One of the best walks in New York City is between Brooklyn and New York, across the Brooklyn Bridge. These are the best views, the breezes and the best sunshine. This is a place, where you really feel like you are on top of the world.

A relative latecomer, I have been walking the bridge since the 1980s. Goddess willing I hope to continue to walk it, at least for another three decades to come. Albeit perhaps at a more leisurely pace, but if I have any say in the matter, Walk it I will.

Oh yeah and did I mention that this is the the best place to catch a breeze and enjoy the sunshine without going to the shore? No I won’t say it again.

Nowadays there are even licensed vendors on the walkway. Some are selling charcoal sketches and others are vending iced cold beverages. Okay so it’s not beer, but gimme a break…this is suppose to be a fun time, who wants or needs drunk people on the bridge?

Besides walking the bridge is still free and as my Grandmother used to say, “if it’s free, then I’ll have three!”

GETTING THERE:

From the Brooklyn side, look for the signs on Cadman Plaza West, the sign will read “Brooklyn Bridge Walkway”.  Take the A train to High Street, exit the station in the middle of the platform, once upstairs you, will be on Cadman Plaza West.

On the New York side, take the east side trains 4, 5, or 6 to the Brooklyn Bridge stop. If when come upstairs to the street you are turned around, just ask a friendly face to direct you to the Brooklyn Bridge Walkway. Of course if you take a cab, the driver should know.  Or say something about the east side of City Hall Park, so it seems like you know…

BE READY:

New York is an easy place to navigate and getting a map will make  it easier and also help you understand which direction you are traveling in, for the adventure at hand.  Subway mapd are free and are a great start.

Wear comfortable shoes and bring a camera, because You my fellow Cinnamon Traveler are in for a Treat!

With a to do list on my mind, I was making my way to Harry’s on the Upper West Side, while talking to my Father and moving through Saturday noon time Sixth Avenue traffic. I would say that we rode together from Canal Street to just south of Columbus Circle. 

I was kind of multi tasking; driving, talking and sightseeing…

While gabbing away I catch sight in my periphery  

—A strong lean man, decked out fully in Crochet. What?! 

Immediately, I am thinking…”DAG, I have to get this shot!”

…and start fumbling with the phone

Oops!  (dc)

Well I did get the Cool Crochet Cat on film.   

He was my ”Fashion Hero of The Day”

My Goodness, check it out…Brotherman Has Style.

Fortunately, I have a Dad who also appreciates the creative process.  And so once I called back, we continued where we left off. He was glad to hear all about it and I was more than happy to tell him all of the details.

So as I made my way around Brooklyn and New York during the Perfect Weather Summer, I took pictures of New York street life and new construction to document old memories, recent changes and urban beauty. 

Most of it was straight forward and some of it was absurd.  A lot has changed, especially in Brooklyn. Yet the ”Up Top” swag  is In Full Effect.  It has not diminished.  It remains the same. 

In the early 1990s when the African Burial Grounds came to the attention of construction workers excavating ground to erect a new United States GSA building on Reade Street in lower Manhattan, New York was in a quasi benefices state of municipal governance. Relatively speaking that is.

Sandwiched between the divisive Koch regime and the Giuliani reign of terror and annual cross dressing exhibition; the Honorable Mayor David Dinkins presided over the City of New York with gentility and urbane sophistication.   Nelson Mandela had recently been released from a 27 year political imprisonment sentence in protest again apartheid system of governance in South Africa. And in the summer of 1990 the Mandela’s had been feted proudly at public and private events around the metropolitan region.   

My earliest memories of the African Burial Ground are of standing at the corner, waiting for the light to change, so that I could cross the street. I remember holding my son’s hand and reading a bill posted on the lampost with a black and white image of grave with skeletal remains, which notified the public of the recent archaeological find, meeting arrangements, place and time.   Dare I admit, but the significance of this finding, went completely OVER.MY.HEAD.

Like ZOOM…

Really.

Of course I mentally acknowledged the discovery, yet I was not moved in anyway to participate in what I would view, 10 years later as a homegrown grassroot citizen resistance movement.  Men and women working together in what M. Bahati Kuumba calls, gendering social movement.*

In retrospect, I theorize that this political setting proved to be an auspicious period in time. One when a homemade grassroot movement organization was nurtured and grew to operate in sync with the cosmos, the universe and undoubtedly in unison with the will of the Ancestors.

The rediscovery of the African Burial Ground brought attention to the significance of New York in the African Slave Trade into the collective consciousness.  Slavery was not just “southern”. 

New York Harbor represented the largest human cargo trading port in the North. In fact New York was second  only to Charleston South Carolina, in its role in the human bondage trade during Colonial and Early American History.  American Jim Crow legislation can be traced to New York 1821. 

It was not until after we had founded Cinnamon Traveler, returned from the year round stint on the Vineyard, birthed the Y2K baby and gained higher spirituality did I realize the signficance of the African Burial Ground.  

When the youngest was still a toddler, I became a volunteer at large for the ABG.  Soon thereafter we left New York to relocate to the Southland, yet we stayed connected to the ABG Interpretative Center and the progress and ongoing work to create a fitting monument. 

Finally in Summer 2010 I had the where with all and good fortune to be in New York to salute and pay homage.

In one word…

Stunning.

An Urban Oasis in the middle of New York

Where Everyone Was Beautiful

And At EveryTurn

Both Seen and Felt

There is a lot of Love Here

*GIVE THANKS*

ASE.

*M. Bahati Kuumba, “You’ve Struck a Rock: Comparing Gender, Social Movements and Transformation in the United States and South Africa,” Gender and Society,Vol. 16, No. 4, (August 2002), 519-520.  Gendering social movement theorizes that any success resistance movement requires the full participation and cooperation between the sexes as they work together to dismantle the limits of discriminatory legislation and oppressive governmental regimes.

Before the advent of social media and our collective worship at the ecumenical temple, “Our Lady of the Beloved Facebook”, in the dense metropolis’ of the Earth, people have always lived their private lives in public. New York is no different, especially during the summertime.

Similar to equal access social media venues, public landscapes are democratic territories, where everyone shares the same spaces; sidewalks, playgrounds and parks. When a dog craps the sidewalk or a child pukes the sandbox, we all experience the discomfort. Conversely when the poop is scooped and ailing youngsters are quarantined from group play, we are all grateful.

Naturally this is why we love the Brooklyn Promenade. High above the roadway of the BQE, the breezes, the sunshine and the views are one and the same for all who stroll along the pavement, on the western edge of the Island of Long.

I once met a women who said “Brooklyn is God’s Country”.  So whether you reside in Bedford Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Atlanta or up the block in Brooklyn Heights, at the convergence of the Upper Harbor and the built environment, access to these vistas represent a microcosm of democracy in action.  Find a bench, take the load off and enjoy.

We love “The Heights” because it is the home of “The Promenade”.

Jane and John Q. Public, this space is for You.  Brooklyn History 100%.

~ Aquene & Best Greetings  from Martha’s Vineyard ~

April  13, was my first night on Island in the year 2010 and with this nod from the heavens, Cinnamon Traveler has an early start to the 2010 Summer Season.  This is the earliest season opening for us in many years.  My highly treasured early Spring Sojourn lasted approximately 48 hours.  In my world, this was truly Peace on Earth.  The opportunity to partake in a six day roundtrip run from Atlanta to the Cape was irresistable and despite the timing so close to final exams and end term deadlines, I still scored a 4.0 at the end of the spring semester.

My eternal curiousity to explore and wander, was influenced by my desire to determine the feasability of an MV run from Atlanta, as a shoestring adventure.  Furthermore since the trip evolved rapidly and pretty much on a turn of a dime, when the opportunity presented itself for me to take a road trip to the Vineyard, I figured why not?

My idea to create a  field study of the American Built enviroment via the Interstate highway system was a given. As a graduate researcher of Architectural History and as a hardcore road warrior the added bonus was that I was able to momentarily appease my unrelenting wanderlust.

During the entire first leg of the trip, we traveled from Atlanta to Cape Cod, with an overnight stop in Fredricksburg Virginia, sans any help from audio electronics…Nada. Zilch. No IPod, CD, Radio, Nothing.  It Was Fabulous!

Along the way we encountered tolls and rain through Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey.  As we crossed the Hudson River on the George Washington Bridge and into the Bronx we finally found partly sunny skies.  Up by Boston Post Road, we spied a FAIRWAY Supermarket and that was a shocker.  Once we reached I-95 in Connecticut, the traffic was thick but it moved smoothly under the reward of sunny skies.

This stretch of roadway  between New York and the Cape, due North along I-95 was a familiar one. We made our way through Rhode Island, mobile uploaded a wind turbine in Warwick  and crossed the Massachusetts state line around six o’clock.   First we crossed the Fall River Bridge where you can look south and smile at Newport RI.  Then further east, the Bourne Bridge delivered us to Cape Cod. The most splendid thing about this entire trip through the Northeast, had been the blessing to travel across salt water seas and spend time near the coast.

As dusk was approaching we arrived in Woods Hole, just in time to watch the 7:30 p.m. Steasmship ferry sail out of port.

It was no sweat though, we were able to stretch our legs and get our tickets for the 8:30 p.m. ferry. To pass the time we made an attempt to score some food. The spartan meal was most remarkable because of the noticeable changes that were apparent in the operation of the local pub, which were directly effected by the re-calibration of the Great Recession. These economic indicators were far more compelling than any culinary items  being offered on the sparse menu.      

Steamship Authority Terminal, Wood Hole, MA

Nevertheless, the local greeting to my old New England haunt was welcomed and we really were not that surprised that our food choices were meh. In reality we were simply glad that our arrangements were in order and that we were heading to Martha’s Vineyard on the last ferry of the night. Simple. Easy. 

Aquinnah Gay Head Lighthouse, Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts

As fortune would have it, the weather on both days was sunny and clear.  Naturally this meant that I spent the majority of my time visiting all my favorite Island places near the seashore.  

Up Island, Atlantic Ocean

Aquinnah

Regal Wind Swept Tree graces the Up Island vista.

Aquinnah Sunset

The last day was a bonus that had not been planned.  I had a late morning morning reservation, but when I awoke to a bright sunny morning, I knew immediately that there was no way, that I was not going to stay on Island and change my reservation to the six o’clock evening boat. 

Last Day: Weathervane sighting, Tisbury Town Hall

Last Day, Menemsha: Visiting sights on the MV African American Heritage Trail. This plaque marks the work of the Vineyard Vigilance Society.

 

 

Last Day: MV African American Heritage Trail, on the Menemsha side of West Basin.