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Friday, April 11, 2008

Here's to the Human Condition

Living on the Upper West Side
Photo by myself, on the Upper West Side, at Broadway and 78th Street.

The Apthorp comprises a whole city block. A courtyard in the middle provides space for cars to turn around on the ground floor, and allows in air into apartments far from the building exterior.

While I was taking this photo a passing pedestrian asked me what I what kind of building this was. He probably thought I was taking a photo of an embassy.

Ah no, it's just a lowly apartment building.

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Today I was finally able to listen to the complete NPR podcast about Buddhism from the other day. That was followed by a podcast about a man talking about the lobotomy that was performed on him when he was 12 years old.

Listening to both these interviews, one concerning the Dalai Lama's philosophy and the other concerning one man's childhood experience, was illuminating. It helped me take my life in perspective.

We all have our situations, our shortcomings, challenges and fears. We have our strengths and the issues we're trying to overcome.

It's really just the human condition. The key is to remember that no one has it easy, even though it may seem that way from the outside.

10 comments:

Patrizia said...

At first glance, I thought it was an embassy too!!!

Nikon said...

It's really nice to know that they get plenty of air to the folks in the back :-)
I was worried about that.

escape said...

that's a cool experience.

Carolyn said...

What a cool apartment building. A whole city block.... I can't even imagine that!

As always.....great pic!

Carolyn

Spandrel Studios said...

The thing I keep reminding myself is that unless people are sleepwalking through life, everyone's really just trying to do the best they can.

Learning about other people's experiences can be very illuminating, as you point out.

As for your lovely photo - I'd hate to think of the rent on such a "lowly" apartment building!

Kitty said...

Welcome Patrizia
I guess the flag and the booth is deceiving. It's fancy!

Hi Nikon
lol, if you saw the building from the front, you'd be surprised by how massive it is. It's a nice building.

Hi donG!

Hi Carolyn
Pretty neat, huh? There are some beautiful old buildings and townhouses on the Upper West Side. I'll have to get back there for more photos.

Hi Spandrel
I'd like to think people are doing the best they can, yes. My post was written after an encounter with a difficult person. Life is a learning process.

I'm sure the rent is stupendous here. No clue whether it's a rental building, condo or co-op!

Olivier said...

Souvent quand on photographie quelque chose (souvent sans importance, mais qui nous a tape dans l'œil) des gens s'arrêtent et essayent d'imaginer ce que tu prends ;o). Je me souviens d'une exposition de fleurs, je crois qu'il n'y avait que des photographes ;o) on prenait tous des photos, et des que l'on voyait un autre photographe prendre une perspective spéciale, tous un par un on passait derrière et on essayait ;o). Bon je crois que je dérive du thème de ton post. Voila un endroit ou j'aimerais bien vivre dans New-York en plus dans un beau quartier.

Often when you photograph something (often irrelevant, but a tape which we in the eye) and people stop trying to imagine what you take; o). I remember a flower exhibition, I think that there were only photographers; o) took on all pictures, and we saw another photographer take a special perspective, all one by one we went back and we tried o). Well, I think I drift of the theme of your post. Here is a place where I would like to live in New York and more in a nice neighborhood .

fishwithoutbicycle said...

Hi Kitty,

There was a piece in The Times about this building a few months ago - I forget the name of the building so I can't link to it, but apparently a good number of the apartments are rent stabilised and there's some sort of tenant war going on. New Yorkers eh ;-)

Have a lovely weekend
Fish

Mom Knows Everything said...

The apartment buildings around here aren't as nice as those ones. Have a great weekend! :o)

Kitty said...

Hi Olivier
It's funny how the simple act of bringing out a camera makes other people more aware of their surroundings.

Hi Fish
What a funny coincidence with the Times article. The place looked pretty nice, even by NY standards.

Happy weekend, Tammy dear!