Quisquilia: Lib. nov.

Queens, (p. 1044)
borough (land area 108 sq. mi.; pop. 1,550,849) of New York city, SE N.Y., W end of Long Isl. adjoining Brooklyn borough. Separated from Manhattan and the Bronx by East R. (mainly bridges, e.g. Queensboro Bridge, built 1909, which stimulated borough’s greatest growth; and tunnel connections); on S is Jamaica Bay, separated from the Atlantic by Rockaway peninsula (c. 12 mi. long; resorts and commuters’ communities). First settled by Dutch 1635; old Queens co. estab. 1683; divided 1898 into Queens and Nassau counties, when Queens also became a New York city borough (largest in area). Mainly residential as in communities of Flushing, with Flushing Meadows park (site of New York World’s Fair in 1939-40, later site of General Assembly meetings of the UN) and Queens Col. (see New York, College of the City of); and Forrest Hills (has West Side Tennis Club where national and international matches are held). Heavily industrialized in area of Long Island City (shipping facilities on East R.; rail yards; consumer commodities); also at Astoria and Jamaica (important railroad transfer point, with extensive business and residential sections). Has two municipal airports, both administered by Port of New York Authority - LaGuardia (558 acres; opened 1939) and New York Internatl. Airport (4,900 acres; opened 1948; sometimes called Idlewild). Here are Jamaica and Aqueduct race tracks.

ex:
The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia (in 2 volumes),
The Viking Press / Columbia University Press: New York 1953

Brooklyn. (p. 171)
1 Village (pop. 2,568), SW Ill., on the Mississippi above East St. Louis. An all-Negro town. Post office is Lovejoy. 2 Borough (land area 71 sq. mi.; pop. 2,738,175), of New York city, SE N.Y., on SW end of Long Isl. adjoining Queens borough. Settled 1636-37 by Walloons and Hollanders; hamlet of Breuckelen estab. c. 1645; absorbed various settlements (e.g., Flatbush, a 17th-cent. Dutch village, now a residential section) until it became coextensive with Kings Co. (estab. 1683); became a New York city borough 1898. Separated from downtown Manhattan by East R. (many bridges, e.g., Brooklyn Bridge, and tunnels), from Staten Isl. by the Narrows of New York Bay. Though largely residential, borough has important port facilities - New York Naval Shipyard (commonly Brooklyn Navy Yard), Bush Terminal - and industrial establishments (machinery, textiles, paper, chemicals, shoes, processed foods). Seat of Brooklyn Col. (see New York, College of the City of); Pratt Institute; Long Isl. Univ. (nonsectarian; coed. [NB: print text misses period]; chartered 1926, opened 1927); St. John’s Univ. (R.C., Vincentian; partly coed.; opened 1870, chartered 1871); Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences; and Long Isl. Historical Society. Here are Prospect Park (see Long Island, Battle of); Ebbets Field (home of Brooklyn Dodgers); Coney Isl., farmed beach resort and amusement center; and many noted churches. 3 City (pop. 6,317), NE Ohio, a S suburb of Cleveland.

ex:
The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia (in 2 volumes),
The Viking Press / Columbia University Press: New York 1953

Manhattan. (p. 765)
1 City (pop. 19,056), NE Kansas [...] 2 Borough (land area 22 sq. mi.; pop. 1,960,101) of New York city, SE N.Y., coextensive with New York co. Composed chiefly of Manhattan isl. (c. 12 mi. long and 2 mi. wide at greatest width), but also including islands in East R. and in New York Bay (Governors Island; Ellis Island; Bedloe’s Isl., with Statue of Liberty); bounded on W by Hudson R., NE and N by Harlem R. and Spuyten Duyvil Creek. Many bridges, tunnels, ferries link it to the other boroughs and to N.J. Dutch West India Company bought Manhattan from Manhattan Indians in 1626 for trinkets worth $24; first known as New Amsterdam, it became New York under the English 1664; its boundaries were those of New York city until 1874, when several Westchester co. communities were inc. into city; became a New York city borough 1898. Commercial, cultural, financial heart of the city, with extensive and diversified mfg., tremendous wholesale and retail trade, major distribution facilities (rail, ship, truck), banking and finance establishments. Here are Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Museum of Modern Art; hq. of New York Public Library; numerous theaters (theatrical center of the country) and institutions of music, Columbia University, parts of College of the City of New York and of New York University, New School for Social Research, Juilliard School of Music, theological seminaries and medical schools, Cooper Union; Trinity Church (chartered 1697), Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, Riverside Church, Temple Emanu-El. Famous areas: Harlem, Greenwich Village, the Bowery; streets: Broadway, Fifth Avenue, Wall Street; parks: the Battery, Central Park, Fort Tryon Park (with the Cloisters). Some of the much-visited buildings are: Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Jumel Mansion, and UN hq.

ex:
The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia (in 2 volumes),
The Viking Press / Columbia University Press: New York 1953

Staten Island (p. 1212)
(57 sq. mi.; pop. 191,555), SE N.Y., in New York Bay, forming (with small adjacent islands) Richmond borough (since 1898) of New York city and Richmond co. of N.Y. state. N and W, bridges cross to N.J. over Kill Van Kull and Arthur Kill; ferries connect with Manhattan (NE) and Brooklyn. Generally residential, with some semirural sections and resort beaches (SE shore). Industries (shipbuilding and repairing, oil refining, lumber milling) mainly in N. Trade centers are St. George, Stapleton (site of first U.S. free port), Port Richmond. Staten Isl. visited by Henry Hudson 1609; permanent community estab. by 1661. Early buildings include Billopp (or Conference) House (built before 1688), where Lord Howe negotiated with Continentals in 1776; Church of St. Andrew (founded 1708); Garibaldi House (Italian liberator lived here in 1850s).

ex:
The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia (in 2 volumes),
The Viking Press / Columbia University Press: New York 1953

Bronx, the, (p. 170-171)
northernmost borough (land area 41 sq. mi.; pop. 1,451,277) of New York city, SE N.Y. Settled 1641 under Dutch West India Co., became a New York city borough in 1898 and a co. of N.Y. state in 1914. On peninsula NE of Manhattan and S of Westchester co.; bounded on W by Hudson R., SW by Spuyten Duyvil Creek and Harlem R., S by East R., and E by Long Isl. Sound. Many bridge and tunnel connections to Manhattan and Queens. Mainly residential, though industrialized along Harlem R. Numerous parks include Bronx (zoo, botanic gardens), Van Cortlandt and Pelham Bay. Seat of Fordham University, Manhattan Col. (R.C., Christian Brothers; for men; opened as academy 1849, chartered as college 1863); parts of New York University, and Hunter Col. (see New York, College of the City of). Has Yankee Stadium and Poe cottage.

ex:
The Columbia Viking Desk Encyclopedia (in 2 volumes),
The Viking Press / Columbia University Press: New York 1953

(i) In times of recession, even street advertising adheres to strict cost-benefit-analysis and lowers expenses: Hence the freebie ballpoint pen’s internal ink reservoir holds only enough ink for a few notes and empties within half an hour. Now that is disposable bait, Peapod Delivieries!

(ii) Who’d have thunk I’d ever get jaded of Diet Dr Pepper’s? Dr. Brown’s Diet Cream Soda seems a good alternative, for the moment. Notice the period!

(iii) Up until tonight (29.08.), I’ve never seen ketchup and mustard served as toppings at a Chinese restaurant. So it happened first time at the New Kam Lai take-out joint, 514 Amsterdam Ave.

(iv) I want to try Harriet’s Kitchen. Badly!

(v) Namaste, America! Bollywood at its hips’t on channel 73 (NYC World).

Shangri-La lies in Hell's Kitchen!

(vi.a) Forget about the monolingual Americans! It’s a cliché, although a somewhat justified one! At the cash register at Broadway Farm two nights ago, a young Muslim woman parlait français avec un couple, des touristes évidemment, et quand j’ai dit “bonsoir” nous conversions un peu et ensuite je me suis présenté comme allemand, woraufhin wir unsere Unterhaltung auf Deutsch fortführten. In between, she spoke English and العربية with some staff. Amazing!

(vi.b) A polyglot (a quatrolingual) at a low-wage job. An immigrant, Raquel suggests, a bright future, I’d think.

(vii) A friend is someone listening to your endless ramblings, keeping her smile and shine, forever patient and forgiving.

Dem Spiegel genügte die Sturmwirklichkeit also nicht, welche zumindest hier in der Stadt tatsächlich dem hysterisch angefachten Fauchen und Toben der Journaille glücklicherweise um einiges nachstand. Wenn auch Regen, Wind und Überflutungen beträchtlichen Schaden anrichteten, großteils außerhalb der Five Boroughs, samt und sonders Manhattans, und Irene knapp 40 Menschen das Leben kostete, so befand die Spon-Redaktion schon Sonntag früh um 6:02 Uhr EST den Hurrikan als “bisher enttäuschend”.

War das für die Öffentlichkeit bestimmt?

Was uns dieser Tweet über das Verhältnis von Nachrichtenwert zu journalistischem Ethos verrät, muß angesichts der zusehends boulevardesken Aufmachung und sensationsheischigen Ausrichtung des Hamburger Nachrichtenmagazins nicht ausbuchstabiert werden. Als Leitmedium hat sich der Spiegel ohnehin seit langem selbst diskreditiert, Qualitätsjournalismus findet woanders statt. Aber zumindest hat diese unwillkürliche Entäußerung, gleich ein jeder freudschen Fehlleistung, anstelle zuverlässiger und respektvoller Berichterstattung, uns das wahre und schamlose Gesicht der augsteinschen Erbverweser offenbart.

Die New York Times hingegen versöhnt just Leserpartizipation, Reputabilität und hochwertigen Journalismus wieder einmal ohne Tadel und Fehl, nachdem sie schon vor dem Sturm publizistisches Verantwortungsbewußtsein und Fürsorge bewies: “As a public service, @nytimes will allow free access to storm-related coverage on nytimes.com and its mobile apps.”

(i) How many bags does a man need? Depending on whom you ask, two cloth grocery ones or a hundred plastic shopping bags custom-printed for Westside Market NYC Est. 1965. On the street and at the cash register, this betrays me as a German more than anything else.

(ii) Which reminds me of the Austro-German recycling conundrum. There, to recycle a PET bottle is to dispose of it at a plastic bottle bank, or outright discard it. For us, the keyword is the recycling deposit, or bottle bill.

(iii.a) On my way to Webster Hall, I read “destined2bgreat” tattooed unto the neck of a young, black woman: What a perfect metaphor for the radiance and compassionate confidence of youth.

(iii.b) And for her specifically, what a maxim to go by in one’s personal branding and conduct of life. Unknowingly and unchallenced by history – or as a transformative act of reappropriation? I can’t tell.

(iv) What a difference a letter makes! A mile, or a 15 minutes walk minimum, as I outsmarted myself with taking the 2 Express, ending up at W 14th St / 7 Ave instead of E 14th St / Union Square. (See here.)

(v) We regret these disruptions in service. (MTA, Brooklyn-bound L line)

(vi) At concerts these days, there is always a not too tiny faction diligently texting and receiving msgs on their shiny new cells, instead of listening. Inundated by the then and there, they miss the here and now.

(vii) The same goes for us hiding behind (captured by?) the lens of a pocket-size camera.

(viii) This city has been overtaken by the iPads. Tablets are everywhere, on the subway as e-books, at concert venues as photographic devices and digital frames for fleeting stills, on the street as somewhat oversized flyswatters, or just as a personal display of vanity, plus a badge of honour for the tech-savvy.

(ix) Old-fashioned me is still handling physical maps and plans, and books for the sake of it. Each day, though, takes small nibbles at the material and its toll at my patience, hence casting doubt unto the reasonable practicability of the former practice.

(x) What a tasty blend, the pluot!

(i) Spell it all out: “Watermelon chunks / USA // Watermelon, chunks Great snack for the hot summer ahead. Delicious, mouth-watering. Ingredients: Just Watermelons!!!!! Nothing added, nothing taken off.” (source: Fairway price tag $4.85 / 1.39 lb)

(ii) Abundance all around. It is too much: strictly speaking of quantities. As if the 2 liters (2.1 Qt) soda bottles weren’t enough or the 8 fl oz (236 ml) of lemon juice, a minimum 500 count of cotton swabs seems excessive even in these parts.

(iii) A dove bravely ruffling her feathers on the fire escape railing outside my window, unmoved by my ever so encroaching curiousity. Even the birds prove tough New Yorkers here.

(iv) In the Time Warner cableverse, somewhere there is always a Law & Order franchise running. 24/7.

(v) What does this tell us about the American psyche and what it is longing for?

God is Kung Fu!

(vi) The Five Points Mission: “Finding God through martial arts”. Really?

(vii) E Houston / Forsyth St (Sara D. Roosevelt Park), late afternoon: A brother with earplugs, smartphone is preaching the gospel, and white middle class America is passing by, rushed, at a distance. In the background kids, playing the game on the basketball court, hazy future deities of sports.

(viii) Rush hour, Times Square, hopping onboard the 3 Express Train, on the local track: a surprise stop at 66th St.

(ix) Two words I, as a non-native speaker, need to teach my Manhattan-bred, Manhattan-native host: cutting board and kitchen knife. Seriously, even a Manhattanite needs such lest cutting carrots proves a chore.

(i) In each of the four flights the uppermost stair is noticeably off, hence stepping outside from the apartment is always a steep step downwards at first.

(ii) For one hour straight, between 4 and 5am, a car alarm went on and off on the 82nd street, again and again. From which light sleep followed, and much too early a morning. Shut off the frigging car alarm, now!

(iii) Proceeding from the lake and Central Park Driveway, while ascending towards high life at 72nd street, I notice a striking odour and think to myself: Maybe a more befitting name for Strawberry Fields would be The Weedy Patch?

(iv) How can they not know about liquid sweetener in the US? (Or at least in the organic food fueled, overtly health-conscious Upper West Side of New York?) This is the darn United States of America! The greatest nation under God, the land of opportunity! The beacon of consumer sentiment, the epitome of awesomeness? But no artificial sweetener in liquid form available, anywhere.

(v) And no, syrup doesn’t cut it.

(vi) There is something wrong about nightfall taking place at 8pm in New York City in mid-August.

Hazy shades, West End Ave (Apthorp bldg.)

(vii) At dark, cicadas, katydids or crickets welcome the night just before my window, on the sill, with an unairy (eerie / eyrie) song.