Henry Powderly

A Journey In the South

Henry E. Powderly II — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:58:51 +0000

So here are the remaining photos I have from my recent trip to Georgia. There are some good ones there of Lake Oconee and the Ritz-Carlton, but I only used the iPhone so the non-Hipstamatic ones came out just so-so. A few Aperture filters added some depth to them, but looking at them now I can see clearly that there is no replacement for my DSLR.

From now on, I’ll most likely only take Hipstamatic photos with my iPhone.

Enjoy the pics.

Self Portrait With Beard

Henry E. Powderly II — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:21:26 +0000

My daughter told me this morning that I need to shave my beard, so I figured I’d immortalize it first.

I will try to renegotiate with her tonight.

Another baby, not just another day

Photos From the Clouds

Henry E. Powderly II — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 01:32:35 +0000

Been a bit of a dry spell on the blog for a few weeks, mostly due to work and another semester of teaching kicking off, but I do have a bunch of photos to share from a recent work trip to Greensboro, Georgia.

For the first set, here are some Hipstamatic photos taken from the airplane looking out across the clouds. We took one of those smaller commuter planes for one leg of the journey, and they don’t go up as high, giving us a pretty level view of the cloud cover.

I like how these came out.

What a Curious Poem: The Bear, Robert Frost

Henry E. Powderly II — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:43:00 +0000

Read this to my daughter today and I had to read it a few times. I love what this is saying about the breadth of our attention, that what appears a grand search is in fact confining.

The Bear

The bear puts both arms around the tree above her
And draws it down as if it were a lover
And its chokecherries lips to kiss good-by,
Then lets it snap back upright in the sky.
Her next step rocks a boulder on the wall
(She’s making her cross-country in the fall).
Her great weight creaks the barbed wire in its staples
As she flings over and off down through the maples,
Leaving on one wire tooth a lock of hair.
Such is the uncaged progress of the bear.
The world has room to make a bear feel free;
The universe seems cramped to you and me.
Man acts more like the poor bear in a cage,
That all day fights a nervous inward rage,
His mood rejecting all his mind suggests.
He paces back and forth and never rests
The me-nail click and shuffle of his feet,
The telescope at one end of his beat,
And at the other end the microscope,
Two instruments of nearly equal hope,
And in conjunction giving quite a spread.
Or if he rests from scientific tread,
‘Tis only to sit back and sway his head
Through ninety-odd degrees of arc, it seems,
Between two metaphysical extremes.
He sits back on his fundamental butt
With lifted snout and eyes (if any) shut
(He almost looks religious but he’s not),
And back and forth he sways from cheek to cheek,
At one extreme agreeing with one Greek
At the other agreeing with another Greek
Which may be thought, but only so to speak.
A baggy figure, equally pathetic
When sedentary and when peripatetic.

- “The Poetry of Robert Frost”, edited by, Edward Connery Lathem

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New Edit: Chapter 1, Imaginary Bebop

Henry E. Powderly II — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:57:20 +0000

Just posted a new version of Chapter 1 of Imaginary Bebop. I’m hoping to start editing the second chapter next, though I know if I go back and read this again I’ll get sucked back in.

Chapter 1 – Round Midnight

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Photo of the Day: This Old House

Henry E. Powderly II — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:07:41 +0000

Saw this wonderful old house in Babylon Village, New York today. How great would it be to fix this up into a studio?

On the New Year and the 2011 That Was

Henry E. Powderly II — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:22:16 +0000

Can’t say I’d want to ring the new year any other way than I did last night, cradling my 2-year-old daughter on the couch while my wife held our 3-month-old girl next to me. Just our family, a four-person unit that took all of 2011 to arrive.

Looking back on the year, 2011 was about Margaux, the nine months she took to get here and the 3 months she’s been on this earth, my favorite little smiley ball of cheeks. But the year had other wonderful moments, including watching my Gwyneth get smarter and smarter, developing her own personality that I adore so much. I also traveled on a cruise to Bermuda to watch my parents renew their wedding vows after 35 years of marriage. It was beautiful, and the adventure on the high seas and on that island paradise will stick with me for a long time.

2011 was also a great year for work. Being an editor for a new media venture like Patch.com brings a lot of excitement, especially for someone who loves playing a role in the evolution of journalism online. The twelve sites I manage are looking great. At the same time, I finished teaching my second semester of News Literacy at Stony Brook University, one of the most useful courses I’ve seen at a college. I’ll be teaching again this spring,which will be my third semester. I really do enjoy teaching college, and I hope to be able to do it for a long time.

The year definitely had its hard times, something I think that was shared across the globe as we witnessed revolutions and uprisings in the Arab world and economic hardships bring countries and people to their knees. The weather was a mess, starting with a very snowy winter and followed by heat waves and eventually Hurricane Irene knocking down tress and power in my community. Late summer and fall brought more rain, really hurting the Long Island wine region that I hold dear.

And for a moment there, people actually took Herman Cain seriously.

As for 2012, well I’m an optimist. I expect better weather, on all levels, for all of us.

My resolution is the same as it always is, to become the man I want to be, a noble goal for this work in progress.

Happy New Year, all.

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Bermuda’s Blue Beaches

Henry E. Powderly II — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 20:57:44 +0000

There’s not much I can really say about this. The pink sands, the turquoise waters and the green vegetation frame some spectacular beaches in Bermuda. Here are a few pictures I was able to get.

Photo of the Day: House Rainbow

Henry E. Powderly II — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 19:02:23 +0000

Don’t you love finding little rainbows inside of your house?

Leaves Are Supposed to Fall, Not Trees

Henry E. Powderly II — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:09:20 +0000

When leaves fell off the tress in woods near my home it was clear that I’d lost a lot of trees in 2012. We had strong storms all summer, followed by Hurricane Irene toppling trees throughout my neighborhood. Fall wasn’t any kinder. It was wet, it was windy and it even delivered a freak snowstorm on Halloween. Add that up and the trees just couldn’t take it. Many fell down, taking other ones with them, while the older ones, perhaps already dying for years now, rotted away and fell apart.

But it seems like this has happened everywhere. Driving through Stony Brook University the other day I saw just as many trees toppled in woods lining campus. Even driving north a week ago to see my parents I saw dozens of bare tress in Westchester County along Route 684 knocked down and splintered.

The Associated Press picked up on this a few days ago, focusing on the parklands and gardens in the Northeast and New York City that were hit hard.

Uprooted trees and snapped-off boughs were evident after each storm, but not until this month, when surviving trees finally lost their leaves and arborists found hidden cracks and other damage, was the full scope of the devastation appreciated, managers said.

…

Forrest estimated that 3,000 trees were lost or damaged at the garden in the Bronx. In Manhattan’s Central Park, more than 1,000 of the 23,000 trees have been removed or are likely to go, said Neil Calvanese, vice president for operations at the Central Park Conservancy, which cares for the park under contract with the city.

I haven’t seen any local stories on this yet. Have you noticed the same thing?

Below are some photos from my woods so you can see what I mean.