January in New York City is always rough looking and the Bronx being what it is, it looks especially hellish at that time of year. This was shortly after riot season ended. There was a water main break and a lot of businesses along this stretch were flooded.
There’s been a lot of new development along Jerome Ave and I had this idea that the arson along these two blocks and the flooding shortly after were part of a coordinated effort to get small businesses to move out so bigger developments could move in. Honestly, it would be better if that happened. The area could use some new buildings with new businesses that aren’t car audio shops.
I don’t understand why there are so many car repair shops and audio shops along this stretch of road. It turns traffic into a mess, is noisy, isn’t attractive, and prevents more worthwhile businesses from opening up that would make the neighborhood more livable, like restaurants, cafes, departments stores, gyms… hell… anything at all but more car oriented shops.
I took this photo outside my office in south Brooklyn today around 2 PM. What’s supposed to be the heaviest of the smoke from Canada’s wildfires reached New York City today.
In retrospect, I wonder why we were even at work. The air quality index hit the low 400s today on a scale that maxes out at 500. Some people had windows open in the building as well so the air inside wasn’t much better than outside. I feel like this is going to have a real impact on my health later in life, but there’s not much I can do about it now.
It was impressive though, in a bad way. The situation reminded me of sand storms that I experienced in Iraq in 2003. When the first sand storm rolled in, we were in full NBC gear and we put on our masks to protect ourselves from the dust in the air. I wish I had that mask today.
Today on the way home, a car sort of blew up next to us on the #FDR while we were under the #UN building. When we got to the #Bronx, a man was dancing in traffic with his pants around his knees and his junk hanging out. Really, WTF is going on here?
This was a really interesting look at JK Rowling’s life. I wasn’t aware of what kind of background she came from, other than that she wasn’t well off financially before publishing the Potter series.
When I first started listening to this, I was under the impression that it was just going to address the recent issues that Rowling has had with trans activists, but it also addresses the initial reception to her books in the United States in the 1990s, which was the tail end of a decade-long Christian religious revival.
I remember that period. Everything was the Devil. Everything was Satan trying to lure you away from the right path. Harry Potter books were a gateway into witchcraft and selling your soul to Satan. Once you’d read about the Sorcerer’s Stone, you were only one step away from sacrificing children. Or so the reasoning went. Well, not really. I think older religious people at the time had this fear that if kids found something they loved then they wouldn’t love the Bible and they would replace the Bible as the guiding influence in their life. I can see how that would be a valid concern, but trying to get your kids to love a book that’s 2000ish years old that doesn’t speak directly to modern day issues is a hard sell.
I never read the Harry Potter books because of the stigma that was associated with it. It wasn’t socially acceptable. Later, when the movies came out, I didn’t watch them because I thought they were just for kids. I was in my early 40s when I watched all of the movies and read all of the books, and realized just how much I’d missed out on. It’s an incredibly fun story with amazing characters and the stories would have been very meaningful to me as a kid.
Coming back to the podcast, there is a fair amount of discussion about how J.K. Rowling anticipated the reaction to her books because of the reaction from Christian conservatives. There is a fair amount of discussion about the abusive relationship she was in that was very inspiring. There is also a discussion about her stand regarding trans people, where she elaborates her thoughts more clearly than is possible on Twitter.
It was interesting and enlightening and I recommend it. Along with the Harry Potter books. But not the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them movies. Those are terrible. Hopefully the new Potter series coming to HBO Max will be worthwhile.
It rained all weekend long, from Friday night to Sunday night. I can’t remember the last time it rained this hard here. It reminded me of downpours in Georgia from when I lived there as a kid. The sound was comforting, even if the rain ruined our plans for the weekend.
The business was in operation from 1947 to approximately 1957 and produced coat fronts, which are defined “…by George E. Linton (The Modern Textile and Apparel Dictionary, Fourth Revised and Enlarged Edition, 1973) as [a] “Trade term for a built-up stiffening or shape-retaining interlining for the fronts of coats, made of stitched layers of haircloth, felt and canvas.””
For more information about the company and building, and as a reference for the above quote, please visit 14to42.net. There is a nice photo at that link of the same sign in 1986. The color was a lot sharper back then. I took this photo 12 years ago. I wonder if it’s even there anymore, and if it is, whether it’s legible at all.
My wife has a small folding bicycle with little wheels and it just seemed really fun to ride it. It felt like I was on a kid’s bicycle. It’s pretty sturdy though, and a folding bicycle is easier to get around the city, whether by train or in the back of the car.
This is my first time uploading video to WordPress. Usually, I would use YouTube for video, but it feels like the right time to start moving content back to my own site instead of posting almost everything elsewhere for some company’s profit and benefit.
Bradley's Old Fashioned Weblog 