My dear friend and mentor....

I had a situation this week where we were offered possible help saving the Van Dyke farm. Problem is the person who offered may have a different agenda than us so I emailed my mentor Dot as usual she pondered the situation and came back with bullet points to ponder which were fabulous. Through lecture proof reading, story opinions, and moral support Dot has earned the right to my trust in all that I do. She is always consistent in her opinion and advice and I admire all she has accomplished as a educator. One of the most difficult, if not impossible tasks for a writer is to accept criticism. Writing is very personal in that I am no exception. I knew I needed someone who would be brutal honest yet respectful of my emotions. From the first lecture till yesterday Dot has fulfilled that roll in my life and I cannot thank her enough. I speak to her from time to time, some stretches for months at a time but when I interviewed on two radio stations, she was there. When I stared into that TV camera yesterday, she was there. When I go to Governor Corzine's and ask him to review the Van Dyke farm and speak at my function, yea she'll be there too. You see I figured it out. A true friend inspires you, criticizes you, supports you, and leaves a little piece of themselves with you. Dot left me a good piece of herself, that makes me a better historian every day.

Saturday starts the work...

I head off to Freehold to visit the The Monmouth County Historical Association Library & Archives. I will be looking through the history of the Van Dyke family to start my work on the slave issue. I used a wonderful book to look up the Beekmans. The book also includes the Van Dykes but at that time I was not working through them. I love going here because the workers are so helpful every research center should be as pleasant as these folks are. This is going to be great I hope I can find something.

A rolling historian gathers no moss.......

Martin Luther King once went to the mountaintop and peered out to see the promised land. I just found my mountaintop and when I peered out I saw a long hill going down. Having spent the morning with Sammy & Army on 1600AM NYC and the late morning with NJN TV I can say I feel very accomplished and proud of my contributions to the cause. I felt my comfort zone with Jean at my side with her in depth knowledge of the farm situation. This allowed me to address the slave issue which is where I am most at home. I had a very hearty greeting from my co-workers once I stepped over to my desk because 4 of them had the show streaming onto the computers. (Heck yea I blush really well!). As I stared into the TV camera today I felt really confident and relaxed and with all that has happened the more I do it the better I will get. I am working till 9PM which allows me just enough time to get home for tonight's episode of Lost, I am a huge fan of the show. By 11PM I will have had one of my fullest days in quite some time. But hey, I feel good, I look good, and I didn't get moss covered, what more can one ask?

Preparation, Preparation, Preparation

Since the EVA convinced me to speak in 2005 I have discovered some great things about myself. I always get nervous before I speak, but it leaves me half way in. I am quick on my feet when questioned. The more passion I feel the more I can convey to the audience. This all came into play while I was interviewed live on radio this morning. The key to what works for me is my preparation. I spoke to my fellow EVA ers last night and got a feel for the message I needed to convey. I put together some loose notes on the farm and the slaves, the developer, my goals and wants. As I sat in my PJ's on with eight separate pieces of paper on the table before me I calmly responded to the questions, and some were very deep questions, slowly feeling more confident as it went on. I do not think that Jean, Bill, Lanni or Jonathon realized I have only spoken about the slave aspect not the intimate details of the farms fight to be saved. What made me most nervous was that I wanted to present the group as competent, passionate and devoted. Not a loose group of people going off in all directions, I know how good these people are, I needed the audience to know it too. I never spoke on behalf of them all. Jean has assured me I did a good job and I feel good about the experience so far. Next week I start my research into the slaves and hopefully we will have other chances to get the word out to save Van Dyke farm.

There off....

Sitting at work today near the Jersey shore I heard something on the Breeze (Local radio) that made me giggle. They were talking about a group of New Jerseyans trying to save a farm in South Brunswick on the noon news. 5 minutes later a co-worker walked up with the Asbury Park Press and showed me a shorter version of the Times article in this paper. Driving down the road from lunch I received a phone call from the producer of WURD 900 AM talk radio. The only black owned radio station in Philadelphia PA. They want to interview me at 7:30 am Tuesday morning about the farm. Now I joked with Bill about us suddenly getting calls from all around but I did not really think it would happen. And not as fast as it has either. I am getting the sense we have opened a real dialogue and I am preparing myself for more to come. I hope the gang is ready, because even if your not, our time may be here.

Made the Times

We made the NY Times. Such a wonderful thing to be recognized by a important news organization!!! Click this link and read the story I hope you all enjoy!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/nyregion/25slave.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

The sometimes makes no sense....

I woke this morning to hear the news person explaining that 15 British Naval members had been taken to Iran while in Iraq waters. That made no sense to me as these thing usually don't make sense. As if we don't have enough trouble dealing with Iraq Iran throws it's hat in the ring full force. Lord I pray this is a temporary set back and can be resolved quickly..God willing..

My turn to be a concertgoer...

Now that Claire has seen Dolly I must wait till July to see The Police. Funny how they came out of the Punk era to be such a melodic band. Some say they are fluff others say they are Reggae wannabees but Stewart Copeland (Drums) and Andy Summers (Guitar) are amazing musicians. Sting can annoy me but in the group setting he should slip in well. I saw them on the Zenyatta Mondotta tour at Madison Square Garden in '79 and it turned out to be a legendary performance. After the first song the power went out in the Garden. It took about 20-30 minutes to come back up. Sting promised us they would rock the house for the inconvenience and they rocked the house accordingly. One of my best concert memories next to Queen (With Freddie), Bruce, the late Robert Palmer (Such style) Pink Floyd and The Kinks. The reason I am attending the show is my 13 year old son Chris (Rock on dude) has become a fan of music of my generation. His favorite band is AC/DC. I took him to see Roger Waters (Once of Floyd) and he loved it. He is a drummer and I am sure he will be amazed by Stewart's drummer. I must admit it is a joy to share my music taste with him which allows us to attend concerts together I'm sure he will look back fondly on these shows in his adult years.

Now the waiting begins...

Yesterday was a busy one. I started to contact my hopefuls for the Titus Farm dedication. So far I have sent invitations to Rep. Rush Holt, Senator Menendez, Congressman Charles Rangel and hell, I even sent one to Barack Obama. I figure the worst they can say is no. I would have sent one to Hillary Clinton but I don't have the minimum 100 grand she has to get as of now. (That sounds so greedy when I write it!) I still have to get one to Governer Corizine. If anyone out there has a idea for a good speaker who may actually want to speak for his constitutes let me know!
I also have been putting the Van Dykes in order of ownership. When dealing with slave history it is so frustrating only having first names. What really stokes my fire is when I see other family with surnames for the slaves. I believe they all had them but some masters just didn't bother mentioning them. UGH! On the positive note I am glad to be pretty organized in research. I know I will be doing this the first week in April so I am collecting as much information as possible ahead of time so when I head to New Brunswick and Trenton I will focused on Van Dykes and the correct ones only. I find it so simply to get distracted by other information I come by. I try to be disciplined to keep to the subject at hand but sometimes that is hard to do. I love knowing I have to research though, it feels ooo so good......

A day without history is like a day without sunshine

Sunday was a great day for me. The New York Times reporter Courtney came out to the farm to write a story on the struggle to save it and the slavery aspect. Before I knew it we were at 4 hours and she was heading back home to New York. I can talk about history for hours at a time, it feels like time is standing still for me. It's even better when I am surrounded by people who love it as well. I realized yesterday I lose myself into it with a joyous feeling that comes over me. There are not many things that bring such passion to me, family, but nothing else.
Seems I have missed my calling in life. Teaching, researcher, lecturing all aspects of history appeal to me on deep levels. With that passion comes pain also. Feeling so passionate about something makes it hard when you cannot create that excitement in others. I try and enjoy the small victories. When I can see the spark in someones eyes when they get it, come to understand the importance I can see, it washes over me and makes it all worth. Taking it person by person keeps me going, there are many like me out there, I have to keep working to find them.
In the mean time I keep working and researching, while allowing my EVA Er's to energize my batteries like they did yesterday. I do not believe they even realize how important it is for me to have afternoons like we did Sunday. This kind of passion I cannot really share with a co-worker, friend or even my wife. They are excited for me but they cannot feel the passion or share that passion with me. Yesterday we all reveled in the passion, let it sweep us away, and shared it with someone young who could feel it too. Damn, I need more Sundays like this Sunday.

Saturday is a snow out...

The Van Dyke farm will have to wait till Sunday. That is good because it gives me a little more time to get myself together. Digging out my car was a challenge today. The plows came through in the early morning hours and the snow they pushed froze solid. I have to go with the the 7 Iron shovel and chip away to get my cars out. Yes cars. All the drivers are women in my house (3) plus me. Dad gets to shovel out the cars and then my reward was a trip to the supermarket for groceries. What a day, dig out cars, chose food, load food, pay then load car unload car and bring in house and unload at home. I AM BUSHED. I'd rather be thumbing through a 100 year old musky book....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

I decided to go ahead and head off to work today despite the snowfall. Now I am beginning to regret the decision. As usual back in South Brunswick we are starting to get the snow but here in Tinton Falls it is sleet and hail. This always makes for a bad combo for me because as soon as I clear the ice I hit the snow. On Route 18 I can actually see where the snow line hits. Beautiful to see difficult to drive. Thankfully the historian in me is very patient. So I choose some good music and drive slow, as I watch the insane New Jersey speedsters fly bye, not knowing what I am thinking. Having done this drive for 7 years now I know what they are in for. I've seen it so many times I use it to describe my commute back and forth. So far I have quite a few descriptions starting with a 1 out, and ending with a 9 out. You see Route 18 has a grass divider between south-north bounds. When we have snow I use this description to show how many spin outs I have seen. The worst has been 9, hence a 9 out! Last year I saw a man fly by and I thought give him 2 miles and he's toast. Sure enough I saw him spin 360 into the grass divide. Age and time have made me wise when it comes to patience. Patience saves your life....

Bad timing for a snowfall...

Great! Saturday is the day we meet with the reporter from the NY Times and 3-6 inches of snow is to fall. I can only hope she really wants this story and will brave the weather. She seems to be really excited about coming so I hope that enthusiasm continues.
Speaking of enthusiasm my daughter has her recital on April 15Th at Monmouth University in Woodrow Wilson hall. This is the building used as Daddy Warbucks mansion in the movie version of Annie. She will be performing music from the 17Th century up to today to fulfill her requirements. Afterwards we will head to the Jersey shore for dinner with family on the boardwalk. Surely this will be one of the proudest days in my life. Even if I cannot understand the language (HAHA) ! She will graduate in May with a degree in Special Education and Elementary Ed and music. Now I live with two special ed teachers I feel like I'm a teacher too! (I feel your pain Jean :-) ).

I leave you with this thought...

"History is for human self-knowledge ... the only clue to what man can do is what man has done. The value of history, then, is that it teaches us what man has done and thus what man is."

R. G. Collingwood

New York Times

Today my quest to publish the Titus-Van Dyke slave story got a boost with word that the Times reporter is coming to the farm Saturday. She also knows who I am which is quite a wonderful thing. Now I have to finish the story for the newspaper. Now that the E.V.A. seems to be pushing the ball again it's good to see the story has not gone stale. It takes a massive amount of determination to keep a story in the public eye since that eye has a very short attention span. I am glad my pals don't lose sight of the important work they have started and seem determined to see it all the way through. I hope I can shake, rattle or roll some slavery tales out of the family history to help underline the importance of the farm.

Been quite a while...

Well I have been busy with the farm celebration and it still has me running. But I have decided to take some time and research the slaves on the Van Dyke farm in South Brunswick. Since the farm is already on the endangered list any of this of information can only bolster the case to save the farm. Times have changed so drastically since my childhood. Our neighborhoods have become disjointed. We do not socialize as we once did and I believe this has created a discourse between our towns and it's citizens. People live in a town or city but they have no emotional investment in the area. It's a place to hang your hat, sleep, grab a cup of coffee and off you go. The weekend comes and it's off to drag the kids around or entertain ourselves. My experience in lecturing to Seniors has taught me they will care eventually, but at that point there will be little impact they can have. Sometimes I feel I have to shame my local officials into doing anything right by the towns history, they react to many things as if it was a bother. I am sure my friend Jean can agree when you have so much passion you don't have much patience for foolishness.