Gowanus Update: Ooze Makes News

On March 17th, the Daily News reported that one person’s idea of what to do with the Gowanus Canal’s toxic sludge is to turn it into organic glass cubes, which could then be turned into something useful, such as aquariums, or building blocks or sculpture. Or, as one can see in some buildings in the area, it can be made into decorative glass bricks. These photos I took recently show just how beautiful they can be; more are on my Gowanus Impressions series album.

Photoshoot: The Berkeley Carroll School

I have a long happy history with the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn. My son, Benjamin, attended BCS from the 2^nd grade thorough high school; my nephew, Henry, attends BCS Middle School, and this year I have been hired to photograph events and shoot candids at the school for their print and website.

I love The Berkeley Carroll School. When Ben was in school, I was in the PA, went on many trips with the little kiddies (learned right quick to take Ibuprofen before getting on the bus), served on many committees and, in the last years, was a proud Parent Ambassador.

So when word went out that the school was looking for a photographer, I jumped at the chance, and I’ve been enjoying myself ever since. I hadn’t been back at the school since Ben graduated in 2000, so walking the halls, seeing old faces, catching up with people, and making new friends and acquaintances has been very rewarding. Most of all, though, photographing the kids has been pure joy. Brings back all the memories, particularly when shooting the sports events. My first assignment for the BCS was to shoot a soccer game! Wow. Like I hadn’t done that thousands of times before? This time, however, my heart wasn’t in my mouth each time someone from the opposing team took a shot on goal and I was able to concentrate on the task at hand. This week I shot the school play, “Snow Angel”, that the MS kids are putting on, opening tonight. These kids are too cute for words, and happily a picture tells a thousand words, and all I have to do is show, not tell.

Citizen Joyce

I don’t know what you’ve left behind in your hotel room (the other sock? Bamboo papers? Dental floss?) but how about leaving an entire drawerful of tops, bathing suits, and lingerie, which is what I did. And then, amazingly, after a few weeks and a few different people handling all this stuff, getting it FedExed to my door by the Good Samaritan whom I shall refer to as Citizen Joyce, a woman who lives in a remote town in Missouri. Well maybe it’s not remote, but it’s Missouri, you know? Now that I’ve stopped reading the newspapers and stopped listening to NPR or, more importantly, the morning BBC broadcasts, I can pretend that the world east of NYC is inhabited only by Good Samaritans such as Joyce.

This is what happened. After having stayed at the aforementioned B&B, Cascadasdemerida, in Merida, (see my photos, above) the capital of Yucatan, Mexico (a great B&B with fabulous breakfasts) I received an email from Ellyne Basto, the proprietress, telling me that I left my things there. She said she would wash them and then see what she could do about getting them back to me. Wow. Luckily for me, everything was clean, thank god, so at least I didn’t have to worry about her messing around with my dirty laundry. Ellyne did manage to bring my things to a hotel where she knew a couple that was going back to the States was staying. She handed it over to some guy there, who said he would give it to this couple (Citizen Joyce and her husband). It was hoped that Joyce would send it to me upon her return to Missouri.

For a while there, no one really knew if in fact the couple actually had my things and it wasn’t so easy to contact her. But, in fact she did send it to me, at a cost to her of $10.70. After thanking her profusely in an email, I told her that I had put a check in the mail to her to cover her costs. She emailed back, asking me not to send her a check, that she would be insulted if I did, and that “so many people were nice to us on our trip and I just want to pay in forward”. I guess that’s how they say it in Missouri. (Or maybe it’s Missour-ah). Any way that you say it, it works for me.

SuperNews!

The NY Times reported today that the EPA announced that it has officially placed the Gowanus Canal on its Superfund National Priorities List of the country’s most hazardous waste sites. The Agency has determined that adding the site to the Superfund list is the best way to clean up the heavily contaminated canal.

TaDa!!!

Our mayor, and potential developers of this site, have cried “foul” when confronted with the EPA’s plans, saying that the residents of the area would be greatly damaged if their property was deemed a “toxic” site. As if everyone doesn’t know that the site is toxic. In fact, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy was formed in 2006 specifically to lobby the EPA to make Gowanus Canal and the surrounding land a Superfund Site in order to work towards a “beautiful, historic, green, recreation destination”.

This is very good and welcome news. Over the past few months as I have photographed Gowanus, its inherent beauty and uniqueness has opened itself to me. Although I have been photographing the area for many years, it has only been recently, as its fate weighed in the balance, that I have been happy with the results. Perhaps it took this crisis for the area to open its secrets to me.

One of my photographs is here on this page, some of the others may be seen on my Gowanus Impressions web page. Happy Day!