The Luna Park Gazette

“Prayer is when you talk to God; meditation is when you listen to God.”—Diane Robison The daring young man on the flying trapeze climbs to great heights, but the show doesn’t start until he lets go. Letting go has been one of my biggest challenges. I hold on to negative thoughts, old resentments, ancient anger and all sorts of emotional chazerai that makes me miserable. I’ve been meditating regularly for the last two years after taking a mindfulness course at the Interdependence Project and I’m very slowly learning the joys and benefits of staying in the present moment. It hasn’t been easy for me to sit quietly for 20 whole minutes and listen to nothing but my breath. Some days are better than others, but I believe I’m getting better and now my morning meditation is one of my favorite times of the day. But now I’m taking a closer look at what goes on in my head after the meditation ends, thanks largely to a recent New York Times article entitle “ Think Less, Think Bette...

Today is Father’s Day and I’m thinking of my dad, a World War II veteran, who fought to keep this country safe. He saw men die in great numbers and I’m sure it scarred him in ways I’ll never be able understand. But after last week’s horrific events at Pulse, a gay club in Orlando, after yet another mass shooting in America, I’m wondering what was the point of all that sacrifice and suffering? The Greatest Generation fought to keep foreign killers out of this country, but today we can proudly kill each other with terrifying weapons that my father and his comrades couldn’t begin to imagine. So here we go again, another senseless fucking slaughter in the Land of the Free. There will be the usual candlelight vigils, and flowers piled up at the site of this latest abomination, and people will pray and vow that the victims will never be forgotten. But why? Why bother with all that horseshit when we all know that there’s another mass shooting just around the corner waiting to happen?...

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.-- Muhammad Ali Sometime around 1984 I was walking through the mall at the World Trade Center when I noticed this man coming toward me in the opposite direction. Of course there were thousands of people passing through that mall every day of the week, but this gentleman stood out. I looked closer to make sure that I wasn’t imagining things and turned to a guy walking behind me. “Is that Ali?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer. It was indeed Muhammad Ali, the former heavyweight champion of the world, walking with another man, his hands in his coats pockets, avoiding eye contact with any of the scores of people who were gaping at him in disbelief. He was so unlike the brash braggart I was used to seeing, the man who roared at the world “I am the Greatest!”; who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee; and who gave us the rope-a-dope and the Ali shuffle. It was a meeting of two ic...

Winston Moseley knew no one would stop him. “I knew they wouldn't do anything,” he told police after his arrest. “They never do.” Moseley murdered Kitty Genovese in Queens in 1964 in one of the most infamous murder cases in modern times. The horrific crime gained worldwide attention largely because of a New York Times article that said “38 respectable, law-abiding citizens” did nothing while Moseley attacked Kitty Genovese on three separate occasions. The story sparked worldwide condemnation and provided material for writers and composers, including the Phil Ochs song “ Outside of a Small Circle Friends .” There was talk of the Bystander Effect or the Genovese Effect and the words “I didn’t want to get involved” summed up life in the big city. The Kitty Genovese case is the subject of a new documentary called The Witness that explores the mythology surrounding the murder. The film features Kitty’s brother, Bill, who was 16 years old at the time of his sister’s murder. ...