Any Questions?

The 1980s saw one of the most memorable anti-drug commercials ever made: This is Your Brain on Drugs. It was short, direct and, many feel, effective. In it, a man held up an egg and said, "This is your brain," then picked up a frying pan and added, "This is drugs." He then cracked open the egg, fried the contents, and said, "This is your brain on drugs." Finally, he looked up at the camera and asked, "Any questions?"

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Even the Worst Is Good

On Wednesday, June 28, 2008, I wrote Insult to Injury. I had found what was to me one of the worst insults in the New York City dining experience - I enumerated 7 points outlining the transgressions.

But there is always room for improvement.

MacDougal Street is my least favorite street in the Village. It has a distinctly touristy feel and is gritty, dirty and congested. The shops typically cater to the lowest common denominator. There are a few things worthwhile, such as the Olive Tree Cafe and Mamoun's. But dining al fresco is an abomination and unthinkable.

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WYSIWYG

For me, getting the cooperation of subjects for photography is a bit of theater. Although it is a somewhat complex issue, permission is generally not needed to take photos of individuals in a public place if used for non-commercial purposes.

However, taking photos surreptitiously is not the optimal photographic strategy. Although there can be that great candid shot, results are often poor due to the variety of issues one deals with, particularly movement of the subject. Cooperation, when given, allows you to direct the subject, move them, reshoot etc., all with a much more relaxed ease. More importantly, in my case, meeting affords the opportunity to interview and correspond to get a story.

One evening, I spotted three women with striking blonde hair sitting in Washington Square Park. I guessed they may be from Norway. I discussed with my companions my interest in photographing them. They encouraged me. I explained how I was tired and the theater it may require - introducing myself, giving them a card, explaining what I do and for how long, discussing the nature and number of my stories, where they are published, citations and reviews I have gotten, and the overall seriousness of what I do.

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Just Another Day

In Because It's Not, I wrote of a philosophy that I and many of my peers once shared: that birthdays and holidays really had little meaning because, in fact, they were "just another day." We defended this position and, of course, it can be easily defended on utilitarian grounds.

However, one relationship with a woman changed all that. She was the consummate planner, participant and lover of social gatherings. A discussion once ensued about my view concerning special days carried over from my youth. She made a very simple point. To her, holidays, birthdays and anniversaries were just opportunities to celebrate.

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Just Married

I had intended to travel to City Hall on Sunday morning to witness and photograph New York's first day of legal same-sex marriage. However, my reluctance to set out early morning to brave another day of heat and humidity prevented me from doing so.

Late at night, before returning home, I was alerted by a friend that one gay couple that had been married was lingering in Washington Square Park. How fortuitous - part of the event had come to me.

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See It To Believe It

Most people are too self-conscious or shy to dance publicly, or for that matter, even privately. But it's healthy and on occasion, dancing can be seen on the streets and in the parks of New York City. Dancing's cathartic release is the central theme to a very funny comedy sketch by Dane Cook.

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You Always Find Something

Some years ago, I was visited by a customer who was quite complementary to the manner in which I ran my business and the quality of my products. He had vocalized this on the internet. I thanked him. It is always heartening to hear complements in a world of high expectations.

Conversation ensued, and I was very surprised to learn that the man was a military helicopter pilot. I have no idea of what it takes to earn such a position, but I was reasonably sure that this must be a highly coveted and competitive job for the very skilled with the right stuff. This was an easy opportunity to return a complement, which I did. He did not deny my observations.

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Rain of Terror

The Wicked Witch of the West is exactly my type of woman. She always carries an umbrella and dreads water.*

I grew up very rarely drinking water. This is so puzzling to many, but I have a hypothesis. My parents, growing up poor, saw water as the drink of those unable to afford milk. Of course, once we reached a certain age, we were told that milk was no longer needed for growth, leaving us with nothing to drink. See?

When dying of thirst, I do drink things like carbonated beverages or fruit juices. Excepting in restaurants, I can never bring myself to drink water, and if suggested, the prospect seems so distasteful and unsatisfying. Better just to avoid the entire dilemma - I often go most of the day without drinking.

I have one friend who has the same camel-like character. Our shared dislike of drinking water and ability to go long stretches without drinking has been a bond and great source of private jokes.

Today, a water bottle seems to be de rigueur for young people. It is a standard accoutrement - bags are manufactured with mesh holders for water bottles. Observe anyone under 30, and a water bottle is not too far away.

Any good thing is marketed to death. Water and even the concept of drinking itself are the targets of promotion. There are proponents of superhydration, where copious amounts of water are consumed in a day - a gallon or more. Inconceivable to me.

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The Legal Answer or the Practical Answer?

I have a friend, Paul Fryd, who is an attorney in New York City and, on occasion, over the years, has provided phone advice in difficult situations. His initial mantra to any question was predictable, even irritating - because he was right and I usually did not want to hear it. When I presented the details of any problem, his first response was, "What do you want first - the legal answer or the practical answer?"

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The Tide Pool

The drama and grandeur of the western United States is extraordinary. One of the great joys of the West is visiting the protected lands, especially the national parks. Names like Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Sequoia, Yellowstone, Death Valley, et. al. are known worldwide.

There are 58 officially designated national parks in the United States and its dependent areas, however, there is only one in the northeastern United States - Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island in Maine. It was here that I scrambled one morning to get to a ranger program exploring the tide pool. It was the first time I had heard the word, and I loved the idea*.

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Best Pizza in New York

People love lists - top 10, top 100, 1001 things one must do, best this, best that, etc. - it's a staple of life, even a bit formulaic, but, like David Letterman's nightly Top Ten List, it's entertaining and fun. And in a complex world with so many choices, what better way to help make decisions than to quantify, rate or make lists?

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The Book With the Hole In It, Part 2

"Brian only speaks the truth."

Around 1973, I answered an advertisement for a freelance carpenter (see Part 1 here) to work on a retail store restoration on 3rd Avenue in the 20s. I arranged to meet and interview with Max, the new shop owner. For some reason, he took an immediate liking to me with an inexplicable level of confidence, in spite of my lack of experience.

In the course of the interview, he became fixated on knowing whether or not I had ever fallen on my head. His assertion was that this typically opened a person's "third eye," apparently something he was looking for. I decided to play my cards carefully and responded in a vague enough manner to let him believe what he wanted. I was immediately hired and soon promoted to be in charge of the entire construction project - something I was clearly not qualified for in any way. No matter, however, since this project was to derail rather quickly.

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The Book With the Hole In It, Part 1.

In the early 1970s, I worked as a freelance carpenter. At the time, numerous small agencies existed for small jobs - some only requiring a day or even several hours of work. Jobs were immediate and plentiful. Virtually no experience was necessary. Of course, better skills, feedback from clients, and reliability all factored into getting more and better jobs from the agencies.

Those who were ambitious could parlay their experience and get affluent clients, repeat work and even very long assignments with great perks. One friend managed to get a position for months at a time as handyman at the Connecticut country home of a New York City resident. His employment included living at their country home for what essentially amounted to an all-expense-paid summer vacation with added pay. Affluent clients were typically quite generous and appreciative of those willing to do skilled and unskilled labor and indulge their whims and fancies.

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War for Your Mind

I can't imagine a subject deeper, thornier, more impassioned, more complex, and more contentious in New York City than anything involving Judaism or Israel.

So, if you want to INFLAME some New Yorkers, set up in Times Square and claim to be the only authentic descendants of the ancient Israelites.

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Crusties are People Too?

Part 2 (see Part 1 here)





I had hoped to learn a little more about Morgan and her background. In a way, one could say I had made her acquaintance. When I approached her lying in the grass on Sunday, greeting her with "Morgan Maginnis," she jumped and ran as if she had seen the devil incarnate. It took some conversation and persuasion to convince her that I was the man who had photographed her only a few days earlier.

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Crusties are People Too, Part 1

Christian Meets Chaucer and Crusties


Let's create an impossible scenario. Start with a Bible-thumping preacher standing on a small stool, screaming scripture aloud in a park using amplification. The police arrive after a noise complaint by a hostile man with a long white beard and hair - the incarnation of Mr. Natural ala R. Crumb. He also complains that he does not believe the preaching is biblically accurate (not an arrestable offense). The preacher informs the police that there is case law that says preaching with amplification is not illegal and that only volume can be regulated. He looks for the court ruling on his iPhone and will fax it to the police precinct. The police back off.

Another preacher begins, his voice volume greater than that generated by the small amplifier used previously. Simultaneously, a young man is reading loudly from a text, directed at the preacher. I cannot recognize the language - I assume it is a religious text, perhaps in Hebrew and ask him about it. He is an English literature student and is reading the Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English at full volume. It's a war of words...

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Drooling and Slobbering

Emotive forces play a large part in our lives, often trumping the "sensible." We eat too much or the wrong foods, date the wrong people, choose careers with dim prospects, buy things we don't need. New York City has its own brand of impractical indulgences - driving in SUVs and living with huge dogs in small apartments.

Seeing a New Yorker with a Great Dane, Mastiff, Great Pyrenees or Irish Wolfhound is not as rare an occurrence as one might expect. New Yorkers like to think big, and dogs are no exception. However, everything about these critters is big - size, weight, smell, hair, food consumed, excretions and slobbering. Many weigh more than their owners, as I imagine is the case in today's photo. A large dog dominates an apartment space. Many describe the experience as living with a roommate.

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Chutzpah, Part 2

"In New York City, one's net worth of social currency is based not so much on who you know, but how you can get seated in the most important restaurants." - Myra Smolev

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Chutzpah

Part 1


I have written before about the prominent role of Yiddish in New York City (see here). One word that well describes a character trait often needed for success here is chutzpah. Chutzpah derives from the Hebrew ḥuṣpâ (חֻצְפָּה), meaning audacity - someone who has overstepped the line of acceptable behavior with no shame. In Yiddish, the word has broadened in meaning and now has a more positive connotation, i.e. a gutsy attitude which serves admirably to achieve an end. If you live here, you will hear it often.

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Mike Fontana

Part 2 - Surrender to the Music (see Part 1 here)


Immersion took on a new meaning for me when virtual reality technologies were developed and became surrounded by media buzz. The operative phrase became total immersion experience. For something to truly feel real, input to all five senses must reach a level where the user perceives them to be real.

In on our non-virtual world, I believe we have an analogous situation. When we reach sensory overload and the stimuli are positive, we feel euphoria, exhilaration, or pure joy. We lose the ability to intellectualize, analyze and stand outside the experience as observer. You are fully IN the experience.

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Mike Fontana

Part 1




In May, I was asked by a friend if I would be willing to guest host a local access TV program which he will be producing using the facilities at MNN, a local access cable television network based in New York City. This is an exciting opportunity and I readily agreed.

The show is being put together as a final project for my friend's training at the network. His plan is a 28 minute program consisting of 2 interviews with two artists. One of those men is Mike Fontana. We agreed to visit Mike together for a preliminary meeting. Mike lives in one those unlikely locations - a street so well known for its shops that the prospect of an artist living on St. Marks Place between 2nd and 3rd Avenue is hard to imagine.

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