Well, it only lasted 2 and half years but the midterm elections are over. And thank (fill in the deity or person you admire the most and hopefully it’s not yourself) because it seemed that the former President was going to get elected to all the open posts but he decided to drop out and concentrate on his one true love…. fighting all the civil and possible criminal charges he may be facing. Now, I would like to congratulate the Repubs and Demos because they seem to have beat out each other but not the American people because absolutely nothing has changed. I am awaiting to see who the adults in the room are to know how I am going to vote for 2024. All I see is grandstanding in the form of holding press conferences (was that paid by tax payers?) about how people are not going anywhere but are going to be there just not there there but definitely somewhere around there and how seemingly special they are to people saying I don’t want to play with you guys because you guys didn’t let us play so I’m going to restrict your committees because when you did it we thought it was wrong but when we do it it has to be the opposite or why we would do it and they’re going back to watching the 2016 elections which they have playing on a loop. So zero adults in the room. That’s great. A lot of…oooohhhhh look at me and not enough lets try and get this inflation down and lower the price of Honey Nut Cheerios. Disappointing. There are bright spots… there are people that realize politics isn’t a reality show on CBS. They keep the drama to a minimum and just do their jobs, you just never heard of them because they don’t seek the limelight and just do their jobs. Unfortunately they will probably never get elected to those high positions even though they should. I blame twitter. Not that they did anything but seemingly everyone else is for everything so might as well.

I will definitely vote for the people that can end crime scenes like Uvalde, El Paso, Florida thing that happened, and all similar massacres. Personally, I don’t think it has anything to do with gun rights, as an uptick in crowd blasting with vehicles has risen, it might have something to do with the electrical grid…. but whoever can end that crazy shit will get my vote and their party can also count on it, no matter how unqualified they are, they would still be more qualified then the people that can’t put an end to it. Seemingly, there hasn’t been anyone with the gonads to put an end to it. I think we all are tired of seeing someone’s son or daughter getting killed or hurt.

I grew up in Paterson, NJ, and I wouldn’t change that for anything, I mean, within reason. It was one of the best experiences I ever had. I don’t really know about now but back then, it was everything. Equal parts beautiful, diverse, exciting and dangerous (in some parts more than others). Not Crips and bloods dangerous, but enough to get your adrenaline flowing at times. Low income but high in neighborly treatment. House parties every weekend, block parties at times, your occasional, considering that occasional can mean almost daily, fist fight for your common dumb ass reason but not many shootings. Hardly any. You know what it meant when people circled, (toke toke pass) and for the record I never toked there, just passed. “More for me” was the common theme, no peer pressure. We weren’t rich so sharing was definitely a must. One joint for about 8 to 10 people. If the schools were better, I would have raised my child there. Not because of the fighting but because of the diversity and in some small sense the adversity. It really shapes people. If you can handle it, it will definitely make you a better person. People can live in their segregated, fenced in, barricaded neighborhoods, but they don’t know what they’re missing, albeit they will also wake up with nothing missing (in their home), which is a plus, I mentioned Paterson was a poorer neighborhood, but they will always be this scared, less adventurous, cynical of different people type person. They will have these perceptions of people that live in these towns that aren’t justified but are perpetuated because of a few rotten apples, like wall street guys aren’t worse. Some of those guys will steal the gold off your fillings if you fall asleep wrong. They do make gold fillings right because in Paterson they were aluminum spray painted gold. No, Paterson was an amazing experience, at least when I was growing up. From the drag races by Universal (the factory complex, not where Mickey Mouse lives, is it Mickey Mouse or?) to watching Kennedy beat some other HS football team and the the fist fight afterwards. To the house parties that lasted until 6 the next morning to doing the walk to your favorite diner with your buddies, which simply means going out at around 11 at night and walking to the diner for a glass water while we bullshitted, ours was the 7/11 (I know that’s not a diner, I did say we were dirt poor, right). Here are some luminaries of Paterson: (not necessarily born there but raised there or hung out there (or maybe drove through there?))

Bruce Arians (born 1952), head coach of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Jacob Bigeleisen (1919–2010), chemist who worked on the Manhattan Project on techniques to extract uranium-235 from uranium ore. (First time someone from Paterson “extracts” something and doesn’t get arrested)

Gaetano Bresci (1869–1901), weaver and anarchist, assassinated Italian king Umberto I (can’t all be great but how many cities can boast that one of their alums killed a King)

Rubin “Hurricane” Carter (1937–2014), boxer whose triple murder conviction was later overturned, subject of the Bob Dylan song “Hurricane” and the movie The Hurricane

Lou Costello (1906–1959), comedian, actor and producer and part of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello (used to be a boxer, no joke)

Larry Doby (1923–2003), Hall of Fame Major League Baseball player and manager who broke the color barrier in the American League

Edward L. Masry (1932–2005), attorney whose firm was behind the case featured in Erin Brockovich

Greg Olsen (born 1985), tight end for the Carolina Panthers

Joseph D. Pistone (born 1939), FBI agent and author who infiltrated the Bonanno crime family, as described in the film Donnie Brasco (grew up there and it served him well)

Frankie Ruiz (1958–1998), salsa music singer (everybody knows Frankie)

That’s to name a few…. Gaetano was a dear friend or would have been if he didn’t die in prison in 1901. Ahhh, the joking around while plotting coups and drinking espressos. He was a kidder that one, don’t let his anarchy paint him the wrong color. He had a light side…. I have no idea what I’m talking about. All I know is that he offed a King…. pretty crazy. Paterson, you learn all kind of skills and you’ll never know who you will meet, generally, I mean don’t hang out in alleys at night or you’ll meet a mugger, but besides that it was plenty diverse.