tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post3463111869629236182..comments2024-03-27T19:35:11.320+07:00Comments on <b>Postcards from the End of [the] America[n Empire]</b>: Postcard from the End of America: Taylor, PALinh Dinhhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-24374189800723945322014-12-03T22:01:47.488+07:002014-12-03T22:01:47.488+07:00Chuck Orloski:
Cindy: On hometown roads with Li...Chuck Orloski:<br /><br /><i>Cindy: On hometown roads with Linh Dinh, I got to see things and people I never noticed. Am truly sorry to learn about your father-in-law's employment fate; injustices, danger, injury, going back to work, and then, institutional robbery – the most untold and unpunished crime in America. <br /><br />As for me. an old buck whose gotten more than fair share of corporate f*uckings, I became aroused to learn you're from Wellsboro. I will tell you a cool story? In 2009, my company was a PA Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) certified emergency response “haz mat” team. Lots of words. Cindy... you with me so far? <br /><br />Well, the Marcellus Shale natural fracking business had kicked into gear, and a little late-for-pie-in-$ky, my company sent me to Wellsboro, PA, was tasked with meeting Tioga County's Director of Emergency Management Agency. I drove far from our Taylor home, entered a beautiful natural world, eventually got in front of “The Green” in Wellsboro, not far from where Shell Oil established a base. No parking on Main, St., I was running a little late for meeting, drove around block, and found a free parking space. Walked northwest into unfamilar turf, and met some guy who looked local and friendly, and politely I asked if he knew where was the Emergency Management Agency building. <br /><br />Good natured, the guy chuckled , replied, “Holy cripes, you must be Chuck Orloski..., I'm the PEMA Director, you can follow me!” I apologized for being no Lewis and Clark, and he laughed. After meeting conclusion, my company's desire to establish a sound relationship with natural gas rich Tioga County was a success. Come March 4, 2013, my mother f*racking company canned me, I walked away from my desk, smiled like Charles Manson, thought about fellow employees trademark saying, “Have some shit!” Herodotus Dinh somehow remembered this workingman gallows humor, recorded in Taylor Postcard. <br /><br />Way too many words here, Cindy, and I will end by mentioning the awesome statue, named “Wynken, Blynken, & Nod,” on view at the lovely Wellsboro park. (Note: Yo Linh, the impressive statue's name is actually an 1889 poem, can be enjoyably viewed on You Tube) One day I'd like to write an ode dedicated to planet earth's screwed-over people, call it, Blynken, winken, nodden, and gitten to know the bottim. <br /><br />Wish you well, and I suggest you try a loud baritone “Have some shit!”outburst later tonight, Cindy. It's healthy for times when dealing with the day-to-day deflilement one gets. <br /><br />Chuck Orloski <br />Taylor, PA,</i> <br />Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-22439676734001125832014-12-02T22:01:58.521+07:002014-12-02T22:01:58.521+07:00Hi Cindy,
I'm very glad to hear from you agai...Hi Cindy,<br /><br />I'm very glad to hear from you again. I plan on heading up that way in a few months, and perhaps Chuck and I can head over to Wilkes Barre or Hazelton the next time. There is much for me to learn up that way.<br /><br /><br />LinhLinh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-87863822974270932502014-12-02T20:23:27.377+07:002014-12-02T20:23:27.377+07:00Linh,
Long time since I've written in, but I ...Linh,<br /><br />Long time since I've written in, but I just wanted to say I can't wait for any new book you publish! <br /><br />I continue to visit Postcards almost daily--but this latest Postcard on Scranton and your visit with Chuck is just incredible. I'm so glad you got a chance to visit that area!<br /><br />My ex-husband is from Wellsboro, PA...not too far from Scranton. Good folks up there, despite having endured myriad economic shocks and indignities. <br /><br />My ex-father-in-law worked for Blos Steel (I think it was spelled "Blos," anyway) until it tanked years ago. He was screwed out of the vast majority of his retirement somehow...something to do with corrupt unions, management and the firm in charge of managing their retirement funds. The man had worked for the steel company for over 30 years. He'd been almost blinded in a slag pit when a bit of hot slag was accidentally flung into his right eye. He was even wearing protective eye gear. He managed to recover well, kept his vision (although not at 100%) in that eye, and went right back to work in the mill.<br /><br />Amazing people.<br /><br />Thank you for another wonderful, illustrative Postcard, Linh!<br /><br />As our old friend Joe used to say,<br /><br />In Art and Labor,<br /><br />Love,<br /><br />CindyCindy Shirarhttps://www.facebook.com/Cindy.Shirarnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-60836940000197708372014-12-02T00:31:26.420+07:002014-12-02T00:31:26.420+07:00After I told Chuck I had to pop a couple of Tyleno...After I told Chuck I had to pop a couple of Tylenols, due to "overheated brain," to finish above Postcard, Chuck responded:<br /><br /><i>Linh: I am popping Tylenol with regularity. Oddly since being fired this past March 4th and how I felt so relieved, "liberated," but my health has taken some hits, having aches and pains never experienced before, rising blood sugar count..., things everybody typically experience before stricken with something major, like Bob Giambrone, featured in your Postcard, Steamtown Mall food court picture. <br /><br />In a John Wayne western film, The Searchers, he tells a young cowboy who mourns the death of a relative murdered by Indians, to "buckle-up kid... everybody's gonna' get their turn." Consequently, and not to be excessively cryptic, it's good to enjoy alertness, a woman's "banging away in kitchen," and coffee when one can. <br /><br />Yea, below, I now realize that I had forgotten the very disturbing fact about Dan's looming college debt. As discussed, I deliberately failed to gainfully run the US Employment Rat Race, and now I can only help Dan with persevering, a roof over head, meals and a car when available. Understandably, Dan can NOT come to terms with my crazy job failures, and although he recognizes portions of my accumulated knowledge, he's confused that I have now become a school bus driver. And so it will be for many American college graduates, many who come from broken homes, and maybe (?), with good fortune, Dan will one day consider how I loved him when I inevitably get "my turn," as idolized tough-guy actor, John Wayne, advised the mourning young cowboy.</i> Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-39309747142115304452014-12-01T23:01:25.059+07:002014-12-01T23:01:25.059+07:00By the way, Linh, as expressed in the Postcard, an...<i>By the way, Linh, as expressed in the Postcard, and for official record, my father Charlie was NOT a coal miner. His father was, “Dziadek,” my grandpa died from excessive drinking, tuberculosis, “Black Lung.” Father Charlie was a 28-year truck driver for Fowler and Williams, and one of my greatest regrets in life is the fact he died in 2002, suspecting that I was a communist during my days of “Teamsters for a Democratic Union” (1975-1980) activism on the break bulk dock of Roadway Express inc., Tannersville, PA. Local 229 Business agent at time was the late-Pete Fiore. As fellow Teamsters daily battled supervisors on the dock, including effective work slow-downs, T.D.U. gained prominence, became a rallying base for resistance against management attempts to crush dockworker solidarity. Things got hot for B.A. Pete Fiore, after colluding with Roadway in getting my friend Mr. Bob Lambert fired for punching and knocking down a big, ex-Syracuse U. footballll player in the kisser, outside a Tannersville barroom, Pete Fiore started to lose confidence among some of his most valued Teamsters on the Tannersville dock. Nervous, perhaps sensing his crookedness and duplicity was being exposed, Pete Fiore telephoned my father Charlie and told him I was a communist. When Charlie died Juy 2002, in Taylor Nursing Home, I sense he passed-on believing Fiore that his son, only child, was Roadway Tannersville, Ho Chi Minh. Ironically, Route 714 and road to New Jersey was referred to (by truckers) as “The Ho Chi Minh Trail.” Long live the spirit and strong right hand punch of mild-mannered Bob Lambert, wherever he is now. Thank you!<br /><br />Chuck O.</i><br />Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4284893230469697578.post-20356885255508097552014-12-01T23:00:27.412+07:002014-12-01T23:00:27.412+07:00Chuck just sent me the below, and I've correct...Chuck just sent me the below, and I've corrected the wrong information about his dad being a coalminer. It's actually his granddad. I had it right in last year's Scranton Postcard, but got confused during the retelling. Anyway, here's Chuck Orloski:<br /><br /><i>Linh:<br /><br />Early morning, about 1:00 A.M., unusually could not sleep, and I turned on P.C., went to your Blog, saw the new Postcard. Ever since the locomotive accidentally struck the 16-year old Elmira boy, October 19, 2013, I have tried to write about my role in responding and cleaning-up the long bloody trail of the kid's remains. It worries me that (to date) I could not convey the real horror of this awful but well paying job in my writing, and now realize your intelligent and mature account has done the job... struck me like Orient Express, moving toward me at 50 mph.<br /><br />Upon arrival, the RR official on-scene called the masticated kid a “trespasser,” and with dignity and compassion, you invaded the private property of my haunted mind and heart, picked-up and bagged the ½ mile of bloody memories along the track. If any of the boy's family happens to read your Postcard, I hope they might understand that I silently uttered prayers for the Departed kid, each time I placed his remains in a red bio-bag. I don't think they will readily forgive me for TRESPASSING and telling the gory story though.<br /><br />There's so much in this Postcard that expressed what I did to make a living for over 20 years, in the emergency response (haz-mat) cleanup business. A lot of the jobs I did made me feel proud that I helped people out of pollution jams, and I felt somewhat appreciated by them. However, when it came to invoicing services, as natural, by end of month, my Company accounting department could not find the brakes with invoicing the “customer” (Responsible Party) and many people ended-up looking at what good I had done as ROBBERY.<br /><br />I have good work memories, bad work memories. Your Postcard transcended my EGO which admittedly rejoiced in seeing my life appear therein. I cannot thank you enough for telling the stories of Sal, the beaten Tully, the dead truck driver, my friend Rob Henderson, Santee Claus, Jack Reese, the enigmatic lawyer who romanced Jason Miller. Jesus..., as wife Carol lay in her bed in arthritic pain, I am somewhat ashamed for having flirted with attractive Dana at Bacwals, and persuading her to shoot a game of pool, eight-ball, at which I lost miserably.<br /><br />Most of all though, your telling the story of wife Carol's selfless care in treating my father Charlie's ugly ulcerated stomach, and watching the remarkable regeneration of skin, reminded me exactly WHY it was that I departed Lehigh University Masters Degree program, returned to Taylor home, married the pretty blonde and shapely career waitress, September 23, 1989. As you observed, despite daily suffering, Carol's feisty spirit somehow remains unshaken. But to quote a lyric from Lez Zeppelin, Linh, the new Postcard deeply “shook me” like as if a f*ucking locomtive passed by, and I can not wait 'til next Fall when the book is published. (Note: Come 2015, I just hope the weird Romanian hacker, Guccifer's prediction for a nuclear attack upon a Pennsylvania city is just another government scare tactic, hogwash)</i><br /><br />[more below] Linh Dinhhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00328959360983573810noreply@blogger.com