Mohawk Ironworkers 1: The Scariest Thing

Brad Bonaparte, an artist, storyteller, Mohawk high steel worker, first responder, and friend of City Lore's passed away on June 16, 2010. He spent three months in the smoke and debris of Ground Zero torching steel beams, and, according to a story in the New York Post was scheduled to receive a mere $5,800 of compensation since authorities claimed his esophageal cancer might not be linked to his work on the site.
In 2007, Brad spoke to a class of 4th graders at PS 78 as part of a City Lore arts residency. He told of his experiences working high steel in Manhattan. He described walking on long steel trusses that when "that thing gets going, whoosh, whoosh. It swings back and forth. And that's a little freaky to walk on.... You have to try to get the rhythm of the wave... You've got to be able to catch the wave, as its going back and forth." The students ask how he kept his balance, and if he put his arms out. "Once in a blue moon, you'll see somebody put their arms out. But everybody really rips on them if they go across like that. You don't want to do that. There little things you can do that aren't written in any books. You don't learn them in a class. You learn them by experience." The kids asked him the scariest thing that happened to him, and he described a near death experience working on a building at 6th Avenue and 60th Street, described here. The story is posted as a tribute to Brad Bonaparte and other high steel workers who helped construct our cityscape.
This story is part of a tour about the Mohawk Ironworkers. To view other stories, visit cityofmemory.org/map/#/tour/76
To learn more about City Lore, visit citylore.org
Filmed by Judy Lieff, 2007. Edited by Lee Eaton.
City Lore, Urban Folklore, New York Neighborhood Tours 19, video 095

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I SAY HE'S LYING to the KIDS

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Wow

[@thethompsonexperience8531]

This is my uncle this is no lie, this man accomplished more in his life then you could dream to in yours