Photography

Terremoto y tsunami – Earthquake & tsunami – Concepción, Chile 2010 – Diego Morales Aguilera

Mar 7th, 2010

My name is Diego. I´m 23 years old I live in Concepción the second largest city of Chile. It all began the night of Saturday, 27 February at 3.35am…I was sleeping when suddenly I awoke from violent movements. I was so frightened that my nose spontaneously started to bleed and continued to for a long while. I was trying to run out of the building but the earth did not let me. I lost everything inside my flat, but I’m so lucky to be alive… 800 people died in my country and more then 1500 lost their houses. The earthquake was 8.8 degrees on the Richter. We’ve been knocked down, but we are strong, we are trying to get up as fast as we can…

Here are some images Diego posted on his Facebook page of the aftermath. These images of the destruction in his home town were shot on Monday, March 1st with a Handy Cam:

There are no hazard signs for dangers in the road © Diego Morales Aguilera

Footwear Repairs © Diego Morales Aguilera

Effects of the tsunami © Diego Morales Aguilera

Resignation © Diego Morales Aguilera

The military arrives behind schedule © Diego Morales Aguilera

Diego calls this the ICONIC image of the Chilean Earthquake © EMOL dot com

We are Chileans and this earthquake won´t keep us down…” – Diego Morales Aguilera

Diego suggested that donations be sent to a Chilean relief organization called Chile Ayudar a Chile [Chile Fundraiser Aims to Ignite Fundraising Efforts – Huffington Post].

Chile Earthquake Relief – How you can help – Huffington Post

A street by any other name – Gropecunt Lane – London – Brooklyn?

Mar 2nd, 2010

by Frank.

3 comments

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn NY © Ephemeral New York

Ephemeral New York posted today “a sweet story” about Love Lane in Brooklyn Heights (see image above). Contemporaneously, my friend Dr. Andrew Irving and I were walking in Brooklyn Heights the other evening after seeing the German film The White Ribbon, and while passing Love Lane, he told me the story about Gropecunt Lane in London.

Magpie Lane in Oxford, once known as Gropecunt Lane - Wikipedia

Gropecunt Lane was a street name found in English towns and cities during the Middle Ages, believed to be a reference to the prostitution centred on those areas; it was normal practice for a medieval street name to reflect the street’s function or the economic activity taking place within it. Gropecunt, the earliest known use of which is in about 1230, appears to have been derived as a compound of the words grope and cunt. Streets with that name were often in the busiest parts of medieval towns and cities, and at least one appears to have been an important thoroughfare.

Although the name was once common throughout England, changes in attitude resulted in its being replaced by more innocuous versions such as Grape Lane. Gropecunt was last recorded as a street name in 1561. – Wikipedia

The Virgin Queen Elizabeth the First’s reign commenced in 1558. I’m sure eradicating “cunt” from street names was on her shortlist.

Wikipedia

The map above is described in a caption in Wikipedia as:

A 1720 map of Bread Street and Cordwainer wards included in a 19th-century edition of John Stow’s Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster. The routes of three extinct streets are highlighted in blue, Puppekirtylane on the left, “Grope Countlane” in the middle, and Bordhawlane on the right. The location is opposite the modern-day Mercers’ Hall. Little Fryday Street [sic] (Pissing Alley) is visible on the left. – Wikipedia

In David Carroll’s interview with comic book author Neil Gaiman @ Tabula-Rasa, Gaiman was quoted as saying:

I’ve been reading my way through a book on London street names — it’s fascinating, especially when you’re in the older parts. Each street name comes with a huge chunk of city, and of history. You discover that Love Lane was originally called Grope Cunt Lane, and you realise what kind of love was for sale in Love Lane. Apparently most major cities had a Love Lane, or a Grope Cunt Lane, or something, and it was always very near the cathedral, which I find interesting. – Tabula-Rasa dot info

The Guardian UK also claims:

Those names survive, but others were so rude they were changed or disappeared altogether. ‘Sherborne Lane, near Cannon Street, was originally Shiteburn Lane, meaning shit house after the public lavatories in it,’ Mills says. The Corporation might also be less than keen on an alley off Cheapside called, er, Gropecunt Lane. – A street by any other name…
…might be easier to sell. By Chris Partridge – Guardian UK

Oh well, it’s “sweet” to know that things weren’t always so quaint.

Razed Liquor Store – East New York, Brooklyn – October 2003

Feb 27th, 2010

by Frank.

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Mother Gaston Blvd - formerly Stone Avenue - © Frank H. Jump

More Old East New York: ENY Terminal Buildings & Images from Our Lady of Loreto

Feb 23rd, 2010

by Frank.

12 comments