Ghosts in the Wires

High art?

New Yorkers are past masters of the level gaze. If we err, it's on the side of looking down, mostly to avoid stepping in dog shit. But looking up? That's for the tourists. Still, every now and then, it pays to crane the neck skyward. Just for instance, have a screw at this cryptic signature I photographed above Winfield, Queens. What is it? What does it do? Does it still do what it once did?

Woodside Ave. & 64th St.

For over a decade, the City has been trying to eliminate the 15,000+ emergency-help, or fire-alarm, boxes, like the one connected to that curlicue above. A federal judge has said no, on the grounds the City's proposed alternative, which involves public pay phones (when's the last time you used one of those?), discriminates against the deaf and hearing-impaired. But the death sentence can only be deferred for so long. Then what will happen to these iron sentinels, sidewalk fixtures since the 1870s, when the "key box" was introduced?

Who knows? More and more, we live wi-fi and wireless lives. The need for wires above or cables below ground is everyday reduced. If we could only figure out how to digitize our sewerage.

Mi vida cambio