"A long long time ago
I can still remember hows
That music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance"
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.....Don McLean....American Pie
Hello my 6 1/2 followers. I haven't checked in for awhile, but I haven't found the right subject to talk about. I was going to write about the sinking of the Titanic, an event that had such a great impact on the world. Well, everyone was writing about Titanic and I didn't feel I had anything new to offer. Instead, this morning, I decided to write about someone and something that touches us all. Dick Clark and American Bandstand.
Pam, you might say as that is my name! Why are you writing about a person and American Icon that everyone will write about. Let me answer it this way. What is more personal that the music you listen to? Yes, someone else created it and it now touches you, Who doesn't have a "soundtrack" to their lives. Music and songs make us happy and sad, sometimes both at the same time. It's an amazing feeling. Think about how you feel when you hear a song that you haven't heard in ages. Something from you childhood perhaps. I don't care WHO you are, we all mentally, and sometimes verbally exclaim "that's my jam" and turn it up.
In 1956 Dick Clark helped us "pump up the jams" there is another part to that quote, but I kept it clean!!! It is said that Dick Clark legitimized Rock n Roll and helped make it acceptable to a whole new demographic, to the parents of the kids who bought the Rock n Roll records!. On more Saturday's than we can count, Dick Clark brought the music via Philadelphia way into our homes. Well, no only were the kids home dancing and watching it, but so were Mom and Dad. How could you not like that young, handsome, Dick Clark??? How many people learned to dance watching American Bandstand, well that and a bit of Soul Train thrown in there. We had our favorite people we liked to watch dance. The program showed us how we wanted to dress to be "hip". It gave us our first exposure to a word like "groovy". We learned all of this at the knee of Dick Clark. I always wanted to be on the segment that was "rate a record. I wanted to be the person to say,"it's got a great beat and you can dance to it".
An appearance on American Bandstand said to an artist and their audience they had "made it". Dick Clark was instrumental in the desegregation of Television. We saw Chubby Checker and Pat Boone on the same show.. The next program might be Smokey Robinson and The Miracles and Jay and The Americans. You just never new and wasn't that an amazing thing!! Music was music no matter what. It had no color, no rules. What a wonderful thing!
Dick Clark had just about every major musical act from 1956-1987. Think about all the people that passed Dick Clark's way. He brought Little Richard into our homes (bet that scared a few Grandma's). Years later he did the same thing with Kiss. I saw The Osmond Brothers for the first time on Bandstand and The Jackson Five. Dick Clark had John Travolta on when he was just a kid starting out on WELCOME BACK KOTTER when he gave pop music a shot and had a song that went to number one called LET HER IN. He asked John of all things, "was he a good dancer"! Well, John sure showed us after Dick asked the question! In 1984 he asked a very young Madonna what her dreams were and she answered in her modest style "to rule the world". I remember thinking what kind of answer was that to give Dick Clark....well, she sure came close to it! She ruled the music industry. Mr. Clark helped her put her intentions out there and he did it with grace. John Waters spoofed Dick Clark in a very funny and serious way in Corny Collins in Hairspray. I loved John Waters interpretation of the music industry and segregation. There was no doubt Corny Collins was based on Dick Clark!
There have only ever been three other hosts to American Bandstand before Dick Clark. Bob Horn, Lee Stewart and Tony Mammarella. They hosted from 1952-1956. They paved the way for Dick Clark and he created an empire. Not only was it a musical empire but one that encompassed a TV empire as well. Dick Clark Productions gave us ROCKIN NEWS EVE. THE 25,000 PYRAMID, TV'S BLOOPERS AND PRACTICAL JOKES. DICK CLARK'S PRODUCTION CO. produced THE DAYTIME EMMY'S. There are so many many more things he had his hands in that they are too numerous to mention. He was a restaurateur at one point. I think Dick Clark lived the American dream. He worked his way up from DJ in a small radio station to one of the most powerful men in the music industry.
When Guy Lomardo died my Dad said that they should just cancel New Years Eve because there was never going to be anything as great on that night as Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians. Dick Clark started ROCKIN NEW YEARS EVE in 1972 and gave us a whole different perspective. Different, but just as good. He hosted yearly from 1972 .He only missed hosting two shows due to the stroke he suffered, but he still showed up in a special appearance.. I hope Ryan Seacrest appreciates what Mr. Clark did.
I speak as if I knew Mr. Clark personally, but of course I didn't. I just felt like most of America felt. We knew him from him coming into our homes weekly. As my friend Nancy Ball commented on my profiled picture featuring Dick Clark "what a gentle man". I think he was in every sense of the word.
There is not much else I can say except to quote the lyrics written by Barry Manilow to BANDSTAND BOOGIE.
Songwriters: Manilow, Barry; Sussman, Bruce; Albertine, Charles;
"We're goin' hoppin', we're goin' hoppin' today
Where things are poppin' the Philadelphia way
We're gonna drop in on all the music they play
On the bandstand
We're goin' swingin', we're gonna swing in the crowd
And we'll be clingin' and floatin' high as a cloud
The phones are ringin', my mom and dad are so proud
I'm on Bandstand
And I'll jump and hey, I may even show 'em my handstand
Because I'm on, because I'm on the American Bandstand
When we dance real slow I'll show all the guys in the grandstand
What a swinger I am, I am on American Bandstand
We're goin' hoppin', we're goin' hoppin' today
Where things are poppin' the Philadelphia way
We're gonna drop in on all the music they play
On the Bandstand
Bandstand, Bandstand, Bandstand
Bandstand, Bandstand, Bandstand
Hey I'm makin' my mark, gee, this joint is jumpin'
(From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/b/barry-manilow-lyrics/bandstand-boogie-lyrics.html)
They made such a fuss just to see us arrive
Hey it's Mr.Dick Clark, what a place you've got here
Swell spot, the music's hot here, best in the east
Give it at least a seventy five
Now for all you Joe's, here goes my American handstand
Because I'm on, because I'm on the American Bandstand
As we dance real slow, I'm showin' the guys on the grandstand
That I like my girl but I love American Bandstand
The singers' croonin', he ain't the greatest but gee
My baby's swoonin' in front of all of TV
So if you tune in, you'll see my baby and me
On the Bandstand
And now we're hoppin' and we'll be hoppin' all day
Where things are poppin' the Philadelphia way
And you can drop in on all the music they play
On the Bandstand
And we'll rock and roll and stroll on American
Lindy hop and slop, it's American
Tune in, I'm on, turn on, I'm in, I'm on
Today, Bandstand"
Rest in peace Mr. Clark and give Elvis and Jim Morrison a hug, I'm sure they will be happy to see your familiar face.
With much respect
Pam Beattie-Shore
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
The Lorax went hopping. For the despicable people who stole the statue!
The Lorax went hopping.
One dark dark night The Lorax did stray, not by himself but was spirited away.
He went not alone but with the 'help' of some scoundrels.
They did it for gain and personal profit. No matter how you see it it's not a class act.
So sad is the woman who lives in the house, he guarded her garden and kept safe the house while doing it all as quiet as a mouse.
The birds are still playing and the ocean does wave but not with The Lorax gazing away.
Bring back the Lorax to his perch in the garden. Your soul will be saved not given away. Please bring back The Lorax from far far away.....Pamela Beattie-Shore
One dark dark night The Lorax did stray, not by himself but was spirited away.
He went not alone but with the 'help' of some scoundrels.
They did it for gain and personal profit. No matter how you see it it's not a class act.
So sad is the woman who lives in the house, he guarded her garden and kept safe the house while doing it all as quiet as a mouse.
The birds are still playing and the ocean does wave but not with The Lorax gazing away.
Bring back the Lorax to his perch in the garden. Your soul will be saved not given away. Please bring back The Lorax from far far away.....Pamela Beattie-Shore
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
LOVE NEVER MEANS HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY (Choke!) From LOVE STORY by Erich Segal, spoken by Ali McGraw in movie of the same name in 1970
Love means never having to say your sorry. Well, that's a load of shit. Love mean saying your sorry, often when you are not, when you are right and when you are still angry! I had to get that out even before I said hello to all of you and HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! Now dear friends you know I'm not usually cynical and I'm not trying to be it's just i've learned a few things in my life! When Ali McGraw said these words to Ryan O'Neal in Love Story I was all of 11 years old and I remember thinking that is total crap. Even at that age I knew that love was far more complicated than that.
I think at allot of our weddings we all had the scripture read from Corinthians 13: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Love is all of those things and so much more. This applies to the love you have for your spouse or partner, your sisters and brothers. To anyone you love. Mostly, I think love is one of the most amazing, complicated and rewarding things you will ever experience. Love to me is a gift that God allows you to give to yourself and others. It's also true you cannot love anyone else until you love yourself.
My life has been made complete and better by the people I love and who have loved me back. What would life be without the love of my sainted Danny. The complicated love I have often have with family members taught me many important lessons. I've learned so much about myself through love. I've learned I'm not perfect. I'm not always nice and I often can be horribly selfish. I've also learned that when I love someone I love with my heart and soul. It has taught me that I will go to deep lenghts to make someone I love happy. I have also learned bitter lessons about myself and been disappointed in myself with how I've handled different situations in regards to love. I still regret that I wasn't able to love my sisters enough to forgive. I wish I had told my parents more often I loved them. I have friends I wish I had never given my love and trust to. I have to say through all these things, good and bad I would not trade those experiences. Good and Bad they are what makes me me. I am imperfect, kind, selfish, caring and so many other things. It's complicated.
If I have one message in this little Valentines Day missive it is to not be afraid to love and loved back. The joys far out weigh the perils. Let me leave you with a small task for the day. Just say I love you to one person. Mean it. You may have just made the day of someone who really needs to hear it at that moment.
So my dear friends, family and anyone else who is reading this. I love you!
Have a WONDERFUL day, not just on Valentines Day, but every day.
xoxoxo
Pammy
I think at allot of our weddings we all had the scripture read from Corinthians 13: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." Love is all of those things and so much more. This applies to the love you have for your spouse or partner, your sisters and brothers. To anyone you love. Mostly, I think love is one of the most amazing, complicated and rewarding things you will ever experience. Love to me is a gift that God allows you to give to yourself and others. It's also true you cannot love anyone else until you love yourself.
My life has been made complete and better by the people I love and who have loved me back. What would life be without the love of my sainted Danny. The complicated love I have often have with family members taught me many important lessons. I've learned so much about myself through love. I've learned I'm not perfect. I'm not always nice and I often can be horribly selfish. I've also learned that when I love someone I love with my heart and soul. It has taught me that I will go to deep lenghts to make someone I love happy. I have also learned bitter lessons about myself and been disappointed in myself with how I've handled different situations in regards to love. I still regret that I wasn't able to love my sisters enough to forgive. I wish I had told my parents more often I loved them. I have friends I wish I had never given my love and trust to. I have to say through all these things, good and bad I would not trade those experiences. Good and Bad they are what makes me me. I am imperfect, kind, selfish, caring and so many other things. It's complicated.
If I have one message in this little Valentines Day missive it is to not be afraid to love and loved back. The joys far out weigh the perils. Let me leave you with a small task for the day. Just say I love you to one person. Mean it. You may have just made the day of someone who really needs to hear it at that moment.
So my dear friends, family and anyone else who is reading this. I love you!
Have a WONDERFUL day, not just on Valentines Day, but every day.
xoxoxo
Pammy
Friday, December 23, 2011
"Santa Baby...."
Dear Santa,
Que pasa??? Just checking how you are doing cause I don't think that people often ask you how your are. What do you want for Christmas Santa? We all know your plans for Christmas Eve so I imagine you snooze all Christmas day sitting by the fire with your pipe and Mrs. Claus, God bless her. She must be the most understanding wife in the entire world cause she doesn't get to spend Christmas Eve with her husband.
I of course, I have a few things that I would like Santa and I understand I can't have them all but I'd just like to discuss a few of them with you.
1. Health, not only for me but for all the people I know and love and for everyone in the world. Like they say, if you don't have your health you have nothing. This is true, just watch the news and seeing people without clean water, healthy food and general health care is an eye opener and makes you thankful for what you have.
2. Peace. I wish peace to everyone. There is not much else to be said about that. Peace of mind, peace on earth. I think one goes hand in hand with the other.
3. Love. I hope and pray that everyone finds their peg. Sometimes it takes along time to find that peg but when you do it's so worth it. I always tell my friends, family and my Sainted Danny that he is the best Christmas gift I ever got to keep. I know I will never know the love of having my own child, but I am so thankful that I have my two "girls" Gracie and Lacy to love and who DO love me back. I am lucky enough to know the love of a child even though she's not my own. Emalee, thank you for all the love you show me. There is nothing better than when you give me a hug me, make me laugh or hear your laugh. You enrich my life.
4. HOPE. I want to always have hope for our future. Hope for the hopeless and hope that I am doing the best in this life that I can. I always want to hope that there is magic in this world and Santa, I think you help us keep hope alive. I do believe you come and see us all on Christmas Eve. We may not know you were there, but sometimes there are small little miracles that prove you were.
5. Faith. I work everyday at maintaining my faith in mankind, in God and in myself. My faith has often been shaken lately, but then, who's faith has not been tested during these difficult times. Santa, I have faith in you and plan to maintain that faith for all my life and to spread some of the joy that you spread. God, I don't always understand your plan for me, but I will always have faith that you are working in all of our best interested. Perhaps we are not supposed to understand the plan, but when we go to heaven all is clear. I have faith (and a lot of hope) that I will be joining the people I love in heaven someday. Oh and Santa and God, when I go could you please make sure I get a chance to talk to John Lennon and John Kennedy as I do have some questions. I won't take up much of their time, I promise!
6. Last, but not least I want another life sized stuffed Jolly Green Giant doll. It was one of the best Christmas gifts I ever got (next to Danny). You would slip a strap from his feet to yours and you could dance with him! I had him for a very long time and I think I danced so much with him he fell apart! I also wouldn't mind my mechanical dog, Gaylord, that I got for my 6th Christmas. He used to pick up his bone. I loved Gaylord. I think he went to "mechanical" dog heaven!
So in conclusion Santa I know there are things on my list I have, some I want and some I wish for other people. Santa, I will always do my best to keep the magic alive. The magic in this life makes it all worth living. I hope you enjoy your gift from Mrs. Claus as I'm sure she's worked hard on finding the right thing for you. Get your rest and we will talk again next year!
xoxxoxxo
Pammy Beattie-Shore
P.S. I understand if you can't locate Gaylord. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!
Oh...and I didn't bake much this year, but there is chocolate covered mint oreo's, homemade fudge and homemade cashew caramel in the fridge...enjoy!
Que pasa??? Just checking how you are doing cause I don't think that people often ask you how your are. What do you want for Christmas Santa? We all know your plans for Christmas Eve so I imagine you snooze all Christmas day sitting by the fire with your pipe and Mrs. Claus, God bless her. She must be the most understanding wife in the entire world cause she doesn't get to spend Christmas Eve with her husband.
I of course, I have a few things that I would like Santa and I understand I can't have them all but I'd just like to discuss a few of them with you.
1. Health, not only for me but for all the people I know and love and for everyone in the world. Like they say, if you don't have your health you have nothing. This is true, just watch the news and seeing people without clean water, healthy food and general health care is an eye opener and makes you thankful for what you have.
2. Peace. I wish peace to everyone. There is not much else to be said about that. Peace of mind, peace on earth. I think one goes hand in hand with the other.
3. Love. I hope and pray that everyone finds their peg. Sometimes it takes along time to find that peg but when you do it's so worth it. I always tell my friends, family and my Sainted Danny that he is the best Christmas gift I ever got to keep. I know I will never know the love of having my own child, but I am so thankful that I have my two "girls" Gracie and Lacy to love and who DO love me back. I am lucky enough to know the love of a child even though she's not my own. Emalee, thank you for all the love you show me. There is nothing better than when you give me a hug me, make me laugh or hear your laugh. You enrich my life.
4. HOPE. I want to always have hope for our future. Hope for the hopeless and hope that I am doing the best in this life that I can. I always want to hope that there is magic in this world and Santa, I think you help us keep hope alive. I do believe you come and see us all on Christmas Eve. We may not know you were there, but sometimes there are small little miracles that prove you were.
5. Faith. I work everyday at maintaining my faith in mankind, in God and in myself. My faith has often been shaken lately, but then, who's faith has not been tested during these difficult times. Santa, I have faith in you and plan to maintain that faith for all my life and to spread some of the joy that you spread. God, I don't always understand your plan for me, but I will always have faith that you are working in all of our best interested. Perhaps we are not supposed to understand the plan, but when we go to heaven all is clear. I have faith (and a lot of hope) that I will be joining the people I love in heaven someday. Oh and Santa and God, when I go could you please make sure I get a chance to talk to John Lennon and John Kennedy as I do have some questions. I won't take up much of their time, I promise!
6. Last, but not least I want another life sized stuffed Jolly Green Giant doll. It was one of the best Christmas gifts I ever got (next to Danny). You would slip a strap from his feet to yours and you could dance with him! I had him for a very long time and I think I danced so much with him he fell apart! I also wouldn't mind my mechanical dog, Gaylord, that I got for my 6th Christmas. He used to pick up his bone. I loved Gaylord. I think he went to "mechanical" dog heaven!
So in conclusion Santa I know there are things on my list I have, some I want and some I wish for other people. Santa, I will always do my best to keep the magic alive. The magic in this life makes it all worth living. I hope you enjoy your gift from Mrs. Claus as I'm sure she's worked hard on finding the right thing for you. Get your rest and we will talk again next year!
xoxxoxxo
Pammy Beattie-Shore
P.S. I understand if you can't locate Gaylord. Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!
Oh...and I didn't bake much this year, but there is chocolate covered mint oreo's, homemade fudge and homemade cashew caramel in the fridge...enjoy!
Thursday, November 24, 2011
"We gather together to aks the Lord's blessing....."
Gobble Gobble my dear friends and family. Not only do I speak English but I'm semi-fluent in Turkey, not to be confused with Turkish! I only can gobble which I assume in Turkey language either means hello or get the hell away from me! So, here we are celebrating yet another Thanksgiving. Don't you wonder where all the time has gone this year? I sure do. We have all had our ups and downs through out the year, but tomorrow is the day we sit with our family and friends and thank God for all our blessings small and large. It's amazing how the meaning and what we are thankful for changes through the years. As a child it all starts at school where you make a Turkey from tracing you hand on brown paper and decorating it. In my day, we also made Indian Headresses, but I bet they don't do that any longer (I doubt it's considered PC). Children are excited to have that wonderful long weekend. There are the parades to look forward to, the football games and of course all the Turkey, Pumpkin pie and whippped cream you can eat. I, of course of know of several people, child and adult who have been known to sit with just a bowl of whipped cream! As a child we thank God for Mum and Dad. We know it's the start of the holiday season and we are so thankful that all the fun is now going to start. Ah, sometimes to be that child again with such basic, but exciting things to be thankful for and look forward too. As we become adults it changes so much. We are aware of the work that will go into making it a wonderful turkey day for all the adults and children who will be in our homes. Sometimes the work for the adult on a day like this seems never ending! Yes, the parades are still there as are the football games and of course the whipped cream! It's just you are the one now making the whipped cream instead of just eating it. You also have the supreme pleasure of washing all the dishes that went into making it! As I am doing all this I often reflect on past Thanksgivings and all the work I watched my parents put into it for me to enjoy the day.I am thankful for the tradditons they instilled into me. The meaning, at least for me has changed so much. I now find myself thanking God for another year that we can all be together. I acknowledge and am thankful for all the people present and in my heart that are part of my life. I pray for another year of happiness for my friends and family and more than ever wish I could make a global difference that will allow other people to have some of the comforts I have. I also wonder about the first Thanksgiving. I think about how hard it must have been for the Pilgrim's that first year after they left England to persue their right to worship as they wanted to. How lucky they were to have the Native Indian's share their knowledge of hunting, fishing and living in such hard terrain that it allowed them to survive. I could now go off on a tangent about the plight of the American Indian, but I shall save that for another blog and for right now thank them for all they did for us! I think about how different their feast must have been compared to the modern Thanksgiving meal. Their feast lasted three days and they had to feed everyone breakfast, lunch and dinner for those three days. Just think of the washing up!!! The Pilgrim"s would not have had Turkey at this time. There would have been an abundance of seafood, cabbage, onions and of course corn that The Wampanoag Indians would have shown them how to grow. The Indians would have brought deer and venison. There would have been Pumpkin and Squash as they were available, but it would not have been baked into pie's at this time as they didn't have oven's yet. No mashed potato's for this party as the Pilgrim's and the Indian's regarded potato's as poison....Hello Jenny Craig! So, think of it, there has always been so much put into this feast day. No, they didn't have football, Snoopy ballon's or floats but they had another year of life to live. For me, that is what I am mostly thankful for. As I'm writing this I keep feeling that my words are a little flat, a little off. Dan and I recently had a bit of a trama with Dan having an argument with the Lawnmower, it won..but, it could have been so much worse. The accident seems to be coloring what I am writing and how i'm writing it. I am thankful for so much that my words feel trite and as I said, a bit flat. I wanted to do this essay justice as a friend of mine, Josh Stewart gave me the wonderful subject matter. I hope I've done him proud. So tomorrow when you say your thanks, remember the child in you, the adult you've become and what all our forefathers did for us to make this day possible. It's worth all the work we put into it to watch the happiness on everyone's face. As I was writing this I kept having a song pop into my head. It's not orginally a "song" but was from The Gospel according to Saint Matthew. John Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz while at Carnegie Mellon University in the 1970's wrote a "little" musical called Godspell based upon the Gospel according to St. Michael. I keep singing "all good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, so thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love...." That will be one of the biggies on my list tomorrow. So I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving full of love, friendship, whipped cream and the knowledge that life is good!!! Have a wonderful day...Oh and say a thanks to the Tom T. Turkey who is your guest of honor!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
"I vant to suck your blood...."
“Listen to them, the children of the night. What sweet music they make.”
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) (Dracula).....Velcome to my humble Halloween blog....bahhhaaaaa!!!!!! Ok...enough cheesy Vampire humor for right this moment, but I'm not promising that there won't be more!!! So when you least expect it....EXPECT IT!!! Scared yet...nah, me neither. Let me first acknowledge the person whoes subject suggestion for this little trip into the Twilight Zone that is my mind was picked as part of a raffle I was having for my Tastefully Simple endeavor . That person is .....drum rolll......Denise Csokuly. I know Denise from one of the scariest places in the ENTIRE WORLD...COPERATE AMERICA, bahhhhaaa! Ok, i'm over using the bahhhaaa. So, as Rod Sterling would say "You are traveling through another dimension, a demension of not only sight and sound,but of mind. Journey through a wondrous land of imagination....next stop....THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!!". So, children of the night, we are going to visit with some of Pammy's favorite people (?) in the whold world. The Vampire. Next to a good visit to a cemetary I love to spend me some time with me homies, the Vamps! So many to chose from, where do I begin (wait, that's the start to a song that is totally unrelated and way too sunny for this subject!) I will start with the what a Vampire is "supposed to be". Vampire is a corspe supposed to leave it's grave at night and drink the blood of the living. They prey ruthlessly on others (ruthless...did someone call my younger sister???.) Haha...ok, i'm the only one who laughed. Let's start with my FAVORITE of all times Vampire....Come on down BARNABAS COLLINS!!!! Barnabas, aka Canadian actor Johnathan Frid is 200 year old vampire from my favorite soap opera of all times, Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows ran from 1966-1971. Barnabas was 200 years old 30 years ago, so time to update his resume. His turn on's are stalking pretty young girls, drinking blood and an occasional game of billiards. He is a gentlement after all! Turn off's....stakes and sunlight. He was my first vampire love at the age of 10. He had a bad Julius Ceasar hair cut and was oft featured in my favorite magazine, 16. He was romantic and tortured and yes, heroic and every time he bit one of his lovelies you cheered as Barnabas would live to see another sunset....sighhh! I understand Johnny Depp is going to bring my beloved Barnabas back to life on the big screen. Let's hope Johnny can keep his fangs in his mouth better than Johnathan Frid did (lord that sounded dirty, it's just sometimes in the 60's special effects were not that good and Barnabas's fangs would slip). Here's to hoping Mr. Depp does my Barnabas proud. Fun fact....Freud even wrote articles of the subject of Dracula and believe it or not he decided there were sexual connontations of it. Well durrr Dr. Freud!
Our next Vamp to visit would be that rascal Vlad III Prince of Wallochia 1431-
1476. Vlad's love name was Vlad the Impailer due to the fact that his idea of a good time was to impale his victims on a stake and leave them out for all to see. I imagine it cut down on bothersome calls from door to door sales people. His victims were estimated in the 10's of thousands. He was the inspiration for the modern day Dracula and he was not at all warm and fuzzy like I like my Vamps.
Enter the ever popular Count Dracula who was portrayed on Broadway and the silver screen by the late great Bela Lugosi. He was a Hungarian born actor and was enterally type cast as ole Drac. Poor Bela was even buried in his Dracula costume. The word Dracula actually mean's Son of the Dragon. I would be remiss in not mentioning Nosferatu who was the "star" of of a 1921 German Expressionist film. He had long pointy fingers, bad teeth and a bald head, not my idea of the Vamp of my dreams, but he was a key to get to where we are today with Vampires, so deserves a "participation" trophy.
In the 60's we had a diverse Vampire community. Not only did we have Barnabas Collins batting around. We had Count Chocula and Count Count. Count Chocula hit hard times as had to resort to selling breakfast cereal to pesky human children during Saturday morning cartoons. Count Count on the other hand hit the big time with a little show we like to call Sesame Street. His job was to teach the youngsters to count. Someone asked Count Count in an interview how old he was and he replied that he was 1,832,652 years old. Now that would make him predate man, so we actually think The Count started counting years and forgot to stop! Even the kiddies have their own Vampire hero's. Now I do us the word hero, because that is often how the modern day Vampire is portrayed.
This leads us to a few more contemporary Vampires. First off there is Spike. Spike was created from the strange little mind of Joss Wheadon for the program Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she best leave my Barnabas alone!) Spike was a Billy Idol wanna be who rocked white blonde spikey hair and a long black leather coat (rock the cradle of love, rock the cradle of love) oh wait, Billy Idol, that's another blog. He had a lovely English accent and I would have given him my neck anytime!!! His Vampire name was William the Bloody and aquired the name Spike for his method of killing slayers. Ultimately he fell in love with the Slayer, Buffy, talk about a mixed marriage. Then Spike in the most noble of jestures gave his life to save the world and his beloved Buffy,who was a step up from the crazy as bat shit (haha, get it?? bat shit, Oh well I liked it!) Drucilla he had been hanging out with! So romantic and it only took an occasional offering of blood.
Jumping now to more modern Vampires we have Bill from True Blood who spends most of his time buck neked and saving poor Sookie Stackhouse from other evil no good nicks. Sometimes he's naked for that activity or other times he does have some very nice clothes, but they really are optional in Bill the Vampire's world. Either way he could fang me anytime. Whoops, I think that was dirty, oh well...it's the truth!. Bill leads us into our last stop in Vampire land and that would to be visit Edward Cullen. Beautiful, tortured (are we seeing a pattern here yet children of the night?) Edward. He can go out in daylight and all he does is SPARKLE! Sparkle...WTF. I like my Vampires to burn in the sun like all good vampires should. I don't want them to look like they just visited Liberace's make up man. Edward is in love with poor lost, no one understands me, Bella. I think she's a pain in the ass personally. For the first time in my vampire history my heart is screaming "pick the werewolf"! Don't get me wrong, I am a major Twihard and can't wait for the next movie, I just root for team Jacob.
The whole point of this little essay was to promote "Vampire Awarness". Hug a Vamp, he might be having a bad day/night? Just.....WATCH YOUR NECK!!
I want to thank everyone who entered my blog contest namely, Shannon Cress, Mary Macko, Denise Csokuly, Margie Russo, Josh Stewart (and Josh, I will be using your idea for another blog!), Nancy, Ball, Nicole Garofolo, Suzanne Whitney, Sherry Springer Mitchell, Teresa Lantz-Thomas, Kyra Robinson, Shannon Burge, Danny Shore, Colleen Kudis, David Stiffler, Uncle Danny (Sammy) in England, who told me a truly chilling ghost story and last but not least Stacy Bell.
So, inconclusion, wait, I hear a noise...I'll go out and check to see what it is....as spoken by every first dead guy in every horror movie. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! xoxxoxo Pam...Mrs. Barnabas Collins.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) (Dracula).....Velcome to my humble Halloween blog....bahhhaaaaa!!!!!! Ok...enough cheesy Vampire humor for right this moment, but I'm not promising that there won't be more!!! So when you least expect it....EXPECT IT!!! Scared yet...nah, me neither. Let me first acknowledge the person whoes subject suggestion for this little trip into the Twilight Zone that is my mind was picked as part of a raffle I was having for my Tastefully Simple endeavor . That person is .....drum rolll......Denise Csokuly. I know Denise from one of the scariest places in the ENTIRE WORLD...COPERATE AMERICA, bahhhhaaa! Ok, i'm over using the bahhhaaa. So, as Rod Sterling would say "You are traveling through another dimension, a demension of not only sight and sound,but of mind. Journey through a wondrous land of imagination....next stop....THE TWILIGHT ZONE!!!". So, children of the night, we are going to visit with some of Pammy's favorite people (?) in the whold world. The Vampire. Next to a good visit to a cemetary I love to spend me some time with me homies, the Vamps! So many to chose from, where do I begin (wait, that's the start to a song that is totally unrelated and way too sunny for this subject!) I will start with the what a Vampire is "supposed to be". Vampire is a corspe supposed to leave it's grave at night and drink the blood of the living. They prey ruthlessly on others (ruthless...did someone call my younger sister???.) Haha...ok, i'm the only one who laughed. Let's start with my FAVORITE of all times Vampire....Come on down BARNABAS COLLINS!!!! Barnabas, aka Canadian actor Johnathan Frid is 200 year old vampire from my favorite soap opera of all times, Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows ran from 1966-1971. Barnabas was 200 years old 30 years ago, so time to update his resume. His turn on's are stalking pretty young girls, drinking blood and an occasional game of billiards. He is a gentlement after all! Turn off's....stakes and sunlight. He was my first vampire love at the age of 10. He had a bad Julius Ceasar hair cut and was oft featured in my favorite magazine, 16. He was romantic and tortured and yes, heroic and every time he bit one of his lovelies you cheered as Barnabas would live to see another sunset....sighhh! I understand Johnny Depp is going to bring my beloved Barnabas back to life on the big screen. Let's hope Johnny can keep his fangs in his mouth better than Johnathan Frid did (lord that sounded dirty, it's just sometimes in the 60's special effects were not that good and Barnabas's fangs would slip). Here's to hoping Mr. Depp does my Barnabas proud. Fun fact....Freud even wrote articles of the subject of Dracula and believe it or not he decided there were sexual connontations of it. Well durrr Dr. Freud!
Our next Vamp to visit would be that rascal Vlad III Prince of Wallochia 1431-
1476. Vlad's love name was Vlad the Impailer due to the fact that his idea of a good time was to impale his victims on a stake and leave them out for all to see. I imagine it cut down on bothersome calls from door to door sales people. His victims were estimated in the 10's of thousands. He was the inspiration for the modern day Dracula and he was not at all warm and fuzzy like I like my Vamps.
Enter the ever popular Count Dracula who was portrayed on Broadway and the silver screen by the late great Bela Lugosi. He was a Hungarian born actor and was enterally type cast as ole Drac. Poor Bela was even buried in his Dracula costume. The word Dracula actually mean's Son of the Dragon. I would be remiss in not mentioning Nosferatu who was the "star" of of a 1921 German Expressionist film. He had long pointy fingers, bad teeth and a bald head, not my idea of the Vamp of my dreams, but he was a key to get to where we are today with Vampires, so deserves a "participation" trophy.
In the 60's we had a diverse Vampire community. Not only did we have Barnabas Collins batting around. We had Count Chocula and Count Count. Count Chocula hit hard times as had to resort to selling breakfast cereal to pesky human children during Saturday morning cartoons. Count Count on the other hand hit the big time with a little show we like to call Sesame Street. His job was to teach the youngsters to count. Someone asked Count Count in an interview how old he was and he replied that he was 1,832,652 years old. Now that would make him predate man, so we actually think The Count started counting years and forgot to stop! Even the kiddies have their own Vampire hero's. Now I do us the word hero, because that is often how the modern day Vampire is portrayed.
This leads us to a few more contemporary Vampires. First off there is Spike. Spike was created from the strange little mind of Joss Wheadon for the program Buffy the Vampire Slayer (she best leave my Barnabas alone!) Spike was a Billy Idol wanna be who rocked white blonde spikey hair and a long black leather coat (rock the cradle of love, rock the cradle of love) oh wait, Billy Idol, that's another blog. He had a lovely English accent and I would have given him my neck anytime!!! His Vampire name was William the Bloody and aquired the name Spike for his method of killing slayers. Ultimately he fell in love with the Slayer, Buffy, talk about a mixed marriage. Then Spike in the most noble of jestures gave his life to save the world and his beloved Buffy,who was a step up from the crazy as bat shit (haha, get it?? bat shit, Oh well I liked it!) Drucilla he had been hanging out with! So romantic and it only took an occasional offering of blood.
Jumping now to more modern Vampires we have Bill from True Blood who spends most of his time buck neked and saving poor Sookie Stackhouse from other evil no good nicks. Sometimes he's naked for that activity or other times he does have some very nice clothes, but they really are optional in Bill the Vampire's world. Either way he could fang me anytime. Whoops, I think that was dirty, oh well...it's the truth!. Bill leads us into our last stop in Vampire land and that would to be visit Edward Cullen. Beautiful, tortured (are we seeing a pattern here yet children of the night?) Edward. He can go out in daylight and all he does is SPARKLE! Sparkle...WTF. I like my Vampires to burn in the sun like all good vampires should. I don't want them to look like they just visited Liberace's make up man. Edward is in love with poor lost, no one understands me, Bella. I think she's a pain in the ass personally. For the first time in my vampire history my heart is screaming "pick the werewolf"! Don't get me wrong, I am a major Twihard and can't wait for the next movie, I just root for team Jacob.
The whole point of this little essay was to promote "Vampire Awarness". Hug a Vamp, he might be having a bad day/night? Just.....WATCH YOUR NECK!!
I want to thank everyone who entered my blog contest namely, Shannon Cress, Mary Macko, Denise Csokuly, Margie Russo, Josh Stewart (and Josh, I will be using your idea for another blog!), Nancy, Ball, Nicole Garofolo, Suzanne Whitney, Sherry Springer Mitchell, Teresa Lantz-Thomas, Kyra Robinson, Shannon Burge, Danny Shore, Colleen Kudis, David Stiffler, Uncle Danny (Sammy) in England, who told me a truly chilling ghost story and last but not least Stacy Bell.
So, inconclusion, wait, I hear a noise...I'll go out and check to see what it is....as spoken by every first dead guy in every horror movie. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! xoxxoxo Pam...Mrs. Barnabas Collins.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
"Let's Roll"......Todd Beamer Flight 93
Hello Friends.
Boy, has the direction of my blog changed over the time I worked on it. It was one of those rare blogs that I needed to research for facts, names and figures. By the time I did that I had a very cold and clinical view of what was a day that changed America for the generation we live in. Did I want it to be just facts? Was it going to be cold? yes. I decided that the facts and figures are for the history books to teach our children, grandchildren and generations to come. My blog is about people, it's about people we lost, people who survived and perhaps a small view of how I felt that day and feel now. I wanted to put faces to this event so it just isn't about planes that crashed, buildings that fell and a "numbers" of people who died. Those people were not just numbers. They were living, breathing human beings that loved, lived and unfortunately in many cases didn't walk away from this cowardly act of murder.
Our journey starts on a beautiful September morning. The date September 11, 2001. It was a truly beautiful day and I remember going into work early, around 6 a.m.because I had an appointment with a doctor and needed to leave the office around 8:45 to make the appointment at 9:30. As I walked out of the building I got a call from my friend Sherry Springer and she was telling me that a plane hit the World Trade Center. We kept talking as I walked over to my car parked in Pittsburgh at Kaufmann's parking garage. During a drive that should have taken 20 minutes that time of day but took over an hour Sherry and the radio kept me in the loop of what was happening. I couldn't believe my ears. Sherry kept telling me the building was swaying and I remember responding, well those tall building are made to do that, just like our US Steel building here in Pittsburgh does. I know I just kept driving, but I was seeing car's pulling over and people sitting on the side of the Parkway and you could see their faces just sitting there blank, crying or looks of disbelief. I was scared I just wanted to drive. I was actually afraid to stop. We then heard the 2nd plane had hit. We knew this was no accident. I had to go through the Squirrel Hill tunnels and my thought was this could be happening all over the country and I wanted out of the tunnel. I was getting closer to my appointment and I have no idea why I felt I had to go but I did (of all places it was the gynecologist!). I started calling my family, I couldn't get Mom and Dad, I spoke to my sisters, Ruth and Donna. In the mean time talking to Sherry on and off. More and more news coming in. I called my friend Jim Glenn to make sure he was OK, I was worried about everyone being as scared as I was. I called my friend Geoff in Syracuse NY and got his machine and left a message saying I hope he was OK. I also called Danny in England to tell him to turn on the TV as he worked all night and I didn't think he wanted to sleep through this. It would be another 14 hours until we spoke again. I got to the doctor,we watched on TV what was happening. Then, as I was leaving the doctors office phone rang and the receptionist said, it's for you! Well...I was surprised. It was my supervisor Karen calling to tell me not to come back into Pittsburgh as they were evacuating, they found the doctors number in my Rolodex cause they couldn't get through to my cell phone.. I told her I wasn't planning on it and headed home as I wanted to get to my Mum and Dad. So, as every American did that day, we sat, watched and prayed as the four planes hit, two in New York City, one at the Pentagon in Washington DC and one in all places a field in Shanksville Pa, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Pittsburgh. That plane had been in our airspace! The President had ordered all planes down but still everyone wasn't accounted for. Mum, Dad and I watched in horror as buildings fell, as things came fluttering out of window, which I asked my Dad, what is that Daddy, is it paper flying. He gently explained to me no honey, those were people falling from the building. I think I screamed then. and turned to my Dad as said are we going to be OK and Daddy said to me "Pammy I don't know". This my story, which is not dramatic it's just the point of view of an average American Citizen.
Here is what we slowly learned in the next few days
19 militants associated with Islamic extremist group Al Qaeda hijacked 4 airliners an carried out suicide targets against target's in the U.S.A. 3000 people were murdered that day including more than 400 police officer, firefighters and EMTS. These are just the cold hard facts. I could go into time lines, but again that is for the history books. I now want to talk about several people that were either murdered that day and some who survived. Let's meet some of these people.
In the World Trade Center Tower 1, was a man named Shannon Lewis Adams, age 25. He came from a small town called Star Lake NY, population 860. He was so proud of working in the World Trade Center that on his business care he gave his address as Tower 1,101st Floor, World Trade Center. He was a fixed-income accountant for Cantor Fitzgerald. Not bad for a kid from a high school class of 34 kids! His father described him as "going 100 miles and hour all the time". He was so loved that at his memorial service, his friends gathered for an Irish Wake. They all filled up the motels in 15 mile radius! This was a man who had great things ahead of him for sure.
One of the 92 people on American Airlines Flight 11that crashed into the North tower was a lady named Lisa Fenn Gordenstein. She was a merchandise manage of TJX, She was 41 years old (my age at the time). The CEO of her company, Ted English said about Lisa "Lisa had a heart as big as the ocean. She was the person to whom other associates went for help and she was always available for her co-workers. She was a great businesswoman and a wonderfully creative merchant. Most of all, Lisa loved being a Mom" She left behind her husband David, two daughters, Samantha and Carly, her Mom, Stepfather,grandmother and Sister. Lisa was not just a number to her family, she was theirs and now she was gone.
On United Flight 175 was a family, perhaps not a traditional family but a family none the less who all died together. They were Ronald & Daniel Branthorst-Gamboa and their 3 year old son David. They were visiting friends in Boston and returning to Los Angeles. Daniel ,41, was an accountant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles and Ronald, 33 was the manager of a a Gap store in Santa Monica. David,3, was named for Daniel's brother, was adopted in 1998. David was described "as the spirit of Ron and the intellectual curiosity of Daniel". Ronald and Daniel were a couple for 13 years.They were proud adoptive family and planned to adopt another child. Again,not just a number but a loving, thriving family.
Flight 77 American Airlines slammed into the west side of the Pentagon killing 125 military and civilians. One gentleman was Charles E. Sabin age 54. He served in Viet Nam, leaving with the rank of Captain. He worked at the Pentagon for years as a civilian. His family could not reveal what his job was. His brother stated "It's still hard to realize he's really gone. He was a good neighbor, a great leader and most of all he loved his country." Also taken that day with Mr. Sabin was a lady by the name of Angelene C. Carter. She was a civilian accountant who worked in the Pentagon. She was described as a devoted wife and mother and active member of her church. She is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Angelene is special to me. I didn't know her, but I wear a memory bracelet with her name on it. Every year for the past 9 years Dan and I have honored her memory in several different ways. One is that we give a patriot pin to at least 50 of our friends and family with a picture of her and her story. Mr. Sabin and Mrs. Carter just went to work that day as they did any other day, but did not have the choice to go home..
Now flight United Flight 93 California bound was a story that we all know well. There was Captain Jason Dahl at the controls. he began his flight training at the age of 13! We know many of the other names of people by heart as they were able to communicate with family, officials and loved ones because they were aware of what was happening through out the country. The plane crashed into a field in Shanksville PA killing 45 people, but not before people like Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham and Jeremy Glick took matters into their own hands and tried to regain control of the plane. They revolted using weapons such a boiling water and their own hands. It is believed that his plane was headed for The White House and these brave people gave their lives in an effort to stop what was happening. Also on that flight was a young man by the name of Bernard Curtis Brown II. He was 11 years old and was on a trip to California sponsored by the National Geographic Society. His Mom described him as someone who woke with unusual energy. One of his hero's was Michael Jordan. Such different people all placed together for whatever reason on the same flight.
We must also remember all the Firefighters, Police and EMTS that were ;lost that day. As we would be running away from the carnage these brave people would be running towards it not knowing if they were coming out. That takes an amazingly brave person to do this.
Now we do have two stories of survival. One from shear will and the other who was lucky enough to be on floor 55 of 1 World Trade Center, which was below where the plane hit. It still didn't mean she had any guarantee of coming out alive. The lady on the 55th floor is from a company in Murrysville PA called Mine Safety Appliances. Her name is Judy Colfer and she is from Greensburg PA. She is a devoted mother and was a devoted wife to her husband Gene who passed away in 2004 of Cancer. She recalls on the 35th floor a New York City lieutenant came running up the stairs, he grabbed her and asked what floor she'd come from, trying to determine how far the fire has spread. he told her "You'll make it out" Mrs. Colfer said he had piercing blue eyes and she didn't think he made it out. The fireman told them when they got out to run , run for your life. The building collapsed an a female voice said "reach out your hand" and wrapped it around hers. The smoke was so thick the woman could just her her screaming but couldn't see her. A cab driver picked them up and they fled but not before they picked up a young man named Mark. Mrs. Colfer spend two days at Mark's apartment in New Jersey until some MSA colleges came for in a car and drove her home. She still hears from Mark sometimes, but he's moved South as he couldn't bear staying in the City. Mrs. Colfer has never been back to New York City. Dan and I had the honor of hearing her speak on the 1 year anniversary at Hillcrest United Presbyterian Church. There we all sat for 2 1/2 hours listening to this tiny little woman's story of survival. It was one of the most moving experience's of my life.
Our last story of survival is one of a lady by the name of Lauren Manning. Now she maybe a name familiar to some of you as her husband wrote a book that consisted of the email he sent to friends and family keeping them posted on her condition entitled Love, Greg and Lauren and was published in 2002. Mrs. Manning at the time was a Sr. Vice President and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. This investment bank took up several floors of the World Trade Center and lost 658 employees. Mrs. Manning had just entered the building when the plane hit the north tower. A wave of burning jet fuel exploded from one of the elevator shafts engulfing her in flames.. She ran onto the street and a bystander extinguished her. She was loaded into one of the first Ambulances to arrive and taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital burn unit. She was burned over 82.5% of her body and they didn't expect her to make it through the first 24 hours. She was one of the 17 victims treated there. She was there for 3 months followed by 3 months at a rehab center. She says it was the thought of her son that kept her going. As she was burning he was her thought that she had to live for him! She has had many surgeries and through shear will lived. What she experienced is unimaginable, but then, most of what happened that day is.
I've now introduced you to some of the brave souls from that horrible day. God took some home, others he left here as they have a job to do and I feel that job is to be a physical reminder of what happened that day. As Todd Beamer said on flight 93 "let's roll" that is what the survivors did...they rolled on with life. His message was advise as well as a command. For those who did not go home that day perhaps this little missive will help put them in someones memory and on September 11th you might say a prayer for them. They are with God, but they have left family, friends and many loved ones that need those prayers.I am so thankful I got to go home that day to my family. Now I look back 10 years later and at times it seems like a bad dream, but it's not. The images we all saw can never be unseen or undone so let us never forget and teach our future generations about the American people from that day and their bravery in the face of death.
With respect, sadness and American pride I write this. God Bless America.
Pam
Some of my sources were: Wikipedia, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Boy, has the direction of my blog changed over the time I worked on it. It was one of those rare blogs that I needed to research for facts, names and figures. By the time I did that I had a very cold and clinical view of what was a day that changed America for the generation we live in. Did I want it to be just facts? Was it going to be cold? yes. I decided that the facts and figures are for the history books to teach our children, grandchildren and generations to come. My blog is about people, it's about people we lost, people who survived and perhaps a small view of how I felt that day and feel now. I wanted to put faces to this event so it just isn't about planes that crashed, buildings that fell and a "numbers" of people who died. Those people were not just numbers. They were living, breathing human beings that loved, lived and unfortunately in many cases didn't walk away from this cowardly act of murder.
Our journey starts on a beautiful September morning. The date September 11, 2001. It was a truly beautiful day and I remember going into work early, around 6 a.m.because I had an appointment with a doctor and needed to leave the office around 8:45 to make the appointment at 9:30. As I walked out of the building I got a call from my friend Sherry Springer and she was telling me that a plane hit the World Trade Center. We kept talking as I walked over to my car parked in Pittsburgh at Kaufmann's parking garage. During a drive that should have taken 20 minutes that time of day but took over an hour Sherry and the radio kept me in the loop of what was happening. I couldn't believe my ears. Sherry kept telling me the building was swaying and I remember responding, well those tall building are made to do that, just like our US Steel building here in Pittsburgh does. I know I just kept driving, but I was seeing car's pulling over and people sitting on the side of the Parkway and you could see their faces just sitting there blank, crying or looks of disbelief. I was scared I just wanted to drive. I was actually afraid to stop. We then heard the 2nd plane had hit. We knew this was no accident. I had to go through the Squirrel Hill tunnels and my thought was this could be happening all over the country and I wanted out of the tunnel. I was getting closer to my appointment and I have no idea why I felt I had to go but I did (of all places it was the gynecologist!). I started calling my family, I couldn't get Mom and Dad, I spoke to my sisters, Ruth and Donna. In the mean time talking to Sherry on and off. More and more news coming in. I called my friend Jim Glenn to make sure he was OK, I was worried about everyone being as scared as I was. I called my friend Geoff in Syracuse NY and got his machine and left a message saying I hope he was OK. I also called Danny in England to tell him to turn on the TV as he worked all night and I didn't think he wanted to sleep through this. It would be another 14 hours until we spoke again. I got to the doctor,we watched on TV what was happening. Then, as I was leaving the doctors office phone rang and the receptionist said, it's for you! Well...I was surprised. It was my supervisor Karen calling to tell me not to come back into Pittsburgh as they were evacuating, they found the doctors number in my Rolodex cause they couldn't get through to my cell phone.. I told her I wasn't planning on it and headed home as I wanted to get to my Mum and Dad. So, as every American did that day, we sat, watched and prayed as the four planes hit, two in New York City, one at the Pentagon in Washington DC and one in all places a field in Shanksville Pa, which is about 2 1/2 hours from Pittsburgh. That plane had been in our airspace! The President had ordered all planes down but still everyone wasn't accounted for. Mum, Dad and I watched in horror as buildings fell, as things came fluttering out of window, which I asked my Dad, what is that Daddy, is it paper flying. He gently explained to me no honey, those were people falling from the building. I think I screamed then. and turned to my Dad as said are we going to be OK and Daddy said to me "Pammy I don't know". This my story, which is not dramatic it's just the point of view of an average American Citizen.
Here is what we slowly learned in the next few days
19 militants associated with Islamic extremist group Al Qaeda hijacked 4 airliners an carried out suicide targets against target's in the U.S.A. 3000 people were murdered that day including more than 400 police officer, firefighters and EMTS. These are just the cold hard facts. I could go into time lines, but again that is for the history books. I now want to talk about several people that were either murdered that day and some who survived. Let's meet some of these people.
In the World Trade Center Tower 1, was a man named Shannon Lewis Adams, age 25. He came from a small town called Star Lake NY, population 860. He was so proud of working in the World Trade Center that on his business care he gave his address as Tower 1,101st Floor, World Trade Center. He was a fixed-income accountant for Cantor Fitzgerald. Not bad for a kid from a high school class of 34 kids! His father described him as "going 100 miles and hour all the time". He was so loved that at his memorial service, his friends gathered for an Irish Wake. They all filled up the motels in 15 mile radius! This was a man who had great things ahead of him for sure.
One of the 92 people on American Airlines Flight 11that crashed into the North tower was a lady named Lisa Fenn Gordenstein. She was a merchandise manage of TJX, She was 41 years old (my age at the time). The CEO of her company, Ted English said about Lisa "Lisa had a heart as big as the ocean. She was the person to whom other associates went for help and she was always available for her co-workers. She was a great businesswoman and a wonderfully creative merchant. Most of all, Lisa loved being a Mom" She left behind her husband David, two daughters, Samantha and Carly, her Mom, Stepfather,grandmother and Sister. Lisa was not just a number to her family, she was theirs and now she was gone.
On United Flight 175 was a family, perhaps not a traditional family but a family none the less who all died together. They were Ronald & Daniel Branthorst-Gamboa and their 3 year old son David. They were visiting friends in Boston and returning to Los Angeles. Daniel ,41, was an accountant for PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles and Ronald, 33 was the manager of a a Gap store in Santa Monica. David,3, was named for Daniel's brother, was adopted in 1998. David was described "as the spirit of Ron and the intellectual curiosity of Daniel". Ronald and Daniel were a couple for 13 years.They were proud adoptive family and planned to adopt another child. Again,not just a number but a loving, thriving family.
Flight 77 American Airlines slammed into the west side of the Pentagon killing 125 military and civilians. One gentleman was Charles E. Sabin age 54. He served in Viet Nam, leaving with the rank of Captain. He worked at the Pentagon for years as a civilian. His family could not reveal what his job was. His brother stated "It's still hard to realize he's really gone. He was a good neighbor, a great leader and most of all he loved his country." Also taken that day with Mr. Sabin was a lady by the name of Angelene C. Carter. She was a civilian accountant who worked in the Pentagon. She was described as a devoted wife and mother and active member of her church. She is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Angelene is special to me. I didn't know her, but I wear a memory bracelet with her name on it. Every year for the past 9 years Dan and I have honored her memory in several different ways. One is that we give a patriot pin to at least 50 of our friends and family with a picture of her and her story. Mr. Sabin and Mrs. Carter just went to work that day as they did any other day, but did not have the choice to go home..
Now flight United Flight 93 California bound was a story that we all know well. There was Captain Jason Dahl at the controls. he began his flight training at the age of 13! We know many of the other names of people by heart as they were able to communicate with family, officials and loved ones because they were aware of what was happening through out the country. The plane crashed into a field in Shanksville PA killing 45 people, but not before people like Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham and Jeremy Glick took matters into their own hands and tried to regain control of the plane. They revolted using weapons such a boiling water and their own hands. It is believed that his plane was headed for The White House and these brave people gave their lives in an effort to stop what was happening. Also on that flight was a young man by the name of Bernard Curtis Brown II. He was 11 years old and was on a trip to California sponsored by the National Geographic Society. His Mom described him as someone who woke with unusual energy. One of his hero's was Michael Jordan. Such different people all placed together for whatever reason on the same flight.
We must also remember all the Firefighters, Police and EMTS that were ;lost that day. As we would be running away from the carnage these brave people would be running towards it not knowing if they were coming out. That takes an amazingly brave person to do this.
Now we do have two stories of survival. One from shear will and the other who was lucky enough to be on floor 55 of 1 World Trade Center, which was below where the plane hit. It still didn't mean she had any guarantee of coming out alive. The lady on the 55th floor is from a company in Murrysville PA called Mine Safety Appliances. Her name is Judy Colfer and she is from Greensburg PA. She is a devoted mother and was a devoted wife to her husband Gene who passed away in 2004 of Cancer. She recalls on the 35th floor a New York City lieutenant came running up the stairs, he grabbed her and asked what floor she'd come from, trying to determine how far the fire has spread. he told her "You'll make it out" Mrs. Colfer said he had piercing blue eyes and she didn't think he made it out. The fireman told them when they got out to run , run for your life. The building collapsed an a female voice said "reach out your hand" and wrapped it around hers. The smoke was so thick the woman could just her her screaming but couldn't see her. A cab driver picked them up and they fled but not before they picked up a young man named Mark. Mrs. Colfer spend two days at Mark's apartment in New Jersey until some MSA colleges came for in a car and drove her home. She still hears from Mark sometimes, but he's moved South as he couldn't bear staying in the City. Mrs. Colfer has never been back to New York City. Dan and I had the honor of hearing her speak on the 1 year anniversary at Hillcrest United Presbyterian Church. There we all sat for 2 1/2 hours listening to this tiny little woman's story of survival. It was one of the most moving experience's of my life.
Our last story of survival is one of a lady by the name of Lauren Manning. Now she maybe a name familiar to some of you as her husband wrote a book that consisted of the email he sent to friends and family keeping them posted on her condition entitled Love, Greg and Lauren and was published in 2002. Mrs. Manning at the time was a Sr. Vice President and partner at Cantor Fitzgerald. This investment bank took up several floors of the World Trade Center and lost 658 employees. Mrs. Manning had just entered the building when the plane hit the north tower. A wave of burning jet fuel exploded from one of the elevator shafts engulfing her in flames.. She ran onto the street and a bystander extinguished her. She was loaded into one of the first Ambulances to arrive and taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital burn unit. She was burned over 82.5% of her body and they didn't expect her to make it through the first 24 hours. She was one of the 17 victims treated there. She was there for 3 months followed by 3 months at a rehab center. She says it was the thought of her son that kept her going. As she was burning he was her thought that she had to live for him! She has had many surgeries and through shear will lived. What she experienced is unimaginable, but then, most of what happened that day is.
I've now introduced you to some of the brave souls from that horrible day. God took some home, others he left here as they have a job to do and I feel that job is to be a physical reminder of what happened that day. As Todd Beamer said on flight 93 "let's roll" that is what the survivors did...they rolled on with life. His message was advise as well as a command. For those who did not go home that day perhaps this little missive will help put them in someones memory and on September 11th you might say a prayer for them. They are with God, but they have left family, friends and many loved ones that need those prayers.I am so thankful I got to go home that day to my family. Now I look back 10 years later and at times it seems like a bad dream, but it's not. The images we all saw can never be unseen or undone so let us never forget and teach our future generations about the American people from that day and their bravery in the face of death.
With respect, sadness and American pride I write this. God Bless America.
Pam
Some of my sources were: Wikipedia, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
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