Launch Site

Eight years ago during Thanksgiving week, I lost my job: the 197-year-old firm (I’ll keep it that vague) north of Boston announced then that doors would close forever the following May 31. I’m thankful this loss led me to New York, place of unusual cultural richness, especially in the sixth borough. To mention a few, 30 years of Barge Music,

 

two years ago a tugboat Rachel Marie towing an island tailed by a gate, Opera on a tanker, and now H20 Arts presents a book launch for Gabriel Cohen‘s The Graving Dock

near the graving dock, and in the delightfully named “tailshaft + valve room” (x marks the spot “reading shed) above in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Never heard of this yard? Have your heard of the USS Missouri? Have you heard of Alice? She and mates discharge megatons of Canadian aggregates to use in launches of all manner of buildings.

Photos, WVD.