The old button from the Environmental Club days which I just happened to find on Earth Day! It is a little beat up (particularly the ends of the ribbon), but no worse for the wear, I think. And it is one of the few items that I have left from those days, so it carries a lot of great memories for me! Nothing Changes Until You Do!
Here is a picture of a very similar logo, with the same message, that was on the t-shirt that I purchased from the BCC Environmental Club and, if memory serves me correctly, may even have helped to make. There were a few projects like that which club members, myself included, were regularly involved with. It has been so long, however, that I no longer recall specifically if I actually helped to make these or not, although I do believe so, since I remember seeing the process of the t-shirts being dyed. In any case, I loved this t-shirt, and have kept it ever since, even if I do not regularly wear it. Since it was part of my experience with the BCC Environmental Club days, as well as more generally having an environmental theme, it seemed appropriate to share it here.
"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed."
~Mahatma Gandhi
"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."
Today, April 20th, is an important date in history. Not all of it is good history. On a sinister note, this date also marks some truly sobering anniversaries. April 20th was Hitler's birthday. And a not completely unrelated note, April 20th was the day that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold went into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, and committed murder on a massive scale, with what was then the worst school shooting in history. Also, today was the day that President McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war with Spain back in 1898, which was more or less the Iraq invasion of it's time.
Yet, it is another anniversary for me, on a personal note. Two things actually (three, if you include my family's cat's 1st birthday is today). The first that I want to mention is that it was two years ago that my girlfriend and I went out on our first date. The second thing would be that on this date back in 1995, the Environmental Club of Bergen Community College (BCC), which I was then president of, celebrated it's annual Earth Day festivities.
Since this is also around the time of Earth Day (it will officially be on Tuesday, April 22nd this year - two days from now), it seemed appropriate to start writing a couple of things here and there in recognition of this holiday that is growing in importance. And since this combines both Earth Day, and my own personal memories of one particular Earth Day that I was active for, it seemed fitting to post this here and now.
It took a lot of work (months, really) to try and coordinate the event. I had not idea that something that took so much planning would come and go so quickly, but it did. The day went by remarkably quickly, all things considered. And, I will say, it was more or less a success, as well. A few glitches, and I think I get into that in the following piece which I first published a year ago, in recognition of this event. Here is what I wrote about it last year:
So, it is that time of the year again. Earth Day week, one of my favorite times of the year. And talking about Earth Day often gets me to reflect a bit on my own, most memorable Earth Day memory. It was back in 1995, and I was serving as the President of the Environmental Club of Bergen Community College. The academic year was fast coming to a term, and so was my time serving as the head of the Environmental Club. Yet the biggest event was this one: Earth Day.
Now, there were plenty of other clubs at Bergen. Sharing or being neighbors with many of them in the office space for clubs, I in fact got to know many of the wonderful people in other clubs, like the Latin America Student Association, the Caribbean Club, the Computer Club, the Student Activities Board, Student Government, the Bergen Monitor (the school newspaper which soon would be renamed The Torch, and which I would soon become a prominent member of myself) and a number of others. One or two of them helped the Environment Club on Earth Day with tables.
My first major impression of the Earth Day when I first started at Bergen in the spring of 1993 was of how much fun it was. There were cool bands, some other activities, and a lot of people. The next year was similarly fun, although by then, I glimpsed just how much work it was behind the scenes. By 1995, however, the bulk of the responsibility fell on my shoulders, and it was a lot of work.
By the time Earth Day 1995 arrived, all of that work seemed to come in a rush of a day. The day before, I made a presentation with the Early Childhood Development club for little kids in a classroom setting. That was the first time I had done anything like that. The next day was our big day, though. I arrived very early in the morning, and started to try and arrange things. Meeting with the sound check guy from the library, who helped set up the stage and the sound system for the concert. Meeting a guest speaker who came down from Boston, and trying to get everything set up for him in the theater. Attending his lecture and then having lunch with him afterwards. Meeting with outside organizations like 4-H and a local church group, as well as some other clubs in the school (the Caribbean Club was one, I remember) who had tables set up for the all-day event. A poetry reading from one of the English professors at the school. Getting all of the tables, and then setting them up in the Student Center. Trying to prepare for the promised refreshments. If there was one areas which felt like a failure, it was the refreshments, although I had been working with a very limited budget. Then, of course, the concert itself, with all eight bands showing up. Meeting all of the bands. Dealing with an injured and bleeding band member after the lead singer hit him in the head while swinging the microphone stand around. Trying to arrange stage time for each band. Unfortunately, one band did not get to go on, and they were not pleased and threatened to kick my ass. In fact, they actually came to the school some weeks later during the summer session, and apparently were still in a threatening mood, although I was not there that day (more on that later).
In effect, it was an all-day festival, with as many activities and offerings as we could muster. For months, I had been trying to organize all of this. I would be lying to suggest that there was no small amount of trepidation on my end that I would not be able to produce any bands, or at least not enough. As it turns out, we ended up having the opposite problem: too many bands were booked, and each and every one of them showed up. Despite that, seven of them got stage time, and all eight of them wound up playing that day. Not perfect, but I felt proud of myself under the circumstances. Had I not waited as long as I did with the one injury to a band member - it took a long time for him to be attended by the nurse before he returned to finish the band's setlist - we probably would have gotten all of the bands some stage time. My mistake in retrospect, but you live and you learn.
As it turned out, the problem proved to be too many bands, something that I never could have foreseen. A large part of the reason why we ended up having more bands than we probably should was because of a friend of mine. Let's call him Glen, for now. Also, I felt at the time that it would be better to err on the side of caution and have too many bands playing, than not enough. Admittedly, I half expected one or two of the bands to not show up, perhaps not be able to make it, or cancel last minute. That, however, did not happen. They all showed up. Unfortunately, that ended up being a bit of a problem. And Public Safety turned to me to resolve on particular problem in this regard, which I will get to in a bit.
The names of the bands take some time to come to the surface of my memory, and even then, there is uncertainty, because a lot of time has passed: Blue Eden, Blue, Rest Assured with lead singer Jay Thought, Freak of Nature (they were freaks of nature, alright, but a bit more on that later), and the biggest band on the itinerary, Marble, who almost made it big, evidently, having had their song played once on Z-100, in the middle of the night (don't laugh, that is often how those kinds of momentum things work).
Admittedly, it was difficult to plan, and we were planning right up until the last minute. Remember, I was juggling a lot at the time, between trying to plan for this particular event, and others that the Environmental Club was involved with, while also preparing for exams, as well as working part-time at Fortunoff's, and of course also trying to maintain something of a social life. Also, I had never before been responsible for anything quite like this. It proved far more stressful than I would have liked it to be, and that is not including everything else what was going on. So it was not exactly the best laid plans, however. In fact, much of the fiasco nature of some of what happened was directly attributable to poor planning, and much of that poor planning, admittedly, was directly attributable to me.
I mean, we had some ideas, and the ideas were great. But when it came to execution?
Well, let's just say that I felt a bit overwhelmed at the time. I mean, this was an actual concert (of sorts, at least), that I was trying to set up!
In retrospect, there probably was too much. Too many bands, sure. But a guest speaker, other clubs and organizations being involved, a presentation on my end, a poetry reading, and what passed for refreshments. I had wanted it all to be perfect, and fooled myself into believing that there would always be plenty of time to arrange everything. Not realizing how quickly the time would pass, how the day suddenly was upon me. How utterly chaotic it all felt.
Yet, it all came together, more or less. We had all of those events and tables, and the poor excuse for the refreshments. All of the bands showed up, and they all wound up playing, even if one of those bands set up outside of the Student Center and played outside, kind of late at night. Still people had another impression of the day, congratulating me on what they saw as a success. The Environmental Club won "Most Active Educational Club" award, and I was nominated (but did not win) Most Dedicated Member of a Club" award. It was regarded as a success, for the most part. Then again, most of those people were not with me behind the scenes. They probably had no idea of the sheer and utter chaos and stress and everything involved.
Still, all in all, it was definitely an experience. One which I am still grateful to have, even if I still view it mostly through the prism of it having been taxing and very stressful. Despite that, there was a sense of accomplishment once it was over and done. Even I began to feel like it had been a success, mostly because it appeared that way to enough people after the fact.
I remember the aforementioned Glen (you will see him again for my post on the Pearl Jam Uniondale show 10th anniversary, April 30, 2013) doing some makeshift stand-up that absolutely bombed. He threw jokes - tons of them, actually. But there was no reaction. I mean, zero, zip, zilch. Not even me, and we were pretty good friends! I laughed at the complete lack of reaction of everyone there (it became a running joke between us that night), but his spiel just wasn't funny, truth be told.
The one time that people actually laughed was accidental. There had been a girl who had read poetry, and she was quite short. Glen was the opposite, tall and awkward, if you will. So when he walked up after her poetry, and then clumsily tried to get the microphone back up so he could speak into it more easily, people laughed. But that was pretty much the only time people laughed, it seemed.
Here's one example that I remember, and you'll probably understand why after this description. This was the time of the OJ Simpson trial, and anyone who remembers that time period will tell you that there was no escaping the news headlines that this generated. People were sick and tired of hearing about it.
Anyway, I remember him asking the room if anyone had heard the latest news on the OJ trial. I guess he was trying to get a laugh, I can't be sure. But what he got was total silence, with all eyes fixed upon him. it was hard to tell if it was in anticipation of something (which he never delivered) or indifference. One way or the other, it was embarrassing, and did not get the intended response. If there had been crickets nearby, they would have been heard quite clearly.
But as he walked off the stage, one guy (this guy worked in the library, and always was a bit strange) came up to Glen very enthusiastically, and began to talk his ear off about all of the latest news tidbits from the OJ trial that day. I remember Glen feigning interest, and trying to suppress a smile as I stood behind the guy who was talking his ear off, and laughing.
One of the bands, Freak of Nature, wanted to personally kick my ass. And they probably could have done it. When you think of rock bands - who are artists after all - you often think of skinny guys who are, more often than not, mellow about a lot of things. Not these guys. They were all really big guys, six foot plus. More than one of them, including the lead singer, were muscle-headed monsters with vacant expressions in their eyes, I'm pretty sure that they could indeed have (and would have) kicked my ass, if given the chance. They really lived up to their band name, "Freak of Nature".
The reason for that is that they did not get the chance to be on stage to play. We probably had booked too many bands - eight in all. We figured that they could all play for somewhere between half and hour to forty minutes (I forget which). But we almost got all eight on. Unfortunately, there was an incident when one of the lead singers for one of the bands struck the head of either his guitarist or bassist (I forget which), and he then needed medical attention. I thought it might be five minutes, a brief respite, while he got band-aids, or something. It wound up being a hell of a long time, and I should have told them, "Sorry, guys, but we have other bands waiting."
Instead, I waited. It was a long wait. Admittedly, perhaps I was a bit distracted with other things (there were plenty of other things going on that day, not just the concert aspect). Looking back on it now, if there was one mistake that I clearly made on that day, I think that was it. But hindsight is always 20/20, is it not?
I sympathized. At least, that was, until they literally physically threatened me. They started playing outside, and Public Safety came up to me with some urgency, and told me that they needed to stop, before they called the police. I talked to them, and they finished one or two songs. They just wanted to play. Can't fault them for that. But things don't go your way, and you physically try to threaten someone as a result? What happened was a mistake, and certainly not intentional. But for threatening me like that, they lost any and all of my sympathy at that point. Sorry, but it's true. I was doing the best that I could under the circumstances. And it wasn't like I had a ton of experience at organizing such an event, which proved to be, in fact, a nightmare.
Evidently, they even came looking for me later that summer. But I was not there, because I had not signed up for any summer classes. Perhaps they again were trying to intimidate me. Based on what I heard, that seemed to be the case. Fortunately, though, I was nowhere to be found. That was the last that I ever heard from them. Good riddance!
When that night was finally over, there was one feeling that dominated all others for me. And it was not what I had expected it to be. It was just sweet relief. One way or the other, it was not done and part of the past. No more organizing, no more stress. Well, there were final exams, but no more stress in terms of preparing for an event like that one. And while it had not been perfect or gone off without a hitch, it still felt to me like that day was more of a success than a failure.
Today, it felt like I should take a bit of time to remember it here, since all of that happened 30 years ago today. Hard to believe, but true.
This is a picture of a rough draft of the itinerary for Earth Day 1995. At that point we had six bands, although one of them was a maybe. That band, Good Girls Don't, did not make it, if memory serves correctly. Inside Red also probably was not there, and I feel that The Understudies also were not there on that day. Then again, some or all of those bands may have been there. My memory is not what it used to be. But the names of a few other bands that did play on that day include Blue, Marble, and Fister Droodle, which are al listed here. Some that are not listed, but played, include Blue Eden, Rest Assured, Freak of Nature
Yet another itinerary. This one was written out on a bank statement envelope. The bank itself seems to have disappeared from New Jersey, so it dates this picture. However, I wrote out a rough draft of the bands that were likely to play (see above) with estimated times. As mentioned earlier, Blue, Marble, and Fister Droodle were there, as was Blue Eden (I remember the name confusion with the band Blue), the Poets, and Rest Assured (with their lead singer, Jay Thought). If memory serves correctly, I believe that it was the Poets who had that incident with the lead singer swinging the microphone stand around and accidentally hitting either his guitarist or bassist in the back of his head, causing bleeding. That, in turn, led to a stoppage in their setlist which wound up taking a very long time. In retrospect, I should have told them that this used up their time, and that we needed to get other bands on the stage. Ah, well, you live and you learn.
This is a picture of the award which the Environmental Club received for being the "1995 Most Active Educational Club" at Bergen Community College. I was proud to accept this award, admittedly.
