But honey, I haven't been to a demonstration in years

 

I have many memories of demonstrations in my distant past. Visiting my brother, I even walked two blocks through Boston with an antiwar demonstration. I can remember chanting "Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh NLF is gunna win". Yet at reaching retirement I felt I could avoid such things and concentrate on streaming tv and going to nice restaurants. However it took a little prodding, but I have now gone to two of these this month. In the role of first person reporting, I am going to give my synopsis of the two events. 

The first one I went to was the Hands Off demonstration in Monroe Township New Jersey. It was held on the street intersection of a mall. You parked at the mall and stood on the street with a hand  made sign. We were told to keep out of the street. You felt a little penned in, since you were on a narrow sidewalk facing a steep looking incline on the side away from the street. People were friendly. A lady with a bull horn led the chants. The chants were actually similar at the Trenton rally. Nothing as scandalous as the "NLF is gonna win" chant from the sixties. Lots of cell phones taking pictures. Glad I am beyond my job seeking years. You never know. 

 

On Holy Saturday I went to the rally at the State House. I am a veteran of such rallies from when the CWA led them when state workers contracts were due. This was organized by 50501  This event was more like a rally. Speakers. Chants. Port a Potty's. NJ employee parking was made available. 

Most of the first hour consisted of chants. I'm getting tired of the chants. Perhaps a few Pete Seeger type songs instead. I suspect most of the participants are veterans of 60s - 70s student demonstrations. The speakers mentioned the need for more young people at these things. My friend and I rewarded ourselves with beer and sandwiches after the events.  Coopers does have a nice view of the Delaware River. 

Good Friday

 

On Good Friday, devout Catholics go to the Stations of the Cross in their local church. There, the priest stands in front of each of the the stations and leads the prayers while the faithful, armed with rosaries, recite the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary. 

Afterwards the participants go home to a fish dinner. Of course there is bacala. A new type of fish  dinner for Americans is poke. Poke is a Hawaiian salad made with marinated raw fish and Chinese rice, vegetables and seasonings. It is not bad and is starting to turn up in the shopping malls of New Jersey. 

Of course, during my extended youth, I can remember celebrating Good Friday at a go go bar with friends. Youth. 

Dial a Demonstration

Back in the late sixties and early seventies, if you lived in the New York area, you could wake up in the morning and decide which demonstration you wanted to attend on that day. You could help the environment, fight the war, support women's rights or other topics simply by picking up your phone and calling Dial a Demonstration. Then you would get information on upcoming demonstrations in the area. I guess today's equivalent is finding your local chapter of Indivisible, possibly on Facebook. 

Editor's note: I could not find any links to Dial a Demonstration, with the exception of an earlier Mustache blog, on Google. Such a mainstay of life of that era appears to have been forgotten. 

 

Are they on pot, alcohol or sober?

 

It's been a while since I talked about You Tube, although I still watch it, even with things like Netflix. Hulu and Passport at my disposal. I especially like the small viewership travel or opinion shows that feature regular people. Recently I was watching a couple of travel and living abroad videos. I started to say to myself, "Drunk, high or sober". One lady was slurring her words a bit so I originally thought that she had had a few. Later, as her commentary became dreamier and she started staring into space I said to myself, "no, cannabis." 

I've also noticed from a Scottish travel expert who loves trains and ferries has been known to nip a few on camera and I suspect, during setup. I suspect that in a lot of travel videos the wife is either high or has been drinking. Perhaps a gummy after Guatemalan tacos?  So who knows, this may start an Internet trend as viewers comb the web to play. 

So now i"m eating duck eggs

 

 We will always remember 2025 as the year things changed. Starting with an American ham and eggs breakfast. I usually just buy a six pack carton of eggs. Yesterday at the Acme, not my usual supermercado, I noted that a six pack of duck eggs were cheaper than the usual eggs. I brought them home and they taste the same as regular eggs but the yokes are larger. 

This year many things we have believed to be true are now turned around. Canada, Mexico, and Europe used to be our friends but now are our enemies. Russia, Hungary, Argentina and Belarus are our friends now.  I am checking Lonely Planet on guides to Belarus. Guess you have to keep up with the times. 

the New Yorker

 

Today I got my New Yorker 100 year anniversary issue. I first started reading the New Yorker in college when it was 50 cents and now the cover of the new issue which has $10 on the cover. It went up twice the consumer price index. Still I have been reading it for years.

I remember I was homesick in Denver when I first subscribed in the early 80s, I remember reading about the childhood of Zed Mehta during my Denver sojourn. Back then there were no photographs in the magazine, only line drawings and cartoons. The photographs came later during the reign of Tina Brown in 1992. 

I always liked the slightly tweedy feel of the thing. I pictured the reader as an academic or wanna be academic or intellectual living in a dusty apartment on the West Side of Manhattan, Today its readers are all over the world and probably can't afford Manhattan rents. 

The major change with the New Yorker is that it is now a multi media product. The weekend show partnered with WNYC New York has become part of my Saturday routine. Even the New Yorker magazine table of contents mentions a few articles that are in the on line version only. I hate to admit but I often prefer to read the articles on line because I can magnify the print for my aged eyes. 

I suppose the Algonquin round table would be a zoom call if they were to meet today. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways. 

The Required Minimum Distribution

 

There are many milestones one has as one gets older. They include retirement, children's weddings and graduations, as well as the death of one's friends. Of course, there is signing up for Social Security and Medicare. Many of us don't realize that there is another milestone awaiting the senior.  This kicks in on the year you turn 73. If you have a traditional IRA, that is when you have to start paying your accumulated taxes on the IRA. It is a simple proceeding really; the morbid part is when you have to look at the table that tells you when you are likely to leave this earth, at least according to the IRS.  

Looking at my number I thought "How much money and worrying I do about my health. Going to the doctor when he tells me, and doing all the procedures when, no matter what I do, the age of my demise has already been spelled out by Uncle Sam."