Brooklyn Surf Journal
Monday, December 17, 2012
Sandy Hiatus
This blog is on a minor winter hiatus while we wait for the waters near Long Island to clear / be cleaned. In the meantime, I do hope you'll check out my sister blog Inventions by Night. Thanks and have a great day!
Friday, November 16, 2012
Developing a Simple Visual Language for Disaster Relief
With Hurricane Sandy still affecting many areas of NYC, my friends at Yoxi hosted a Post-Sandy Thinkathon to generate ideas for crisis management. There were many great ideas fermenting, but one that I was thinking about which could be put to use immediately is the idea of a universal color coding system that victims of disasters can use to quickly identify and express their needs, even when power and communication lines are down.
Individuals can use any available item — a shirt, a towel, a shopping bag, a piece of paper, and hang it outside their window or on a door that anyone passing can see.
Distribution and aid centers can also use a single color to identify a central place for drop offs, pick ups, or volunteer coordination even when no one else is there to receive or distribute.
Not only is the need made visible and easy to distinguish locally, but for neighborhoods like the Rockaways, the system would make for a powerful visual that anyone can connect to — and yes, I'm talking about media attention here, something the Rockaways didn't receive until several days in. Media attention being key to getting aid quickly.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Impressions of... (the Way LIfe Used to Be)
They really do all look alike...on TV anyway.
Korean TV is surgery-obsessed: I have seen eyes made so
alarmingly wide that it would put anime characters to shame. It does not make
for confidence building. Everyone gets their eyelids done. Now, even the
men.
So put away your sunglasses. Only people with something to
hide wear shades on the street. Maybe I just want to block out the sun and
stares? Alternately, old lady ojimas love to wear Terminator-sized visors with
skin-colored bib masks on their daily walks and cyclists wrap their entire
bodies in Spandex and bandanna anything exposed beneath their sunglasses. Nobody
really bicycle-commutes.
Think you’re a well-adjusted independent woman of the world?
No one cares if you’ve made a life for yourself and are earning truckloads of
cash. Mothers all over would really prefer it if you just permed your hair and
found a husband.
In the suburb of Buchon, the city finally got around to
planting some trees fifteen years ago, but birds are still scarce since the
city is want to blast DEET or PEET or whatever it is down these streets. Even as
the trucks roll pass, mothers will stand idly by as their children play, the
spray navigating through their midst.
But in Seoul, the fish are back in the Han’s tributaries and
gobbled up by ducks and egrets alike. Dragonflies swarm the riverside, magpies
squawk in the trees. Cosmos sweep across coastlines and mountain valleys. Cars
do not honk whether you’re holding up traffic on a slow hill-climbing bicycle,
or crossing the street on cane at the burning end of a red light. That courtesy
is shared by pedestrians who wait fully on the sidewalk on even traffic-less
streets for the light to change. For the most part.
Wifi networks have boring names like MyNet_82 or
HelloWirelessA769. Nobody uses email; app-messaging rules the land. TVs can
swivel by remote. Every commercial features a pretty lady making a pouty face. Variety
shows OD on after effects.
Places are navigated by villages: my sister didn’t even know
what cross streets she lived on after six years in the same apartment. Cars
come standard with GPS that scolds you in a cute child’s voice if you’re
driving over the speed limit. Yuke ship, yuke ship, yuke ship! Sixty, sixty,
sixty! Alternately, making the correct turn makes you a winner — ding ding
ding! Streets might dead end without notice, but at least apartment complexes
have their names emblazoned on their pastel exteriors. Keypads have replaced
key entry.
Fashion runs all over the place. None of it indicative of
any ties to specific cultural niches or age groups. Tie dye skirts and leopard
print leggings for ojimas, hiking gear for the fit, sneakers and sports sandals
go with any outfit.
The prevailing furniture style hews heavily toward 17th c. European with a shoehorn of eighties modern. Rhinestones have replaced old-timey
mother-of-pearl inlays, multi-sectioned sofas offer extra, extra, extra oomph.
In the artist village of Haeiri, an Ikea is opening among bourgie, wood
slatterned minimalist homes.
Recently another Northener defected. North Korea may have as
many as twenty more infiltration tunnels aimed toward Seoul. A baby was born.
Monday, September 24, 2012
SoCal
Manhattan Beach |
No trip is complete without a little mishap, right? In town for a wedding, I decided to extend my trip for a little bit of surfing in Sunset beach. I borrowed a board and drove down early morning, the fog still huffing along thick as goose down over the ocean. I paddled out on the miniature breaks for an hour before the chill got to me and the shortcomings of the board (no pun intended) became so very apparent. I reached my car and saddled up to find a longboard and before I hit the highway, I was hailed aside by some construction workers who noticed my flat tire. I was wondering what that sound was.
Later, my host suggested it might've been a turf thing. Or a race thing. That Orange County was very unfriendly toward outsiders. Which kind of made sense when you consider how else does a person get a flat while parked?
After the mechanic switched out my tire, I figured I might as well drive down to Huntington and check out that beach as well. It was still a little flat out, but I got a couple in before the chill got to me again. Cali beaches are not warm, which I guess I knew, but was somehow in denial about.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Breakwater Surf Co.
Photo: Courtesy @urbansurfergirl |
I hit up Beach 67 on Sunday with a friend and checked out newly opened Breakwater Surf Co to rent a couple boards. Nigel, the owner, was super helpful and even let us trade in our shortboards for something more forgiving when we'd had enough of roughing it (rookies, what are you gonna do). The shop just opened in August and everything was still new, which is a nice contrast against the battered foamies you'll find at some of the other rental shops. We even got to test a Greenlight Subway Series demo "longboard" that you can carry on the subway. Wide and thick like a longboard, but only 6'10, easy peazy for subway navigating.
Originally from Barbados, Nigel's been surfing these waters for the past 20 years so had plenty of advice on the best breaks and seems just as concerned about establishing a community hub as he is about turning a profit.
I'm not even gonna talk about the actual surfing, except to say, it's still pretty humbling.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
SURF FORECAST: SATURDAY
Waves will peak on Sunday reaching 3–5 feet (chest to head high), winds easing into single digits, and swells getting shorter as we get to Monday afternoon.
Weather will be cool. You'll definitely need a full 3/2 or 4/3 suit.
It's going to be a good weekend. Go get some.
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