Test Track

While I was walking over the Williamsburg Bridge last week, (see previous post for a little bit more info on this excursion of dreams) I noticed the trains going over the bridge.  Let's be honest- it'd be tricky not to notice them.  They are giant, shiny trains.  They are loud.  And, at some points on the walkway, they are about four feet away from you, creating a nice breeze that is pretty difficult to ignore.  These are the J, M and Z subway trains, the ones I used to take into Manhattan every day.  When I moved to Brooklyn, they were all on the brown line, but now the M is part of the orange line.  I had a whole new perspective now, months later, watching these trains instead of riding in them.  So, I decided to photograph one as it went by, underneath me.  There are a few moments in the pedestrian walkway  where you can stand directly over the trains.  I took advantage of it, and caught an M going by.

Plus, just in case you were ever worried about anything ever, there is this sticker on the bridge.  It is there to remind you that this life is only a test.  

Then there is some word I can't make out.  But, this life is only a test, apparently.

The only test in my life recently has been my train not running on a lot of weekends.  Ah, well.  The head of MTA is trying to make improvements.  I can live with a non-existent train every once in a while.

New York City, New York, USA

Flashback

I had not walked over the Williamsburg Bridge in about nine months.  Since I moved out of Bed-Stuy, I don't live anywhere near it.  I live fairly far south, and I barely go to northern Brooklyn at all, so there is no reason for me to walk over it.  I walk over the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges fairly often, but they are near places I hang out, and are just generally closer to where I find myself most of the time.  Yes, the Williamsburg is a cool bridge, there is no doubt about that, but I live nowhere near it.  However, when a good friend of mine wanted to meet up for lunch in Williamsburg on Friday, and I didn't have to be anywhere else until later in the afternoon, I saw an opportunity for a little trip across the East River and down memory lane.  

When I did live in Bed-Stuy, I walked over the bridge all of the time.  I was constantly meeting Danny at Grand Central Station late in the evening, and then we'd take a nice two hour walk back to our neighborhood together, to catch up on the day.  At the time, I was still in school, doing my last semester of college.  I was in a summer intensive- six weeks of Shakespeare and then five weeks of Chekhov, with four to nine hours of class a day, so I had lots to talk about.  This time, I walked the bridge by myself in broad daylight, and noticed all kinds of things I hadn't seen before.  New grafitti, the look of the train tracks below, the signs on buildings near the bridge.  Some of it probably was not there before- that is one thing I love about street art- it is always changing.  Someone adds a new word to a design, paints on a rafter that was previously clear, or even covers up a previous message or symbol with their own.  It's fluid, new. I like that.  

Oh... and here's a gratuitous hipstery self-portrait for funsies.

Look at me.  I'm obviously thinking deep thoughts about post-modern performace art, underground bands you've never heard of, and organic bok choy.

Just kidding. What was I actually thinking about?  Probably about how my camera was running out of batteries.  And how I wish that there were more public bathrooms in New York.  Deep, deep thoughts.

New York City, New York, USA

A View from the Bridge

No, not the Arthur Miller play... 

Though, you win super brownie points if you knew that "A View from the Bridge" is the title of an Arthur Miller play.  Brownie points and kudos.  And rainbows, puppies and unicorns.  Invisible ones.

I'm talking about the Manhattan Bridge.  It's a bridge that connects Manhattan's Canal Street to Brooklyn's Flatbush Avenue.  It was the only bridge between Manhattan and Brooklyn that I had not walked over.  Now, I have walked over it.  I did it on Thursday, when it was about 50 degrees Farenheit outside, and the world was basically made of smiles and roses.  The view was excellent.

  I did mess up a bit and walked on the bike lane side instead of the pedestrian lane side... but I couldn't find the entrance!  I'm probably an idiot, but it didn't seem that well marked.  In any case, the sun was setting, and photographs of the Brooklyn Bridge etc. to the south would have just had massive amounts of backlight and sun flare.  That would have been cool, but the more standard photographs that I was able to capture of the northern view from the bridge, and the Williamsburg Bridge are what you see here.  I'm rather proud of them, and I hope you enjoy!

Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA