Sunday, November 20, 2011

Zuccotti Park, Manhattan, New York










Nobody ever heard of Zuccotti Park until this Privately Owned Public Space ("POP") was taken over by Occupy Wall Street ("OWS") on September 17. The POP designation is significant in granting certain rights to protesters staying there 24 hours, since it is not subject to curfews. The park's northwest corner is across the street from Four World Trade Center (photo). A block north provides a dramatic viewe of One World trade Center (photo).








Joie de Vivre (photo) by Mark di Suvero, a 70-foot-tall sculpture consisting of bright-red beams, was installed in Zuccotti Park in 2006.






Scenes of OWS protesters are from November 19. Amidst the commotion, New York City workers install Christmas lights on the trees. At the same time Egyptian protesters were in front of the Egyptian Mission to the UN on 44th St., only hours after the Egyptian Military had beaten down protesters in Tahrir Square, Cairo. Photo shows Gigi Ibrahim leading the group.
































































Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Trinity Churchyard, Manhattan, New York

























The Gothic Revival Trinity Church (note the amazing bronze doors) is dwarfed by Skyscrapers in the Financial District, including the 50-story art deco Irving Trust Co. Building (1931) at 1 Wall St. The first church was built in 1698, the current building was built in 1839 by Richard Upjohn. The cemetery is static as burials below Canal St. have been banned for many decades. The graveyard's inhabitants and markers provide one of the richest concentrations of colonial history to be found anywhere. In fact, Francis Lewis is buried here, the only signer of the Declaration of Independence to be buried in New York.

Alexander Hamilton (d. 1804) is buried here, having died in a duel in Weehawken, NJ, with Aaron Burr. Although most duels were ritualistic acts of bravery, with shots deliberately sent wide, Burr chose to take true aim and mortally wounded Hamilton in the abdomen.

The mid-18th century headstones sport skull & crossbones and other whimsical features, almost cartoonesque.