Englishtown Flea Market, New Jersey

I was at the Englishtown Flea Market yesterday. It is the biggest Flea market of New Jersey but, I didn't see the crafts mentioned in the web page there. The long trip was not worth it. However I found a this interesting store that I show in pictures above.

Fireworks of the 4th of July from New Jersey

The Cordel Literature of Brazil

The Cordel Literature is popular poetry printed in small pamphlets. The cover is the same paper used for the inner pages, with different color, usually, it has a drawing in black and white made of wood engraving.
The poetry is written with rhymes and humoristic expressions. The subjects can rank from a soccer game or a history of a popular personage, to contemporary political subjects, like a long poem on Bin Ladem, during the days of the terrorist attack of New York.
The pamphlets are hung by the center on a cord, to put them for sale.
The cord Literature has its resemblance to chapbooks, and date from century XVII, they are original from Portugal, where they were called papel volante.
In the following links you can find more information about the Cordel Literature of Brazil.

http://www.ablc.com.br/

http://www.lendo.org/o-que-e-literatura-de-cordel-autores-obras/

Crafts from Cuba

Lord, Have Mercy of Those that didn't Listen to Teresa

Lord, have mercy of those that didn't listen to Teresa when she entered in that church looking for help. The Mexican illegal immigrant that worked seven days,
crying while she cooked in the Cuban restaurant. The one that hid the secret of her cancer, until she couldn't stand up any longer. The same that walked several
miles winter after winter, to be able to send some money to her parents, and to pay for the medicines of her son that finally died, and she couldn't go to bury.
The one that didn't want to lose her house. Teresa, as the other Teresa that you know, Lord. Teresa, so lonely, in this New Jersey where nobody cares for her
but you. The one that I went with looking for a place where she could sleep. The one that taught me to feel even more compasion for strangers. The one that
brought me those oranges that had so much value. Have mercy Lord of those that treated her bad in this earth, of those to whom she was in search of relief
and they ignored her. Welcome her soul in your house and give her the peace that she didn't have among us.

The Jersey Journal To Close "Again" or America's Economic Panic

On January 2002, right after the 9/11 attack to The World Trade Center, half of he employees from The Jersey Journal got a massive layoff announcement. The excuse was the 9/11.
The following paragraph was in The New York Times at the time:

BRIEFING: BUSINESS; JERSEY JOURNAL CLOSES

(From The New York Times) Published: February 3, 2002

"The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, which has served Hudson County for 135 years, planned to cease publication after yesterday's issue, a union leader said last week. Ron Leir, president of the Newspaper Guild local that represents editorial employees at The Journal, said he received a letter from the publisher on Thursday morning confirming plans to close The Jersey Journal following publication of yesterday's newspaper. Since Jan. 2, Journal managers have said declining circulation would force them to close the newspaper unless the three unions representing its workers agreed to staff cutbacks, and Mr. Ring's letter blamed the unions for closing the newspaper".

Mr. Ring, was hired by the owners to "clean" the newspaper and he did. I wonder if there was a decent Union before, because they did cooperate in the massive layoff of 2002 side by side with the executives and owners of the newspaper. Now Mr. Ring is living the good life in Florida, where he retired.

Back in 2002 they made the employees sign an agreement, so they not only lost their jobs ,but got kick out humiliated. (After they were gone, the executives raised the salary to the lucky ones that got to keep their jobs).

The news today, February 3, 2009

"The Hudson County daily newspaper may cease publication in April if revenue does not improve. The Publisher Kendrick Ross said he is optimistic that a plan can be developed to save the daily and some of the weeklies, while positioning the company for growth as the economy rebounds".

After seven years and under another "umbrella crisis" The Jersey Journal is crying for money again. Who will believe them?
The owners, (Advance Publications, Newhouse Publications) are worth more than 7 billion dollars. See the links at the end.
I wonder if the economic panic that we live in America now, is just an opportunity for the rich people to make money, while the poor ones loose their jobs and become poorer.



These are the links to the company who own The Jersey Journal:

Newhouse Publications

America's Larges Private companies. Forbes