Amazing Aug02

Amazing

Met an absolutely true gentleman tonight during Roselle Park’s National Night Out. We were waiting in line for the water slide with Mariposa and Ezekiel as our youngest gets more excited with each little step that brings us closer to the slide. A bit in front of us some young pre-teen...

Rollberbladed May27

Rollberbladed

After 25 years of faithful service, a quarter of a century, my favorite pair of rollerblades have given me their last glide. Adieu my eight wheelers. You were good.

Mother’s Day 2016 May08

Mother’s Day 2...

Some pretty f*$%@ I mean messed up sh*#, I mean stuff, you find out about your mother and father that are terrifying and amazing. Out of all things, it started with her wedding ring falling to the ground. For those who do not know, my mother suffered a pretty severe stroke on January 2nd. She...

We Won The Lottery! Jan16

We Won The Lottery!

Sitting around the dinner table during supper tonight, after talking about our individual days the conversation gets around to the lottery. We all start talking and laughing about the first things we would do if we won: everything from the thoughtful to the outrageous (helping out family...

Speechless Jan08

Speechless

A beautiful gift from a wonderful woman. I am speechless. The Qersdyn family is beyond grateful and blessed to know Cathy Drake.

Unsub Oct18

Unsub

My friend Marc posted on my wall a show called UNSUB. It was before CSI, Criminal Minds, etc. and was a really good show.  It was so good it actually was of value in real life. There was an episode where the old guy on the team finds out how the serial killer gets children by crouching down...

Some Numbers Oct09

Some Numbers

16,801 days I have been alive. Out of those, I have had my parents in my life all those days. 10,569, Marc has been the one to make me double over gut laughing and made me realize what really good solid writing and friendship is all about. 8,204 I have had Lis in my life and has been my life....

You Can Buy Happiness Jun28

You Can Buy Happiness

Who says you can’t buy happiness? Look. Here. I bought for two bucks at a garage sale!   One man’s trash is another man’s trash that hasn’t worn out its nostalgia. Just remember when they tell you “You can’t buy happiness” that it was at a garage sale for two bucks. Happiness is where you find it.

Memorial May25

Memorial

Andreotta, Glenn U., 20 On April 8, 1968, 20-year-old Glenn Andreotta was the door gunner on a Hiller Raven helicopter in Vietnam who was killed while taking enemy fire. He never made it home. His name is on panel 48E, line 50, on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. He is just...

Ebola Nov18

Ebola

Took ZZ to the doctor today. Nothing more serious than a cold. But checking in to see the doctor, I was asked if I visited any of the countries affected by Ebola. I told the registration clerk ‘yes’, that I live in the country affected by Ebola. She did not find that as funny as I...

45 Oct10

45

What a day! What a life! Yesterday was the first day of my 46th year and we celebrated my 45th birthday! Being a true believer of making every day count, I chalked up another day to make it 16,436 days alive – or 16,733 days if you count conception (We will forego any questions and...

TheSound&FuryOfMusic Sep21

TheSound&FuryOf...

(or “The Passion And Power Of Song”) So during this session of the Qersdyn Weekend Morning Record Review (just made that up) the family got to … Okay, just to back up a little, every weekend morning while making and eating breakfast, the family gets to hear some LPs from...

MindFi Aug22

MindFi

(Or “I Got The Whole World Wide Web In My Hands”) Okay so who wants to help me with my invention? I found a way to enable brain-mapping by emulating a wifi signal. The electric impulses send out a frequency and tuning that to a signal seems to have worked past the first stage. A...

Fuck The Poor Jul14

Fuck The Poor

This is a great example of the difference between being right and doing right. Some people think it is more important to feel good about themselves and sit on their high horse to show how righteous they are instead of doing anything to help.

World’s 23,312,017th Greatest Dad! Jun15

World’s 23,312,017th Greatest Dad!

Brace yourself. Just wanted to let you know that you are looking at the World’s 23,312,017th Greatest Dad! That is a pretty damn good number to be. I mean, think about it, with so many World’s Greatest Dads or #1 Dads around, that group is really really crowded and I know I am nowhere near to being that good of a father. Heck, not even the World’s 2nd or 100th or 1,000th Greatest Dad. But think about it, just being conservative with the figures, we could say there are a billion fathers on the planet. With those numbers, I am in the top 2%. Not too shabby. Plus it gives me room for improvement. Goodness knows I need it. Seriously, being the...

Lilia May11

Lilia

Okay, so what is a mother? I ask because today is the day to say ‘love you’ to mom. Great mom, best mom, wonderful mom, mommy, mama, mother. But, whether we really think about it or not, these women are people, beyond that title. For me, I just want to take a moment to talk about...

Time Enough For One More Story Apr21

Time Enough For One More Story

Happy Elizabeth Dane Day! Well, not so happy for the crew of the Elizabeth Dane . . . and not so good for the town of Antonio Bay . . . and really not so good for Father Malone. Come to think of it, it really was not good for anyone involved, well, except for Nick Castle with a hell of a hitchhiker story to tell. You know what? Forget the Happy, just stay out of the fog.

First Down Jan13

First Down

January 13, 1982. So remember that Polar Vortex we experienced last week? Well, imagine being stuck in that with no coat. Add that your clothes (and entire body) are soaked in ice water and that snow is falling hard . . . all this because the plane you were on slammed into a bridge and hit...

We The People . . . Sep17

We The People . . .

Those three words start the piece of paper from which our nation was founded. To be followed by 10 amendments written about a week later plus another 17 throughout two centuries – the last of which was ratified 21 years ago – add to that voluminous Supreme Court cases that have...

Q5 Aug09

Q5

A woman. Two men. A scream from a basement hallway. And so his story began. On January 17th 2012, a little baby boy was making his way into this world after a stranger named Moses heard the expectant baby’s birth mother scream from a rooming house on Mt. Pleasant Avenue in Newark. The man went downstairs to the basement to find nature taking its course – not waiting for a hospital, not waiting for an ambulance, not even waiting for another woman . . . not waiting for anything. He ran outside, flagged down a Newark police officer and, with Moses unwrapping the umbilical cord from around the newborn’s neck, both men helped as ZZ...

My Father Is The Man Jul24

My Father Is The Man

My father is the man. Lemme splain . . . Issa too mucha, lemme sum uppa. Tonight’s soccer game was a semi-finals match for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The teams? Honduras vs. USA and my father is an American citizen originally from Honduras. He loves America. He came to the US legally in...

The Talk Jul14

The Talk

Today, some parents are going to have to sit down with their children and have ‘the talk’ again – one that most likely has been given numerous times before – a refresher of sorts : On how to behave when dealing with the police, and how to immediately keep their hands visible with their palms open, and how to answer questions without losing their cool . . . or their dignity. On how to react when being eyed as they walk through a neighborhood then having the police stop them because someone called in thinking that walking down a public street was the equivalent of suspicious activity because ‘I don’t recognize them’. On how to deal with...

America @237 Jul03

America @237

For those who do not know, I volunteer to teach ESL and have done so for almost five years now. It started in Roselle, moved to Roselle Park, and now has expanded to Elizabeth. Tonight at class we started having our dialogue section where people have conversations. It was in question/answer...

Neighbor Nov11

Neighbor

Folks, let’s just call it what it is. We’ve all seen it over the past 12+ days but we’ve given it some pretty highfalutin terms: neighborly, friendly, prudent, helpful, kindness, outreach, responsibility, etc. And there are all those examples: a family chainsawing a neighbor’s tree all the...

Live The Dash Jun17

Live The Dash

LIVE THE DASH A father of three . . . words I honestly never thought would be used to describe me. So today is Fathers’ Day. For me, today is a day to reflect on fatherhood and all the joys and responsibility that come with that one word – “Dad”. That one word has been used...

XI XI Mar30

XI XI

After 13 years as part of our family, we made the decision to give XiXi, our pet cat, rest after she endured through months of labored discomfort which became a consuming pain. This photo of our hands caressing XiXi was taken just after the moment her existence transformed into a memory. She...

Mohammed Nabbous Mar21

Mohammed Nabbous

Citizen journalism. A term used recently, and most commonly in America, to denote those upset with the government due to taxes they think are so high. In other parts of the world, it means something else. It means speaking a government that does not belong to you. It means reporting on false...

Why Jul01

Why

Although there has been no public statement, Councilwoman Chen-Hoerning has decided not to run for a second term. The woman who came from nowhere to win the seat held by Robert Rubilla seems to be leaving the scene with official silence. Bring issues to the forefront in a town which, to put...

March 27, 2010 Apr12

March 27, 2010

A LETTER TO THE NEW PRAGUE HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING BAND It’s amazing how what we do affects others and the things we think are unimportant, end up having the most meaning. Now, visiting New York City is a highlight for everyone and although I live in the Elizabeth area and love where I live,...

Another Brick In The Wall Apr01

Another Brick In The Wall

No matter what side you are with regard to Governor Christie’s actions to cut aid to schools and the vote on the school budget coming up later this month, it is something to see people, in this case teenagers, taking a stand and having their voice heard. There are those who state that the ‘kids’ no nothing about what they are protesting and are being manipulated but, in the end, do any of us know fully about everything about this issue? Not really. Most of us just care how we think it affects us. The same can be said for the students but the difference is they took a public stand today. To those who claim they missed a day’s education might...

Teenagers Feb17

Teenagers

To All Concerned, With respect to Ordinance 2294 regarding curfew for juveniles my concerns are with the enforcement of it. Personally, my son, although 18 years old, does not have a driver’s license nor any other form of state issued identification that he carries with him at all times. To...

Time Has Come Today Jan08

Time Has Come Today

05:00 Yesterday, Roselle Park’s council amended its by-laws to limit the time that members from the public have to speak during the public portion of a Mayor & Council meeting. Not that big of a problem. There are those who disagree with the time limit as an infringement on free speech....

The Greatest Luxury Dec28

The Greatest Luxury

To start things off, here are the original post by Michael Peterson which is on www.nj.com/forums/rosellepark and my response to him which was removed (by request from someone other than me). Michael Peterson (10729 Gross distortion by Saul by jerryp, 12/27/09) I would like to know just where...

Mad World Nov18

Mad World

During the Roselle Park Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, November 17, 2009, Board member Alex Balaban spoke on the Holocaust Curriculum and Cultural Enrichment Curriculum that the Roselle Park school district has been pursuing for over a decade. Born out of a state mandate, its goal is...

Time To Say Goodbye Nov09

Time To Say Goodbye

Another election cycle in Roselle Park comes to an end . . . and hopefully an era will as well. During the election, campaign promises were made by all the candidates: curb spending, lower taxes, revitalize downtown. But one in particular was made by the Chair of the Roselle Park Democratic Committee, Greg Kinloch. He said if  ‘he’ lost the election, meaning his candidates Michael Peterson and David Jacobs lost their respective elections, he would put his house up for sale and move out of Roselle Park. He lost. After seeing four (4) years  that had Democratic campaigns resort to tinges of racism, homophobia,and finger-pointing with no...

The Cold Read Nov27

The Cold Read

David Mamet, in his offering, “The Spanish Prisoner” has wonderfully performed what is probably the longest con ever perpetrated on an audience – where the viewers themselves, not the film’s character, were the intended mark all along. One of America’s best...