Thursday, June 4, 2009

Arriba! Arriba! Una dia en la Loisada

Outside East Side Community High School.

Walking east down 14th Street towards the Lower East Side, I had a peculiar feeling that I was crossing boundaries from the hipster, ultra-urban Union Square to another territory altogether. On the basketball court outside East Community High School, I heard the shuffle of sneakers, the thump thump thwack of elastic basketballs skimming the rim.

75 degrees. Mostly sunny, with a slight breeze.

An Asian mom and her toddler son watched enthralled behind the black fence as squeals and screams of glee filled the playground in front of them. These noises came from 20 or so students, lined up back-to-back in a row on a yellow mat with their legs spread wide forming tunnels. Their pants were rolled up, shirts drenched from water.

All of a sudden a human canonball burst threw the line, splashing bucketfulls of water in his wake.

It's slip-n-slide time, baby.

They looked like they were having so much fun...oh, to be young again.


"Slum of Providence."

Go watch City of God. It's only my favorite movie.


"Be cool stay in school."

Kool Bloo Express Eats is doing you a solid. Rachel thinks so, too.


Boombox biker.

I love this shot. An older Latino gentleman (or Abuelito, as I nicknamed him) rides leisurely through Avenue C, a veritable fiesta of Spanish tunes flooding through his boombox speakers. Something tells me he's got the longevity thing down pat. Check out those orange rims!


Cool-aid.

More orange, in the form of a mango ice. Waiting for my lunch date to arrive, I sat down on a green bench next to Ctown (the supermarket, not Chinatown). A little old man with some of his teeth missing gave me a gum-filled smile as he peddled around his ice cart.

"El coco, la cereza, el mango!" he hawked.

Since it was getting rather warm, I thought I'd give one a try. Mango's my favorite, of course. I asked him how much.

-Pardon, señor. ¿Cuánto cuesta?

-Un dolar, one dollar.

-Mango, por favor.

-Ah, un mango por una chica linda! (One mango for a pretty girl.)

A lovely ice from a lovely man. And for just one buck, a good way to keep your cool!

1 comment:

  1. We tend to prefer the (far) East Village to Union Square, too -- and consequently we're moving to the border in a couple months (14th and 1st). The afterschool program Calla used to work at operated out of East Side Community High School, so she knows lots of people who go/went there. And the lower rent means more vegetarian restaurants. ;)

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