How did so many people become married to fear in this country? Im somewhere between laughing out loud and shaking my head in annoyance when I read articles that try to define the recent Brooklyn Bridge flag switch as an absolute act of terror. Terror? Okay, well then Im a self-declared former terrorist. I had some ongoing obsession with climbing under bridges and walking their catwalks and girders back in my 20s, as seen in these two photos. A few of you that I dragged along in these death-defying, no-fear-of-heights shenanigans would agree that these qualify as terrorist activity by todays fear-based standards, and they were one of many insane things we did (and I suppose still do in newer or mutated forms, those of us who havent grown up entirely). I have a list a mile long, including sleeping on the Brooklyn Bridge behind a pile of lumber one night when I was young, broke, and too drunk to take another step toward my Brooklyn home, another time when my buddy Troy and I did a Spiderman shimmy up 4 stories of an airshaft in a building (abandoned then, and since destroyed) and worked our way out onto a steep roof, 5 very tall stories in the air, with loose terra cotta tiles - and then shinnying our way across the roof at the peak to another air shaft around 70 feet away and Spiderman shimmying our way back down, all with a bottle of some kind of booze in hand. Were we foolish? Yep. Were we afraid of or at least aware of dying? Nope and maybe. Did I ever consider trying to scale the cables that lead to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge when I moved here at age 23? Heck yes. But a terrorist? Gimme a break. Ill admit I do look like Im about to puke in the second photo, but hey, Im here to tell the tale. On a final note: dig the Frankie goes to Hollywood RELAX t-shirt! So, seriously - RELAX, everybody!
Posted on: Thu, 24 Jul 2014 21:53:50 +0000
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