Leaving NYC Behind: Kaz and I Make Good Move

Cedar Ridge, Oracle, AZ

Looks about the same as when we moved to Oracle in 1979. 
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  New York City was drowning in debt.  Felix Rohatyn and the Municipal Assistance Corporation had just taken over the government moving it even farther from ordinary citizens.  Crime was spiking.  A series of bizarre murders, several nearby us in Queens, scared everybody half to death.  A couple was shot returning from an evening out at a disco. A Barnard student was shot dead in the face.  Mayor Beame and local law enforcement were helpless.  He showed up one day near our apartment when Kaz confronted him: “Do something you asshole, “ she shouted to his face.
  I had a meltdown of sorts one afternoon in Astoria Park.  Sitting with my dog Roofer I put my arms around his neck and started telling him my troubles (okay, I was crying).   As man’s best friend Roofer was a good listener with an ear for lament.  I told him my work seemed to be going nowhere and I wanted out of the city. 
  Meanwhile, David Berkowitz, Son of Sam, was also engaged in dog conversation, one that included demonic instructions of murder and mayhem.
  My work – “community organizing” -  in light of the cataclysmic events unfolding all around us seemed piddling. I was exhausted by trying to play the hero.  We were lonely for relationships that we didn’t know we missed. A weird limbo we struggled to get our heads around.
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