A City of Children

    (Taken at the Marcy Avenue subway station in Williamsburg)

A vexed mother flings an uncooperative child on the seat next to where I sit on a public subway bench.  Before I continue, it should be said stated that with the exception of a few children in my life that are dear to me, most kids seem to be quite astute to locating every last nerve of my being, then jabbing at them with an olive fork.  Within the first sixty seconds of being seated next to me, I was jabbed four times with a right elbow and kicked three times with a right foot.  By one minute, thirty seconds of the encounter, a small whiffle ball was  dropped in my lap, which then rolled and fell under the bench.  Before I could lean forward and assist in the retrieval the ball, an awkward moment occurred when the child rushed to the ground on all fours, digging between my feet.  I looked to my left to see the parent's indifferent expression, followed by an equally indifferent shrug.  I then looked right to appreciate this tag.

I, Standpipe

I am sentient.
I am self aware.
I might save your ass one day.

Although a ubiquitous feature within the subway system, this specific one was encountered on the G Train platform of the Court Square station in Long Island City.

'In Relation to' Map

(Taken near Joralemon Street in downtown Brooklyn)

In the pursuit of that special (or not so special) someone, you may get on or off (or merely make a transfer) at one of these stops.  Loathing and apathy are conspicuously absent and could not be reach for comment.

Haunted by the Ghost of Dead Bedbugs

They are amassing and large quantities of gelatinous substances a forming under the streets.  A hideous painting laying in wait in a Manhattan museum is being tapped for its havoc wreaking services.  Bedbugs strike chords of tension in even the most jaded New Yorker, but they haven't seen anything until a fog of ectoplasmic nymphs descend upon us all.

This is a photograph taken near Queens Plaza with a new experimental technique I've been testing.

Squalid

Pigeons and many other of its avian brethren do indeed make fabulous, dysfunctional hoarders.  So much so, that they can rival humanity's ability to do so.  I will say that there are many rewards that await you if you just look up and around every now and then as you walk.  This is not one of those, but there is always inherent risk in any endeavor.  Taken in Queens Plaza.

Signs of Life

Native to Newtown Creek, this fish, the Graffitus Anoxicus has made many leaps over the decades an can now survive in concrete.  Taken under the Pulaski Bridge on the Queens side.

Green in Fort Greene

I'm spreading the love on Fulton Street, and its green.

Horizontal Stripes: Do’s and Don’ts

I will be the first to admit that I am not exactly a fashionable guy.  I'm a person that keeps identical copies of the same (usually black in color) outfit for efficiency's sake.

There is however, one thing I do know.  The slender guy on the left can pull off horizontal stripes, the hefty gentleman on the right, cannot.  As a man who is somewhat circumferentially challenged, the fact that horizontal stripes add multiple reference points to your unflattering curves is instinctual.  Then again, the sweat pants is highly indicative that he probably doesn't, in fact, give a shit.

 

If you are that person that wears horizontal stripes and shouldn’t and you still choose to ignore my plea, have a dose of color inversion.

Yeah, thought so.

Knuckle Sandwich to Bensonhurst

Self explanatory.

God Made me Queer

When walking along, look down, sometimes you come across a treat.  As seen next to a spent cigarette butt on a Bushwick crosswalk.

Billyburg Dope

One sure fire indicator that you’re beginning to age, you lose touch with the finer nuances of modern vernacular.  Another indicator, when you begin to express ideas by starting with “In my time” or “where I come from”.  Well, in my time, the word “dope” was an insult or a reference to illicit substances.

Dope, as defined on Urban Dictionary.  See definition #2.

Stuck up in Soho

Laid Off Bloomingdales Santa

I’ve seem it a million times; quite inevitable really.  When times get tough, 86 the secular holiday icon.

Graffiti Up High in Soho

A public service announcement.

The Ability to Remain Vigilant and Wage War

Today on Hoarders…

Taken in an abandoned property on the Williamsburg/south side waterfont in Brooklyn.

Through the Ties

I spy a traffic signal and some freehand on the third rail that resemble an eyeglasses prescription.  Taken from the Ft. Hamilton Avenue Station along the BMT West End Line (D Train) in Brooklyn.

Running with the Cars

I frequently see people walking or jogging in bike or lanes and I can’t seem to help but think how ridiculously idiotic they look.  I can only speculate that their reason for engaging in this behavior is that they believe that all the people walking on the sidewalks will slow them down, even in an industrial ghost town stretch of street such as this.  I can get annoyed with cyclist that don’t follow traffic rules, ride on the sidewalks, endanger pedestrians, etc, but I’m in their corner on this one; and when this pedestrian has to have some fixie’s handlebars surgically removed from their rectum, perhaps in time they will change their behavior.

The Party's Over Here

Just a reminder to practice restraint, because you could end up feeling this way the day after. Taken in a shop window, near Union Square.

BBQ after SMOKE JOINT

The proper order of events seem to be in the proper sequence here, even if the snow harshes things a bit. Taken near Fulton and Lafayette in the Ft. Greene area of Brooklyn.

The Great Subway Swamp-Ass Stamp Out

This would probably be much more appropriate in the dead-middle of July, but you never know when the malady might strike.  Like anything, the Goldilocks principle applies; not too dry, not too wet, but just right.  Fresh graffiti in the Bowery Station on the Nassau line in Manhattan.