The Lonely Pedestrian

Wait and See

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:25:45 GMT

I had a meeting with my boss today. His assistant is taking a leave of absense and it looks like, as of next Thursday, I am taking her place for some unknown number of weeks or months.

Promotion? Divine retribution? All I know is that it would deprive me of my daily boat trip while its positive side is completely unknowable.

More wait and see for me.

Peace, Quiet and Privilege

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:10:20 GMT

The LIRR was relatively empty this morning with a good portion of it's middle class customers staying home for Christmas Eve. The 4 train from Flatbush Ave. to Bowling Green was full in comparison. Not packed but still full. Every seat was taken. The people on the subway were on their way to work.

Time to oneself is the greatest privilege a person can possess.The freedom, and rather importantly, the power to live, even for a short time, in whatever manner you choose. I may think this simply because I rarely seem to live up to my nom de internet lately.I am rarely Lonely and with the nasty weather recently less often a Pedestrian.

I am looking forward to Christmas tomorrow, my sister and brother have both arrived home, but a day spent entirely alone sounds like a little piece of heaven right now.

sparking

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:56:43 GMT

The crowds here at the museum are composed of diverse peoples ranging through every age and nationality. I have the responsibility to interact with each of them in the most helpful and respectful way possible.I get to talk with people from every part of the world and more often then not it feels less like a responsibility and more like a privilege.

Every once in a while I witness one of my favorite events: the moment when a small child, one just learning to walk and move about on their own, refuses help up the stairway. Their sense of accomplishment and the sheer happiness at their own ability are quite evident in that moment.Some of them walk back down so they can walk up again.(This annoys their parents a great deal and amuses me to no end.) When they think of them, if they think of them, adults treat the stairs as an inconvenience while the littlest kids treat them as a fun challenge.

It seems that only infrequently as adults are people able to enjoy their simple abilities, the flexibility of their bodies, the regularity of their hearts and the steadiness of their breath. Their mobility and the clarity of their minds are almost always taken for granted. No one seems to know what good health feels like until it comes to an end.

Sometimes I have the instinct that everything about me is working just as it should. There is a part of my mind that flashes on and gives off sparks. It happened yesterday as I walked to the East Side from Penn Station. I have yet to discern what combination of factors produce this sense of contentment and purpose.

Save Me

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:46:37 GMT

Every aspect of my day to day life is beginning to settle into a pattern. This is a positive development but it is a little unnerving. I feel as if I am settling into my past when I would rather be working towards my future.

The understanding that a large portion of young workers are in the same situation is cold comfort when faced with the reality of living with my parents.The passage of time has not led to a sense of true progress.

All I can do is work and wait for the turn of the year. January is when I can renew the push toward graduate school.

How to Live in a City, 1964

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:53:02 GMT

A Quiet Piece of A Crowded Train

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:51:37 GMT

I do enjoy living in a City where people, as a rule, will leave you alone on public transportation. There are exceptions: sexual harassers, crazy people gone off their medications, panhandlers, proselytizers, drunks, the very old and obviously lonely.

Most people will not strike up conversations. The average rider will ask for directions, inquire about the time, commiserate (briefly and sometimes wordlessly) about late trains and inane announcements or simply demand that you get the fuck out of the way. I cannot express how much relief I feel at this emotional distance. My proximity to others on the train, the street or the subway should in no way suggest intimacy. It is necessary for me and everyone else to get to the same place at the same time. That does not make us friends any more than living on the same street or going to the same high school or working for the same company automatically makes you friends.

I talk all day at work and I talk on the phone with friends and family. The train ride is one time during my waking week when I can be completely quiet and left almost perfectly alone. It makes my commute more relaxing than it might seem at first glance.

Three Words

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 02:20:52 GMT

Historic. Ship. Flotilla.

I know where I want to be around 11am on Sunday.

Now and Then I think of Then and Now

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:16:18 GMT

This time last year I expected to stay in this room, in this house, in this town and in this state for only a few months. This year I expect to be here for some time.

This time last year I was in love but it did not matter. This year I am not in love but it is alright by me.

This time last year I thought I knew what would happen even if I wasn't sure about when or how to make it possible. This year is new in so many ways.

This time last year the bottom hadn't fallen out of the economy yet. This year I am underpaid, my brother does not have a job at all and I am relieved because our lives would be much worse if we were from a different family.

This time last year I expected to discover a brand new city. This year I am retracing old paths on very familiar ground.

This time last year I tried being a better partner and lover. This year I try being a better friend, sister and daughter with similar levels of success at times.

This time last year I had a plan and it was comforting. This year I do not know what will happen and it is exciting.

This time last year I wondered if I could even get accepted into graduate school. This year I just wonder how I will manage to pay for it next year.

This time last year I was younger but I felt old and worried. This year I am older but less burdened even though there is much to worry about.

This time last year a friend's cat was dying. This year a friend's mother is dying.

This time last year I was unpacking. This year I am very slowly divesting myself of everything I do not need.

This time last year I hoped things would get better. This year I know that they will because they already have.

The Long Haul

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:43:23 GMT

I have found the perfect train to the City and the best subway to take to the Battery.I am slowly getting into a routine. I am doing my best to make sure it sticks.

The good with the bad

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 00:03:52 GMT

Very soon I will be commuting from Lynbrook to Ellis Island everyday. This has its good points and bad points. I will have to wake up earlier but I will be sleeping more comfortably.

I will be sharing a house with my parents and I will be forced to curtail some of my socializing as a result. This will help me save money for graduate school next year. It may also make me occasionally bitter.

I will have to walk or ride to the train everyday which will be good for my health but I will no longer have access to the Wii Fit which will not be good for my happiness.

My life will become more preditable but I think that is precisely what I need at the moment. All in all I think it will work out for the best.

Mobile

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 22:11:47 GMT

Once again I am waiting among the tourists, longing impatiently for the boat to pull out of the slip. By this time in the day the sheer number of people with their questions and demands begins to wear on me. I am generally in a good humor while I am working but once the day is done all I want is to get away from all this humanity.

I will be much more content when I have a quiet space of my own to call home. Being out among people is more enjoyable for me when I know that somewhere there is a place for me to hide from them all.

Talk About Your Historic Preservation

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 03:56:35 GMT

I have been absurdly busy in the last month going back and forth to Brooklyn, Long Island and Ellis Island. Today though I want to talk about underwear. Seriously.

This is an issue because I need new knickers. (Depending on length, style and fabric they are also known as pantalettes, scanties, tap pants and petitpants: loose, light shorts that one wears under skirts and dresses. Most frequently, and entirely erroneously, people now call them bloomers.)

When one goes searching for such an item the manufactured offerings are seriously limited. They are usually either entirely utilitarian (think bike shorts and the dreaded long-line panty girdle recently rebranded as "shapewear") or completely frivolous (think pirate halloween costume gear, cheap uncomfortable fabric and gaudy style). Neither of these options really appeals to me.

I want to wear things that are practical, comfortable and cute. Honestly the reason I own these things is so that I can maintain some lady-like modesty while doing unlady-like things such as dashing up subway steps, riding bicycles or bending over to tie my shoes. At no point during the day do I want to wonder if someone can see all my business. I have more important things to think about.

The tendency in our culture is to think of women's historic clothing styles as restrictive. Corsets, multiple layers of underlayers and overly full skirts undeniably inhibit movement. The girdle and control-top pantyhose are also quite uncomfortable. However it does not logically follow that our current fashion regime is genuinely liberating. It has been noted previously that women do not wear corsets everyday instead they are pressured to constantly think about their bodies and their food intake. All day, everyday. When I listen to conversations on exactly those topics I feel like shaking the participants and screaming like Charlton Heston in a B grade science fiction movie. The sheer amount of personal maintainence that does into wearing short skirts and sleevless tops must absorb several hours a week, and a decent amount of money, for most women. I have found that wearing little shorts under my skirts enhances my comfort and calm.

I think there is an underwear scheme that satisfies my peculiar needs and it lies somewhere between 1900 and 1940. With the help of Etsy and Sockdreams I think I will be able to bring the knicker into the 21st century while staying cool, comfortable and cute for the remainder of the summer. Wish me luck.

Still Too Much Happening, Enjoy a picture of New York Harbor

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 20:19:20 GMT

View from the Observation Level of the Statue of Liberty

Too Much Happening, Enjoy a Picture of NY Harbor

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:31:06 GMT

View from the Crown of the Statue of Liberty

Too Tired

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:20:38 GMT

I am too tired from my long commute to my new job to comment on my long commute to my new job. To sum up it is so tiring that it makes me wish I lived in Staten Island of all places.

A Sampling of This Week's Music

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:51:24 GMT

David Byrne on Monday

PJ Harvey & John Parish on Tuesday

Josh Ritter on Friday (Maybe)

Earth Room

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:32:33 GMT

A short piece on Walter de Maria's Earth Room and the man who watches over it.

Lazy Monday Linkage

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:02:14 GMT

Jones Beach Water Tower Restoration

Central Park blurb at Curbed

I have some thoughts on porches I need to sort out.

Historic Preservation FAIL

Thu, 28 May 2009 16:37:45 GMT

"In its place will rise a new Old City, a mix of midrise apartments, plazas, alleys widened into avenues and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture “to preserve the Uighur culture,” Kashgar’s vice mayor, Xu Jianrong, said in a phone interview."

A culture is not a style of building, a culture is much more interesting than that. It is a way of inhabiting what you have built. It is a way of thinking about yourself in relationship to those around you. You cannot preserve a culture without its people. Then again dispersal and disintegration seem like the point in this case.

Long Island Without Us

Tue, 19 May 2009 19:41:44 GMT

The gray, rainy weather that stretched the month of April well into May is gone now. People complained the entire time but I liked it. Everything was so green and it looked especially beautiful against the dull cloudy skies. The sun is out now and the plants are running riot.

My favorite spot right at the moment is the untended strip of lawn on Buckingham. The imported turf is yellowed and dull but its more suitable local cousin is as tall as your knee with small wild white flowers blooming at the corner. It is far more lively than the manicured rectangles of green that surround it in every direction. It is a wonderful little mess.

I am going to try to head over to Hempstead Lake State Park this week. I am sure it will be much prettier now than it usually is. The month of May covers many of Long Island's sins and while the kids are still in school I can pretend I am the only one here to see it.

April Visitor

Fri, 08 May 2009 02:43:29 GMT

A humpback whale wandered into the Lower Bay of New York Harbor.

From Bowsprite's New York Harbor Sketchbook

Back on the Beat

Mon, 04 May 2009 13:42:26 GMT

This article in City Room reminded me about the much needed extension the the No. 7 line.

It also reminded me how much I love City Room. Just two examples:

David Dunlap on construction at WTC.

Jennifer 8. Lee on Street Vending

Walkers' Paradise

Mon, 04 May 2009 00:31:47 GMT

When I say to people that there are a lot of good places to live I suppose I am mistaken because according to this list all the good places to live are in the same 4 or 5 cities.

via Atrios

Statement of Purpose

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 17:20:37 GMT

Ed. I got in, now I just have to figure out how to pay for it.

I meant to post this earlier but you know what they say if you want something done ask a busy person. On re-reading it I realized it is related to this blog but since I got so far off-topic with the LP I did not bring it up in my application. Here we go:

I grew up surrounded by a history that I absorbed but never truly appreciated until I was an adult. One of the last working farms in Nassau County was a mile from my home. My school, our church, the pharmacy, the hardware store and the deli were well within walking distance even for a child. The silver commuter train that whisked me into the City was twenty five minutes away on foot and 10 minutes away by bicycle. I grew up in the kind of environment that New Urbanists strain to create out of whole cloth.

Only when I began to explore my interest in the history of architecture and planning at New York University did I come to truly appreciate how much of my upbringing was made possible by the old Urbanism of the place I lived. Since then I have consciously sought out places that allow me to travel freely on foot and by bicycle including Astoria, Queens and Boulder, Colorado. My appreciation of the kind of independence and freedom such places provide is the direct result of the combination of my formative experiences and my academic pursuits.

For several years I struggled personally and academically and now that I have the ability to produce quality work I wish to return to school. I believe my experiences provide an "on the ground" perspective of what it means to live in an historic neighborhood without necessarily being aware of the specifics of that history. When proposing adaptive re-use or preservation projects to private stakeholders or to the public I would be able to tap into what they value about their neighborhoods and workplaces. After all, I came to value my freedom of movement and familiarity with my neighbors well before I understood that these were, in part, a function of urban design.

I want to devote myself to the study and practice of historic preservation because I believe that how we choose to construct our environment and live in it has far ranging cultural and ecological consequences. The most energy efficient, accessible and culturally significant places are those that already exist and not those that require new land and new materials to construct. My primary interests lay in the study of waterfront areas in the United States. Being on the edges where two radically different systems meet makes them both complicated and highly significant. Such areas have gone through several periods of momentous change from the historic transition from sail to steam to the much more recent shift from industrial to residential, cultural and recreational uses. I am interested in how such places are perceived and what factors drive people to consider a site historic and worthy of preservation. New York City provides numerous examples of the sites I am interested in and Pratt Institute is ideally located for me to explore such issues.

In The Modulor Le Corbusier writes "Architecture is judged by the eyes that see, by the head that turns and the legs that walk." It is upon reading passages like this that he manages to move me despite my disagreements with him. In all that I have done, and at times failed to do, I never stopped turning my head, moving my feet and learning all I could about the world through which I traveled. Using my experiences and the skills I would acquire in your Historic Preservation program, I believe I can help positively re-form our built environment and improve the ways we all live.

Green Again

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:53:00 GMT

The big tree. That is all we call it. I do not even know what kind of tree it is and a good part of me does not want to know. It is not merely a type of tree, it is our tree.

There were several trees in our neighborhood but the big tree was one of the two that stood outside the front of our house. They leaned away from each other ever so slightly and they were the biggest trees left standing on the block. The roots of the big tree twist and form the most perfect places for you to sit. In the summer this is a good thing since it is frequently cooler under the big tree than it is inside our house.

The big tree is base. For all games: Hide and Seek, Alligator and of course Ghosts in the Graveyard. However in games of Tag and Freeze Tag you are not permitted to linger there for very long. I want to say you had ten seconds but I cannot remember exactly.

It's mate, the small tree which was not all that small, was cut down several years ago. The big tree lost a rather large limb at some point and its brittle gray base sits ominously high above the street. My parents keep waiting for the big tree to finally die before they have it cut down but every spring it still brings forth new leaves. Its bunches of green seeds hang like grapes then slowly drop onto the sidewalk. It made me smile today when I saw them.

The big tree winds its way under the pavement and breaks up our driveway. Our small front lawn is more roots than proper turf. It will probably damage the foundation if it hasn't already. Every Nor'easter, every weakening hurricane and tropical storm bring the threat of massive limbs knocking out power lines, damaging cars or breaking windows. This would make me sad or angry if it did not seem like the tree was an essential part of the house itself. It is certainly part of the home I grew up in.

I am frequently torn between two impulses: to see more of the world or to observe more about one place. If I must remain in one place, settle there for the remainder of my adulthood I hope I come to know that place I well as I know this one. I think I could be content once I find such a place, a place I would know as well as the wild curving roots of our big tree.