Springtime @ Gowanus Canal

Brooklyn, NY - GGP - Wednesday, May 11th, 2005 : goo

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A recent springtime afternoon dragged me away from my desk and on a long walk to & around the Gowanus Canal. A pair of pigeons billing and cooing had found the perfect urban-romantic spot to bask in the sun.

The brick-work below was lovely in a sad, archaic sort of way. I felt the presence of people who worked with their hands and managed to evoke a solid, simple beauty from functional structures...which I guess for me is the emotional appeal of visual vignettes like this one. Looking at all the new structures going up in my neighborhood now, there is no trace of this sort of pride and appreciation of beauty. It's hard not to think a kind of madness has gripped us when we tear down old brick beauties and put up flat, psychologically monodimensional boxes for people to live and work in. We are what we build.

Soft reflections of hard, hard things.

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