but my neighborhood, on sundays in the summertime, lies directly in the path of a number of national pride parades--which means several midtown streets that intersect madison and fifth avenues are closed, even to pedestrian traffic. it's annoying to be forced 6 blocks and 2 avenues out of your way when you're really only block away from home. you learn to avoid that part of town all together.
on some occasions, like yesterday, my block serves as the staging area. luckily, i live in a rear-facing apartment--shut the windows, shut out the street noise.
but once you leave the building, you get a load of this:
i sort of love this guy, hangin out on the float in his ecko tee. i think his party started the night before.
see the corn cob sideburns?
normally, this kind of scene makes me want to run-lola-run. but something about the mexican day parade--the energy of the music and dance and the people, the wild costumes--kept me around for a while. i even started to like it a little...
the kids were my favorite subjects--they were utterly bewildered. what's going on? am i having fun? do i have to dance?
with a little encouragement, they followed along.
eventually they smiled, even for me.
actually, i received a lot of smiles that day, mostly shy, all warm.
hope you like the photos.
***
even the pineapples were dolled up
and: even tough guys like self-portraits
there was definitely a strong trend toward mixing the jerseys with the traditional costumes. though, these guys were straight up dodgers and cowboys.
i waited for this smile. worth it.
love her face
it really does get to be a bit much...this might be my favorite shot.
all photos © anita aguilar
