- activism
- anarchy
- apocalypse
- Athens
- bicycles
- birds
- books
- Buenos Aires
- clubs
- coffee
- couple's dancing
- Dante's Inferno
- demons
- drunks
- Dyckman
- economy
- film
- fire hydrants
- graffiti
- Greek diners
- gross factor
- Havana
- idling
- immigration
- Inwood
- Ioannina
- it's a man's world
- Miami
- New York City
- Nova Speaks
- Ode to...
- odyssey essentials
- olympians
- on the subway
- Outer Space
- paradise
- police
- press
- prostitution
- public space
- restaurants
- Rio
- salsa
- school
- Sicily
- sidewalks
- Sinvergüenza
- star trek
- star wars
- stores
- street cookie
- taxis
- trees
- twilight zone
- urban confessions
- Washington Heights
- zipcar
Summer Musings: Sun-dried Clothes
Thought to break the silence with some simple summer musings… Enjoyable summer moments that can occur, yes, even in a city. First, is the simple pleasure of drying your clothes in the sun. In an urban setting especially, this is associated with poverty. Because who does this except if you don’t have access to a dryer or are trying to save money? We frown upon the look of clothes lines hanging between buildings, socks and underwear hanging from window guards instead of curtains, hangers dangling from the trellis of a fire escape. Indeed, for the most part (with some slight exception to the clothes lines between buildings, especially on a greeting card) this isn’t a good look for a neighborhood. Never mind that it’s not exactly country air that’s drying your clothes, and with all that grime you might as well not wash them at all. Even more–and this happened to me in Athens when laundromats were so few in between and forget the college giving us a washing machine–we were forced to do these things and pray our clothes (more importantly delicates) didn’t get bombed by pigeons. Still, still, if you can secure a secluded, clean spot for even a sock, there is something wonderful about drying your clothes in the sun. There is a freshness to them, an unmistakable smell. You just think they are cleaner by virtue of the rays of the sun. Yeah, it’ll damage your urban wardrobe I’m sure if you do it constantly when the sun is blazing down. Sure blasting them in the dryer aint no good either. But even if it’s just that one sock, or small handkerchief you dry out in the air of your window, on your terrace, wherever… it brings a little something special to summer.
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Race is for the dogs, too!
Along the same lines of the Dove ad commentary, here is another ad, this one for doggies with ticks. It also trips itself up with human race messages. The campaign is called Pooch Protest (poochprotest.com).
http://www.petparents.com/show.aspx/k9-advantix-pooch-protest
Pure breed white lab with “all-American” voice leads the mutt herd on how to empower themselves against ticks. The good doggie example (who uses the tick brand) is a blond happy doggy. The one ravagaed with ticks is sad and brown, and horrible ticks are gnawing at his mangly coat.
No, not nuts here- these images add up!
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Architectural Abominations of Gentrification
Grab your bag of popcorn and take a look at how the Upper West Side continues to gentrify and loose some of its character. Gone is the beloved Greek diner that stood here (which took in some previously displaced diner workers and patrons that were usurped by the Whole Foods construction a few blocks over) and up went this white plastic…. what the heck is it? “Hip apartments” of course, that fit oh so nicely with the rest of the neighborhood’s architecture.
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Checking in or Taking Out?
You tell me if this sign looks like the entrance to an Emergency Room (which it is) or an old 50’s Diner?
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Once upon a Tree… Returns?
In October I blogged about the sadness of this tree pit near 59th Street-
how final its destiny looked all bricked up. But it looks like there might be some re-consideration? Here’s what the site looks like now…
Let’s see what ending this urban tree pit gets.
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Here we go again…
Thanks Dove! You’ve done some work on making women love their own unique body type. But this ad in People Magazine is a bit of a step backwards on loving your skin…color. Do you have someone of color on your marketing team that might have picked this up? Tired of being on the “before” end of skin tones, body size and hair type on improvement spectrums. Yes, it could very well not be your intention, but we see this all too often in media- the subliminal messages we get on what constitutes improvement. And too often people and cultures of color are placed on the “need of improvement” end. So you gotta watch the messages you send!
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The Eternal Robin Byrd
Have a basic cable TV question for you (those who are up at ungodly hours of the night or early morning). How on earth is Robin Byrd still on the air? The question doesn’t question the Queen’s throne of hosting the Sesame Street equivalent of sexual health for many of us growing up in the 80’s who were able to sneak a peak. C is for… Clitoris, of course! Do you know where your clitoris is? Here let me show you… And so on, goes her show, offering the same type of diversity as the innocent PBS counterpart. There is something for all tastes there: gender preferences, body images and fetishes. But my Lord, breast implants have come along way since the jugs you see on the show- two stiff orbs with as much space between them as the north and south poles. Brazilians (as in the haircut down south) have become the staple of today’s porn, but at Robin’s you’re sure to see a bush. Yet her shows continue to be aired, with a phone number to call into to boot (the original 970 number?). And the commercials (advertising hotlines and escort services) are the same ones from back then too. So I guess my question is, is this a cult classic? Is it supposed to appeal to that generation who grew up with it and still find those hairstyles and lack of airbrush and make-up titillating? I guess I could google it, but afraid 0f what else I’ll dredge up and’ll hijack my computer. She really means to teach you something, not just get you off. Ever see the musical orgy endings? How isn’t it Sesame Street? I’ll take a cookie, you little monster. With a tall glass of milk. She shows love to each and every one of her guests.
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Welcome to the Jungle
Kudos to the Uptown Collective, Washington Heights/Inwood’s coolest blog, for finding this story.
Gun’s and Roses fans… WaHI folks, a little bit of history…
http://uptowncollective.com/2011/02/17/welcome-to-the-jungle-wash-heights-style/
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Riding in the Dark
How many of you remember riding the trains in the 80’s (and I’m sure the 70’s) when most of the time the subway cars went dark as they caroused the tunnels? We’ve come a long way since then, but this morning passengers were reminded of those gritty subway days on a morning rush hour A train. Now, it’s probably not that good of an idea to get excited about the lights going out when you’re in a tin can with strangers, traveling through holes fairies (or other magical engineering beings) drilled underground oh-so-long ago. But given that this subway car was not too packed, I think it was exciting. We were forced to abandon our books and magazines (the gadget-people were still looking at the screens, I’m sure) and remember where we were. A view of the tunnels is so much more clear when the lights are off. It makes the ride more of an adventure. There was no epileptic flickering of the lights (the lights back then never really completely went out without first flickering), just cold darkness for about 3 stops. Then the lights came on and everyone dug their noses back into their private bubbles. Still, it was like being a kid again, staring out into the tracks in the dark, hearing the roar of the tracks because the car doors keep opening and closing with the heavy swaying of the train… when life seemed more tangible and less digital.
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Barrio Dreams
A recommended book for those with an interest in topics on gentrification in NYC, NuyoRican Heritage and the politics of neighborhoods. Not a light read (very academic), but it provides some really interesting insight in some of the history of “El Barrio”- it’s relationship to Harlem, the Economic Empowerment Zone and El Museo del Barrio (had no idea it was originally a museum for Puerto Rican heritage that slowly erased its Nuyoricanness to market itself a more sanitized and profitable “Pan-Latin Museum” That’s a harsh summary and there’s more to it, but that’s the short you can take out from reading the book). Neighborhood improvement projects aren’t as simple as they sound. Neither is immigration.
