General Malaise, Part 2

It's a music festival, political protest, slumber party, social club, and bookstore. A place for the activist, party goer, malcontent, happy hippie, angry man, disenfranchised, frustrated, and defiant. It's Occupy Wall Street. And there, you will find a General Malaise.

Related Posts: General Malaise Part 1, Eyes on the Signs, False Assumptions, Fall Out Against the War

General Malaise, Part 1

I generally avoid "covering" news events - a short blog article rarely does a subject justice. And there are certainly better sources for such topics, as well as news journalists qualified to do the investigatory work.

But Occupy Wall Street has become such a phenomenon that even in the city with all that goes on, the demonstrations, marches, and occupation of Liberty Park is a topic of conversation amongst almost any group of people. I have been asked by virtually everyone I meet whether I have been down to the demonstration area, as well as whether I would write and photograph about this demonstration.

(read more...)

She's Too Tough to Care 2

Furtive glances at onlookers and passersby, foolishness thinly veiled as toughness. Packs of cigarettes going for as much as $14.50 each. Street dealers trading in "loosies" - cigarettes sold individually.

In New York City, smokers on breaks huddle in doorways and alcoves in the streets, almost like common criminals or social pariahs. The walls are closing in rapidly. Effective May 23, 2011, smoking will be banned in all parks, boardwalks, beaches, recreation centers, swimming pools and pedestrian plazas. On April 1, 2003, smoking was banned in New York State in all enclosed workplaces, including all bars and restaurants and construction sites. Even France, considered by many the last bastion of cigarette smoking, banned smoking in public places in 2007.

At one time, as opposition mounted and the negative effects of secondhand smoke were becoming known, there were debates about the freedom to smoke. There were even accolades for the joy of smoking. Empty words now. Many who have smoked (I did for a short time in college) will agree that joy neither lures people in nor keeps people habituated. The difficulty of quitting and withdrawal drives this more than anything else. Although I do not drink alcohol, and it remains a huge drug problem, a glass of wine with dinner is pleasurable and in moderation, alcohol may not be harmful.

When I was young, cigarette smoking was permitted and tolerated virtually everywhere. Even those who despised smoking and had no smokers in the household, kept ashtrays and begrudgingly allowed guests to smoke in their home or car. It was considered courteous to accommodate. There was smoking in planes, trains and doctor's offices.

Efforts to discourage youth from smoking were ineffective since this was one of the major rites of passage to adulthood and an act of defiance for the very young. Movies like He's Too Tough to Care, written comedically in an effort to be less preachy, were equally ineffectual. See She's Too Tough to Care here.

I enjoyed this New York Times headline from January 21, 1908 regarding the passage of the Sullivan Ordinance making it illegal for women to smoke outdoors:

NO PUBLIC SMOKING BY WOMEN NOW; The Sullivan Ordinance, to be Passed by the Aldermen Today, Makes It Illegal. WILL THE LADIES REBEL As the Ladies of New Amsterdam Did When Peter Stuyvesant Ordered Them to Wear Broad Flounces?

The ordinance was enforced - Katie Mulcahey was arrested on January 22 - however the law was vetoed by NYC Mayor George Brinton McClellan, Jr. two weeks after passage.

With the Sullivan Ordinance far behind us, here on Spring Street, it's another sequel to She's Too Tough to Care :)

Aspiring Rebel

In a city as large as New York, we are blessed with many nerds and a number of obsessed New Yorkers with a passion for the minutiae of city life. I say blessed, because how else would you learn about the horrors of certain trains using mixed fonts in the Do Not Lean on Door signs? The primary font in the subway system is Helvetica - see Train of Thought, my story of June 9, 2010, about subway fonts and other obsessions, such as H I K O P T U X Y.

It was noticed by some, however, that there were a number of trains where signs were actually using a mixture of fonts. Apparently, the possible dangers of falling out of trains or any other obvious reasons for not leaning on (and blocking) subway doors is secondary to the nuances of typography. In a 2009 Gothamist article about this discovery, a war of words in the comments section reveals this gem:

I noticed these when the R160s were new. I wanted to take my copy of Massimo Vignelli's 1970 New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual and thwack someone over the head with it, but that wouldn't be a good idea since I might damage a valuable book.

Regulations like Do Not Lean on Door mean very little in New York City. Often, all available seating is taken and with trains lurching, leaning, and stopping abruptly, riders who are standing need to stabilize themselves. Holding onto vertical or overhead poles for extended periods is tiring. Leaning against exit doors becomes a preferred resting spot for many, with each individual door just right for one person. The eight doors (4 pairs per car) become coveted spots.

Like jaywalking, these regulations are virtually never enforced. The signs do provide many functions however - a good opportunity for study of fonts, a record of unenforced policies, a clean surface to lean against, a chance to display requisite New York City Street Cred and attitude, and an opportunity for the less courageous for an act of defiance which will assuredly go unpunished. A sign and siren for the amateur lawbreaker and Aspiring Rebel :)

She's Too Tough To Care

Have you heard of the award winning film, Varicose Veins? I would imagine not, but documentary film maker Sy Wexler, born Simon Wexler in Manhattan in 1916, worked as a producer, director, screenwriter, and cameraman in over 800 16mm black-and-white educational films in science, health, sex education, government and medicine, with catchy titles like Teeth are For Life, High Blood Pressure or Squeak the Squirrel.

Parents and school administrations have forever grappled for ways to control the rebellious nature of youth. Since the 1940s there have been a number of films which, through highly graphic imagery, attempted to shock, awe and otherwise persuade the youth of America into proper behavior and to shun the evils of driving, sex and cigarette smoking.

In the 1950s-70s, there was a very disturbing series of controversial driver's education scare films produced by the Highway Safety Foundation that featured gruesome footage taken live at the scene of fatal automobile accidents in the Mansfield, Ohio area. Titles like Wheels of Tragedy, Highways of Agony and one that I personally had to sit through in a High School public assembly, Mechanized Death. The positive effect of these is debatable. In my school, I saw fellow students screaming and leaving the assembly hall, girls vomiting while some boys feigned being unaffected and laughing. Although these films have cult status now and many are available in their entirety or in montages, I don't think America is missing much without them.

Sy Wexler's film, He's Too Tough Too Care, did not share this macabre, grisly approach, but instead was instilled with humor. In it, individuals were seen in various scenarios where they met with fatal outcomes due to smoking, like a worker smoking on a scaffold while his cigarette unknowingly burns a support rope. Another memorable scene involves a lab scientist working for a tobacco company expressing dismay to an executive. When asked how the tests are going, he responds not good, producing a stiff, dead rat from his lab coat pocket. All of these scenes were done with a blend of humor. Throughout the short film, the catchy jingle was sung - He's Too Tough to Care.

Cigarette smoking today transcends the defiance of yesteryear. There is virtually no cachet - even among the young, the habit appears foolish and over priced. Smokers are virtual pariahs, restricted and banned everywhere. The women in the photo are archetypes for today's smokers, relegated to the sidewalks of New York City. These women demonstrated the ultimate in defiance, smoking while standing outdoors in a frigid 10 degrees.

Our coworker Brittany Bartley, however, puts a positive spin on going against social norms. She bikes daily from Manhattan to Brooklyn, over the Manhattan Bridge, in a trip that takes about 35 minutes. Undaunted by yesterday's cold snap, Brittany still made the journey by bike, even on a morning with temperatures in the single digits. With no complaints. When I discussed my photos of the women smokers with our company graphic artist, she commented that she was infinitely more impressed with Brittany's braving the extreme cold on a bicycle. I agreed.

Sy Wexler passed away in 2005, but I see room for a sequel in the spirit of his original He's Too Tough to Care. Perhaps this is a project for our friend Ferris Butler. For casting, we have two women who smoke in down jackets on the streets of New York City in January and Brittany on her bike to Brooklyn in single digits. I can see the theater marquis now - "She's Too Tough To Care" :)

Just Don't Stick

There's nothing like a good dream to pique the interest of a therapist, analyst or anyone psychoanalytically inclined. And there's no dream like a nightmare - this is where they love to dig in. And when it comes to bad dreams, the top ten list must include being chased by something (known or unknown), Sleep Paralysis (see my story here) or being naked or nearly naked in public.

Although I have no particular fear of being scantily clad in public, I have, like many, had my share of dreams where for some inexplicable reason, I find myself in public only in my underwear and have to find my way home.

It's that feeling of vulnerability with nowhere to hide which is so particularly horrible and also for me a huge frustration - how did I end up in this predicament and why didn't I just grab a pair of pants before leaving? Then there is the wishful thinking that somehow you can navigate home and no one will notice.

Last night, conveniently, I had a very bad dream involving this ever popular theme of exposure and vulnerability. I was driving in my car with a customer whom I have known for years and who can be particularly rude, thoughtless and inclined to engaging in cruel fun. I was traveling with a brand new electric guitar on the passenger's seat while he was in rear. I had a momentary lapse of consciousness which allowed him to hang the guitar from the exterior of the car while traveling. To my horror, upon examination, the guitar was terribly scratched and gouged, rendering it essentially worthless. His defense was some feeble excuse, attempting to mask his brand of fun.

Sunday, January 8th, 2011, was the 10th annual The No Pants Subway Ride, a prank event organized by New York City's Improv Everywhere who call it a celebration of silliness. This event is not to be confused with the variant No Pants Day, also an annual event, occurring on the first Friday in May. Both are now international events with participants in cities worldwide. In New York's subway event, participants enter the subway at a number of different points, acting like they do not know each other and traveling in the same casual manner as any other rider. If asked why they are not wearing pants, they typically respond that they forgot. The members convened at Union Square where these photos were taken. Subsequently, some went shopping at Filene's (see photos on escalator).

Arrests have been made in the past with charges thrown out. Although public nudity is illegal (indecent exposure), being pantless in underwear is not a crime (see the Naked Cowboy here) and at least with these people, you will find that charges of disorderly conduct, like their pants, just don't stick :)

Afterthought: Perhaps if everyone participated, we could inure ourselves to pantlessness and rid ourselves of at least one genre of bad dream. On the other hand, I am sure the subconscious mind would just find some new flavor of vulnerable activity.

Hide and Seek, Show and Tell

There's a brilliant and frustratingly absurd Monty Python comedy sketch called Olympic Hide and Seek. One competitor is allowed to travel by any means and hide anywhere in the world while the other competitor counts to one thousand, then begins to search. Winning times are over 11 years.

Whether you are in the real world or that of Monty Python, if you are looking for hide and seek activities which are not mainstream, success is usually found in the geographical edges and neglected fringes. The balloon of conformity and mainstream behavior presses the unconventional and unaccepted into the edges, corners, fringes and remote hinterlands of the landscape.

Look at the large gay communities in the United States. Many are located in remote or isolated areas - Key West, Florida, Provincetown, Massachusetts and the West Village. Even in Fire Island (which is beautiful - see my photos here), the predominantly gay communities are located geographically out of the mainstream - Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines.

However, once an area becomes more well known as a enclave for the unconventional, hide and seek often becomes show and tell. And there is no better example than The Standard. This hotel was developed by Andre Balázs and straddles over the High Line, an elevated park created from an abandoned elevated railway, 1.45 miles long, in the west side of Manhattan (see here). The Hotel itself is located in the stretch in the far West Village near the meat packing district, what has become one of the trendiest neighborhoods in New York City.

The place became a scandal with a flurry of media coverage in July of 2009. There were reports of nudity and every manner of lewd activity displayed in the windows of the hotel including shooting of porn films and couples having sex. The exhibitionist activities were actually encouraged by the management even putting in writing on their Facebook page:

"We encourage you to exercise your inner exhibitionist," and their website asks, "Whatever you do, just make sure the shots are HOT and that you get them to us in whichever way you can. It's all about sex all the time, and you're our star."

After public and neighborhood outcry over the "peep show", the hotel removed the explicit encouragements and tried to tone things down. If this is the kind of thing you're looking for, explore the outer fringes and there is where you will find the world of Hide and Seek, Show and Tell :)

The Real Peel

David Peel's website consists of one page, however much can be gleaned from a quick read -

Favorite Band or Musician: David Peel & The Lower East Side

Favorite TV show: The Simpsons

Favorite movie: West Side Story

Favorite book: 1984 by George Orwell

Favorite sports team: Bonghitters

Favorite food: Ice Cream

Take equal parts of self absorption, political activism (with a hint of conspiratorialism), punk rock, marijuana and maniacal energy and you have David Peel. Born David Michael Rosario, the New York City based musician and activist began recording with his group as David Peel and the Lower East Side in the late 1960s. He is credited with being one of the early performers of punk rock. A tireless advocate for the legalization of marijuana, Peel's first album in 1972 was entitled Have a Marijuana. His discography is over 20 albums. He has been closely associated with the Yippie movement, Smoke-In concerts and the annual Marijuana March.

David Peel’s close association with John Lennon propelled him to celebrity status and helped pave the way for him to perform with top acts, such as Alice Cooper, Doctor John, Stevie Wonder, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Mann, Rod Stewart, Emerson Lake and Palmer, BB King, the Chambers Brothers, Joan Baez Frank Zappa, Iggy Pop and countless others.

Lennon recalled first seeing David Peel, and his street assembled version of the "Lower East Side Band", performing in front of a large crowd in Washington Square Park, in 1971. "He was shouting, why do you have to pay to see stars?" says Lennon. "I was embarrassed. I thought surely he must know I’m here. Yoko and I loved his music, his spirit and his philosophy of the street."

Ignoring the objections by "certain" former members of The Beatles, John and Yoko still signed Peel to Apple Records. Peel’s first effort for Apple was an album entitled "The Pope Smokes Dope", which immediately set off an international furor. The record was banned in nearly every country of the world, except for the United States, Canada and Japan.

In a memorable appearance on the nationally televised "David Frost Show" in 1972, John and Yoko let David Peel and his Lower East Side Band take the spotlight, choosing instead, to perform behind the group. John noted that Peel always wore round sunglasses that were a perfect duplicate of the glasses that had become John Lennon’s trademark and Lennon took to wearing Peel’s black leather jacket.

I have known David for years and see him frequently - his is a habitue of Washington Square Park. Always on a rant or rave, Peel's energy is truly maniacal. His lyrics can be caustic, angry and often spew hatred. The song he was performing in the top photo had a constant refrain, I Hate You. But do not be fooled by the theater, lyrics or politics. Underneath you'll find a warm and fuzzy, benign human being. That's the real Peel :)

Urban Night Climbers

For a full night climbing experience, click and play audio link to accompany your reading.

Many years ago, in a conversation with a customer, the subject somehow turned to my childhood love of tree climbing. My customer was VERY pleased to hear this and encouraged me to rekindle this interest, embrace some trees, or perhaps even join him and his friends in their nocturnal sojourns. He was a night climber. Of buildings.

New York City is a city that never sleeps. We are known for our night clubs, night life and night people - but night climbers of buildings? I was not aware that there was an underground fraternity of those who practice buildering, aka urban climbing, stegophily, or structuring.

The press has covered the various climbing spectaculars of the city - Philippe Petit's legendary walk between the world trade towers on August 7, 1974. George Willig, a mountain-climber from Queens, New York, United States, climbed the South Tower of the World Trade Center on May 26, 1977. Alain Robert is a French rock and urban climber who in 1994 scaled the Empire State Building and on June 5, 2008, climbed the New York Times Building (later that day, Renaldo Clarke also climbed the building). Dan Goodwin, using suction cups and a camming device, climbed the North Tower of the World Trade Center on May 30, 1983.

But recreational buildering goes back much further than might be expected, at least to Victorian times in England, where students had been climbing the architecture of Cambridge University. Geoffrey Winthrop Young was roof climbing there in the 1890s and published The Roof Climber's Guide to Trinity in 1900. In 1937, The Night Climbers of Cambridge was written (under the pseudonym Whipplesnaith) about the nocturnal climbing on the town buildings and colleges of Cambridge, England in the 1930s.

In the United States, two men, George Polley and Harry Gardiner, both nicknamed the Human Fly, pioneered buildering as early as 1905. In 1920, George Polley climbed 30 floors of the Woolworth building before being arrested. Not much, however, is written about current recreational nighttime buildering in New York City, for obvious reasons. In 2008, the New York Times published an article with a little on the activity.

Apart from legality or prudence, I do understand the lure of urban climbing. Much as the alpine areas of the world are magnets for rock climbers, the buildings and skyscrapers of New York City provide the same challenges and draw in masonry, steel and glass. Perhaps I may yet get to witness the activities of these urban night climbers...

Photo Note: I was recently privy to access to one of the very few rooftops in the Village affording a direct view of Washington Square Park. The building and friends kind enough to invite me to share the view, will, in the spirit of buildering, remain a secret :)

Hell. Part 3

Note: This is the third and final of a three-part series. Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Music has Charms to soothe a savage Breast and Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.*

We had it all on Saturday - savages, breasts, fury, a scorned woman, music, fury and a taste of Hell. Just the type of things a jungle lover would expect to find in New York City. And if you are going to enter the jungle smearing blood, you should be prepared for lions and tigers.

There is no way that you can come to this city, set up in Greenwich Village, sing gospel songs, preach sin and damnation and not expect a confrontation. The neighborhood is extremely liberal and very tolerant, except of being accused of sin and threatened with eternal damnation for their lifestyle.

The model, Abigayle, had been provoked - she had been told that she was wicked and had been warned five times. She climbed on the shoulders of a young man, also body painted, and they approached the Mennonite group. It was fair to say that this couple taunted the crowd of Mennonites and the preacher, who launched into a diatribe regarding nudity, hell and damnation while brandishing his bible. The man in body paint who had shouldered the model read and mocked parts of the leaflet, Boys and Girls & Fornication. See my video here.

Whether this confrontation on the part of the model and her supporter was justified was hotly debated. Some were infuriated and saw it as disrespectful and unnecessarily provocative. Others saw it as just desserts or as another circus act to be expected in the Village. At the end, the painted man reconciled with one of the visiting group and shook hands (photo lower right). Perhaps after all, The road to Hell is paved with good intentions :)

*Heaven hath no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor Hell a fury like a woman scorned. William Congreve from the Mourning Bride, 1697. Music has charms to soothe the savage breast is also from the same work (the word breast is often misquoted as beast.)

Hell. Part 2

Note: This is the second of a three-part series. Part 1 is here.

At the same time as our Mennonite friends were singing spirituals and preaching to the masses (if you did not read Part 1, see it here), just a few short steps across the central plaza in Washington Square Park, Andy Golub was busy body painting the nearly nude figure of a woman. See additional photos here.

Andy is a visual artist who has been body painting men and women in and around New York City for years. You can see more of his artwork and body painting at his website here.

Although women have the right in New York State to be topless in public, even in New York City, the site of nearly nude men and women in body paint will stop traffic and raise eyebrows. Societal norms have not yet caught up with legislation, and many are angered and perhaps certain that something should be done. Andy and his models, however, are breaking no laws, and even police officers still occasionally need to be educated regarding the legality of toplessness for women in public.

When the time came and the model moved around the park grounds for various photo settings, a parade of male oglers grew in size, some with cameras, some without, running after her like hungry dogs chasing a rabbit.

A number of the Mennonites were circulating the park crowds, giving out literature. I happened upon an old friend in the park and while chatting, I jokingly mentioned that if they were looking to save souls, our model would, from their perspective, need it most.

My friend took this comment to heart, approaching one of the women from the Charity Ministries and suggesting that she should perhaps consider giving literature to the near naked model - certainly she was the most needful. The leafleteer skirted the suggestion. One of their group referred to her as "wicked," and another told her that she had been warned FIVE times - apparently there is no salvation for someone who did not heed that number of warnings.

It became abundantly clear that our model was bound for Hell and eternal damnation, but a very unexpected confrontation ensued - tomorrow we conclude our descent into Hell...

Hell. Part 1

Note: This is Part 1 of a three-part series.

One of the few family trips I made as a child was to the Amish communities based in rural Pennsylvania. Even coming from a rural area of New England ourselves, the Amish lifestyle, with the shunning of modern conveniences, left impressions that would last a lifetime.

There is not much that provides a sharper contrast than such a group in traditional clothing in Washington Square Park. This is Charity Ministries*, a group similar to Mennonites. One of the founders, Mose Stoltzfus, was formerly Amish. I have seen them infrequently and was pleased to be able to take photos on this occasion.

Regardless of any proselytizing or religious creed, there is a gentle and pastoral feeling to a group dressed as they are - the women with light blue and white dresses and men in light colored khakis. It is as though an Amish farming community was transported through time and space to New York City. And I must say, the voices of the large chorus singing was not at all unpleasant, although hard to be heard above the park din, with competing music groups playing nearby.

I browsed through and took some of their literature, with titles like: The Sin of Doing Nothing, Improving the Marriage Relationship, Lost in the Church, The Vice of Sexual Immorality and Boys and Girls & Fornication. A colorful poster on an easel proclaimed Where Will You Spend Eternity? It seemed well suited for the urban New York City visit, with businesses like the Pennyless Casino, Abortion Clinic, the Broken Home Night Club, and Divorce Court, all located appropriately near Narrow Avenue and Broadway.

It is hard to imagine why such a group would subject themselves to such a potentially hostile environment, but I would guess the reasoning is that of an evangelist, Dave, who some years ago used to preach in Washington Square Park on Sundays. When I asked him why he would choose such an inhospitable environment, he answered that he wanted to save souls, and what better place than Greenwich Village? I complemented him on his logic. If you can take the heat, certainly the Village is a great place to rescue the fallen.

However, the words of this Sunday's preacher fell mostly on deaf ears. Without knowing specifics, most passersby had a general sense of what this Christian evangelist message was about, and the feeling was not today, thank you. Especially when there is a plethora of competing activities, one that literally made most eyes pop out. There was talk of Love and God and Christ. But as you will see tomorrow in Part 2, we descend into Hell :)

*Charity Ministries was founded in the 1980s by Denny Kenaston and Mose Stoltzfus and is based in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. They publish a magazine called Heartbeat of the Remnant. You can visit their website here.

Pink Flamingos

I was once gifted the book The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste, many parts of which I found hilarious. The writers, Michael and Jane Stern, have selected the most egregious infractions on good taste in American culture. There are chapters on Easy Cheese (in a spray can), Spam, Velvet Paintings, Chia Pets, celebrity death cars, lava lamps, etc. One article highlighted lawn ornaments.

Most of us have seen a lawn display featuring classics such as the plastic flamingo. I thought I was well versed in lawn displays (particularly after seeing the Dyker Heights Christmas displays). That is, until I saw the display in front of the mansion of Alla and Alex Shchegol at 724 Todt Hill Road, Staten Island.

I was happy to find a little information online about the house and the Shchegols, who have been collecting these lawn statues for years. However, I was not prepared to find a small uproar in Dongan Hills/Todt Hill, Staten Island, one of the wealthiest communities in New York City. An article in SI Live voices the concerns some have about the danger of distraction to motorists. It certainly comes as very startling to drive by this property and encounter Tarzan hanging from a tree over a lawn full of statues in a loosely themed jungle and Jurassic Park. There are dinosaurs, jungle animals, and other creatures.

The many comments to the SI Live article range the gamut - see the article and comments here. Some say the huge ornaments are terribly distracting and dangerous, while other locals say the concerns are exaggerated. The vast majority of naysayers are just horrified at what they consider to be one of the supreme examples of tacky, bad taste.

Actually, I was very surprised to read about the congeniality of the owners. Apparently, many passersby stop, some even knocking on the door for information about the display. Others ask permission to take photos with their children on the various animals, which the owners typically grant. A number of people, like the Shchegols themselves, just see this as harmless fun and encourage the outraged to lighten up.

Most will agree, however, that no Encyclopedia (or lawn) of Bad Taste would be complete without Pink Flamingos :)

Skame

If you want to work in a clandestine manner, don't hire the CIA. Hire an underground graffiti artist.
I am astounded at how long some of these individuals have kept their identities secret, even after working for decades, interviews with the New York Times, or having been arrested, as Revs was in 2000. These men are not hiding in the hills of Afghanistan. They are living in the most populous city in the United States and tagging prominent public spaces in high-traffic neighborhoods.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Revs teamed up with artist Cost, and they became two of the most well known graffiti artists in New York City. Cost and Revs gave a rare interview in 1993 with New York Times reporter Michael Cooper. In 1995, Cost was arrested and his identity finally became known - Adam Cole of Rego Park, Queens.

Revs' identity, on the other hand, even after arrest in 2000, is still unknown.
In 2004, in an interview for ArtForum magazine, Revs said: "We think art should be dangerous. Everybody's into safe art, doing safe things in their studio. We're bringing danger back into it. It's got to be on the edge, where it's not allowed."
In 2005, he was interviewed again by Times reporter Randy Kennedy (article here). "To me," he said in a rare interview, "once money changes hands for art, it becomes a fraudulent activity."

The work in the photo is on Canal Street, one of the most trafficked crosstown streets in the city. How access is had and these things are done without being apprehended is a mystery to me. I had hoped to get some information of any sort on the artist who tags himself Skame, but I could find nothing.

According to the Urban Dictionary, s.c.a.m.e. is an acronym utilized by the Psyop Community. "It is conducive to 'counter-propaganda,' in that, it eludes to source, content, audience, media used, and effect of the propaganda. To s.c.a.m.e. propaganda, refers to one's attempt to analyze the content of said propaganda using techniques taught at the JFK Special Warfare Training Center." I don't know if there is a connection to the tag Skame, and perhaps I will never know...

Law School

If you want to be confused and perplexed, try wading through the regulations regarding vending on the streets of New York City. If you want to be disheartened, try looking at some of the facts and figures regarding the vending of merchandise. And if you want to be discouraged from earning a living this way, look at the costs of vending, fines, confiscation of goods, and the uneven application of the law.
Welcome to the circle of confusion - the world of street vending, where laws are difficult to understand by both vendors and police alike.

In this economic climate, jobs are difficult to nonexistent. Street vending is a way to earn a living and, for some, a way into the world of business. The costs involved in setting up a retail establishment are prohibitive in New York for most individuals. Many well-known businesses in New York City started on the streets, such as Bloomingdales, Macy's, Cohen's Fashion Optical, and Goldman Sachs.

There are approximately 12,000 street vendors in New York City. There are four categories of vendors: food vendors, general merchandise vendors, veteran vendors, and First Amendment vendors, who may sell newspapers, magazines, cd’s, books, and art on the street without a vending license. There certainly are abuses with First Amendment vendors - a lot of merchandise is sold under this class to avoid the difficulties dealing with vendor's licenses and permits, which are extremely difficult to get and have created a black market.

It is virtually impossible in New York City to get a general merchandise vendor's license. In 1979, City Council created a cap of 853 on the number of merchandise licenses. There is such a long waiting list that the Department of Consumer Affairs has not taken new names since 1992.

Food vendors need a license, on which there is no limit. However, they also need a Department of Health permit, which are limited at about 3,000 city-wide. Lotteries are held every few years to distribute any excess permits, but the average wait is still many years. Many food vendors who do not have their own permits enter into relationships with permit holders to use their permits, for a fee. There are no limits on veterans' permits.

The women in the photo (on Canal Street) had a vendor's license but not a food permit to sell fruit. In addition to fines, their merchandise was hauled away by the police. Each year in New York City, approximately 50,000 tickets are issued and 7,000 vendors are arrested. In 2005, the Bloomberg administration raised maximum fines from $250 to $1000.

There are regulations regarding where and how you can sell: The sidewalk must be at least 12 feet wide (veterans are exempt), and you must be at least 20 feet from any store entrance, 10 feet from a crosswalk, 5 feet from a bus shelter, 20 feet from a sidewalk cafe, and less than 18 inches from the curb. You can not set up over a ventilation grill or touch a fire hydrant or lamp post. There are also regulations regarding the vending table's size and other details. See here for a brochure outlining the facts and regulations.

Everything considered, a little more money and study will get you a civil service job or admission to law school :)

Misfits

It is safe to say that in a wired world, sights of individuals like those in the photo are no longer unusual. It is also a reasonable assumption that in many places, even outside urban areas or college towns, people like this can be found in the flesh.

But I would guess that businessmen in pinstripe suits do not often wear their hair like our subway rider in the photo, and tattooed individuals brandishing mohawks do not usually walk the streets with a t-shirt reading "Misfits." I imagine the word is embraced for its dictionary meaning and not just for the punk rock band of that name.

I have avoided using the word misfit in this blog for a number of reasons, one of which is that the word generally has a somewhat derogatory connotation. But, assuming social misfits exist, New York City is certainly a place to find them. This is an environment where virtually anyone with any manner of dress or lifestyle can feel quite at home. In fact, it is questionable whether the word misfit is really applicable in a city where such a large number of nonconformists exist and where one is often not very far from another.

A trip to Tompkins Square Park can easily make the societal conformist feel like an outcast or misfit.
In the case of the individuals in the photo, there is a strong element of exhibitionism. However, I have met many individuals here who, by any reasonable definition, really are social misfits, with extreme and very self-indulgent lifestyles, the nature of which may not be apparent to the outsider at all.

Such a large number of misfits should come as no surprise in a country which has seen such a upsurge in the radical individualism of youth since the 1960s. The US Army has had to market with campaigns such as "Be all that you can be" and "Army of One." This is, of course, rather ironic, since the Army never has been and never can be a place for individualism. But the ad campaigns do reveal how systemic and important individualism really is in this country.

In a society without strong cultural scripting and where individualism and self empowerment are constantly trumpeted to be such laudable personal goals, we must accept the consequences. Here, in a city where there is such a a melange of iconoclasts and misfits, many live unaware of how outside the normal constructs of society they really are. Others are quite aware and proud enough to identify themselves with a t-shirt...


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