Spellbound in New Jersey...

The night is darkening round me,
The wild winds coldly blow;

But a tyrant spell has bound me

And I cannot, cannot go.



The giant trees are bending

Their bare boughs weighed with snow.

And the storm is fast descending,

And yet I cannot go.



Clouds beyond clouds above me,


Wastes beyond wastes below;

But nothing dear can move me;

I will not, cannot go.

...Spellbound by Emily Bronte (not from New Jersey, but would have been great on the Palisades)
 
 

This is a short, creepy poem about things we can't escape from.  For me, I guess, it's writing.  I have missed this blog and the opportunity it provides to get some ideas out.  God gave us this gift of a snow day -  I have enjoyed snow days since 1961 when I was in Kindergarten at St. Francis Academy in Union City - and I have promised myself to post here today. 

Nemesis looking rather aggravated...

 
Lots of reading and writing since we last met, most notably Philip Roth's Nemesis.  This "alternate history" novel is centered on a deadly outbreak of polio in Newark during WWII.  (Newark was actually beset by polio in 1916.) The disease is surely a metaphor for the Holocaust and the impact of surviving a nightmare.  The protagonist is a good-natured soul who becomes beaten-down by the disease he tries to escape and who himself becomes the "method of transport" for the physically crippling polio.  Nemesis, in Greek mythology, is the agent of punishment and balance.  A "nemesis" cannot be defeated; it is one's undoing.  This novel is the story of a guy who has gotten just one too many breaks and whose good luck catches up with him.  He has missed the chance to be a hero.  He carries his nemesis on his back by being a survivor, living in a world of shame and darkness of his own making.
 
It  is reminiscent of Roth's earlier story Eli the Fanatic, which appears in Goodbye, Columbus.  ("What do we do with survivor European Jews who have landed here in suburban Long Island?")  It certainly is connected to Roth's The Plot Against America, the story of President Charles Lindbergh and his election's impact on the Jews of Newark and the nation generally.  Roth asks, "What if?" in these stories in which new historical heroes and villians emerge when opportunites are presented for both courage and disgrace.
 
Ever think about your own "what if"?  Consider the chess pieces on the board of your own life.  What would have happened if you made a few different moves?  More importantly, what would that difference mean?
 
Glad to be back.  Keep reading and writing,
 
Maureen

First Day on the Job!

Good Morning, New Jersey!

Welcome to Jersey Writers, home of Uncle Walt, Doc Williams, Queen Latifah, Muldoon at Princeton, Roth in Newark, Joe Weil in Elizabeth, and even that poet Bruce down the shore.  Join me on a journey that explores the images and words of our garden of a state where all sorts of juxtaposed stuff grows.  Let's own it and celebrate it, Jersey girls and guys.  Walt Whitman would have.
To be aboslutely honest and corny, I was influenced to start this blog by the movie Julie and Julia (though I was not influenced by the same film to debone a duck or make an aspic.)  What a great project Julie set for herself!
Some guidelines:

• This is a blog about New Jersey and its cultural outreach.  Let's stay on topic.
• Let's not be literary snobs. Where's the fun in that?  Martha Stewart is from Nutley and her cookie book is amazing. Check out those champagne glasses Lou Costello's "Who's on First?" is a classic looped 24/7 at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Bud and Lou  Everyone from New Jersey gets to play here.
• Do you want me to connect to your site or link?  Please let me know. 
• Let's keep sarcasm at a minimum.  This is not going to be a dark place on the internet.  I am not happy about the comments that follow newspaper articles online these days.  Mean-spirited, anonymous, cowardly junk.
• Send me stuff that you think is cool or important.  No stuff about work or politics.

Thank you for joining me here.

Here are today's Jersey Words:

" At the last second, poetry saves you,
  Undoing the knots of the dastardly villian
  Who has tied you up to the tracks of your life..."

                  ... from Villian by Joe Weil in The Plumber's Apprentice

Keep writing,

Maureen

PS:  The picture at the head of this blog was taken by me in Branch Brook Park, Newark, New Jersey.  In the foreground is a lion designed by Fredrick Law Olmstead, who also created Central Park in NYC and the lions in front of the public library and 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue..  In the background is the Cathedral  Basilica of the Sacred Heart, center of life for the Archdiocese of Newark.