Some times Modernism takes your breath away and other times it just stops your breathing. Both are important to see and think about and both might shed light on this moment in aesthetics and politics.
You forget sometimes that our military is waiting out under the Veranzanno Narrows Bridge… waiting for someone to come along. In deed, this obelisk commemorates the point where the first naval guns were brought to bear in our Revolution…. firing in great bridge-like arcs out to the British Fleet.
Of course I was reminded of the tightened sececurity as I took this last picture. I vigilant cop actually gaurds the anchorage. They dont on the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges. I thought to myself, “Who can touch this anchorage. IT’s literally tons of concrete. What a waste of security… unless… of course… they know something I don’t.”
It was strange to see these enormous tunneling machines with hatches like naval ships that men must crawl around in under the ground and these cannon the size of a bus that would certainly fire a few GI Munchausen-like behind enemy lines. I got this strange sense of men trying to dig their way to hell with cruciform shaped drill heads and I wondered if that wasn’t just exactly what the current administration is doing?
The dead skate reminded my of Fellini’s Dolce Vita, only God had been shot with cannon and I listened to Mozart’s Requiem into Coltrane’s Giant Steps and ended with Nirvana’s Nevermind. It sort of felt like a descent into hell (from bridge to industrial/porn/costco zone) and again I was struk how everything is just some damn divine comedy.
At one level it’s nice to see so many people out fishing, but at another, it is scary to see the sheer number of Chinese and the number of poles they employ. They don’t seem casual about it at all. It starts you worrying about the fresh fish in Chinatown… or atleast their extended families. I think there is still some serious concern about PCBs and Heavy Metals with fish out here… but I’d like to be wrong. It’s pleasant to see them in their straw hats and the poles arching like the bridge as they reel in another one. It’s not only the Chinese though. It is like one big U.N. stamp out a long the river: hispanics, Italians, blacks, you name it. I read a funny grafitti dialogue thet went: “Stop Integration. Enough!” To which, someone replied: “Lead by Example. Go back to Europe.” They signed it with a heart, which I thought was a nice touch.
