Shawn Zappo, musician and OG resident. Paul Goldfinger photo. June 2022.
Youth on the OG boards. Paul Goldfinger photo 2022.
Paul Goldfinger, Editor. Blogfinger.net
At Blogfinger we have been observing evolving demographics in town which we call the “OG Underground.” We have been focusing on many new young people, single and married and with kids, who are making the Grove their home.
But one doesn’t have to be young to join the underground; you just need to want changes in how life here occurs and who is pushing the buttons. Blogfinger is a good example of older residents coming together to shake the trees.
And along with their very presence we see that the Underground will begin to have an impact on life-styles in town, and that is a good thing because it will prevent this community from stagnating and will link our diverse town with evolving cultures in America. It is necessary for all components in town to participate in steering the ship together.
It will also be a secular counterbalance to push against the expansion of religious programming promoted by the Camp Meeting Association which wants to turn the Grove into a sort of theocracy. This is not to complain about religion here, but rather it is about how the CMA conducts itself as it seeks dominance and elbows the rest of town out of its way; and we have written about such issues before.
We recently reported on a young yoga instructor who came here from Costa Rica as well as a young man who is a musician, playing exotic instruments from the Far East.
Here is a link:
Such evolution of life-styles and cultures takes time, but recently we have seen two new indicators. One is the new presence of ” Neptune United.” This is a group which is willing to tackle some of the more difficult issues in town; issues which no one else has confronted.
We have discussed some of them on Blogfinger, and this group, NU, promises to bring them to the surface for consideration. It doesn’t matter if you sympathize with their concerns; what matters is that a new group of residents are willing to open our eyes to issues such as the activities of the CMA and questions of Constitutionality in the Grove.
Now two women in town are organizing porch art exhibits next summer. It will encourage OG artists to step forward and show their work. Many artists have already signed up.
It reminds me of the popular porch music performances held in A. Park yearly which is something else that should occur here.
We need events, scaled to size, which will be good fits for small-town Ocean Grove.
We shouldn’t let the Chamber of Commercials, the CMA, and the phony-baloney Neptuners determine what kind of town we should have.
This is a beautiful, lively, historic, and spiritual place , but the OG Underground needs to grow and step up.
And Blogfinger will help promote any such program that widens our horizons and strengthens our town.
THE 5TH DIMENSION: