My boss thought today’s events were significant enough that she let us all gather around a TV to watch the Inauguration. I will admit to getting a little teary-eyed during Obama’s speech. I don’t want to gush, but, you know, it’s awesome and inspiring. I’ve been thinking about the momentousness of the occasion, but not writing about it, I think just because I don’t know what I can contribute to the discussion, beyond that all this attention, the pomp and circumstance, the way people are coming together, it’s amazing, one of those moments I’ll be able to tell my hypothetical future children about one day.

I choose to be optimistic. There’s so much work to be done, so much change that needs to be enacted, and I think it will be difficult and slow going, but I think President Obama (can you believe it?) is a move in the right direction.

So let’s be positive. Cynicism and despair can resume tomorrow.

The Manhattan Bridge from the Brooklyn Bridge, taken last spring

I have kind of a soft spot for the Manhattan Bridge. I think of it as my bridge, because it’s the one I cross most often, either on the subway or by car, it’s the most direct route from Manhattan to my neighborhood in Brooklyn.

The Bowery Boys have a photo taken 100 years ago showing the bridge-in-progress. Neat, huh?

Some delicious trivia:

+ The bridge is 6,855 feet long. (That’s 1.3 miles.)
+ The bridge took 8 years to build.
+ There is no toll.
+ The somewhat ostentatious Manhattan Bridge Plaza on the Manhattan side (the entrance to the bridge on Canal Street near 3rd Ave) was completed in 1916, and it’s kind of a monument to classical architecture. And it is ridiculous, though probably not more so than other iconic New York arches such as the Washington Square Arch and the Grand Army Plaza Arch.
+ Some of the cabling was designed by a gent named Moisseiff, who went on to design the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and we all know how that went.
+ The subway tracks on the Brooklyn side are the same as they were when subway service began over the bridge in 1915. Today, the B, the D, and the Q run over the bridge. (When I moved to New York, there was no service over the bridge, so it’s pretty cool that there is now, mostly because it makes the trip between Brooklyn and Manhattan on the Q super speedy!)

Here are some links:

Wikipedia
Forgotten New York
My Brooklyn Bridge photos, which include a bunch more of the Manhattan Bridge.

I upgraded WordPress for shits and giggles. I feel like a WordPress expert now, like between this and being the Technical Team for the Mahablog, I’ve encountered almost every issue out there. Crazy! Speaking of which, I’m in the process of updating the design on the Mahablog, and I’m seriously hating CSS right now. There’s going to be a brawl. Why won’t design elements just go where I tell them? Why??

Anyhoo, it’s the new year, I’ve got some ideas for new blogging directions, we’ll see how much follow up I have. In the meantime, here are links:

This looks interesting:

I once sat through the whole of Ric Burns’ bonus episode to the New York documentary, which is entirely on the WTC. The first two parts of it are interesting: the architecture and design, the construction, Crazy Philippe Petit on the tightrope. The last part will give you panic attacks if you have any real-life frame of reference for 9/11. It’s, like, a whole hour of footage from that day. I had nightmares after I saw it the first time, I won’t make myself watch it again. But I think it’s pretty fascinating generally speaking and I would like to see this movie. (One review of it said it’s less about Petit and more about New York in the 1970s, which is a topic I’m kind of fascinated with. Have you read Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning? Excellent book.)

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On a completely different track, there’s an interesting article in the Times on underground abortions in New York, where it’s ostensibly legal. Most of these abortions happen in the Catholic communities (like the Dominican one where I used to live in Washington Heights/Inwood) where the women are too ashamed (mostly due to community pressure) to go through legal channels. Scary stuff.

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I’m reading a lot of westerns right now. I just got the book in which the Viggo cowboy movie Appaloosa is based out of the library. Looks like fun. I should go back to reviewing books on the blog, yeah? Or actually update my book blog. Hmph.