Oh Summer, that blessed time of year where it rains, rains, and pours, and is gray, and then rains some more, and you are lucky if it is in the high 60's..(oh is that the sun?..oh no it is the street lights turning on)...WAIT..That is not summer! What is going on, people?? The day before the Official First-day-of-Summer, and I am wearing a rain coat, muck boats, and carrying a stolen umbrella (which I kind of lost)???
Well, rain or shine the show must go on..and Uni-quness stops for noone and NOBODY… We will literally not allow the weather to rain out our Mermaid Parade!
So upon the N train we go, speeding at colossal MTA speeds, on our way to beautiful Coney Island. Upon arrival, the rain decides to give everyone a break just long enough to leave the shelter of the train terminal. Open air, open the flood gates!! Police barricades abound in straight lines on either side of the main stretch...ah..we spot a prime vantage point in which to fully visual exploit parade goers. Pressed up against a wet police barricade, umbrellas intertwined to form a beautiful double humped tent of sorts, we await the main event...until the quintessential New York experience happens to cross our happy little faces...
A woman picks up her 9 year old kid and launches him with all of her meager force between us and the barricade.(she literally shoved him into us)..Umbrella to camera. (nice, expensive, no-joke type camera)...I politely ask her "Excuse me we are standing here and your son is smashing the camera with the umbrella" She ignores me..so I politely rephrase "Hey Lady what the **** we are standing here, can you please move your kid over to the side? He is scratching the camera" of which she responds with a lack of response, but with a devilish smirk. What ever happened to "excuse me, do you mind if my son can stand in front of you to watch the parade?"(of which we would have considered it..and eventually yielded) All I could think of how sad I was for the poor child, who's mother has decided that his role in life should be that of a battering ram (in this current economic climate, that job does not pay)...
Upon conclusion of this mildly violent interlude, we decide our attentions and sensibility is best fixed with a drink of some sorts of an inside a place with a non leaking roof...Coney Island Freak Bar here we come!
This is where we caught two lovely Mermaids…
Jessie Engelman
Do you live in NY?
No.
Where do you live?
Milwaukee, WI! (Yay Beer and Cheese!)..Ooh! I just moved there from NY.
So, how long did you live in NY before Milwaukee?
Five years.
And did you come back specifically for the Mermaid Parade?
Yes ma'am!
Wow! So you're a regular.
Yes.
Tell me a little about your costume.
Well, I wanted to go for a little theme, so I decided to go with a
Geisha... y'know with a wig, I don't have a fin... but...
Your wig is really awesome, where did you get that from?
Her collection. (laughter)
What is your favorite food or favorite place to eat in NY?
I have to pick one?
Yes. If you could go and eat there right now, all expenses paid.
I'm gonna go with something general.. I live in Washington Heights, and Mike's Bagels is the best bagels in the city... I know it's
not expensive fancy or anything, but I love it.
And who would you say is your favorite actor at this time as far as movies, someone you admire?
Johnny Depp.
What do you do for work?
I'm in the retail industry.
Miranda Fidler
Are you also in Milwaukee right now?
No I live in Manhattan.
How long have you lived in NY?
Five years.
Where did you move here from originally?
Chicago.
If you had to put the cities side by side, how would you rate NY as opposed to Chicago?
I love NY more because there's way, way more to do... The thing I like about Chicago is that it's growing all the time... It's sort of coming into it's own now, and finally developing... But, it's too small compared to NY... I would get too bored there. And the weather in the winter is horrible, it's so cold! But it is one of the cleanest cities I've ever been to. It's amazing how clean Chicago is.
How is the public transportation system?
They have the L… It's a lot more simplistic than our subway system, but it's pretty clean and easy to navigate through.
If there's one thing that you could change about Manhattan or NY, what would it be?
Hmm, I don't know... I love it so much I don't think I would change anything because anything that's negative makes it part of it's character I guess.
Can you tell me a little about your outfit, what inspired you?
I made a pirate-mermaid... or a mer-pirate? Usually I'm a mermaid every year but I wanted to do something different.
Did you make your costume?
I did. Yes, I sewed the dress.
How long did it take you?
Umm.... A couple nights. I've been sewing for about fifteen years.
What is your passion in life? Are you living your passion?
I'm trying to live it... I design fine textiles for a living... I want to do more fashion design or Textile Design.
Is it upholstery?
Bedding... Quilts....
What brought you here today?
It's tradition now. It's my fifth time. No matter what the weather is I'm here every year.
Die hard.
As if by a pure miracle of nature, perhaps Poseidon himself, the rain slowed...then stopped! and the Parade commenced.
The still gray, now dry sky made three sea nymphs pop right off the pavement.
Janine, Kristen, & Natalie
Can you tell me a little bit about your costumes? What are you?
We're the Funkadelic Fish Flambe (duh)
So what is the ideology behind this?
We wanted to be tropical fish, bright and colorful, but we also love Marti Gras and that whole thing, so we got the masks and decided to kind of combine everything.
So are you from NY?
Janine: Not originally. Pittsburg.
Kristin: I grew up in Long Island.
Natalie: New Jersey.
Have you been frequenting the Mermaid Parade every year?
This is our second year marching.
Do you usually do it together?
We plan to but this is the first time we all made it together.
How long did it take you to get your costumes together?
A couple months. We were dreaming about it for a while.
How did the brainstorming work behind it?
Kristin: We're all creative and into arts, so we're kind of always brainstorming. You see something on the internet that inspires you, or something that you're walking by in the store and you're like "Oh my god that would be great!"
You said that you guys are into arts. What kind of work do you do?
Janine: We're all graphic designers.
Is graphic design your main passion?
Well, we're in children’s publishing so we're all like overgrown kids.
Is there anything you don't like about NY?
Janine: Making the subways work better late at night.
Well, I do not know about you all, but all of this excitement, and street drinking, has tuckered this little gal out. Off to the train were we meet Jacobie Rose in her Steam Punked Regailia.
Jacobie Rose
Tell me a little bit about your outfit.
So basically I'm going as a steam-punk mermaid. It's like neo-Victorian, kind of industrial. I've done this a couple of years in a row and I always have some sort of theme. Last year I was glam, like Esther Williams.
So you made everything?
Yes.
I really like it, it's very Mad Max.
Thanks, hehe.
So what do you do?
I'm a dancer. That's why a came to the city ... I live in NY.
Are you originally from NY?
No, I'm from Long Island.
How long have you lived here?
About three years now.
How do you like your experience so far in the city?
It's been interesting. The whole bad economy thing has taken some of the fun out of it. It's a really tough time for dancers and artists in general.
So what kind of dancing do you do?
Well I'm ballet trained... modern, jazz... a little hip hop. I was an Irish dancer for five years and competed ......So a little bit of everything.
How do you feel about what's going on in Coney Island as far as them buying the land, getting rid of it, and then not having the money to deal with it, and then the Mermaid Parade happens again this year?
It's scary because every year I think this could be the last time that we get a chance to come out and do this and it is kind of frustrating... It seems like all the good things that make this area really interesting and unique they try and take away.
Do you feel like the cultural outlets that made New York, like the arts and entertainment, and the actual freedom of expression is diminishing?
I think that's happening everywhere really. Unfortunately it's hard to sustain that kind of stuff. But... I mean people want to see this, they want to come out, but even still I guess maybe not as many people are showing up and supporting it, I don't know if that's the cause or if it's just about the money, I don't know.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I like to listen to the commentaries in movies... I'm interested in how they made the costume design and set design and art direction... I do a lot of nerd stuff... Any time I can dress up in a costume, I will.
Anyone who's interesting is a nerd.
Yeah.
It's totally true.
So yeah.... I said it... NERDS are COOL!
