NJ Discover Explorations:   My Day at IDT CORPORATION in Newark   by Calvin Schwartz   March 20, 2017

I’ve been thinking about the directional form this article should take. It’s been two hours on a college basketball filled Saturday afternoon staring at my computer screen, listening to folk songs from the sixties, reading a special book given to me at IDT last week, and finally exercising my free choice now, getting to that fork in the road and taking it; I’m going down the yellow brick un-orthodox road. There’s too much energy inside me.

So here we go with a bold statement about IDT and me. I wish I’d gone to a mathematician for the final approximations here but I think the odds of everything that has ensued with my burgeoning experience with IDT falls into the ‘billion to one’ category; a powerful distant number, hinting of a special synchronicity in the universe; a meant to be and something which you can’t make up, not even Jules Verne or George Orwell.

A brief (if I can be that) explanation. Last July, I began “mentoring” a few of my close Rutgers friends who started an amazing company called, PeduL, a crowdfunding source for college students to raise money for tuition.  We’d meet once a month over dinner and explore the inter-connectivity of our generations; millennials and a baby-boomer working together. A year or so ago, IDT Ventures in Newark (my hometown, birth city) headed by Jacob Jonas, reached out to PeduL and brought them into the IDT family. “IDT Ventures invests in early-stage startups and helps them rapidly develop their ideas and raise follow-up rounds of financing.” Last August, I went to IDT’s offices to interview the PeduL team for an NJ Discover Spotlight article. Confession; I didn’t know a lot about IDT other than it was a giant tele-communications company.

Chisa Egbelu, recent Rutgers graduate, (I mentioned “plastics” to him at graduation), and ‘Business Operator’ of PeduL took my wife and me on a brief tour of IDT’s offices which became for me, an amalgam of mind expansion and disbelief; this was an incredible sleeping giant of a company that was involved in so much diverse creativity. Standing outside of the IDT headquarters building after the PeduL interview, I stared, much like Deborah Kerr’s character in ‘Affair to Remember,’ looking up at the Empire State Building, and I knew there was something magical in that building. I just didn’t know what it was, yet.

In October, I was back at IDT, this time bringing the PeduL team to Senator Cory Booker’s office to see whether government can assist PeduL. PeduL as its founders envision it, would help divert some of the cost of college education away from government; the good old win-win situation. Two weeks ago, based on my relationship with PeduL and my journalistic proclivities at NJ Discover, Jacob Jonas called, inviting me to spend a day of illumination at IDT. I randomly mentioned to Jacob, my flying on a ten-hour trip last August, sitting on the flight next to David Polinsky, the President and General Counsel of Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical company which IDT had just invested in. Mr. Polinsky was sitting next to Jacob as we spoke. This is just an elemental part of that billion to one premise. And I’ll leave it now for imagination and energy reclamation.  IDT also spun off an energy business (Genie Energy), a publishing and entertainment company (IDW Media), and an extremely popular phone personalization mobile application (Zedge). To top it off, IDT Entertainment, a former subsidiary of IDT Corp., used to do the animation work for the Simpsons!

That morning trip to IDT last week was punctuated with heavy downpours.  I encountered some flooding and aggravating traffic. As soon as I parked on the second level garage, the sun came out; one more function of synchronicity in the universe. Jacob met me in the lobby and my day of mind expansion was underway. There was a brief stop in CEO Howard Jonas’ office. The far wall was a montage of countless family photos. I thought instantly about tell-tale signs of a soulful, introspective, caring CEO, of, for and by the people.  Jacob presented me with copies of Howard’s bestselling books. I read one this afternoon: ‘I’m Not the Boss. I Just Work Here’.

As we strolled along the halls, Jacob pointed out some of IDT’s business divisions and gave a brief history of the company. IDT was started in 1990 by Howard Jonas, who began his legendary business career with a very successful hot dog stand as a young teenager in the Bronx.  I saw a striking logo on a wall, a hand holding a cell phone.  It’s part of their retail division, BOSS Revolution, which primarily services immigrant communities with payments and communications services.

Jacob set aside some time for me to meet with the man behind IDT’s PicuP division, Zali Ritholtz. My head was about to spin. I could tell by the degree of unbridled enthusiasm sitting across the desk. I looked at a large window overlooking downtown Newark where I arrived here on earth decades ago. He mentioned that a ‘Whole Foods’ was opening a new store across the street as we spoke.  I fastened my seat belt. Zali was pure lift-off the launching pad type of energy.

I didn’t really know PicuP except for Googling it the night before.  PicuP is a business phone service that answers, routes and manages inbound calls. “So tell me more, Zali.” He was quick and ready.  Funny about my journalism; I could tell there was an enthusiasm contagion in the office. PicuP is focused on serving small and medium sized businesses and startup companies. “The ultimate goal of PicuP is to help businesses manage all of their communication channels (phone, chat, messaging, social media, etc…) in an easy and efficient way.”

Zali told me a story of calling his cell phone provider. He was on hold for 10 minutes. The agent helped him and then asked him if he had any more questions. He hung up, but a few seconds later, he had another question. He had to call back and get a new agent. Zali added, “My vision of a perfect world; there should be a log of all my communications between the provider and myself. When I finish the conversation, a text comes in. Do I want to continue this conversation? You have options to continue through chat, SMS, phone call, video or any other medium the business offers. That would make life so much easier for the customer, making the business more successful in the long run.”  I realized this was the evolution of PicuP.

PicuP built a very simple, easy to use service. “Any small business can sign up completely for free and have a full phone system setup in less than 5 minutes. Get a phone number, welcome greeting (auto attendant), departments to group users and extensions, call screening, find me follow me, voicemail to email and more.”  Next Zali gave me the practical side of things. “Let’s say you take your family to Disney World. You are stuck because you want to disconnect from your business calls but still want to receive personal calls. It’s a very big challenge. You are choosing between losing business or losing family time.  PicuP gives you the ability to take your existing cell phone and have it serve as both your personal and your business phone so you can disconnect when you need to.”

I knew this could make people’s lives so much easier.  “PicuP’s vision is to bring all communications together under one hood. This is a game changer! It will change lives.” Then Zali explained how IDT recently acquired LiveNinja, a Miami-based startup on the cutting edge of B2C messaging technology. The plan is to integrate LiveNinja’s messaging solution with PicuP, further cementing IDT’s status as a leading innovator in B2C communications services. “LiveNinja’s offering allows customers visiting a business’s site to start conversations through a chat widget, and then move the conversation over to SMS so they can continue communicating even after they leave the site.” This was spot on with the PicuP vision. “Once the PicuP and LiveNinja integration is completed, the new offering will provide businesses with a communications solution, where they can speak to their customers through multiple channels including phone, messaging, chat, Facebook messenger and more, from their computer or mobile, combining the experience into one crisp and easy to use product. All the verticals of communication under one hood. Powerful!  The best part? You can try out PicuP’s basic plan completely for free. One phone number pulls everything together. As you grow your business, you can upgrade to larger plans.”

“It’s a wow,” I exclaimed.  My exuberant thinking was that for start-ups and small business, PicuP is like a ‘David Copperfield’ illusionist. When a business has all these tools, customers subliminally and consciously think, they are dealing with a large successful company. It’s like a silent salesperson. I know customers are not patient; they want quick responses. People also like to hang around success.  Make customers remember you. Zali mentioned that my friends at PeduL are using PicuP. It is a perfect smart world. “No more calling the dry cleaners and being placed on hold. Just text them.”  I said it again, “This is such a wow! And a game changer!”  For a third time that day, I realized that IDT is that sleeping giant at the precipice of changing our world.

Jacob walked in ready to continue our tour. I looked at both of them, with my actor straight face, remembering they just met me and don’t know my quirks and said, “You guys pissed me off today with all this amazing input and technology and game changing. I won’t be able to sleep for the entire next week as I’m processing and digesting all you’ve told me today. I hate not sleeping.”  We all laughed. They got my nuance spot on.

Jacob and I sat in a cubicle with a round table. We talked about IDT’s recent investment in Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, “a clinical-stage, oncology-focused pharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of therapies that exploit the metabolic differences between normal cells and cancer cells.” I reminded Jacob that in an earlier life, I was a pharmacist, educated down the street at Rutgers Pharmacy School. I was particularly interested in Cornerstone’s lead cancer drug, CPI-613, because I had Googled that too, the night before.  Jacob continued, “The theory is that CPI-613 selectively targets the indispensable energy production (metabolic) processes in cancer cells. These metabolic processes are essential to cancer cell multiplication and survival. CPI-613 has shown promising results in clinical trials.”

Jacob continued, “IDT is truly one of the most groundbreaking companies in New Jersey.  IDT has impacted a wide variety of industries: telecom, tech, entertainment, energy and now pharma. And that’s only the tip of iceberg. IDT Ventures is investing in local technology start-ups. IDT’s Boss Revolution division offers its suite of communications and payment services in over 35,000 bodegas around the country. IDT’s rapidly growing National Retail Solutions division is in the process of rolling out “The World’s Greatest Point of Sale Terminal” to IDT’s massive bodega network. I mentioned NJ Discover’s commitment to Latino culture with our October TV Show, “Neo Latino Artists Come to NJ Discover.” This got Jacob excited, “We have very deep ties with the Latino community. Many of our employees are Spanish speaking and are natives of Latin American countries. Boss Revolution is trusted by Latinos in America who use our communications and payment services to connect with and share resources with their families back home.”

I smiled and repeated how the IDT visit had pissed me off. I told Jacob “I’ll never sleep because IDT is such a sleeping giant.” Jacob corrected me, “IDT is a giant that is ready to roar”. There is so much in my head. Jacob smiled. We talked about future think and my coming back. There is so much more to learn and explore. Jacob asked if NJ Discover is mobile referring to a future TV Show on site.  I said, “We are mobile, hostile and agile,” making reference to the movie ‘Remember the Titans.’ Also appropriate with IDT, another titan. As I thanked Jacob and did the goodbyes with him and Chisa, I added, “Maybe when I do come back, someone will buy me a hot dog.” I’m not sure they heard me so I’m closing this article with it.

SPECIAL COMING ATTRACTION: “COMEDY at THE HEADLINER” Neptune NJ November 12th    by Calvin Schwartz 

I continue to marvel at the exigencies of the universe with respect to synchronicity and commonality with fellow earth travelers. Three years ago, I bumped into Matt Swartz, energetic matrix behind Comedy Coach Productions, at a shore networking event. The meeting was perfunctory, pleasant, brief and seemingly permanently concluded with an exchange of business cards. Then, a few weeks ago, those aforementioned forces extant at Facebook, brought Matt and I together again; this time, with purpose and vision. Part of the forces were Matt’s comedic affiliations and pursuits. I love, love comedy. I need to laugh more than extemporaneously. Through the process of information gathering (not lurking) I discovered (I do write  for NJ Discover) that Matt is also a long time educator in Newark’s Public Schools. I am a product of Newark schools. The synchronicity deepens.

Lately, I’ve written about education and the future of planet earth so I am drawn to an educator’s aura. Matt and I met last week at the juncture of two Monmouth County roads for coffee and absolutely no donuts. I was keenly interested in his role as teacher, educator and track and field coach in Newark. And I was just as captivated with Matt’s comedic journey which began with his amazing comedian father Danny, who worked the Catskills and traveled around the country.

Finally, Matt told me about the special comedy show series he’s producing, “Comedy at The Headliner” which opens November 12^th. I was “sold” immediately. It features well known comedians Peaches Rodriguez, Mike Spade(also magician) and is hosted by the hilarious Dave Lester. It’s a fun night in Neptune on Route 35 at The Headliner along the banks of the Shark River, my favorite river on earth. I love to laugh and we’ll do plenty of that on November 12^th. So get off the sedentary sofa and come on down to the Jersey Shore.                        Calvin

Schwartz

FOR TICKETS CALL: Matt @ 732-397-4848 or Syasia at (848) 667-6338

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE:   https://www.facebook.com/events/1761886257406942/

The Legendary HEADLINER, the Shore’s Number 1 Night Club, along with Comedy Coach Productions presents the Shore’s newest, and hottest monthly Comedy Show starting Nov. 12th! Other dates to follow are December 10th, January 14th, and February 11th.

Doors open at 7 pm, Show starts at 8pm, and then when the show is over, dance and enjoy the rest of your evening with one of the shore’s best DJs. Nationally known comics from all over will be hitting the stage to bring the LOL. Comics from HBO, BET, TV, Movies, will be appearing each month.

Ticket price (only $20) to include admission to the show and all night to the Headliner. Plus, your first drink (wine, beer, or soda) is covered in your admission price. There will be food and drink specials all night!

More details to follow, but if you have any questions contact Matt Swartz at 732-397-4848.

PEACHES RODRIGUEZ:

Peaches is a Latina Diva of Comedy, who is a nationally touring comic, and a regular in Atlantic City and Las Vegas. She has appeared on CBS Paula Abdul Show, opened for Arsenio Hall at Caesars in Atlantic City, has performed at the world famous Apollo Theater and spoke at Yale University’s “Women in Comedy” panel last February.  Peaches is a veteran comic who is respected by her peers and all audiences she has performed for. She is a firecracker guaranteed to make the crowd explode with laughter.

MIKE SPADE:

A lifelong “Jersey Boy”, born and raised in Essex County, Mike has been entertaining audiences throughout the country for years, performing in comedy clubs, colleges, private parties, corporate events, and more.  He has been an opening act for Regis Philbin, Jeff Dunham, Chris Rock, Bon Jovi, and many others, including the entire cast of Celebrity Apprentice at their Season 12 finale. He consistently astounds audiences with his unrelenting energy and riotous Comedy-Magic. Mike’s show is filled with tons of amazing and hysterical routines.  With the perfect blend of Magic and Comedy, whether experiencing the sleight of hand artistry or the stand-up wizardry of Mike Spade, the audience will not believe their eyes! Cards, coins, and other objects vanish, re-appear, change colors, morph and materialize right before your very eyes!

MATT SWARTZ:

A lifelong public educator, and Head Varsity Track and Field Coach, Matthew formed Comedy Coach Productions in 2010, to bring Professional Comedy to the shore! His first show starred the legendary comedian HAMBURGER in Asbury Park. Matt has produced shows in Asbury Park, Ocean Township, Neptune, Brick, West Long Branch, and then expanded into Sayreville, Perth Amboy, and Newark. He has used his business to raise tens of thousands of dollars for College Teams, High School Teams, Breast Cancer Awareness, Autism, Little League Baseball, and most recently provide the entertainment for the Neptune Township Mayors Charity Ball that raised $20,000 for the Neptune Public Library.

Currently, Comedy Coach Productions has agreed to do four shows at the Shores Premiere Club, The Headliner, located on 1401 Route 35 in Neptune. The Jersey Shore’s hottest nightclub, The Headliner, is “High-Energy,” all the time. It is considered a favorite by locals and visitors alike due to its stellar entertainment lineup, close proximity to the Shore, and great hospitality. The Headliner is designed purely with the total entertainment experience in mind. You can have a drink, party with friends, get down on the dance floor, or grab a bite. Comedy Coach Production has joined forces with the Headliner to provide the Shore’s Best Monthly Comedy Show, featuring only A List Comedians.

FOR TICKETS CALL: Matt @ 732-397-4848 or Syasia at (848) 667-6338

NJ DISCOVER EXCLUSIVE: PeduL:  A New Company Changing the Way College Is Funded. A Brave New Young World.  By  Calvin Schwartz   August 8, 2016

Sitting in my office, early August, my thoughts racing to a Big Ten (Rutgers) college football field with its concurrent September dreams, I just ceremoniously slapped myself to “snap out of it” (Cher did that to Nicholas Cage in the movie ‘Moonstruck’). It worked. I’m concentrating now on PeduL, the incredible young minds that conceived this college funding game changer; the giant telecommunications company, IDT, which is nurturing them in Newark, New Jersey, my birthplace.

I’ve envisioned a series of articles, interviews and other media events to bring PeduL to journalistic light. They’ll need all of us come launch time. And funny thing, all of us, past, present and future have college kids in our lives. So don’t go away. One more point at the outset. Here is the PeduL link.  Check it out.   http://www.pedul.com

If you’ve checked it out and saw their TEAM, then you saw Chisa Egbelu, as their Business Operator. Chisa was my illuminating connection to the company. Chisa and I have an interesting history which now becomes relevant. Cut to three years ago, the Garden State Film Festival in Atlantic City. Chisa interned on a film that I needed to see. After the Q and A, he saw my Rutgers cap, magnetically approached, mentioned he was a sophomore at Rutgers, asked my connection and the rest is a precious history of alma mater and commonality.

As we discussed PeduL, their vision, energy and dedication, I knew my course of involvement. For decades, I’ve been watching ‘the news.’ So much of our extant world, the condition thereof, is a function of education. It’s so simple but not. What always blows me away, is the fact that a considerable number of eye-blinks ago, I went to Rutgers. My tuition was $500 per year and I managed to get a partial scholarship (They must’ve been plentiful as I resided in the middle of my class). End result, I personally (not my parents. I had two younger sisters to worry about) paid for my entire Rutgers education. No lifelong loans to pay back. No chains on hands or feet. I was debt-free when I left Rutgers with two degrees. I even managed to save my summer jobs money.

When I visited PeduL last week with my wife, a former three-decade educator, and Yolande Edme, a recent Rutgers graduate, Big Ten and NJ Discover broadcast intern, my first words of exclamation were how much the country and world needed what PeduL was doing. Then I asked Chisa what happened over the years that witnessed tuition going from $500 a year to $15,000. Chisa’s response was rapid fire, “The government doesn’t do what they used to anymore.”

Next I brought up how relevant and timely PeduL is. Their mission is front page global headlines. Bernie Sanders campaign in part focused on paying for all public colleges. LeBron James, a few weeks ago, gave $41 million so that 1100 kids could go to college. PeduL is right at the epicenter. Chisa totally agreed and was well aware.

I’d spend nearly three hours talking with Chisa and Murtala Aliyu, Developer and math genius in the vibrant atmosphere of IDT. Kayla Jackson, Project Manager and source of vast amounts of energy was out of the office that day. As journalistically sharing the thrill and vision of PeduL’s development will be an ongoing project; it’s that important for all of us; my purpose in this first installment is to summarize the inception and birth of PeduL and to begin to enlist readers and believers.

Chisa spoke about IDT, a global telecommunications company and their visionary executive. “He seemed like a one on one individual. A cool person to talk to. Like your friend’s grandfather.” IDT provides PeduL with space, legal team and great support, advice and consent in development. “They are international phone calling, entertainment companies, animation for ‘The Simpsons,’ and even look for oil. What I really respect about IDT is that they don’t stay in their own lane. Howard Jonas is Chairman, his son Samuel, CEO. His son has been great to me, really kind. The thing I respect most about Howard; he figures out what he wants to do and just does it.” I smiled remembering I worked for the same type of man, Leonardo Del Vecchio, for 25 years at Luxottica Group who operated the same way. IDT has branched out. It’s also why they have this venture aspect to the company which is PeduL.

I like to be a balanced interviewer; some heavy, some light approaches. “Chisa, where are you living?” I sensed he was all over the place just like he was at Rutgers; from playing Quidditch (Harry Potter), Rutgers radio and TV, excelling academically and being tapped for Rutgers’ highest honor, Cap and Skull, Senior Honor Society. “It depends. Tonight I’m in New Brunswick. Murtala and I have a meeting tomorrow in NYC. Sometimes I’m in Harlem or Morris Plains.”

I asked about a general overview how this all came about commenting, “It’s unusual for an undergrad to become a CEO?”  “It is unusual but more commonplace than you think.” He spoke about his roommate and best friend, Jarrett, a computer science genius (top 2% of class) but more passionate about music so he left Rutgers and enrolled at Berklee College of Music, his dream come true. The following summer, Jarrett came to visit and asked to move back. He couldn’t afford to stay at Berklee. “At this point, we were deep into Reddit culture, Kickstarter and cool things on the internet. Then the statement, “I wish there was Kickstarter for school.” But why isn’t there? From there, the roots started taking shape.”

Murtala had just walked in to our cubicle meeting. Chisa continued, “So before we got here, we had a great Business to Consumer aspect, and now Business to Business. That is our biggest leverage point on top of competitors.”  I interjected, “What about Jarrett?” “He moved in back then; our double became a triple. It was quite the year. He works at Lockheed-Martin now. He’s so good at computer science and realized music was a pipe dream if he can’t afford it.”

It was difficult to develop PeduL and find the right team. “It’s a lot especially doing it between classes, activities, internships, part-time jobs, events, parties. It was a lot of work. It’s also the reason no one has done this before. It’s overwhelming. There are so many different aspects, so much red tape to cut dealing with the bureaucratic system, education at one end matching with tech culture. Two different worlds. But that’s our culture now, embracing difficulty.” I love that phrase.

Chisa next dealt with media and how the business side leads the way. “When I was interning at NBC, the business side led the way. If they said it won’t work, that was it. I thought of trying to recruit the smartest kids in business school. I said we have this idea, are you interested. It seems a lot of them thought we could just throw it up and people would use it. My naiveté. But it moved me to go forward. We were 4, 5, 6 maybe 7 business partners at the beginning. They dropped it; too much work.”  Moving forward, Chisa took off a whole semester, interning and focused on looking for a team. “That’s how I found Murtala. Commitment and loyalty trumps everything else. We needed individuals passionate about the project which led us to Kayla in business school.  She is a superstar.”

“What’s the practical side of how this works?”  Chisa looked skyward for a moment; a sign of serious intention. “We are for profit. We made that decision. It was a difficult trade-off, weighing pros and cons. We were looking to creating a non-profit aspect within the company. Why we went profit? We decided to rely on what our features can bring. We are dealing with angel investors, putting in money, taking a certain percentage. It gets complicated with government involvement and transparency.  We’ll move faster and smoother because non-profit is cumbersome and full of regulations.”

I thought it was all about giving back and caring about the future of America and helping kids to get educated and not worrying about tax deductions which is really nickel dime stuff. Chisa liked my thinking.  “We are not cutting out attempts to get big donors and doors are open for millions of people to give something. Grassroots marketing is where we’re going. It’s who we are as a company.”  He explained what is best for them is a million people giving a few dollars.

There are two aspects to donations. One is to donate to an individual campaign. Secondly, you can donate to an institution page, a university, youth organization or high school.  I like to think of myself as a student of human nature so I asked, “What have you learned so far?” “The number one thing we learned is that in business there are no true favors. It’s all business.

They go to New York three to four times a week for meetings. They have learned how to dictate and move faster. They know there are no such things as favors. They are giving their supporters an opportunity because they are growing. IDT funds their lawyers.  Hugely important is how much money out of $1000 gets to the students. “We only take 4.9% off and are fans of transparency.”

“Can students come to you. Who decides?” “We’re starting off with students in need and academically deserving. They can make a campaign when coming to our website. We will also have University pages. Individuals can donate to that page (school) and allocate that to students. Money is sent off as a scholarship to those students.”  They are actually building a calculator now to find who is in need. Then you’re in and start soliciting money. They have the help on the business side and now need help on the education side. My mind was firing away on all the people I know in education. I was thrilled my wife became part of the discussion.

I also realized that their education journey required learning how to get to the decision maker; something I learned for 25 years at Luxottica. The other positive outcome, is the more they create awareness, the more it spreads around; the social media aspect as well.

Next we talked about the infinite amount of small businesses so perfectly suited to be involved. PeduL gives every small business owner, every company in existence an opportunity to give back to their communities. On local levels, they’ll involve Chamber of Commerce. “Ideally, we’d love every kid on our platform to be sponsored by a company. For example, the bakery down the street sponsors a student. The student is given tasks to do; for instance, getting people to like the bakery on Facebook, sharing bakery posts, watching their video, doing social media marketing for them. Out of the business marketing budget, they would pay $4 to 5 each time it takes place.” I realized it’s really not charity for the business; they are getting marketing. Regional companies have capital and need exposure. PeduL is a perfect win-win situation.

I told Chisa, Murtala and Yolande that my head was spinning and that is a good thing. It doesn’t spin often these days. I marvel at PeduL. There is such a need for their product, for educating our youth and insuring America’s future. I marvel at these kids from Rutgers and IDT. I believe I just enlisted and maybe got to some of you out there. Best to say now, to be continued. This article has not been personal but strictly business.

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS: THE JERSEY SHORE  July 9^th 2015   bY Calvin Schwartz

It’s the old proverbial; who better to write an article on memories of the Jersey shore. My ‘involvement’ begins before I was born, when my parents went to the Buena Vista, a Belmar hotel, for the weekend as WWII was slowly winding down in late 1944. They stayed in the attic; nine months later I arrived. When I was ten, my parents started renting a bungalow in Belmar for August. That first summer of ’55, I discovered the pinball arcade, navigating the dust underneath the machines for lost coins, the Shark River Jetty, its meditative properties and the olfactory sensations of the boardwalk, in part, which smelled like a telephone pole back in Newark.

The essence of the shore begins about six to ten blocks away from the sand and beach.  Somehow only in Jersey, with the flatness of the geography of shore towns, from a distance, you can see the end of New Jersey and America; the vast blueness of ocean and sky meeting. That view is priceless and exciting. It’s that first shore sighting; a giant window to memories and new daily beach badge experiences. Yes, the beach badge, with its convoluted pin affixed to bathing suit. If only a season badge someday.

As I interviewed a diverse group of Jerseyans, many mentioned unique shore smells. Author Karen Kenney Smith, remembering a summer week spent at Asbury Park’s Atlantic Hotel liked the “musty smell of the tired carpet.” Moist ocean air everywhere contributed. Rock on Radio personality Danny Coleman focused on the panoply of boardwalk smells. They were pure Jersey food on boardwalk smells but, “Pizza aroma was everywhere.”  Musician Carmen Cosentino still loves the smell of “peanuts on the boardwalk.” He explained somehow it mixes with the salt air of Jersey’s Atlantic Ocean and has this additive effect of making you want peanuts even more.

I’m not sure how I started talking about the hair-do of the Jersey shore but maybe we have our own home-grown style. Insurance industry analyst Susan Michelle’s grandmother’s friends always had their hair in a net sitting on the beach with cigarettes dangling from lips. A card game was always going on. Carmen’s thought on hair, “Jersey women had the strangest hair-do; it looked like a bee-hive.”   Kathy Sinnott’s grandmother left the beach every day at 3PM to prepare for happy hour.

“And what happened when you left the Jersey beach to go back to your houses?”   Kathy showered outside in the backyard in unique wooden showers with plank floors. It was to get rid of the sand fast. Susan used outside showers too or sometimes just a quick hose down on the back lawn covered with neatly manicured weeds and occasional crab grass.

I drifted into a serious line of questioning; parents and kids. Yes the Jersey shore fostered a special life-long bond and memory pool with relationships of kids to parents. Back then, people knew you as a kid and who you belonged to. Kathy remembered long talks with her Dad sitting on a porch or backyard before heading to the boardwalk. You always saw kids with parents hanging together. The shore was built for kids and parents. Retired Pharmacist Jack Cobin told about grandmothers sitting on benches and watching kids carefully and mother’s telling you not to go into the water for an hour after eating. “Kids in the neighborhood hanging out was like the Wonder Years; a naïve innocent time,” Kathy added. Writer and blogger Kevin Cieri thought, “Family time was playing Skeeball together.” Billie Jo McDonald, with more recent memories of the shore, would walk her children to the beach in November and wait for storms. For the homeschooling kids, they’d spend the first day of school on the beach.  “It got to be that the kids could read the riptide. The Jersey beach was a grounding spot.”

Food is Jersey definitive. Everyone remembers. It was the Good Humor ice cream truck. For me in the 50’s, it was a bakery truck driving up and down the beach streets with bread and cake stuff out of the rear.  I heard recollections about Syd’s, Vic’s, Zelbe’s, Max’s and The WindMill for hot dogs.  Despite the admonition of Thomas Wolfe that you can’t go home again, The WindMill is still purveying hot dogs today.  Also mentioned as a memory were soft-shelled crab sandwiches and salt water taffy right out of the local ocean; it tasted better indigenous. Kohr’s Custard in a cone; Karen once dropped her cone and to this day it’s always in a cup for her. Sandwiches were always taken to the beach, sometimes packed in shoe-boxes. French fries came in brown paper bags with small wooden forks and vinegar instead of ketchup.

Amusements on the beach boardwalk were endless; every town from Asbury Park to Point Pleasant had pastimes. For me, if I behaved during the week and watched my infant sister Hildy, the family would go to Asbury Park on Saturday. The merry-go-round was mostly magical. I never grabbed the brass ring.  Pinball in the arcades was prolific on boardwalks, Ocean Avenue or in memory. Today, the Pinball Museum in Asbury Park captures the particulates with vintage games like the Gottlieb and Williams machines. And back to the future with an original game, the baseball pinball where you can even adjust the pitch speed. Susan remembers the ‘Grabber Machine’ which she played all summer long trying for that elusive big prize; one year she won and still talks about it. Ironically, the other day, a local television news story focused on that machine. They reported the machine is programmed (fixed) to not yield a winner until all the prizes inside were paid for. Bingo had its fans in Bradley Beach. And of course Palace Amusements and Tillie and Seaside stirred memories.  Music wise, it’s easy for me to write about The Upstage Club in Asbury Park, open from 1968 to 1971 (I’ve been researching it) where the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Southside Johnny, Vini Lopez and Steven Van Zandt started out. And you played volleyball on the beach even under the light of the silvery moon.  Film maker Chris Eilenstine remembers, “There was always something to do.”

There is a life cycle to the Jersey shore. Many towns had pavilions where little kids hung out, sometimes with arts and crafts. Then teen dances sprung up in those VFW or religious halls after a day of listening to transistor radios on the beach. Jack reminded that Loch Arbor beach, adjacent to Asbury Park, became a college hang out.  Shore towns sometimes mirrored different ethnic enclaves. Humorously, Carmen told me that his father bought a house in Bradley Beach and when he dated a Bradley Beach girl, he was instructed by the date to hide his crucifix under his shirt; a scene right out of the movie ‘Goodfellas’ (celebrating a 25^th anniversary) Chris, to this day, says “I love the diversity, the great culture play, small town feel and originality of the Jersey shore and you can hop on a train and be in New York City in an hour.”

Pondering a good visual to portray the Jersey shore when I was listening to the Everly Brothers sing ‘Bye Bye Love’ in 1955, I just thought of the movie ‘The Summer of ’42.’ Jersey shore was small towns, simple beach structures, like on the island in the movie. Stores were basic and general. Painted paper sale signs hung on windows; beach chairs and umbrellas on the sidewalks creating impulses to buy. Movie theaters boasted they had air-conditioning, were mostly double feature and had that beach dank damp smell.  I want to say I saw ‘Now Voyager’ starring Bette Davis down the shore one summer.  Some towns were regal with their Victorian architecture; I’m thinking Ocean Grove and Spring Lake. Jersey shore is old and historic.

There’s a paradox to the crowds and long lines of summer; the solitude and introspection of the winter months at the Jersey shore. Some towns turn off traffic lights in winter. Back in college, I used to get the key to my friend’s beach house in Bradley Beach and go there to study. It was cold but eerily quiet and productive. David McMahon, from 40 Foot Hole Studios, would rent a shore house for the winter for its ultimate peace and solitude. “I love the winters down there. I’d just bundle up and sit by the ocean.” That’s the other side of the shore; the down winter time; something which provides a unique identity. You can be in a state with eight million neighbors but find this spiritually special desolate shore place in a world all by itself with few winter neighbors and even fewer year-around pizza establishments.

And finally what is that common denominator that makes the Jersey shore unique, memorable and passed down from generation to generation?  It’s the people of Jersey who’ve won their independence from New York and Philadelphia these past years. New Jersey is hot culturally and media wise. Just look at national pop culture; The Soprano’s, Boardwalk Empire, Jersey Shore, Jersey Housewives, Garden State, Jersey Boys; and of course Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi globally. What really is that bond that puts the whole state together then and now; that matrix of shared pride and experience; that place we all rushed to re-build after Sandy and showed our resilience to the world? It’s the Jersey shore. And I still remember it like it IS yesterday.

LECTURE:  Kenneth T. Jackson : Newark’s Decline and Resurgence in the 20th Century as Lessons for Urban America. Rutgers Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. April 25^th  A REVIEW by Calvin Schwartz

The moment I saw Newark as the subject of a lecture, I knew the winds of relevance would take me there. I was born and lived in Newark for 20 years and stay relatively active in the alumni association of Weequahic High School where I graduated in the early sixties. I marvel at the good fortune of living 14 traffic lights from a major university, Rutgers, which affords the curious searching mind a never ending source of stimulation and knowledge via its academic offerings to the community.

The lecture was called “Newark’s Decline and Resurgence in the 20th Century as Lessons for Urban America: The Rise, Fall, and Recovery of a Great Metropolis, 1916-2016.” Kenneth T. Jackson, Professor of History at Columbia University spoke and mesmerized. The lecture was sponsored by the Allen and Joan Bildner Center for the Study of Jewish Life and Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and was held at Special Events Forum at the Civic Square Building in New Brunswick. And it was completely booked and the overflow was sent to a third floor video feed. Professor Jackson asked for a show of hands who graduated from Weequahic High in Newark; I was one of many who raised hands. And to my surprise and purist joy, the woman sitting directly behind asked at lecture’s end if I really went to Weequahic. I remembered Roz instantly; we were classmates right through the Cuban missile crisis and we hugged at our random chance meeting. My night and month and beyond were made.

Professor Jackson journeyed the lecture through world city’s histories. Venice was a major commerce and shipping center; then not.  Athens was a major city; then not; same with Vienna, Liverpool and Glasgow and our Detroit. But Newark had everything going for it; at the 250th (1666 to 1916) commemorative it was thought Newark could become a global leading city with major centers of manufacturing, a port that could’ve been the busiest in the world, an airport that was the busiest in the country at one time and even a minor league baseball team in 1937, the Newark Bears, that is considered the best of all time.

Throughout its history, there was a failure of leadership and vision. Newark was small; 21 square miles of which five miles was swamp. Newark was so small compared to Los Angeles with its 400 square miles. And when opportunities existed to annex local towns like Harrison, Kearny or Nutley, Newark’s leaders faltered and never acted. Newark is still small and those other places became cities of their own. But there have been effective leaders too; Charles Cummings, Bob Curvin and Cory Booker.

Newark had the perfect storm of contributing factors of urban decline including the riots back in 1967. There have been notable examples of cities coming back and reinventing like Hoboken did. Professor Jackson was optimistic that Newark could come back despite former Mayor Ken Gibson’s dire statement, that wherever America was going, Newark would get there first. Jackson eloquently discussed his four ingredients to bring back an urban city from decline.

Firstly, reduce crime. Secondly, attract more immigrants. Thirdly, welcome the Gay community and artists. Finally, promote outdoor restaurants. People sitting on the street dining sends a message that people are not afraid to walk around. He cited the explosion of outdoor restaurants on New York City’s Columbus Avenue and its concomitant resurgence.

Everything Professor Jackson talked about fascinated me. I’m a big fan of pinching my arm unobtrusively as a satisfying realization of “look where I am.” A question and answer period followed; the mostly older audience (I felt on the younger side of the scale) peppered comments, praises and questions mostly about their home Weequahic section. A bountiful reception followed. What really impressed me was the availability of the faculty of the Bildner Center and Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. I had a chance to talk at length to Professor Yael Zerubavel, Donald S.Sutton, Assistant Dean for External Affairs, Stuart Meck, Associate Research Professor and Director, Center for Planning Practice and Karyn Olsen, Director of Communications. You have to know me; I love engaging academia and the Rutgers faculty was accommodating and hugely generous with their time.  The moderately dry Riesling wine satisfied. The lights were dimming in the atrium and doors were locked and I was still chatting with Stuart Meck. Therefore it was a magical night at Rutgers and my exhortation to readers about future programs here; “get off your sedentary sofa.”

http://bildnercenter.rutgers.edu/

Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy:  http://policy.rutgers.edu/

Calvin Schwartz:  http://vichywater.net      Facebook:  Cal Schwartz

N.J. Environmental Federation Annual Conference. Rutgers Law School. Newark.  By Calvin Schwartz. (“I’m Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired”)

I wonder why more citizens here in New Jersey don’t make the time to attend the New Jersey Environmental Federation Conference; an annual event held at Rutgers Law School in Newark. At very least, it’s an exercise in expanding the mind, by learning, listening, growing; it’s just a better thing to do than sleeping to 10 AM on a Saturday, watching television for an hour and making two passes around Costco’s bakery department. One summer back in 1967, I worked in an industrial bakery in Newark and I fell in love with the bakery smell; so that’s why occasionally I make two passes through Costco’s; it’s a close enough smell and it takes me back to the days of the  ‘Lone Ranger.’

So where does this expression come from? “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired” One of my heroes, Fannie Lou Hamer said this. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  She believed fervently in the righteousness of the cause of civil rights. This past Saturday, I attended the New Jersey Environmental Federation Conference in Newark at Rutgers Law School. I’ve been going for years, especially looking forward to Dr. Nicky Sheats talk about environmental justice; one of the causes that mean so much. For me, being in college during the decade of civil rights in the 1960’s and then attending the very first Earth Day on April 22nd 1970 and now seeing civil rights and environment become concentric circles of commonality is painfully relevant in 2012.

After breakfast and introductory speeches, the conference separated into workshops. I circled the ‘Enough is Enough’ workshop;  needed to learn how the cumulative effect of pollution in water, air and food is making people sick and what we can do about it. The speakers were amazingly credentialed; Dr. Nicky Sheats, Phd, Center of Urban Development, Steve Anderson, Research Scientist, Peter Montague, PhD, Environmental Research Foundation(I love listening to his rational dire global warming warning words) and Henry Rose, State Coordinator, NJ Environmental Justice Alliance. Henry was passionate and right on when he uttered “environmental apartheid.”   I learned that Hess (Oil) Corporation plans to build a 655-megawatt natural gas power plant in the East Ward (Ironbound) section of Newark, a city and a section dangerously overburdened by an onslaught of environmental affronts, degradation and pollutants.  By a 7-1 vote, the Newark board approved a measure last Thursday night and despite grass roots opposition, the board gave the project the go-ahead in a 15-minute meeting. When I heard this, I raised my hand and suggested that the title of this workshop should be changed to “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

My using Fannie Lou Hamer’s words simply mean I’m sick and tired of hearing year after year about blatant examples of environmental injustice. There are enough graphs and statistics which clearly show the amount of pollution is related to the color of skin and how much money someone has in their pocket.  People’s health around this new Hess energy center is going to be impacted again. Since the 19th century, Newark Ironbound has been a manufacturing hub, producing everything from iron to beer to paint. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ironbound’s Diamond Alkali/Diamond Shamrock Chemicals Corp. produced Agent Orange, a carcinogenic chemical weapon used extensively in the Vietnam War.

Last year at the Conference, I was outraged when PurGen wanted to build a coal firing plant in Linden and the reason officials gave me was that Linden(already off the charts in asthmatic rates) had the infra-structure in place to support a plant which needed an ocean to dump waste into and railroad tracks to move coal. I raised my hand and pointed out that exactly the same railroad tracks and ocean run up and down the rest of the east coast. There was silence; always silence

Environmentally our time is running out. I voiced this to one of my favorite PhD speakers after his talk.  Global warming and climate change is so here. The Pentagon even knows this and is beginning to project huge population shifts from coastlines and how it impacts our future security. I’ve been observing attitudes that if we put a man on the moon so fast, we can do anything but maybe once we can’t.  Then I got cute. I told the PhD scientist about the movie ‘The Graduate’ when Dustin Hoffman’s character, Benjamin Braddock hears the word “plastics” at his graduation party.  I’ve done the same thing to a myriad of graduates over the years. Most graduates never know what I’m talking about when I whisper, “plastics.” I recently whispered, “water” to my son instead.  “America will get out of debt with China one day when we start shipping them water,” I said semi-seriously. But then the PhD smiled at me.

I was pleased later in the day at the second workshop when I heard NJ State Senator Jennifer Beck mention how she voted against her Republican Party and Governor on certain environmental issues. We need more courage and commitment like that. I keep looking at big picture of things; the planet and how we keep ignoring, violating and nothing changes.

Amy Goldsmith, State Director, was honored for her amazing dedicated years of service and unlimited energy. Lisa Plevin, Chief of Staff USEPA, Gray Russell (a former rocker too) Environmental Coordinator, Montclair, John Weber, Northeast Regional Manager, Surfrider Foundation and Robert Westreich, Esq. (he never lost a case with First Amendment right to canvass neighborhoods throughout the state for over 20 years) all received Conference Awards. By the way, the luncheons are worth the price of admission alone.

In the keynote address, Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson electrified with his candor and passion for environmental change. Here’s a few of his quotes rapid fire. “We’ve got to get off oil. We won’t exist.”  “The increased competition for oil is a threat to our security.”  “Green economy is where the money is.” “President Obama was absolutely right when he stopped the Keystone pipeline.”  General Anderson made a point as soon as he started to speak, saying he was a Republican.  Sometimes he fooled me and other audience members.  He just cares.  “It’s a 20 year process to get off oil. We need to do it under our terms.”  “1000 Americans died moving oil around over there. We spend $20 billion a year on oil. The Pentagon is the world’s largest consumer of energy.”  “We are funding both sides of war. We buy oil and the money ends up in Iran.”  “What troops need is renewable energy.  Afghanistan has 340 days of sun; so harness solar. And wind, geothermal and waste to energy systems.” “How do we help?  Pressure the Department of Defense (DOD).”

At the birthday party after the conference for the 40th year of ‘Clean Water Action,’ General Anderson was quite accessible. I managed to pay him my highest compliment, when I said, “Listening to you, I don’t think anyone could tell what political party you’re in which means you care about doing the right things for people.” He smiled and we took a picture together.  Finally my exhortation to all those within earshot of me; “Get thee to the NJ Environmental Federation conference next year. And join the organization in the meantime.” I’ve heard it through the grapevine that both actions increases cerebral vascular circulation which makes you smarter.

Calvin Schwartz