If you've ever marched in a Gay Pride anything, you know we have a penchant for making up clever slogans and belting them out like we were the last star on Broadway. "We're here, we're queer. Get used to it!" Effective. So effective, in fact, that many protesters have adopted the meter of the phrase and substituted their own cause celeb.
During the Millenium March in Washington DC back in 2000 and the march up first avenue on the United Nations back in 1994, I walked with the folks from the Golden State of California. This meant coming up with something "gay" and unique to the state. The one I remember was, "Fires and Mudslides and Earthquakes, Oh My!" Campy? Yes. Silly? Uh-huh. Fun? Absolutely! [In DC, we were near the marchers from Idaho. "Who da ho? Idaho!"]
And that leads me into today's post about earthquakes. Yeah, so much for a long story short.
From The Boston Globe:Give me a break! These people are calling emergency services on 1.9 and 1.4 quakes? Let me tell you a little somethin'-somethin' about earthquakes. I think a clipped toenail falling to the floor registers at least a 2.0 on the Richter Scale. 1.9 and 1.4 are NOTHING!
After people called 911 to report hearing explosions, emergency officials initially thought there had been underground methane gas blasts. But it turns out that New Hampshire actually had three small earthquakes over the weekend. The tremors caused no damage or injuries.
The state Emergency Management Agency said the quakes were felt Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in the Portsmouth-Exeter area. Boston College's Weston Observatory, which runs the New England Seismic Network, listed the first two quakes on Saturday as magnitudes 1.9 and 1.4. The third quake, reported Sunday afternoon, did not register at the observatory, which is the closest monitoring station in the network at about 40 miles distance, said director John Ebel.
It's amazing the lasting psychological effects that are imprinted on your brain after you've lived in earthquake country for a while. I've been back in New York now for two years after 20 in southern California. Those of you that have been there, done that, will know what I'm talking about. Here's some observations on how it still affects me:
• When I feel any shaking, I pause to gauge if it is building in intensity or decreasing. Does it feel like a jolt or rolling motion?
• When I'm in my car stopped under a freeway overpass waiting for a traffic light, I find myself figuring out my best way to escape should a major quake hit at that time so I don't get smushed by collapsing concrete.
• When I'm in a department store and I'm going by the fine china and crystal departments I wonder how much money they will lose when it all comes crashing down in the inevitable "big one."
• When I see expansion joints engineered into bridges and roads, I think about the necessity of such to isolate the motion of the ground in an earthquake, not that it is to allow expansion and contraction in extreme temperatures.
• When I'm at the grocery and walking by the bottled water, I catch myself wondering if we have enough supplies to get us through a major earthquake.
• When I turn on the electric stove, I'm happy we don't have natural gas because I'd have to deal with it should a leak occur during a bump in the night.
• When we are under an extended high-pressure weather system, I always think "this is earthquake weather." It hasn't been proven, but that's what everyone says from anecdotal evidence that earthquakes tend to happen in such conditions.
These are just some of the things that go through the head of someone that has been conditioned to expect the unexpected catastrophe at any time.
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4 comments:
Earthquake, smearthquake. Tornadoes and hurricanes-- now THATs where its at.
There actually is one big difference. With a tornado and hurricane you have some sort of warning and you can run and hide. The thing with earthquakes is that you never know when one is going to hit, where, how big, and there's no where to run and nowhere to hide when it does. It's that subconscious walking on eggshells that's hard to describe if you've never lived it.
In a future post, I'll talk more about the earthquakes that I've experienced.
Under those concrete bridges are the worst!
Also walking down isles at Home Depot and imagining those stacks of lumber and cement falling on me. ;)
My college friend said he stood up in his bed and rode out the Northridge quake like on a surf board.
It's funny what becomes ingrained in our early years. Until I was six I lived in Tokyo, so was used to the very common event of moderate quakes.
We had first time visitors from the US and they came with their four year old daughter. We were just about to take a swim when a fairly rough quake hit. As she was screaming her lungs out I remember saying, "It's okay, we can go the pool when it's over", oblivious to the fact that she probably thinks the earth is imploding!.
Today, I'd probably need a change of underwear.
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