FULL RUN
ANTON MEDIA GROUP • MARCH 2 - 8, 2022
31
COLUMNS
Old Metal Slides Ah, childhood. It’s a glorious time that most of us recall fondly, where bills never had to be paid and we never had to worry about things like making regular doctor’s appointments, paying off the car loan or worrying about whether we completed that last task at work. Instead, we rolled around in the grass without fear of ticks, we drank from the outdoor hose, we stayed out long past dark and we lived life to the absolute fullest. As Robert Brault wisely stated, “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Recalling childhood seems to be a common occurrence on some of the Facebook pages to which I belong. On one site, known as “Growing Up Italian,” a young man posted pictures of his Nonna’s home, where one could easily find a pitcher and ewer on a stand “to wash your hands,” jars upon jars of homemade tomato sauce and palms from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. Believe me when I tell you that when you know, you just know. One of the websites posted a picture of a very tall metal slide, which was labeled “torture device.” As one who often frequented those awful slides, I could not agree more. Way back when, there was a playground at the park by the North Village Green in Levittown. The swings seemed to swing so high that I imagined
times, it felt like standing atop a very tall mountain. I often imagined them miles below as I waited behind several other children on the blazing metal steps. Once I reached the top, I often tried to avoid scorching my legs on the shiny, burning metal by lifting my legs a bit. This position offered the fastest route down, although sometimes I would lose my balance towards the bottom. Patty Servidio Other times, my legs literally stuck to the metal. I often that I touched the clouds as wondered what degree burns I leapt off and landed on the I had given myself each sumgrass below. There was one mer because of those metal of those spinning carousels slides. (A favorite pastime was that gave me the worst case a perusal through medical of motion sickness, but I books. It is no small wonder continued to twirl around why I chose to become a regon it like a maniac because it istered nurse.) was so much fun. Afterwards, Fast forward to when I beI ambled through the play came a parent of a very active area like a drunken sailor and young child. It was a chalmade my way towards what lenge sometimes to keep her has been fondly described as entertained, so I often took “the slide from Hell”. her to an old neighborhood One would think that the park nearby. At that time, the slide was manufactured in old metal slide still stood erect Hades because during the in the park, while off to the summer months, that thing side, lolling pandas on giant was hotter than the bottom metal springs were giggling to of my mother’s frying pan. themselves about what would It was also very high, which surely happen next: our caused me to wonder whether daughter was going to burn I would have a nosebleed on her legs on the slide. the climb to the top. The grip She took off like a rocket, bars were equally scorching, her little hands oblivious to the which meant that as one heat that the handrails omitted. climbed to the top, it would I stood behind her, fearful that be impossible to hold on she would tumble backwards. tight, an admonition that my At the top of the landing, she parents often screeched from crowed, “I made it, Mommy! the ground below. OftenWatch me, watch me!” I pre-
SEE YOU AROUND THE TOWN
pared myself for a scream and some solid crying, but instead, she landed on the bottom in a fit of giggles. “Again! Again! I want to do it again!” She had flown down that slide in a blur of pink and yellow, her baggy shorts the perfect medium for a rapid ride. Several years later, that slide was replaced by a large plastic jungle-gym, which clearly got warm in the summer sun but did not burn like the slides of old. Several times, our daughter complained that the slides “weren’t as fast as the big metal ones”. She often got stuck in the center, especially if the tan plastic was dirty or scraped up. We often found ourselves at Woodland Elementary’s playground, most often to ride the “bumpy
slide” with black rollers that propelled children off like toys on a conveyor belt. It wasn’t the same as those old metal slides, but it was better than the plastic ones. Memories have a beautiful way of being sweeter than the actual experience. As Alain de Botton once stated, “Most of our childhood is stored not in photos, but in certain biscuits, lights of day, smells, textures of carpet.” De Botton forgot to mention that it is also stored in experiences on the playground, when the backs of our legs ached from the heat of metal slides but we continued to fly down them anyway. To this day, I can still “feel the burn.” —Patty Servidio is an Anton Media Group columnist.
Like many people of her generation, columnist Patty Servidio has memories of scalding the back of her legs going down metal slides like this one when she was a kid. (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Cooler Heads Must Prevail In Mask Debate There is no disputing that the COVID-19 pandemic has been emotionally exhausting. I empathize with the frustration that so many are experiencing. However, as we approach what I pray is the end of the Omicron surge, it is not the time to hastily abandon masks or any other proven tool for preventing the spread of this virus. Throughout the pandemic, I have been a strong supporter of the efficacy of mask-wearing in public settings as one leg of a multi-pronged approach for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Based
FROM THE DESK OF Kevan Abrahams
on current trends, I am optimistic that conditions will continue to improve so that universal masking in schools can end after winter break
and that no further public health directives will be necessary. It has always been my firm belief that public health policies must never be political– especially when it impacts the health and safety of our children. However, in recent weeks especially, it has been truly disheartening to witness the efforts by some to deliberately inject chaos into our society for the purposes of generating anger and confusion that they hope to selfishly exploit in the not-too-distant future. Already, this chaos has resulted in troubling impacts on
the well-being of our children. As a parent whose children are currently navigating education in the era of COVID-19, I have been horrified by reports from schools across Nassau County in which mask-wearing has become a flash point for confrontations, bullying and classroom disruptions. For months, we have all watched as school board meetings have become targets of violence and caustic rhetoric. It didn’t have to be that way. Unfortunately, far too many political figures in Nassau County and across our nation have put their own fu-
tures ahead of working in the interest of the common good of the communities we are so blessed to serve. Someday soon, the mandates will completely end. When that day comes, I urge those who opposed mask mandates to remember the mantra of “personal choice” they preach and respect the personal choice of those who continue to wear masks. —Kevan M. Abrahams, of Freeport, represents the First Legislative District in the Nassau County Legislature and serves as the Leader of the Minority Caucus.
