Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City’
rhythmical promise
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Recently, occasion carried me down to Long Island City, where my stated goal was to catch the venerable East River Ferry and attend a meeting in Brooklyn Heights. It is somewhat ironic, to me at least, that the only mass transit pathway between two points on the western tip of Long Island that doesn’t involve transversing Manhattan is to use a ferry service set up to carry folks from the former to the latter. Unfortunately, just as I arrived at the dock, the boat was leaving, which in many ways is a metaphor for my entire life.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was no tragedy, as it offered an opportunity to linger and play around with some of that night photography I was talking about at the start of the week. Manhattan can be quite lovely when viewed from outside of itself, and some effort went into the endeavor. The Empire State Building, a shining beacon of hope erected during the deep despair of the Great Depression, never disappoints.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
For some reason, the Freedom Tower will always be the name I call the building at One World Trade Center. Future generations will just call it whatever name they inherit from us, and Freedom Tower reminds me of those early days of the Terror War when terms like “blowback”, “freedom fries”, and “new normal” were coined. I think it’s important to remember that time, and that some symbolism is valuable even for the jaded mindset of modernity.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Such ruminations came to end, when the East River Ferry showed up. Their service has really matured in the last year, although the dock at Long Island City is in dire condition. It is temporary, of course, as the Hunters Point South development project surrounds and engulfs all in a shroud of ongoing construction.
fortunately verifiable
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
“Choose your battles” is what the old man used to say. Then he’d remind me of how I physically compared with other members of my peer group and advised “pick up something- a brick, pipe, garbage can lid- throw it at their head, and then run away as fast as I could”. Following this advice over the years, I’ve learned something. I am not a fast runner.
Walking, however, is something I can do for hours at a pop.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Choosing the battle, however, during the short and dark days of the winter is not always up to me. Complicating my life, the recent multiple day long spurts of rain has made getting out something of a luxury. One can withstand some amount of cold, or a limited quantity of wet, but not both. In recent years, your humble narrator has developed a nearly comic book level “vulnerability to cold”.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a funny thing. The various groups I work with along the Newtown Creek and New York Harbor have a lot of meetings which I am compelled to attend, whether it be out of interest or obligation. More often than not, these meetings take place far from home, and I will take advantage of “getting there” via scenic routes in order to collect photos and tour certain locales. Unfortunately, during the winter months, darkness begins as early as half past four in the afternoon, and these meetings often start more than hour or two after sunset.
Unable to follow the old man’s advice and choose my battles, as I cannot throw a brick at natures head, an attempt is underway to improve my “hand held at low light” photgraphic skill set.
day’s gropings
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
In the bizarre world which your humble narrator inhabits, a Christmas Eve post is as good a time as any to expand on a little enigma which has been bugging me. As you all well know by now, the long walks around the pentacle often offer bizarre or odd details which torment and tantalize ones imagination. On a recent perambulation, I noticed yet another one of the single shoes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
My curse is to notice things like this. For much of 2012, I have been observing shoes- always singular, never in pairs- discarded along my route. Once or twice, I’ve seen multiple examples of castoff footwear, but even then- orphaned individuals rather than matched sets.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The shots above were gathered at 43rd street, off Northern Blvd. in Queens. Satisfied that I had documented this oddity, I continued on my path to a destination down in Long Island City. In accordance with habit, I found a moment to photograph and add to my library a few shots of the Megalith. Walking along Skillman Avenue, I was scanning the ground for more shoes.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It was around 36th street and Skillman that it occurred to me, suddenly, that I should look up. What did I spy, with my little eye?
Have a merry one lords and ladies.
tarnished plate
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Queens Plaza is that which greets visitors to our fair borough, the home to a great machine called Queensboro. This machine, utilitarian, is the backbone which carries vehicular and light rail traffic from the western tip of a long island to the eastern shore of the great human hive’s focal point in Manhattan. Grotesque, the area has been the focus of quite a bit of municipal thought and spending over the last few years.
Mayan Apocalypse Countdown: just 8 days left until the 13th b’ak’tun ends, initiating the Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st. Tick, tock.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An amenity, called Dutch Kills Green, has been installed as a city park. Controversy over its design and the opinions of area wags notwithstanding, your humble narrator has observed that the place is being well used. A nearby school offers daily crowds of scalawag teenagers, and the place seems popular with both indigent and office worker alike. Several interesting madmen cross the place regularly, including myself.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Annoying, artless graffito has appeared of late in the place. This post is offered in the hope that those of you, lords and ladies, who find themselves in the employ of those powers and potentates who enjoy official stewardship over the community might like to know the phone number of one of these “street artists”. It is realized that so much of the graffiti which turns up is anonymous, and that some minor satisfaction might arrive from being able to ring the person up.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Phone conversation is something generationally aberrant to those under a certain age, with SMS text or twitter replacing verbal communication, so you might wish to tweet the artist instead. Alternatively, Facebook might be your bag.
ancient idol
“follow” me on Twitter at @newtownpentacle
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Skillman Avenue in Queens is one of the thoroughfares via which pedestrian transits are accomplished between the blessed hillocks of Astoria and the lamentable post industrial flats surrounding the Newtown Creek. It is all downhill from here, your humble narrator often tells people, but at least there is some spectacular scenery along the route. To wit, the Sunnyside Yards.
Mayan Apocalypse Countdown: just 9 days left until the 13th b’ak’tun ends, initiating the Mayan Apocalypse on December 21st. Tick, tock.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Illegal dumping is an art form here in Queens, with scatter dash arrangements of discarded goods lining both fence and wall. An odd thing I’ve noticed over the last few years is the presence of discarded single shoes. I’d be able to look over a pair of shoes, but everywhere I go these days, I’m seeing single shoes. That is weird, and there’s a story behind it, I am sure. It will likely involve a serial killer, I think.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This beautiful bit of detritus, arranged upon the old iron fence of the rail yard, has obviously been in place for a long time. Many questions occur to me, regarding it, but like many of the things which Queens wishes to have noticed- there will never be an answer. Queens is like that.
The Newtown Pentacle 