In Dumbo, the bit of urban neighborhood that defines itself by the fact of living under a bridge, there is much adventure to be had. If you are a photographer then that would be an ideal playground and every other child seems to play nice.
And to think that this neighborhood didn’t even exist when I lived in the city some years ago!
Day 27 of 365
Images taken during a creative street photography that I gave today that some very cool people attended.
I just can’t wait to be back in this amazing city again.
It has been quite an interesting process to go at the end of each long day of walking in New York City and examine how I feel after such an immersion. Every friend I reconnect with seems to be weighed down by the strain of the unnatural essences that have blatantly hijacked the country. A friend I met today used the term ‘gangster in command’ to describe the person occupying the Oval Office and most people don’t want to mention his name, as though they are dealing with Voldemort. Is it indeed a form of evil we are dealing with that causes this state of unease and resentment?
I do pray that this state of affairs does not normalize and cause even more people to join the flock of sheep that follow this disgusting human and his money hungry ways.
I have made a point in all my posts to remain positive and inspire with both my words and photography. However, today, I find that I cannot be neutral, silent or accepting of what tries to lower the standards of a place I have grown to love over the years and that I once called home.
Day 23 of 365
Image taken in china town, New York City on a fantastic walk in lower Manhattan with an old friend.
Spring goes so well with New York City I think! Newness, freshness, color, crispness, high energy, vibrancy, originality, creativity, Spring, are certainly words that go with it. I love New York in every season, but in the spring, I love it passionately!
I have been drawn to sports that involved moving fast and risking your neck since I was a very young child. I loved to water ski, snow ski, jump from very high places and skate. Growing up in Lebanon that was considered radical at the time, but determination to do what I wanted led me to push the limits of social tolerances. So, while in New York, I loved seeing skate boards on every street corner and rebellious teenagers zipping and flying by annoyed pedestrians. It just spelled for me the strong wish of young people to cause a change, to see a new world not dragged down by the old and to simply be free.
Don’t you love it when you find yourself so free in your mind to just break into a dance in the middle of a crowded park simply because you ‘feel’ it? Don’t you wish we could alway be reactive like children without the weight of inhibition and the shackles of self enforced rules of behavior?
We seem to go through our days without ever being aware of the most common fact of life: we are living on a sphere which is zipping in space at a staggering speed of 67000 miles/hour and spinning around its axis simultaneously at a speed of about 1000 miles/hour. And somehow all this is engineered in such a way that we feel no movement at all. The most awe inspiring of life’s mysteries are the simplest ones.
Some experiences remain etched in our minds not because of their importance, but sometimes because of their simplicity. I was riding the roosevelt island tram one evening (you know this strange red cable car that crosses over at 60th street to the island), and next to me sat a beautiful old lady in her 70’s. She said hello and then she said “pearl necklaces”. On seeing my puzzled face she went on to say: “the bridges, they are so beautiful at night, don’t they look like pearl necklaces?”. Since that evening, I can only think of pearl necklaces when I see a bridge lit up at night as the Queensborough bridge was on that evening. That lady had the gift of seeing beauty and art in everything and she left me so inspired.
La Liberté éclairant le monde~Liberty enlightening the world
Quite the words to be met by upon arriving in New York, words that embody the essence of the statue of Liberty, the great lady that stands tall with her torch and tablet there on Liberty island since 1886. Liberty: the ability to have agency over your own actions, freedom, free will, determinism, aren’t these some of the promises that drove millions to pack up their things and sail to America?
Below these cranes, so much history was written. The Brooklyn Navy Yard, first started functioning in 1806, was most active during world war II, when more than 70,000 people were employed to make the battle ships of the American navy. It was very impressive to look into this historical place and imagine what it would have been like during the time that the whole place was buzzing with workers burning the midnight oil.
