12,779. ONE LONG LAUNCH DAY

ONE LONG LAUNCH DAY

My shadow no longer matches

my body, and I'm not sure what

to do. I think it's me, the way it

stays close, and mimics, but it

bears now another shape. 

-

Nothing that translates well.

Recognition factors vary in

this Human league. I'd better

just walk away and see if it,

or what, follows.

-

The Lancer Program, advertised

at the corner lounge, is about

to expire  -  fifteen thousand

dollars available for each who

apply. Assistance packages with

one percent interest and ninety

percent certainty of doom. That

leaves nine percent for something.

-

I'm looking. I'm looking. I'm looking,

for the shadow-assistance plan.

12,778. I'LL BE WRITING HOME NOW

I'LL BE WRITING 

HOME NOW

Dear Mother and Father : Before

I drown (this ship is sinking now

and I've nowhere to go. I am last

left alive, and only salt-water is

left), you should know what a

beautiful blue the sky is, an

azure of something like Greece.

The dark, velvet black of the

night comes close. Perhaps. Yet,

too many stars then spoil the

dark. This is somehow a daytime

difference. I am nauseous again,

and apt to vomit on this ledger.

But. What is it for anyway? I am

such a fool. It will sink with me,

and, as only paper and cardboard,

the water shall have its spite with

that too. No one shall ever see what

I am putting here. Least you both.

Let it not be said I have not tried.

-

I remember many things : Your 

faces, your smiles, your funny 

doings. As I was young, before I 

set sail to this miserable ending. 

Perhaps you can overlook my 

own faults as, in memory, I

gloss over so much of yours, 

as I see them now, from the 

'now,' as it is, for good or for

bad. I grimace as I write this;

my leg is very swollen. I think

it may be broken. A terrible

blow hit me, unseen, in the

roiling turn of storm, before

the day before the last.

-

Let it not be said

I have not tried.

12, 777. RUDIMENTS. pt 1,041

RUDIMENTS. pt 1041

Black Death..to..Cholera...and back

The earliest 'quarantines'

were a response to the

Black Death, which, between

1347 and 1351, killed

something like a third of

Europe and ushered in

what's became known as

the 'second plague pandemic.'

As with the first, the second

pandemic worked its havoc

fitfully. Plague would spread,

then abate, only to flare up

again.  During one such

flare-up, in the fifteenth

century, the Venetians

erected lazarettos  -  or

isolation wards  -  on

outlying islands, where they

forced arriving ships to dock.

The Venetians believed that by

airing out the ships they were

dissipating plague-causing

vapors. If the theory was

off-base, the results were 

still good because forty days

gave the plague time enough

to kill infected rats and sailors.

Professor Snowden, of Yale,

again, says "Such measures

were one of the first forms

of 'institutionalized public

health'" and he argues that

they helped legitimize the

'accretion of power' by the

modern state.

-

That's an interesting enough

point, to be looked at in light

of today's climate of everyone

being chained and pulled in

as many directions as it is that

Authority  -  viewing the dilemma

as merely monetary  -  cannot

even decide on. The one thing

I notice (growth of 'The State')

is how it often tries to tout its

underpinnings by undertaking

varied schemes of 'thanking'

essential workers and first 

responders, as they are called.

That baffles me, in light of the

fact of Freedom and Free Choice

each of which are supposed to 

still be extant. A person, in this

life, can be anything  -  if they

select 'Accountant,' they do

amortization and profit/loss,

balancing books and returns, etc.

Their choice. If they decide for

sport, they play and travel as

needed, and take their limps. 

Same for construction workers,

contractors, designers, etc. No

one is forced into anything. The

choice made to be an 'Essential

Worker' or 'First Responder,' it

seems to me, is a choice made

in the full knowledge of the

burdens and chances involved.

A pandemic of some horrible

catastrophe or event is and always

was part of the horizon for that

sort of job. Why now do they 

need special attention? I've

seen it all  -  free oil changes for

First Responders; free donuts

and coffee; this or that special

item for 'Essential' personnel. In

light of tragedy and grief, I don't

really get it. There ought to be

NO surprises when you take 

on a career such as that. What 

did they expect? Easy living, 

and a continuous picnic? They

should have read the fine print.

(It's not really 'free' anyway; you

and I pay for it. At the end of the

year those businesses say 'we gave

away $187,000 in goods, product,

and merchandise, as Good Will for

Pandemic Providers.' That number,

worked by Accountants, comes off

year-end taxes in whatever way is

approved (or not).  There's really

little 'generosity' involved. Ask

the next merchant you see doing

this if they're not going to work

it into their tax writeoffs.

-

I don't know how they packed

up the dead and the ailing in those

other days, but it seems quite often

people simply died at home and

stayed where that occurred.

-

The last major outbreak of Black

Death occurred in 1720 at Marseilles,

a French port. Efforts at control,

there, caused 'evasion, resistance,

and riot.' Public health measures

ran up against religion and tradition,

as, of course, they still do. (My

brother-in-law just died, and there

was no mourning, no wake, no

groups and no attendance at the

burial, but for the wife. My sister.

She's about as traditional as they

come, regarding this stuff especially.

It was a forced and gruesome

sacrifice all around. Tradition and

Religion are still large factors, all

now being gutted). The fear, in these

later Marseilles cases, of being

separated from loved ones prompted

many families to conceal cases.

'And, in fact,those charged with

enforcing the rules often had

little interest in protecting the

public.' 

-

Cholera perhaps would come in

third, after the Plague and Smallpox.

It is caused by a comma-shaped

bacterium, and for most of human

history it was restricted to the Ganges

Delta (India). Then in the eighteen

hundreds, steamships and colonialism

sent it traveling  -  the first pandemic

broke out in 1817, at 'Calcutta.' It

moved over to Siam (modern-day

Thailand), and then by ship to

Oman, where it was carried down

to Zanzibar. The second wave

began again in India in 1829,

going through Russia, into 

Europe and from there to the 

United States. Cholera is 

primarily a disease of the

urban slums, spread by 

contaminated food or water.

While it was raging in St.

Petersburg, Russia, in 1831,

there were riots, fights, and

accusations. Doctors were said

to be mixing Cholera victims

with other sick cases, in the

hopes they would all die off,

The following Spring, Cholera

broke out in Liverpool; again

doctors were the main target,

of both abuse and violence.

They were accused of poisoning

patients (before death, a cholera

victim, so dehydrated, turns

blue). Similar riots broke out

in Aberdeen, Glasgow, and

Dublin. Most tellingly, when

the 1830's cholera epidemic

hit Italy (Naples), the city

dispatched inspectors to

confiscate suspect produce.

It also sent out disinfectant

squads, which arrived at the

city's tenements with guns 

drawn. The inhabitants were

skeptical of both the inspectors

and the squads. They responded 

with a sense of humor : Demonstrators

showed up at City Hall with baskets

of over-ripe figs and melons, and

then proceeded "to consume the

forbidden fruit in enormous

quantities while those who

watched applauded and bet on

which binger would eat the

most."

-

A real good last item here : 

"Eight years later, one of the

most violent cholera riots broke

out in the Ukrainian city of

Donetsk. Scores of ships were

looted, and homes and businesses

were burned. The Authorities,

from St. Petersburg, Russia,

responded to the violence by

cracking down on workers

promoting  'lawlessness.' The

crackdown promoted more civil

unrest, which in turn prompted

more repression, and, thus, in

a roundabout sort of way, Cholera

helped 'set the stage' for the

Russian Revolution." Which

you may have heard of. 

-

Myself? Me? In all this? I'll

be frank with you. I feel as if I

am racing my own time against

Death, which, something is telling

me, isn't far off. Don't know why,

but I intuit. What's it mean? Am 

I fortunate? Does any of this have a

meaning? Where did I come from.

and where have I been? Which

only then begs the question....

where am I going? Do we mourn

the loss of what we had, or the loss

of that which we never had? And,

either way, isn't it all the same?

Black Death. White Death.

Call it the dead-ship of fools,

afloat on a meager sea of grime.

My heart wants to stay. Maybe

it's only me that wants to go.

12,776. RUDIMENTS. pt 1,040

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1040

(Smallpox)

I wouldn't think anyone

would be going around in

a huff or a worry now about

these old version of today's

disease atmospheres, but

the look back is thrilling.

Most people now get all

over-baked and crazy over

the social idea of the disease

and it's spread. Of course that

would be so, because our media

and lifestyles now have been

consciously set up and enforced

as 'Social.' People now can't

stand to be alone with themselves

for 2 hours, let alone 2 days or

more. Everything now much

have that coaxing feel of drama,

overwrought and blossoming;

a scream or two of anguish

and anxiety also. It's all put

together that way so that, in

fear, people easily follow orders

Bubonic  plague would certainly 

show us moderns a few new

card tricks. I am not of the

mind to accept the modern

day, so it really little matters

to me. What I see presented

today as virus-response is a

bunch of weak-knee'd, TV

bred, socially morose aiders

and abetters of emotionalism

and panic. A real stupid, mass

hallucinatory, panic that just

feeds in itself. 

-

Smallpox was dubbed 'the

speckled monster.' Before

it was eradicated, it may have

killed over a billion people.

No one, still, knows where

Smallpox originated  -  the

virus, part of the same genus

that includes cowpox, camelpox,

and monkeypox  - is believed

to have first infected humans

around the time that people

began domesticating animals.

Signs of Smallpox have been 

found in Egyptian mummies,

including Ramses V, who died

in 1157 B.C. The Romans picked

up their version of it near

present day Baghdad when they

went to fight one of their many

enemies, the Parthians, in 162.

(Isn't War great?). The Roman

physician Galen reported that 

those who came down with the

new disease suffered a rash that

was 'ulcerated in most cases and

totally dry.' (It is sometimes

called the Plague of Galen); and

Marcus Aurelius, one of the

'Five Good Emperors' died of

it in 180, it is thought.

-

Sidebar on this entire Marcus

Aurelius thing : During the years

I took the daily train back and forth

to Princeton, I had made myself

my own curriculum; reading matter

to stay with, study and absorb, etc.,

and one of my favorite titles of

that time was 'The Meditations of

Marcus Aurelius.' This volume, these

meditations, were written while

he was imprisoned, waiting to die;

and for their 'day' and 'age' still

read as compelling matter, and

serious thoughtfulness. (He was

also a Stoic philosopher, and it

was from that position that he

wrote these). One of  the very 

often-cited lines of his is 'Live

life as if you are already dead.'

That reads kind of strange, but

there's a lot of meaning there.

The actual quote is (often and

mostly mis-read) is: Think of

yourself as dead. You have lived

your life, now take what's left

and live it properly.' I much prefer

the first version, as do the mass

of mis-reading Humankind.

-

By the 15th century, Smallpox

had become 'endemic' in Europe

and Asia, meaning that most

people were probably exposed

to it at some point in their lives. 

Over all, the fatality rate was a

terrifying 30 percent, but much

higher among young children,

more than 90 percent in some

places. ('Parents would commonly

wait to name their children until

after they had survived Smallpox).

Anyone who made it through

had acquired permanent

immunity though many were

left blind or badly scarred. 

("This dynamic meant that every

generation or so there was a

major outbreak, as the number

of people who managed to

avoid getting infected as 

children slowly rose").

Upon reflection, I realize

again how anal today's society

become, over these same disease

issues. Everything reduced to a

sort of group nomenclature, of

codewords and winks,  because 

we have at our disposal the 

means and connections of 

steering people, in ways that 

never, certainly, existed a 

thousand years ago, or 600,

or even 300. When today's

version began, do you recall

how 'fin' it was made out to

be to 'wash' one's hands  -  

there were instructions on

what nursery rhymes to recite

to your self to be sure you'd 

washed long ago; how to recite

the Lord's Prayer, and two

Jail Mary's, or to say some

stupid doggerel twice. Thus 

assuring the adequate amount

of time of hand-washing, and

then DO NOT touch your hands

to your mouth. Whatever it all

was. Can you imagine old Slodo

 being told to got down to the

river and bath his hands for

fifteen yents of the yomo and

then return without ever touching 

his toga, or his face? No fun

at all. don't think it would have 

worked. In today's much more

infantile world, we have the usual

media clowns, etc, making their

announcements and smiley

sing-songs about how we 

should live. I'd rather pick up

my rifle and stand by my front

door with a Tom Petty song,

'Don't Come Around Here no

More.' People are plain-out 

stupid now.

-

What's even then weirder, on

this spread of this Smallpox thing,

is how the exploring Europeans

then began just dumping this

disease on all the new populations

of the people they began infringing

upon. Landing, Claiming lands,

and stealing them. Planting a stupid

flag and saying 'It's Ours!' Killing

and slaughtering, and enslaving, 

inhabitants. Or, as it's nicely put

in the history books, "As they

began exploring distant lands 

and interacting with the native 

populations. A historian, Alfred

Crosby, coined the term 'virgin

soil epidemic,' defined as on in

which 'the populations at risk

have had no previous contact

with the diseases that strike 

them and are therefore

immunologically almost

defenseless.' The first 'virgin

soil epidemic' in the Americas

began toward the of 1518. That

year someone (from Spain)

carried smallpox to Hispaniola.

This was a quarter of a century

after Columbus ran aground on

the island, and the native Taino

population had already been

much reduced. The 'speckled

monster' laid waster to those 

who remained. Two friars (if

you can believe this!!) wrote

back to the King of Spain,

Charles I, "It has leased the

Our Lord to bestow a pestilence

of smallpox among the said

Indians, and it dos not cease,"

(Yes, truly, that is what Catholics

are good for). From there, the

Smallpox spread to Puerto Rico.

Within 10 years it had reached

the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan,

a development that allowed

Herman Cortes to conquer the

capital in 1521. (He's otherwise

known as Cortez the Killer).

A Spanish priest wrote : "In

many places it happened that

everyone in  a house died, and,

as it was impossible to bury

the great number of dead, they

pulled down the houses over 

them."

-

When I got to NYC, there was

an entire history of the old,

disease days there. Cholera,

Yellow Fever, etc. In fact,

entire wards and sections of

Manhattan and surroundings

had their own names and

reputations as Cholera

hotspots centers of the other

various ailments. Greenwich

Village itself was a crooked,

eccentric remnant of what once

was an out-the-the-country

haven to which people fled 

to escape those diseases. And

many never left  -  either

through death or because they

just stayed there and made it

home. Eccentric, raggedy place

from Day One.

--------

NEXT: The Black Death

12,775. RUDIMENTS. pt. 1,039

RUDIMENTS, pt. 1,039

(the blazing star commando)

Blazing Star was the previous

name for what is now known

as Carteret. Colonial days and

such. No one much knows about

any of that any more, but when

waterways and not highways

ruled the roost, the connections

of importance were on the

water  -  thus we find Blazing

Star, Linden and Elizabethport,

in a row as a very important

colonial and later-era locations.

When I say no one knows much

about it anymore, I really mean

it. There's such a dearth of real

and vital old information now

in what today is taught. No one

gets a clue unless they dig it

out themselves. Back in the

time I speak of, all that 'over

the river and through the woods'

stuff was still in grandma's and

her house's future. Wagon paths

and trails through the woods

were held by locals, for their

own uses and own maintenance.

Real freight, supplies, and

cargoes,went by water. The

various riverways mattered

greatly  -  Raritan, the Arthur

Kill, Elizabeth River, Rahway

River, etc. Lesser tributaries

all led to the careeneing and

widening harbor water all

around Newark and Manhattan

New York Harbor, again and

tight out to Sandy Hook. When

the flotilla of Britain's armada

came into sight of lower Manhattan,

cresting through Sandy Hook,

it was a sight to behold. The

Dutch in Manhattan, seeing that,

knew the jig was up and just

walked away. Nieuw Amsterdam

quickly became New York,

named for the Duke of...

-

I was always taken with the

name 'Blazing Star.' Loved it,

in fact. If you take Route One,

north, past to Linden, you pass

a large cemetery on your right,

I think it's 'Rose Hill' and then

a mass of refineries and crap.

That's all part of the sell-out

and crooked policies of this

area and all the groupie-homos

who sold us out over the years,

but there it all is nonetheless.

Turning into that cemetery,

drive it ALL the way back to

the rear fence (It's a large and

deep cemetery) and you get to

the fencing that marks to off

limits area for Mosey's Creek.

You can see it all there, and

there's even a small island

area in the center of the

waterway, and just beyond

it is Staten Island. You'd

never know it now but

Royalist Staten Island held

much of the British force that

prodded and raided back and

forth between Staten Island

now, and that same Elizabethport

then. Acres and acres, thousands,

of farmland, fields and meadows.

All destroyed now, as are any

nautical or marine connections.

There's even a place, out in the

Linden meadows where they've

erected stop stop-gap burial

memorial for some guy and

his family who once owned

a lot of the area and whose

bones and stuff they found,

or dug up, when wrecking

everything for refinery

and industrial use. At least

some swine had the good

sense to mark some sort of

memorial for those poor folks.

It's not much, but at least

it's something to look at to

prove the old world existed.

I knew an artist once, Frank

Thorne, who used to do a

weekly strip for the Elizabeth

Daily Journal  -  he covered

a lot of this old colonial-era

history from around that

E'port area. Good info, and

nicely drawn drawing-boxes

too. Frank's old now, but I'm

pretty sure he's still around;

leastways his house is.

-

Until some part of the 1980's,

until they took some further

land and expanded the sewerage

plant, there was a herd of goats

that was kept there, out to the

end of Trembley Point Road,

and they were kept there, I

think, by the Municipal Water

Authority, of Linden. They

kept the grass down, milled

about, and were just generally

cool to see  -  all the Exxon

and refinery trucks were 

always running back or

forth too, but they never

minded. That was more my

problem then theirs. Goats

don't seem to much care

about that stuff. History and

all not really being part of 

their make-up. I don't know

the life span of the average

goat, but even let's say at

20 years, what little carrying

capacity  - NONE  -  in human

terms, do they have about

the past. Kind of like us, but

only in  a way, it wasn't here

before them and won't be there

after them. Isn't that weird?

-

I always tried not to get scuffed

up over this stuff, but it always

irked me how much we screwed

up our lands and histories. And,

heck, while I'm at it, how we

screwed up for those animals too,

like the goats. Killing and eating

their flesh like nothing ever mattered

except us. Big, stupid us. I can

remember, over in Iselin, back

when the swamis and South

Asians and Muslims began to

step up and take the place over

for themselves, how grossed-out

I got when I started seeing, in

the Green Street meat and grocer

ships, the large window signs

advertising, 'Goat - $1.79/lb.

That was about 1985, as I recall.

Blazing Star was already a

memory, long ago and forgotten,

and Oak Tree Road was still

barely a lane and a half, with the

horse auction off to the left (now

a 'temple of some sort, and a

seeming-zillion apartments).

no one remembers anything,

they just put it all out of mind 

and cheer on the new.

-

Another weird, local thing that

always bugged me as how, in

1964, 'Woodbridge' was awarded

'All American City' status. I was

a seminary kid then, but I can

well recall the banner, across 

Avenel Street, between Park

Ave. and Madison, where the 

church rectory used to be. It

boasted of Woodbridge (there

were other banners all over the

other 'Woodbridge' incorporated

towns too, about how the township

was awarded some Presidential

citation BS and it went on, I can't

remember. But it was all crap.

Woodbridge wasn't even a city.

Not even close. It was a ramshackle

agglomeration of dismal little

spots like chicks without a hen

mother, searching for something,

anything, to peck at. How it got that

designation, I'll never know, except

that if you read it now it's pretty

clear it was an award for having the

best potential to become another

rip-snorting, land-gobbling, killer

segment of off-limits happy living

servile residents who were supposed

to somehow applaud the desecration

of their lands, the growth of industry

and highways and traffic, and the rest.

Well, hoo-ha for that, and it all still

goes on.