Where did you sleep last night?













I pass this corner every night on my ride home. Usually it's right after work and the market is still open - crowded with shoppers, tourists and an older chinese woman selling Zongzi. This night was different, it was much later and everything was closed minus this food cart. I noticed these 3 men folding cardboard boxes. At first I thought they were doing the recycling for the market but then my brain woke up and I realized they were setting up their home for the night. They tell me they've slept here for years, that the shop owner allows it as long as they are gone in the morning. They have to be up by 530am to pack up their goods and clear out - all their boards, their blanks, mats, clothes, etc., back into the packs and hidden out of site at another venue. The Chinese guys look out for their goods during the day, and they watch over the corner at night.

All three had different stories of how they ended up on the street... (JJ) loss of a job, (M) illness, (J) jail. It's never one thing but many little things adding up. (M) is on multiple meds for his heart, he used to pick them up daily because every time he got mugged they took all his drugs. It was easier to get them daily. Think about how NOT easy that is. Currently he keeps a weeks worth at a time on him. So far that has worked out ok.

Once again, stereotypes of homelessness are misleading. Only 1 of the 3 drink, none of them do drugs. As I stood with them a few less then sober folks stopped by asking to stay nearby for the night. They always shooed them away. It's hard on the streets, it's just as hard sober. All three were so generous to talk and allow me to photograph, they just asked I didn't put them in the paper. No worries. Everyone was ready to sleep and as I put the camera away I noticed (M) roll down a tarp over the subway sign... "it's too bright". Their own dimmer switch.

I passed by again last night, earlier then this night and they were all set up and soundly sleeping. Incense burning to cover the stench of the fish market, ear plugs in. So goes life.

Save Ellis Island







Played hooky from work today to take in an afternoon on Ellis Island. Soon as I found out that they were offering tours of the side of Ellis Island closed to the public, the 2 areas not rehabilitated for public consumption... I was ready to go! Don't get me wrong, Ellis Island is an amazing experience but it's too perfect. Too done. This is history and the areas that show the reality of this history are far more interesting to me. Maybe it's just my Detroit mindset, all those years of running through abandon buildings, but I've had a smile on my face all day. Really great tour - if you are able to get tickets - do! Above are just a few pics form today - I uploaded a ton more to Flickr ==> http://bit.ly/saveellis
Enjoy and let me know what you think!
g

Frozen.

Rockaway, Today.



amazing! We rode 17 miles in the hot summer sun to Rockaway with, it turns out, the rest of the city that didn't get away for the weekend. PACKED! I have never seen any NYC beach like this. It was awesome. I'm covered in sunshine and happy.

attraction.












Found - 1 pile of jars among a shoreline of glass. I gathered and added many more until the tide came in and returned them to the sea. A few asked questions but most attracted to Bottle Beach left me alone to gather and place as the afternoon passed. One guy did ask if I was cleaning the beach, wouldn't that be nice, but I think that job is far from a one woman job.

Meditation of placement under a gorgeous fall sun.
By the water, waiting for the water.
Moving pieces. Moving thoughts...

what is your attraction to trash?

here we go...


I just stepped outside and the lights were on, testing before the actual full run of the Tribute in Lights. It's been 10 years and I'm exhausted by the press, the magazine articles, the photos, everything... it's too much. This weeks New Yorker is 90% tribute to 9/11, an entire issue I cannot read in public because I'll probably be reduced to tears, so my subway ride was 30 minutes of staring blankly or reading nail fungus ads over and over. And now the lights... It made me think of the article in the New York Times this past weekend about memorials, how we pass them and mostly ignore them as they've become commonplace in our society, in particular one memorial I walk by every day, The Prison Ships Monument in Ft. Greene Park. I know why it's there yet I don't think about it every day because I see it every day. Now the lights. They are only on once a year, testing then all night on September 11th. I love the lights but I wonder if we have to do this every year. At what point can we not bring up such emotions? I personally still carry the full memory, the feelings, the emotions, the visual so close that I dread the rehashing of the day year after year. At a recent visit to St. Paul's Chapel I barely made it through without having to step outside for air. Goosebumps. Clenched fist. Eyes swelling. I tried to talk but it was best to just step outside. I don't want to become numb to the memory, that's hard pressed, but I would also like to go forward. All these thoughts while Mayor Bloomberg and Police Chief Kelly are on TV warning us of another terror threat on the city, "...go about your day tomorrow as usual...". oh okay. sure.

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Here's a link to my tribute, "What I Had to Do", published in 2002. I have books available if you are interested, still donating 100% to the UFA's Widows and Children's Fund. You can also purchase the book here.

Fireworks, NYC style.















From a roofdeck at a friends office we had the most amazing view! I left my terrace to neighbors to get closer, much closer - at times it felt like we were in them, not just watching them. I posted a lot more over on flickr too.

Earth Hour 2010


A photo at 8pm and one as the lights turned off at 830pm
I thought it would have been darker.

The beginning...




and the end. Everything inbetween is over on Flickr.

Nothing like a couple thousand drunken Santas to get you in the holiday spirit... confusing a lot of kids along the way. I'm exhausted from just being with them. Most started 'preparing' for the day of debauchery about 9am and by noon were well on their way to breaking records. Not one mean Santa crossed my path but give a Santa a dodgeball and he sure can get aggressive. And who knew Santa could fly without his reindeer!

blogger has been making me crazy with the uploading issues. don't think i haven't been running around with the cameras! but thought this image was perfect for today. I've always been behind them both... leaning hillary side, but will GLADLY support Obama!!!

randomness

I'm still here...up in the clouds.


Here's a few more signs from the hood. Working in the graphics world I just love handwritten signs: all the misspelled words, the cross-outs, oh the curly a's...

Didn't feel the need to head into work today so I made my way through the city instead, camera in tow... oh do my feet ache!





CBGB's


William Chrome - sitting outside Trader Joe's with his typewriter, creating poems on the fly while you shop! Mine is about a dollar. How appropriate!


2 down...


and ending the day in another hectic poker game. No win for the G...damn.