Sunday, March 30, 2014
Mountainside NJ
Children's Country Home
Glimpsed, set back from the road on several acres, this became the large Children's Specialized Hospital system, main campus in News Brunswick with other service locations throughout Jersey. But this hospital, in the Fifties & probably well into the Sixties, treated long-term care polio sufferers in iron lungs. Which of course gave it a foreboding air despite the pleasant surroundings,. It remains a long-care treatment facility.
Labels: New Jersey, postcard
Sunday, March 02, 2014
Mount Ephraim NJ
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Snow plus a Bruce Longstreet story
Major snowstorm in Central Jersey yesterday, Elizabeth was right in the middle of a 100 mile wide storm from the southwest, a foot of snow. But we're also in a sustained cold spell that could last ten days or more with hardly a nudge above freezing, & those do not occur every winter in Central Jersey. Plus the first long-range forecast put another storm in the vicinity of Superbowl weekend. Opinion here is mixed on if that would be a good or bad thing, worth a snowstorm to see what happens.
My friend Bruce Longstreet would tell a story about his first winter in Vermont. He was convinced Vermont was his true home but underestimated winter in Montpelier. He parked his car in a public lot before a snowstorm & when he went to retrieve it afterward discovered it had been plowed under & was essentially encased in a block of ice. Rather than chip it out, he decided to wait until it thawed. But Montpelier was not Jersey, where long spells of subfreezing temperatures are actually uncommon. He walked for quite awhile.
Bruce would have been unbelieving then if someone had informed him he was really temperamentally suited to the climate around Mendocino County California, & by nature a haiku poet. Certainly I wouldn't have believed it. I think maybe one winter soured Vermont for him, but it took a few years for him to admit it to himself, he had so long dreamed of living there.
My friend Bruce Longstreet would tell a story about his first winter in Vermont. He was convinced Vermont was his true home but underestimated winter in Montpelier. He parked his car in a public lot before a snowstorm & when he went to retrieve it afterward discovered it had been plowed under & was essentially encased in a block of ice. Rather than chip it out, he decided to wait until it thawed. But Montpelier was not Jersey, where long spells of subfreezing temperatures are actually uncommon. He walked for quite awhile.
Bruce would have been unbelieving then if someone had informed him he was really temperamentally suited to the climate around Mendocino County California, & by nature a haiku poet. Certainly I wouldn't have believed it. I think maybe one winter soured Vermont for him, but it took a few years for him to admit it to himself, he had so long dreamed of living there.
Labels: New Jersey, sports, weather
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Sussex NJ
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Succasunna NJ
Sunday, December 22, 2013
Newark NJ
Sunday, December 08, 2013
Gillete NJ
Sunday, November 24, 2013
Elizabeth NJ
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Denville NJ
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Linden NJ
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
The Mary Tree burning
Last week a votive candle ignited something, which spread to the tree, & it went up in flames. The sight must have been horrifying to believers, even demonic.
Labels: New Jersey, religion
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Cherry Hill NJ
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
James Gandolfini, age 51
Wonderfully talented actor with a conscience.
Every character James Gandolfini played looked unhealthy, & he looked unhealthy in person, too. My first reaction to The Sopranos was a shock of recognition, that I had met & heard people like them many times in real life in New Jersey. I had. So had Gandolfini.
When I saw him in Crimson Tide I thought, that's the guy from True Romance. I still didn't know his name. With Get Shorty, I wanted to know who he was, he played the part of Bear so true to Elmore Leonard's written character.
The unveiling of The Sopranos, prior to the Radio City official debut, was at Union County Arts Center in Rahway. The Sopranos had the most buzz for a TV show since Twin Peaks. From my point of view, Steven Van Zant was the "name." My employer at the time, a close friend of one of Gandolfini's Rutgers roommates, managed to obtain an invitation. I walked over to the theater - I lived across the street - but could not find a way into the event. They had that place locked down.
There are only two star-celebrities Jerseyans really embraced & owned, Springsteen & Gandolfini.
My friend Jim Ruggia posted this great tribute. I don't think he'll mind me using it:
Every character James Gandolfini played looked unhealthy, & he looked unhealthy in person, too. My first reaction to The Sopranos was a shock of recognition, that I had met & heard people like them many times in real life in New Jersey. I had. So had Gandolfini.
When I saw him in Crimson Tide I thought, that's the guy from True Romance. I still didn't know his name. With Get Shorty, I wanted to know who he was, he played the part of Bear so true to Elmore Leonard's written character.
The unveiling of The Sopranos, prior to the Radio City official debut, was at Union County Arts Center in Rahway. The Sopranos had the most buzz for a TV show since Twin Peaks. From my point of view, Steven Van Zant was the "name." My employer at the time, a close friend of one of Gandolfini's Rutgers roommates, managed to obtain an invitation. I walked over to the theater - I lived across the street - but could not find a way into the event. They had that place locked down.
There are only two star-celebrities Jerseyans really embraced & owned, Springsteen & Gandolfini.
My friend Jim Ruggia posted this great tribute. I don't think he'll mind me using it:
I went to see Streetcar Named Desire with a then young Jessica Lang & Alec Baldwin as Stanley. Baldwin called in sick & Gandolfini, who was young and svelte then filled in. He brought all that power of impending explosion to the play. It was obvious he was much more than an understudy. There were times as Tony Soprano when he was able to fully communicate a terrifying vacuity in his gaze, that registered with me as what true nihilism actually looks like. He was a giant.
Labels: movies, New Jersey, obituary, TV
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Parsippany NJ
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Perth Amboy NJ
Friday, June 07, 2013
Tropical storm Andrea
All day drenching rain from Tropical Storm Andrea. Before the Weather Channel few would have considered it a tropical storm. Days like today are infrequent in New Jersey. A rainy day here is more likely to be overcast with intermittent showers. Of course, we have our thunderstorms with astonishing if brief downpours. A break now with wind picking up as the center flies northeast, maybe another shot of rain late. Then a nice day of drying out.
Labels: New Jersey, weather
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
St. Cecelia Fair
The annual St. Cecelia Church Fair, more commonly remembered & promoted as the Iselin Fair, was held in July on a large lot in Woodbridge NJ. It was very popular. An incredible number of attractions were packed into the space. In addition to the carnival rides there was a midway with games of chance, two crowded beer tents (one favored by Harley bikers), a simplified roulette wheel where you could gamble & win real money. Food was the centerpiece, a line of open tents arranged down the middle of the fairground with the usual burgers & hot dogs, ribs, deep-fried pizza, seafood, & other stuff I don't remember. Live entertainment. In the 90's I stopped by on my way home from working at the Pearl Arts Supply store on Saturday night, bought some 50/50 chances (the pot was huge), & stayed until the grand drawing closing the fair.
Enrollment at St. Cecelia's School declined, probably along with the number of parishioners available & willing to organize & staff the fair. The demographics of the area became so heavily Indian that it's now famous for Indian restaurants, bakeries, sari shops, & an India Day Parade. The school was finally closed, ending a local tradition that had existed for seven decades.
There are still good fairs in Jersey - some large county fairs, numerous smaller fairs sponsored by churches & volunteer fire depts., a big state fair up in Sussex County with livestock displays, pig races, pie contests & massive traffic jams on two lane roads leading to it. St. Cecelia was the best one in my part of the state.
Video from Gary Perry.
Enrollment at St. Cecelia's School declined, probably along with the number of parishioners available & willing to organize & staff the fair. The demographics of the area became so heavily Indian that it's now famous for Indian restaurants, bakeries, sari shops, & an India Day Parade. The school was finally closed, ending a local tradition that had existed for seven decades.
There are still good fairs in Jersey - some large county fairs, numerous smaller fairs sponsored by churches & volunteer fire depts., a big state fair up in Sussex County with livestock displays, pig races, pie contests & massive traffic jams on two lane roads leading to it. St. Cecelia was the best one in my part of the state.
Video from Gary Perry.
Labels: boardwalks, culture, New Jersey, video
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Fort Dix NJ
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Rahway NJ
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
City haters
A high school student in Newark NJ requested that he be permitted to leave school early, in the afternoon. For some reason permission was granted. He was shot & killed a block away in a targeted execution. Police say they have "determined a motive." Councilman Ras Baraka called it "crazy." Indeed. Crazy has become the norm in Newark.
But I'm not writing about this particular murder. Rather, I'm writing about the white people from the suburbs who always have plenty to say in the comments below the story. These people inevitably decry the lawlessness, the poverty, with barely-concealed racism. The only reasons they care at all are: 1. They correctly perceive that urban crime & poverty affect their taxes. 2. They fear the crime will suddenly overtake them. But statistics do not bear this out. The crime stays where it is. The menace of crime to these people is symbolic. What they really fear are the ideas that come from cities. They don't give a damn about the humanity. It would be refreshingly honest if they admitted it.
Of course, many suburbanites love cities. They commute to them, go to concerts, museums, the events & places & culture not available in the suburbs. They appreciate the physical safety of the suburbs. It's not purchased cheaply. But other people find nothing useful at all in or about cities. They hate cities. They choose to reside in the suburbs because they believe it will isolate them not only from the crime & poverty - which it generally does (altough there are increasing numbers of poor folks in suburbia struggling to maintain), but also from everything else that cities provide, mainly, a liberal spirit. Not only political liberalism. In that sense, a political conservative residing in most American cities is like a liberal residing in the Bible Belt*; you're in the permanent minority, so get used to it. But urban culture & ideas have ways of making themselves felt, & gaining acceptance, outside cities. An easy current example is marriage equality, which spread remarkably fast.
If indirectly paying the cost of crime in Newark makes you believe you're a victim in the safety of your suburban shelter, you're entitled to believe it & vent online. But don't forget that the real victims of urban crime & poverty are the people directly affected by them. What you really fear is something else.
* Christianity began as a dangerous idea from the cities.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
But I'm not writing about this particular murder. Rather, I'm writing about the white people from the suburbs who always have plenty to say in the comments below the story. These people inevitably decry the lawlessness, the poverty, with barely-concealed racism. The only reasons they care at all are: 1. They correctly perceive that urban crime & poverty affect their taxes. 2. They fear the crime will suddenly overtake them. But statistics do not bear this out. The crime stays where it is. The menace of crime to these people is symbolic. What they really fear are the ideas that come from cities. They don't give a damn about the humanity. It would be refreshingly honest if they admitted it.
Of course, many suburbanites love cities. They commute to them, go to concerts, museums, the events & places & culture not available in the suburbs. They appreciate the physical safety of the suburbs. It's not purchased cheaply. But other people find nothing useful at all in or about cities. They hate cities. They choose to reside in the suburbs because they believe it will isolate them not only from the crime & poverty - which it generally does (altough there are increasing numbers of poor folks in suburbia struggling to maintain), but also from everything else that cities provide, mainly, a liberal spirit. Not only political liberalism. In that sense, a political conservative residing in most American cities is like a liberal residing in the Bible Belt*; you're in the permanent minority, so get used to it. But urban culture & ideas have ways of making themselves felt, & gaining acceptance, outside cities. An easy current example is marriage equality, which spread remarkably fast.
If indirectly paying the cost of crime in Newark makes you believe you're a victim in the safety of your suburban shelter, you're entitled to believe it & vent online. But don't forget that the real victims of urban crime & poverty are the people directly affected by them. What you really fear is something else.
* Christianity began as a dangerous idea from the cities.
Labels: bully pulpit, in the news, justice, New Jersey
