Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
bewildering jarring
Today’s post is of an entirely pedestrian manner.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For about a year, I’ve been noticing this odd pattern all around the Newtown Pentacle, wherein a seemingly discarded single shoe is left conspicuously placed. As mentioned often, my particular curse is to notice everything, and these castaway garments have captured no small amount of my attentions. What’s odd about this is not that someone is discarding an item in the street, a common enough occurrence, its that shoes come in pairs and you seldom discharge one from service but keep its antipode. The boot in the shot above was in Astoria, at the corner of 43rd street and 34th avenue.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Down Under the Pulaski Bridge Onramp, or DUPBO as I refer to it, is a spot beloved by those that engage in the native art form of Queens- illegal dumping- and it is unsurprising to see entire wardrobes of clothing abandoned here. I once saw an entire dining room set down here, posed as if it was awaiting the gathering of a family to dinner.
Yet, once again, you find a single shoe.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just as the weather began to warm up in 2013, a change in the pattern was observed.
Suddenly shoes began to appear in matched pairs.
This shot is from Northern Blvd. nearby Steinway Street in Queens. At first, it seems almost normal, just a pair of abandoned shoes. Unfortunately, that’s what triggers another of my curses- which is to ask “Why?” Why would somebody remove their shoes on a busy glass strewn road, and in front of a gas station? What is the logical chain of dominoes which fell into place that brought this footwear to this particular spot? Was it the Rapture?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Presumptively, the fellow who carefully placed this abandoned set of kicks on 30th avenue and 45th street had another pair ready to go, but why not change them out at home? My habits, at least, include the sustained usage of footwear when out of the house. It is one of my deeply held beliefs that unless you’re arriving at the beach, park, or a pool and find yourself removing your shoes when out of the house- you’re either in need of medical attention or being arrested and searched (or visiting someone who made the calamitous decision to buy light colored carpets). I stay laced, but that’s me.
I grew up in a version of New York which considered smashing beer bottles on the sidewalk as being huge fun, and a City in which wearing heavy boots was an absolute necessity which had nothing to do with fashion.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The pair above were encountered in on Skillman Avenue in Sunnyside, and for once I had a witness along (Hi Tim) who can attest that they were neatly set out upon a stoop. Probably some generous soul, we surmised, setting out used shoes for the needy. Still, I wonder, and need to invoke my secondary curse. “Why”?
Personally, I have never set a pair of shoes on the curb with such a motive, and am puzzled by the offer of such back handed charity. Also, having personally known “the needy”, I can report that I’ve never seen one of them grab a pair of curbside shoes and say “huzzah.”
What is the worst part of going bowling, and if you need to wear someone else’s shoes, would it be any of these?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Just the other day, on Kingsland Avenue in Brooklyn- nearby Greenpoint Avenue and the Newtown Creek- a single shoe awaited me as I shambled past. It was sporty model, meant for a right foot. Back to my first curse, the one which compels me to carry a camera around and obsessively record everything encountered, and an odd detail about each and every shoe displayed in these shots- which is that they all have their laces arranged neatly.
Just to reiterate my belief that there’s something odd going on here, and demonstrate that this is “a thing” – check out the great Cecil Adams over at “The Straight Dope” struggle with the phenomena.
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
laurels instead
Focus is the topic for today.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator has many triggers which send him off into a spiral, but I’ve been too busy of late to really enjoy a good “freak out.” Little respect is offered to those who “lose it” on a regular basis or at inopportune times. One should not burden others with intangible or existential worries, I was instructed at an early age, nor “act up” in public lest personal inadequacy or weakness be revealed in doing so. Just last night, one of my little triggers convulsed when a mid level government employee used the phrase “Now, more than ever” while telling me about her vague suspicions that photography aids and abets terrorism.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Unsurprisingly, one has built up an infinite and quite inaccessible reservoir of disappointment at the actions and intentions of others, as well as accepting my own failed dreams and punctured expectations as mere vainglory. It is difficult at best to remain focused tightly on goals in such an environment, instead it is best to just try and get through the day without entering into battle, despite the many novel and illusory windmills at which to tilt ones lance that are offered. Always do I remind myself- “it’s not good, its not bad, it just is.”
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Sophists and corporatists, those who rule the roost these days with their corruption and vain indifference to the long term, hold these days. “Knowing my place” is not something which your humble narrator thinks he can do anymore. “If you see something, say something” is the mantra often repeated by these current masters of the local vicinity, an attempt to get us the rabble into the habit of snitching on each other and driving the train of bureaucracy forward. I do see something, often, and won’t be curtailed in saying something anymore. Unfortunately for the “powers that be” who often proffer this statement, more often than not what I see when searching for enemies of the state and common good is not some threat emanating from a faraway desert, but is instead the institutional culture of government itself.
Back in session, lords and ladies…
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
heavy grief
Today’s post is all about perspective.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s going to be hot today, so it’s time to think about staying frosty. The historic low temperature for June in New York City was set in 1972 when it was just 46 degrees. It’ll feel like double that at solar maximum today, so I thought that scenes from the snowpocalypses of recent memory might offer some comfort. Stay cool, kids.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Personally speaking, I unfortunately will be out all day in the direct gaze of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself. A busy series of Newtown Creek related intervals will carry me back and forth and forth and back from hallowed Astoria to hoary Greenpoint. One could always feign stomach illnesses, “nobody argues with diarrhea” as I always say, but I actually desire to fulfill my on site obligations- it wouldn’t be cool to back out at the last minute, you might say I was “being cold” and I wouldn’t want to be frozen out of future opportunities.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I am not at liberty to discuss what I’m doing in the morning yet, which will entail getting up just after sunrise, but suffice to say that I’m going to the last place you’d expect me to today. You might even say that you’d expect a cold day in hell would be more likely than what my actual plans are. Suffice to say that I’ll be wearing protective clothing despite the heat, which will include long sleeves, gloves, and a hard hat as well as steel toe boots. Stay frosty, lords and ladies, and to quote a certain popular television show- remember that winter is coming.
Want to see something cool? Summer 2013 Walking Tours-
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
Modern Corridor- Saturday, July 13, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets on sale soon.
rather discouraging
Today’s post points out that you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
You may have noticed that I’ve not been posting too much about my beloved Newtown Creek of late, which is of course, the titular focus of this blog. Haven’t been ignoring the old girl at all, she’s still very much in the cross hairs, instead I’ve been attempting to cut down a bit on my exposure to it and explore the railed tendrils and vehicular paths which snake out and around the waterway on their way eastwards into Brooklyn and Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is a difficult thing to do, of course- but as I don’t live next door to Newtown Creek, I enjoy the luxury of allowing its hazards to eke out of my system periodically. Personally, I thrive in its post apocalyptic miasma, but prudence demands that one take a break every now and then. This is a luxury, as mentioned, one not enjoyed by entire communities in North Brooklyn.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Meetings of Newtown Creek Alliance, Newtown Creek Monitoring Committee and other groups regularly draw me into the insalubrious valley, an industrial and remote spot known for mephitic vapors and unwholesome sights, and whenever I get the chance to just hang around the slightly less toxic neighborhood I live in- I grasp, and gasp, at it.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
steamy shadows
Today’s post follows Old Mitch home to Queens.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A marriage ceremony, uniting an old friend with his beloved at the Frying Pan restaurant and bar in Manhattan, drew me to the cruel streets of “the City.” Distaste for the island of Manhattan is a growing and risible inclination for me, but fealty nevertheless pulled me in. After the occasion, Our Lady of the Pentacle and I splurged on a taxi for our return journey to the glories of Astoria and I decided to make use of the rare indulgence to crack out a few more shots for “operation: night shooting.”
Unfortunately, being amongst others set me off (especially if they knew me as a child), and I fell into a bit of mood.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The darkness of Manhattan is palpable, as the Shining City only actually shines high above the vomit and urine caked pavement. The high flying kabuki offered by the oligarchs is hollow, a monument to themselves, and one which foreign tourists travel far and wide to witness. For those of us who reside in the boroughs, the truth of such things is always apparent- and behind the facade is naught but corruption, rot, and a banal sensibility.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
As the Taxi careened through the teeming streets, filled with those who acquire and purchase, anxiety ruled over my thoughts, and my own carefully maintained facade of civility and sanity fell away. Beneficent, Our Lady of the Pentacle attempted to smooth the furrows in my brow, assuring me that we would be home soon enough. Everywhere I pointed the camera, throngs of people wandered, seeking something new to consume or buy. Big night out in the city, I guess.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Mighty Queensboro allowed egress back to the big island, away from the rats maze and exploitations of midtown Manhattan. As the gaze of that thing which cannot possibly exist in the Sapphire Megalith of Long Island City once again fixed itself upon me, at last was I able to breathe easily.
Home awaited, a refuge found amongst the raven haired slopes of ancient Astoria, and the concrete devastations of Western Queens.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Want to see something cool? June 2013 Walking Tours-
The Poison Cauldron– Saturday, June 15, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Atlas Obscura, tickets now on sale.
Kill Van Kull– Saturday, June 22, 2013
Staten Island walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Working Harbor Committee, tickets now on sale.
The Insalubrious Valley– Saturday, June 29, 2013
Newtown Creek walking tour with Mitch Waxman and Newtown Creek Alliance, tickets now on sale.
The Newtown Pentacle 