http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/ Parc Lincoln Hotel on the upper west side. I actually liked this place for its gritty view of and proximity to the George Washington Bridge. If you ever entered Manhattan via the upper level of the GWB then you drove right past my room at 9 Cabrini. Coincidentally, a new movie coming out this month (October, 2008) is set in Washington Heights. That movie stars Edward Norton and is called Pride and Glory. I may check this movie out just to see if this building I used to live in makes an appearance.]]> en-us sorabji.com Gallery 2 RSS Module, version 1.1.7 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:48:45 -0500 360 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/d/83895-14/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights.jpg http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/ http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/wall_decorations_48.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/wall_decorations_48.jpg.html
The light blue sheet of paper to the right is a poster for the Apology Line, a telephone art project with which I was involved for a few years. Allan Bridge, who called himself "Mr. Apology" when he was working on Apology, used to put these posters up around town in the high crime areas, soliciting calls from hardline criminals who might want to anonymously get something off their chest.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:29:46 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/47.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/47.jpg.html
I was only in this room for a few weeks before moving across the hall the louder room with the more glamorous view of the George Washington Bridge. This room was silent as a tomb compared to that other room, but I liked the other room better.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:37:26 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/46.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/46.jpg.html
One of my earliest memories of this room was looking through the window with the metal gate and seeing women in a building across the alley that separated this building and theirs. The women were folding laundry, and from what I could tell laundry was being done in that room 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I was only in this room for a few weeks, but I never looked out this window without seeing laundry being done in the building across the way.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:13:57 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/wall_decorations_44.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/wall_decorations_44.jpg.html
I realize now that this and the following picture of my wall might make me look like something of a psychopath. I never thought of that way at the time. I imagined it a bit of a collage for which I made use of the wall simply for lack of a cork board or other bulletin board type of object. I do not now nor have I ever again had a wall that looks like this, but I can't say that I have not contemplated doing something like this again. It seems like a suitable way to get ideas in front of me.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:16:45 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/42.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/42.jpg.html
The television and cable box were present when I moved in, and I do not remember ever using them. The Tower of Treats box is not filled with candy, but the Tower of Treats was a common gift from Harry & David that my mother would send for birthdays and holidays.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:35:32 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/41.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/41.jpg.html
I was in this room when news came that Mikhail Gorbachev had reportedly resigned from the office of President of the Soviet Union. I say "reportedly" because that is how it was described by the news announcer whose voice I heard through the radio shown in this picture. I knew that Gorbachev's resignation was significant but my grasp of world events was short on details. Nevertheless, I was interested in this story as it broke because the newscasters seemed to suggest that Gorbachev had been kidnapped.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:33:57 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/piano_room_40.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/piano_room_40.jpg.html
The piano was left here by a previous resident. In fact the piano had been in the apartment longer than anybody, and the tenant who had lived here the longest could not say how long it had been here. The piano had a brittle, twangy sound and a wildly recalcitrant action, but I liked it.

The score on the piano music stand is a Shulamit Ran piano sonata.]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:32:59 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/21.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/21.jpg.html ]]> mark thomas photo Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:34:52 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/17.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/17.jpg.html ]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:41:16 -0400 http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/gwb_bus_terminal_16.jpg.html http://www.sorabji.com/pictures/9_Cabrini_Washington_Heights/gwb_bus_terminal_16.jpg.html ]]> mark thomas photo Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:40:52 -0400