More Than Dinosaurs

                                                              

I love going to museums, and I love taking my grandchildren, nieces and nephews to museums, too. In a society hooked on Social Media and the latest Xbox games, museums might appear to be a tame place to visit, but I am here to dispute that fallacy right now. Can a museum entertain better than a video game? Find out after the jump.

Plantings of Spirit

                                                           

                               

There are two ways to go through this life. You can be a planter, or you can be a tramper. Children are like young plants. They need the necessities of healthy foods and clean water to physically grow and, they need mental stimulation which they get in school and at home, but what about their spiritual growth.

Are we inspiring our young to reach past their limits or family traditions? I watch and listen to how adults deal with the young. We should be mindful of our words. I’ve mentioned this in an earlier post. Our thoughts and intentions can take on conscious form and, our words can be as sharp as a sword to an insecure child. Do we really want this to be our legacy?

                                                                 

When I meet adults who seem insecure, self-doubting, or afraid to speak their voice, I think to myself, “There was very little planting in her or his garden.” Did this person, as a child, constantly here remarks like this: “You can’t do this, because: you’re not smart enough, big enough, rich enough, white enough, male enough, female enough, etc. etc.” You get the idea. Trampers point out the negative aspects while planters point out the positive with words like these: “You can do this, if you study harder, if you’re persistent, if you believe in yourself.”

Planters will not use religion, gender, race or finances to discourage a child. A planter will say, “It might be hard, but you can do it.” It takes one seed to start that garden in a child. One encouraging word will inspire a child to reach above their capabilities. When that seed takes root, the spark of imagination that shows in a child’s eyes is breathless to behold.                                                           

The other day, I was selling my books at the Camden Comic Con. A group of children between the ages of eleven to thirteen stopped at my table to chat with me and a fellow writer. One of the girls asked me if I wrote the books that I was selling. I said yes. She wanted to know how I wrote the book. My reply, “I have all these stories inside me. I just write them down.” She nodded, but there were questions. I could see them in her eyes. I added, “You have a story inside you. Everyone does. Start writing your story.”

Her eyes lit up. I had planted the seed. She could write, too. This little girl’s eyes shone with excitement and she couldn’t wait to get home and try her hand at writing. I hope I encouraged all the children in that group to spread their wings and not take “NO” for an answer.

                                                             

 

I hope I also encouraged the little girl with the sad eyes. When I told her to write down her story, her eyes lit up, but then the frown returned. Was she a victim of trampling? I hope not. I hope the seed took hold in her heart. I hope to see her selling her own books one day. Are you a planter or a tramper?

 

Finding Yourself

                                                          

I’m not your typical granny and, my grandchildren are more comfortable introducing me to the music, literature and trends of their world faster than they will with their parents. That means that I am introduced to the world of art and fashion by my adult granddaughters and I get to drive my adult and teenaged grandsons around with Eminem blasting on the speakers while they talk martial arts, politics, and the Assassins Creed video game with me.
                          

What I found interesting is that I really understood what my grandkids were into with their music, fashion and outlook on life. You won’t be selling these kids the same crap that was sold to us. They are savvy about what’s going down both environmentally, economically and politically and I don’t think our religious leaders, our world leaders or the GOP understands this. They will come 2016.
                                                           

I like some of Eminem’s music, not all, but some. This young man has something to say and maybe we should listen. People are angrier than ever before. Families are falling apart. Drugs are one reason and missing fathers are another. Jobs are being sent overseas in order for Corporations to hide their income in foreign banks and, the music shows the desperation that is felt by the young.

There is one song of Eminem’s that I particularly like called Lose Yourself. Now I am going to use parts of the song to make a point on how Eminem is actually encouraging his fans to go beyond what they've been dealt in this life.
                                                          

The song was released as the first single from the soundtrack to his 2002 movie 8 Mile which was directed by Curtis Hanson and stars Eminem, Kim Basinger, Brittany Murphy and Mekhi Phifer. The film is about rap and about trying to make it in a world that looks down on people who don’t fit the mold. Here is information on both the film and the song.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8_Mile_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lose_Yourself

I recently was at an event in New Jersey for the Pennsauken High School on careers. I had the opportunity to meet with and chat with some pretty amazing young people. They know what they want to do.They want to make the world a better place. I apologized to each and every one of them for the mess my generation and their parents' generation left for them to clean up. How do we expect our children to grow up to be honorable when Congress members behave so badly. How do we expect our children to think peacefully, when world leaders and our very own Congress members want to jump into every war that comes down the road?
                                                         

Our children will need to find their way in a confusing and angry world. Should they even try? I think you'll be surprised by how smart our future generation is.

Eminem from Lose Yourself:

Look, if you had, one shot, or one opportunity
to seize everything you ever wanted. In one moment
would you capture it, or just let it slip?
Yo

I spoke with young men and women who want to save the world, but many of them don't have money for college. The major reason being that America's middle class has been dismantled by greed. And, let's be really honest about this; the price of attending college is a nightmare for both the middle class and the poor. Shame on us! Are these kids giving up? Has our greed foiled these young people who are our future and our only hope?

Hell no! Most of the kids I spoke to said that they will find a way to attend a college. A lot of them are joining the military because they want to serve our nation and in return, get a good education. I have two grandsons in the military now doing the same thing. Jimmy is in the U.S. Marine Corps and when he gets out, he wants to be a State Trooper. Josh is in the U.S. Navy and when he gets out, he wants to work for Elon Musk and Space X.

I told each and every one of these students to never allow anyone to destroy their dreams and hopes for a better world. I also told them that everything is possible if you believe in yourself. We are not losing ourselves. We are finding ourselves.

I'll end this post with another part of Eminem's song that I hold as my mantra and I will share it with all my readers to claim, no matter what age you are. I'll go one step further and say that it's never too late to take that shot; to live the dream; to heal the earth. Yo!

Eminem from Lose Yourself:

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime (yo)

Here is the video with lyrics included.
 

Waiting for the Train

                                                           

There is this little girl that I’ve been babysitting for since she was three months old. Isa is an amazing singer and was featured in an earlier blog of mine here. Now that Isa goes to school full time, I watch her little brother.

                                                       

This past winter was too harsh to go wait for the train, but the other week Isa and I were lucky enough to reach the center of town just in time to wave to the conductor. We don’t know the train’s schedule and most of the time, we miss the train.

                                                           

Once or twice a week, Isa and I make the journey to the center of town with snacks in hand. While we sit under the shade of that old gazebo we chat about everything her little five year old mind can think of.

                                                                 

I intend to contact the Mayor to see if he knows the train’s schedule because when you love trains as much as Isa and I do, it’s no fun missing them. On the bright side, waiting for the train to pass gives me time to chat with this little girl, who has become like family to me. We talk about nature, about planets, about her school project for that week. We talk about everything and, sometimes we sing songs while we wait for that distant whistle that warns of the approaching train.

I like waiting for the train, even when it doesn’t come. It is during these quiet moments shared with this amazing little child that I feel at peace with the world. I’m not rushing to finish a writing deadline, I’m not thinking about household chores or doctor’s appointments or family drama.


                                                                                                                           

I’m waiting for a train that may or may not pass. I’m learning, or should I say re-learning what it means to be a child. It feels good to sit and chat about the many possibilities that seem possible to a child. When you’re young the world is yours to command. Train schedules, on the other hand, or not, but that’s okay for now. When you’re a child, the excitement lies in the hope that the train will be on time.

Jimmy's Farewell Party

                                                                                   

I was there in the delivery room with my daughter when Jimmy was born. I knew from that first moment that my first grandson was going to be a warrior. How? Well for starters, he punched the doctor who delivered him in the nose within seconds after being born. No! I’m not exaggerating. My grandson reached up and popped the doctor in the nose. We all laughed about this even the doctor.

                                                                  

 

Growing up, Jimmy was always fascinated by Ninjas, swords, knights and soldiers. He and his brothers fought many battles in my back yard as they pretended to be pirates or Samurai warriors. I was often encouraged to join in the battle, but most of the time was assigned the job of corpse or prisoner. After Jimmy graduated from High School, he joined the United States Marines. Oorah! But, what my daughter, her husband and his grandparents didn’t know was that Jimmy had been planning this for some time.

                                                                   

 

My daughter and her husband had a big send-off party this past Saturday for Jimmy who will be heading to Camp Lejeune for infantry training.

                                                                                       

Friends and family all gathered around to celebrate and it was the best time ever. Plenty of good food and conversations made the whole day perfect. 

                                                                                

I even got to visit with my daughter’s childhood friend, Rita Palange-Screnci, who was there with her husband and son. Rere and Rita were always together, through thick and thin, and I’ve come to think of Rita as my second daughter.

                                                                     

                                                                   11 year old Rere and Rita

Jimmy’s younger brothers, Joshua and Nathan are sure going to miss their big brother. Who will they fight with? Oh yeah, each other!

                                                                  

 

The perfect party included a surprise visit from the bike club, Warriors Watch Riders of NJ, who stopped by to say goodbye. Joshua and his friend Tyler get the credit for arranging this. Tyler’s dad is a member of the Warriors Watch Riders. Thank you, Mr. Tucci. Jimmy's childhood friend, Sean is also leaving for military tour, overseas. Stay safe, soldier. 

                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

I was thinking as I watched Jimmy joke with his friends and family at the party, that it has been a blessing watching him grow from that infant, who came out fighting, to the man he is now.

                                                                                            

 When he leaves on Tuesday, he’ll take his family’s love and support with him, but….also a nice chunk of his parent’s and grandparent’s souls. That’s how we live forever…giving chunks of ourselves (our souls) away to our children, grandchildren, and future generations. Oorah!

                                                                      

Saying Goodbye to Curly Top

                                                                  
                                                                      

I woke up today to hear the news that a little girl that my sisters and I would pretend to be, died today at 85 years old. We loved this woman even though we had never met here; she was part of our family. All her songs were memorized, and Jane and I took up tap dancing when we were students at St. Monica's Parochial School. Her dancing with the amazing Bill "Bojangles" Robinson made us all want to dance.

                                                                            

                                                                    

Shirley Temple was an icon to not only the people of the United States, but to people everywhere. With her songs about Animal Crackers and Good Ship Lollipops, she helped people forget the great depression and later; the war.

                                                                          

Even when Shirley Temple was no longer considered sellable by the movie producers, she remained America's Sweetheart. There was never a scandal connected to her name, not like it is today with  movie or music stars. Got that...Lindsey...Justin? You don't have to behave like fools for people to love you. Shirley Temple grew up got married and had her own children.

                                                                      

Later in life, Shirley Temple hosted a weekly show which featured stories that sometimes included music. She even served time as an Ambassador for our country. I think her job was spreading happiness. We could sure use her now.

                                                                             

                            Ambassador Shirley Temple Black with Major Carolyn May


Somehow...I don't why I feel this is true, at least for me, but as long as Shirley Temple was alive, I felt we would all live forever... and now...

Here is my salute to a woman who will always be, to me and my sisters, a childhood friend.



                                                         Goodbye Curly Top

Life with Fred & Lucy, Part 6: Don't Break the Baby

                                                                

                            Baby Lucy, the youngest of the siblings                                           

Okay, from the first five episodes, I’m guessing that you’ve figured out that my siblings and I were a wild bunch of tots. On the few occasions that we had free time to ourselves to play, we played hard and sometimes dangerously.

                                                       

                                                                    

To set up the scene of where we did most of our playing, I’ll tell you about my father’s storeroom. Except for our kitchen, the living room and the bedrooms were on the second floor of our two-storied home. What was originally the living room on the first floor was now being used for stock. My father had boxes and boxes of can food lined up in neat rows that took up the entire room. There were small walkways between the aisles. The boxes were stacked almost to the ceiling.

                                                               

                                                                    

 Get the picture? My siblings and I had our own Himalayan mountain range to explore

                                                              

I was seven years old and Lucy was only six months old when my father bought the store. My job was to watch over my little sister. In the old days, no one wore helmets or knee pads.

 

                           Michael, Lucy, Mom and Jane in background                                                

Kids back in the old days, played hard and fast without worrying about the scrapes and bumps that come naturally with childhood. We were survivors; we loved adventure. By the time that Lucy was three years old, I took on the responsibility and job of teaching  Lucy how to have fun via mountain climbing with her crazy siblings.

                                                                                                                                                    

My parents were so busy in the store that they had no idea what the hell we were doing. They assumed, wrongly, that we were maybe playing hide and seek in that big old stock room. Ha!

                                                                        

Jane who was nine and Michael who was five at the time would climb the boxes until they reached the very top; only a few feet from the twelve foot ceiling. They would then pull up  Lucy as I pushed her from below. Once we were all on the top of the stacks, we began to jump (I kid you not) from one stack of boxes to another.

                                                              

God must have had his entire army of Guardian Angels watching us crazy kids as we risked limbs, and most likely our lives, jumping the entire length of the room; stack to stack. We never did fall or drop the baby, but our days of mountain climbing ended one day after my father walked into the stock room. Look at the picture above. My father had that same expression as he caught me in the act of passing Lucy over to Jane's side of the mountain.

                                                                     

“What the %*#@* are you goofballs doing? You’re going to #%**@# break that baby. GET DOWN, NOW!!!

                                                                         

Needless to say, I received a spanking and lengthy speech from mom, which in my opinion was worse than the spanking.
                                                                                  
We were banned from the stock room; unable to climb the Himalayans. But, it wasn't the end of our adventure. We kids were rather resourceful when it came to our play; resourceful and dangerous. My parents, always busy in the store, never learned about us playing firemen on the roof of our first floor addition.
                                                                  

                                                                                  

Life with Fred and Lucy-part two-Security

                                                                    

 

The last time I posted about life with Fred and Lucy, I promised to tell you how we managed the security for our grocery store. If you think the C.I.A. was good at spying on people, then you should have known Fred. My father and mother were both OCD, especially about being robbed.

                                                                 

                  Our Grocery Store at 15th and Porter Streets

The grocery store was a family business and everyone was put to work. Along with the canned foods, dairy products and luncheon meats, my parents sold penny candies, loose potato chips and loose pretzel sticks. This was in the early fifties and you  were given a small paper bag to fill with candy, chips or pretzels.

                                                                            

Most people were honest, but every once in a while a group of strangers (kids from another neighborhood) would come in and steal the candy. They would do this every few days and this drove my father bat shit crazy.
 

You didn’t make a lot of money owning a store and the profits were earned a penny at a time. What did Fred do? My sister Jane, me and, my three cousins, Anthony, Jerry and Michael became Fred's front line of defense.
 

Acting every bit like General George Patton, my father prepared his own version of the Battle of the Bulge. The only difference was the bulge we would be fighting was the stuffed pockets of the teenaged boys stealing our candy. It was a brilliant plan! My father installed a buzzer that would buzz on all three floors: 2^nd, 1rst, and basement. No matter where his workers were, we would hear that stinking buzzer.

                                                    I hated that buzzer!
                                                                 

Anyway, when he pressed the buzzer, we kids would drop whatever we were doing and run to our secret observation points: I hid behind the pasta shelf, peeking through the boxes where I could grab hold of the thief’s hand in mid-theft. Jane had the potato bin where she was in charge of tossing potato grenades at the enemy; 
                                                                    

Cousin Anthony stood at the door to prevent the hoodlums' escape while cousins Jerry and Michael stood in front of the penny candy display. It was a success!! Word spread throughout the neighborhood, and soon ,the teenaged thieves stopped raiding the store. My father’s ‘Battle of the Candy Bulge’ was so successful, that the other neighborhood grocery stores adopted the buzzer weapon.

My mother never had to resort to the buzzer, because all the neighborhood kids were afraid of her. She had a wicked stare.

                                                            

                                             

Next episode: How we became secret agents

Good Luck, ReRe

                                                                         

                                                                   

My daughter is going for surgery today. It’s the third surgery on her shoulder since that horrible accident on the quad that her and her husband were in. My daughter’s shoulder is not cooperating. It’s a long story and I won’t bore you with the details, but I want her to get better.

                                                                                     

If you have a moment, say a little prayer for her that this time her shoulder heals. She needs all her strength, especially running after the three desperados (Jimmy, Nathan and Joshua) my grandsons.

                                                                                  

Scary Movies Then and Now

I found this little video on Youtube and it got me thinking about growing up in the 50's and 60's and the types of scary movies that were shown every weekend at our local movie theatre. The Saturday Matinee Movies was a big hit in our neck of the woods in South Philadelphia. There were two theatres that we could go to: The Broadway Theatre on Broad and Snyder


                                                                        

                               and the Colonial Theater on 11th and Moyamensing Ave.


                                                                      

 

We got to see movies like this from Your Daily Milk!




Yes, the monsters offered to us, are laughable today, but back then; they scared us enough to drop our lunch, which consisted of baloney sandwiches and an apple, out of our hands. Yes, back then, kids were allowed to bring a bag lunch with them, as long as they also bought a bag of popcorn or lots of candy.
                                                                 

                                                                   
Most of the time, the baloney sandwiches were used as air to ground missiles by my siblings, if we were fortunate to get a seat in the balcony section of the movie theatre. If we noticed one of the neighborhood kids sitting below; then the time spent waiting for the first cartoon to start up was put to good use; bombs away!


                                                                      

The fright level of the movies began to change in the 60's with the introduction of Hammer Films. The screams from the audience grew louder and we began to cover our eyes. Here is a sample movie from Hammer Films:




We all know that Hollywood produces movies to fit the times, right? So what was going on in the 50's and 60's that upped the level of horror at the matinee shows?

                                                                 The Cold War

         
                                                                        Sputnik
      

                                                                           Vietnam

                                                                          

Today we have ghost stories, zombies and vampires. I think the matinee horrors of our childhood have been stomped on and replaced with real world horrors. Today's news frightens me more than the prospect of encountering a zombie.
                                                                        

Our politicians are all crooks and owned by corporations; our young military men and women, sheep sent to the slaughter; human slavery and poverty are out of control; nations all over the globe hate Americans.

I long for the days of innocence, but I think we were already lost by the time the Exorcist came out on the screen.
                                                                    

                                          
So, I'm hoping that you don't mind me sharing an old movie with you once in a while. I miss the days of zippered up monsters with cotton ball eyes. I'll leave you with this one movie trailer to cheer you up, enjoy!