Fire Walk With Me

This guy on Manhattan Avenue was walking hard and heavy and moaning a lot. So, I took his picture and he whipped around and looked at me, about to say something and then he began to cough uncontrollably, which was my cue to disappear.

Stay weird, Greenpoint.

Nazi Children, Wasted Old Men, Nature Killers And The Women That Love Them

There are a lot of things about Greenpoint that I love, but none of those things came to mind while walking my dog through McGolrick Park  early this morning. What came to mind was horror and disgust. Every day there is trash, empty vodka bottles and generally an unkept atmosphere that I have pretty much gotten used to since my arrival in this neighborhood a little over a decade ago. But when you add the charm of sidewalk chalk used to support Neo-Nazism, it’s beyond fucked up and completely unacceptable.

  

And then you see a tree branch uselessly severed, next to empty bottles of liquor, it’s enough to feel total disgust for the ugly side of this largely Polish neighborhood that, at times, gives gentrification a good name.  Sorry, but hipsters don’t do swastikas.

I will admit that some aspects to city life has been especially trying on me lately (I just need a few days away, which is happening in a week) but this shit gets old every day watching these white men with the resources of a nationalistic community in front of them waste the day and nights away getting shit-pissed drunk, fighting, pissing and shitting all over the one tiny square block of nature that I have access to. I don’t have a front or back yard except this park where you use and abuse without a second thought. I may sound angry and mean, but let’s start the conversation now, because very little is being done. Where are the wives of these men? They remain on the sidelines, closed-lipped and eyes down with their thin cigarettes and degenerative gaze.  I know where you came from but the secret police aren’t looking for you in Greenpoint. Reach out to these fathers and husbands and do something more. Don’t just ignore the problems of your culture and wait for hipster churches to fund and feed your own kind. I donate my hard-earned cash to places that feed your men, but they won’t be able to rehabilitate without you.

Yes, I wrote this all in a grumpy, early morning rant and I should just file it into the “too angry to publish” file and go about my life sugar-coating my reality in Greenpoint, but today fuck it, I’m posting it.

As far as the meaning of “Zcunczyk”, the Google tells me that it’s a fairly common surname. I suppose it’s possible that the offender put his own name next to the offending symbols. We should be so lucky. Okay, that’s all I got.

Storefronts At Night

All from Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

 

Northern Brooklyn Peoples

Random pictures of people  in Williamsburg and Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

 

Dog Lady

First I got a dirty look from the lady.

And then I got one from her dog!

Water Man

From Manhattan Avenue, Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Damn people, can we think about a fucking water filter for your house instead of buying gallons upon gallons of bottled water shipped from the other side of the planet?  Just sayin’.

Depressed Polish Mannequins

These ladies fit right into Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint, with their dyed hair, serious composure and downward glances.  If they had arms, they would be smoking those thin-ass cigarettes.

Red Glowski

Have you noticed how many store fronts in Greenpoint have red neon? Perhaps that’s a blog post project for the future. I realize that it’s their only flag color, but it always reminds me of the red light district that my family accidentally brought me to in Amsterdam on vacation when I was thirteen years old.

From Nassau Avenue.

Lords Of Scrap

This giant banner is amazing.

From Scrap King USA on Greenpoint Avenue at North Henry Street.

But wouldn’t this be a lot more fitting for a Greenpoint scrap metal joint?  C’mon!  What you haven’t heard about all the metal covers in Greenpoint being secretly replaced by wooden blocks?  Check out Miss Heather’s investigative journalism on this very issue here.

HoJo Castle Apt

From Leonard Street, Greenpoint, BK