SUNSET FROM BROOKLYN – May 22, 2002 (Photos)
(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)
LAND THAT I LOVE
(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)
WHEN THINKING patriotic thoughts, I suppose it is very appropriate to be listening to Kansas. Here is a band that is famous for American style rock-n-roll. The band is named after a state that is located right in the heart of our great nation. Plus many of their songs deal with the greatness of America and our responsibility as Americans to preserve our heritage, our freedom, and the beauty of our land. Take these lyrics as an example:
“Can I tell you something
Got to tell you one thing
If you expect the freedom
That you say is yours
Prove that you deserve it
Help us to preserve it
Or being free will just be
Words and nothing more”
(“Can I Tell You”)
Are we still free? It is up to each one of us. To be free we must be brave. September 11 taught us this to some degree. We must bravely continue our lives and not allow terror to constrict the freedom in our hearts. We are Americans. We are brave. We must walk on with our heads held high and our hearts ever open. Our compassion and generosity are major factors in our freedom. We are known for these things. What other nation pursues humanitarian efforts to the extent that we do? What other nation sends out more missionaries, social aid workers, etc.? What other nation feels compelled to send its military into the world not to conquer new lands but to preserve peace? Sure, many may argue over the motives of our government and say that we are interfering where we shouldn’t for the sake of protecting our own financial interests and such. Certainly we must consider our financial interests. Our financial strength has been one of the biggest contributors to our freedom. Don’t bite the hand that frees you! Let us be brave, compassionate and free. Let us preserve our freedom and prove that we deserve it by our courage and caring.
How do we remain compassionate in the face of terrorism? Do our enemies mistake our generosity and compassion for weakness? Do they think that they can terrorize without retribution? Maybe they think that after so many various terror assaults against us without much in the way of significant response. It seems that it took something as awful as the destruction of the Twin Towers to finally wake us up. Now we cannot allow our enemies to mistake our compassion for weakness or tolerance. It seems to me that heIn the light of recently renewed warnings of terroristic activity in our country, especially so close to home in New York City, this is where my thinking is on the matter. We must remind ourselves of the qualities that make us truly American. We must first fight ourselves and our own apathy in order to be men and women of character and integrity. That is the toughest battle, which must be fought on a daily basis. Prevail in that struggle and we will truly be free. We will be able to walk with our heads held high. We will have courage to live and give from our hearts. We will not be intimidated by terrorists. Their inhuman acts will only serve to temper our characters and steel our resolve to be the best of the best in all the world.
Yes, I love this land. I believe that we have the greatest country that ever was. The freedoms and opportunities that we have are amazing! It is unfortunate that so many Americans do not see the opportunities. We need a new crusade. Someone wake the American populace! Bring out the history books. Tell us again of great leaders, courageous explorers and passionate dreamers! Raise the flags again! Sing the anthems! We are Americans! Remember, to whom much is given, much is required. Let us prove that we deserve our freedom. May our freedom always be in heart and in deeds and never merely in words. who is the most loving can also be the most angry when the interests of his heart are threatened. Here we must prove that we deserve our freedom. The same principle of love that causes us to give of ourselves in helping others is what should drive us to courageous defense of those that we love and unwavering and unmistakable justice toward those who would harm the ones we love. It is the same principle that causes a man to flame with jealousy when one mars the honor of the woman that he loves. Compassion and justice are two sides of the same coin. We must traffic in both aspects of such commerce in order to buy our freedom continually.
In the light of recently renewed warnings of terroristic activity in our country, especially so close to home in New York City, this is where my thinking is on the matter. We must remind ourselves of the qualities that make us truly American. We must first fight ourselves and our own apathy in order to be men and women of character and integrity. That is the toughest battle, which must be fought on a daily basis. Prevail in that struggle and we will truly be free. We will be able to walk with our heads held high. We will have courage to live and give from our hearts. We will not be intimidated by terrorists. Their inhuman acts will only serve to temper our characters and steel our resolve to be the best of the best in all the world.
Yes, I love this land. I believe that we have the greatest country that ever was. The freedoms and opportunities that we have are amazing! It is unfortunate that so many Americans do not see the opportunities. We need a new crusade. Someone wake the American populace! Bring out the history books. Tell us again of great leaders, courageous explorers and passionate dreamers! Raise the flags again! Sing the anthems! We are Americans! Remember, to whom much is given, much is required. Let us prove that we deserve our freedom. May our freedom always be in heart and in deeds and never merely in words.
CORRESPONDING PICTURE GALLERY:
THE ROCKET BOYS
(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)
“HEY, UNCLE SAM! Can you come over before it gets dark tonight? I want to do something with you that you used to do when you were a kid.”
“Uh-oh! Nephew P, are we going to get into trouble? You didn’t get a slingshot did you? This wouldn’t have anything to do with rocks and windows, would it? Are any animals involved? You know, those animal rights activists will be after us!”
“No! No! You’ll see!”
MUCH to my delight, when I arrived at Sister C’s house, my nephew came out with an Este’s model rocket! Awesome! Let’s go to the moon! After all, I am going to be an astronaut when I grow up! And that’s what my business card says too- “Sam Snyder: Astronaut/Rockstar/Writer”. See!
But before we could go launch the rocket we had to order pizza. And before we could order pizza we had to wait for Sister C to get off of the phone. It was torture! The boys were eager to see the rocket fly. I was eager to be a boy again. Just order us anything. We’re on a mission!
We went off to a nearby field, picking up a few neighborhood boys along the way. Nephew P got the nickname “Homer” after Homer Hickman of “October Sky” fame. T became our launch pad technician. The whole group became the “Rocket Boys.” I became the NASA technical consultant as well as the official photographer. It was a perfect evening to fly rockets. It wasn’t too chilly or windy out. The sky was mostly clear. The moon was directly overhead. All systems were go!
THE FLASHBACKS to my younger days were nearly overwhelming. I had forgotten the feeling of being a kid and being free. All that mattered to the boys was seeing the rocket zip through the sky. They weren’t worried about time or money or much of anything. Where did the days go when I used to spend hour after hour building and flying model rockets and following other boyhood pursuits? As soon as we used up all of the rocket engines, one of the boys said, “Let’s play baseball.” They quickly ditched the slide rules and pocket protectors of the scientist and donned the caps of sports heroes. I envied their freedom of heart.
Flying model rockets was a passion for me as a kid. I discovered them when I saw an ad for the Century Model Rocket Club in the back of a comic book. I was in fifth grade. Joining the club was so exciting! I used to peruse the rocket catalog day after day and just dream of the possibilities of building the biggest rockets. I would order my rockets and check the mailbox every day until they arrived.
MY FIRST rocket was very simple. Basically, it was pre-printed cardboard that I only had to wrap around and glue to the nose cone. The engine slid into the nose cone. It looked like a nose cone with a skirt! The first time we launched it the engine and nose cone took off and left the skirt behind on the ground! It was a naked engine with a point on it!
Later rockets became more involved and intricate. The most fun was in designing my own rockets. I purchased lots of rocket parts and planned out lots of different designs. I spent many painstaking hours cutting and sanding balsa wood, gluing the fins onto the fuselage perfectly even, painting and applying decals of American flags. In my room there were always several rockets of various colors and sizes. I even had one with a clear payload. I thought about launching crickets into orbit with that one!
Our family had some great times with those rockets. There was a certain excitement about it. There was a certain expectation while setting up the rocket on the launch pad. There was a certain nervousness during the countdown, hoping that what I had spent so many hours on would truly fly! There was a certain happiness standing in the midst of the smoke as I watched those rockets sail higher and higher. “I love the smell of napalm, I mean sulfur, in the morning!” And there was a certain unforgettable satisfaction watching the rocket slowly return to earth after the parachute opened successfully.
Were there mishaps on launch days? Sure! One time one of the rockets went so high that it seemed to take forever for it to come down. It drifted from the field behind our house all the way out over the highway in front of the house. I remember chasing it and seeing the cars slow down as it glided down barely above them. Another time the parachute cord snapped. The top half of the rocket came down like a speeding missile right into our neighbor’s horse corral! No horses were hurt but the rocket stuck into the ground quite a way. The most memorable incident was an explosion on the launch pad. I built a Taurus rocket from a kit. The payload and nose cone were larger than the body of the rocket. It was a big fat thing! We counted down. It started to lift off just a few inches from the pad and **BAMMMMM!!!!** The nose cone exploded right off and the payload melted like a blooming flower! It was awesome! Then it was depressing because all my work went up in smoke just like that. But hey! Every great rocket scientist has his bad days! Right?
EVEN THOUGH it only took us about 15 minutes to use up all of our engines the other night with Nephew P’s rocket, it was a blast! It certainly awakened something that was dormant deep inside of me. Now I have the fever again! I have to go by myself an Exacto knife kit and some comic books! There must be some rocket club for big kids like me!
CORRESPONDING PICTURE GALLERY:
THE ROCKET BOYS – May 20, 2002 (Photos)
(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)
MAY DAY! MAY DAY!
(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)
“EXCUSE ME, OFFICER. How can I get to the Manhattan Bridge?”
“Manhattan Bridge?! You’re in Brooklyn now, chief!”
Of course I knew that I was in Brooklyn! When you get in the wrong lane and enter the Battery Tunnel against your will, you end up in Brooklyn! Like it or not! Plus you throw $3.50 out the window, quite literally, to pay the toll for going through the tunnel.
So, I thanked the nice officer, pulled ahead and paid my toll. Ahead of me were three roads with signs that each said something about Route 278. The one that I really needed was on the right but I could not get to it because there were barricades in the way. The one on the left led to the Verrazano Bridge and Staten Island. I already mistakenly got onto the Verrazano last Sunday, connived my way out of paying the toll and was allowed to return to Brooklyn. So, since the road to the right was inaccessible and the one on the left was obviously the wrong way, I chose Door Number 2 and went straight ahead. A lucky guess and a few left turns and I was on 278. Five minutes later I was back in Manhattan. Let me try again.
JF AND A FRIEND of ours were meeting with another man at a Wendy’s on Nassau Street, right near Ground Zero. While driving around trying to find a parking spot, I ended up too far downtown, got onto West Street to head back north, got stuck in the wrong lane and **POOF** I was in Brooklyn. Once I got back into Manhattan I tried again. Then I got stuck in traffic and heard on the radio that there was a demonstration on Broadway from Worth Street all the way down to Battery Park and traffic was not moving. I hopped off onto some side streets, swung back around to Canal Street, plowed my way through traffic down to Chinatown, careened my way down near the Seaport. There I met up with JF near Fulton and Water Street. I missed their whole meeting.
“Where were you?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you!”
After looking like a fool on Sunday with the Verrazano episode, how could I tell her that I did it again and ended up in Brooklyn? I might be stupid sometimes, but not stupid enough to admit to a girl that I’ve been stupid! That would be really stupid and wimpy too!
AFTER a dinner of oyster soup and a dish of vegetables with eggplant (which I couldn’t deal with), we went to check on the business cards that we were having printed. They were awful looking! The owner of the print shop, a Chinese lady, was not very pleasant. She was blasting JF in Chinese. JF was getting pretty upset. So, I stepped in. After all, I was wearing a tie again! I pointed out the deficiencies of the cards and calmly but forcefully informed this woman that I would not accept them. After some more debate and with the help of another Chinese friend the woman finally agreed to re-do the cards.
She said to me, “I’ll do it only for you because I like you!”
“It’s the tie, isn’t it?”
Well, by this point in the day, I had enough frustration. Between the driving mishaps in the afternoon, the scuffle with the print shop lady, the bad eggplant, I had my fill of annoyances! I was ready to send out my May Day signal. I was ready to send out the SOS!
Such was May Day for me. Sure, it was a beautiful, sunny Wednesday afternoon. I was in the city to see JF. But for the first two hours I couldn’t get to her because of the parking situation which led to the unwanted tour of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. However, the day ended well. We closed out the evening sitting in the car at one of our favorite spots near the Verrazano watching the ships come and go. It’s nice to find some peace in a busy city.