Most nights I walk the five and a half miles home from work for exercise. Unfortunately the quickest and most direct route cuts through some of the ugliest parts of Queens. Heavy industry flavors the air while wastelands and half forgotten cemeteries provide quiet sleeping areas for Canadian overnight truckers and their empty cargo. Fathers teach their daughters to drive on empty streets and dogs are let free from their leash by texting owners. It always makes for a sobering passage home. I use the time to think and plan out my evening, my week and on occasion if feeling brave, events past Christmas.

Last week I took a detour and explored a little off the beaten path. I discovered an action movie being shot, abandoned luxurious apartments with stellar views of the city anchored in the slums that fell victim to the property crash and witnessed an entire building get demolished as guard dogs tried to bite through metal fences to get to me. Did you know that there is a man that lives alone in a Winnebago on the off ramp of the Long Island Expressway? 

My greatest find was the below photograph. “NOTHING HAPPENS UNLESS FIRST A DREAM” and the blank billboard board before it.