Blossoming | Main | Patience is a Virtue
March 30, 2005
Less than One Week
The New York version of nostalgia is not simply about lost buildings or their presence in youth of the individuals who lived with them. It involves an almost fatalistic acceptance of the permanent presence of loss. Nothing will ever stay the same. Tuesday turns into Wednesday and something valuable is behind you forever, An "is" has become a "was." Whatever you have lost, you will not get it back... - Pete Hamill, Downtown
We rose early this morning, gulping coffee, sleepily pulling on clothes. The sun shone too brightly on the houses for quality photographs, but we snapped anyway�eager, almost desperate, pulling the fabric of the Navy Yard around us like a security blanket, each shutter snap drawing forth the comfort of capture, of memory, documentation of the now.
In less than a week the Wagners will visit. A retired Naval commander, his wife, their five children and their partners will return to the western shore of Brooklyn. Departing from various reaches of the country, they will each carry with them vital threads of memory. A former home, a piece of youth, the adult perception of a childhood experience. We will assemble on Nassau/Flushing Street and peer into their former dwelling, now decayed magnificence. This will be the last time they will see Officer�s Row. In a few short months, it will be gone.
Today is Wednesday and I am breathless. I have been dreaming of the houses, of aerial views and rotting doorframes, of wild dogs and faces of people that I feel I know, yet have never met. I am breathless and my body aches. Tomorrow will be Thursday, next month it will be May. Soon it will be fall and, standing on Nassau/Flushing, feet firmly planted on the sidewalk, camera in hand, there will be nothing left to photograph.
We have a week to weave our piece of the tapestry, to capture and wind together the threads of family memory, to begin to tell a story, to document the old and new "is" before they fall to the cranes and wrecking balls of "was."
I want to wrap myself in Monday, breathe in the memories deeply, and never exhale.
Posted by callalillie at March 30, 2005 8:52 AM | Brooklyn Navy Yard
Beautiful photograph.
I think next month is April. I know time is going by fast but let's not start skipping months.
Posted by: JR at March 30, 2005 11:49 AM
Naw, March is aleady done-- only 1.5 more days. To me, next month is May :)
Posted by: corie at March 30, 2005 12:00 PM
That really is a ghostly image. I love it.
I hope your 'family' is able to catch a last glimpse, too.
Posted by: Vickie at March 30, 2005 5:38 PM
Beautiful prose, beautiful photographs...
We're all looking forward to taking this journey with you and Lex...
Posted by: Mick Wagner at March 31, 2005 12:32 PM
Corie
This is an amazing photo and your thoughts are so beautifully expressed. Thank you to both you and Lex for creating this amazing journey for us. I'll see you on Monday!
Posted by: Julie at April 1, 2005 8:32 PM
what are the plans for the site?
Posted by: lois at April 7, 2005 6:48 PM
