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Decades of life lived in the Garden State; always wondered why Jersey is called that. A lot of cement, highways, malls here. Actually Jersey is more densely populated than India. In all the years of living here, I never had a garden or grew my own tomatoes. Maybe it’s living on busy corners with traffic streaming on by and a loss of vegetable growing privacy. Jersey’s ‘Garden State’  origin goes back to a Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876; Jersey was described as being nestled between New York and Philadelphia and like a barrel, had lots of good garden things to eat(before the NJ Turnpike, we had more room to grow things). Maybe Jersey should be called the toll highway state; like toll house cookies. You can’t get anywhere in NJ with out paying a toll; like the character that got stuck for life on Boston’s MTA. I never understood calling chocolate chip cookies toll house. Imagine a tourist (not from Europe) from Arizona, Arkansas or Alabama (no road or bridge tolls) and their first reaction to seeing toll collection structures spanning across the highway. Now with EZ Pass and fast express toll lanes, you have ‘War of the Worlds’ high tech ray gun structures zapping your car tag, knee caps and eye sockets while doing 55 mph driving through. I usually up my dosage of glucosamine after a week of express toll lanes; knees a little shaky and squeaky; perhaps a coincidence. Finally, look around at pop culture of Jersey. Jersey Shore. The ‘Jersey Boys'(on Broadway) The Soprano’s. ‘The Boardwalk Empire.’ I feel like Winston Zeddmore from ‘Ghostbusters’ when he yells at the end, “I love this town (state)”

 More on (Jersey) gardens and vegetables (stream of consciousness again): with the help of the Department of Defense, a biologist at Colorado State University has taught plant proteins how to detect explosives. Horticulture fighting terrorism; one day there will be all kinds of plants at airport gates (this is beyond me but has to do with ‘receptor’ proteins in the plant) More plant talk; avocados(oil) may prevent the bad stuff that kills hair follicles from getting to where it does damage; interesting thought if you like keeping hair on top. I do. More hair tips (blogs should educate): Omega 3(salmon) rich foods help hair. Bran does too; Vitamin B may slow hair loss. Go look at my Facebook pix(Cal Schwartz; you can friend me too); plenty of hair for 6 decades. No red meat (none for me since 1975) as it can lead to DHT production and hair follicle damage. I take Green Tea capsules. Does the caffeine in it slow balding?  When the play ‘Hair’ opened on Broadway in April 1968, I still had short hair; afraid to let it grow; afraid to cross the street without my mother telling me it’s safe to cross; afraid to inhale(which I guess was positive in case I ever ran for political office). Many original cast members of ‘Hair’ (like Shelly Plimpton) were recruited right off the street; a little like American Idol in Austin the other night; a lot of Texans heading to Hollywood and I love Texas and the character ‘Woof’ in ‘Hair;’ a gentle soul who loved plants. Back to hair; mine’s long now; makes me think about ‘Woodstock.'(Stream of consciousness; sometimes I enjoy where it takes me; like a magic cerebral carpet)

 ‘Woodstock‘ is a lesson about my life, looking back; longing with lingering thoughts over lasting decades. On August 15th through August 18th, 1969, the Woodstock Festival took place at Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, New York. Ten years ago, I was in South Jersey selling eye glasses and on a hot August day, my Beatles tie partly undone, I walked into an ophthalmologist’s office, on a cold call, not paying attention to the name on a white sign over my head. ‘Dr. Yasgur.’ I sat and waited to do a sales pitch and then it hit me. The doctor must be related to Max Yasgur who made Woodstock possible. It was true but quickly dispelled/avoided by the receptionist as was my offering to sell them. I think the doctor was a cousin and my ‘windy’ association did nothing to initiate a sale. On August 15th 1969, I asked my fiancé if I could go to ‘Woodstock;’ to experience life, music and protestation. That notion was quickly dispelled as well but I rejected her negativity and set out to go to Woodstock. A horn from an old black early 60’s Chevy sounded and I ran out the front door (wearing short hair); a voice called out, “Don’t go. I won’t be here when you get back.” I told the guys to go without me. Four years later I was divorced; an obvious lesson to write about now; follow your dreams. Now my hair is long and getting longer. It’s like winning an ‘Oscar’. Bogart said after winning the Oscar for ‘African Queen,’ “The way to survive an Oscar is never try to win another one.” Woodstock would’ve been an Oscar for me. So since I didn’t go, I’m still looking to win one and to go back. I shouldn’t have limited myself by not going or by things I think are too hard. Lewis Carroll once said, (Would I ever love to slip down that Rabbit Hole. I think I will, now that I’m talking about it) “Sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

 My stream of consciousness point of this Jersey dialogue is to comment that in all these years, I’ve never seen so much snow, ice, bleakness and evidences of an impending ice age. “Quite frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” Sure Rhett Butler said that to Scarlett O’Hara. I love hearing it; makes me watch the movie again just to see him walk away. With weather like this, I’m sure some politicians are saying ‘bah humbug’ and ‘quite frankly’ to theories of global warming and climate change. I saw a glaciologist (studies glaciers) talking about Antarctica and how fast glaciers are disappearing. My son grew up watching ‘Ghostbusters’ almost daily; eventually the long line of commercial products arrived; guns, roses, ambulances and fire houses. There was a line from the movie (I was ‘impressed’ like a reluctant sailor in ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’ to keep watching the movie with my son) which described an impending New York City supernatural event; Ray Stantz(Dan Ackroyd) said ‘biblical proportions.’ Do we have biblical weather events going on right now?  A monstrous storm just covered 2500 miles of America and affected 100 million people. Chicago got its third worst snow ever. At the same time a cyclone, ‘Tasi’ with 180 mph winds was about to hit Australia’s Queensland. At the same time a volcano was erupting in Kyushu, Japan sending a plume 5000 feet up and prompting a level three alert. And did I hear about a sewage treatment plant in the Boston area moving to higher ground just in case the ocean rises in twenty years? And New England roofs now are collapsing due to weight of the snow. Is this the stuff the Ghostbusters and scientists are now talking about (climate change)? Or is my friend the reckless ostrich’s head still stuck in the sand” I do try so hard to extricate.

never ever snow like this in Garden State

 Go to youtube and listen to the song ‘The Weight’ if in the mood to drift back to 1969 (from ‘Easy Rider.’)

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

 1969 drifting; innocence, incense and peppermint. I got married in 1969(first time); night before I told my mother it would only last a couple of years; was doing it for experience and the gifts. I sensed things but not what forty years in the future would bring; like an object in my pocket that could access all human knowledge. There are now 2 billion internet users. Did Facebook help the Egyptians organize the protest? Google and Twitter teamed up and launched a ‘speak to tweet’ service which circumvents the ban on the internet in Egypt. By 2015 more than 5.6 billion personal devices will be connected to mobile networks. I stopped eating red meat in 1975. A South Carolina scientist has been working for ten years to grow meat in a lab. The Jets won Super Bowl III in 1969. In 2006, 144 million people watched the Super Bowl. Ten months later 122 million voted in the Presidential election. In 1969 I used Classic Illustrated comic books to write term reports (on Art History). Google has unveiled ‘Art Project,’ an interactive virtual tour of some of the world’s greatest museums. Some ‘how to’ magazines in 1969 espoused hanging out in museums to ‘meet’ people instead of bars; what now? 1969 was a biblical year for me; a coming of age, dreams, fulfillment and disappointment. 2011 can be another biblical year. Climate change. Political change in the Mideast. My hair is getting longer. I’m anxiously waiting for another Woodstock. I’ll go this time and might even take my wife, son and wear a flower in my hair.

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 Also please check out book trailer on you tube:

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

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