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Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day: US Colored Infantry, Civil War veterans at Hillside Cemetery


The GAR Bivouac at Hillside Cemetery.
The Grand Army of the Republic bivouac at Hillside Cemetery is the final resting place of several Plainfield African American veterans of the Civil War.

The bivouac is a quiet, calming space, well-suited to meditating on the sacrifices of both those who served their country and those who have fallen in its defense.


The 22nd Regiment was particularly noted for its bravery and was honored by being among the first Union troops sent into Richmond upon its fall, as well as accompanying the fallen President Lincoln's funeral procession in Washington.


Grave marker for Prime Carmen
Company A, 41st Regiment, USCT


Grave marker for Martin Herling
Company A, 41st Regiment, USCT


Grave marker forEnoch Milford
Company A, 25th Regiment, USCT


Grave marker for George Sutphen
Company B, 22nd Regiment, USCT


-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Monday, January 17, 2011

A question from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Dr. King with President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'

-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Saturday, January 15, 2011

Potluck Party and Food Drive tonight


Plainfielders of all political stripes and none are invited to the 3rd Annual MLK Potluck Party and Food Drive this evening at the home of Councilor Adrian Mapp and his wife Amelia.

For the third year, Plainfield's New Democrats club will host the affair as both a celebration of the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and an opportunity for collecting canned goods and nonperishable food for StarFish, one of Plainfield's local feeding programs.

Soup kitchens and food pantries have been particularly stressed over the past two years, and with unemployment still high, they continue to try and meet the needs of the hungry. 'We are inviting everyone to join the war on hunger in America that Dr. King addressed nearly fifty years ago,' says Adrian Mapp, chair of the New Dems political club.

As King said in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize (see here) --
Today, therefore, the question on the agenda must read: Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?
Hope to see you all at Adrian and Amelia's!



New Dems Potluck Supper and Food Drive


Saturday · January 15
7:00 PM
At the home of Adrian and Amelia Mapp
535 West 8th Street
Mix and mingle with new friends and old!
Bring a dish to share and canned goods or nonperishable food items
for donation to Plainfield's StarFish feeding program.
Food, fun, music -- partying as only Plainfielders can.


-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Friday, January 14, 2011

All invited to MLK Potluck Party and Food Drive

 
Plainfielders of all political stripes and none are invited to the 3rd Annual MLK Potluck Party and Food Drive tomorrow evening at the home of Councilor Adrian Mapp and his wife Amelia.

For the third year, Plainfield's New Democrats club will host the affair as both a celebration of the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and an opportunity for collecting canned goods and nonperishable food for StarFish, one of Plainfield's local feeding programs.

Soup kitchens and food pantries have been particularly stressed over the past two years, and with unemployment still high, they continue to try and meet the needs of the hungry. 'We are inviting everyone to join the war on hunger in America that Dr. King addressed nearly fifty yearsago,' says Adrian Mapp, chair of the New Dems political club.

As King said in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize (see here) --
Today, therefore, the question on the agenda must read: Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?
Hope to see you all at Adrian and Amelia's!


New Dems Potluck Supper and Food Drive

Saturday · January 15
7:00 PM
At the home of Adrian and Amelia Mapp
535 West 8th Street
Mix and mingle with new friends and old!
Bring a dish to share and canned goods or nonperishable food items
for donation to Plainfield's StarFish feeding program.
Food, fun, music -- partying as only Plainfielders can.

-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

HAPPY

NEW YEAR!

Mayor's Reception Honoring Laddie Wyatt
Monday | 5:30 - 7:30 PM | City Hall Library

City Council Reorganization
Monday | 8:00 PM | Courthouse/Council Chambers

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Moravian Star of Christmas

 

To this farm boy gone to college in Pennsylvania Dutch country, one of the delights of the Christmas holidays was the ornament known as the Moravian Star, a many-pointed three-dimensional geometry lesson traditionally manufactured by Moravian communities.

My college was not far from Bethlehem, founded in the 18th-century by Moravians (the other well-known Moravian community is Winston-Salem, North Carolina).

The star could be seen on treetops, in putzes, as porch lights, and suspended high in church naves. Its popularity had spread and it was seen in many other denominations (including the one to which I belonged) other than the Moravians who had given it its start.

They are a prominent fixture in the holiday marketing of the Bethlehem of today, which is a sort of Disneyized re-invention of the working-class and college town I had known as a young man.

No matter, they are still spectacular pieces of craftsmanship -- and a good visual geometry lesson.

Merry Christmas to all!


-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Friday, December 24, 2010

Luminaria light up Netherwood neighborhood tonight


One of Plainfield's most popular holiday attractions returns tonight for the fifth time -- the Netherwood Heights neighbors' luminaria display.

Hundreds of candles will glow in paper bags along the streets of the historic district beginning at twilight.

See more details at the Netherwood Heights Neighbors website (here) or the Courier article (here).

A peaceful night as the Queen City awaits the birth of the King of Peace.


Map from Netherwood Neighbors website for 2010 luminaria display.


-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Holidays in Plainfield: Horse & Wagon Ride Today


Plainfield kids of all ages can thrill to riding through the city streets in an open horse-drawn wagon today between Noon and 3 PM.

The 6th Annual Holiday Horse & Wagon Ride is sponsored by the Plainfield SID.

Catch the ride in one of two staging areas: West Front Street (near McDonald's) or Plainwood Square Park on South Avenue. Wagon rides. Hot chocolate. Goody bags for all, compliments of Plainfield merchants.

Drawing for 'World's Largest Christmas Stocking' at 3:30 PM at Plainwood Square (entry forms at both sites, winner must be present) and a Holiday Gingerbread House.

Santa and his Elf will pose for pictures with the kids (bring your own camera) at the downtown staging area from Noon to 1:15 PM, and at Plainwood Square Park from 1:45 to 3:00 PM.

Best of all, EVERYTHING IS FREE.





6th Annual Horse and Wagon Rides
Today - December 10
Noon - 3:00 PM

Two staging areas:
Downtown
, West Front near McDonald's
South Avenue, at Plainwood Square Park



-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Friday, December 10, 2010

6th Annual Horse and Wagon Ride Saturday




Plainfield kids of all ages can thrill to riding through the city streets in an open horse-drawn wagon tomorrow between Noon and 3 PM.

The 6th Annual Holiday Horse & Wagon Ride is sponsored by the Plainfield SID.

Catch your ride in one of two staging areas: West Front Street (near McDonald's) or Plainwood Square Park on South Avenue. Wagon rides. Hot chocolate. Goody bags for all, compliments of Plainfield merchants.

Drawing for 'World's Largest Christmas Stocking' at 3:30 PM at Plainwood Square (entry forms at both sites, winner must be present) and a Holiday Gingerbread House.

Santa and his Elf will pose for pictures with the kids (bring your own camera) at the downtown staging area from Noon to 1:15 PM, and at Plainwood Square Park from 1:45 to 3:00 PM.

Best of all, EVERYTHING IS FREE.





6th Annual Horse and Wagon Rides
Saturday - December 10
Noon - 3:00 PM

Two staging areas:
Downtown
, West Front near McDonald's
South Avenue, at Plainwood Square Park



-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Plainfield Dairy Queen, PMUA coordinate holiday gifts solicitation



Plainfield's Dairy Queen and the PMUA are coordinating a holiday gifts drive to provide presents at a party to be hosted by the Daybreak Community Development Corporation.

The Dairy Queen's Donna Albanese is gathering new or clean, gently-used WINTER COATS for all ages, as well as TOYS and SPORTING EQUIPMENT. Gently used items are fine, but all should be in complete and in working order. The preferred time for dropoffs (at 1367 South Avenue) is Sundays before 1:00 PM until December 17th.

As for the bicycles which the Albanese family has been collecting and refurbishing all year, Donna reports --

...we can discontinue the bike requests because… May I have a drum roll, please…….. we have exceeded our goal of 100 bicycles. We collected 130 bikes, and many are only usable for parts. We have been able to create 110 bicycles to be given away at this year’s party.  And every bike will have a new helmet to go with it!...
The PMUA is gathering new or gently used CHILDREN'S BOOKS at its headquarters, 127 Roosevelt Avenue (corner of East 2nd Street), between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday, through December 17th.

In addition to storing the refurbished bikes for the party, the PMUA is coordinating volunteers.




-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving: Remembering my illegal immigrant roots


The Pequot War became a model of European-Native American interactions.

This Plainfielder, taken aback by the xenophobia so much in evidence these days (alas, even in our beloved Queen City, whose history is studded with immigrants' contributions), finds Thanksgiving a good day to ponder my own illegal immigrant roots.

On my father's side, both Starrs and Damons were among the Puritan families to arrive in the New World in the early 1630s, settling in Scituate, Massachusetts. From there they fanned out westward, first to Middletown, Connecticut, thence to Vermont and finally to Pomfret, a township platted in the Holland Land Company's western New York lands, and along the Cuyahoga River in Connecticut's 'Western Reserve', now known as Ohio.

On my mother's side, her Scots-Irish forebears were among those colonisers sent by King James I (of Bible translation fame) to displace the O'Neill and O'Donnell clans from their Ulster homelands in the early 17th century. Coming to the New World in the colonial era, they ultimately took up farming in Nebraska territory in the latter half of the 19th century, settling on lands from which the United States had displaced the Oglala Sioux.

Jobless, persecuted on account of their religion (the Starrs and Damons), and pawns in the English politics of dominating Ireland (the Clines and Weavers), they saw in the New World only opportunity.

Had they any second thoughts about their impact on the New World: the diseases they unwittingly brought which decimated Native Americans; the treachery and betrayal which were the foundation of their advantages; the lost opportunities snuffed out by 'Manifest Destiny'?

If they had any, I am unaware of them.

What I have learned is that my own family story is not so unique (for another somewhat similar one, see Woodbridge public information officer Lawrence Ervin McCullough's Thanksgiving reflection here).

McCullough's family became entwined with the fate of the Wampanoag tribe, which he erroneously reports as being made extinct, and with the Pequot (whose near extermination by the English in the Pequot War provided a model of European-Native American conflict for the next two and a half centuries).

McCullough's essay points to a pair of heartening trends in facing the changes that are inevitably facing us as more and more newcomer Americans swell the US population.

But, as he points out, he has some 'bigtime karma to work off' on account of his family history.

I guess I could say 'double that for me', given both sides of my own family.

So, while my Puritan and Scots-Irish genes give me an intense sense of civic obligation and being subject to the 'city upon a hill' syndrome, they are counterbalanced by the view the America is a grand experiment, to which all can bring their ingenuity, dedication and hard work.

What about your family experience this Thanksgiving Day?


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Monday, May 31, 2010

Plainfield's War Memorial Flagpole


The placing of a bronze plaque in 1922 in the rotunda of City Hall honoring those who served and died in World War I seems to have been the genesis of the idea of a monument honoring Plainfielders who had given their lives in all past wars.

In June 1925, the Common Council organized a War Memorial Committee with the purpose of drawing up a proposal for such a memorial, to be submitted to the Council at a future date. A number of town notables, as well as several Councillors and veterans of past wars were appointed.

The War Memorial Committee made its report to the Common Council in January of 1926, and in May of that year, a contract was awarded for the construction of a flagpole to be mounted above a bronze sculptural base, the whole sited on a granite plaza.

Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, which owns the triangular plot at the intersection of East Seventh Street and Watchung and Crescent Avenues, drew up an agreement permitting the city to "erect and maintain" a War Memorial on the site, providing only that the city "keep the plot in good order," and indemnify the church against any liability.

Although the contracts were let, and the manufacture and construction appeared to get under way in a timely fashion -- with dedication set for Armistice Day, November 11, 1926 -- an enormous brouhaha broke out between the central council of the veterans' organizations and the Common Council, dragging into it the minister and trustees of Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church.

The source of the controversy? The inscription.

The inscription proposed for the sculptural base is the underlined portion of this selection from the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah, Chapter 2
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
The controversy engendered considerable acrimony among some of the veterans organizations, leading to a much-belated dedication of the monument, all of which has now faded into the remote mists of Plainfield history.


The Memorial Day series--
-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

MLK Week: New Dems Potluck and Food Drive set for Saturday




Plainfield's New Democrats will hold a Potluck Dinner and Party Saturday at the home of Councilor Adrian and Mrs. Amelia Mapp.

Originally scheduled for December, the date was changed as the result of last month's snow storm.

The party is open to all in the community, and attendees are asked to bring nonperishable food items such as canned goods or dry food and pasta products, which will be donated to the city's feeding programs.

"All of Plainfield's food pantries and feeding programs have reported experiencing an extraordinary demand for services," says New Dem chairperson Adrian Mapp, "and it seems particularly fitting that we have an opportunity to help during the week of celebrations commemorating the life and service of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

While we justly honor Dr. King as a civil rights leader and martyr of enormous stature, we would do his memory a disservice if we failed to recall that he was also keenly aware of the need to overcome poverty and hunger. As King said in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize (see here) --
Today, therefore, the question on the agenda must read: Why should there be hunger and privation in any land, in any city, at any table when man has the resources and the scientific know-how to provide all mankind with the basic necessities of life?
Hope to see you all at Adrian and Amelia's!



New Dems Potluck and Food Drive


Saturday · January 16
7:00 PM
At the home of Adrian and Amelia Mapp
535 West 8th Street

Mix and mingle with new friends and old! Bring a dish to share and one or two nonperishable food items for donation to Plainfield's local feeding programs. Food, fun, music.



-- Dan Damon
[follow]


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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

MLK Events - 2010 (Printable Calendar)




President Lyndon B. Johnson listens to Dr. King.


The 2010 Calendar of events commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is online here in a handy printable version.






-- Dan Damon
[follow]


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Thursday, December 31, 2009

RESOLUTIONS FOR PLAINFIELD Day





Today is
RESOLUTIONS FOR PLAINFIELD Day.

How about instead of making a resolution for YOURSELF for the New Year, which you know will be broken by the end of January (if not sooner), you propose a RESOLUTION FOR PLAINFIELD TO MAKE for the New Year? Something that could be done (or stop being done) that would benefit Plainfield in 2010.

Could be something for the Council to do. Or the Mayor or administration. Or the school district. Or the business community. Or some other organization that could positively impact the community.

Be creative. Be ingenious. Be outrageous. But above all, be posting your comment today.

There will be a $10 gift certificate for Dairy Queen awarded for the most intriguing RESOLUTION FOR PLAINFIELD (my pick). You may make your comments anonymous or sign them, but in order to collect the DQ award, you will need to make yourself known to me somehow with a moniker of some kind. I will post the winning items on New Year's Day, after which the winner can contact me by email (I'll put a link up then).

Go!



-- Dan Damon
[follow]


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Saturday, December 26, 2009

The First Day of Christmas?




On the First Day of Christmas,
a Partridge in a Pear Tree.



For Plainfielders who come from the liturgical Christian traditions (primarily Roman Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran), today is the First Day of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The marketing buzz of the consumer Moloch will spend the next few days on end-of-year closeout sales and then shift at once into Valentine's Day marketing.

For many, Christmas is already a thing of the past, a mess left behind by family and kids to be cleaned up and then move on.

But for those who embrace the ancient calendar, it is the first of the twelve days of Christmastide that will culminate in the Feast of the Epiphany, which tradition holds is when the Three Magi from the East arrive at the stable in Bethlehem to present their gifts to the infant Jesus.

The Twelve Days are celebrated in a Christmas song (of which many grow tired long before the eponymous days arrive!), whose origins are shrouded in the mists but may go back to the murderous religious atmosphere in 1500s England in the tussle over whether it would become Anglican or revert to its ancient Catholic allegiance. Some consider the song (see here) a catechetical device, designed to secretly teach the elements of the Catholic confession without drawing the attention of Anglican authorities.

Whether or not this is so, the visit of the Three Kings which concludes the Twelve Days is both a solemn festival in the churches and -- in Hispanic cultures worldwide -- a day of merrymaking and gift-giving.

The fact that gifts are traditionally exchanged on 'El Dia de Reyes' (see here) may help explain the circumstance that while Anglo stores in the area were shut tight yesterday, Plainfield was abuzz with shopping activity downtown, looking very much like a regular Saturday with crowds on the street and scarcely a parking space in sight.

Shakespeare's play, Twelfth Night (see here), was intended to portray the festival atmosphere on the last night of the Christmas celebrations, the evening before the Twelfth Day and the twelfth night after Christmas Eve.

Those spoilsports, the Puritans, railed against all this while in England and, when they had the chance to set up their paradise on earth in New England in the new world, saw to it that the 'naughty' merriment and games, tippling and gift-giving of the traditional English celebrations were not observed in the New Eden -- by making the observances a crime and hauling celebrants before the magistrates.

The lingering effects of this Puritan ethic help account for the loss of the Three Kings tradition among Anglos.

More's the pity, I say.




On the Twelfth Day,
the gifts of the Three Kings.




-- Dan Damon
[follow]


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Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!



MERRY

CHRISTM
AS!






¡FELIZ

NA
VIDAD!



-- Dan Damon [follow]

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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Plainfield Today ponders Christmas(es) on the cusp





The family matriarch, Effie Mae Starr Damon,
direct descendant of Puritan settlers of Scituate, Mass.
and
Dr. Comfort Starr (a founder of Harvard University),
with her surviving children, Christmas 1946. My dad, 'Bus' is on the left.



A (somewhat) snowy Christmas in Plainfield puts me in mind of another Christmas, the cusp on which it stood and the cusp on which Plainfield stands at this Christmas holiday of 2009.

That Christmas was 1946 in Laona, a hamlet in western New York's Chautauqua County.

It was the annual gathering of my father's mother's children and their children for a family Christmas in the tiny home of one of the daughters.

World War II was over, but families were still converting to a postwar existence (women being driven from the workplace back into the kitchen), and the long postwar boom had yet to really get under way.

The flood of cars, refrigerators, TVs and new homes was still off in the future. In a way, this was one of the last of the Depression-era Christmases -- the youngest grandchildren all got gifts of clothing as well as a small toy or game; the older ones got neckties and sweater vests for the boys, sweaters, scarves and gloves for the girls. Every stocking contained an orange, an apple and some walnuts in the shell as well as a trinket or little game.

The women squeezed into the little kitchen and finished preparing the feast, while Norris, Grandma Damon's oldest son, tended to the turkey and its carving.

The men played pinochle around the dining room table, taking a discreet nip of whisky now and then (Grandma Damon was a teetotaling Methodist) or stepped out to the shed where Irene's husband Ben, who worked in the local sawmill, had stashed a couple of cases of beer.

The smaller kids entertained themselves in the living room with what we now call age-appropriate card and board games.

My dad (the baby in the family) and mother had recently bought the old Moon farmstead and the four of us (including my younger brother Billy) were roughing it -- coal stove, well water, kerosene lamps and chemical toilet (the changing of which was one of my chores). Baths were in a galvanized wash tub filled with water heated on the stove.




The grandchildren, except for three yet to arrive.
That's me on the couch with my 'Keep America Strong' sweatshirt.



Living less than a mile from Irene and Ben's, we were among the first to arrive soon after noon. Marjorie and Clarence would come from Buffalo. Blanche and Jack would drive up from Jamestown. Howard and Helen had the farthest to come, from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, where Howard had gone to start a business paving driveways (some thought him crazy, but not when he eventually became one of the largest paving contractors in the Cleveland area). Norris, Grandma Damon's eldest and Dunkirk's postmaster, and his wife Ellen, a schoolteacher, only had a few miles to come. Always the last to arrive was Deward, with his wife Aldine and their seven kids (my favorite cousins) -- dairy and Concord grape farming were demanding on a daily basis, even in the dead of winter.

To a wide-eyed little boy who had just turned 7, it was a scene of warmth, fun, feasting and family. It seemed perfect and permanent.

But it was a world on the cusp.

Within a few short years, it would scarcely seem recognizable.

The family's roots were in farming, but the pressures of the Depression had already started to change that. Marjorie had become the cook to a wealthy family in Buffalo. Norris had a career in the Post Office. Howard started a business in another state. Irene made a good, but busy, living as a paperhanger in great demand. My dad, known to all as 'Bus', was a welder at the American Locomotive plant.

Blanche was the only child to become a housewife not working outside the home -- her husband took pride in his good job with the electric company. (Theirs was a true romance; he had met her when he came to her parent's farmstead to tell her that her fiancé, a lineman, had been electrocuted. His kindness during her grieving led to their falling in love, a match which lasted the rest of their lives.)

Deward was the only child to keep on farming, with his 50 or so cows and perhaps 30 acres of Concord grapes, which he was under contract to sell to the Welch's factory in Westfield. In those days, one could make a living doing it. Today, hardly.

But the opportunities unleashed after the war would take the next generation -- that of my older cousins and myself -- far, far from the tiny hamlet of Laona in the rural township of Pomfret, in the still mostly agricultural county of Chautauqua.

College -- everywhere from the Normal School at Fredonia to Columbia University to Georgia Tech to my alma mater Albright -- would disperse our generation to the far reaches of the country and beyond.

We would become city and suburban dwellers, farm life would recede to a distant and nostalgic memory (though I was most thankful for getting city water and indoor plumbing, and getting rid of the hated chemical toilet chore).

Cars would allow us to get everywhere, quickly and in style. Soon, having more than one vehicle in the family would seem almost a necessity.

The solid WASP Protestant facade was also rent -- first, actually, by Grandma Damon's daughter Blanche, whose romance led her to marry an Irish Roman Catholic; their 'solution' being that neither practiced any religion.

But in the next generation, it was almost common -- my brother Bill marrying a beauty of Portuguese descent; my cousin George falling in love with a Puerto Rican woman and moving to the Commonwealth, where he lives to this day. Bill would convert to Catholicism, Ana would become a Protestant.

There were other, less welcome, changes too -- within a few short years, my folks divorced, as did two of dad's siblings; and one of his siblings was caught in flagrante delicto in the back seat of the Game Warden's car.

Grandma Damon would have been more than dismayed if she had lived to see the changes in her Ladies Aid Society world!

By the time I graduated from high school a less than a decade later, the family had grown so large and was so dispersed that an annual reunion was started on July 4th weekend. Summer had the advantage that the weather was more pleasant (understatement!), we could use an outdoor pavilion at Lake Erie State Park, and the most dramatic change of all, folks could use their newly-minted 'vacation' time to set aside a few days for the get-together. (Thanks to the labor unions, vacations became a general phenomenon, as did the 40-hour work week, which had replaced the five-and-a-half or six day work week.)

Within ten years of the end of World War II, America -- and the tight-knit Damon clan -- was becoming college-educated, urbanized, and dispersed to the four winds. The stresses of these changes also took a negative toll with divorce, infidelity and brushes with the law (don't ask about my cousin Neil and his escapades!).

Some of my generation became involved in the great social movement of the postwar years -- civil rights -- leading to even more changes and diversity in the family, mirroring those in the country as a whole (my first experience was street corner fundraising in support of the Montgomery bus boycott).

Looking at those old family photos reminds me of all that appeared, but was not, solid and unchanging.

And looking at Plainfield today through that lens lets me know that what appears so solid and unchanging about Plainfield is illusory. Plainfield also stands on a cusp.

Changes of a previously unknown magnitude are on our doorstep.

My nose-to-the-grindstone focus on Plainfield's (often petty) politics means it is possible to overlook the changes on her horizon.

But their advance is relentless.

What good will they bring us in 2010?

And what ill?

And what will be the balance?




-- Dan Damon
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Friday, December 18, 2009

Time running out on opportunities to brighten local families' holidays





Plainfielders have a tradition of opening their hearts and their pocketbooks to the community's neediest during the Christmas holidays. Religious and social service organizations throughout the city solicit toys and other gifts to brighten the holidays for as many families as possible. In addition, feeding and clothing programs -- which are being heavily stressed by the current economic recession -- look to the kindness of strangers to help stock and replenish food pantries and clothes-closets.

If you have not already made a gift through your religious organization or other connection -- or even if you have -- please consider among the following additional opportunities.

Thank you! and know that any gift will fill an urgent need. -- Dan


  • (OPPORTUNITY EXTENDED) DQ Drive for Daybreak Kids: Dairy Queen's Donna Albanese is spearheading a drive for 329 children of incarcerated parents. For its holiday party, Plainfield's Daybreak Community Center needs new or gently used toys, sports gear, clothing, shoes, books and bikes. Items may be dropped off at the Dairy Queen (1367 South Avenue) before 3 PM, Sunday, December 20. Donna reports the #1 request from kids is for bikes. Bike donations may be dropped off at her house no later than Sunday (8 Pitching Way, Scotch Plains, leave in drive if no one home), where her husband will make necessary repairs and deliver them. Those wishing to bake for the party should call Donna for dropoff information (the party for the kids is Monday, December 21, at Rose of Sharon Church, 825 West 7th Street, 6 - 9 PM). Info: (908) 755-5994.

  • Food Donations Needed: Consider donating to your local religious organization's feeding program or food pantry, or give to the COMMUNITY FOOD BANK OF NJ: Accepts dry, refrigerated or frozen food. Distributes food to charities throughout the state. Location: 31 Evans Terminal Road, Hillside, N.J. Info: (908) 355-3663; or visit njfoodbank.org/.

  • Ends Today. Holiday Toy Drive by Sleepy Hollow Realtors. Once again, Joe Burris, John Nash and the Sleepy Hollow Realtors team are collecting toys for area charities. Bring your donation of a new, unwrapped toy for a boy or girl BY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, to Sleepy Hollow Realtors, 1304 South Avenue. Info: (908) 822-0550.

  • Ends Today. Holiday Toy Drive by King's Temple. The church seeks new, unwrapped toys to distribute to Plainfield children at the holidays. Donations may be dropped off at Harvest Radio, 120 West 7th Street, Ste 202, Monday thru Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM. Info: Toya Kirkwood, (908) 757-6700 or (908) 753-5825. The toys will be distributed at the 7th Annual Candle Lighting service on Saturday at 7 PM at the church, 1020 West 7th Street. A light dinner follows the service. More info here.

  • Today through Thursday - December 24. Together AsOne Adopt-a-Family Holiday Celebration. This network of Black Entrepreneurs Who Care has adopted two families from Plainfield Action Services, for whom they are gathering gifts to make a very special Christmas. Gifts or donations via PayPal are needed. For full details, check AsOne's website here. Info: (908) 755-8220 or email staff@asoneonline.com.

  • Today thru Sunday - Dec 20. All Day. BORDERS Gift Wrap Benefiting Plainfield Area Humane Society. Shop at Borders in Watchung Square Mall and have your book or other item gift-wrapped by volunteers from PAHS. Proceeds benefit the Rock Avenue facility.

  • Saturday - December 19. 7 PM. New Dems Holiday Potluck and Canned Food Drive. Mix and mingle with new friends and old and celebrate the winter holiday season! Bring a dish to share and one or two nonperishable food items for donation to Plainfield's local feeding programs. Food, fun, music -- maybe even carolling. At the home of Adrian and Amelia Mapp, 535 West 8th Street.



-- Dan Damon
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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Heart-stopping Holiday decorations




Like everyone, my inbox gets its share of jokes (some family-friendly, some not), but Plainfield Today reader Dr. Ted really got my attention with the picture seen above.

Turns out to be an anonymous homeowner's attempt at some holiday humor, explained by the homeowner himself --
“Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.”
Enjoy, but don't try this at home, kiddies!



-- Dan Damon
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