Fireman's Funeral

A fire raged through the remnants of the Deutsche Bank in Lower Manhattan on Saturday. Two fire fighters succumbed to the flames. Thursday morning was the memorial service one of the men. He grew up just a few blocks from my place. Fort Hamilton Parkway was blocked off from 9 am to 1 pm. Firefighters from across the city arrived in formal attire.


Firemen, five rows deep, lined the street for three blocks leading to the church. The cadets in light blue faced them on the opposite side of the street. There was a complete and solemn silence for 20 minutes as the funeral procession passed. Camera crews watched on. The musicians played "Taps"on the bag pipes. Their sounds resonated through the pa system. Once the church was filled, the funeral service could be heard on the street.

Broolklyn Tornado

I slept soundly, vaguely aware of the tremendous thunder and lightning spaced way less than a second from each other. In the morning I made some coffee and started reading as I do each lazy early morning of summer vacation. The phone rang, the answering machine picked up and Danielle's father was leaving a message about the news reports of a tornado in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park only blocks away from us.


The tornado touched down along the water along Shore Road and the 70's streets. Trees were lifted out of the ground from the force of the wind. A house and cars had trees crushing them in the morning. Multiple streets were blocked off throughout the two neighborhoods. Leif Erickson Park had a whole block of old growth trees downed, branches strewn about, fences and a swing set crushed.

Notice the pink sign in the window of Johnny's Pizza Shop offering free pizza to the victims of the tornado. Just down the block on 58th street five houses had their roofs ripped from their tops and dropped on the street at their front steps.
The blinds in the window show signs of the implosion of the roof. City workers post "unsafe" for entering signs on a row of homes. With the streets block on garbage day, the smell of refuse fills the street.
Major news crews were lingering around the streets and yellow ribbons blocked access to streets, houses, and various cars. The tornado seems to have touched down carving a two mile long semi-circle before dissipating.

Broken

They come to broken schools from broken homes.
They know only fear and intimidation;
Mistaken it for respect and strength.
They fight amongst themselves
Battling for their voice.
Knowing somewhere deep down
That they are the forgotten,
The poor,
The minority,
The lowest rung in our class society.
They're fed sugar, caffeine and logos.
Then expected to focus on content
Increasingly disconnected from their lives.
Drugs are used to placate them.
Soma
Images of "A Brave New World"
A factory with its bells, whistles and clocks.
Training workers,
Not thinkers
Students push against the walls,
Fight the only way they know
Pleading for help.