Readers & Writers:

Jersey City's Conveyer #2...

Posted by Maureen Berzok July 29, 2007 2:15PM
http://blog.nj.com/writers/2007/07/jersey_citys_conveyer_2.html

NJ Transit and I have always
had a complicated
relationship
Often I curse the trains for lateness
or infrequent service

Often I've vowed never to ride again

But let's face it, I don't have a car
and this is New Jersey
Who Am I Kidding?

Lately I feel I spend half my life
waiting for the 86:
This is the bus I take to work
it travels from the Newport Mall
to West New York via
the scenic but pot-hole laced
Palisade Avenue and then to
New York Avenue and then over to Bergenline Avenue--
(A Shopper's Paradise.)

Often I'm waiting in front
of Dickinson High School watching
the teens saunter into the building
listening to the assistant principal warning
them over the PA that they have
60 seconds to get to class --
then he counts --
20 - 19 - 18 - 17 -
this strategy would have been
as useless at my high school as it is
here--
16 - 15 -
a few jog up the steps but
most continue to saunter --
4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - teachers!
close your doors!
on a beautiful day like today
that would have been enough
for me to turn around and
saunter off
somewhere else

The 86 defies any schedule
I've ever read
Each time I think I've cracked
the mystery code to leaving my
house at the right time,
I end up watching it
chug by me
as I arrive 90 seconds too late
to the stop

But the drivers are for the most part
friendly, and the evening drivers even
remember my stop.


I'm writing this from the 86--
We just passed the most beautiful
house in Jersey City, 531 Palisade Avenue
the historic Van Vorst House.
It's a stone cottage covered
with vines.

The temperature outside is a balmy
70 degrees but for some unknown reason,
on the 86 it's a sultry 95 degrees.

Thanks to the 86,
I'm late for work again--
But Oh, how I'd rather be on
the 159, going into Manhattan
to goof off instead...

.....Me and the 86 by Carol Van Houten in The Constant Reader

What makes Jersey City distinct from other cities? How does life differ here?
What does it feel like walking on this city's streets? These questions form the
voice of CONVEYER, an occasional publication about Jersey City. Through the
use of imagemaking and storytelling, CONVEYER attempts to articulate and
document this city's "sense of place" -- the things both tangible and intangible
that give Jersey City an identity all its own.
The second issue of CONVEYER, edited by Josef Reyes, is now available at the following locations:

IMAGINE ATRIUM
528 Jersey Avenue
Jersey City NJ 07302
tel# 201 451 4848

JERSEY CITY MUSEUM
350 Montgomery Street
Jersey City NJ 07302
tel# 201 413 0303

LIFE
112 Morris Street
Jersey City NJ 07302
tel# 201 332 1444

Interesting verb convey. It means transport("convey information,") transmit ("convey using a particular fequency,") and impart ("convey an understanding.")
All these definitions appply to this "occasional publication" about New Jersey's Gateway City on the Hudson. Go grab one and read it on the 86.

Today's Writing Prompt.....
Write about the things you see on your commute to/from work. What are some of the names of the stores? Same old guy sitting out on his stoop every day? What's the most interesting building you pass?

Keep Writing,
Maureen