© Bob Kisken
The Occident sign is an old sign that has been repainted. When the owner of the hardware store retired, he painted the building in aluminum. His old sign about 40 or so years old is starting to come through again. Cheers, Bob
November, 2007:
Statue of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale – Fifth Avenue & 29th Street – Marble Collegiate Church
© Frank H. Jump
The Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale is known for The Power of Positive Thinking. When I was diagnosed with HIV in 1986, being positive seemed an ironic cliché. In retrospect, I’ve made the best of it.
It’s just a week from my exhibit, The Art of Healing at the Marble Collegiate Church Fifth Avenue & 29th Street. As a religious skeptic for most of my life, churches were never places in which I felt comfortable or welcomed, so I’m filled with mixed emotions prior to my presentation at MCC on November 19th at 6PM. One ebullient emotion is of pure gratitude for being invited into their house of worship as an HIV positive artist and same-sex married American. I honestly feel MCC accepts me for who I am, and not just tolerates my family-life (a label I prefer over the contentious “lifestyle.”) Vincenzo is my husband, my friend and most importantly, my family. As stylish as he and I may choose to be, our relationship is not a “life style choice” but a blessing and a birthright. Many of my extended family will be there next Monday. I’m looking forward to seeing all of you there. My thoughts will be with all of my friends who can’t be there. My life’s work is a tribute to all of my friends and countless acquaintances who have succumbed to this virus. Click here to a secured website to RSVP (with a credit card) for next week’s event. There will be food, so if you can RSVP before this Thursday, MCC will have a better idea of how many people to feed.
Is It Just A Matter Of Time?
© Frank H. Jump
While driving home from the Poconos, I was startled by this juxtaposition of ad and urban landscape, followed by the Mecca & Sons Trucking image just outside the Jersey City side of the Holland Tunnel Entrance. Minutes later in front of Ground Zero, I shot this distant fading ad that survived the 70s, 80s, 90s (as did myself) and the World Trade Center attack. I’m currently reading Bruce Bawer’s While Europe Slept. I lived in Amsterdam as a child and visit frequently enough to notice the brooding powderkeg of emotions and cultural clash with the Dutch and Islamic community. Poor Theo.
Another Storm Through Carbondale & Scranton – Coca-Cola & Lackawanna Country Railroad
Photo Storm that is. I snapped this Coke ad last summer but lost the camera at the Madonna Concert (wild night) before downloading the images. This morning I drove through the dusting of snow to Carbondale to retrace the steps Vincenzo and I took. It’ll take several weeks to post the gigabyte of images uncovered today- from rooftops to train tracks.
Skeletal images in some of the lettering of the Lackawanna County Railroad caught my eye. I climbed the catwalk and took a close-up of one of the urban ediglyphs.
© Frank H. Jump
