Category Archives: The World of Human Beings

We don’t know why we’re here. Let’s make the best of it.

Drum Roll, Please…

After three years of thinking about it, and six months after contracting to produce it, I am close to finished with writing Images of America: Rockaway Beach, to be published by Arcadia Publishing Company in June, 2012.  The cover mock-up has … Continue reading

Posted in The Arts and Entertainment, The World of Human Beings | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Tourists in Our Own Town

You’re almost at your destination when you see the first person walking down the block sporting a long, furry tail.  You are within walking distance of a ‘comic-con,’ those wildly popular, so-called ‘geek conventions’ dedicated to comics, graphic novels, anime, … Continue reading

Posted in Business and Economics, Meet Your Fellow Man, The Arts and Entertainment, The World of Human Beings | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

H2O, Gerrymandering and Socialists in Archie Bunker Land

I’ll never forget the words of the engineer who inspected the Belle Harbor home our family was about to buy, in the spring of 1994. “The number one enemy of your home is water,” he said.  Do everything you can … Continue reading

Posted in Business and Economics, New York State Government, The Built World, The Land We Share, U.S. Government, Water and waterways | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Working Artists Enliven Labor Day Weekend

It’s that holiday celebrating American workers–the ones who make the cars and run the hospitals, plus the creative geniuses who draw and write and paint.  We’ve still got plenty of those, even if fewer of us have actual paying jobs. … Continue reading

Posted in The Arts and Entertainment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Paean to Irene

That Hurricane Irene was some bi-polar storm! Carefree teens tubing down the Saw Mill River Parkway on Sunday afternoon contrasted with kayakers in distress pulled from the Hudson River on Saturday night.  The mood of the city swung like a … Continue reading

Posted in The Built World, The Land We Share, Water and waterways | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

You Can’t Even Say “Speed Kills” Anymore

Some force on the planet was clearly at work, other than the combustion engine of the late model Infiniti G37 hard-top convertible coupe–the car that helped save three lives today. At about 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 20, the young … Continue reading

Posted in New York City Government, The World of Human Beings | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

I couldn’t resist featuring the stunning hydrangeas of Rockaway Park in the header photo this week.  These bushes are located in the gardens that surround the apartment building at the north end of Memorial Circle (Rock. Beach Blvd. between Beach … Continue reading

Posted in Meet Your Fellow Man, Planet Earth, The Arts and Entertainment, The Land We Share, U.S. Government, Water and waterways | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is Independence a Fiction in Bloombergville?

Independence Day is one of those American holidays celebrated with disparate emotions among the populace.  Are you part of the investor class or a wage earner?  Wage earners live for the weekends, particularly the three-day ones.  Those of us who … Continue reading

Posted in Business and Economics, Local Government-Rockaway Peninsula & Broad Channel, New York City Government, Philosophy, Religion and Philanthropy, The Arts and Entertainment, The Land We Share, U.S. Government, Water and waterways | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Got Activism? Clearwater Festival 2011 Breaks Records

They say that rot is rampant in the social fabric, and all the heroes have died. A decade ago, columnist Russell Baker commented aptly that the few American heroes left in sports, politics and business all “came down with terminal … Continue reading

Posted in Meet Your Fellow Man, New York State Government, Philosophy, Religion and Philanthropy, Planet Earth, The Arts and Entertainment, The Land We Share, Water and waterways | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s Spring–When a Boy’s Thoughts Turn to Baseball (Unless He’s Anthony Weiner)

At this time of year, I always realize how much I miss our family baseball years.  When my son played Little League, for three months straight, our lives were structured by those dates scribbled on a sheet by the coaches. … Continue reading

Posted in The Arts and Entertainment, The World of Human Beings, U.S. Government | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments