How have I missed the TSA? Immensely!
English: TSA insignia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
How have I missed the TSA? Immensely! “Can I see another ID? Ellie Johnson asked me when I showed her a perfectly valid ID? “Excuse me but what is wrong with this ID? “Nothing is wrong,” she told me. “So why do you need to see another ID? I inquired irritably. “It is my right to ask you for another ID”, she said with a straight face. I had just cleared Customs and Immigration and a pre-customs reception that went without any hitches. The pre-Customs guy couldn’t read my handwriting. I smiled because I thought I had printed all my information clearly. New York City. The Immigration Inspector welcomed me home and the Customs guy asked me where I was coming from, which he could perfectly read from Form 6059B. It seems the guys that welcome you into the United States of America have improved their customer service qualities and the Transportation Security Administration still needs more training. The more I fly the less I respect these TSA agents. When they were first hired in a rush after the incidents of 2001, they hired many thieves that were using the X-ray machines to look into baggage that they wanted to pilfer. Many were fired. It’s too bad a few TSA agents are making the flying public miserable with their actions. Welcome back to the US of A, where the din of CNN and Wolf Blitzer and the impending elections is all I hear.
Sent from my dumB iPad
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TD Five Boro Bike Tour. Feel the thrill of riding…
40 miles of car-free streets with 32,000 other cyclists in the greatest city on Earth!
Car-free streets? Not quite as advertised. We were detained at 130 Street in Harlem because this street was not closed to traffic.
Rest areas were adequate but because of the long delays at 130 Street the cyclists were shooed out before having time to eat a banana. The food was just junk food and bananas. 
The ride was fine and easy going for most of the ride until it reached the Pulaski Bridge and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. By then most riders did not have the legs to make it over the inclines.
The NYPD did a fantastic job of blocking all the other roads and highways to make this day memorable and safe.
The Festival in Staten Island at Fort Wadsworth was crowded. The lines for more junk food were long. We left before everyone decided to return to Manhattan on the Ferry. Apparently, others thought the same. We waited and waited. That seemed to be the theme of the 2012 Five Boro Tour Ride.
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May Day
Is there a cause these people really want to promote? I would use this day to thank all those corporations who hire people who don’t want to start their own businesses, for offering a way to eke out a living.
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Madison Avenue’s effect on Women
Women are beautiful. Smile and your beauty radiates.
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My bullfighting career as a spectator began at La Feria de Cali in Colombia…
Image via Wikipedia
… I remember going reluctantly to the cabalgaltas with the family and seeing giant beasts approaching us. From a child’s perspective these animals were terrifying. I remember going on Sundays to the Corrida to see the latest bullfighters from Spain perform for those who were lucky to score some tickets. The bull ring was filled to capacity. The heat, the liquor, and the beautiful Caleñas with their hats and colorful dresses added to the spectacle. I would sit next to my mother, since sometimes it was just the two of us who would attend a Corrida de Toros at the Plaza de Toros Cañaveralejo to see El Cordobés and other similarly named bull fighters perform.
What I don’t ever remember, is seeing my father at a corrida. That’s strange because of the customs of this South American nation. The Feria in Cali is the event to attend every December. I believe he would be busy with the university, La Universidad Santiago de Cali, as it was called then, or in Rome having an audience with the pope, or visiting his father in a house within walking distance of the futbol stadium, El Pascual Guerrero.
Perhaps if I ask my sisters for details about my grandfather, they might provide me with my grandfather’s address. Unfortunately, I’ve only asked one, and she didn’t remember anything. This doesn’t surprise me because we would be driven there and back by the chauffeur. Maybe I’ll ask my older cousins who surely remember their grandfather well, since they were old enough to visit by themselves. Of my grandfather I only remember his musty library, the National Geographic magazines with the naked African women, the photograph of an embalmed body in a casket, and his funeral. It was well attended by his constituents since he was once the mayor of Buga.
I pause here for a second to call my sister to verify a fact and to pet Torrey who constantly wants a massage.
I also pause to warn you not to continue reading or seeing the photographs that follow. Bullfighting is a brutal “sport.” If you can tolerate the first page, then beware because the photographs and videos on the following page are shocking. Heed my advice and do not to proceed from this point.
What I can remember the most of the corridas in Cali, was the suffering. No, not the bulls, but mine. I could almost feel the pain the bull fighter felt when he was struck by the bull. I also remember an indulto. The bull was spared and the crowd yelled and applauded an animal for his courage. The poor animal had no idea what had transpired. Neither had I. I had always expected the end, to be the death of the bull.
This Feria de Cali went on in my life till I was ten years old. It was a constant, repetitive distraction. I was too young to enjoy the women and their beauty and the Aguardiente del Valle.
David vs. Goliath
After emigrating from South America, to New York City without my consent and advice, the bullfighting stopped and was soon forgotten. While living in the States, I did happen to spend some time with my cousin one summer. That was probably to longest stretch of time I was ever away from my adopted nation. There I saw no bulls, but I did spend time with the Le Roy family in a hilly section of Cali.
That’s where my career as a photographer took off. I exaggerate career, because the only thing it provided me was enough money to pay my tuition for Queens College of the City University of New York and later the Brooklyn Polytechnic, which had recently changed its name to the Polytechnic Institute of New York, and the countless costs in film, chemicals and time spent in darkrooms at the university.
I’ve never sold a print since photography is only a hobby. Those who have wanted to pay me for the few prints I gave them of their children were surprised I didn’t want to be reimbursed. Had they asked me to take family portraits, I would have refused or I would have set the price too high for them to want to hire me.
Another pause to talk to Demi, a calico cat who is strange and 17-years-old.
Poster for Agosto 2011
The next corrida I remember very well. I sought and bargained for two tickets to a Feria de Cali. The seller was Diego, the driver was Jaime, and my date was Liliana. I have pictures of that date but I don’t remember anything about the corrida. I remember being taken to and later being picked up at the end of the corrida. We went to a restaurant, talked, ate and we never ever saw each other again.
The next corrida was special, because I was detained at the entrance for carrying a Swiss Army knife. The one I had used to free a woman who had gotten stuck in a bathroom on Avianca. I took the policeman’s name and number. He promised to meet me at the same gate. Hernando happened to have gone with me that Sunday. He was appalled that I had dared question the authorities.
The policeman met me at the exit, and I offered him my Swiss Army knife, but he declined. “It’s a toy,” he said. I’m sure to him it was a toy but to me it was a tool. I told Alfredo about the incident and he asked me if I had given the policeman the knife. “I tried, but he refused it,” I told my dear uncle. He seemed pleased that I had tried to do so.
The next corrida was in Acapulco, Mexico. I had traveled with Mireille. She refused to accompany me to the bull ring. What did she do while I was away for a few hours? I don’t know since she doesn’t drink or swim or ride horses or drive in a foreign nation without me beside her. The bullfight was mediocre, with sub par bullfighters and small bulls. They all died (the bulls) and I caught it all with my Canon AE-1 Program.
I brought back to the states, in a rifle case that I bought in an Acapulco flea market, the bloodied banderillas of a fallen heroic bull. This rifle case I carried on board the Mexican Airlines DC 10. I could have tried to lunge for the bull’s ears that were thrown near my seat on the shady side of the bull ring, but I was too busy taking pictures of the unfair fight between the bull and the man. Had I fought for them, they would still be under my bed with the banderillas.
Plaza de Toros
The last bullfight was the one in Barcelona in 2011. The bulls were huge and the bullfighters had the balls to kneel and greet these beasts. I started to feel the fear again while I cooked in the sunny side of the bullring. This is where I noticed that the bullfighters are afraid of the sun. I don’t know if they stay in the shady side so that they can see the bull with losing him in the sun or if they just work that side because they paid more euros than us in the sunny side.
I got tired and bored watching bull after bull die. Some were clean kills others were painful to watch. I’m not one to interfere with customs, but this “sport” just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.
Last year the citizens of Catalunya, decided by referendum to ban bull fighting in Barcelona.
Continuing to see beyond this point is not recommended if you are squeamish about gore, entrails, and suffering.
The bull dies.
Sent from my iPad and corrected extensively on a Dell Inspiron. (more…)
From 53rd and Lexington to Columbus Circle and World Trade Center
From 53rd and Lexington to Columbus Circle and World Trade Center, a set on Flickr.
Saturday was spent visiting Manhattan. We began the outing in the city at 53rd and Lexington. From there we went to Barneys to see Lady Gaga’s Workshop on the 5th floor and then continued to Columbus Circle by walking by Central Park. After enjoying a latte and a linzer tart at the Circle we decided to walk up Broadway to see some sculptures. At 72Nd St we took the 1 train to Chambers Street. We had over two hours to enjoy a meal and do some walking around before our scheduled time to see the Memorial.
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If You Dated an 80 Year-Old Poor Man, I’d Say You
Image via Wikipedia
did it for love. But if you dated this man because he was filthy rich, then I’d say you did it for the money, thereby becoming just another well paid
prostitute.
Adriana Ferreyr is suing George Soros for $US 50 million. He had promised to buy her an apartment worth $US1.9 million, but reneged on the deal. She claims he broke the news to her while lying in bed, that he had given the apartment to another “girlfriend.”
Sean Delonas Cartoon – NYPOST.com.
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While I consider the next article to post, the wind is
beginning to gain strength in New York City. Weather forecasts are for wind gusts up to 60 knots later this afternoon. Torrey is enjoying the wind. He has just been chased away from the window by a gust of wind that blew a mist of water through the screen. Hopefully, a tornado warning or watch will not be issued.
The Gardens in Forest Hills, NY 9/17/2010 0846
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