The first day of summer vacation (school is out finally) was just a lot of little nice things:
8:30 Woke up. Got out of bed (Dragged a comb across my head.)
10:30 Passing the BQE at Kent Ave, spied about 18 well dressed Hassidic men with umbrellas, waiting for the OrthodoxBus. Eighteen guys enduring the drizzle in satin overcoats and Ben Franklin knee socks. Why create your own bus system, just for Hassidim? They must have a massive convergence of where they are going and what time they need to go there and desire for an express bus that goes only there. I love self-starters, especially on a community wide hive-mind basis. Any self organizing process is great, bus routes included. Were they all on their way to work at B&H Camera? 42nd Street gold shops?
1230 In line to return modem box at Cablevision. Kid asking for directions in Brownsville hailed me with a "Mister, do you know where the..." This Mister thing is very New York. All kids address me at school as simply "Mister".
1240 Spotted another self-starter, an African-American man collecting bottles in Brownsville (Brooklyn). Bottle deposits are only a nickel here, hardly worth it, so NOBODY takes them back, and the trash is FULL of nickel returnables. The catch is you have to collect a lot to get any return on them. Poor Chinese are the most willing to do this. The remaining 30% of the bottle collectors are Spanish or Black folks. The guy in question, the guy I saw today at 1240, had invented a sort of street person's freight train: 5 foldable (old lady grocery store) carts, tied with twine to form a meandering caterpillar, bearing dirty soda bottles to the grocery store's back door.
300 Had mixed feelings. Forgot my camera and saw a blissed out old fellow fully supine next to a reflective chrome wall on 53rd Street. Part of me was relieved to not have to face the questionable sensation of photographing a passed out man who made an awesome Siamese Twin image of a homeless person.
440 Reading an occupational outlook handbook at the library. As far as possible jobs, it notes the PoTUS makes 400 grand "but has little (no) opportunity for advancement and has higher than average job stress" but "very good free housing and transportation" included as perks of the job. Competition for this position is "much higher than average".
800 briefly considering the all-1913 silent film program at MoOMA (Museum of Old Modern Art).
820 Enjoying a jam session: 30% white group, trying to get their percussion on. Site: "True" Meat Packing district (i.e. the place is moving animal flesh, not cocaine-steeped Bridge & Tunnel human discotheque flesh). A loading dock facing the Hudson River provided a noise tolerant site for a bunch of people banging on stuff. It was an authentic Caribbean marching drum corps in the making, headed straight for Carnival. (Isn't Carnival a half year away??) I loved the presence of the white people, who were getting so much repeated corrective tips from the conductor. One percussion instrument in the loading dock jam band that sounded really cool was a rattling tambourine clapper rack, mounted linearly rather than circularly, with each clapper much larger than the ones on a normal tambourine, teacup saucer size, actually.
920 Home for a Scrabble rendezvous. When we all realized each had assumed the other was providing the Scrabble board, it turned into a pen and paper Boggle game (invented by me in 2005).
It's funny how we address each other in different parts of the world. In Australia, calling someone 'mister' without their surname, in a certain tone of voice, is generally perceived negatively - like you are telling someone they are putting on airs "Excuse me mister".
Students here would generally address you as "Sir" or "Mr Genest". Same with strangers (although we tend to use "mate" a lot!)
Enjoyed your photos of Williamsburg. Enjoy your break!
Posted by: saint | July 07, 2007 at 12:49 PM