Vichy Water – Author's Blog Just another WordPress weblog

Firstly WWI began and ended on this day.

For the second year in a row, answering the call to expand consciousness and earthly experiences, I went whitewater rafting Sunday with a group of Rutgers alumni, an ex-Marine and my son, although I wonder who put in that ‘call;’ after all, I’ve been mostly an avowed land-lubber and weekend non-adventurist, save for some doubles tennis or precarious, rocky jetty sitting. Why do I go down the rapids of a river swelled with copious run-offs from a week’s heavy thunderstorms? Well, it’s really recent life’s call to grow; the same call to environmental awareness, living to 150 years, finding past and future life, vortexes in Sedona, Arizona, meditation on Fifth Avenue, live music at Asbury Park’s Stone Pony, or absorbing contemporary Rutgers campus life.

The setting for the expedition on Sunday was the Lehigh River, nestled in dense woods off of Route 80’s exit 273, in northeast Pennsylvania. No, it wasn’t the Colorado River or even the Moose River in upstate New York, known for its intense category 5 spring time rapids, but it was problematical enough for me to go out and buy a helmet with a distinct Germanic look, so I was told, when modeling it for my rafting comrades, just before a life vest fitting. Clouds made for cool temperatures and chilly water. Last year it was hot and sunny; immersion was refreshing. People rented wet suits, an ominous prophecy of discomfort. Minutes later: the quick flowing river, jumping into the raft, securing chin strap of helmet and a four hour journey.

We were seven undaunted spirits, urging each other to paddle forward, steer quickly right, no left, to avoid large unfriendly life-ending rocks, and to bail out the raft, rapidly filling. Confession: fears were quickly dispelled as a raft with six girls (aged around eight something) and an adult passed which reminded me of Kansas’s Dorothy Gale with Toto waving hello to a couple of bikers in the middle of a tornado dream.

If they can do it; enough said. It was good to be alive, catching your breath after an enemy raft passed close enough to heave buckets of cold water at us. Retaliation is sweet and energizing.  When the river slowed, I absorbed nature. Symphonies of silence, rushing water and falls, fallen decaying trees from lightning, abandoned railroad trestles, islands in the stream, plant life growing between boulder cracks, two ducks hanging nearby; mother nature’s artistry filling every ocular vista. Last week’s blog was filled with notions of living in a remote cabin in Montana, in the middle of nature, fending, surviving and mostly escaping; Sunday I experimented with required ruggedness and I liked it a lot.

On May 22, 1970, I celebrated the first Earth Day and ever since, have marched more towards awareness of the planet’s frailty and our culpability. Vince Lombardi once said, (why didn’t I pay more attention to his greatness and leadership techniques of ascension when he was here?), “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”  I say, “The environment isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” Suppose if you put the two together; we’ll figure it out; winning, Earth, species, survival; everything is the environment which is going to catch us one day long after my Montana cabin blows away in the wind and the white dove finally ceases flying and New York City is under water.

A few years ago I got involved in the New Jersey Environmental Federation and started going to their annual conferences at Rutgers-Newark Law School. In late 1968 (memory lane time), a few of my fellow Rutgers Pharmacy school (also nearby in Newark) comrades discovered the joys of studying in the silence of the law library. I think I shall never see a quieter place to study than amidst volumes of justice and law students chasing paper. Medical school, nursing, engineering libraries all were noisier. Been there, done them all.) A few weeks before Super Bowl III, the comrades were studying; using legal mind-elevating chemicals and having a good noisy time when suddenly, a man looking like George Washington, with long white wig, told us, the British were coming and that we had to evacuate permanently. We were kicked out. When I learned the NJ Environmental Conference was held at the Law School, it became the ‘Return of the Invisible Man’ for me. The past years of conferences introduced me to many new comrades in the environmental theatre of operations. So many devoted, dedicated and inspiring people I’ve met. Among that ‘Readers Digest’ List are two stand-outs, Jeff and David, one representing Sierra Club, the other, the lobbyist for NJ Environmental Federation. The movement needs cohesiveness and unity. So I learned yesterday, the two long time friends, on and off the playing field, are not talking; each endorsed a different candidate for Governor. David’s endorsement of Governor Christie went bust.

Christie is rolling back clean energy goals and loosening regulations in my New Jersey. That Montana cabin is looking good; so good I’ve taken to collecting returnable bottles on roadsides and emptied a huge pantry cookie jar to keep all the found coin savings; a ‘Montana or Bust’ venture deal. Jeff endorsed Chris Daggett, an environmentalist who had no chance to win. Last month Christie pulled New Jersey out of a regional program to curb air pollution that causes climate change. Bill Bendix said in ‘The Life of Riley’ (a 50’s television sitcom), “What a revolting development.” Jeff and David probably won’t make up soon and the air that I breathe, water I drink here in New Jersey will be wedged into further pollution by policies of Christie. (perhaps any Governor. “It’s not personal Sonny, it’s strictly business.” It’s funny how that favorite movie quote slips into so many intelligent, relevant, contemporary conversations)

A few years ago, I was thinking about the global environmental movement or lack  thereof and conjured up a term to describe what I saw from high(up) on a red spiritual mountain in Sedona, Arizona; a tower of babble (biblical Babel?) (to talk foolishly, irrationally). In Babel, everybody spoke a different language; today’s metaphor for different agendas and values. Why would China care about car exhaust(greenhouse gas) emissions when their citizens are finally able to buy cars? Remember the smog during the Beijing Olympics? Let the west (America) come up with ideas and sacrifices first (we’ve been using cars longer) And so forth and so on. Babble (Babel) (I wonder if this qualifies as a homophone). I’ve got a lazy eye on the Kyoto protocol (climate change). Rich and poor countries still disagree on the future of the second commitment period of the Kyoto

Protocol; the only international treaty binding nearly 40 industrialized countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The discrepancy between the two groups grew even wider during the previous round of climate change talks.  I think Tower of Babble.  Point being; right here in New Jersey, grass roots, green grass still all around, we’ve still got babble dissecting the environmental movement.

Moving on, I’m going to fire away on things which ‘move’ me. Lou Dobbs, radio and TV host recently said, “I am saying drill, I am saying mine, exploit and produce. We have so many rich deposits of fossil fuels…it is mindless and self-destructive not to pursue that goal.” I wonder about clean energy economy and environmental due diligence. Climate change will turn the Baltic Sea into an increasingly freshwater sea and devastate its marine life. Smallmouth male bass fish, which inhabit our freshwater lakes, have been found to have female germ cells (oocytes) in the testes of 82% to 100%.  The boy fish’s endocrine systems are being ‘disrupted’ by chemical pollution of our water.

I love how science calls this ‘intersex fish;’ the same abuse of terminology as when Regan MacNeil in ‘The Exocist’ was possessed and the medical community called it ‘Tourettes,’ and juiced her up with ‘Halolperidol’ a powerful tranquilizer, the same way we get juiced up by the media. Think about the last fifty years of ingested hormones and other drug delicacies being flushed into the nearby Atlantic Ocean. An environmental group needed called ‘The Unflushables?” And speaking of oceans, the oceans are at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history. A deadly trio of factors – warming, acidification and lack of oxygen – is creating the conditions associated with every previous major extinction of species in Earth’s history. Marine scientists from institutions around the world recently met at Oxford University. New science indicates that pollutants such as flame retardants, fluorinated compounds and pharmaceuticals as well as synthetic musks found in detergents and personal care products have been located recently in the Canadian Arctic seas. Some are known to be endocrine disrupters (remember the small mouth bass fish) or can damage immune systems. “Enough, Calvin”

From environment to absurdities, one of my favorite blog ramblings: I get over a hundred health related emails (from a myriad of sources) a week informing me without charge (money) of latest developments and healthful tips. But I also get emails from Johns Hopkins, sometimes ten pages long; either promoting management strategies on Atrial Fibrillation for $39.95 or hawking ‘The Johns Hopkins Memory Bulletin’ subscription which is just $149 for four quarterly issues. I keep forgetting to cancel my emails from them; at this life stage I’m so into altruism and sincerity. Johns Hopkins kind of reminds me of network television breaking into programming to say a terrible virus is spreading all over the state, causing horrific symptoms, but there is something critical and timely that can be done to prevent it, so watch the news at 11PM, eleven hours away.

Did Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, call senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared “Social Security” to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats back in 2010? I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from my Day One, and now folks like Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because ‘someone’ mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that they need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.

And speaking of bills: What does the U.S. military spend annually to stay cool on bases in the war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan? $20.2 billion, former Iraq war logistics chief Brigadier Gen. (Ret.) Steven Anderson said. A gallon of gas to power an air conditioner in Afghanistan must be shipped to Karachi, Pakistan, then spend 18 days travelling for 800 miles over land in fuel convoys, dangerous transportation.

Last week, I blogged about the old Brooklyn Dodgers and Jackie Robinson. It’s absurdly coincidental but embattled Dodgers owner Frank McCourt took the dramatic step of filing his franchise(LA Dodgers) for bankruptcy Monday, setting up a showdown with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig.

Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros. And is a bit of a war going on between Google and Facebook which has 600 million members now? Facebook took in $4 billion in revenue last year and the company’s private valuation is as high as $100 billion but it has two assets, data and members. Data is nothing unless you can make it something. Google has decided instead of paying for the right to access Facebook’s social data, they will just take it, because it’s there on the ‘free’ internet. And what about long term Facebook outlook? If history has taught us anything (right from ‘The Godfather’) it’s that people don’t stay with social networks forever. How over is MySpace? So over that even the guys who founded it can’t be bothered to update their own profiles. Hey, Mark Zuckerberg recently wore a suit and tie in Paris at the G8 summit where he gave a speech to world political and business leaders. He gets around, just like the ‘Beach Boys’ song ‘I Get Around.’ We can only imagine what data doors are opened just as I now wave at a vaporous apparition of ‘J. Edgar Hoover,’ sitting at my kitchen table.

Soon, I’ll steal away to the Jersey shore at Belmar and take in some college basketball, summer league style at St. Rose High School, preceded by  jalopeno pizza across the street at Federico’s. Swirling around my consciousness, is this recurring love affair with the city of Asbury Park, New Jersey. Two weeks ago: I had an amazing dinner there, spur of the moment, downtown Asbury, half-gallon of freshly made Sangria, trolley cars and salt air, lots of people under thirty, music coming from back alleys and store fronts, a crowded boardwalk, filled sidewalk cafes, bills posted about upcoming jazz and rock. A few blocks away, ‘The Stone Pony’ where Springsteen and ‘ Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ’ kicked off.

link to magical Jersey shore.   Also check out the ‘Jersey Shore Icon Contest.’

http://www.visitthejerseyshore.com/

and for last minute special deals on Jersey shore rentals:

http://shorevacations.wordpress.com/

The city was born in 1874 and in the 1920’s the Paramount Theatre and Convention Hall were built. In 1943 the Yankees held spring training in Asbury Park and in the 1950’s my parents took me on weekends for salt-water taffy, custard, boardwalk, Merry-go-round and to see ‘Tillie,’ the face of Palace Amusements, long gone. The city is coming back big time, rich in music history. Tony Bennett sang about leaving his heart in San Francisco and if I had a voice, I’d be singing about my heart at the Jersey Shore, Belmar’s jetty and Asbury Park’s rejuvenation, redolent salt air, gentrification, and haunting forces that keep pulling me. These last few weeks, I’ve had this internal battle going on. Remote Montana cabins call me. The Jersey Shore yells just as loud. If I can appropriately file environmental attacks on my beleaguered state of New Jersey and mind(cerebral), I’ll settle into notions of going west(Montana) to visit every now and then. Perhaps while roaming antique shops of the Jersey shore towns, I can find a Conestoga wagon and hitch-it up to an old Desoto, Edsel(wish I had just one  now) or Nash-Rambler and head out west for only a few weeks, because in the final analysis, there is no place like home.

(ps. look below for a note on the asteroid which missed earth yesterday by 7500 miles)

LINKS:

New Jersey Environmental Federation:

http://www.njwea.org/

CONTACT INFO:

website:  http://vichywater.net

Facebook: Cal Schwartz

twitter: Earthood

Vichy Water book trailer (65 seconds long):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2ko9gcC_M

Oh regarding my novel, Vichy Water:

The twittersphere is abuzz over a school bus-sized asteroid that came within 7,500 miles of Earth yesterday (Monday), zooming even below some satellites. Noted science, technology, and news outlets on Twitter sensationalized the event with tweets about the asteroid being a “near miss” and “close shave” that “buzzed earth.”  NASA says the asteroid–which scientists named 2011 MD–is so small by celestial standards that it would have burned up once it entered Earth’s atmosphere.