9-11... My somewhat brief prospective.

             

                  I never gave much thought to writing a post about 9-11. It was only after reading an article earlier today by Neil deGrasse Tyson,that I myself thought back to that horrible day in our country's history. Like a lot of other people, I remember it like it was yesterday. I remember where I was and what I was doing that morning, I was working on the night crew at Fry's Food Store #56 at 91st Ave and Olive.

                   My grocery manager Jermaine Henley and I were changing out displays in the store. This was before the advent of the cell phone. So in the midst of all the hustle and bustle, someone calls me over the PA system saying that I have a phone call on line one. I walk up to the front of the store to the service desk. I pick up the phone and answer it. It's my wife."Thomas, a plane just hit the World Trade Center!" Wow I thought, "I wonder what the hell happened?"I like a lot of other people, I thought that (ironically) a plane had crashed into one of the towers. As amazed as I was, I was still busy working. I headed back to Jermaine and told him what was  going on,all the while helping him carry some display to the compressor  room. His immediate response is "Get the fuck out of here." He is in total disbelief.                                           
               Like myself, he too is a transplant from New York. Although Jermaine moved here when he was 14 years old, something as immense and iconic as the Twin Towers still has a hold on you, especially if you're a New Yorker. So, once we were done moving the things we needed to move, and we had a few moments to spare, we headed back up front to the service desk. At the time, Fry's was selling these small black and white televisions. I remember they ran around 10 or 12 dollars a piece. We immediately turned one of them on, and quickly tried to find a news station. No sooner had we turned on the television, that we were greeted with a full view of both towers. One had clearly been damaged already, with smoke pouring out the side. It was like that on every channel we checked. A camera was in a fixed position on the towers. Not moving. Not panning.Then as we both were scanning the screen, squintinglooking for something to solve this unraveling mystery, the second plane hit the other tower. We turned and looked at each other in total disbelief. In fact the whole thing even now when I think back, was utterly surreal. It didn't make any sense. In fact it still doesn't make any sense. I believe it was a lot more going on than meets the eye. The rest of my shift from that point on, looking back, is just a blur now. After that, Jermaine and I walked away from that service desk in silence. I just remember wanting to get home to my wife and kids. 

                  When I arrived home, the TV was obviously on, and my wife and I (like everyone else..again) was trying to piece all of it together. Because (to the best of my knowledge) no social networks existed , it was unclear at the time if anyone I knew (friend OR family) had perished that morning.               

                  Years later, someone told me that two former SJB allumni had died there. One supposedly was a co-pilot on one of the flights, and the other was in one of the towers. They also were from the same graduating class (1985) the year before I graduated from there.                                                    

                                   In all honesty, I think I've been outside the World Trade Center maybe a handful of times.If I sit back and think about it, I can probably recall many details of those times.one of the things I remember about the World Trade Center was that the streets surrounding it, what covers in cobblestone. If memory serves me right, there were many federal buildings in that area is well. Federal buildings are buildings that was built before the 1800s. So basically it looks   as though a horse and carriage would be more at home on those streets then a standard automobile would. As a child I've been to the top of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty.. Multiple times. It's strange to me that I never once have been to the top...or never got the chance to go to the top of the World Trade Center. In closing, I'll probably say my fondest memory in relation to the World Trade Center was when I went back to visit friends in 1992. At the time I was very much still single, and I made it a habit to go back at least once a year and visit all my friends on Long Island. More specifically, I went specifically to Ed more so then Dennis. This part of the story relates specifically to Ed Budd more so then Dennis Murphy. At that particular time, Ed Budd was stationed at the Coast Guard base on Governors Island. Governors Island was a Coast Guard military installation...and IS an island off Manhattan, in New York Harbor.

                                    I took the train from Penn Station to the Water Street Station which is right by the World Trade Center (..if memory  serves me right). I came up from the subway station, and saw the ferry terminal across the way from me. This is where you take the ferry from Manhattan over to Governors Island. I walked across to the terminal, and went inside. You have to have a sponsor on the island to accept you or you will not be allowed to go across.I went up to the gentleman at the counter behind the glass, and told him I was there to visit my friend over on the island. I told him my name, and then told him the name of my friend. he told me to please wait and ask me to go have a seat. I vaguely remember the interior of the terminal as being paneled with dark wood. It would be considered "dated" by most people's standards. I couldn't tell you what it looks like nowadays. I don't remember what the criteria was, but I'm pretty sure he asked me for my drivers license,and some general questions to verify who I was. Obviously everything checked out. I believe that whole portion, the checking in,and waiting, took around maybe 15 to 20 minutes all together. I'm kind of drawing a blank here, because I can't remember the rest of what transpired leading up to my boarding the ferry for my trip over to see Ed on the island. The trip was amazing. It always is. Then again anytime I'm on a boat, or on the ocean I feel at home. I'm a child again. Like any trip (in most cases), and especially in New York Harbor, it's going to be windy. Very windy. I remember staring at the Statue of Liberty.For whatever reason, I don't remember looking at the city's skyline as I went across. Like people in Arizona do, we take what we have here for granted. The Grand Canyon is a perfect example of that. So when you have the entire "intact" skyline of New York City in front of you you kind of just glance at it,because it's going to be there forever. Right? Of course it is. back in 1992, I thought it was always going to be there, the World Trade Center. as I said though, I just remember staring intently at Liberty Island, and also Governors Island as we got closer. it was probably because it wasn't as familiar with them as I was with Manhattan.Now I don't know if it's been changed at all, or altered since my visit, but I can remember Governors Island as resembling a military school. It was almost as though time stood still to look at those elegant buildings. they even had carriage houses. For the uninitiated a carriage house was where the horse and carriages were kept. As we got closer to the dock, and the ferry was making its approach, everything came more into view on the island. when we disembarked, I was treated by my friend. I have to say he was shocked by my appearance. Since we'd attended Catholic high school together, I always maintained a conservative look while there. what he was greeted to was the heavy metal version of Jesus and Grizzly Adams..with red hair. The rest of that weekend spent with him and the other Coast Guardsmen and women is fodder for another story another time. All I'll say is that my friend and I had a very "disagreeable" weekend. I got along famously with all of his friends, and he wasn't too pleased with my "new" appearance. To set the record straight, Ed and I are still great friends. We did have a few years there following our falling out where we didn't see or speak to each other.
                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                  

" Look, it's Mr Softee! "

Where do I begin? I know that for me, growing up on Long Island, Mister Softee was an indelible part of summer. I can remember swimming all day, or being out in the woods and then seeing the Sun go down. Not long after, or maybe even just before the sun went down you would hear him coming. I say him, because 9 out of 10 times usually it was a guy driving the truck. Seeing him approaching, whether it was a twilight or after dark, gave me mixed emotions. I say this because sometimes, well a lot of the times the truck has this other worldly look to it. Between the headlights and the interior yellow-y garish lights, it was kind of scary to me. Knowing what came along with that truck (soft serve cones, sundaes, and banana splits) quickly vanquished whatever uncertainty I had inside me moments before. I remember the sound of the generator coming, kicking on and off, and a blast of cold air (not unlike walking into a Carvel) emanating from the window of the truck.

Sadly, my children will never experience any of this, that is unless they get the chance to leave the Phoenix area and go to the east coast. I know that some of the things that I grew up with back on Long Island still exist. Many places have changed, and some things aren't even around anymore. You can say that about just about anywhere nowadays though. I guess I'll have to take a trip back there with my family.. ALL of my family and see what there is to see.

Ah...Carvel... :)

If you grew up on Long Island in the 70's, 80's or I'm sure even today, one thing you had to have experienced was Carvel Ice cream. Summer wasn't summer unless some time was spent making a trip or two to the Carvel Ice cream store. Carvel and Mister Softee (..more on him in another post ) were the two main sources of ice cream on Long Island during the summertime (.. At least in our house anyway ) The Carvel location that we used to frequent was located on route 112 and I believe Peconic Road in Medford. There was a Honda motorcycle place located next door. I remember it's where my aunt Mary bought her Honda moped. It was the same moped that my cousin Mike and I would take out and joy ride when her and my mother would go to out bingo. Like I've probably mentioned before in a couple of my other posts, the things we remember as children aren't necessarily the same as adults. This would hold true with my memory of this particular Carvel location. I remember it being low in the back and being of high in the front. It had glass all around, and was angular. I guess you could say it appeared "postmodern" to me.

Since summers are always humid on Long Island, walking into one of these Carvel was like an immediate oasis. I remember the blast of cold air hitting you as you opened the door to go inside , and a smell in the air that could only be described as "clean". When I went to Google Maps and then to Street View, I made a point of finding the location of my childhood Carvel store. Although the images on here are aren't of that particular location, they are more of a "truer" reflection of what I thought it looked like in my mind as a child.

On Google Maps, I was greeted with a pale reflection of that memory...literally.Gone was the swirl cones that rotated on top and the red glowing neon "Carvel" sign in the front. The angular lines of the building were there, but the entire exterior was painted a stark white. The only signage on the building were some pink banners saying "Carvel" on them. I was a little sad with the results, but not too sad since the building was still standing. Even so it's still kind of depressing to look for things and places you knew as a child and to see them either modified or completely eradicated all together. At least that's the good thing about having memories, right?

"And I've been searching for something..Taken out of my soul..Something I would never lose..Something somebody stole"

                                                           In 1981 or 82' (because I don't remember exactly)my family and I took a trip down to Florida. Actually it was a vacation, and it was to Walt Disney World. Other than the main park,and Epcot Center,the other place we went to was River Country. River Country featured a rustic wilderness theming, complete with rocks and man-made boulders. The big attraction for me was Slippery Slide Falls, two water slides that emptied into Upstream Plunge (which was basically a large swimming pool). I remember getting on,sliding down,and then suddenly falling what seemed to be a few stories into the large pool below. Going there was one of my fondest childhood memories. River Country was closed down on November 2nd, 2001, due to the fact that a local brain eating amoeba, "Naegleria Fowleri", was discovered in the water of Bay Lake. As recently as 2010, electricity, water, and background area music continue to operate in the park. To look at it now, it just seems so small and insignificant..and sad.

              This is what Slippery Slide Falls and Upstream Plunge looked like when the park was open..

            This is what Slippery Slide Falls and  Upstream Plunge looks like today..abandoned..and eerie.

                Here is another view of Slippery Slide Falls and Upstream Plunge in it's current state.

                                  Here is a closer shot of Slippery Slide Falls and Upstream Plunge..