Posts Tagged ‘Pickman’
Vampire barriers
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It must suck to be a Vampire in Pittsburgh because you’ve got all this running water which needs to be navigated around, and all of the bridges that you can’t cross similarly because of ‘running water.’ On the plus side for the Nosferatu-Americans, it’s cloudy or overcast about 2/3 of the year – which occludes the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself’s radiate gaze – so you’d have that going for you. More good news is that the people of Pittsburgh seem pretty well fed, and many of them look like they’re really full of tasty blood.
I was heading towards a pedestrian/bicycle approach to the Fort Duquesne Bridge, which is nearby the sportsball stadium that the Pittsburgh Pirates outfit operate out of. As mentioned yesterday, one of the goals on this warm and sunny afternoon was to get some verticality going on during this walk, and find some steps or ramps to climb onto.
Cardio, yo.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
There don’t seem to be many folktales involving Vampires here in Pittsburgh, but there’s all sorts of ‘hooey’ which involves cults, killers, monsters, unknown beasts which lurk at the edge of the woods, and witches. Lots of witches. There’s a mass of Appalachian ‘Hill Billy’ mythos as well, and while trying to absorb some of that knowledge, I found an amazing YouTube channel called ‘The Appalachian Storyteller,’ which I can heartily recommend.
While looking for these sorts of stories to educate myself on the local psychic firmament, and mythological milieu, one encountered a subgenre of YouTube videos – called Hobo YouTube – which is best represented by a fellow who calls his channel ‘Hobo Shoestring.’ Really, you search for railroad stuff, it inevitably leads to ‘Hobo YouTube.’
There’s a bunch of interesting genres and quite professional creators on that platform these days. Here’s a few examples of – camera YouTube, cooking YouTube, camping YouTube, EDC YouTube, etc. YouTube’s algorithm will see what you’re watching and thereby open up these various genre offerings to you in its suggestions based on ‘clicks.’ It’s really interesting to see how the future works, if you ask me.
Careful what you watch though, as there’s a ‘pimple popping YouTube’ which is downright grotesque. Anyway, back to the Vampires.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I’ve never dwelt in the ‘Vampires look like Catherine Deneuve or Frank Langella’ camp. Always have I ascribed to the pre Stokerite descriptions of the undead things: a shambling pile of rotting meat, complete with ‘death stink,’ who is nevertheless quite nimble in its nightly locutions. Horrible ghasts, without the tiniest shred of romantic appeal, that’s a Vampire. Something that takes and takes but never gives, is ignorant of the rule of natural law, and intolerant to all but its own need.
After a brief effort, a humble narrator had surmounted the stairs leading up to the Fort Duquesne Bridge over the Allegheny River and commenced with a southwards lurch forward. I was as secure as I’ll ever be in terms of battling the vampiric – direct sunlight above and running water below. Sun Tzu always spoke of choosing favorable locations for battle, and if the enemy is composed of blood thirsty revenants – this is a great spot for you to reenact the heroism of Horatius Cocles, Spurius Larcius, and Titus Herminius Aquilinus at Rome’s Pons Sublicius, way back in the 6th century B.C.E.
What? I’ve been listening to that History of Rome podcast again.
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Good and great
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A humble narrator was lucky enough to wake up again, one recent day, and soon discovered that the atmospheric temperature would be in the high 60’s during the afternoon, which triggered me into taking a fairly long walk. I was determined to work a few flights of steps into this one, and the path I chose included several such obstacles to my continuing happiness.
The T light rail carried me over to Pittsburgh’s North Side from HQ, whereupon one pointed his toes in a generally southern direction, and proceeded to follow them. Several existential questions were positively gnawing at me on this particular day, however, and a location suddenly occurred to me where I could make a quick stop for consideration of my quandaries.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I have very few eidelons to which I assign the title of ‘all that’s good and great.’ I’ve mentioned a morality check of mine, in the past, as being “What would Superman do.” If you’re about to do something questionable, running it past the Kryptonian filter is a good idea, but always remember that Supes gaslights each and every one of his friends – including the woman he loves – (except for Batman, of course) – and he doesn’t seem to do much in terms of solving the big picture stuff on his adopted planet. I’m pretty sure Superman could eliminate world hunger in under a week if he wanted to, for instance.
The Man of Tomorrow always has to tell Bats the truth, since the Dark Knight probably already knows the score anyway. It’s hard to get anything past a Billionaire who calls himself ‘The Night,’ and or ‘Vengeance.’ That means you should always take what Superman says and does with a grain of salt if it doesn’t involve pinching off active volcanos or redirecting tidal waves, and that you should also acknowledge some serious issues about a Billionaire who dresses up in black leather, spends his money on an arsenal of esoteric weaponry, and beats up poor people at night.
The ultimate moral authority to judge your actions against thereby, in my mind, is always going to be Mr. Rogers and luckily I live not too far from his actual neighborhood. A Pittsburgh native, Fred Rogers was, and there’s a well deserved monument to him found on the north side of the Allegheny River.
Note: I actually perform the same act that Rogers always did when I get home from wherever, changing out of my outside clothes and shoes for a clean sweater and ‘house sneakers.’ In actuality, this habit of mine started after having read Marcus Aurelius, but when I realized that a stoic habit was what Fred Rogers was displaying to me as a child… that guy…
I like to sit down next to his statue and ponder my problems sometimes, meditating about kindness, and the maintenance of an open mind towards people and ideas which I don’t like very much. There’s a lot of that flying around at the moment, and it bums me out.
You ever listen to his 9/11 message?
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Robert Berks was the sculptor who fashioned this metallic homage to Mr. Rogers, I’ve learned. I’ve wondered if the statue’s monumental stature was consciously decided upon to cause grown up adults feel like children, again.
The memorial plays recordings of the great man talking and singing, and it’s always a pleasurable spot to visit. The siting of the thing is pretty cool, I’d mention, nearby the beginning of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the Allegheny River’s North Shore, and in direct proximity to the sportsball stadium used by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Meditation time was over, my problems weren’t solved but at least I’d filtered out anger and self aggrandizement as motivations in my decision making. You can’t be prideful or self absorbed when you’re sitting next to Mr. Rogers, or at least a representation of him.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Starts with T, ends with T, sounds like ‘tea’
Friday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After a short walk, described this past week, a quick bit of waiting at the light rail station saw my chariot arrive. I’ve got a car parked back in the driveway at HQ, but give me a choice between driving and mass transit… I’m always taking the train if I can.
Has nothing to do with any lofty ideals or anything like that. I feel a greater sense of freedom not having to worry about where I parked and how to get back there, and I can even stop off for a quick beer if I like when I’m on foot. I’m fairly ‘hardcore’ about not driving when ‘substances’ might be involved, these days. On this particular walk, no extracurricular activities occurred, but if the camaraderie of a tap room called, I could answer that clarion call.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Upon returning back to Dormont, which is where HQ is located, I hung around the station for a few minutes to capture the shot above, of a Pittsburgh bound T. I normally shoot this sort of thing from the inward bound platform, rather than from the outward bound one. What can I tell you, the light was nice.
By this part of the day, the chorus of cracking and popping sounds echoing up my skeleton had abided, as all of my internally lubricated parts had received a fairly nice amount of exercise. My plan thereby worked and I’m clearly the smartest one of all.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This is the street which HQ is located on, and it’s found all the way down at the end of the block at bottom of the hill. The spot where the pavement changes is the legal border between Dormont and Pittsburgh, so I can report that I dwell on the edge. Green and white street signs are found in Dormont and Blue/White ones are Pittsburgh, and that’s how you can tell where you are.
Back next week at this – your Newtown Pentacle.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
T Time
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
An internal staccato, as offered by a humble narrator’s bones and ligaments as they ground and popped against tendons and muscle groups deep within my roadway interface, hit a somewhat epic rhythm on a recent afternoon while staggering up a steep hill which leads from HQ to the nearby light rail station. ‘The T,’ as Pittsburgh’s light rail is called, was a part of my plan for an afternoon walk. I wasn’t planning on the musical accompaniment from the legs and feet, but you take what you can get during the cold weather months. The locale HQ exists in is lovely, but it’s a residential town and not chock full of the sort of visual stimuli one such as myself craves.
This wasn’t going to be one of my long walks, instead I was shooting for burning out a few miles in an area which is coincidentally photogenic. As mentioned in the past, Pittsburgh has this weird dealie going on, regarding the T. When you’re heading into the center city you pay the fare as you board, whereas as you’re heading away from the city you pay when you debark the train set.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
It’s a comfortable ride, most of the time, the T. Gets me the five or so miles from HQ to the City of Pittsburgh in about 20 minutes, unlike the R train back in Astoria wherein a journey of a similar distance (say… Astoria to Union Square) would consume the better part of an hour. While riding to my destination in the middle of ‘downtown,’ I decided to spend some of my afternoon with the newish 16mm wide angle lens which I added to my bag at the end of last year.
I’ve discovered a trick regarding Amazon, btw. Let’s say that there’s some frammistat or gizmo that you want, but don’t like the current pricing of it or the thing is from a brand which seldom discounts… if you put that item onto a ‘wishlist,’ the site will inform you when there’s a change in price to items on that list. That’s how I found out that two lenses (which I wanted rather than needed) were discounted by more than a third last year, during Christmas sale season, and that’s how they ended up in my camera bag.
Canon almost never offers that deep a cut in pricing, I’d add. You gotta jump quick when they do. Same rules as Apple.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The T uses underground stations in the city center, having taken over an old freight tunnel that’s under the downtown area, when the service was conceptualized. The modern system replaced a far more extensive Trolley style service. I still haven’t taken a bus anywhere here (which was the other replacement for the trolleys), as it’s a lot simpler to just drive the Mobile Oppression Platform to vehicular sorts of destinations than deal with mass transit and the unknown, but that also means I’ve been missing out on seeing Pittsburgh’s ‘Busway’ system. Private roads these busways are, often elevated, and only municipal and transit vehicles can travel on them. How cool is that?
Pictured above is Steel Plaza Station, where I left the T system and got back to that rhythmic popping and creaking that my legs were offering. More on what the wide angle lens saw, later on this week.
Back tomorrow.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
Parting shots
Monday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A few parting shots from a recent visit back to NYC greet you today, as captured by an expatriate but still humble narrator. This one is from the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge, looking westwards along Newtown Creek.
I was still on foot for this one. My next move was to call a cab and head to my old ‘local’ in Astoria – Doyle’s Corner – to meet up with friends, and drink pints of beer over a bar menu dinner. I was told there that the owner had decided to retire, and Doyle’s had been sold. It’s meant to reopen with a new name and set of renovations, and although I’m sure that the same set of barflies will be found along the rail when it does, it was sad to hear. Nothing lasts, everything is change.
As a note, although I spend a LOT of time in bars, I don’t actually drink all that much. I’m known for nursing a pint for an hour or so, which annoys my friends who drink quickly. I can spend all night in a bar and only have two or three drinks over several hours. I often refuse the ‘buy back’ – which is a colloquial NYC tradition, I’d mention – one that doesn’t exist here in Pittsburgh. It’s not even the alcohol, it’s the volume – I couldn’t sit down and just drink a quart and a half of seltzer in two hours, let alone an adult beverage.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I spent some time with my pal Val the day before leaving for the west, and we found ourselves back at the Maspeth Plank Road after inhaling an enormous breakfast at a diner on Grand Avenue. That’s another thing I don’t do anymore – eating breakfast at a restaurant – since moving away.
Lifestyle, these days, involves a new motto: the only thing you eat at a restaurant is something you can’t make at home. Both Our Lady of the Pentacle and myself have sharpened up our cooking skills since moving away, and we have a proper full sized kitchen at our new HQ in Pittsburgh, so few things are out of reach. We have a plug in Belgian Waffle press, for instance, so…
– photo by Mitch Waxman
This was my ‘last look’ at the fabulous Newtown Creek. After taking care of the stuff I had returned for, my buddy in Middle Village who was putting me up for the week prepared a huge and fabulous dinner at his place. My old friend Armstrong came by too, and stayed the night there as well. I had to make it an early night, however.
The next morning, I staggered out of bed at 4:30 a.m. and filled my thermos with coffee. I was behind the wheel and driving over the Triborough by 4:55 a.m. and then passing through the Delaware Water Gap choke point on I-80 by 6:15 a.m. Having successfully avoided the crunch of morning traffic in NYC, it was smooth sailing for the next 6 or so hours back to Pittsburgh and the loving arms of Our Lady and the snapping jaws of our insane puppy/adolescent dog Moe.
Back tomorrow with something different.
“follow” me on Twitter- @newtownpentacle
Buy a book!
“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
The Newtown Pentacle 