Field Report: 36th Annual Atlantic Antic Street Fair

1980s NYC Subway T-shirts
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

It seems like all of Brooklyn turns out for the Atlantic Antic - link. The section of the Avenue from Atlantic Termal (Flatbush Avenue) to the water is turned over to venders and performances. It gets better every year - this is only the second time I've gone. I posted photographs of the day to my flickr photostream. Amongst the venders that caught my eye was this one selling New York Subway homage t-shirts. Almost bought one, but decided this photo would do almost as well. I did spring for another retro t-shirt: a 70s-flavor homage to bicycling in Brooklyn. Once I get a shot of it I'll try to post it here.

Elegantly Simple

Eisenhower Interstate System in the style of H.C. Beck's London Underground Diagram
Originally uploaded by Senex Prime

Check out this wonderful mashup of the U.S. Interstate Highway system and the London Metro. So many stories to tell about this elaborate system of cross-country automobility: the struggle to get the roads built and the sometimes successful community mobilization to resist them.

Exploring Lake Ronkonkoma

Towns of Smithtown & Brookhaven, from David Burr, An Atlas of the State of New York (1829)
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Old maps can sometimes reveal patterns in the landscape that will otherwise be missed. Case in point: Lake Ronkonkoma/Sachem. While exploring the headwaters of the Connetquot River, I discovered Islandia and Lakeside, lovely communities that have been able to retaining their 'country' character during Long Island's rapid suburbanization. Here, not far from the final stretches of the the historic Long Island Motor Parkway, you will find several horse farms and extensive bridal and hiking paths, as well as working farms and roadside farmstands. Part of the reason that this region has been overlooked can be identified on this image from an 1829 atlas. Lake Ronkonkoma served to mark the boundary between the Towns of Smithtown, Islip and Brookhaven. Portions of the region to the east were inundated by the damming of the Connetquot River and a larger territory was set aside as a greenbelt. Here in the heart of Long Island one finds a diversity of ecology and landscape that otherwise one would expect to find much further east. Watch this space for further notes and reports from the Lake Ronkonkoma region.

Distance and orientation

LI North Shore
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Summer afternoons out here on Long Island, we often get caught by sudden downpours. Besides the nuisance of having to wipe down my truck's interior, these rains help to clear the air and lend themselves to beautiful sunsets. Last night I was getting out of an extended book-buying session at Huntington's renowned Book Revue to note one of these glorious sunsets in the making, and my mind raced. Where would the easiest and quickest location to view the sunset? From the map, I got a general sense for west-facing beaches and overlooks along Long Island's North Shore.

The David Weld Santuary looked perfect, but it was a little too far, on the other side of Smithtown. I had heard locals describe the distinctive cultural mix of Sunken Meadow Beach so I thought I would give it a shot, even though it seemed like it would be more east- than west-facing.

I parked in the largely empty parking lot and jogged down to the boardwalk, not knowing exactly what to expect. Certainly I did not expect that so many other visitors would be carring professional-looking fishing poles and gear. And the second surprise was seeing the sun preparing to set OVER WATER in the western sky!Where had my mental calculations gone wrong? And how many days do we left have to enjoy this spectacle?

Meandering through the Ohio Valley to the way to Missouri

Ellie at the Original Indiana Capitol
Originally uploaded by PreservationNation

I am looking forward to an exciting swing through the Ohio Valley this week on the way to a Dorns/Sullivan reunion in Saint Louis, Missouri. The first night of the trip I will be staying in Morgantown, West Virginia. The second night will be particularly special, as I will be visiting historic Corydon, Indiana. This fun image posted by a local preservationist gives us an idea what to look forward to - Indiana's original state capitol still stands in Corydon.

Long Island Seasoning

Living simply on Long Island
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

On July 2, Carla and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary at the Stony Brook University Hospital! Carla was pressed into service as an attending physician helping all of the new July 1 interns, while I was being observed expectantly by the Family Practice doctors as my wound grew and then finally began to heal from the healing power of nature and the intervenous antibiotics/saline solution. This is my first full summer living on Long Island, and as you can see from my flickr photostream, local exploration has already taken me to a variety of locations far from the beaten path. We think the wound may have been Lyme disease, resulting from a tick bite, superinfected by a few other bugs/germs as well. Perhaps we can consider this my "seasoning." As another young Stony Brook professor noted on our field trip to the Town of Brookhaven landfill - stills & video], you really aren't a full-fledged Long Islander until you've come down with the Lyme, named after a Connecticut town just north of the Sound where it was first identified.

As our society is forced to find ways to live more simply, perhaps there are lessons to be learned by exploring the emergence of Long Island's suburban landscape. There are insights to be gleaned right in my immediate neighborhood, such as this simple residence on Ringtail Lane in East Setauket/Stony Brook. Houses in this style date from one of the first major waves of suburbanization on Long Island; many of them have been modified and improved over the years. This house, however, retains much of the original rustic summer camp feel, with the utilitarian first floor and the more expansive second floor to catch the summer breezes.

While the summer temperatures in my neighborhood are moderated by the proximity to Long Island Sound, the humidity is very high, and it is not uncommon to get one's summer reading unexpectedly drenched from an unscheduled downpour.

Exploring Long Island's East End

Support farmers - buy locally on Long Island
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of exploring Long Island's North Fork with fellow Suffolk County photographers Linda, Tony, Joe and Ann. The highlight of the day for me was the opportunity to explore Orient, New York, which is at the eastern end of the North Fork. Local farmers do a bisk business at the local farm stands, take advantage of the distance to shopping malls. The rich soils here were pushed down from New England by the last major glaciation.

This occasional blog is over five years old and this weekend Carla and I are celebrating our tenth anniversary. So nice to have a place to record the milestones in our lives. I don't have to feel self-conscious about how infrequent I post here, since blogs are yesterday's news: the pulse of innovation has moved on facebook and twitter.

Welcome to Port Jefferson Station, NY

directionally challenged
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

After living in Philadelphia for the better part of the 00s, Carla and Mike have picked up and moved out to Suffolk County, Long Island. This is a strange new world for us. Carla finds that much here reminds her of the countryside she grew up in, but with a twist. Mike has never been anywhere quite like this before. Suburban Ohio certainly had its charms, although we have had the opportunity to photograph comparatively little of it - and that mostly on holiday breaks. Long Islanders hold their secrets pretty close to be breast - the best place I've found to meet new folks is the Tara Restaurant and Bar in Port Jefferson Station. This is a local institution offering cheap meals and legendary happy hour specials. Everyone hangs out there, including a generous sprinkling of college students, sailors, Harley riders and evangelical Christians looking for potential converts. I think I may head over there this breezy fall afternoon, so we will have to see what tales we can tell at at the other end of college football and general mayhem. All the best, Mike

Philadelphia streets may still be mean, but now are also GREEN

Mean Green Philadelphia Recycling Truck - side view
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Philadelphia is undergoing a green makeover under the leadership of Mayor Nutter's new Office of Sustainability. Although employees of the City have been taking advantage of PhillyCarShare for several years, the Office of Sustainability is forging new partnerships - facebook. In this blog post, I would like to feature two new initiatives being advanced by our community's excellent universities.

Penn Current: the University of Pennsylvania unveiling its new Climate Action Plan Wednesday, detailing green practices and policies.

Temple News: Taking advantage of incentives to bike to campus, including additional bike racks and a new bicycle maintenance facility, Temple University students are reducing their carbon footprint. These are only a few of the campus-wide developments featured University's Office of Sustainability.

St. Thomas, 114 years ago

The National Library of Jamaica has recently joined the elite group of museums of are sharing some of their valued map collections with the general public. This is one of my favorites so far - a closeup of the parish of St. Thomas from a 1895 map of the island.

Getting a sense of the political landscape on Long Island

I have recently moved from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, heavily Democratic, to more conservative Suffolk County, Long Island. Although Carla and I certainly aren't fully moved in yet, I am taking the opportunity to become acquainted with some of the local communities. One thing that disturbs me is the xenophobic orientation of many residents. I see this particularly strongly in the organized resistance to President Barak Obama's efforts to reform our health care system. Although I was unable to attend any of the town meetings because of the move, I have heard a great deal about them through the local media. Up close analysis becomes available through YouTube clips such as the following, shot before and during a town meeting in Setauket, Long Island. On the other side of Stony Brook University from Port Jefferson Station, this is an old community - one of the beauty spots of Long Island. But as you can see, it is also becoming politically polarized over the issue of health care reform.

The psychology of Caribbean people at home and abroad

Question and Answer with Sharon-ann
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Carla and I were lucky enough to be invited to present on work in progress to a supportive audience at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. The closing performance by Sharon-ann Gopaul McNicol was fitting the the setting, the Old Dramatic Theatre. Dr. Gopaul-McNicol spoke about the need for psychologists to consider the field of politics as an arena of activity, and the still too evident challenges of addressing the colonial mindset far after the political independence of Caribbean states. In all, a thoroughly enjoyable presentation with its mixture of exhortation and evangelism. We all left with a renewed sense of purpose.

Travelogue

crosshairs
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

As the annual Christmas pilgrimage draws to a close, we thought we might share with our (admittedly few) Edu-Tourism blog readers some glimpes 'from the road. Enjoy, and feel free to share your comments, or better yet your Christmas stories. Mike

Saying Goodbye

predeparture-photo
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Well, all good things must come to an end. This photo documents the last minutes at Carleva Bay for this year's group of Temple University students. 12 in all, they had a great time exploring and working with our partners on projects of their own design. Many of these projects will be continued on future trips.

Panograph #3, Morant Point Lighthouse, Jamaica, originally uploaded by robert birkenes.

The great thing about photoexpeditions is that you not only get to look at your own photos years later, but you also get to share multiple interpretations of the same site. So it was the the Morant Point Lighthouse Trip - such an evident success that we are definely going to have to plan a followup for the return trip to Jamaica. After viewing my photographs (many taken on rainy days), several members of the Kingston, Jamaica Flickr Meetup Group have expressed their desire to hike the Cunha Cunha and/or Corn Puss Gap trails. As far as I know, the Cunha Cunha Trail is the only one open to the public, and this is only due to the carefuly management of the Bowden Pen Farmers, on behalf of eco-tourists, the national park and their fellow community residents. Corn Puss Gap, renowned amongst birders, would need a similar investment of effort in order to be cleared. Perhaps we have put the hurricane years in our past, and we can work together to publicize and reopen this national treasure. MD

Photo featured with NPR story

Kosciuszko National Memorial
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

Edu-Tourist strikes again! Readers of this blog will recognize that I have been enjoying the opportunity to teach two summer abroad courses in Jamaica for the past five weeks, organizing a field excursion with members of the Kingston Flickr Meetup (see below) and enjoying the hospitality of Ms. Beverley Smith of the St. Thomas Emancipation and Cultural Association, and Ms. Linette Wilks of the Bowden Pen Farmers Association (reviews forthcoming).

Meanwhile, other photos taken in Philadelphia have been getting the attention of the National Parks Conservation Association and National Public Radio. On July 1, NPR ran a story on the National Park System that featured a photograph, I took two years ago of the exterior of the Tadeusz Kosciuszko National Memorial, located at 2nd and Pine in the Society Hill neighborhood of Philadelphia. I thought it was a great capture at the time, and it is really fulfulling to find that others agree! The story of this national memorial is just fascinating to me, and was pleased to see how Robert Smith captured it in audio and text for NPR, even though the story apparently generated some critical listener feedback.

Calm afternoon at Rocky Point, Jamaica

Rocky Point, Jamaica
Originally uploaded by islandgirlemt

As our driver Mike Marshall reminded us, there are two Rocky Points, one on St. Thomas and the other in Clarendon. Rocky Point in St. Thomas is a sleepy fishing village that affords an opportunity the replentish and relax after a grueling drive on mud track out to the Morant Point Lighthouse. We found this visit to be very educational as well. Mrs. Beverly Smith of the St. Thomas Emancipation and Cultural Association (STEPA) is looking into developing grant funding to provide guided tours of the Great Morass. As luck would have it, my wife Carla and I were able to meet up with her and her husband during our short visit to Rocky Point. They had just returned from a trip with the fishermen in one of the motorboats up into the morass. The discovered that it eventually got so narrow that they would have to return with an even narrower boat. Sounds like an ambitious project, establishing tours of the Great Morass for the adventure tourist in all of us. Look for updates as we learn more about these plans

Bath hot springs, Jamaica

Bath hot springs, Jamaica
Originally uploaded by MeraM

Mrs Smith described to us now this business had gotten its start.

Bellevue Great House, S. Anne

Bellvue Coffee Plantation
Originally uploaded by griffjon

I hope to be able to visit this coffee plantation on an upcoming trip to Jamaica.

Implications of the informal economy in Oracabessa, St Mary

And now for something completely different
Originally uploaded by amataiclaudius

Young men in Jamaica are raised with the expectation that they will leave school at a young age and hustle in order to support their families. Opportunities for support vary according to the region one lives in. When visiting the National Gallery of Jamaica, I ran across what appeared to be an informal car wash less than a block away. Driving around the city, one also frequently sees clusters of sidewalk venders roasting over charcoal in oil drums cut in half and raised on legs. As photoblogger Claude Fletcher notes, even the nation's forest reserves aren't safe from the growing demand for charcoal.

Sunrise over the salt pond

Sunrise over the salt pond
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

We have been bringing groups of students to St. Thomas for five years now. For the first two groups, accommodations were arranged at a hotel in Morant Bay. For the past four years, however, the students have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the rural landscape around Yallahs. The villa purchased by Novella and Nelson Keith in 2005, now known as Carleva Bay, is located in a neighborhood known as Pondside because it is curls around the end of a large salt pond. Every summer I find it difficult to say goodbye to Jamaica and to return to the United States and mornings like these are part of the reason why.

Certainly there is important work to be done at Temple University promoting the Disability Studies and Urban Education Programs. But our work in Jamaica is also valuable and reenergizing. The history of the Midatlantic is linked in so many ways to the Caribbean, through trade and through self-definition. Jamaica retains historic ties to Africa that are merely rhetorical for many of our Philadelphia residents. I have enjoyed getting to know the diverse society supported by the island. But I also recognize that in order to gain an even broader appreciation for the story, I will also need to make a trip to Africa. Or Haiti?