IMAGINE, if you were in Boston
On the day of the flare
and it fired your daughter
and you dived in the dare
Hell rises
and heaven opens
the souls are not lost
they are moments to bare
BOSTON, is the angel
that brought the fire to lair.
Category: OBSERVATIONS
WHY WRITE
Dad used to say, the only thing I have to show for my life, is you.
Just cause I write doesn’t mean that I have something to say,
that isn’t already known. I write for everyone that feels something different, and no one wants to listen.ย 
It’s my life.
Dad in Beverly Hills Court. On a charge for not registering as a criminal. He moved to Bel Air.
THE LEGEND LADY OF PALACE AVE
The throw of the dice this week lands on adventures in livingness; one day at a time. People with terminal illness, suffering from a shattered romance, a death of a friend, a natural disaster, always say the same thing; One day at a time.
Walking up Palace Avenue on a day spread with sunlight, and a continuum of power walkers, bikers and runners, passing by in whiffs of urgency, I took my time. I didnโt feel like flexing, just evaporating into the shadows, and the moving clouds. I walked by a little adobe, that once was a dump site for empty bottles, cartons, worn out furniture, and piles of wood. A year later, the yard is almost condominium clean. Just as I was passing the driveway, the little woman whom Iโd seen walking up Palace with her bag of groceries, appeared like a gust of history in the driveway of her adobe casita. She wore her heavy blanket like coat and a bandanna on her head. Regardless of weather, sheโs bundled up in the same woven Indian coat and long wool skirt. I stood next to her, a foot or so taller, and she unraveled history, without my prompting. She told me about the Martinez family, the Montoyas, and the Abeytas, all families she knew, all with streets named after them. Estelle asked me my name, and then took my hand in her weathered unyielding grip, โOh I had an Aunt named Lucero, and we called her LouLou.โ She didnโt let go of my hand, and then she told me that the families, some names Iโve forgotten, bought homes on Palace in 1988 for $50,000, She shook her finger to demonstrate her point. โYou know how many houses the Garcias bought? Five! Then they fixed them up and sold them.โ
I could have stood there in the gravel driveway listening to Estelle all afternoon. She owns the oral history I love to record; but it is difficult to understand her, she talks with the speed of a southwest wind. We parted and I thought about the times in my life when the smallest of interactions elevates my spirit. In older people, who are not addicted to gadgets and distant intimacy, I’m reminded of how speed socializing has diminished the opportunity for a sidewalk chat.
ย
MENTAL HEALTH MURDER AND , SUICIDE,
MENTAL HEALTH, When will we take notice that THIS SICKNESS KILLS, I could rage in the streets right now. My eyes are filled with tears, my heart is too heavy to lift me up.
SANTA FE PLAZA
I’VE JAMMED MY LUELLEN
AS MUCH AS I DIG INTO FORMERย & FOREIGN DESIGNS, FILMS, BOOKS, AND ADVERTISEMENTS, I WAS BOUND TO FIND MY TRANSGRESSION LIFE.ย I LASTED FOR 9 SOLID MONTHS. ENOUGH TIME TO GIVE BIRTH TO ANOTHER REED.
SEND WINTER CLOTHES
A Desperate Plea For Winter Clothes
The owners of New Jersey’s NJ Skateshop are desperately trying to collect winter clothes for neighbors without heat and members of their community who were left homeless by Hurricane Sandy, as a Nor’easter is forecast to hit the stricken area next week.
Co-owner Chris Nieratko reports two of the shop’s four stores have electricity and have been stocked with power strips to allow residents to charge their phones and “pretend things were normal if only for a while.” But many are ill-equipped to handle the incoming storm, he writes, and are already struggling: “Seeing your children cold and hungry is a feeling I never want any of you to experience.”
Nieratko is asking for shipments of any winter clothing to the store’s New Brunswick location, from which they will distribute to people in need:
I have no TV so I don’t know what you’re hearing on the news, but let me tell you, it’s bad. Very bad..we’ve opened to the door to anyone with children. For days we ran generators sparingly because there was no gas…
There’s another storm coming. Temperatures are dropping. Things are getting colder and even scarier. I am writing to you to ask for your help in clothing the displaced, homeless, under-dressed skaters in our community and their families…If you have anything warm (socks, sweatshirts, jackets, beanies, gloves, shoes, tees, ANYTHING) doesn’t matter if it’s 5 seasons ago…there are many in need from very young to very big XXL. Anything you can spare to help people stay warm will be appreciated.
Please send whatever you’re able to (and there’s no box too small) to our New Brunswick shop:
NJ TWO 29-B Easton Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Label the box HURRICANE RELIEF
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10:45 AMย โย Today
Photo of National Guard in South Beach, Staten Island, today.
10:34 AMย โย Today
Long Island Man Waits Hours for Gas So He Can See Affleck Movie
Deer Park-North Babylon Park Patch reports:
Harold Jamison will make it to the Tanger Outlet center this afternoon to see Ben Affleck’s “Argo.””That movie is so good, I have to see it. I’m not missing it. It’s about the 1979 Iran conflict and there is old TV video clips and everything,” Jamison said.
But first, he was living his own 1970s-style flashback, a nearly three-hour wait to get gas in Deer Park in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Jamison was in line to get gas at the Deer Park Express station on the corner of Deer Park and Long Island avenues. He was still idling around the corner on Lake Avenue and E. 4th Street. In 90 minutes, he had moved two blocks.
Read the full story, and check out Mark’s excellent “Sweet Daddy” jacket on Deer Park-North Babylon Park Patch.
10:33 AMย โย Today
HuffPost’s Sam Stein reports:
WASHINGTON — Before hitting the campaign trail for his final swing before the election, President Barack Obama on Saturday stopped by the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington for a briefing on Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.
“We still have a long way to go to make sure that the people of New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and some of the surrounding areas get their basic needs taken care of and we get back to normalcy,” Obama said, adding that the situation continues to be his “number one priority.”
The president emphasized five components of recovery: getting power back on as quickly as possible, pumping water out of flooded areas, making sure people’s basic needs are taken care of, debris removal and getting transportation systems up and running again.
“Our hearts continue to go out to those families who have been affected, who have actually lost loved ones,” Obama said. “That’s obviously heartbreaking. But I’m confident that we will continue to make progress as long as state and local and federal officials stay focused.”/blockquote>
Read more here.
10:00 AMย โย Today
OurAmazingPlanet reports:
With coastal communities in New York and New Jersey still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, the last thing the area needs is another storm. But that’s exactly what it might get.
A nor’easter is predicted to potentially hit the East Coast next Wednesday (Nov. 7), and beach erosion experts are concerned about further damage to shorelines devastated by Sandy.
9:55 AMย โย Today
Check out this list of places where you can volunteer today in New York.
Options include volunteering in a park, making a donation, donating blood, and going door-to-door through the hardest hit region.
9:54 AMย โย Today
HuffPost’s Tom Zeller reports:
There’s no question that an event like Sandy will have insurers adjusting their actuarial tables. Estimates on the amount of damages in the wake of this week’s storm vary, but all are well into the tens of millions. …
Whatever the ultimate value, climate science suggests in broad terms that a warming planet will likely produce more muscular storms, as well as increased heat waves, droughts, higher-precipitation in some areas, and other weather events that have clear implications for the long-term viability of the insurance industry.
9:04 AMย โย Today
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@ quasimado : MTA official on the L train: The tunnel there is flooded from wall to wall, ceiling to ceiling… it’s going to take awhile. #noo |
8:44 AMย โย Today
Per the White House Press Office:
THE PRESIDENT: Well, listen, I just completed not only a meeting with our team here at FEMA and all of our Cabinet officers who are involved in the recovery process along the East Coast, but we also had a conference call with the governors of Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, as well as many of the municipalities who have been directly affected by this crisis and this tragedy.
We still have a long way to go to make sure that the people of New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, and some of the surrounding areas get their basic needs taken care of and that we start moving back to normalcy.
A couple of things that we’ve emphasized: Number one, that it is critical for us to get power back on as quickly as possible. And just to give people an example of the kind of work we’re doing — the military, DOD, thanks to the work of Leon and others, have been able to get military transport facilities to move cherry-pickers and personnel from as far away as California to get that equipment into the area so we can start getting some of the power back on as quickly as possible. It is a painstaking process, but we’re making progress.
Number two, we’re getting assets in to pump as much water out as possible. Lower Manhattan obviously is a particularly acute example, but there are problems with flooding that are affecting substations throughout the region. That’s going to continue to be a top priority.
Number three, making sure that people’s basic needs are taken care of. As we start seeing the weather get a little bit colder, people can’t be without power for long periods of time, without heat for long periods of time. And so what we’re doing is starting to shift to identify where we can have temporary housing outside of shelters so people can get some sense of normalcy. They can have a hot meal; they can have the capacity to take care of their families as their homes are being dealt with.
Number four, debris removal still important. Number five, making sure that the National Guard and other federal assets are in place to help with getting the transportation systems back up and running — that’s going to be critical.
What I told the governors and the mayors is what I’ve been saying to my team since the start of this event, and that is we don’t have any patience for bureaucracy, we don’t have any patience for red tape, and we want to make sure that we are figuring out a way to get to yes, as opposed to no, when it comes to these problems.
The other thing I emphasized, though, is that it is much easier for us to respond if we know what these problems are out in these areas, so if everybody can help publicize the number 800-621-FEMA — 800-621-FEMA — then individuals can register with FEMA and immediately get the assistance that they need.
And so the more that folks in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut understand that there are a lot of resources available for them, not just with respect to housing, but also with respect to childcare, medicine, a whole range of support, then we want to make sure that they contact us as soon as possible if they’re in distress because help is available.
Let me just close by saying this: Obviously we’ve now seen that after the initial search and rescue, the recovery process is difficult and it’s painful. But the governors at the local level — Governors Christie, Cuomo, and Malloy — they are working around the clock, their teams are working around the clock. We are incredibly grateful to the heroism and hard work of our first responders, many of whom themselves have had their homes flooded out. Our hearts continue to go out to those families who have been affected and who have actually lost loved ones — that’s obviously heartbreaking.
But I’m confident that we can continue to make progress as long as state, local and federal officials stay focused. And I can assure you everybody on this team, everybody sitting around the table has made this a number-one priority and this continues to be my number-one priority.
There’s nothing more important than us getting this right. And we’re going to spend as much time, effort and energy as necessary to make sure that all the people in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut know that the entire country is behind them in this difficult recovery effort. We are going to put not just 100 percent, but 120 percent behind making sure that they get the resources they need to rebuild and recover.
8:43 AMย โย Today
From the AP:
New York’s governor says the U.S. Department of Defense will set up emergency mobile fuel stations around the New York City metro area.
Free gasoline will be distributed, with a 10-gallon per-person limit.
The announcement was made Saturday at a briefing by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
8:32 AMย โย Today
FlightStats.com has issued a report stating that from October 27th to November 1st in North America alone, 20,254 flights were canceled due to Hurricane Sandy. Roughly 9,978 flights were canceled at New York area airports alone.
United stands as the airline with the most cancellations by Sandy (2,149), followed by JetBlue (1,469), US Airways (1,454), Southwest (1,436), Delta (1,293) and American (759). In an examination of weather events over the past seven years, Sandy comes in second in terms of total number of cancelled flights, behind the North American Blizzard of February 2010 (22,441 flights).
8:11 AMย โย Today
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@ quasimado : Cuomo: 80 percent of NYC subway system restored. |
7:30 AMย โย Today
From AP:
Even with her Coney Island apartment squarely in the path of Superstorm Sandy, Loraine Gore was staying put. At age 90, she said, she had her reasons.
“I’m tired,” she told a friend who urged her to evacuate. “I don’t want to go.”
After floodwaters subsided, Gore’s body was found face-down in her home โ one of nearly a dozen New Yorkers over the age of 65 who perished in the storm.
7:18 AMย โย Today
Fire powered cell phone chargers being sold in downtown Manhattan. twitpic.com/b9tz8y
Andrew Kaczynski @BuzzFeedAndrew 7:00 AMย โย Today
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@ NYGovCuomo : Governor Cuomo Announces Deployment of Temporary Fuel Trucks Throughout the Region http://t.co/w9azV2wN |
6:55 AMย โย Today
From The Associated Press:
Motorists in 12 northern New Jersey counties will be allowed to buy gasoline just every other day under an order by Gov. Chris Christie that takes effect at noon Saturday.
Christie says he wants to ease long lines and extended wait times at gas stations and prevent a fuel shortage in the state hard-hit by Superstorm Sandy.
Read the whole story here.
10:33 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
HuffPost blogger Rep. Ed Markey writes:
Information, in advance of storms and to aid relief after, plays a critical role. That is why both NOAA and FEMA must have the resources they need to protect families.
As Gov. Chris Christie mentioned in remarks this week, the loss of life could have been much worse. No one took Sandy lightly, as early warning and real time information derived from NOAA’s satellites and forecasts saved lives.
This is a perfect example of the dangers of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wisc.) budget proposal. That short-sighted scheme would cut $250 million from the NOAA’s satellite program, crippling our weather prediction capability. NOAA ran an analysis in 2011 that found without data from the satellite closest to the end of its shelf life, the accuracy of its forecasts for major storms like blizzards and hurricanes would decrease by approximately 50 percent.
That’s the difference between knowing the storm will bring heavy rain or cause a flash flood and would place lives at risk.
10:02 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
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@ ASPCA : NYC ALERT: 24-hour hotline for evacuees to report pets who need rescue! **347-573-1561** #sandypets Please RT |
9:57 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
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@ NBCPhiladelphia : After the #INGNYCM was canceled, @Philly_Marathon offers marathoners a race to run if they raise money for charity. http://t.co/WKNWbpoy |
9:21 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
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@ BreakingNews : CNN puts US death toll from Superstorm Sandy at 106 – @CNN http://t.co/00351ytV |
9:07 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
HuffPost’s Alice Hines and Mark Gongloff report:
At 3 p.m. on the Friday after Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, the St. Jacobi church in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, was overflowing with boxes of water bottles, piles of clothes and volunteers baking bread pudding. The mood was busy and hopeful as 350 people helped sort donations from across Brooklyn to be sent out to neighborhoods like Staten Island and Far Rockaway that were devastated by the storm.
But one key element was missing: gasoline.
“We have a lot of everything right now,” said Diana Aguinaga, a dental hygienist who was volunteering at the donation hub, a joint effort of 350.org and Occupy Wall Street. “What we really need is a car with gas.” Outside the church, there were about 15 parked drivers loading and unloading supplies, though not all of them had enough gas in their tank to go as far as was needed.
8:45 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
HuffPost’s Ben Hallman reports:
On Thursday afternoon, firemen set up a few grills near an intersection here and cooked burgers for hungry residents in this beach community devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
On Friday afternoon, the grills were gone. The firemen were now training a hose on a row of businesses and homes around the corner that had burned down at the height of the storm. The only lunch option for those in need was a small pile of packaged goods dumped in a unappetizing heap on the dirty ground near a crowded mobile phone charging station set up by police. The nearest hot meal was more than a mile away, past the smoldering ruins, at an intersection where Ajay Singh and three other Sikh men from Queens had come of their own initiative to dole out steaming bowls of rice and beans and toasted bread made in their church kitchen.
8:15 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
HuffPost’s Jaweed Kaleem and Lucas Kavner report:
Waiting in a 45-minute line Friday morning at a Hess gas station in Center Moriches, Long Island, to fill up a portable fuel tank, Chip Daniel noticed sudden a flurry of police cars surrounding the station. He heard shouts and stomping, and the groaning of drivers in the packed crowd of cars in what is becoming an increasingly familiar scene at New York and New Jersey gas stations in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
“There was some jackass trying to cut the line and they called the cops. Four police cars came up to him and he began arguing with the police,” said Daniels, 44. “It took them some time, but finally he went back to his own spot.”
7:49 PMย โย 11/ 2/2012
HuffPost’s Katie Bindley and Bonnie Kavoussireport:
The show was supposed to go on. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a midday press conference Friday that the ING New York City Marathonwould lift New Yorkers’ spirits following the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, much like it did after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.But the anti-marathon backlash rose Friday as the death toll in New York reached 41, the city’s the transit system remained crippled and the storm’s economic damage was estimated at $50 billion. The marathon’s starting line was to have been on hard-hit Staten Island, where homes and lives were lost this week.
Read more here
ART OF BAR WRITING
ART OF BAR WRITING
SANTA FE, NM
It was just 3 in the afternoon, and I’d returned from a trip to San Diego, and my body craved relaxation, but not in the house, where suitcases remained unpacked, and dishes to be washed.ย I walked down to La Fonda Hotel and sat at a table in the woodsy and old leather bar.ย The smell of tequila and chips permeates the room, so I flowed with the
ambiance and ordered guacamole and a margarita. Sipping slowly, I took notice of the other people around me; old men in Spanish colonial chairs staring into the hotel activity, the reception desk staff, fudging with room reservations, and the lovely waiter, who bowed each time he came to my table. I hadn’t planned on thinking about the script I’m working on, and just as I was unwinding my limbs from the plane ride and trip from Albuquerque, ideas started boiling up like bubbles about this script. I panicked because I didn’t have my journal, or even a pen.ย ย Ah! the gift shop.. โฆ
” Do you have a writing pad?”
โWhat kind?โ
“With lines.”
” We have a few.”
” I’m in a hurry, anything will do.”
” What’s the rush?”
” I’m a writer,”
” Oh, I get it.” The clerk rushed through the transaction,ย and as I was about to leave I remembered, ย
” And a pen.”
She handed me the one she was writing with, and off I went.
Seated with my tools, I scribbled the thoughts as fast as they entered my still sober self, and when I finished, I took to writing about my surroundings.ย Yes, this is a place to bar write. I’ve observed Sam Shepard in several places writing through a meal. He has the distinction of not being bothered, but if he is, he draws a line around his space with his power pupils, one glance, and you’re blown off his planet. Sam does not alwaysย position his power pupils to defer interruption, I’ve seen him put his pen down and engage the stranger. His eyes turn to a likeness of the Mustang horse, wild and waiting for tenderness.
ย You have to practice this art, because invariably someone will ask if you are a writer, if you are published, and then they tell you they want to be a writer too.ย I don’t have power pupils so I put on my head-set and if necessary placeย my phone to the ear, if I am in the middle of a superlative sentence that I cannot stop.ย You also have to monitor your drinking, because Iโve learned more than one glass, is not going to read like it did while you were drinking. ย
ย 
HAHA IN SANTA FE
I go to the market, and buy sixย items.” Do you want a bag?” he asks? “No I’ll juggle them on my head.” At the bar at Geronimo, ‘ Do you live here,” from the man sitting next to me. Gibberish weather, and wine conversation,ย then I ask what his wife does, he turns his back and talks to the woman on the other side of him.ย Another night at Geronimo, a man ( high dollar Texan) buys me dinner because he thinks I’m so different.. We decide to go dancing at El Farol. I meet up with two humorous gay fellas on the porch, and while having a cigarette, the man exits and leaves without a word. At La Po, the waitress asks me, why I am staying here. I tell her because my house is rented. ” Oh, do you still own it?” she says. The front page of Pasatiempo event guide is a story, ” Are you paying too much for pot?”
A man walks up to my porch, ” Are you open?”ย “No, but come in” I say and he walks around and tells me he dreamth about my red room, as the office of his character in his screenplay.
Wells Fargo is my favorite. Asย soon as you walk in, a bank hostess, sings, “Welcome to Wells Fargo” and then I wait 20 minutes for a teller. After that, I spend another twenty minutes watching what the clerk is doing because they always put my business income in my personal account. La de da, if you want to live like it’s all a joke, move to Santa Fe. It will transform your rigidness into a loosely tied knot of learning how to adapt, as if you were in another country.
The plumber who is amiable fun-loving man, whose name is Tim gives me a ride to Wells Fargo so I can pay him cash. Tim lived here all his life, but he’s having trouble finding a pen, and a calendar to mark the next payment date, and then we pass Wells Fargo, and he says, is this it? I say Tim, it’s been here a long time, and he says, I got so many jobs I don’t know what’s newer than 1960.
The streets are narrow and filled with pot holes, so when a delivery truck can’t find a parking space, they pull up on the sidewalk, and over the years, the sidewalks have bubbles, cracks, and are worn down. It requires tightrope talent, and if you wear stacked heels, you’ll never make it to the corner. My heel got stuck between two bricks and I had a hellava time breaking free.
EMPIRE STATE OF MIND
ADVENTURES UNKNOWN
Iโm sitting in a squeaky clean room, sanitized by professionals,ย feeling self- consciously un-scrubbed. Rooms like this are serious; medical sitting rooms, where surgeons come in after youโve met all the cheerful and optimistic staff members.
Just a few days before, on a pillow size slice of beach, Rudy and I
crouched up on two boulders. โItโs better up here; I donโt want to sit a foot away from a couple kissing.โย He was right; we had mezzanine seats, and were at least twenty feet from the sleep over party down below. ย It reminded me of a fold out beach photo; ย guys and dolls on their stomachs, leaving their bronzed backs to glow in the sunshine.ย The girls legs dangled in the air, rising up and down with each giggle.
โYou donโt look happy.โ ย I said after watching the corners of Rudyโs ย mouth tighten and drop. ย He stared out to the ocean for a long two minutes.
โ I get nothing from a beach swarming with people. ย I go for the closeness to nature, the silence beyond the roar of the ocean. When we were at Kellyโs there wasnโt anyone else but us. โ (Kellyโs Cove, San Francisco)
I thought about it, and how the crowd was entertaining me, and how Iโd dismissed the bold and demanding essence of the oceans power.
โYouโre right, itโs different. I donโt ever remember Del Mar so crowded on the 4th of July.ย ย ย I was here in 1986, with Hannah Head, and a crowd. It was overcast, andย we ended up at one of the crowdโs house in Encinitas, in a hot tub. I still have the photo.โ
โ Where was I?โ
โ Remember? You didnโt like her. Or weโd broken up, I canโt remember.โ
โ Why donโt you go in the ocean?โย He asked.
โ I donโt want to go in if you canโtโ
โ No way! ย I want you to enjoy yourself.ย Iโve not been in the water in three years, but Iโd go today, except I have to wait another week. The stitches look all healed.ย See the scars. โย ย Heย raised his shirt, and pointed, ย โI look like Carlito;ย โ no big deal, in and out, boom boom.โย ย The scars were still purplish red from a hernia operation then an appendectomy, and then cancer in one month. ย Thatโs why he was on the boulder; wearing a cowboy hat and cowboy boots.
โI must look like a Hillbilly from West Virginia.โ
โYou look like Clint Eastwood! All right, Iโm going in.โ
My skin was warm and damp and I walked through the aisles of legs, blankets,ย chairs, toys, and cabanas to the waterโs edge.ย Prissily sensitive to anything cold,
I layered my body down slowly under water, and got lost riding waves.ย Everyone had a boogey board or surfboard; and one kid swiped me as he passed.ย Rudy was right, not the same, but under water the thrill was not gone.ย Beneath the surface, I surrounded to the sea as if he was a lover.
Maybe it was that night we ate outdoors on the terrace and watched the sunset slip like an eye lid.ย We didnโt talk too much about the medical meeting, or what was said, in such long-winded sentences with words out of medical journals. They were preparing us for the next surgery.ย Rudy wanted to talk about old times; in Del Mar, and old times in Taos, and New York, and all the other places weโve experienced together.ย One day we went up to San Juan Cap to browse the antiques stores. Rudy spends hours picking through shop collections. He walks slow as molasses while I am aisles ahead, and miss all the good stuff. ย Thatโs one of collisions we have adapted to.ย I go fast, and he goes slow, I turn right and he turns left.ย I say, โdid you get the for rent sign?โ And he says we have one, and we discover weโre talking about different properties.
We didnโt see anyone we knew when we were in Del Mar, except those same Starbuck sippers, now with less formality and an air of comfort in retirement.
โWonder what happened to Blondie?โ
โWhich one?โย I answered.
Afterwards, while we were waiting for the talking pedestrian traffic light to shout out; WAIT, WAIT, WAIT,ย Rudy started imitating it really loud. The family behind us joined in and the kids got wild in the middle of the street.
โRemember when Whitey threw the keys to his new Jag to you and said take a ride?โ
โYea, that was the first day we met him.โ Rudy said.
โNo it wasnโt.โ
โYes it was, or maybe the second day, but it was right in the beginning.โ
โDavid empowered our breakfast cafรฉ salon.ย He looked like God’s disciple; a crown of pearl white hair and teeth to match, bronzed skin and he wore white gaberdine pants.ย We were all intrigued because he was so at peace.
โ Let’s ask David out to dinner.” Rudy said.
” Yes, lets. But I wonder if he is tied to the Mafia like an informant. I’m writing all these posts about my Dad and he’s so mysterious, like James Bond.”
” You’re crazy, you know that.”
I wasnโt before.โ
โBefore what?โ
โI became writer.โ
Rudy leaped into his encouragement serum, knowing Iโm at the end of the tight rope, and also knowing I wonโt look for a safety net.ย One time I threw out a few boxes of manuscripts and he rescued them from the dumpster. In another home, he picked up pages Iโd let drift out the window and taped them back together.ย Weโve lived in at least a dozen homes, casitas, or apartments since we met.
This morning back in Santa Fe, NM I walked through the Plaza, still waking up from last nightโs festivities, and summer preparation is everywhere. Big storewide sales, street vendors, hobos, dogs on leashes, old men searching for a memory, and crews setting up the sound stage in the Plaza. All of us are thrown out of our homes to either collect or spend money. Beyond the money, thereโs the circumstance of meeting someone you havenโt seen lately, or a movie in production, or a blazingly poetic sunset.
The air is perfumed with grilled chilies and sizzling greasy meat from push carts, bringing flies and children, like they do in Spain or Mexico. ย I walked into a Jewerlry shop and asked about a Navajo cross on a string of pearls. The saleswoman was a girl, with a laughing smile, and birch-brown eyes.ย She told me the cross can work for anyone, and that they pray four times a day, once in each direction. ย I thought it wouldnโt hurt to start the same practice, because who can remember to pray but the tribes.
Then she told me a secret. ย โAll the pueblos are preparing for the big dances, and they are secretly praying for rain.โ
โ Really? You mean all this rain we have hadโฆ
She tilted her head to one side and smiled.ย โ You can come in anytime and Iโll tell you stories.โ
I walked out, with that singular enraptured sense of climbing off my boulder, and into the waiting discovery.ย Late at night I sat outdoors listening to the song of the crickets and thought how a hundred years ago this house was here. ย This was Ed Barkerโs home and his relatives come by often to tell me stories. He was a very prominent wildlife and game protector, and the first Commissioner of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish. ย It was Ed who suggested the little black bear cub who was caught in the 1950 Capitan Gap Fire, a wildfire that burned 17, 0000 acresย in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico, become the mascot for fire safety.ย One moment youโre safe, the next youโre not; but you canโt live on a boulder, anymore than a cub should live in a Zoo.ย To be continued.
My responsibility as a writer is to assure people taking a chance in life is the only way to live, and so โฆ I throw the dice.
OUR INTERIOR LIVES.
We hear our voice utter in youth, in our exuberance for life without doubt. In adolescence we begin to question, every nuance, expression, thought and answer.
Thenย during our academic or wandering career years it is subordinated, for to-do lists, obligatory appearances, exams, false presentations, social expectations, ambition, competition, and a eagerness to achieve. A distortion of our inner voice emerges.
Until one day, a reminder drops in your lap, and you ask yourself, ‘ WHERE HAVE I STRAYED?ย
This is about returning to the forever young paradigm.
Thanks for all your comments and contributions!
ADVENTURERS IN LIVINGNESS 