Posts Tagged ‘Brooklyn’
ironclad
– photos by Mitch Waxman
It was 150 years ago today, that John Ericsson taught the band to play.
Shots from the Greenpoint Monitor Museum parade, held yesterday, celebrating the launch of the USS Monitor 150 years ago today. Not entirely sure what role Llamas played in the Civil War, of course, but their presence was quite welcome.
feasible means
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Don’t tell Newtown Creek, as I wouldn’t want her to think that I’m cheating on her- but occasionally, I visit the Gowanus Canal.
It’s no tryst I’ll confess to- I’m a one superfund site kind of guy- but I’ve always enjoyed harmless flirting.
Witness the Loujaine, therefore, one of the Gowanus Canals permanent guests.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Once upon a time, Loujaine was the proud property of “Arabian Bulk Trade” or ABT, and served as a cement and dry cargo ship for the Saudi Arabia based company. That green and white funnel (smokestack) with the running critter in it is their logo.
The ship was built in the Nagoya, Japan of 1966, and lost its certification in 1985.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Reliable sources indicate that the ship was originally rigged as a bulk carrier, and that its original name was Bahma.
Arabian Bulk Trade was formed in 1977, acquired Bahma in the early 1980’s, and converted the ship for cement handling. They renamed it the “Abu Loujaine”.
ABT, incidentally, is part of a larger Saudi company which is called Xenel.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Xenel is an enormous conglomerate which dominates several Saudi markets, and is one of the companies operated by the House of Alireza.
A mercantile clan, the Alireza are somewhat analogous to the Rockefellers, or so I am told. The fellow who runs Xenel is an accomplished businessman and international statesman.
He went to Berkeley.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It arrived in Brooklyn (I am told) in 1985. Ownership has changed hands a couple of times since the ABT days, but according to the maritime websites it is currently owned by a local cement company of sizable reputation.
My understanding is that the ship was “decommissioned” and serves as a so called “floating discharge terminal”, warehouse, and barge for concrete products.
Now promise me, if the Newtown Creek asks, tell her I was with you- ok?
songs and dreams
– photo by Mitch Waxman
One of my pedantic philosophies, oft repeated to European relatives and acquaintances, is “We all know the uncomfortable truth of America, but it’s the myth that we need to believe in”. This sort of sophistry has always been the provence of artists and bohemians, radicals and writers- not the average joe.
Lately, it seems that the myth has been left out of the curriculum, and that it’s the patients who are running the asylum. Everyone I talk to, it seems, is disillusioned- in the literal sense of the word.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As slave masters go, the fellow depicted in the sculpture above- which sits at the foot of a bridge in Brooklyn- seems to been an ok one, at least according to oral tradition and learned opinions.
Can you be a good slave master though?
That’s the truth.
Cannot tell a lie, honor and fealty, liberty and justice for all.
That’s the myth, and I’ll take it.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It would be childish to not discuss the state of perpetual and unending war, or the inequity of a system that punishes the weak and wounded. One may not forget about original sin, or betrayed friends, or the vagaries of jingoism. What we may not forget is the myth.
I think it’s really important to try and remember about Superman, and Captain America too.
Project Firebox 28
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Hipper than thou, this guardian of the realm is found on the nebulous border betwixt Williamsburg and Greenpoint. As evinced in the shot above, the stalwart nobility of the scarlet sentinel is quite irresistible to the attention of North Brooklyn’s ladies.
The fairer sex is never immune to the power of uniforms, it would seem.
omnivorous browsing
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There is quite a colony of indigents to be found beneath the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.
Recently observed, the encampment featured not just bedding but the rudiments of furniture as well. Stuffed into the highway girders were comestibles and other consumables. This population, hidden away in the nooks and crannies of the Newtown Pentacle, has been growing by leaps and bounds in recent months- according to personal observation. Used to be there were folks living in their cars all over the place, but these days, I’ve been seeing shanty towns springing up. I know a couple of spots where multi room shacks have remained established for years.
Welcome to 21st century New York City, lords and ladies.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This particular spot is found in Greenpoint, not far from the Williamsburg border. Academics and politicians might see this as a problem to be solved, but to the calloused eyes of a humble narrator, it’s another case of “not bad, nor good, just is”.
Experience has taught me that these folks are where their actions and choices have led them to, and that what they ultimately desire is to just be left to their own devices. “Do what thou wilt” is the whole of the law, and all that.
Also remember that given the opportunity- these folks would boil you down and sell your parts by the pound as butcher’s scrap.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The duo sleeping beneath the rag piles in the shot above most likely consider each other trusted cohorts, and maintain a loose fraternity with others who share their experience. Imagine what you look like to them, with your clean clothes, credit cards, and bleeding heart. When spare change or a cigarette tumbles out of your pockets, or you leave some castaway clothing item at their camps, how do you think they interpret you?
As a mark, that’s how.
It’s not that the homeless are worse people than you and I, it’s a tribal thing. How would you feel if (metaphorical rich guy) Bloomberg showed up at your house, tsk-tsk’d at your squalor, and dropped you a few bucks to help out?
Wouldn’t you be trying to figure out some way to get his watch?
The Newtown Pentacle 