Counterculture Paper New Jersey 1973

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I will try to explai~, in a low-keyedway, what The Paper is about. It is meantto be ~n outlet for people who like to'wr~te

and who like to read what other people write.It is a community paper for the PlainfieldArea; it will have articles on city plan~ing,housing, taxes, zoning, crime, mass tranSit,and racism, etc. We hope that people willbecome aware enough to form groups to try tomake some things better and to keep themfrom happening again. The Paper will becomeinvolved with such groups, because speakingwithout acting is cowardice.

The Paper is also an arts paper, withup-to-date information about rock, jazz,classical and other music concerts, generalinformation about museum showings and pro-grams and complete information on specialevents such as the Plainfield Art>Festival,~tb~~naru~~~~~~~~~~~~-------L~~--------~~--~~~~----~~--~ '------~-----------

Ten Cents June, 1 9 7 3

- C _ONTENTS

E C O L O G Y .

T H E A T R E .

R O C K C O N C E R T S

A R T I N

P L A I N F I E L D

Volume 1, Number 1

•

P A G E7

3

5

4



S H O R T ' S T O R I E S .

W O M E N

C I T I E S

~W h 8 . t is knownt(>be tyranny to the

superior person may"appear to bejustice to, the ordinary"one.

Generosity is doing justice withoutreq~ring justice.

The Paper is not a newspaper. It isan opinion paper. Every article will includethe author's opinion within it. There willbe interviews with local people of interestand with people like Pete Seeger, small art-icles on education, alternative education,and science, short stories and poems.

There will be six basic sections: thearts, ecology, women, creative (stories),urban, and commentary sections.

The Paper will hopefully be like a 45Ip or an album: something that is transient,that people will look forward to for enjoy-ment and experience, something special. Forthat reason, it will never become too largeto enjoy in a small amount -of t ime.

Anyone may contribute to The Paper andonly material which is prejudiced about anygroup or individual or which does ~ot fitinto the basic value system or fram~work ofThe Paper will be rejected. Contrary opin-

ions will be printed."The Paper is being published onless than a shoestring. Everyone exceptthe typist is working and/or writing ona volunteer basis. We neerl your supportto continue. Paying ten cents for thispaper will help, but if you want to doeven more, fill out the subscriptionblank at the bottom of page two and senda check or money order for" $2.00 for ayear's subscription. This will entitleyou to 1 2 issues plus whatever specialissues we publish during the year.

•

. 7 , 8

2

2 , 6

'For D is pl ay Adv er tis in g, Ca ll 7 54 -44 14

Arab Proverbs

,El Grandede Coca-Cola•••• Hevport JazzFestival Newyork•••• Swain's Art Store

•••• Plainfield Arts Festival ••••



Page T w o

HEW J ERSEy STUDENT UNION

The N .J .S.U . is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization serving N .J .High School and College students. Its activities include a free legal

advice clinic, a co~ty activities bulletin, voter registration,~__l.h i~~----~i~-J'~~P. ~n"~p.P+ocna coffee ho~ea.

_ .

C O MM U N I T Y S ER V I C E S C L I N I C -M U H L E N B E R G

An out-patient clinic is beingbuilt at Muhlenberg to serve new re-

sidents who cannot find a personalphysician or are too poor to afford

a family doctor. The new addition toMuhlenberg will care for many people

who now go to the Emergency Room be-

cause they could not contact their

doctor or have no regular doctor, but

they do not need emergency care. The

clinic will also provide follow-up

care, attempting to have the same doc-

tor treat the patient each time.

D octors in the Plainfield area

are now overloaded with patients or

carrying as many as they can. Still,some oppose the building of the clinic

because they view it as competition to

the personal physician, and the idea

of the clinic itself as somewhat social-

istic. It is, however, necessary; every

city needs this kind of clinic to handle

the overload. M uhlenberg is 'no longer

a suburban hospital nor Plainfield a

suburb. As a city hospital, M uhlenberg

will have to adjust to treatment of all

economic classes on a large scale.

Plainfield has a chance, if it de-

cides now, to retain or create its' char-

acter, to plan how it wants to become

urban and avoid the degeneration of

Elizabeth or Newark. If it can keep

all economic classes in the area andif it can maintain itself as a stable

economic area, it will thrive. Fail-ing to provide services to new residents

and to the poor divides a city, andpeople who have a choice will begin to

leave, creating the inner-city - newsuburb design, which has destroyed themetropolitan area. If a balance is

struck up between personal physicians'care and "community ~ervices", the



~~-------"'A"'A and " l ! l ) m m u n i t y ftervicee". t h e ~Plainfield area will have succeeded

where every other city in the metro-

politan area has failed. "Community

Services" vas instituted in lI8Jlyof

these cities because there was little

else left. It did not defeat thepersonalized care of family doctors.

There must be an incentive for the

family doctor to stay- and that is

middle class people. But in the rea-

lity of the largest metropolitan areain the world, both kinds of care areneeded. .'

n"" 1+h iY\"'~~-.:.-_t:;!!:' f'''-A n""f!A~9 a.nd cqffee houses......f_...~

Why, it is asked. do high school students need a. union?Centuries ago, education was restricted to the eli te. The teacher-

student ratio was good. The school was a true community of learning, withteachers and students working together towards a commongoal: passing the

collected body of knowledge from one generation to the next.

With the comingof the Enlightenment and the democratic spirit, educa-

~ion has been opened to all. This was indeed a necessary and progressivedevelopment in th~ history of our society.

For students, however, it was not an unmixedblessing. School be~e

large and impersonal.- Students and teachers becamealienated and the com-munity was fragmented. The beauty of education was lost in the hostilityand sheer mass of the modern educationa1 mill. ~

What can we do to return to the ancient concept of communitywithout

sacrificing the ideal of education for all?

The Student Union proposes that:

-free elections be held to form a student representative group(student council, etc.) and that,/

/ -this body be autonomousof the administration and concern it- ,

self about and act upon school policy.

Wih this body, the re-humanization of schools could be begun, protect-

~ students' civil and constitutional rights and allowing 1hem more free-dOlito determine their ow n lives (choosing th~ir teachers and courses, etc.).

S U B S C R I B E

SUBSCRIPTIONLANK ·ThePaper, 220 Fail'llOUDtAvenue,

South PlaiDfield

N.J. 07(S)

one-year subscription = $2.00

~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Address

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -_______ zip code. _

T HE PA PE R

EDITOR: M A R Y CLABK

ARTS EDITOR:SALLY YOUNG

T H E A ' l ' R E CRITIC:MICHAELASCIOLI

B O O K CRITIC:RONNEEACOBSON

STAFF:Debbi Herz, Ruth Clark,Susan Snyder, W.ICnipping

This issue is dedicated to John H.

Walker

NAWoman'sC!nter has been set up bythe Plainfield Organization for Wo-

men's Equal Rights (P.O.W.E.R.) on

the third floor of the YWCA.POWERis the women'sorganizatioQ of the

YWCAnd is associated with the Na-

tional Organization ~f WomenN.O.W.)

The Center will offer referrels, ad-vice, literature on sex and health

care, a place to go to talk withother womenabout women,about per-sonal and!or social-political prob-·

19118. etc.

The Center will probably bestaffed weekndghts,and all day Satur- 'day.

P.O.W.E.R. will not meet regular-ly on. the second Wednesdayof the

monthfrom June through August. Meet-

ings w i l l begin again in September.

'rhe Women'sCenter will be open duringthe sUlIIIIler.

Recollllllendedeading - First SeAby Elizabeth Davis Gould

History in teras of women..~ .



Page Three

EL GRANDE, is, of course, largely

slapstick, a style which I_ hav e never

found particularly amusing, but for

some reason, these people falling offthe stage, bumping into each other and

in g~neral, making complete fools of

themselves, kept me-not to mention the

rest of the audience-roaring with laugh-

ter.

The five-member cast performs at

a rapid-fire pace, never faltering for

a moment. The three gentlemen (Ron

_ Ho use, Ala n She rman, J ohn N evill e-And-

rews) all exhibit versatility, especi-

ally Ron House, who is perfectly third-rate as Pepe, doing his Cagney imita-

t ion i n Sp anish. It is the girls (Diz

Whi t e and Sally Willis), though, who

nearly run away with the show. Attired

in gaudy chiffon dresses, standing

close to the microphone in the talent

contest, they drone rather than sing,

always off-key, always clumsily moving

their arms and hips to the music, like

the dizzy girls in those foreign music

festivals you run across every so often

on T V . The satire is vicious.Despite the fact that the show

lasts barely an hour, there is enough

to keep even the most demanding theat-

er-goers and critics in stitch:1s. We

- recommend it strongly.

IT IS WIDELY BELIEVED, AT

IEAST AMO NG AM ERICAN S, THAT THE

BRITISHH A V E

AR A T H E R

D RY , D RO LLSENSE OF HUM OR. (YOU KNOW T H E

SORT OF S TU FF: "MY W IFE t S NOT

DOING SO WELL. HAD T O BURY H E R .

DEAD, YOU KNOW.") EL GRANDE DE

CO CA-CO LA, A B RIG HT, FAR CICAL

REVUE D EVISED BY THE LOW MOAN

Sp ectacu lar, a large ly B ritish

theater company, has taken up

what will certainly be a lengthy resi-

dence at the Mercer Arts Center in

Manhattan. It is proof positive that

fallacies can be shattered swiftly andw it ho ut m er cy .

According to the show's playb~ll,

"The action of EL G~E DE COCA-COLA

takes place in the present in a night-

club in a rundown section of Trujillo,

Honduras. Pepe H ernandez, a thirdra te

impressario, has boasted in the local

press that -he is bringing a group of

famous international cabaret stars to

Trujillo and has persuaded his uncle,

manager of the local Coca-Cola bottl-in g plant, to advance him enough money

to rent the nightclub for one month."Naturally, Pepe has not persuaded any

_stars to perform, so he is forced to

scour the ranks of his immediate family

f or t al en t.The result is the show ~hat, we,

the audience, are watching. It is, to

put it mildly, a riot. And as if the

irony of the situation weren't suffici-

ently funny, the authors of this revue

(the cast) have written the show inSpanish. Not Spanish as you mi~ht

think of it • ••• more like S~anglish ~an

e~eme ntary Span ish-En glish) . G rante d,it takes a bit of getting used to at

AWizardby R on nee J acobso n

Mascioli

,

rendition of "There's N o Business LikeShow Business" done in Espagnol, which

would have even Irving Berlin rolling

in the aisles.There are only a few rough spots.

For example, Senor Blind Joe Jackson,

an ancient, Leadbelly-like "blues can-tante", fumbling his way blindly about

t he s ta ge , is simply not funny. How-

ever, such vignettes are so infrequent

and so brief that they never detract

from the show Is overall high quality. (

New and Recommended Books

CHAPLIN: LAST OF THE C L O w N S - Parker

Tyler

LESBIAN N A~ION - Jill Johnston

H O CHI MINH : A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY -

Jean Lacouture

M ONDAY NIGHT CLASS - Stephen

O UR BODIES, OU R SELVES - Boston Women t s

H ea lt h B oo k C ol le ct iv e

O f

B O O K R E V I E W

Earthsea\\

Altho h Wizard o~ Earths



-getting used to atit -is basically

.it takes a bit oft he b eg in ni ng , b ut

very comprehensible.

'U pon e nteri ng th e small , ca baret -like theater, we are handed along witha pla ybill , a po orly mimeo graph ed pro -

gram of this "Funcion International"

w it h, t yp ic al ly , m uc ho m is ta ke s i nt en -

tione a (" many beaut iful s ongin gs" a nd

the like). And so we no forget dat

uncle of Pepe Hernandez sponsor deezprogram, at bottom of de page is wri-

ted "Todo va mejor con Coca-Cola."

B efore the show begins, a dark-haired'seno rita in a sleaz y, re veali ng ch orus

g irl c ostum e w alks the ais les ha nding

out free cigarettes ~nd, now and then,

a "photographia de mia padre". Incre-

dible: There'hasn't b~en anything so

deli ghtfu lly t acky si nce M idle r's N ew

Y ea r' s E ve c on ce rt !After we are introduced by Don

Pepe to his cast, the glamorous (??1)

Parada de ~trellas (Parade of Stars)

begins. Acts come and go 80 swiftlytha t they soo n'bec ome a daz zling bl ur.

M ag ician R amon el M ag nific o anno unces

he will shoot a balloon held in the

mouth of one pretty assistant, and thebullet will be caught by another in

her teeth. The execution of thisstunt is, quite frankly, one of the

funniest things I have ever witnessed

on stage. And let's not forget thatsuperbly silly talent contest and the

couple who slap each other in rhythm

to music. The longest sketch, spoken

in mangled French, is the story of Tou-

louse-Lautrec, his loves - two:buxom,shameless girls of the M oulin R ouge --

a nd h is r iv al , a t tg an gs ta ir b ee g. . im ett•T he n, a s a n , tt at ra cc io ne sp ec ia l" , D on

Pepe's daughter Maria is married onstage; to top it off, we are treated

to a violent, slow-motion instant re-play of the ceremony. The finale is a

opa:.r:.1VlUMwA:, IoU..: ...... .,. "e;l W«~'" A l th ou gh W iz ar d o f E ar th se adestined to fight dragons and weave explodes on every page with imagina-mi raculo us enc hantme nts, was born "in

t ive rich ness o f im agery and t hough t,a lonely village called Ten Alders, it is also the very human story of a

high on the mountain at the head of gifted young boy's turbid adolescencethe N orthwest Vale." His early youth and his painful quest for self-confi-

is spent under the tutelage of his dence, self-awareness and maturity.crafty aunt, a local witch who, recog-nizing the child's potential for The supportive characters, as well,wizardry~ instructs him in all the are delineated with insight, sympathy

simple charms and enchantments her ,and astuteness: Jasper, the obnoxious

limited knowledge can convey. "prep school" wizard whose boastfulAs Sparrowhawk matures, his gifts challenges provoke Sparrowhawk to inad-

propel him to the School for Wizards vertantly unleash the "evi 1 shadow";

on the island of R oke. Although his Nummerle, the enfeebled Archmage who

inborn powers enable him to excell in expends all his life and powers sO that

his studies, they also inspire an arro- Sparrowhawk may survive; Yarrow, thegance and egoism that lead him to pert little village girl whose curios i-

commit the worst of all poss~ble tysconcerning the wonders of wizardrycrimes, an upset of the delicate is'urpassed only by her~oncern for a

equilibrium between the powers of small "harrekki" nibbling at a tiny

G ood and the powers of Evil with piece of wheatcake.

which no sorcerer may indiscriminately Thus, although this story lends

toy. itself to symbolic interpret~tion,Thus, Sjmrrowhawk is driv~n its characterizations are highly indi-

throughout all the islands of Earth- vidualized. True, there is a univer-

sea, first in flight from and then in s al e le me nt i n S pa rr ow ha wk 's p as sa ge

pursuit of the"shapeles8 mass" of from the cockiness of youth to the

shadow darkness, evoked from the core humility and self-awareness of manhood,of his own inner being. After leaving _ his painful acquisition of discipline,

him bloody, blind and senseless on obedience, wisdom, his ultimate acq uis-R oke K noll, the shadow threatens to ition of mastery over himself. Yet,

devour him completely and possess the Sparrowhawk is also a very real person.

"flesh of his body" as well as his Lacking the never-doubting self-assur-

soul. N ot until he attains the ance of a Hercules, spared the bland-wisdom and maturity, not of wizard ness of a non-differentiated Everyman,

but of man, does Sparrowhawk learn Sparrowhawk somehow bridges the gapthat only by recognizing evil, even in between the mythological hero and thehimself, and by "addressing the shados boy next door.

of death with his own name", can he Steeped in magic, rich in human-

triumphantly" make hiamelf whole: a istic understanding, A Wizard of Earth-

man: who, knOWing his own true self, ~ is highly recommended to all thosecannot be used or possessed by any whose dabblings in the powers of dark-

power other than himself, and whose ness might well be balanced by Ursulalife is therefore lived for life's LeG uin's soft-keyed paen to the

sake and never in the service of ruin, strength of the forces of light sus-or pain, or hatred, or the dark". tained by human hearts.



Page Four

THE ARTSR EFLECTIO NS O F A SU BU RB AN L IBRARIAN O N

T HE S TA TU S O F A ME RI CA N L ITERATURE

Art is an expression that fascinates me, though some of it was much~a-

sier to encounter years ago when most of it came in frames. Today, it is not

quite that easyo I went to New York City last week and was almost thrown out

of the museum, because I thought the 1 1,200 non-objective, abstract, plastic

form in the center of th~ room was the proper place to put my dirty kleenex.

It wasn't. ,H owever, in the next room was a red_and white recepticle marked

"Trash" in blue letters. Easy enough to see, I tOBsed my trash in there.Two rooms later the guard caught up with-me and returned by kleenex. I was _

very embarrassed at my lack of artistic taste, but next week I have resolved

to seek out a course somewhere in art interpretation.I mean, I have tried to stay up

with the times and I do not considermyself truly indiscriminating. Per-

haps, I am simply a bit more insensi-

tive than I once considered myself.

Art, I bel~eve, is partly supposed to

be an expression of the world around

us as the artist sees it, helping us

to open and re-open our minds' eyes.

Well, I have finally gathered my spi-'

rit out ~f last week's shame for my

uncouth, crass, incredible error. Ihave resolved to rediscover that-my

driveway and the pipes under my sink

really are more spacially, intrinsi-

cally and technically beautiful than

I ever took the time to consider.

In the past ten months I have

been to around 100 art exhibits. TheP la in fi el d A rt A ss oc ia ti on 's M em be rs '

Spring Exhibition I found to be atechnically fine one. Like love. fear

and philosophy. one ideally shouldn't

but does begin to compare. I may nothave attended enough exhibitions to

'draw any specific solutions, but mostexhibits have begun to leok the same

to me. The wa~s of dis la in the a t

"O h, ht! , !want a real good book,

Haven't got t~e time to lQok • ••

Something light which will amuse,

A mystery w~th weli-plotted clues,

A G othfc tale, o f moonlit trysts,

.O f wild moors and midnight mists,

U nmasking of a diplomat,

The sure proof scheme for loss of fat,

The latest d1 rt by R ona J affee,

A sweet romance, but not too sappy,

A glimpse beneath C. Irving's bed

A fool proof scheme to get ahead,.'A spy intrigue but not too gory, .

A Libber's view of women's glory,The whys, wherefores of sexual bliss,

Which Times' best seller did I miss?

Perhaps a tale to make me weep,Again to the consideration of en- Or one to send me off to sleep,

vironment for art, I went to Swain's And one to leave t,he ladies thrilled

Art Store, and ,I m ight add, Gallery~ At next week's literary guild.

At 317 West Front Street in Plainfield~ Just one last plea I must appeal,

the uncommon architecture of the build- Make sure that nothing dare be real.

ing is itself worth notice. . _ Don't talk of drugs or crime or-war,M r . Walter Swain is the third gen- Topics that I quite abhor!

erat10n of this establishment which is Steer clear of politics and strife

now 105 years old. However, antique, That might pertain to m y o wn ,l if e.

stuffy and high-brow are not adjectives 'Avoid the traps of caste and race

which apply here. Apparent here is a Of people who don't know their place.

care and respect for art noticeable in Don't bother me with heavy thoughtsevery way the padrrtinga and sculpture Of problans posed and answers sought.

are placed and business is, t ransacted. I J ust hand me G eorgette H eyer's latest,Hr. Swain has a degree from M.l.T. Her love scenes r~lly are the greatest.

in engineering and an amiable, comfort- . And how about the new Miss Read.able way of extending himself to those Fantasia to fill every need.

who come into his store. Well, thanks again, you've been so kind.I've been to m a n y art stores where It pays to educate the mind

paintings were piled one on another as And solve the problems life entailsif the dealer were inferring to artists With Erich Segal's Fairy Tales.

J ~.~~~~;-sUll~ ~ ~ _

Swain'sArt Store

s ve egun 0 90 e same err ng 0 ar a a



to me. The ways of displaying the art,

the art itself, seem to beg for a par-don from the walls. EVen exhibits in

parks find the trees surrounded by a

hundred temporary walls. We should

consider not only making art for theen vi ron me nt, b ut c re ati ng e nvi ro nme nt

for art--even on the regional level.

John G oodyear, judge for the show,

did take a simple but innovative and

plausible approach to the judging: heeliminated the medium categories and

placement ratings so prone to making

art into an aesthetic K entucky Derby.

Ido not wish to impose myself as

a c ri tic ; Iam only discovering what

causes a response in me. Ernest Mar-

g en au 's s cu lp tu re " Ec st as y" k in dl e~

such a feeling in me that Ifound m y -

self wishing it would have been-five

times its actual height; wonderful as

it was, it moved my imagination to makeit so anyway. Bea Begman' s "Shangrila"

was inspiring to me, because it allowedme to bring my own imagination to it,

to whirl my own /Shangrila of fantasiesinto its color images.

Lillian Williams' "Farewell to

V ie tn am " s uc ce ssf ul ly o ve rca me be in g

p re te nt i0u s p ol it ica l c om me nt (t hu s,

making its comment) through form and

color, virtually standing out from

the wall. Adams G arrett's "Tattoo Art-

ist" stands out in my mind as a char-acter essay complete in one image and

l as tl y, Le sl ie T hom ps on' s "T og eth er ",

which has a fine liquid quality reallymoving the figures together. H owever,

I use hers as an example to comment

that too many artists neglect the study

of how too sign their works. Perhaps,this is because not too much has been

written about this to compile a course,

but astute observation is worth three

credits any time, and may even add tothe work by not detracting from "it.

"to keep those canvases and cut stones

coming in and we'll keep the artful

ball rollin'''. It is this approach

which has done much to make cynicalthe attitude of the public toward the

arts. It is the opposite of this ap-

proach that I found at Swain's; there

is a q uality here that personalizes

rather than sterilizes the business

end of art. Much of this attitude may

be seen in M r . Swain's comment to me,"Y ou don't own a painting, only"(in

essence) "rent it for a time and pass

it on to others."

Plfd.

Festival

The tenth annual Pl~infielq ~tdoor

Art Festival will be held on July 14th.

~ festival is sponsored by the Plain-

field Area Chamber of Commerce and the

Plainfield Art Assoc. AppUcations may

be obtained from the Chamber of COIIIDerce

at 119 \ iat~ung Ave., Plfd., in J unE! a n d

any time up to and including the day orthe festival. Application cost is 13.

Artists may be listed in t he p ro gr am

with their pictures for a fee of 1 7 .

There will be $ 2 , 7 8 5 offered in pri-

zes for several categories including oil.

watercolor, crafts; SCU lpture, photogra-phy, and traditional and non-traditional

in each. The entrants will have theirworks judged by three professionals.

Last year the festival drew artistsfrom as far away as Illinois and Florida.

With Erich Segal's Fairy Tales.

,Rannee Jacobson

O ld Q ueens G allery

I n T he C as tl e

4 3 3 Ri~er R o a dH ig hl an d P ark

8 4 6 - 1 3 4 7Hours: Tues. - Sat. 11-5

Sundays 1 -5

B eatrice B erlin - graphics

J udi th Ingram - graphics and collages

Show continues until J une 2 3 -

. MO RR IS M USEU M - N ormandy H eights and

C ol umb ia R oa ds , M or ri st own

(201) 5 3 8 - 0 4 5 4

Summer H ours-Tues.-Sat. 1 0 A.M .-4 P.M .Closed Sundays and M ondays

Focus On Nature: June l6-July 21

Photography exhibits on shore

birds, the pine barrens, nature as

sculpture, nature as art, underwater,

m ic ro sc op ic p ho to gr ap hy , m am ma ls ,

b ir ds , A fr ic a.; an d A nt ar cti ca , a nd T heGrea t Swamp ., .. .

Seminar and workshop on photo-

graphy on June 16, 10:30 A.M. to 3:00

P.M. Register before June 8th. 1 7

n on -me mb ers o f m use um , 16 members.

Lunch will be provided.

T he F ai rl ei gh D ic ki nso n- Mor ri s M us eu m

Theater Workshop starts in September.

Open to high school and college stu-

dents. Call M useum for detailso

Puppetry Festival - Wednesdays 1 0:1 5 to1 1 :1 5 A .M o, July 1 1 - August 15. 50¢.

Artists Eq uity of N.J .June 9 - September 9

exhibition of painting and sculptureby 40 leading N .J . artists

•



Pink Floyd Isla test album TH E DAR K SIDE O F THE M O O N ("There is no dark side

of the moon really. Actually, it's all dark") is a pure brew of depression, death

and a vitiated ego: remnants of egomania flapping about a gaping hole caused eith-

er by reality or unreality (O N E is never sure who the enemy is, is O NE?). It-ismusic for the adolescence of the Stranger, when he or she is still in the physicalworld, turning and twisting in cause and effect bargains, still laughing and think-

ing it means-something to laugh. Pink Floyd mixes unreality and reality so well

that the arbitrary distinctions between them fall away and SPACE IS A LO NG TIM E,

ISN 'T IT, H UG O? ; · they become the same.

Pink F;oyd is also fine musically Living lives of noisy desperation. On

and technically; they have developed the album after the very fast pingpong

and Audial show, theater for the .art of ball sounds, buzzing electric and clap-

hearing. Hearing is an art, you hear ping sounda , round silver scre~, moog

on different levels, listen for dif- warbles and moog whines comes the song.

ferent things, it is an immediate art "Time" and then the HIG H -LITE of theexisting in time, then space, relating album, the non-verbal vocal,"The G reatto immediate and present experience. Gig In the Sky". A very English voice

It is finely and ultimately connected _ says, in clipped tones, "1 1 m not frigh-

t o y o~ r co ns cio us ne ss. M us ic can be a tened of dying. Any time will do. I

painting for your ear: abstract, spa- don't mind. Why should Ib e f ri gh te ne dtial, impressionistic, a still life, of dying. There's no reason for it."

and beyond, with texture, consistency, Other people are mumbling and singingline, p erspective... in g eneral and the song begins to

P in k F lo yd r u n s through the elec- build. This is your cue to swing, un-trical circuits of your brain looking less you're too stunned by the beauty

for a way out: what is outside? and and power of the singer-shouter who

then circles back in again. The uni- takes over. H e-she (Clare Torry) hasverse is finite or might-as-well-be the dynamic force of Janis Joplin but

finite. H ow can something resound in his-her voice is smooth and clear. Ainfinity? How can something that re- beautifully unisexual, not sexless,

sounds sound ~nfinite? B ut it does. sound, it is an echo of the fear of

They've mastered some of the technica- death any-person experiences: amateurlities of sound engineering and know B uddhists or drunks from H oboken ortheir effects on the human brain. you and me. There is something unset-

They've engiheered an album which must tling about this song (it s ay s l at er

b e l is te ne d to on earphones while only in the album "If the dam breaks openpartly sober (unless you can create many years too soon and there is no

t he f ee ll .·O' of ~ter washing through room upon the hill") well, this is the&-0 "Q S CH A EF ER M U SI C FEST IVAL INyour mind by yourself). They begin dam breaking open many years too soon. CEN TRAL PAB X

mock meditatively: "Breathe, breathe If its sound gets in your cortex,it'll Wollman Skating Rink, 5 th Av e. and

in the air" and "All you feel and all be there resounding in your dreams or 59th St. Info.: (21 2) 249-1 180y ou t ou ch is all your life will ever many years too late. The thing about~ __~~~~ ~ __~~ ~ ~~ ~_~ ~_~~~~~~~~ ~~u~~~ra.~~ I~~~~~ ~~

THE D A R K SIDE O F THE MOON

Page riTe

P RE S EN TS A T T HE

~~~!Dtr~" 'o/();T MQJ§,~~

I 14th Street and 3rd Avenue

I S AV O Y BR OW NJune 22-23

• -. A PR IL 13 & 1 4 SHOW S - HA V E

B E E N R E S CH E D U LE D .

T IC K E TS P U R CH A S E D F O R

A P RI L 1 3s 1 4 A R E T R AN S

F ER AB LE T O N E W O A T E SOR R EFUNDAB LE .

@T~OI~ON

l :: ,I II JI .' t- ) N IGHI l l A l 8 ANO I I 3 0 A ll S EA lS

H(S{RV[D S4 JOANO 5~ .....

TIC)( [1 5 AVAllABlf . A1A ll T1Q I. €TNJN OUTlET5 t

IN CL UD IN G M AC Y"S . "" S . GIM B(lS A ND M OS T

BAM8E .RGER$ fOR INfORMATION CAl l 6 " 4 40 0

T IC KE TS A LS O A V AI LA BlE A T 8 0 X O ff IC E:

~'t O F P £ RF O RM A N C £ O N ly

H OW A RD S T E IN

P re se nt s a t M ad i_s on S q ua re G ar de n:J ohnny Winter - J une 1 6 , 8 P . K .

Ticketron.Jethro TulL;.. Aug. 28, 29 and

Sept. 1 0, 8 P.M.

A N E W CO NCERT H A L L I N E LI ZA B ET H ,

N.J. T W I N CITIES B A L L R O O M

Frelinghuysen Ave. - Edgar

W in te r, J oJ o Gunne - June 23$6.00

:r an ~A J: yo re-I rn\1 a : ::--~--oe----c ~~-:re ro m:rn~-rn~~r - --~-------- - ----- _~



you touch is all your life will ever many years too aate. The thing about 59th St. Info.: 212 249-1 1 00be": they begin to make sounds that the moon is only because o~ its posi- no mail orders, 1 1 . 5 0 , 1 2 7 P.M.you can touch. If you like music you tion, only because a source of light 6/20 - Bil1 Cosby, Lit t le A nt h on y

can ride like a boat or makes your exists, does it shine. It's really 22 - B lues Project R eunion

brain into a twisting, twirling jet- dead; it just reflects someone else's 23 - Lee M icb8ele, Terry R eid

plane to the sounds of joy and death, light. This album is about the death 25 - K ing Crimson, J o J o G unne

Pink Floyd is for you. If you're in- or the distortion of the creative 29 - Q uicksilver, M alo

terested in gymnastics-of-conscious- force, the explosion of a mind with 30 - Chambers B lO thersness music ("We weren't really inspir- its creativity held captive inside 7/ 6 - B lood, Sweat and Tearsed that time"), then J ohn M cLaughlin too long into despair. 7 - J oh n S eb as ti an , D oc H ol li da y

is for you. M cLaughlin is going to The second side begins with a 9 - D eodato, R ubin and J ets

play his way into heaven (or N irvana, song "M oney", which is out of context 1 1 - B lack O ak ArkansAs

whichever comes first) but Pink Floyd with the deeper levels of the album, 1 3 - R ichie Ra~

will play for you and me with ordinary which is probably its meaning. This 1 4 - 8 P.M . - R od M cK uenmortal pretensions, like, "geez, I'm song breaks the flow, however. Its 1 6 - B lue O yster Cult, M ason Pro-

gonna die---" and "I think I'm going lyrics are trite. The next song is fittcrazy"!! ' .truly spatial ("U s And Them") and the 1 8 - Eroll G ardner, B uddy .R ich

When 1 was a kid, I thought when side flows, glows to its conclusion. 20 - 7& 9 :3 0 - F our Se aso ns ,

I grew up to be an adult, I would come It is one of the few records I've J ay and Americans

into an adult world. B ut I've discov- heard with an anti-climax. It is a 21 - Canned H eat, Wet Willieered that adulthood is incomplete symphony of rock. It has its flaws, 23 - R ay B arretto, H achito and

childhood, the continui'ngattempt to and is not for everybody (it would be ' O rchestra, Willie Colon

regain the feeling of childhood and easy to be too "old" for this album). 25 - Sergio M endes & : Brasil '77young adulthood. The adult world Like Procol H arum, you can outgrow 27 - J udy Collinsseems to be a daylight D isneyland and Pink Floyd several times. I was not 28 - Cheech and Chong, M elissa

a night-time D isneyland and you vacil- impressed with the album the first M anchesterlate between them without meaning. The time I heard it: give i~ time. TH E 30 - B .B . K ing, J ames Cottonknowledge you thought you'd have never D AR K SID E O F TEE M O O N is Pink Floyd's B lues B and

comes: only petty knowledge._ Pink masterpiece so far, surpassing the 8/ 1 - TV show, surprise guests

Floyd is a perfect compleme'nt to this live set of the U M M AG U M M A album. 2 - TV show, surprise guests

disaster. Life is melodrama, in part, Roc K CON C E RTSo why not scream your heart out in a Iparting rage, in unison to a theater

for the ear. Why not have' visions ofstars and infinity and the dark side

o f t he m oo n a nd d ar kn es s.e ve ry wh er e d e-

scending? Why not gauge your own de-spair to the Sound of M usic? Why not

be cynical, since being cynical is on-ly a style naive people use to tripo ver a nd pa st t hi ngs ,t hr oug h l ife t ry -ing to get to the other end. And likethe guy in CAT'S CR ADLE die thumbingyour nose at the universal flow.There's no reason why you shouldn't

let your brain be sounded sounded off,r eg al ed a nd m an ip ul at ed b y f or mu la te db las ts o f mU Si c, ech oi ng yo ur d esp ai r.

B uf fy Sai nt e-M ar ie an d J im D aw so n -_P hi lh ar mo ni c H al l, J un e 2 3,Ticketron

Earth, Wind and Fire - Felt Forum,J un e 1 5, T ic ke tr on I

E xu ma - W hi tm an A ud ., B ro ok ly n C ol le ge ,H ill el P la ce an d Ca mp us R oa d, Co n-c er t f or B ro ok ly n G ay Li be ra ti on ,J une 3 0, S5, U L9 -1 180

Pin k Fl oy d - R oo se vel t Sta di um, J une ,1 6 , Ti ck et ron on ly, S5

N ewport J azz Festival N ew Y ork -J une 29 to J uly 8. M ost events1 5 and up, at Ticketron and P.O .

B ox 1 1 6 9, N .Y . 1 002' or at boxoffice, open 1 0 to 8 daily, M arri~

ot t's E sse x H ous s, 1 6 0 C ent ra lPark South at 59th St.

L in co ln C en te r' s M o st ly M o za rt F es ti va l( B ac h, H a nd el ), n ig ht ly e xc ep t

Sundays, J uly 3 0 to August 25,P hil ha rmo ni c H all. In fo Na t ion

c /o Lin col n Cen te r, 1 86 5 B roa d-way, N .Y . 1 0023



Page $1%

RICHMO ND TOWERS

senior cittzens' horneichmond Towers is a housing projectfor senior citizens being built by thePlainfield H ousin g Authority with federalfunds. There are two locations, one onthe north side on R ichmond Avenue and theother on the south side on Park Avenue groups • . The one-story main entrance build-near M uhlenberg H ospital. ing between the two towers could be used for

The Park Avenue site has several adv - art and c ra ft s e xh ib it s • . F or t ra ns po rt at io n,antages compared to the R ichmond Avenue a jitney bus service (8 possibility for allsite. There is transP9rtation downtown by of downtown Plainfield) could take peoplebus from Park and R andolph. Park Avenue into the center of downtown and back 6 n ais a well-traveled and well-lighted r0ad, regular and freq uent schedule. For bettermaking it ~afer for elderly people to walk fire protection, each new tenant could be

on and there are stores approximately five taught what to do, where to go and what notto ten minutes' walk into South Plainfield to do in case of fire or excessive smoke.and a post office and smaller grocery store There should be a visual as well as audialin the other direction. Cedarbrook Park is fire alarm. Security 'has been a problem innearby also, with benches ana picnic tables p~oje¢ t housing for senior citizens in cit-in different loca~ions. The R ichmond Avenue ies such as N ew Y ork~ O ne-way windows onsite is farther from a shopping area, about the hallways have been suggested, but inten to twenty minutes from downtown Plain- most cases, security guards are hired.field. There are no medium or large grocery H aving shops on the ground floor and a secu-stores nearby, no pharmacie B and no trans- rity guard would reduce the possibility ofportation downtown. The R ichmond Avenue the residents being muggeo.

towers have been built without an internal B eyond making R ichmond Towers better,sprinkler system in case of fire. There given what it is (it is not an ugly buildingare two towers, each twelve stories high, and it seems to have air-conditioning),with inside st~irways for fire escape. there are implications to this kind of hous-

There is a major problem with this kind ing for Plainfield and all urban areas. D oof housing: it segregates an arbitrarily- we want separate housing (or high-rise pro-defined group of people (poor and old) from jects at all? ) for middle-class peq ple,the rest of the community. Compounding that, upper class people, poor people, working-the building'is out of character with the class white, poor old, rich old, black, Puer-surrounding neighborhood and the whole town. to R ican, Arabian B ud-G hists, C zechoslavakianIt has a moat around it • . There are ways to Eskimos, Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans,make R ichmond Towers a part of the community: etc., etc.? All with moats around them.the landscaping could include benches shaded Public housing and high-rise housingby trees, churches in the area could~encou- have come to mean ugly, dull, impersonal andrage tbe elderly people to meet tbere, the with lower-income housing, unsafe, housing.ground floor of the towers could have shops The federal D epartment of R ou~ing-and Tra*s-an d a loun g e . . r . me,e t . inR:. .ha.Ll,_ _1J~wlle..!at.;L· nz . .: .. .._- -1 'l~!±.::Li:: .: il ..dltl-lb. .a .. .a .__h1'l>l.O~LA.:J! -- .. .. .c :L:v:n.. .: .. .IL. i. .m~,±. .co. ..d- .. .. .. .. ,~"- -'"._ _

r

ru and a lounge or meeting hall. The meeting p or ta ti on h as ,- ho we ve r, e xp er im en te a witti a



hall could show movies once a week, providea place for club meetings, bridge, bingo,and other games, and be rented out to local

HAB ITAT"E nv ir on me nt i s cu lt ure

and culture is archetypal;

it grows from deep within

you, embodies long--lived

feelings towards shelter,

family, communi ty and

self."

H abitat was

an

"experiment

i n d es ig ni ng e nv ir on me nt ".

B E Y O N D HABITAT

by M oshe Safdie

Habitat '67 was a revolution inengineering and a prophecy for the

future of the housing industry. M oshe

Safdie, the architect, tried to build

housing that was a System rather than

an individual, isolated unit: a build-

ing. H abitat combined a very densely

populated area with the environment a-

round it. I ~ was in close contact

with nature, relating to the surround-ing areas of river and plains, creat-

iQg a sense of a village as well as

a sense of a city fo r the people who

live there. Sardie was born and grewup in Haifa, Israel, a city which

greatly influenced his thinking about

urban areas. Haifa is a densely pop-

ulated port city built on the steepside of a hill leading down to the

M editerranean. The "line between ru-ral and urban is softer than in North

number of new concepts and designs, includ-ing H abitat, which could be built by citiesfor the same price as the old version.

America; there is more interpenetra-tion. Yet, at the same time, it'e an

~ environment, not a suburban en-vironment," says Safdie. People own

goats and other animals, and bees,

intertwining the city with the farm.In Haifa, the roads follow the con-

tours of the hill up the side of the

mountain and are connected by stairs

everywhere. Each apartment in all of

the apartment buildings is arranged

so that it has i te own pri va te en-

trance on the hill.

The influence of M editerranean,

M exican and South American Indian cit-

ie s and the pueblo dwellings of South-

west American Indians can be Been, LnHabitat's unpainted walls, the use of

a few repetitive structures combined

in different ways to make the homes,

the different arrangement of each home

along the ramps and in relation to the

building as a whole, and the interpen-

etration of the public and privatespace.

Wh il e a tt en di ng M cG ill U niv er si ty

he went on a tour of the United States

with other students. H e was depressed

by the lack of privacy, the never-end-

ing need for highways and the wasteful-

ness of land in suburbia. In Cities,

he saw high-rise apartments with wire

mesh over corridors and balconies and

that the people were isolated from therest of the city and were demoralizedb y t he ir l iv in g c on di ti on s.

Americans, he says, think in termsof the individual while he thinks in

terms of groups of individuals. 1ow-

density housing: one family homes, is

considered most desirable by most Ame-

ricans because of privacy and the sta-

tus of possession. H igh-density hous-

ing is considered less desirable. H a -

bitat was built to offer both privacyand the city outside the door. The ter-

race gardens are arranged so that no

one can see into them from any other

home and each home has a view in four

directions, allowing the sun to light

different parts of the house through-ou t th e day. In H abi ta t, everything

is in elevator or walking distance. A

mass transit system of three stages~-

increasing in speed--was designed by

Safdie, but was not built because ofcuts in Habitat's budget. A mass tran-

sit system would be very efficient in

this kind of structure or in a city de-

signed as a whole system rather than

b ei ng r an~ om ly bu il t.H abitat was built along a system

of A-inclined ramps, with one, two orthree 'modules (B oxes) arranged to form

a single home connected by inside

stairs. All of the boxes were rectan-

gular, precast in a factory-like 'as-

sembly line and lifted by a crane in-

to place. Steel shafts connected the

medukes . The bathrooms were made of

fiberglass, precast in a mold and then

fitted into one of the modules forming

a home. The fiberglass bathroom is

now marketed interns tionally. The re-

petitive module allows it to be pro-duced on an assembly line at low cost.

( co nt in ue d o n page 7)



H A B I T A T(continued from pa~ 6)

Below is a picture of the modules

used in Habitat and their different a-

rrangements. O ne fear of industriali-

zed housing is that it will be monoto-nous and impersonal. Safdie shows

that something built with repetitive

_ parts can still be aesthetic -and per-

sonal..~-------l---I-~1

l~ l~I~I~i-----j __ I -.--

~'&'!d»!.~! I J , ~ ,

I~ !~! :~--rI ~ !~~/I ~~ 1&~ i ~ ~

I &:~ ''Y,~'', l _ ~_l_

At the Aspe~ design conference in

1968, he presented 6 different shapes,which can be c om bi ne d i n d if fe re nt ways

to create homes of individuality and

beauty. (

oAn ti- Po ll u~ on H ot lin e

If ~u see a violation of pollution,d um p1 ll g, o r l it t e ri ng c od es , c a. ll :

Air Pollution - 648-2560 N ew J er-sey Division of Air Pollution Control

.: J... _" •

P ag e Se ve n

E coloqqECO-NOTES

Turning to Guadeloupe, there are

many wise things being done there. The

whole mountain area in the center of

Basse Terre Island has been made intoa natural park. It is completely wild

and undeveloped, except for a f,ew nar-

row roads. There are many foot trails

~d the place is a total delight.

S1nce much of the island's po table

,,! atercomes from this area, its purity

1 S protected in the wilderness.

M uch of the island transportation

is by jitney bus. These are small Mer-

cedes buses,-abOut the size of a V W van

~ch prettily painted a bright color, ,

w1th the name of the driver on the frontand the names of the towns where he

stops.on the sides. They stop anywhere

an~ v1rtually cover the island. The

dr1vers are very proud of them. They

are government-subsidized and the fares

are very cheap. They seem to run with

grea t fre q ue ncy.

. Cars are small, cutting down pol-

lubon and gas use. Emission controls

go in force on July 1st, 1973.

_ The local paper was very upset ata tanker going aground near Antigua.They warned against letting tankers

come into G uadeloupe's harbors becauseof the danger of oil -spills. So even

in paradise people are alert to the

dangers of the good life.

One thing that is not cared for

on the ~slands is the litter problem

Plastic: bottles and paper are abundan~

but not much glass or metal litter. A

few trash cans on the beaches and pub-

lic streets might help. As far as Icould see they were non-existent.

We here in N J with our State Sen-

ate turning do~ bills which might aid

Since the last edition of TH E PA -

PER, Ihave been away much of the time

so I have not kept the daily record ofN ew J ersey's ecological news.

Instead, Ishall comment on ecol-

ogy programs and problems inFlorida,

where Iwas visiting, and on the French

C ar ib be an isl an ds of G uad el ou pe.Of interest in the Orlando, Flor-

ida, area is the impact of Disney

World on the Central Florida life-

style. Immediately noticeable was the

overcrowding at McCoy Jet Port and

the inadequate parking facUi ties. Tra-ffic is quickly approaching New J ersey

standards of agony - conges'tion, new

roads under construction tearing up

beautiful landscapes and lakes, many

ugly new apartment buildings and condo-

miniums, row after row of shopping

centers. -The O rlando police chief ~said that

when the newest shopping center on Co-

lonial Drive opened in June that the

road would be over the saturation point

and that nothing the police could dowould alleviate the problem. The lackof planning here needs no comment. )

Lake Apopka in Winter G arden basbecome 90 eutrophied that it is a dead

lake. The state pl~ to clean it out,

restock it and firmly control run-off

from the groves and housing development

around it. Twenty years ago this lake

was famous for its bass fishing."Alligator Alley" from the west

coast near' N aples to Miami has beenapproved as an addition to the inter-s ta te s ys te m in a trade to save B igCypress Swamp from development. The

'water from this swamp feeds Everglades

,u.s. Highway221 Springfield. Park and if it is drained and filled, the state's envIronmen ana w tne



WaterPollution - (609)292-5562Raritan Basin Engineer, Division of Wa-ter Pollution Control.

the park will die. Federal moneyhas

been promised to help in acquiring Big

Cypress for a park, but whoknowsif itis forthcoming. . .

movein the legislature to delay theemission testing programs, ought tosave our GardenState. The garden

areas are getting fewer and fewer.

aB C

TARANCE

"Wherethe best

congregate"

R E N TA L L IB R AR Y

Q U AL IT Y P A PE R BA C KS

by Susan Snyder

629 PARK AVENUE

PLAINFIELD. N. J. 07060

T E LE P HO N E " 75 6. 11 4 1 5

Chapter 1

While there were still forests, there lived a bear namedTarance. Hewasno ordinary bear: he vas a telly-bear.

Telly-bears are strange creatures to those of us whonever lived in a forest. Theylive in the tops of oak treesand have high squeaky voices and no tails. Tarance grewshorter than the averase telly-bear and his voice vas IlUch

higher; perhaps because he lived. so high above the ground. His house rested on top of the forest's tallest oak .treeo Flowers grewaround the base of ·the tree. There were crocuses and tulips in late winter, daffodils and li-

lies of the valley in the spring, violets, marigolds, and pansies in the summer,and masses of multi-colored bach-elor buttons 'in the fan.' Tarance liked bachelor buttons most of all.

As the day woulddie in the forest, Tarance wouldclimb up the oak tree and into his house. A telly-bear'shouse resembles a tree-house; however, they are comfortable and cozy all year round. Tarance had a proper size

porch wherehe'd sit on a stool for hours viewing the world around him. WatchiDgsunsets vas his favorite pastime.

Theforest lay open and receptive before himwithout any restrictionso Sometimeshe felt like a kingwith theworld at his feet, but in his heart he knewit was great to be alive and ready.or adventure.Whenhe wouldtire of sitting on his porch, Tarance wouldgo into his hoUsethrough the red oval door. !neide

his door was one open room. It had four sides, and each wall had a window. That wayTarance could look outsidein every direction. In the corner opposite the door wasa fireplace over whichhung crossed swords. Long &8 0

great-grandfather telly-bear fought off the first alien invaders to his forest. Tarance's grea,t-grandfather andthe other telly-bears never returned from this encounter0 It is not knownwhat becameof them.

J In front of the fireplace wasa comfortable soft bear sized couch. O n cold winter days, the fire 10uld cra..;ckle and the flames wouldflicker. All the woodfor the fire was donated by the forest trees. Botrees wereever felled; there was no need for that until mancamein. The trees Woulddrop~enoughbranches and twigs to see

the forest creatures through the cold weather.The rest of Tarance's house had a round table with three chairs, a tiny sink and cabinet on the vall opposite

the fireplace. a rocking chair, and a bookcase and a bedo Therewas a loft overhead in which he stored berries,nuts, and other winter supplies.

Page Kight



. . . . .

-But that ca n wait."Are you saying this is more important?"

-I think: so. Shall I tell you about it?

"I bave some time. Please do."

Quiet:Me. At the beach to do mesome writing. I

went there because it was an unusually wann spring

day and the horse flies wouldn't be out yet. And

neither would the burn-easy people who decorate the

beach with full-blown, pink and white bodies. They

wouldn't be there because it wasn't officially sum-mer, so Iwas there alone 0 '

"I see."

Like I WaS telling you before I started to writethis, Ithink there's something hidden in the ocean.

Something that draws people to it, makes them spend

their precious weeks off from werle si tting on the

beach watching it. I mean, it's been do ing the same

thing for years. But still they sit and watch,

soaked in coconut oil and a few weeks' free pay.

They'll probably eat seafood tOnight, I suspect.

"Probable, but ••• "

But getting back to my day. I got to the beach

about noon. - In a week I would be twenty-five years

old so 1was depressed about that. But the beach,

it showed no signs of getting old. In fact, it

seemed to be getting younger! 1remember very well

the last time I was there. It vas the spring of

last year and the beach was covered with East north-

east wrinkles an d it loo~d very, very old. I

walked on the beach and heard it crunching like old

bones under my feet. I saw a dune a little way

down the beach and I walked to it, breaking the

beach's ankle, thigh, back and collar bone beforegetting there. Iclimbed the dune and stood on the

warped tpp facing the ocean. The wind was so strongit blew a gull out of its ool'UB1 flight pattern.

I managed to spread a blanket on the dune and sat

down. It gave way under my weight .and I felt the

beach's skull cracking to become part of the pow-

dered skeleton.

But this last time a t the beach I was turning

twenty-five and I vas sitting on the same dune.

And it wasn't cracking under my weight am the epi-

demic of East northeast wrinkles had disappeared!

"Like it was getting younger?"

Exactly. _

"Maybe those wrinkles you saw last time just

moved to another part of the beach. Could the wind

1aid that to Paula and she smiled at me and

said she was sorry for misunderstanding. She said,

"1 write about things too. But I make them into

poems, not stories like you."

She took a felt-tipped pen from her jacket

pocket and drew a poem in the sand. Istopped her

and asked if what she was going to write was origi-

nal, just made up now. I asked her that because

I don't like to read anything that's been rehearsed.

She said it wasn't rehearsed. She wrote these

words:Naked apes swinging

from-a high wire~

Lyon tamera drinking

the blood of their

ownneck ties

Animals behind legs

of steel bars 11ving

on the out skirts

of Central Park

, That was all. _I read the poemthree times but

I couldn't understand it. I was embarrassed to tell

her that.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked.

"Not bad, not bad at all," I said. I'liedo

"It was one of those spur of the momentthings.

Really itwas!"Itold Paula Iwas sure it was~but I didn't let

on about not understanding it. If the poemdid havea meaning and she knewwhat it was, that was enough

for me. I mean, everybody doesn't have to knowwhat

you're thinking all the time.

"I agree."I watched another gull glide across the flat,

empty ocean. I wondered if,it could see m e . I'll

never knowfor sure. There' re alot of things I

can't be sure of. But I did knowthat it was about

three o'clock and the sun's storm was beginning to

press its unseasonable rays tbrough my shirt, deep

into myneck and shoulders. Paula felt it tooo

She said, "Let's go down to the water. It'll be

cooler'there.""Or we could stay here and cover ourselves with

sand," I suggested.

moved to another part of the beach. Could the wind sand," I suggested. t



by William

J. Knipping

do that?"

That's a good point. Do you think it cancels

out myaging thEOry?

"That's up to you."

In that case it doesn't. But listen, when I

was sitting on the dune, I saw a little boy play-

ing by where the waves almost touched him.

"Then you weren't alone anymore."

He was gathering broken shells. He was pretend-

ing they were pirate treamire and one by one he

picked them out of the sand and put them ina sack,which was lying next to him. I had to give that

boy a great deal of creda t - it's not easy to pass

off broken shells as treasure. It's about as easy

as getting old and broken bones. Iwatched the boy

pretending for awhile but treasure and Captain Kidd

weren't the only fortune hunters.

, "There were others?"

'Yes. Just one,' a girl.

"More intruding piracy?"

No. Just a girl.

Paula:What !o'lse would you call someone who had the

gracefulness of a psalm tree and the forcefulness

of a W . W . II jeep. She wasn't close to me yet but

I could tell those things about her.

"Judging by your excitement Isuspect there

will be more things to know."

Yes. Paula walked up to the dune, up to meand

said, "Hello, w h a . t are you doing?"

"I'm here thinking and trying to write a sto-

ry," Isaid.

"Oh, It's a nice day for it. About what?"

I told her I was writing about how the beach

never ages and the boy collecting broken shells and

I said I was just starting to write about her.

. n M e~" Paula Said, pointing a delicate finger

towards herself.

"Sure," ~I said. "You've got a lovely body and

if there's ever another World War••• "

"What you really mean is I've got a lovely bo-

dy and you'd like to take advantage of it. Isn't

that what you really mean?"

"No!" I said. "That's not all of it. I mean

-ah-that's not all of it. One time I Wrote astory about snowand how lovely it is 80 stop WOl'-

rying. I just appreciate things, that's all."

"What's wrong with going by the water? It will

be cooler there, that's all."

Wedid. Weleft the dune and Paula ran ahead

of me to the-ocean. By the time she got there she

had most of her clothes off. She looked muchbet-

ter wearing a sun storm instead of clothes. She

looked alive and like part of the ocean and part. of

her poem. Could that be what her poem's about, I

thought. Maybe, but Istill wasn't sure. The ocean

began to beat harder as she walked into it. Three

o'five. It wasn't so flat and empty anymore."Look what IIve found," she said, holding up an

oyster shell so Icould see it. "It's a little

broken but look at its color! It's almost all pur-

ple with just a bit of white 'and look at the bumps!

Let's find more. Comein."

Paula looked like a kid collecting worthless

stuff worth thousands. Thousands and thousands and

thou and sand and on,ly God"and I kn:ewhow beautif?l

she looked; her, there, in the ocean and the sun

and my eyes.

"Swimover here," she yelled. "There Is plentyof shells here. Can you see them? Where in the

world did they all come from?"A s I swamto her I felt like a springtide

suckling. Like a piece of scrap wood placed in the

ocean for a long time to become smooth, naked,

twisted and called drift wo o d . Ifelt like a na-tural thing that had been made better by another

natural thing. I·was-like driftwood but not time-

worn. Andnot alone 'anymore. I let myself not be

alone. It drifted bette~ this way.

"Oh look at tl;lis one," Paula said. "It has

more 'purple than the other one. Andhere, here's

another. Can you be·lieve it!"

I.took the shell from her and held it like a

broken treasure. Welooked at each other and

through the reflection'of the ocean each other

looked at us. It had us cast as naked apes swing-

ing on the shore lihe. Our wrinkles had moved

behind the reflection to another place. But that

can wait.

"Is there something more important?"

-I think so. Muchmoreo Shall I tell you about

it? Nowthat you understand. That we understand."Please do."

--Then liRten.

Documents

Counterculture Paper New Jersey 1973