In the streets of New York

Tuesday was all about Blip-meets in the streets of New York. I began in the morning light with Guinea Pig Zero who you see here. He talks the way he writes: with detailed descriptions. His storytelling is so vivid that tales of childhood, of a family funeral, of Paris, of his cats, and of anarchists who died a hundred years ago are equally immediate. He detailed the very painful way abortions were administered in 1910 as we waited for a light to change by Penn Station; conjured union uprisings of the 1920s as we strolled through Union Square; and described the gang of kids he grew up with on Long Island as we searched for YIVO, where he was headed for his own research.

In the afternoon I met Giacomo for more street strolling and for talk of ethics and photography, the work of Chim and Vishniac, film vs. digital, Blip and Blippers, and by the time we got around to taking pictures of each other, the light was almost gone. He managed a fine portrait of me in the midst of evening activity in Bryant Park, but my pictures don't do him justice. Maybe LeeAnne, who arrives today after I leave and will meet him before the day is out, will do a better job. In his blip he attributes to me all the qualities I see in him, so I think I did a good job of mirroring. If you read his text about me, just take everything he says about me and know that it's really who he is.

I've added a few shots to my New York album, and I'd like to introduce a new Blipper, a woman in my writing group in Portland who started lurking on Blip about a year ago and has now become a full member without many people noticing. She calls herself Scribbler and is apt to speak in verse and to talk about religion and politics, so those of you who are yourselves provocative and unconventional are going to love her blips.