The Newtown Pentacle

Altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi

Posts Tagged ‘Long Island City

paradis artificiels

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Sorry for the lack of a real post today, lords and ladies. Hopefully this shot of the loquacious Newtown Creek will satiate your desires for more, more, more. Back tomorrow with something a bit more substantial, have been occupied developing literally thousands of shots for the last few days, and working on setting up a few more interesting diversions with which to finish out 2012.

Also- Upcoming tours…

for an expanded description of the October 13th Kill Van Kull tour, please click here

for an expanded description of the October 20th Newtown Creek tour, please click here

Written by Mitch Waxman

October 2, 2012 at 10:38 pm

coloured hills

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

There are lots of things to do this weekend, lords and ladies. To begin, or end with- depending on ones perspective- this is the closing weekend of the Newtown Creek Armada. A fun and public art project by Laura Chipley, Nate Kensinger, and Sarah Nelson Wright- the show is found at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant’s Nature Walk.

check out details and hours at the armada site.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

On Sunday, and this comes verbatim from newtowncreekalliance.org-

“Sept 30 – Water Quality event with North Brooklyn Coat Club and Friends

The Capitol to Capitol by Canoe expedition lands at NBBC, and a water quality discussion ensues! The event will feature presentations from a number of local organizations including the Newtown Creek Alliance, Riverkeeper, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance and New York City Water Trails Association. We will also be celebrating the arrival of the Capital to Capitol by Canoe expedition in NYC. A project of the Canadian Wildlife Federation, this 1800 kilometer paddle will travel on rivers, lakes, canals, harbours and bays from Ottawa to Washington D.C. in a 34 foot voyageur canoe.

Full info here.”

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Also going on this weekend- Saturday is “Field Trip Day” in Greenpoint, a free event.

Calling all urban explorers, history buffs, and lovers of Greenpoint. Drift with us through the culture and history of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a tucked away neighborhood sculpted by its maritime and industrial past.

Field Trip day is dedicated to the art of the wander, and discovery through exploration. Come and see Greenpoint for the first time or with new eyes: for on this one day she will reveal herself through the Field Trip app, on-site installations, challenges, and quests.

Discover where colored pencils came from, get up close and personal with one of the most polluted waterways in the US, and take down your opponents in a dramatic restaging of a Civil War ironclad battle! Together we’ll find hidden places, discover secret histories, and learn skills long forgotten.

There are no right choices, no wrong turns – but there are treasures to be uncovered just out of sight.

Click here for more info and registration

effective radius

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

A lesser sabbat on the great wheel of the year, at 10:49 this morning, New York City will pass through the fall equinox. Today, the day and night will oppose each other equally, and from now until March, darkness will rule as relative to light. Summer ends, and the harvest time is visited upon all that walk beneath the ever fainter emanations of the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Before long will we all be sitting before tables of bounty, gazing upon roasted meats and other oven baked fare. Just the other night, a filthy black raincoat was removed from its summer hook, and a humble narrator again filled it. Chill is the night, which grows ever longer. Soon shall we all feast, and learn new ways to laugh and revel and enjoy ourselves, as we give our so called “thanks”.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Nepenthe is found in this season, as we slouch roughly toward Samhain and the Yule, as it’s the time of tales told. Stories of goblins and werecats, ghosts and ghasts, and the hidden world of the occultist will soon be readily revealed. On the wheel of the year, this is the start of the spooky time- when farmers fields become the property of crows and ravens, and odd occurrences abound- during the endless nights.

something alarming

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

Another one of the little mottoes which one such as myself offers “it’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is”. Time spent wandering around the vast human hive, with it’s teeming multitudes and aspirants, has taught me that it makes little sense to adjudicate the values of others. That being said, whilst on a pastoral stroll across the rolling landscape of Calvary Cemetery, your humble narrator found himself in Section Five.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

This is the shot I was seeking, the ennobled Kosciuszko Bridge, as seen from the vantage of Review Avenue and Laurel Hill Blvd. and from atop the high walls of Calvary. Coming to this spot, one noticed something odd- out of place- nearby.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Upon the ground was some sort of fruiting vine, set behind a small line of high grass and small shrubs.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Struck by the ideation that some accidental seeding might have taken place, unnoticed by the grounds crew, I looked around a bit.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

That’s when I discovered that somebody had planted a little garden, here in an ancient cemetery.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

Nearby, there were grapes growing as well.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is. It’s also the sort of thing which really makes one question his own sanity, and thank all that’s holy that I’m able to photograph this as it is exactly the sort of story no one would believe. Tangential thoughts occur- speculations on the morbid nutrition enjoyed by these plants, suppositions about the water table they drink from (which is VERY much Newtown Creek), and other pleasant notions torment and tantalize. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is…

something singular

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– photo by Mitch Waxman

The good news is that the fragmented vernal season wherein required sleep was denied a humble narrator has ended, and one can reliably pass into unconsciousness again. The bad news is that the hallucinations which tear through my mind during these biologically mandated times reveal bizarre and disturbing psychological concerns. Likely, this is all due to the upcoming equinox and accordingly one must go to where one belongs to sort such matters out. All roads, after all, lead to Calvary…

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The great working of Dagger John, scratched into the Newtown soil in 1848, First Calvary (as it is known) is the polyandrion of the Roman Catholic Church of New York City. Millions are interred here, princes and paupers, governors and gangsters. Upon entering the gates of the 365 acre property adjoining the Newtown Creek, one shortly realizes that the ephemeral analogies of the spiritual world are a tangible reality in this place. Encountered recently, one of the lagomorphs known to inhabit this section, representative of a population of groundling burrowers.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

The burrowers, according to aboriginal mythologies, carry messages between the bright world of the surface and the fuligin grottoes of the subterrene. Prey animals, the Lagomorpha fear all things- experience has taught them of the brutal indignities of the canine, stealth and pursuit of the feline, and the overarching horror of the high flying raptors. Vulnerable on the surface, and revealed beneath the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself, the burrowers normally bolt when one nears.

– photo by Mitch Waxman

What message the lagomorphs reveal to those who consult them is not to be shared, as it emanates from a place where no light shines. As above, so below- the saying goes, and one who walks in the middle does not wish to anger or prejudice either. As far as the odd dreams and premonitions which occur to a humble narrator during those hated intervals of unconsciousness- nothing transmitted by the red eyed messenger seemed to pertain to current fantasies. Instead, dire warnings of an uncertain future and intimations of seasonal horror were hinted at. More to come on these topics, as we pass through the autumnal equinox, at this- your Newtown Pentacle.