Vichy Water – Author's Blog Just another WordPress weblog

RAMBLINGS: Shoulder replacement surgery/update. Water water everywhere. From the ‘horse’s mouth; what/why may be happening to Central Park horse carriage rides. Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark City Schools. My haunting tale(Rutgers) of synchronicity from the 400,000 Peoples Climate March in NYC on Sept 21^st.                                              October 9, 2014

 

 

 

 

I love my ‘improv’ rambling adventures; I have a list of folks wanting to come along. Maybe I should charter a small bus like Kenny Kramer(the inspiration for Seinfeld’s character Cosmo Kramer) did and a conduct tours of New Jersey and perhaps even venture across the Hudson. This particular blog installment will ramble around diverse subjects. I prefer to be brief and provocative; thanks to my prodigal son for pointing me in this direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Six weeks ago (August 26^th) at this exact moment (from now October 8^th 12:30pm) I opened up my eyes in the recovery room at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York after the amazing Dr. David Altchek sawed out my tired old arthritic shoulder bones and replaced with titanium making me  bionic of sorts. Last month, I blogged about why I crossed the Hudson River from central Jersey to have surgery. There are reasons; one being, that in all this time I have NOT taken one single pain med (pill); not in six weeks and now my mobility is coming back as if nothing happened. Yes, sometimes there are reasons to cross rivers or mountain ranges for medical care.

The world of free water troubles me. The water table in Northern India has dropped a foot over the years. Will water become the new ‘oil’ and precious commodity? Countries might go into a boxing ring with gloves or grenades over jurisdiction.  Corporations are quietly seizing the opportunity. Boutique water in plastic bottles proliferates to the corner general store at an arctic outpost. Water is a basic human right as it is essential for life. The United Nations recognizes this basic human right. A judge in Detroit recently upheld cutting off water to people who can’t afford to pay their water bills. And just you wait Henry Higgins; just you wait (from ‘My Fair Lady’) until private /global corporations get their greedy huge hands on the water business; “dystopia Mon amour.” (I just made this phrase up)

 

 

 

 

Back last May, I took the Jersey Transit bus into New York City to go to International Book Expo where 100,000 people, give or take, head to Javits Convention Center for three days to absorb every aspect of the publishing business, meet popular authors and cart away as many free books as their vertebrae and  endless autograph lines allow. Once off the bus, I play games with myself and walk wherever the prevailing wind directs me towards Javits. I couldn’t tell you on what street (36^th ?) but suddenly I was standing next to a horse outside of a midtown stable. I was fascinated with the picture; a horse near skyscrapers reaching to heaven all in one frame. Then ‘DQ’ walked out and I identified myself as a journalist from Jersey. I mentioned Mayor DeBlasio wanting to get rid of all the horses and carriages that do the century old rides in Central Park. ‘DQ’ asked if I’d like to hear the other story. First he gave me a quick tour of the stable and showed me several horses that looked pristine and not a mark on them. They were off that day and were just showered and fed. ‘DQ’ told me certain real estate interests contributed to DeBlasio’s campaign which promised to get rid of the horses. If they succeed, then this stable ‘disappears’ and those real estate interests get to build a condo on this stable site that reaches for their heaven. Time will tell.

 

 

 

 

 

I was involved in the very first Earth Day back on April 22, 1970; knowing then we only had one planet. No planet B to fall back on. Through most of the sixties, when I was in college, I sported a crew cut (short hair) mostly because I was in a professional college (Pharmacy).  My hair today rivals in length and unruliness the sixties hippie look. I didn’t get to the March on Washington on August 28^th 1963 because I lacked the soul and energy to be there; one of the great mistakes of my life. When it was time for Woodstock in August, 1969, I managed to get my hand on a car-door handle and almost go to the musical festival but my fiancé caught me and warned me not to go. So I didn’t go and regretted right up to now. Three years later, I divorced that girl.

The years have passed and I’ve known that my molecular make-up would never let me miss another chance to express my inner soul. Four days before the 400,000 People’s Climate March in New York City, with my arm still in a sling as it was four weeks after my major shoulder replacement surgery, I knew I’d be there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a magnificent experience to inhale the same atoms of air that 400,000 people were sharing. My eyes and ears absorbed the coming of all those souls dedicated and determined to raise awareness and make a difference. It was two hours before the march when I got to the city to begin absorption. I’ll leave the elements of my experience for a later blog but must comment on the universal forces of haunting synchronicity that were extant.

An hour into the march, a man in a yellow tee-shirt bumped into my good shoulder and we talked. He was George Ferguson, the Mayor of Bristol, England. George mentioned being at an event a few days earlier with several American mayors one of whom was a young dynamic force. I told him it had to be Mayor Steve Fulop from Jersey City whom I was with a few weeks before. An hour later, all of a sudden, I’m in the middle of a contingent of Rutgers students. What are the odds? Being an alumnus, I find ways to get on Rutgers campus 60 or so times a year. With my Rutgers cap prominent, I randomly asked two students for a photo-op.

 

 

 

 

 

The next night I was at Rutgers Eagleton Institute in New Brunswick for a lecture, “Inside Newark: Decline, Rebellion, and the Search for Transformation” by author, Professor Robert Curvin who wrote this book. I’m from Newark and that’s the energy which brought me to his lecture. Forty minutes before the lecture, a Rutgers student sitting in front of me got up to get water. She was the same student whom I took a picture with the day before amidst 400,000 people. In disbelief, we took another pix together.

I remembered when Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) gave $100 million to the school children of Newark, N.J. in 2010.  Dr. Curvin mentioned (to my dismay) that, “$33 million went to back pay for teachers, to appease the union.” And $12 million went for bonus to teachers for hard work.

And I wonder about the school children of Newark where I grew up, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the synchronistic forces in the universe.  And it’s 10:23 PM and I know where my prodigal son is.

 

 

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