bi weekly column exploring some the lesser known and esoteric corners of Western Queens for a couple of months now. Recent endeavor found one at the summit of the Standard Motor Products Building at the corner of Northern Blvd. and Steinway/39th st./Harold Avenue visiting the startlingly cool Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm. Check out what I saw up there by clicking here.
For a full inventory of what I’ve been doing over at Brownstoner, click here.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A second posting spawned by the visit looked over the walls and witnessed the majestic Sunnyside Yard from on high, which can accessed by clicking here. Just yesterday, an interviewer working on an unrelated project asked me what my reaction to “demolishing the Javitz Center in Manhattan, then decking over the Sunnyside Yard and building a convention center and hotel complex on the deck” would be.
Roughly an hour later, after a far ranging diatribe about storm water, CSO’s, and endemic PCB contamination- the question I asked the interviewer was “How, in any way, would this benefit Queens other than the creation of low wage service industry jobs?” (and a short interval of construction industry jobs, of course). I suggested we deck over the yards and install 192 acres of farmland or just a plain old park. Didn’t Central Park spur development of underutilized land surrounding it in Manhattan 150 years ago, creating what are today the most valuable residential properties in the entire city if not the world? Why not add something green to spur growth, whatever the hell that is?
I also asked the interviewer what the hell “vibrant and diverse” is supposed to indicate or mean.
Please, planners, leave your air conditioned Manhattan offices and actually come to Queens. Leave the cars and bicycles behind and actually walk around. We don’t need any more of Manhattan’s problems exported to us, as Queens’ biggest problem is the City shitting on us every chance it gets.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sorry for the late update today, had a few connectivity problems this morning. I’ll be out and about all weekend, if anyone has anything going on they’d like me to record or write about- please contact me here.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Glittering Realms– Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
struggling madly
Like a leaf, you.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s Furrinalia, an ancient Roman holiday venerating Furrina. Furrina was a water goddess of truly ancient origins, one of the 12 “flamines minores.” July 25 is “one of those days,” when random events in the calendar as revealed by the historical record seem to be propitious in retrospect. Events speak of broad strokes and suggest some sort of guiding hand- although that’s 20/20 hindsight and western bias talking. Coincidentally, July 25 is also the day that the Inca empire celebrated its thunder god Ilyap’a, who kept the Milky Way in a jar and used it to make rain.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After his Dad died, a fellow we refer to as Constantine the Great was proclaimed the emperor of Rome by his troops in 306. A scant 9 years later, the “arch of Constantine” was unveiled in Rome, hailing the victory of the General and his armies at the Milvian Bridge- a battle made famous by the Emperor’s conversion to Christianity, which was an event signaling that the end of the pagan era in Europe was nigh. In 1261, the armies of Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptured the city named for Constantine from latin usurpers, beginning the final iteration of the Roman Empire which would end in the fires of 1453.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In 1837, the first electrical telegraph was demonstrated in London. In 1866, the newly created post of “General of the Army” in the United States was awarded to Ulysses S. Grant. In 1898, United States troops began the invasion of Puerto Rico, and in 1946 an atomic bomb was detonated at Bikini Atoll. Today is the day that Dylan went electric in Newport, Connecticut in 1965, and 1978 saw the birth of the first “test tube” baby. In 1984, Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
Also, in 1966, New York City Council speaker and Mayoral candidate Christine Quinn was born in Glen Cove.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Glittering Realms– Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
vivid melange
A rapidly cooling post today
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This last weekend, your humble narrator led a short boat tour up a long Creek for Metropolitan Waterfront Alliances’ City of Water Day festival, despite the Bataan Death March atmospherics. Upon returning to Astoria and after inhaling approximately 40 gallons of water, one went out in search of Mr. Softee. The mister is no good, as Mrs. Softee spends every night alone during the summer, and has no idea where he spends his time or for whom his bells toll.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Time spent in the ancient village of Astoria is often revelatory, as many of the neighbors speak English not just as a second, but in many cases as a third language. This will often result in unintentionally meaningful signage, as with this sign board found on Broadway nearby the elevated N and Q lines which succinctly describes United States foreign policy.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Finally, a quick peek at Hunters Point, where construction seems to be gearing up and the brave new world is forming. Ten years from now, this same POV will portray the entrance to a grand tower building of the “happy shiny” sort which will be part of the new Hunters Point South community. I’ll miss the view, myself, but I like muddy puddles.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Project Firebox 80
An ongoing catalog of New York’s endangered Fireboxes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Like so many other Fireboxes in Queens, this sentry is emasculated by shrinking maintenance budgets and an odd notion which has caught on in Manhattan that everybody carries a cell phone whose easy access to calling 911 makes its kind redundant. Maspeth shudders in the manner of Troy, gazing down as its guardian lies helpless before Achilles.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
sardonic source
Fearful and frightful, be afraid… be very, very afraid.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sometimes you scare yourself, I know that I do, but then again I’m a fairly scary person- or so I’ve been told by those who seek my destruction. Looking out from behind my eyes, I believe that I set the standard of sanity for the rest of the world, a situation which terrifies me, as there has to be someone better upon which to draw the line between madness and sanity. Anxious, phobic, given to fits of melancholia and nostalgic ennui- your humble narrator is all ‘effed up.
from wikipedia
Most phobias are classified into three categories and, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), such phobias are considered to be sub-types of anxiety disorder. The three categories are:
1. Social phobia: fear of other people or social situations such as performance anxiety or fears of embarrassment by scrutiny of others. Overcoming social phobia is often very difficult without the help of therapy or support groups. Social phobia may be further subdivided into
- generalized social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder or simply social anxiety).
- specific social phobia, in which anxiety is triggered only in specific situations. The symptoms may extend to psychosomatic manifestation of physical problems. For example, sufferers of paruresis find it difficult or impossible to urinate in reduced levels of privacy. This goes far beyond mere preference: when the condition triggers, the person physically cannot empty their bladder.
2. Specific phobias: fear of a single specific panic trigger such as spiders, snakes, dogs, water, heights, flying, catching a specific illness, etc. Many people have these fears but to a lesser degree than those who suffer from specific phobias. People with the phobias specifically avoid the entity they fear.
3. Agoraphobia: a generalized fear of leaving home or a small familiar ‘safe’ area, and of possible panic attacks that might follow. It may also be caused by various specific phobias such as fear of open spaces, social embarrassment (social agoraphobia), fear of contamination (fear of germs, possibly complicated by obsessive-compulsive disorder) or PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) related to a trauma that occurred out of doors.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Ignoble, embarrassing and meaningless- the dire consequence or ironic fate one fears most is to be taken down by some unturned screw or careless inattention to detail. Such an end would be more embarrassing than I can bear. A loosened brick, cast off tool, or some other loose bit of debris falling from on high worries me as much or moreso than being struck by an out of control vehicle or being torn asunder by wild dogs. Danger comes at you from 360 degrees here in the megalopolis and it is best to maintain a state of mild panic whenever you leave the house (which is a statistically dangerous place as well, but at least you die comfortably and with some private dignity at home). Fear everything, I always say, New York would like to see you die luridly just so she can tell the story when hanging out at the bar with Chicago and New Orleans.
from wikipedia
Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia (derived from Ancient Greek roots ἑξακόσιοι [hexakósioi, “six hundred”], ἑξήκοντα [hexékonta, “sixty”], and ἕξ [héx, “six”]; literally meaning “fear of [the number] six hundred sixty-six”) is the fear that originated from the Biblical verse Revelation 13:18, which indicates that the number 666 is the Number of the Beast, linked to Satan or the Anti-Christ.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Having embraced the philosophies of the Terror War, wherein every neighbor is a potential person of interest to inform the Cops about and the innocent actions of children are viewed through a filter of threat assessment. That guy BBQing down the block just might be cooking up trouble on that grill- how do you know that propane tank he’s using doesn’t have some secondary and quite sinister purpose? One has decided to just allow paranoia to rule my days and let fear be my watchword. Be afraid, be very, very afraid. Trust no one. If you see something, say something. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, by the way, he’s with the government.
from wikipedia
Panphobia (from Greek πᾶν – pan, neuter of “πᾶς” – pas, “all” and φόβος – phobos, “fear”) also called omniphobia, pantophobia, or panophobia, is a phobia known as a “non-specific fear” or “the fear of everything” and is described as “a vague and persistent dread of some unknown evil”.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, August 10, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
13 Steps around Dutch Kills– Saturday, August 17, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
