New York New York

Funny thing: mass media. I grew up in it, surrounded by it. For a boomer kid like me, our fantasy world was defined by the two American coasts: LosAngeles/San Francisco on the west end and NewYork/Washington on the east. Even though I was was southern kid in Louisiana, I was, thanks to TV, an American hybrid, a WestCoast Disney/NewYork/TV Kid. Now in my 73rd year of life in these United States, Pat and I spend the better part of a week wheeling and walking around the Big Apple, New York City. And I am amazed how much of my boomer imagination was shaped by the place called New York. Oh look! There's the Ed Sullivan theater.

Ed's shows covered the early years, my teen years, the New York Jewish comedians like Alan King and Myron Cohen. Then along came my teens, Ed introducing the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five and a host of ther musical groups . . . Simon and Garfunkel. Along came my college years, with not so much TV but a lot of music, Peter Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Simon and Garfunkel: You can't get much more NewYorkish than them: Diamonds and rust in a hotel room on Washington Square. Rubies and dust in deep-founded media memories that go way back. . . way back in time to childhood. . . and then there's Mickey Mantle,Roger Maris. . . Dizzy Dean and PeeWee Reece talking baseball at Yankee Stadium. There's Yogi Berra and Casey Stengel. Then up pops Ed Sullivan with his really big show, and suddenly, the Beatles, massive teen hysteria, then in the nightime we find Johnny Carson, Ed McMahon. Radio waving Simon and Garfunkel singing "Words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls." Later, Paul had a dream where it seemed he was dieing. . . and his "soul rose, unexpectedly: high up above. . , my eyes could clearly see. . . the statue of liberty, sailing away to sea." And guess wha! That Statue of Liberty; it's still there! I viewed it from Castle Clinton, Battery Park, yesterday.  But then suddenly then, (remember). . . without warning, there's 9/11 and the towers down, the towers gone. . . a world-class-sized pile of rubble where the towers used to be. But guess what! The New Yorkers put it all back together - the same, but different - and kept on slogging, and left a Memorial exhibit to commemorate the build-back spirit of this nation. Here's a special image that I snapped at the 9/11 Memorial.

And guess what folks: it ain't over yet for America. If New York could rebuild after 9/11, I believe America can always be doing the same thing: Living long, living well, reinforcing life itself, making lemonade out of lemons and having a good time. God bless New York and God bless America! Glass half-Full