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June 15, 2017

AN OPEN LETTER TO OPRAH WINFREY from Calvin Schwartz

AN OPEN LETTER TO OPRAH WINFREY from Calvin Schwartz

Oprah

 

Oprah

 

 

 

 

 

 

CALVIN BARRY SCHWARTZ

earthood@gmail.com

Twitter: Earthood

njdiscover.com         http://vichywater.net

 

 

 

June 15,  2017

The Oprah Magazine

Oprah Winfrey, Founder and Editorial Director

 

Dear Oprah:

The energy for this letter began on Tuesday April 18th when you were a guest on the Dr. Oz Show devoted to “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.” (a wondrous film). I knew that I’d be sitting in the special VIP first row seats, close to the guest sofa. I wanted to get your attention so I wore my ‘loudest’ socks which you noticed. My legs were crossed and gyrating. You smiled at me and my socks. There was a reason for attention getting.

Last summer, I began mentoring two special recent Rutgers University graduates, Chisa Egbelu and Kayla Jackson. Chisa and I met four years ago at the Garden State Film Festival. He was a film intern and I was there to see a cutting edge film on Emmett Till.

Oprah

with Chisa Egbelu and Kayla Jackson at IDT headquarters in Newark

 

Oprah

with Senator Cory Booker along the Jersey shore

Two years ago, Chisa and Kayla conceived a company, PeduL (pedul.com) which would become an online crowdfunding tool that connects students with resources and support they need to pursue higher education. I always look at the whole planet earth and big pictures. Coming up with ways to help educate youth across the world, can change courses of history. Taking some of the burden away from financially strapped government is good stuff.

I believed in these “kids,” so last summer I started mentoring them. Then I met with Senator Cory Booker here in New Jersey. I asked him for 44 seconds time. (same time to read letter). I explained the same thing. Three days later, his aide called me and I brought the “kids” from PeduL to meet with his top education aide at his Newark office.

A year ago, IDT Ventures in Newark, part of IDT Corporation, a billion dollar plus telecommunications, pharmaceutical, entertainment and energy company took PeduL into their incubator program.

 

Oprah

with Nick Clemons, Andrew Schuman and DR OZ from April 18th

 

Why did I wear those socks? To try and get your attention and talk those few seconds with you as I did to Senator Booker. I marvel at you, your accomplishments, humanitarianism and commitment to global education. I felt you should know about these special “kids” and their vision of a better smarter future and world.

If ever you’re floating around New York City and…………

Wishing you much success with the film and only good things always and all ways.

Warmly,

Calvin

PS:  I’ve enclosed pictures to aide in my story telling. They are my socks which you smiled at, with Kayla and Chisa in Newark, with Senator Booker and with Dr. Oz, Nick Clemons (son of Clarence Clemons) after the show.

May 5, 2017

It Continues To Be a Brave New World: First Annual IDT Hackathon April 22nd -April 23rd Newark NJ by Calvin Schwartz

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , — earthood @ 9:20 pm

It Continues To Be a Brave New World: First Annual IDT Hackathon  April 22nd -April 23rd Newark NJ   by Calvin Schwartz  

 

Hackathon

Hackathon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IDT HACKATHON EVENT

Thinking back over the past few years, I wonder how many times I’ve invoked references to a brave new world. I do know; I’ve been stingy. There has to be extant reasons and perfect celestial alignments. Several months ago, I was invited to attend IDT Corporation’s First Annual Hackathon by IDT Ventures head, Jacob Jonas. I sensed something special, brave, cutting edge(new) and cerebrally celestial.

So what is a Hackathon?  This was my first impulse to discover.  A hackathon is like a race (marathon) event where software developers, programmers, graphic designers, interface folks, project managers, all work together in an intensive collaboration over a relatively short period of time. The finish line is the creation of practical applications of software with a specific focus, in this case, the best messaging, payments, or communications related mobile app. There are teams put together, each member bringing an expertise to their cubicle of residence, where they spend those intimate hours competing against the other teams in their own field of dreams (cubicles).

 

Hackathon

IDT Ventures Jacob Jonas hosting Hackathon

Hackathon

with IDT CIO, Golan Ben Oni, two guys with hats.

A brief article departure. Watch how I develop this. For the longest time, I’ve worried about our planetary home (earth) with some indigenous problems like climate change, ocean’s rising and running out of fish, 300 million people in Asia without drinking water; all illustrative of things often running through my mind.  I am unsure if we, the species, can effectively solve these problems and save our aging planet. Then came my six hours in Newark at IDT headquarters, observing the energy and composition of the competing teams. I haven’t felt this earthly emotional in a while.

At IDT, I saw youth and exuberance. Some were in high school and college, representing wonderful diversity in culture, geography and sociology. All the participants were accomplished and focused.  After a few hours, I realized earth does have a better future with the likes of these kids competing here; they were dedicated imaginative thinkers.  What I saw was so uplifting and revolutionary; this is a brave new world of knowledge and youth. I was grateful to IDT for investing in youth, promise, tomorrow and for inviting me.

 

Hackathon

Hackathon

 

On the fourth floor, around 5:30 PM on Sunday April 23rd, I met with Jacob Jonas who briefed me on the final stages of the Hackathon which would run to 11 PM. My mission as a journalist was to absorb. I looked over my shoulder; there was a large cubicle which served as home for one of the teams. The conference table was strewn with lap-tops, wires, water bottles, soda cans (some with sugar, some not), coffee cups and a vast array of back-packs. On the floor were several sleeping bags, visually depicting the hard reality of the event; the sleeplessness and urgency of the competitors. This was serious business. Teams stayed overnight working diligently to get to the finish line. I just remembered what Adrienne told Rocky Balboa, “Win Rocky Win.”

 

 

Hackathon

Jacob Jonas handing 1st place prize to Shaoliang Zhong with Jonathan Hyman (CTO of Appboy and a judge for Hackathon)

Hackathon

with PeduL execs Chisa Egbelu & Kayla Jackson with downtown Newark in background

 

The commonality of two people wearing hats in a place where most were hatless brought me to Golan Ben Oni. Of course I was wearing my Rutgers hat. Golan was much more fashionable. If he was here on a Sunday evening, it must be for a reason. We leaned on a desk to chat.

Golan is the CIO of IDT Corporation; that’s chief information officer and he’s been at IDT since 1995 when he arrived and planned on staying only a few weeks. His father was a food scientist for Planter’s and Fleishman’s Yeast.  The family arrived from Israel and soon settled in California where Golan enrolled at University of California at Berkeley when he was sixteen.

He’s been asked to teach at Rutgers Business School and help with the executive program. He is captivating and actually disarming, leaning on a desk and chatting, wearing a hat; his knowledge, brilliance and depth are on a proverbial other planet. His teenage son, busy on a lap-top, did our photo-op. Golan was thrilled to school me on the mechanics of the Hackathon.

 

Hackathon

IDT Ventures Showcase – PeduL execs presenting

Hackathon

3rd place Man Cave Sharing Mark Annett, Tejas Shah, Mosies Cordero, Samuel Lebreault, Ivan Quan and Patrick Needham holding their Raspberry Pis. Hackathon Judge Zev Green far left.

 

 

Next, Golan introduced me to Tom Brennan, OWASP(owasp.org) Board of Directors. More brave new world for me. OWASP has 55,000 members in 110 countries and their function is to raise visibility for software security. Who knew this kind of organization exists? Tom was a judge in the first round of Hackathon presentations along with Zev Green, IDT’s Director of Emerging Technologies; Nathaniel Ritholtz, IDT Software Engineer; Jonathan Hyman, CTO of Appboy; Anthony Delgado, CTO of FOWNDERS; Sharon Ptashek, Senior Manager, Mobile & Emerging Platforms at CBS Interactive. Each team had five minutes to present their projects to the judges followed by five minutes of Q&A.

 

 

 

Hackathon

IDT Ventures Showcase Judges

Hackathon

Hackathon coders at work

 

First place was awarded to ‘Chill’ which is an app where you and your friends stream videos over your phones while still being able to talk to each other. The first place prize they received was an iPad Mini 2 for each winner.  The winners, Shaoliang Zhong and Xiaohang Su grew up together in China and now attend Stevens and NYU respectively.Second place winners won: Discovery HD+ Drone and third place won 32 GB Rasberry Pi 3.

Winners of the AI competition (team that best incorporated artificial intelligence into their Hackathon project) received an Amazon Echo sponsored by FOWNDERS.  And speaking of FOWNDERS, (fownders.com) based in my birth city of Newark, they are doing amazing things to “educate, inspire and empower the next generation of leaders” as a social impact accelerator taking on qualified startups who have proven market fit and display modern innovation; more brave new world applications for me to absorb.

One of the other teams, finishing in third place, developed ‘Man Cave Sharing’ which is like Airbnb for Man Caves. With my own proclivity to special sports Sundays, I was fascinated by their entry; more brave new world and personal visual projections of great places to hangout, shoot pool and watch a professional sport final on a giant TV screen far from the maddening sounds of homeward bound interruptions.

 

IDT VENTURES SHOWCASE EVENT:

But the Hackathon was not the only tech-friendly event that happened this weekend. Before the final Hackathon presentation and the awards ceremony, IDT also hosted a Ventures Showcase event for six local startup companies that have synergies with IDT Corporation’s core businesses: Payments Tech, Messaging Apps, Communications Tech, and Technology that Serves Unbanked and/or Immigrant Communities. The Ventures Showcase companies (including the three teams in the IDT Ventures incubator program: PeduL, UpChannel, and ImaliMobile) all have strong synergies with IDT’s core businesses and/or target markets.

 

Hackathon

more coders at work

Hackathon

2nd place: Supernova Tasker with Nicholas Feuer, Alben Kalambukadu, and Stanimir Stoychev (All students at SUNY Purchase) holding their Drones. Zev Green, IDT Director of Emerging Technologies and a Hackathon judge ( left).

Last summer, I spent the day at IDT interviewing Chisa Egbelu and Kayla Jackson from PeduL for NJ Discover. PeduL is an online crowdfunding tool that connects students with the resources and support they need to pursue higher education. That article can be seen at: http://bit.ly/2aVGwJb

Each team had ten minutes to present and five minutes for Q & A with the panelist judges consisting of Shmuel Jonas, CEO of IDT; Jacob Jonas, Director of IDT Ventures; Scott Smedresman, Partner at McCarter & English; Aaron Price, Founder and CEO of Propelify.  The other companies presenting were Debitize, Stellar Employ and Modern Lend. Listening to all six ingenious presentations continued my yellow brick road journey to that brave new world. I did manage to remark to one of the team members, in keeping with my article theme, that when I grew up in Newark, my world of knowledge came from seven black and white television stations that went off the air at midnight followed by test patterns (remindful of ‘Poltergeist’) until the next morning. “They’re here.”

 

 

 

Hackathon

The AI Winners Christopher Tan, Timothy Goltser, Zeynep Akpinar, Curtis Mason. All 4 are High School students at Staten Island Tech. They won a side prize for the best use of artificial intelligence in their project. This prize was sponsored by FOWNDERS. Anthony Delgado, CTO of FOWNDERS and a Hackathon judge, is also in pix (far right).

 

Before the actual finals began, a splendid buffet of Chinese food and cold beer were presented to the assembled. I indulged, then explored and pinched myself (which I do only in moments of disbelief) that I was witness to this wondrous display of future think, exuberance, youth, imagination and earth hope. And I hope the decision making folks, if liking this article (expression) invite me back next year (2018) for my brave continuing new observations at IDT’s  2nd Annual Hackathon in my birth city, Newark.

July 9, 2015

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS: THE JERSEY SHORE July 9th 2015 bY Calvin Schwartz

Filed under: November 2009 — Tags: , , , , , , , , — earthood @ 1:43 pm

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS: THE JERSEY SHORE  July 9th 2015   bY Calvin Schwartz

 

My first memory sort of. Belmar beach summer of '48

My first memory sort of. Belmar beach summer of ’48

 

 

 

It’s the old proverbial; who better to write an article on memories of the Jersey shore. My ‘involvement’ begins before I was born, when my parents went to the Buena Vista, a Belmar hotel, for the weekend as WWII was slowly winding down in late 1944. They stayed in the attic; nine months later I arrived. When I was ten, my parents started renting a bungalow in Belmar for August. That first summer of ’55, I discovered the pinball arcade, navigating the dust underneath the machines for lost coins, the Shark River Jetty, its meditative properties and the olfactory sensations of the boardwalk, in part, which smelled like a telephone pole back in Newark.

 

 

 

 the Buena Vista Hotel in Belmar where I was conceived in Nov 1944

the Buena Vista Hotel in Belmar where I was conceived in Nov 1944

 

dad & me belmar 1948

dad & me belmar 1948

The essence of the shore begins about six to ten blocks away from the sand and beach.  Somehow only in Jersey, with the flatness of the geography of shore towns, from a distance, you can see the end of New Jersey and America; the vast blueness of ocean and sky meeting. That view is priceless and exciting. It’s that first shore sighting; a giant window to memories and new daily beach badge experiences. Yes, the beach badge, with its convoluted pin affixed to bathing suit. If only a season badge someday.

 

As I interviewed a diverse group of Jerseyans, many mentioned unique shore smells. Author Karen Kenney Smith, remembering a summer week spent at Asbury Park’s Atlantic Hotel liked the “musty smell of the tired carpet.” Moist ocean air everywhere contributed. Rock on Radio personality Danny Coleman focused on the panoply of boardwalk smells. They were pure Jersey food on boardwalk smells but, “Pizza aroma was everywhere.”  Musician Carmen Cosentino still loves the smell of “peanuts on the boardwalk.” He explained somehow it mixes with the salt air of Jersey’s Atlantic Ocean and has this additive effect of making you want peanuts even more.

 

 

 

 

1938 Belmar. My uncles/aunts . funny thing this couid be any year on a jersey beach

1938 Belmar. My uncles/aunts . funny thing this couid be any year on a jersey beach

 

 

I’m not sure how I started talking about the hair-do of the Jersey shore but maybe we have our own home-grown style. Insurance industry analyst Susan Michelle’s grandmother’s friends always had their hair in a net sitting on the beach with cigarettes dangling from lips. A card game was always going on. Carmen’s thought on hair, “Jersey women had the strangest hair-do; it looked like a bee-hive.”   Kathy Sinnott’s grandmother left the beach every day at 3PM to prepare for happy hour.

“And what happened when you left the Jersey beach to go back to your houses?”   Kathy showered outside in the backyard in unique wooden showers with plank floors. It was to get rid of the sand fast. Susan used outside showers too or sometimes just a quick hose down on the back lawn covered with neatly manicured weeds and occasional crab grass.

 

 

 

 

Bradley Beach  1950's

Bradley Beach 1950’s

Asbury Park 1960's

Asbury Park 1960’s

 

I drifted into a serious line of questioning; parents and kids. Yes the Jersey shore fostered a special life-long bond and memory pool with relationships of kids to parents. Back then, people knew you as a kid and who you belonged to. Kathy remembered long talks with her Dad sitting on a porch or backyard before heading to the boardwalk. You always saw kids with parents hanging together. The shore was built for kids and parents. Retired Pharmacist Jack Cobin told about grandmothers sitting on benches and watching kids carefully and mother’s telling you not to go into the water for an hour after eating. “Kids in the neighborhood hanging out was like the Wonder Years; a naïve innocent time,” Kathy added. Writer and blogger Kevin Cieri thought, “Family time was playing Skeeball together.” Billie Jo McDonald, with more recent memories of the shore, would walk her children to the beach in November and wait for storms. For the homeschooling kids, they’d spend the first day of school on the beach.  “It got to be that the kids could read the riptide. The Jersey beach was a grounding spot.”

 

Ocean Grove memories

Ocean Grove memories

Boardwalk

Old Boardwalk

 

Food is Jersey definitive. Everyone remembers. It was the Good Humor ice cream truck. For me in the 50’s, it was a bakery truck driving up and down the beach streets with bread and cake stuff out of the rear.  I heard recollections about Syd’s, Vic’s, Zelbe’s, Max’s and The WindMill for hot dogs.  Despite the admonition of Thomas Wolfe that you can’t go home again, The WindMill is still purveying hot dogs today.  Also mentioned as a memory were soft-shelled crab sandwiches and salt water taffy right out of the local ocean; it tasted better indigenous. Kohr’s Custard in a cone; Karen once dropped her cone and to this day it’s always in a cup for her. Sandwiches were always taken to the beach, sometimes packed in shoe-boxes. French fries came in brown paper bags with small wooden forks and vinegar instead of ketchup.

 

 

Parkway traffic assuming headed to shore

Parkway traffic assuming headed to shore

Empress Hotel Asbury Park.

Empress Hotel Asbury Park.

 

Amusements on the beach boardwalk were endless; every town from Asbury Park to Point Pleasant had pastimes. For me, if I behaved during the week and watched my infant sister Hildy, the family would go to Asbury Park on Saturday. The merry-go-round was mostly magical. I never grabbed the brass ring.  Pinball in the arcades was prolific on boardwalks, Ocean Avenue or in memory. Today, the Pinball Museum in Asbury Park captures the particulates with vintage games like the Gottlieb and Williams machines. And back to the future with an original game, the baseball pinball where you can even adjust the pitch speed. Susan remembers the ‘Grabber Machine’ which she played all summer long trying for that elusive big prize; one year she won and still talks about it. Ironically, the other day, a local television news story focused on that machine. They reported the machine is programmed (fixed) to not yield a winner until all the prizes inside were paid for. Bingo had its fans in Bradley Beach. And of course Palace Amusements and Tillie and Seaside stirred memories.  Music wise, it’s easy for me to write about The Upstage Club in Asbury Park, open from 1968 to 1971 (I’ve been researching it) where the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny, Vini Lopez and Steven Van Zandt started out. And you played volleyball on the beach even under the light of the silvery moon.  Film maker Chris Eilenstine remembers, “There was always something to do.”

 

Jersey shore youthful boating

Jersey shore youthful boating

There is a life cycle to the Jersey shore. Many towns had pavilions where little kids hung out, sometimes with arts and crafts. Then teen dances sprung up in those VFW or religious halls after a day of listening to transistor radios on the beach. Jack reminded that Loch Arbor beach, adjacent to Asbury Park, became a college hang out.  Shore towns sometimes mirrored different ethnic enclaves. Humorously, Carmen told me that his father bought a house in Bradley Beach and when he dated a Bradley Beach girl, he was instructed by the date to hide his crucifix under his shirt; a scene right out of the movie ‘Goodfellas’ (celebrating a 25th anniversary) Chris, to this day, says “I love the diversity, the great culture play, small town feel and originality of the Jersey shore and you can hop on a train and be in New York City in an hour.”

Pondering a good visual to portray the Jersey shore when I was listening to the Everly Brothers sing ‘Bye Bye Love’ in 1955, I just thought of the movie ‘The Summer of ’42.’ Jersey shore was small towns, simple beach structures, like on the island in the movie. Stores were basic and general. Painted paper sale signs hung on windows; beach chairs and umbrellas on the sidewalks creating impulses to buy. Movie theaters boasted they had air-conditioning, were mostly double feature and had that beach dank damp smell.  I want to say I saw ‘Now Voyager’ starring Bette Davis down the shore one summer.  Some towns were regal with their Victorian architecture; I’m thinking Ocean Grove and Spring Lake. Jersey shore is old and historic.

 

Pinball Museum Asbury Park

Pinball Museum Asbury Park

On Belmar beach contemporary times

On Belmar beach contemporary times

 

There’s a paradox to the crowds and long lines of summer; the solitude and introspection of the winter months at the Jersey shore. Some towns turn off traffic lights in winter. Back in college, I used to get the key to my friend’s beach house in Bradley Beach and go there to study. It was cold but eerily quiet and productive. David McMahon, from 40 Foot Hole Studios, would rent a shore house for the winter for its ultimate peace and solitude. “I love the winters down there. I’d just bundle up and sit by the ocean.” That’s the other side of the shore; the down winter time; something which provides a unique identity. You can be in a state with eight million neighbors but find this spiritually special desolate shore place in a world all by itself with few winter neighbors and even fewer year-around pizza establishments.

And finally what is that common denominator that makes the Jersey shore unique, memorable and passed down from generation to generation?  It’s the people of Jersey who’ve won their independence from New York and Philadelphia these past years. New Jersey is hot culturally and media wise. Just look at national pop culture; The Soprano’s, Boardwalk Empire, Jersey Shore, Jersey Housewives, Garden State, Jersey Boys; and of course Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi globally. What really is that bond that puts the whole state together then and now; that matrix of shared pride and experience; that place we all rushed to re-build after Sandy and showed our resilience to the world? It’s the Jersey shore. And I still remember it like it IS yesterday.

 

October 8, 2014

RAMBLINGS: Shoulder replacement surgery/update. Water water everywhere. From the ‘horse’s mouth; what/why may be happening to Central Park horse carriage rides. Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark City Schools. My haunting tale(Rutgers) of synchronicity from the 400,000 Peoples Climate March in NYC on Sept 21st. October 9, 2014

RAMBLINGS: Shoulder replacement surgery/update. Water water everywhere. From the ‘horse’s mouth; what/why may be happening to Central Park horse carriage rides. Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation to Newark City Schools. My haunting tale(Rutgers) of synchronicity from the 400,000 Peoples Climate March in NYC on Sept 21st.                                              October 9, 2014

 

My freshman crew cut in 1963

My freshman crew cut in 1963

 

 

 

I love my ‘improv’ rambling adventures; I have a list of folks wanting to come along. Maybe I should charter a small bus like Kenny Kramer(the inspiration for Seinfeld’s character Cosmo Kramer) did and a conduct tours of New Jersey and perhaps even venture across the Hudson. This particular blog installment will ramble around diverse subjects. I prefer to be brief and provocative; thanks to my prodigal son for pointing me in this direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40 minutes after getting stitches taken out. a selfie on 2nd ave

40 minutes after getting stitches taken out. a selfie on 2nd ave

what a titanium shoulder looks like

what my titanium shoulder looks like

 

 

Six weeks ago (August 26th) at this exact moment (from now October 8th 12:30pm) I opened up my eyes in the recovery room at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York after the amazing Dr. David Altchek sawed out my tired old arthritic shoulder bones and replaced with titanium making me  bionic of sorts. Last month, I blogged about why I crossed the Hudson River from central Jersey to have surgery. There are reasons; one being, that in all this time I have NOT taken one single pain med (pill); not in six weeks and now my mobility is coming back as if nothing happened. Yes, sometimes there are reasons to cross rivers or mountain ranges for medical care.

The world of free water troubles me. The water table in Northern India has dropped a foot over the years. Will water become the new ‘oil’ and precious commodity? Countries might go into a boxing ring with gloves or grenades over jurisdiction.  Corporations are quietly seizing the opportunity. Boutique water in plastic bottles proliferates to the corner general store at an arctic outpost. Water is a basic human right as it is essential for life. The United Nations recognizes this basic human right. A judge in Detroit recently upheld cutting off water to people who can’t afford to pay their water bills. And just you wait Henry Higgins; just you wait (from ‘My Fair Lady’) until private /global corporations get their greedy huge hands on the water business; “dystopia Mon amour.” (I just made this phrase up)

 

 

me with horse # 1

me with horse # 1

at Book Expo with something taller than me

at Book Expo with something taller than me

 

 

Back last May, I took the Jersey Transit bus into New York City to go to International Book Expo where 100,000 people, give or take, head to Javits Convention Center for three days to absorb every aspect of the publishing business, meet popular authors and cart away as many free books as their vertebrae and  endless autograph lines allow. Once off the bus, I play games with myself and walk wherever the prevailing wind directs me towards Javits. I couldn’t tell you on what street (36th ?) but suddenly I was standing next to a horse outside of a midtown stable. I was fascinated with the picture; a horse near skyscrapers reaching to heaven all in one frame. Then ‘DQ’ walked out and I identified myself as a journalist from Jersey. I mentioned Mayor DeBlasio wanting to get rid of all the horses and carriages that do the century old rides in Central Park. ‘DQ’ asked if I’d like to hear the other story. First he gave me a quick tour of the stable and showed me several horses that looked pristine and not a mark on them. They were off that day and were just showered and fed. ‘DQ’ told me certain real estate interests contributed to DeBlasio’s campaign which promised to get rid of the horses. If they succeed, then this stable ‘disappears’ and those real estate interests get to build a condo on this stable site that reaches for their heaven. Time will tell.

 

 

 

at Peoples Climate March sitting on a stoop with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont & Mia Hathoway

at Peoples Climate March sitting on a stoop with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont & Mia Hathoway

 

with Mayor of Bristol England George Feguson & Mia Hathoway

with Mayor of Bristol England George Feguson & Mia Hathoway

 

I was involved in the very first Earth Day back on April 22, 1970; knowing then we only had one planet. No planet B to fall back on. Through most of the sixties, when I was in college, I sported a crew cut (short hair) mostly because I was in a professional college (Pharmacy).  My hair today rivals in length and unruliness the sixties hippie look. I didn’t get to the March on Washington on August 28th 1963 because I lacked the soul and energy to be there; one of the great mistakes of my life. When it was time for Woodstock in August, 1969, I managed to get my hand on a car-door handle and almost go to the musical festival but my fiancé caught me and warned me not to go. So I didn’t go and regretted right up to now. Three years later, I divorced that girl.

The years have passed and I’ve known that my molecular make-up would never let me miss another chance to express my inner soul. Four days before the 400,000 People’s Climate March in New York City, with my arm still in a sling as it was four weeks after my major shoulder replacement surgery, I knew I’d be there.

 

 

 

 

 

the random pix amidst 400,000 people marching with 2 Rutgers students

the random pix amidst 400,000 people marching with 2 Rutgers students

the very next night with the same Rutgers student at an Eagleton lecture.

the very next night with the same Rutgers student at an Eagleton lecture.

 

 

It was a magnificent experience to inhale the same atoms of air that 400,000 people were sharing. My eyes and ears absorbed the coming of all those souls dedicated and determined to raise awareness and make a difference. It was two hours before the march when I got to the city to begin absorption. I’ll leave the elements of my experience for a later blog but must comment on the universal forces of haunting synchronicity that were extant.

An hour into the march, a man in a yellow tee-shirt bumped into my good shoulder and we talked. He was George Ferguson, the Mayor of Bristol, England. George mentioned being at an event a few days earlier with several American mayors one of whom was a young dynamic force. I told him it had to be Mayor Steve Fulop from Jersey City whom I was with a few weeks before. An hour later, all of a sudden, I’m in the middle of a contingent of Rutgers students. What are the odds? Being an alumnus, I find ways to get on Rutgers campus 60 or so times a year. With my Rutgers cap prominent, I randomly asked two students for a photo-op.

 

 

 

 

at the Eagleton lecture with Dr. Robert Curvin

at the Eagleton lecture with Dr. Robert Curvin

 

I held the camera way over my head for a perspective absorbtion shot of  part of the 400,000 people.

I held the camera way over my head for a perspective absorbtion shot of part of the 400,000 people.

The next night I was at Rutgers Eagleton Institute in New Brunswick for a lecture, “Inside Newark: Decline, Rebellion, and the Search for Transformation” by author, Professor Robert Curvin who wrote this book. I’m from Newark and that’s the energy which brought me to his lecture. Forty minutes before the lecture, a Rutgers student sitting in front of me got up to get water. She was the same student whom I took a picture with the day before amidst 400,000 people. In disbelief, we took another pix together.

I remembered when Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) gave $100 million to the school children of Newark, N.J. in 2010.  Dr. Curvin mentioned (to my dismay) that, “$33 million went to back pay for teachers, to appease the union.” And $12 million went for bonus to teachers for hard work.

And I wonder about the school children of Newark where I grew up, the air we breathe, the water we drink and the synchronistic forces in the universe.  And it’s 10:23 PM and I know where my prodigal son is.

 

 

PLEASE WATCH FOR THE LAUNCH OF  www.jerseycentral.net  a unique internet magazine experience

YOU CAN FIND ME ON FACEBOOK:  Cal Schwartz

October 15, 2013

Going to ‘Scarborough Fair:’ Weequahic High (Newark) 1963 High School Reunion Weekend. A Blog. October 11-13th 2013 By Calvin Schwartz

Going to ‘Scarborough Fair:’ Weequahic High (Newark) 1963 High School Reunion Weekend. A Blog.  October 11-13th 2013    By Calvin Schwartz

on the shores of Weequahic Park Lake. pristine and precious time together.

on the shores of Weequahic Park Lake. pristine and precious time together.

with Marc T & Bea McCloud the night before big reunion. hanging out at bar.

with Marc Tarabour & Bea McCloud the night before big reunion. hanging out at bar.

 

 

For a week prior to our 50th Weequahic High School(Newark) Reunion Weekend here in New Jersey, I prepared spiritually and journalistically by doing one of my marathon listening experiences to a particular song. Yes, a song for every occasion and mood. As of a week ago, Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Scarborough Fair’ accompanied me everywhere. If I squinted and closed my eyes, I was standing on Chancellor Avenue under a cloudless autumn sky; not a person or car in sight. I was in the state of solitude. A war was quietly beginning in Southeast Asia. Where have all the people gone on Chancellor Avenue?  Suddenly a Number 14 Public Service bus rambled by; there was no driver or passengers. The bus disappeared. In its wake, aromatic exhaust and a windblown Bamberger’s shopping bag which slowly settled into the street. I watched the last moments of its flight; like sky writing, it hinted at the message that it’s a gift to be going to a 50th Reunion.

 

 

 

 

fri night. part of Weequahic HS 50th reunion weekend. PIX: with classmates Richard and Marc(on right)  YES we're thinking about making a movie called "Triplets"

fri night. part of Weequahic HS 50th reunion weekend. PIX: with classmates Richard and Marc(on right) YES we’re thinking about making a movie called “Triplets”

 

scarborough_fair_canticleThis was the emotional repository that ‘Scarborough Fair’ leaves me in. What I’m doing here is re-creating the bitter sweetness of this song that makes me think of those sixties years at Weequahic; a certain loneliness and yearning; an unrequited love and all the things I never got a chance to say or do.  A few hours ago, I spoke to Jordan, a mystic and composer from San Francisco. I told him what this song does to me. He told me that music is a heavenly gift for our species; the ability to transport our cerebral energies into memories. Without parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme sprinkled, I would’ve been less anticipatory and in awe of our reunion. I’ve been excited for weeks. ‘Scarborough Fair’ helped it along. Perhaps while reading further, you all should retrieve it and listen.

 

 

Driving up Route Nine to the Friday night get together at the Renaissance Hotel bar, one recurring theme settled sub and consciously; it was indeed a gift to be going to my 50th Weequahic Reunion. Two weeks prior, we had our last Reunion committee meeting where the ‘In Memoriam’ plaques with pictures of our classmates was sitting in the back of the conference room. I’m sure none of the committee “kids” (we’ll always be kids having spent four formative years together) noticed I was tilted around in my seat staring at the 87 pictures of our classmates now departed. The bulk of the meeting was tilted backwards for me. Nothing was said; maybe I blended in; maybe my face was saddened grey and they let me be.

 

 

 

 

 

bus trip meets at Newark Museum

bus trip meets at Newark Museum

at the high school Untermann field  rock with Principal Ellis on left

at the high school Untermann field rock with Principal Ellis on left

 

 

In an instant, I was with 30 or so kids from high school. Effervescent smiles, hugs, handshakes of remembrance tore down the small walls that up to fifty years distance can erect. A few faces escaped me; it was easier for them I surmised, after all, I was the tallest kid in the class. As we all laughed, sipped mostly pale alcoholic spirits and asked perfunctory questions like what we’ve been doing lately, something hit me; another theme for the weekend. My class of Weequahic High School 1963 had deconstructed pretense and there was a genuineness, warmth and affability that was communicable and viral; everyone was real and thrilled with each other’s presence. A few classmates even expounded on the gift of just being here; I wasn’t the only one possessed. I had met Bea McCloud a couple of committee meetings ago for the first time. We didn’t know each other back then with 540 classmates; things do get lost in a crowd. When I saw her now, we hugged joyously; all special tender caring moments; another theme of our weekend.

 

 

at Weequahic High School yesterday. part of reunion weekend. with DE Karon White, senior, on 4-0 Weequahic High team

at Weequahic High School yesterday. part of reunion weekend. with DE Karon White, senior, on 4-0 Weequahic High team

 

with dynamic exhuberant Principal Faheem Ellis at the rock

with dynamic exuberant Principal Faheem Ellis at the rock

 

Cameras and cell phones recorded posterity; I remembered a Kodak used to. Then I stumbled upon a kid (Len B.) who graduated in January, 1963 so I didn’t really know him and we drifted intently through each other’s lives, passages and avoidances like rice fields in Asia. I could’ve listened all night to the stories and musings of all the kid’s last five decades but we had a bus trip back to Newark in the morning. Good night moon and Weequahic.

Thanks to Marc Tarabour for organizing and detailing a bus trip back to hallowed halls and tree-lined Newark streets of our youth and high school. Since most of the 28 bus trippers met the night before, there was camaraderie of comfort with each other. I’d be working the microphone as a guide until we reached Marc and four others at the Newark Museum. On our way to Weequahic Park, we passed streets with houses of early Newark opulence; one with the posh center island. A hush then a salvo of how well the houses looked; nothing had ostensibly changed.  Apartment buildings facing the park were just as stately. I heard a few “that was my house.” Undercurrents of thought about Newark’s riots and decline since 1967 were there. But for me it was back to the future. I was fighting Thomas Wolfe internally because I was home again. We all were; ebullient smiles evident on both sides of the bus aisle. This part of Newark, our Weequahic section, was enduring and everlasting. It had to be for our molecular being came from here.

 

 

 

 

 

the auditorium's wooden seats from 1933.

the auditorium’s wooden seats from 1933.

the Weequahic High drum corps in a mini-concert for us 50 year alums. they dazzled us.

the Weequahic High drum corps in a mini-concert for us 50 year alums. they dazzled us.

 

Our bus driver (it said limousine service on the outside) pulled into Weequahic Park near the old Tavern Restaurant and Millman’s hot dogs. I depressed the microphone; The Tavern was so iconic, even in the early sixties, it was doing millions in business. The park and lake were pristine and the group lined the shore line for a photo-op. In the distance was the bluish apartment building notorious for boarding stewardesses (someone yelled flight attendant) and nearby a few ducks and Saturday morning joggers were in motion. More specialized photo-ops and hugs before we re-boarded. Indeed, pretense was long gone.

The epicenter of our travels and being was the high school building. We toured with the dynamic, dedicated young principal Faheem Ellis and Alumni Association executives, Phil Yourish and Hal Braff. A glowing newness was the athletic center and gym with 2000 seats, not 400 in the old boy’s gym where state championship teams played. On my sixth attempt, I sank a 10 foot shot with a deflated basketball to match my extant ego. But hallowed halls and even the painted numbers on the rooms were the same; so were the wooden seats in the auditorium going back to 1933 and the tinny lockers. A kid yelled that even some etchings and carvings on the seats were vintage us.  Yes, Virginia, we were home and thrilled where we were. I clenched my fist tight; a clench for a freeze frame in time; it never works.  An amazing Weequahic High drum corps performed; they had a football game later. Of course an eerie silence as the bus pulled away.

 

 

 

a wondrous art deco building in downtown Newark outside Hobby's deli where i ate pretty good tuna salad.

a wondrous art deco building in downtown Newark outside Hobby’s deli where i ate pretty good tuna salad.

 

 

the entrance way into saturday night's party.

the entrance way into saturday night’s party.

 

Sundown hurried and it was the essence of the Reunion; the cocktail party and dinner with music. How elegant the room with centerpieces of Weequahic’s colors, orange and brown with dashes of detailed leaves of the same color on each table. The 150 or so people continued deconstruction of pretense. We’re all by-products of the sixties with flowers in our hair so I can say there was a special love and warmth in the room. Watching as the kids passed the ‘In Memoriam,’ I knew what was on the minds and in the hearts; gratitude to be here. Some pointed and shook heads; some took pictures and as tears went by, the kids hit the open bar for wine and cheese. We sat with mostly the same kids where we sat in the lunchroom during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Girls got up and danced the slide. We bought tee-shirts and hats from the Alumni table to take back to Paris, California, Florida, Texas, Chicago, Monmouth County and Newark and elsewhere. Then the song ‘Shout’ from ‘Animal House.’ I grabbed Bea McCloud and we danced and it was all magic and good and I almost hit the floor and gyrated like John Belushi (Bluto) in the movie but paused remembering my age.

 

 

the reunion committee. i was taking the pix. Jac our leader front and center.

the reunion committee. i was taking the pix. Jac our leader front and center.

with fellow classmate Jerry Wallace

with fellow classmate Jerry Wallace

 

 

Ever so gently and unobtrusively as the night waned, kids started to leave. The room was nearly empty; a few pockets of kids talked about staying in touch; a few small group pictures flashed across the room; a few promises to meet at breakfast; and a lot of questions and talk about shortening the reunion to every five years and even sooner. Why wait? Pretense was deconstructed and I loved the spirit and warmth; it was real. I remember the movie, ‘Norma Rae’ when Sally Field says to Ron Liebman, “Ruben, you really like me!”  Yes, Virginia, the Weequahic High 1963 class really likes each other. I’m always tempted to intellectualize the function of maturation and the leveling effect of the aging process.

 

 

 

 

part of the encore generation celebrating Newark's Weequahic High School reunion sat night. what is encore? embarking on new careers instead of rocking chairs and prune juice on the rocks. PIX: with classmate Roz W. we met at Rutgers in May at a lecture on urban decline and rebirth after some 5 decades since our graduation and now again sat night. and so it goes.

part of the encore generation celebrating Weequahic High School reunion sat night. what is encore? embarking on new careers instead of rocking chairs and prune juice on the rocks. PIX: with classmate Roz W. we met at Rutgers in May at a lecture on Newark urban decline and rebirth after some 5 decades since our graduation and now again sat night. and so it goes.

 

 

 

 

I walked around polling the last few to see if anyone wanted to hang-out in the bar and reminisce. It was just past the other side of midnight. A few said yes. I ran to my car to drop off my new Weequahic tee-shirt which will never fit. Only Roz Weiss made it to the bar so we talked and sipped a complimentary seltzer until after 1 AM. I believe it was 1:11 AM when we hugged and said goodbye. I watched her disappear and smiled at my accomplishment; the last to leave the Reunion party. It was a 20 minute trip back home. The window was open and a warm breeze caressed and ‘Scarborough Fair’ played seven more times.

 

NOTE:  Kudos and praise must find a place here for Jac Toporek, the matrix, energy, spirit, love, and special bond which continually (last three reunions) brings us all together. There would be no reunions if not for him; we all know that; we all love and thank him.

For other locations of Calvin’s writings:   njdiscover.com       njtheshorething.com

http://vichywater.net

 

 

Also you can find me on Facebook as Cal Schwartz

and on Monday nights (every 2 weeks) from 8 to 9 pm check out my radio show:  NJ Discover Radio Show  (one hour of special talk and guests)

TUNE IN LIVE HERE!!!!!!!!!!! From 8 to 9 pm Monday September 9th (before Monday night football )

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