blog.deanland.com

Over on Facebook there’s a meme going around, the gist of which is "What is something you have done that you're fairly confident you're the ONLY person on my friends list to have ever done? Given the wide range of people I know, I think this will be interesting."

I noted that a few who answered this offered up more than one event.

*** As for me: first time ever on the air in my radio career was afternoon drive in NYC - smack dab in the middle of the FM dial.

Halloween 2020

Perhaps after Election Day, November 3rd, the country can consider Making Halloween Great Again.  The Corona Virus, aka the Trump Virus, has a lot to do with that. Will a third, or even fourth wave be upon us as October of 2021 comes to an end a year from now?

Terror attack, multiple locations, death tolls plus countless injured.  In a major city life becomes disrupted, travel comes to a halt.  Locals desperately seek contact yet fear the news of their loved ones.  Many visitors to the area (tourists, students, business people, musicians on tour) are unaccounted for.

Family members run to the locations of the attacks, holding photographs, has anyone seen this person?

Hospitals, overwhelmed with patients from the incidents, are overrun with nervous, fearful, stressed visitors seeking their relatives, friends, lovers, associates.

Country and city leaders make statements to the press.  The media repeats these and other clips over and over. Responsibility is claimed by a known terrorist organization. Patterns and background unfold.

A city is gripped with fear, sadness and a chilling sense of uncertainty.  Emotions are fervent, tensions and an inability to feel settled or centered becomes the norm.  Levels of frenzy and fear persist.

This is the new reality.

Nearby cities express support.  Sports teams drop every shred of rivalry to convey solidarity. Social media abounds with messages of concern.  Everywhere one goes it is the terror attacks, their immediate aftermath and the larger discussion of what it means becomes Topic One.

This is Paris now.

The Year-End Letter

Back about 25 years ago...

Some call it the Christmas Letter. Others call it the Year-End letter, or the Yearly Recap. Some call it the Personal or Family Annual Report. Others refer to it as ”that damn letter from the Smiths about their perfect f*#%cking family.”  That’s usually followed with a glare or subtly implied grrr.

We all know what this is: the year on a page or two.   The accomplishments and kudos, the travels report and update on who got a new job or promotion,  who graduated, who had a baby, who won an award, who got married, and so forth.  Some even include who happily got divorced.

November 22nd is a day of major note.  All day this year, more so than in others, the significance and memories were on my mind.  Perhaps it being 50 years since the JFK assassination, that being a milestone of note, is the reason.  As the day wore on it became more top of mind and as evening came close to the clock turning to November 23rd, I posted on Facebook what follows below. As sometimes occurs,after posting to Facebook I realize that it really should be a blog post.  Or be expanded and then a blog post.

Eleven years ago it was September 11th. The September 11th permanently etched in our minds.

In New York it was a gorgeous morning, spectacular azure skies and early Fall temperatures.  It seemed a beautiful day was ahead.

Eleven years ago the world as we know it changed.  Changed forever.  Changed in horrible ways.  Thousands of lives lost.  Hundreds of First Responders ill or since dead from breathing in the dust.  Countless others wounded in NY, Washington and Pennsyvania.

On September 14, 2004 I posted a very long blog entry, entitled, "Apples, Honey, Caution."  It was only three years after September 11th, the wounds were still fresh, the impact of that day ever-present in the lives of many New Yorkers.  Even on this day, as the anniversary approaches, the memory and the feelings are as though it was a very recent event.

The Age of Statistical Irrelevance

55 is the speed limit on many highways.  Hideki Matsui of the New York Yankees wears number 55 on his uniform.  There's a highway, Interstate 55, in the central US.

New Year's Eve -- Already?!

What?  It is the 31st of December. a year gone by and another about to begin?  Hey, how did this happen so fast?  And where, just exactly where, did December go this year?