PICTURES of OTHER things: December 2005

BASED UPON THE STRENGTH OF RAILROADS:
A. Old signal lights, lonesome and
sad, 'gainst a dark, gray sky.

B. 'Based upon the strength of railroads' and the power of trains, one can easily see how overland transport was conceived and conquered - powered and propelled by steam and electric. It was once a mighty world, now greatly diminished. Over the meadowlands here, all we've got left are paltry trails of cheap passenger trains herding folk to pallid destinations. Old things linger, hanging about as if uselessness was still a virtue.

Easton, Pennsylvania. The downtown area is a familiar mixture of the old and the tattered, being re-used today for varied uses - all the while only occasionally maintaining a handsome image of the 'old'. Many of the original town-square buildings (the 'Quad') are still standing and, with a little investigation, can be made to refer to their prouder, earlier selves. Although today's world serves them poorly (and vice-versa, I suppose) the old mixture in Easton of the present and the past - industry, craft and utility, is still variously seen - either as foolish abandonment, poor re-use, or an engathered and preserved history. Very interesting, somewhat odd, place - with an interesting history of its own that probably should be more well-known and studied.

With curved glass, this window reflection from an old abandoned
storefront sheds a new light on everday scenery.

Easton, Pa. abandoned storefront/ reflections

Right across the river, back in Phillipsburg, NJ, (a grand
series of bridges there, too), this old factory shed sits idle.

An older section at the old 'center' of the Rockingham Church Cemetary - Of course, none of this may look like much. I'e seen more impressive groupings of dead people at a bar, for goodness sake. What it is, however, is a symptom of the 'WHAT' we live today - amidst nowhere, with no references to anything which once went before. We dishonor the past, in this 'present' by erecting the future. Right across from here, from where they moved the old Rockingham of George Washington's Headquarters fame, is now a20-story, hideous, obtrusive and offensive communications tower - grid-steel and laced with cell-phone antennae and dishes, etc. Disgusting, and meaningless.

It does nothing for me - all this hideous claptrap
of the present day, fortunately unseen in this photo.

'Sighe', wife of Jacob Suydam, of Suydam Street fame,
New Brunswick, NJ.

Memento Mori - The old graveyard at Rocky Hill, near where 'Rockingham' once stood (since moved for better pubilc access by the Rockingham Historical Commission), historic accuracy AND the public be damned.

ONCE AGAIN - the Changing View of Our World. This is the once-grand old generating power station on the fringes of downtown Jersey City, NJ - out towards the Holland Tunnel entrance road, easterly. It once provided the generation of power for the burgeoning and industrious city of Jersey City, Nj , its port and its manufactures. Now, after years of derelict abandonment and neglect, it is (I suppose) finding new life as some form of condo-apartment housing, after tons of renovation, of course. It is now in the middle of a growing area of gentrification and numerous, numerous housing units - in fact nearly an entire NEW downtown. These are pictures of it as it is now, today, (12/2005). Soon to be gone forever.