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Post by sader1970 on Jul 13, 2023 17:46:17 GMT -5
Nothing specific about Holy Cross other than our former poet laureate alum wrote a short column in the old folks magazine. Was hoping to link it but interestingly, despite it being in my copy, it is not in the on-line version. Sooooo, I'll try to re-type it as it is a tribute to both his father and LaGuardia airport:
Marine Air Terminal, LaGuardia Airport, New York City
Billy Collins, 82
Former U.S. poet laureate
My father was a great believer in the salubrious benefits of walking, and he had a fascination with aviation. And so, on a Saturday afternoon or after mass on Sunday, he and I would walk the mile from our house to LaGuardia Airport. To me, it was almost an extension of going to church. You knew you were in an important place.
It still feels that way. The frieze on the Art Deco building has flying fish on it. The rotunda has one of the last murals produced under the Works Progress Administration. On the observation deck, my father would quiz me about the DC-3s and Constellations and DC-6s.
I was an only child in an Irish Catholic family. My mother would hug me, but I never hugged my father. He and I would shake hands. But I remember him holding my hand as we crossed the streets on those walks, and the specialness of that time together. I felt close to him, even if he was masking deeper feelings by pointing out that fresh air is good and how necessary it is to know your airplanes.
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Post by hchoops on Jul 13, 2023 18:02:04 GMT -5
Thanks for posting, 70
That LaGuardia did not change much in the 70 or so years since Collins’ memory here, but the massive improvements in the last two years would make a return trip for Collins well worthwhile.
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jul 14, 2023 7:23:55 GMT -5
I love Billy Collins. I saw him do a reading in CT years ago and he was very engaging. I also own several of his books. One of my favorite poems is call Introduction to Poetry. This is just the end of it:
I want them to water-ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 14, 2023 8:09:17 GMT -5
Thanks for posting, 70 That LaGuardia did not change much in the 70 or so years since Collins’ memory here, but the massive improvements in the last two years would make a return trip for Collins well worthwhile. Interestingly (for me, anyway), the HC alumni directory has Billy residing in Florida but his business address is the Bronx. Maybe when he goes to "work" in the Bronx, he can fly in from Florida to LaGuardia. |
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Post by rgs318 on Jul 14, 2023 8:41:34 GMT -5
I used to get my grandfather to drive me from NJ to LaGuardia so I could watch the aircraft land and depart from their observation deck (now long-closed). They also had a great book store whch carried some difficult to find (back then) books on the aircraft of the world. IIRC I still have some of those books.   |
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 14, 2023 8:43:53 GMT -5
I love Billy Collins. I saw him do a reading in CT years ago and he was very engaging. I also own several of his books. One of my favorite poems is call Introduction to Poetry. This is just the end of it: I want them to water-ski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. That is fantastic writing--what a way with metaphors!! |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jul 14, 2023 9:08:27 GMT -5
As a non-New Yorker I have a question. Is there (was there?) really a neighborhood within a mile of LaGuardia?
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Post by mm67 on Jul 14, 2023 9:09:33 GMT -5
Billy Collins (HC & Stepinac) taught at Lehman College in the Bronx for many years, thus his Bronx business address. Like many of his generation it appears he has moved to Florida but uses his "emeritus"(?) office at Lehman for his public correspondence. Continued kudos to the great yet grounded Billy Collins.
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Post by rgs318 on Jul 14, 2023 9:14:09 GMT -5
As a non-New Yorker I have a question. Is there (was there?) really a neighborhood within a mile of LaGuardia? To the airport, yes. To the terminal itself, a bit of a stretch. |
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Post by hchoops on Jul 14, 2023 9:14:54 GMT -5
As a non-New Yorker I have a question. Is there (was there?) really a neighborhood within a mile of LaGuardia? Yes. Definitely Was and is. |
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Post by mm67 on Jul 14, 2023 9:15:37 GMT -5
I love Billy Collins. I saw him do a reading in CT years ago and he was very engaging. I also own several of his books. One of my favorite poems is call Introduction to Poetry. This is just the end of it: I want them to water-ski across the surface of a poem waving at the author's name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means. That is fantastic writing--what a way with metaphors!! Possible reference to the drudgery of some classroom teachers of poetry. I know he had at least one extraordinary, superb English teacher at Stepinac who no doubt led his students to water ski across the surface of a poem. HC? |
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 14, 2023 10:28:32 GMT -5
Apparently, LGA is a "fun" place for pilots between flying over the bridges between Queens/Bronx and the relatively short runways. hoops will correct me if my memory is wrong but believe one or more planes ended in the water over the years overrunning or skidding off the end of the runway. However, San Diego is apparently more hazardous as having flown into it numerous times, they have to skim some high rise buildings on hilltops and actually fly between some buildings and then drop down quickly onto a carrier-like runway. If memory serves, kind of like the Gibraltar airport where traffic crosses the runway on occasion. In San Diego's case, for the Coast Guard station traffic.
My grandparents' home in Floral Park (the Nassau section, not Queens), was under the Idlewild (now JFK) flight path. Remember the Constellations well and thrilled when those first jet planes started flying over.
And, yes, I recall the LGA observation deck too.
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Post by alum on Jul 14, 2023 10:31:49 GMT -5
I don't recall Bob Cording allowing waterskiing in Keats and Yeats. We covered a lot of poems so I suppose there was not much torture going on, either.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 14, 2023 10:42:32 GMT -5
Apparently, LGA is a "fun" place for pilots between flying over the bridges between Queens/Bronx and the relatively short runways. hoops will correct me if my memory is wrong but believe one or more planes ended in the water over the years overrunning or skidding off the end of the runway. However, San Diego is apparently more hazardous as having flown into it numerous times, they have to skim some high rise buildings on hilltops and actually fly between some buildings and then drop down quickly onto a carrier-like runway. If memory serves, kind of like the Gibraltar airport where traffic crosses the runway on occasion. In San Diego's case, for the Coast Guard station traffic. My grandparents' home in Floral Park (the Nassau section, not Queens), was under the Idlewild (now JFK) flight path. Remember the Constellations well and thrilled when those first jet planes started flying over. And, yes, I recall the LGA observation deck too. Nothing can compare to the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong---approaching over the stinking harbor and flying between apartment buildings that were so close that it seemed you could reach out and grab the hanging laundry. |
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jul 14, 2023 11:02:27 GMT -5
To this day I enjoy watch planes take off and land. My family doesn't understand this interest but they tolerate it.
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 14, 2023 11:05:38 GMT -5
Took both my grandchildren to PVD on more than one occasion as Airport Road the planes fly overhead to land (not far from my avatar picture w/Bob Chesney). They've since lost interest.
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Post by hchoops on Jul 14, 2023 20:07:49 GMT -5
Apparently, LGA is a "fun" place for pilots between flying over the bridges between Queens/Bronx and the relatively short runways. hoops will correct me if my memory is wrong but believe one or more planes ended in the water over the years overrunning or skidding off the end of the runway. However, San Diego is apparently more hazardous as having flown into it numerous times, they have to skim some high rise buildings on hilltops and actually fly between some buildings and then drop down quickly onto a carrier-like runway. If memory serves, kind of like the Gibraltar airport where traffic crosses the runway on occasion. In San Diego's case, for the Coast Guard station traffic. My grandparents' home in Floral Park (the Nassau section, not Queens), was under the Idlewild (now JFK) flight path. Remember the Constellations well and thrilled when those first jet planes started flying over. And, yes, I recall the LGA observation deck too. For one year in the early 70s I lived in Rockaway Beach , Queens, which was under the path of the infamous Concorde to JFK. The houses shook before and after the boom occurred. |
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jul 16, 2023 14:56:22 GMT -5
Apparently, LGA is a "fun" place for pilots between flying over the bridges between Queens/Bronx and the relatively short runways. hoops will correct me if my memory is wrong but believe one or more planes ended in the water over the years overrunning or skidding off the end of the runway. However, San Diego is apparently more hazardous as having flown into it numerous times, they have to skim some high rise buildings on hilltops and actually fly between some buildings and then drop down quickly onto a carrier-like runway. If memory serves, kind of like the Gibraltar airport where traffic crosses the runway on occasion. In San Diego's case, for the Coast Guard station traffic. My grandparents' home in Floral Park (the Nassau section, not Queens), was under the Idlewild (now JFK) flight path. Remember the Constellations well and thrilled when those first jet planes started flying over. And, yes, I recall the LGA observation deck too. For one year in the early 70s I lived in Rockaway Beach , Queens, which was under the path of the infamous Concorde to JFK. The houses shook before and after the boom occurred. Rockaway was also the unfortunate site of the American Airlines crash just 2 months after September 11th. A high school friend of mine lost his entire family on that tragic day. His house was impacted with his parents and young siblings inside -- he was on the way to school. Enrique Wilson of the Yankees would've been on that flight had the team not blown Game 7 against the Diamondbacks. He opted to catch an earlier flight back to DR with no parade to attend. |
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Post by hchoops on Jul 16, 2023 15:07:35 GMT -5
For one year in the early 70s I lived in Rockaway Beach , Queens, which was under the path of the infamous Concorde to JFK. The houses shook before and after the boom occurred. Rockaway was also the unfortunate site of the American Airlines crash just 2 months after September 11th. A high school friend of mine lost his entire family on that tragic day. . As was HC ‘67, ‘69 and ‘71 grads’ sister. |
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Post by bfoley82 on Jul 16, 2023 16:10:26 GMT -5
To this day I enjoy watch planes take off and land. My family doesn't understand this interest but they tolerate it. Take them to Maho Beach on Sint Maarten |
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Post by ts1970 on Jul 17, 2023 12:56:11 GMT -5
Billy Collins (HC & Stepinac) taught at Lehman College in the Bronx for many years, thus his Bronx business address. Like many of his generation it appears he has moved to Florida... As an aside, wife and I thought about moving to FL to retire but glad we didn’t. It’s just too damn hot down there and with climate change, it’s only getting worse with more heat and hurricanes. We’ll just stay in good, old soggy north Jersey for the duration with our cat kids. Amen. |
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 17, 2023 14:41:05 GMT -5
One thing the wife and I totally agreed on many years ago, we will never, ever, ever move to Florida. It was hot and humid even before Climate Change and worse now.
Baloney with the "but you just go from your air conditioned house, to your air conditioned car to the air condition mall/supermarket/hairdresser . . . . "
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Post by newfieguy74 on Jul 17, 2023 15:00:32 GMT -5
One thing the wife and I totally agreed on many years ago, we will never, ever, ever move to Florida. It was hot and humid even before Climate Change and worse now. Baloney with the "but you just go from your air conditioned house, to your air conditioned car to the air condition mall/supermarket/hairdresser . . . . " I recently saw a news story that said the bottom half of the country is going to be uninhabitable by 2070. I'm not sure how accurate this is, but when I see the extremes of weather around the country it doesn't seem so far-fetched. |
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Post by sader1970 on Jul 17, 2023 15:05:40 GMT -5
I expect with the Polar Ice Cap melting that at 360 feet elevation, my home will become beachfront property within 50 years. While I won't be in Florida at that time, I won't be in RI either. |
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jul 17, 2023 15:23:22 GMT -5
Weather is cyclical and always has been. Temps will swing back in the other direction
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