Long Island or elsewhere... Raydome who lives on LI and who'se father
was a Grumman engineer was of an attitude not to spare the details of
annihilation from his children and since he was working on a study to
determine the effects of an atomic bomb dropped on Manhattan would tell
the kids, like some father would read bedtime stories, the effects that
would occur at varied circumferential mileage points... the point of it
being that everyone in an 80 mile radius of NYC would be fried fairly
quickly, and the quickly fried would be the ones to find it a merciful
way to go. So bless us all of us metropolitans for living in the wrong
place.  When we were kids in upstate NY we were lectured at home to run
towards the bright white light -- it may have something to do with the
Native American roots of the family. Those goddamn white people are
going to do us all in yet. A basic fear we have with any administration
is that they would resort to the use of nuclear weapons... even if the
adminstration is North Korean.

Truth is I hated Long Island something terrible the first time I saw it.
Every year I worry about the hurricane coming up the coast. But there
are some really nice aspects to the place that I find no end to the joy
of exploring. How often have any of you seen a Duck Crossing roadsign --
that was not a joke? Yesterday I bought a book that is a collection of
historical lectures that were delivered on the 350th aniversary of East
Hampton in 1998. The first chapters are on the history of the
Montaukett. Last week I found out the name of the Algonquin Unkechaug
tribe that lived on the land where our house sits... the Pattersquash.
No sign of them, but just the same it causes me to think about my
surroundings. Yesterday I overheard a conversation between two young
fellows, one of them explaining to his buddy how much cash he was raking
in running a work crew installing in-ground swimming pools. "Anybody can
do an above ground pool. There is no challenge in that!" The below
ground masonry trades are alive and well on Long Island. If the world
suddenly decides to self destruct I don't imagine I'm going to be able
to do very much about it.

][<

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