Once upon a time, while I was picking up beach revelers’ garbage with a stick, somewhat like this:
one (1) difference, being — I got paid, by State of New York…
and, second (2) being, I was clad with a canvas bag slung over my shoulder, and ‘topped off’ with a ‘cute’ white sailor cap crowning my brown hair (grayed out, now) .
A ‘fringe’ benefit was, I was serenaded by transistor radios, like (older sandy bottomed patrons) would blare out
Whilst, a few ‘Beach Blanket Bingo Blankets away…Younger, more perky (and generally, more amorous patrons & bikini clad patronesses) dialed their Japanese made radios into “Cousin Brucie’ hailing from the Big Apple, listening to stuff like:
Inspiring stuff as I huntied down dirtied Pampered diapers, jettisoned soft drink and beer, aluminum cans, glass & plastic bottles…
What a BLAST!
In retrospect…It wasn’t that bad of a job, for a teenager, saving up tuition (only $400 semester, at another NY State enterprise, SUNY at Stony Brook…in the ‘Good Ole Summertime…Days gone by)
NOW…dear readers…and/or music lovers….
WHAT’S all this nostalgic nonsense got to do with GRETA THUNBERG???
Glad you asked!! Plenty!
First, a brief introduction…in case she’s been forgotten after just a YEAR of getting vast MASS MEDIA TIME for her ‘SAVE THE PLANET’ Crusade, shall we venture to say
Actually, after the ‘sparse’ applause she received…NO WONDER she’s ‘disappeared from airwaves…especially with a ‘itsy Bitsy Teenie weenie, amarilla polka dot bik__
Sorry, I’ve digressed…meant to say…”Special Ops’ going on in Ukraine.
And Germany and other EUROs stocking up on coal, fire wood, etc. for the cold winter.
And, Greta….temporarily, “Gone with the Wind’
However, here’s good ole Greta, just a couple years before that, sailing over ‘Atlantis’….well, at least, the Atlantic Ocean…without leaving any CARBON FOOTPRINTS’ … whatsoever.
WOW! Landing at Plymouth…Rock….like ‘pavo’ turkey time at end of November?? Those billowing sails in the wind, were NOT stomping the pristine skies with BIG FOOT Carbon Prints, too.
What a SPITFIRE!! Somewhat like this English youngster, Hazel, during WW2
A young lady….on a Mission…with a cause…besides…me, myself, and I!!
Sooooo…are yez’all beginning to SEE the affinity I share (in some respects, with G.T.) ??
C’mon, connect the dots. Like they do with kids at day care centers, or VBS during a week of summer vacation.
My mission (at least, in part) on the white sandy Long Island beaches NOT so long ago…WAS:
Remove ‘petro based carbon footprints off American coast lines!!
One thing for sure…Greta sends off different vibes than this Young Swedish sensation…
Take a gander!! Compare and Contrast
Plodding on ahead, leaving battle fields and beaches, for a moment
What did I do with the ‘plunder’ I got between Memorial Day and Labor Day…
Attended ‘Da Brook’ (as mentioned earlier) I guess ‘cos my GPA & SAT’s weren’t high enough, to gain entrance to Columbia, nor other IVY U’s.
However, I did learn the IMPORTANCE of the ability to ‘C & C’ over the course of my life.
NOT during my 2 year stint at ‘da Brook’…and DROP OUT
More like attending “the University of Life’ as Jamie proclaims in Spielberg’s flick
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
And, no….after further analysis…I decided splurging my summer’s earnings at the U. de Brook
Was NO longer worth enduring even one more…UNfunny, ‘kick sand in face’ cliché joke…I’d heard thousands of times:
“Howse business? Picking up?”
Get ‘em a spot on ’ the Ed Sullivan Show’ as wanna be comedians!!
ONE last thought (& another You Tube, naturally) …then I’m outta here….for this edition of ‘The Gray Panting’
Total Recalling ‘Simon & Garfunkel’ songs, during my mopping up beach exercises as a late teen:
Sister…Brother…HOW I’d actually LOVE to do a rephrase….new lyrics…parody? Of this ‘Oldie but Goodie’
For GRETA, most definitely NOT characterized as Mrs. Rob….at all
the direct opposite….of that character
Contrast and Compare (the good ole C & C, again)
Perhaps….lyrics something along the lines”
“Here’s to you, Ms. Greta Thunberg” (Good Opening Line)
Further along….the part of “Joe DiMaggio’
The NY Yankee who married, and tried to ‘save Marilyn Monroe’
From the ‘Wolves of Wall Street’
Nahhh…more like ‘los lobos de Hollywood….D.C. too…
Passed around like a ‘party favor’ for birthdays, Christmas parties, whatever.
Bunches and bunches of flix about Ms. Monroe over the decades since….even today. almost as many as all the pieces of trash I picked up over the years
Andy Warhol even did MOMA a favor, and had (still have) silk screen exhibits of her, there.
POINT being….the ‘Joltin’ Joe’ part of the song….would need a radical make over, for 2022 audience.. to make it ‘work’ for Greta.
Have FUNDING….(t shirts, baseball caps, mugs) will do!
But, for now, as ‘Uncle Walter Cronkite’ on CBS news signed off:
“And that’s the way it is (or was)”
Good night….until next Gray Panting Post. C ya!
