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Brooklyn’s Borough Hall

September 12, 2007

I’m breaking my Brooklyn Heights wandering into several parts. The Promenade is a visit in and of itself. I took way too many pictures and am having a time keeping it limited. Nice views from the Promenade and throughout the Heights.

In any case, Brooklyn Heights is a lot more than the Promenade. It thinks of itself as the first suburb in America. It’s also the site of one of George Washington’s biggest defeats (he did a magnificent withdrawal, but didn’t get back to New York for a long time as the British held it through the rest of the Revolution).

Okay, if you remember what I said about Park Slope being a place you might move to if you’re well off and new to NYC; if you’re new to NYC and rich, Brooklyn Heights calls. It’s quiet, it’s beautiful, and it’s well-located; just across the East River from lower Manhattan.

There are several nearby subway stops, but I took the 3 line to Borough Hall. Wouldn’t you know, there was a farmers’ market going on. NYC loves a good famers market.

The area of the farmers market was just outside Brooklyn’s Borough Hall. In the background of the above picture is the State Supreme Court Building. Below is a picture of Borough Hall itself.

There’s a large square going from the Hall to a statue at the other end. One of Brooklyn’s favorite sons is commemorated there: Henry Ward Beecher.

Note the woman to the left of the picture. I don’t know if the figure represents a freed/escaped slave or if it represents those slaves that needed his oratory to raise the nation up against slavery. In either case, Beecher was one of the giants of the 19th Century’s anti-slavery movement in the US.

The square/walkway is pretty long. Here’s a shot with my back to the Beecher statue. The farmers market is in the distance.

Finally, there’s a statue of Columbus right next to the Supreme Court Building. Technically, there’s an area right next to Brooklyn Heights called Columbia Heights. I don’t know if there’s a link between its name and the statue, but maybe.

-H

Categories: Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Wanderings

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Union Square Food Exhibition

September 10, 2007

On 9/8, there was something going on at Union Square (remember “something’s always going on at Union Square”) and I decided to take a look.

There were the normal artists and farmers’ market, but this time there was a second sort of farmers market going on. It was actually an exhibit by a number of diverse food groups. And there was music. Pretty good music, if I say so myself.

The style started off as straight-out bluegrass. They did a version of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” in an upbeat bluegrass style that I thought was terrific. And, amazingly enough, they then launched into some Brazilian folk tunes. (Hey, Brazil Day was last week!) It was great.

And I wasn’t alone in thinking it. A number of people were up and dancing.

Yes, haybales in Manhattan.

I did some wandering around looking at the exhibits and was initially pretty mystified.

What the heck does NYC have to do with farming, aside from consuming their produce and hosting marketplaces? Historically, NYC had a lot of farming, but that’s gone, ain’t it?

Actually, no. You don’t have regular farms in NYC anymore (that I’m aware of – NYC’s pretty big so who knows), but there are a lot of community gardens where people do grow produce. Well, that’s not going to feed more than a very small number of families in total. But, it does beautify the neighborhoods. I don’t know whether there’s any direct need of farm bills for NYC residents, but the goal of this group was to get people thinking small and locally. Hey, I’ll still eat my produce from Flordia, Peru, California, and Chile, but I’ve got nothing against those who are trying the 100-mile idea. (Maybe the lower demand will lower the prices on some of the stuff I buy.)

At first I was a little more skeptical, but then I found one group that was promoting the growth of herb gardens. Not a bad thing, I thought. And then I ran into this guy.

He was great. A nice guy and an actual beekeeper in the Bronx. I wonder if he considers the bees his “livestock”? Why not?

And then there was a group called “Just Food”, who were promoting “food and justice for all”. Who’d oppose either of those (although I’d insist that “all” buy their own food). Their main exhibit was under their table.

But I have to admit that I’m opposed to chicken-keeping in city limits.

-H

Categories: Food, Manhattan, Union Square, Wanderings

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Tax Protest at Union Square

September 9, 2007

Well, on September 1 there was a tax protest at Union Square.

So, I saw Black Americans protesting income taxes, big deal. I’ve heard about the idea that some Blacks believe that the tax laws don’t apply to them because there is some sort of exception for Blacks or because it is a reparations issue. So, I decided to figure out what it was about. They brought lots of documentation that seemed to support the idea that the issue was oriented toward Blacks, simply because of their use of the word “slave” in a number of their documents.

But that theory was exploded early. Apparently, they’re being black and using the word “slave” were ancillary to their point. I just wish I understood their point…

I talked with one of them. He was very earnest and determined to prove his point. He said the income tax process wasn’t legal. I mentioned there was a Constitutional amendment. He pulled out a copy of the Constitution and read the sixteenth amendment to me (kudos to him). He then said that the amendment only gave the government the power to levy taxes. It wasn’t a law. I was extremely puzzled. I had expected some sort of statement about it being unjust or inapplicable but to say there was the power and authority to tax and that Congress has neglected to pass a law to levy tax simply boggled me. But that’s what he said.

I don’t know the code references, but I did say that every few years, Congress passes a new set of tax laws changing levels and changing exemptions. He became very animated by this and told me that it wasn’t….I don’t know. He didn’t say it wasn’t applicable. He said something about how it didn’t apply to individuals, but that was an aside. He handed me a written document that accuses unnamed IRS and government authorities of high crimes and misdemeaners. It also says that one of these crimes is “…should have known of the non-existence of a law made in pursuance of the Sixteenth Amendment…”.

Twice I heard them cite corporations as paying no taxes and how unjust it is. Which is kind of a strange complaint if they don’t believe there’s any law for any taxes.

While I was there, I saw one of the members engaged in a relatively lengthy conversation. Maybe they have no relationship, but they seemed friendly.

The guy on the right spent a while talking with them. Once again, I have no idea if he’s a comrade in their struggle, a rabid supporter, or a rabid opponent. But the guy on the right is a regular Union Square guy that I think of as “Prison Planet Guy” because he has this weird shirt that has unreadable messages written all over it, with a “www dot prisonplanet dot com” address quite legible. That site is very strange and I hesitate to give it any sort of political assignment. It seems to be on its own. I will say that there doesn’t seem to have a conspiracy theory that it doesn’t ascribe to.

Well, I’m all in favor of the non-enforcement of non-existent laws. But I have a sneaking suspicion that there are tax laws so I’ll be filing my taxes the same way I do every year….reluctantly but on time.

-H

Categories: Manhattan, Union Square, Wanderings

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More pictures of the West Indian Day Parade in NYC

September 8, 2007

My previous post took me a long time to get organized and together. This one I’ll put up more quickly with some minor notes (at least that’s my plan).

The West Indian Day Parade was on Labor Day in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As I noted in the earlier post, I started roughly at Nostrand, then walked westward to Franklin before turning around and heading toward Utica, which is the originating point of the parade.

I took a bunch of pictures during the parade. Unfortunately, I found the overall crowd energy disappointing. The parade is very, very slow and there were some significant waits between some of the floats. On the other hand, sometimes the parade would just halt in front of the area I was in at the time and the participants would wait until given the go-ahead. That’s typical in parades, but 30-45 minutes between floats (that was the longest wait, by far) are unknown in other parades from my experience (I don’t remember ever waiting five minutes). I have to admit I certainly preferred it when they stopped where I was rather than just stand and wonder where the next group was.

The first couple of pictures below were early in the parade.

Over time, I did notice that a lot of the participants had paint and/or glitter rubbed on them. Some, I’m certain had paint (it was blue and they were within 3 feet of me) but others appeared more gold and sparkley. You may have to click on the below picture to really see the glitter.

And others, well, just a lot more colorful. One of the best of the exhibitions were where they’d have separate colored groups following close to one another, gold followed by blue followed by red and so on. I tried to capture some of that, but often there’d be just people from the crowd who weren’t in costume that were walking with the participants. The DJs tried to get them to separate out, but with mixed success.

One of the more interesting moments is captured below. They are up pretty high on a sound truck and the music is blasting away. It was shaking my body and I can imagine how it must have felt to them sitting/standing on the speaker platform. Note the guy holding onto the woman’s ankle. Just making sure she doesn’t get a nasty slip. (You can see her in the above picture, but more in the distance.)

At one of the heights of the music and marchers, I remember turning an photographing this to try and capture the crowd’s lack of exuberance.

I think I did capture it. There’s interest, but not the exuberance that I’ve experienced in other parades.

At one point, one of the large colorful one-person floats (whatever they’re called, I referred to them as “colorfuls” before) broke down. You can see the woman struggling with it.

This was another of the “colorfuls” (or whatever).

At the end of that segment of marchers, the cops brought up the rear. I presume they were trying to keep the marchers moving. The woman at the center was one that I thought of as the unhappiest person in the whole parade. (Click on the picture to enlarge it and catch her expression a bit better.)

They were followed, a little later ’cause it’s a slow parade, with some pretty big and colorful displays. I think this was the single most impressive one I saw all day. It’s pretty cool.

I still have more on the parade, but will make it into a separate post. (After this group, I think I started heading much more quickly toward Utica and then did some exploring in the backstreets. Then I came to the parade gathering area. Stay tuned…)

-H

Categories: Brooklyn, Events, Parades, Wanderings

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Ankling to the West Indian Day Parade

September 7, 2007

Monday morning. Labor Day. Famous Ankles is tired and needs to do some personal chores and absolutely, positively, undeniably needs to have a day off from wanderings and blogging. Until the TV story: the West Indian Day Parade is today! It’s big, it’s glorious, and it’s one of those events you can’t miss! “Oh, yeah?,” I reply. I’ll miss it. I wasn’t going to go all the way back to Brooklyn just to see a parade. No way. I was still weary from Brazilian Day’s wanderings and waitings.

And, then I went to the West Indian Day Parade.

A lot of what you’ll read in the following may be indicative of my state of mind, but I don’t think so. There’s no doubt that the West Indian Day Parade is huge and it has attractions that I really haven’t seen at other parades. But, it isn’t a particularly good parade. The downsides are such that, in the Famous Ankles pantheon of great NYC parades, the West Indian Day Parade ranks near the bottom.

That’s a bit of heresy, I guess. Overall, I didn’t enjoy the parade. Yes, the colors were eye-blinding. Many of the women were wonderfully attractive. The music was so loud that it shook my bones more than the Puerto Rican Day Parade did (and that’s saying something). But….

Take a look at the pictures. I’ll give some commentary; but look to see what you don’t see.

I took the subway down to Nostrand Street and found that the parade had already started. However, it’s a very slow parade (as you’ll find out), so I didn’t miss much.

There were colorful women.

The parade is held on Eastern Parkway. As you can see, it’s a pretty wide boulevard. The cool thing about having the parade here is that the parkway is paralleled by a sidestreet on each side. Vendors were jammed all along the pathway.

Incidentally, curried goat generally sold for $8. I didn’t partake (I’ve had occasions where street food has caused…difficulties. I’ve mentioned that I seldom indulge). The interesting food item that I haven’t seen before was a type of fried fish. It seemed to be a fish, head and all, that had been rolled in a light dough and then fried to a crispy brown. I don’t know about the bones and such. I didn’t partake.

The first spate of marchers went by pretty quickly. There was a delay, so Famous Ankles started to take a walk. I first headed west and caught up to, and passed, the earlier marchers. But I was heading toward Grand Army Plaza. Been there, done that. I wanted new ground. So I reversed and headed into the heart of Crown Heights.

The crowds were big. I had heard that 3 million were expected. Now, I eventually walked most of the parade route and I saw a WHOLE bunch of people. But 3 million? I didn’t keep track so I’ll have to let the official counts (whereever they are) be my guide.

I will say this. Lots and lots of cops. This event can have a violent side. I later heard that three people had been shot. As far as I know, not at the parade. I didn’t see any suggestion of violence and I went everywhere. But the parade is just part of the larger festival so it may have happened over the different evenings. Maybe that’s where the rest of the 3 million were.

Traditional costumes. Yeah, that’s what they were…traditional costumes.

Like I said. The parade was slow. There was a lot of waiting around.

So, I kept up my walking. Famous Ankles is peripatetic, so it was off to the sidestreet and continuing on to the source of the parade: Utica Street.

Lots of music and spectators on the side. This group was actually a bit lively. And loud. Oh yeah, loud.

And the parade actually seemed to have stopped. I noticed that it had been something like half an hour since I had seen/heard any marchers. I took a long look down toward the direction they were to come from.

Nothing. I began to wonder if the parade was over. It wasn’t. Not by a long shot. Maybe after 45 minutes total, they started up again. This time, with a lot more colors and brightly dressed women.

Rhetorical question. Do you not see what I wasn’t seeing? Ain’t it amazing? (Okay, two questions. But look at the crowd. That’s where you don’t see it.)

I didn’t know how to classify these costumes. In my notes, I just called them “colorful” or “colorfuls”.

At this point, the parade of “colorfuls” became jam-packed. They all didn’t have the full huge costumes, but they made up for it in numbers.

(Do you not see it again?) The music was loud. In the Puerto Rican Day Parade, the music would thud throughout my chest. Here, that plus through my skull.

I was wearing earplugs. Good earplugs. (That’s one of the prime rules of parade-going. If someone tells you to take earplugs…TAKE EARPLUGS!)

I guess when they call it the West Indian, some people take “Indian” more seriously than the “West” part of it. Okay, there is the American West.

Others just loved the regalia, whereever it came from. Yes, those West Indian Vikings are the stuff of legend.

I’m going to end this post. It’s just too long with too many photos so far. I’ll continue with more photos in a later post.

However, here’s the solution to the thing you didn’t see. Crowd excitement. There was none. None. Even during the music, I really didn’t see enthusiasm. I’ve brought up the Puerto Rican Day Parade several times. In that parade, even at well before the beginning when the crowd was just standing around, there was whooping and shouting and, well, excitement. Flags being waved (seldom seen in the West Indian Day Parade even though most people seemed to have one in hand). Whistles being blown (I only heard one at the West Indian). People with horns and other sound-makers (unnoticed by me at the West Indian). The only times there was excitement was when one of the DJs on the float would demand the crowd wave their flags or whatever. They tried (the DJs, that is). The only place with some excitement was the sidestreet. They were having a good time….but not a Puerto Rican Parade kind of excitement either.

Overall, I’m not at the parade to see the floats (most are boring). Nor the politicians. And not even the music. I’m there to share in the experience, and when people are bored…it’s not a great experience.

-H

Categories: Brooklyn, Events, Food, Parades, Wanderings

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