Hello dere

Robert Wagner Park (photo by bellrich1941)

[Queue Rhapsody in Blue] Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2012...walk.  If I could offer you only one tip for the future, walking would be it.  The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by science, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.  Fortunately for all parties involved, I will refrain from dispensing that advice now and cut to the chase.

So this is my first post, and I had a lot of things on my mind as I began my arduous journey through the streets of Manhattan.  For those of you just joining, and that means everybody, said journey is my attempt to cover every street of Manhattan (and visit every park) before June, 2013 (assuming Earth makes it that far).  To clarify, that's every walkable street (I'd happily recommend a cruise up or down the pleasant FDR Drive, but I'm not about to do it on foot), and walking on one side of the street counts.  Given the layout of any city, that's going to require me retracing many of my steps, and once I get to the nitty griddier parts of the city, I'll be a little more systematic about it, but the shitshow that lies under the number streets will be just that - a shitshow.  As you can see, I've included some pictures to ease you through the text and help you accompany me on the odyssey.  I'm well aware that I'm not the first schmuck to blog about New York, so kindly consider this more of a documentation of my effort than a shot at stunning originality.

I decided to begin at the Staten Island Ferry Station, which is more or less the southern tip of the island (Manhattan, not Staten).  From there I walked through Battery Park, and hit a few of those pesky streets on the far southwest corner.  One park I especially liked was the unassuming Robert Wagner Park (pictured above), named after this guy, not this guy.  As I'm running out of steam, I'll quickly skip to this post's Street History Lesson, a segment I'd like to continue for as long as I can.  Teddy Gleason St (don't look for it on Google Maps - it's listed as Morris St) is, as far as I can tell, named after Thomas William Gleason, the president of the International Longshoremen's Association from 1963-1987.  Need I say more about this fine American?  Gleason is now my hero despite my lack of knowledge concerning the affairs of the esteemed Association.

Here's my sadly traced map - I can't promise I'll get better at this as I go on, but I'm hoping so.  One additional comment - I rode home in the most shameless subway train in the city.  This advertisement, giving some of the worst advice I've ever seen printed

was placed next to this outrageous one for the New York lottery

If you can't read all of the first one, some of the clever weight loss tips involve not eating breakfast, taking cold showers to "give you a firm body," and the best point of all: "Broccoli carbs can be worse than soda carbs."  So Bloomberg's telling me I can't drink pop (read "soda" and/or "coke") in quantities larger than 20 oz, but he's completely okay with the city endorsing plans to lose 20 pounds in six weeks and completely blowing money.  But since this blog is not remotely political, for anti-Bloomberg rants, I refer you to Mark Naison's blog.  Rock on.