Jersey Shore Magazine

J e r s e y s h o r e • F A L L / H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 7 54 there, something new would reveal itself: five riders on horses running at full gallop before a surging surf; a couple cross-country skiing on the beach following a February snow- storm; a chance meeting with former IBSP superintendent Bill Vibbert or Dr. Jim Merritt, director of the Sedge Island Natural Resource Education Center. Vibbert and Merrit are the type of people who respect this natural wonder and try to expose people to its value. Your bio is incredibly varied, and writing seems to be just one aspect of it. Yet your writing is very poetic. You mention trees that "seem to have been wrought by howling winds rather than grown." How did you come to start writing? Do you enjoy the writing process? How does it affect how you see the world? My writing began years ago when I attended Lavallette Grammar School, and a few classmates and I started the Lavallette Junior Press, a mimeographed newsletter. It came out bi-weekly as I remember. We ran it for a few years before adolescent interests developed. At Point Pleasant Beach High School, I had a series of teachers who inspired me to read a variety of contemporary writers (Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemmingway, Joseph Heller, and William Golding, to name a few), as well as fields of interest that infused my own writing. After study- ing architecture for three years, I switched to English. Finally, as an investigator for the Ocean County Probation Department, I conducted hundreds of interviews and submit- ted reports to judges about cases for which they would pass judgment. Each of those experiences extended my scope of experience and inter- viewing skills. And yes, I do enjoy writing. English has so many options to express ideas and concepts precisely or to evoke an image, a moment. It can put you in another person's mind or sensibilities so well. A quote that has resonated with me and informed my reading and writing is by Jesse L. Bennett: "Books are the compasses and tele- scopes and sextants and charts which other men have prepared to help us navigate the dangerous seas of human life." Lifeguarding was also once a big part of your life. How did that affect your view of the ocean and Shore life? Lifeguarding gave me the oppor- tunity to be paid to observe human behavior for hours at a time. [I also] witnessed people in peril, often with- out them even knowing it, and took them out of harms way. I got to study the ocean and its many moods— from lazy lapping days to when the sumptuous beauty of a wave's stunning shoulders were uplifting. I also saw and felt the sea's ferocious and fear-inducing power; although a strong swimmer, I was humbled by its forces. [On another level], the beach itself invites a casual attitude, where people of all walks of life meet and friendships, often lifelong, develop. Any plans for a next project? The next most important proj- ect is updating and adapting for film or serialization the incredible story of little-known explorer Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca. He came to North America as a conquistador and, over the course of eight years, was enslaved yet ultimately came to be seen as a deity by the Native Americans, as well as their cham- pion. Although the story is set five hundred years ago, I fervently believe it is relevant to our times and current divisions. I expect, also, to bring my digital books to print in the near future. (Two books, Children Of The Sky – The Odyssey of Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca and Cuban Blues, are currently available in electronic format.) Finally, I look forward to speaking to interested groups about Island Beach and the remarkable place I've found it to be. u "Island Beach – A Sonnet in the Sands" will be available at bookstores and online in late November 2017. For more information, see page 81 or visit www.jerseyshorebooks.com. Hesse lifeguarded for ten years on New Jersey and Florida beaches. JERSEY SHORE PEOPLE AUTHOR GORDON HESSE, continued from page 53 Joseph Ruscigno Francis Parkman Freeman was manager of Island Beach from 1925 to 1948. He "was a naturalist with sensitivity to the delicacy of the landscape," writes Hesse. These were Freeman's four surprisingly perennial admonitions to shack leaseholders and guests: Leave things be. Don't trample the sand dunes. Don't pick the flowers. Don't annoy the osprey.

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