I really do not understand why people would feel so depressed over an election. The people spoke and one candidate won. Will this vilified new president really be having such a negative impact on people’s lives? Or is it just like a sport, your team lost a final game and you’re hung over a couple of days! As for myself I enjoyed the election night. Democrats got what they deserved. Their pushy attitude, intimidation of Trump sympathizers (or better said intimidation of those who didn’t like Clinton) and especially the media bias in tandem with the “celebrity” support pushed many independents over the fence. I bet this is what happened to millions who decided to vote the last minute. Don’t blame Trump for winning, blame Clinton and yourself. You pushed many independent people to vote for what they perceived as the lesser evil. In addition the democrats with their stupid agenda did a great disservice to our country by handing full control of our government to the republicans. And this is worrying. However the best outcome is that both parties are in disarray and I hope they understand that they need a major revamp if they want to get the support of the people.
There is an affectionate term for the planes that helped win the fight against Hitler: warbirds. I saw all the warbirds of World War II in our recent visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where my new book, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe, was launched the evening of October 27.
This Veterans Day, it’s easy to think about the boys who stormed Normandy’s beaches 72 years and 5 months ago because they’ve been memorialized in the neat and tidy The Longest Day, and in the stunningly realistic Saving Private Ryan, and as one who sees and hears and feels and smells and tastes history, I don’t know how they did what they did that day. You know how you blanch when facing headwinds and slanting rain and the natural sense is to squint from it and recoil and run for cover. Well imagine the raindrops are eight-ounce parcels of lead coming at you like slanting rain. We’re all waterproof so the rain can’t really hurt us although we act as if it could. None of us are bulletproof and for thousands of those guys that day, the rainstorm ended in instant death or worse.
Where do the warbirds fit in this story? Well, I didn’t know before writingMission exactly how the war had played out up to the point that the LSTs hit the beaches of France. I knew there was an air war and a ground war in Europe, but it didn’t sink in that the air war came first and made the ground war possible, which means that for Americans over a two-year period, the front lines in the war for Europe were manned by flyers of the U.S. Army Air Forces. They climbed into their warbirds every morning not knowing if they’d ever walk the earth again. They’d give a thumbs-up and take off not into a glorious sunrise but into pea soup because, after all, this was England and the English weather is usually dreary.
And the warbirds themselves; yikes. Sure you had your sleek and nasty fighter planes, your Warhawks and Thunderbolts and Mustangs and the kids who climbed into them fought like the glamorous swashbucklers they were. Theirs was the grave responsibility of guarding and defending the most unglamorous of warbirds, the heavy bombers. And that is the core story of Mission.
Two heavy bombers flew for America in WWII, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the B-24 Liberator. The relative beauty of the 17 and its lethal firepower made it the media darling of the war. Think Memphis Belle. The 24 was described as “the packing crate the B-17 came in.” It was boxy; it was decidedly unglamorous. Imagine this as a verbal portrait of your airplane: “On the ground it looks like a slab-sided prehistoric monster wading through swamps.”
But the boys assigned to the B-24 Liberators loved their airplanes. They cared for each as if it were a hotrod, as if the thing wasn’t a flying death trap. The Liberators Jim Stewart flew exclusively in the war had real problems, like controls that required muscle at all times, and leaks in the fuel lines that would, all of a sudden, cause them to blow up in the air, usually on ascent when loaded with gas and bombs. Ka-BOOM! Ten men obliterated over friendly skies because of spark meeting fuel leak: pilot, copilot, bombardier, navigator, radio operator, engineer, waist gunners, ball turret gunner, tail gunner, all gone. This happened to Lt. Earle Metcalf and crew of Stewart’s squadron one morning. There one moment and vanished the next, with no trace ever found.
On each mission to Germany, missions sent up every possible day, hundreds of planes would take off from a cluster of bases each five miles from the next in eastern England into that pea soup I described earlier featuring low cloud cover. If the pilot didn’t fly precisely in that cloud cover, as in, fly straight for 47 seconds after takeoff while climbing to 5,000 feet at an air speed of 150 and then on the 48th second turn right to a precise compass heading, ka-BOOM! Two bombers both flying blind would collide—loaded with gas and bombs—and not 10 but 20 men would be erased from the roster. That happened more than once on missions Jim commanded. He would hear the deafening explosion close by, muscle the controls as the shock wave hit his plane, and know that a score of fine flyers alive five seconds ago were now dead. Young men he had just seen and eaten breakfast with.
Dear readers, we haven’t even left friendly airspace yet! This was the easy part before hitting an enemy coastline that featured hundreds of anti-aircraft batteries aimed at Forts and Libs lumbering straight and level across the sky as if targets in a carnival shooting gallery. Each plane held 10 males somewhere between 19 and 26, except for Jim, the old man of 35. They were kids, so very young, so very brave, so very skilled who died by the hundreds and thousands for the two years leading up to D-Day in an ongoing effort to smash Hitler’s ability to manufacture weapons of war. Not until they had succeeded in the task of fighting and fighting and fighting on endless brutal missions to knock out enough of the German air fleet did D-Day even become possible.
I spend a great deal of time in Mission driving home the point that, yes, Jim was a hero, but the band of brothers he flew with every day were people who lived and breathed. Each represented the best the United States had to offer. On the morning of a mission, they rode out to their slab-sided reptile of an airplane, a beast that might turn around and bite them at any moment. They struggled inside it while loaded down with flying gear. They held their breath through a lumbering takeoff, each focused on all the tasks essential to keeping that plane in the air for a flight to and from Germany. For many, too many, something would go wrong and they would fly on to glory.
I am writing about the men of the Eighth Air Force today, but I think of them every day. They inspire me to be an American worthy of their bravery and sacrifice.
Robert Matzen is the author of seven books, including the bestsellers Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3 andMission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe. Connect with Robert Matzen on Goodreads, Amazon, Twitter,Facebook, and at https://robertmatzen.com/
Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe [GoodKnight Books] is available via Amazon and in brick-and-mortar retailers across the U.S.
Ridgewood NJ, An 80 year old female Ridgewood resident was struck by a vehicle in the parking lot of the Kings Plaza Shopping Center, 112 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood on Friday afternoon, 11/11. Ridgewood PD, FD, and EMS were dispatched to aid the victim. The driver of the vehicle involved remained on the scene and was cooperating with police. Ridgewood Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke, who responded to the incident, reported that the victim refused to be transported to a hospital and left the scene in a private vehicle with a friend. There was no painted crosswalk in the area in which the victim was struck.
Ridgewood NJ, American Legion Post #53 hosted the Ridgewood Veteran’s Day Service at 11AM in Memorial Park at Van Neste Square. All were welcome to attend to honor our veteran’s.
Pilates hybrid class incorporates dance, is included in YWCA fitness membership package
November 11,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, YWCA Bergen County is pleased to announce a new addition to its extensive array of land and water fitness classes available to all members. POP Pilates Express is a half hour-long fusion of ab-chiseling and total-body-defining moves, all choreographed to Top 40 hits. It will be offered Thursdays evenings from 7:30 to 8 p.m. and is just one of the 40 plus fitness classes offered in our $108 for an eight-week session.
POP Pilates Express is an “intense, mat-based workout challenging students to rhythmically flow from one exercise to the next,” said Colleen Fontes, a YWCA Bergen County fitness instructor who is leading the classes. The workout will help participants develop “a rock solid core, leaving no muscle untouched,” added Fontes, who equates the conditioning to “dance on a mat.”
In addition to the new Pilates Express offering, YWCA members who purchase an eight-week fitness package receive unlimited access to a wide variety of challenging and motivating classes led by the YWCA’s certified instructors, the most experienced in the area. YWCA has more than 45 offerings including barre, Zumba, Aqua Fitness, Pilates, yoga, body sculpting, cardio and boot camp, as well as water fitness classes. All classes are held at the YWCA Bergen Count facility at 112 Oak Street, Ridgewood.
YWCA members who prefer to enroll for more than eight weeks may purchase a 360 fitness membership, affording free POP Pilates Express along with all other classes. A 360 fitness membership has additional benefits: lap swim, family swim and senior swim, reduced pricing and early bird program registration for swim lessons, children’s dance and more. Adult 360 memberships cost just $41 per month. Membership for teens/students costs only $28 per month, with seniors charged $28 per month, and family memberships available for $60 per month.
Ridgewood NJ, Veterans Day is an official United States public holiday, observed annually on November 11, that honors military veterans; that is, persons who served in the United States Armed Forces. It coincides with other holidays, including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, celebrated in other countries that mark the anniversary of the end of World War I; major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The United States previously observed Armistice Day. The U.S. holiday was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day honors those who died while in military service.
I lost so-called friends for expressing my opinion during the election season. I said Trump would win based on the crowds that he attracted to his rallies. The fact that Hillary needed celebs at her rallies and drew fewer people was an indication that she was not the most popular likely to win candidate.
So , I’m pretty smart and everybody hated what I said. I am smarter than the pollsters and the pundits, but get no money for my smartness hence I am stupid.
I am beyond disappointed with the Pomander decision. It is completely unbalanced and lacks all perspective. That street is probably one of the LEAST driven streets in this whole town. It was done pretty much to punish a local business and I do not understand why the four voted the way they did. We all have problems on our streets, we all deal with safety issues with cars driving too fast creating unsafe conditions for our children. Why are we not all treated equally? And to rub it in, they do not follow the rules so they receive all the benefit and share 0 of the burden. There were no fewer than 4 cars parked on the street this morning. Susan had it exactly right, as usual.
Ridgewood NJ, as has been reported the Ridgewood Planning Board has a number of multi-family, high-density applications in front of it .
A lawsuit was filed in May by attorney Kevin Mattessich on behalf of a resident’s grassroots organization, Ridgewood Citizens for Reasonable Development Inc. (RCRD).The lawsuit that claims “conflicts of interest” by multiple former planning board members paved the way for high-density development proposals.
According to Susan Knudsen the motion to stay was adjourned to December 19th, but the judge issued a temporary stay on all applications before the planning board.
Ridgewood NJ, An adult female was transported by ambulance to The Valley Hospital with non-life threatening injuries sustained after being struck by a motor vehicle in front of 505 Goffle Road, Ridgewood on Thursday evening, 11/10. Ridgewood PD, FD, and EMS units responded to aid the victim. Traffic control assistance was provided by Midland Park and Wyckoff PD units. The driver of the vehicle involved remained at the scene and was cooperating with police. It did not appear that the victim was in a marked crosswalk at the time she was struck.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke read a story to, and answered questions for, children and parents who attended the Ridgewood Public Library’s “A Day in the Life of Police Chief” event on Thursday morning, 11/10 at the RIdgewood Public Library, 125 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood. The “get your photo taken with the police chief” session that immediately followed questions and answers seemed to be more popular with children and parents than when Santa Claus visits the Village!
Ridgewood Arts Council’s Artist Talk: Ariel Adkins.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The event will be held on Friday, November 18 from 8 – 9 pm, at The Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood. Ariel Adkins is a working artist whose mission is to be a living work of art each day. Blending art and fashion, she creates clothing inspired by artwork from a wide range of genres, mediums and eras: from Ancient Egypt to Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism to graffiti. She studied studio art and art history at the College of William and Mary and holds a graduate degree in Art Marketing from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She is a cultural ambassador for Twitter and deeply involved in the art scene in New York City.
Ridgewood NJ, Many Ridgewood residents felt the post-election let down yesterday . Months of acrimonious campaigning has left people feeling blue if they came out on the short end of the vote yesterday . Some wore black to symbolize a funeral . Another Ridgewood resident even offered free hugs to those who were in inconsolable pain .
Ridgewood like much of Bergen County was split about 60/40 in favor of the loser Hillary Clinton and in many ways Ridgewood is the stereotypical Clinton supporting town.
One reader emailed the Ridgewood blog, “I know you must be elated over the election results. I am happy for you but as a progressive and a woman, I am so sad. I think you are doing our town a great service with The Blog”
GOP President-elect Donald Trump pulled off one of the biggest electoral upset in decades Tuesday evening, causing Hillary Clinton supporters around the country and in Ridgewood to cry.
It seems that many of Clinton’s supporters may have shared the feeling Clinton expressed in late September when she wondered aloud why she wasn’t ahead of Trump by 50 percent.
As for the staff of the Ridgewood blog we enjoyed a quite afternoon.
Ridgewood NJ, Highlights from the Village of Ridgewood Council Public meeting on November 9th.
1. As always, meeting minutes are prepared and approved in a timely manner, unlike the previous administration, under which minutes were aged for months and in some cases years.
2. Acting village manager Heather Mailander named all employees who are veterans and thanked them for their service during this Veterans’ Day holiday week. It is so wonderful to have a manager who is pleasant, supportive, and a champion of employees. Hoping this will be the model when a permanent manager is hired.
3. Parking was discussed, including a long-since dismissed garage plan that actually would fit on the Hudson St. lot. Really. The garage was voted down by a massive margin. So they are back at it? Also, central valet was mentioned again, an excellent idea. A discussion of changing times and fees for various parking lots was so confusing that even the council members seemed to not understand what they were aiming for, and an error in their paperwork indicated that the meters would go until 10 PM.
4. Mayor Knudsen will hold office hours quarterly, joined by one of her council colleagues. This Saturday November 13 she will meet with residents from 11-1 in the 4th floor conference room. Call Heather’s office for an appointment.
5. Three ordinances regarding salaries were introduced. Titles are being updated. Some are being deleted. Notably the Human Resources Manager position is not scheduled for deletion at least not in this round. Sharyn Matthews is gone, as is her mother hen Roberta Sonenfeld. Possibly the HR position will be eliminated for good once the new manager is hired.
6. The public hearing on Ordinance 3556 Parking Restrictions on Pomander Walk was held. Many residents from The Walk pleaded to keep the street as a zero parking zone. This prevailed. The street remains a no parking street. This is a street that is paid for by public tax money but the public cannot park on it. OK. This seems unfair.
7. They authorized studying the feasibility of an Uber Pilot Program. This may help ease parking around the train station.
8. The Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) Grant application was approved. It was made clear that there will be NO BIKE LANES included in this project, if the grant is awarded. Nope, no bike lanes along very busy thoroughfares, thank God. The jackass project presented a few weeks ago by a bike-lane advocate and a surly village engineer was scrapped. The Grant, if approved, will just include new sidewalks and curb cuts.
9. As always the five elected officials were pleasant, professional, and held productive and meaningful discussions for all to hear. Residents’ questions and concerns were heard and answered with respect and even humor. Total transparency with total civility. The absence of Tony Damiano and Rurik Halaby meant that there was not a single dark cloud in the room.
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. He is also a painter, having created works under the name Anthony Benedetto that are on permanent public display in several institutions. He is the founder of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York.
Born and raised in Astoria to an Italian-American family, Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as a U.S. Army infantryman in the European Theater. Afterward, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records and had his first number-one popular song with “Because of You” in 1951. Several top hits such as “Rags to Riches” followed in the early 1950s. He then refined his approach to encompass jazz singing. He reached an artistic peak in the late 1950s with albums such as The Beat of My Heart and Basie Swings, Bennett Sings. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. His career and his personal life experienced an extended downturn during the height of the rock music era.
Bennett staged a comeback in the late 1980s and 1990s, putting out gold record albums again and expanding his reach to the MTV Generation while keeping his musical style intact. He has won 19 Grammy Awards(including a Lifetime Achievement Award, presented in 2001) and two Emmy Awards, and was named an NEA Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honoree. He has sold over 50 million records worldwide.
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