My love affair with bridges; soaring across the Hudson on foot

Most people consider bridges as structures built for convenience and safety. They are so ubiquitous that we take them for granted, scooting over them in cars, trucks, and trains without much thought. The only time we pay attention to them is when one of them fails spectacularly, like the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis 13 years ago. Fourteen people were killed and 145 injured in that catastrophe. In a similar disaster, a major bridge in Genoa, Italy, crumbled to the ground in 2018, killing 43. The public reaction to bridge tragedies is similar…

Continue ReadingMy love affair with bridges; soaring across the Hudson on foot

Walking from Manhattan to Brooklyn, 1880s style

A set of bridges sits just south of where I live in Saratoga County, north of Albany. The small suspension spans carry interstate highway traffic across the Mohawk River between Albany and Saratoga counties. The bridges are formally known as the singular Thaddeus Kascsiusko Bridge, but most locals know them simply as "The Twin Bridges," or even "The Twins." I've gone along with this for years, but I've always felt twins was a better moniker for two not-that-similar looking, historic bridges that link lower Manhattan with Brooklyn. Viewed via Google Maps from…

Continue ReadingWalking from Manhattan to Brooklyn, 1880s style

Dispatches from March Madness in Brooklyn – 2014

  As we approach the Final Four this weekend in North Dallas, I’m reminded that my bracket was trashed at about 4:30 p.m. on the first day of the tourney two weeks ago. But my journey into March Madness began a week earlier in the borough of Brooklyn… For almost anyone, doing the same thing for 12 hours straight – work, school, play, watching TV, reading, etc. – presents challenges that range from exhaustion to boredom. Yet this is exactly what I chose to do on March 14, focusing on one of…

Continue ReadingDispatches from March Madness in Brooklyn – 2014