I Wanna, Wanna Shock Treatment

Gimme Shock Treatment is the second song on the Ramones’ second album, Leave Home.  It is a little ditty that lasts 1:38, which is about how long it takes me to run a quarter of a mile at my half marathon pace.  The genesis of the song is that Joey Ramone used to date a girl who was an inmate in a mental institution who didn't recognize him after she’d had shock treatment.  It is hard to find something positive in that last sentence.  Just to draw a parallel, I’m not sure I’d recognize my wife after I ran, say, 100 miles. 

I thought about that last Saturday as I was running through the Essex County Hospital Center in Verona, NJ.  I was in New Jersey for my father’s birthday.  When I was growing up the hospital was known as the Overbrook Asylum and, long before that, as Essex County Asylum for the Insane. 

The hospital was built on 325 wooded acres in 1896.  At its peak in the 1930s until the 1950s it held about 3,000 inmates.  But the introduction of the so-called “wonder drugs” for the treatment of brain disorders over the last half-century or so meant the deinstitutionalization of thousands of patients in psychiatric centers across the nation.  Gradually, the Essex County hospital lost most of its patients and started its long decline into ruination and decay.  Today it is the scene of much mischief by local hoodlums who refer to their pranks as going to “The Asylum,” “The Bin,” or “The Hilltop”.

When I was in middle school I sang in a boy’s choir and we performed at Overbrook a few times.  After one of our performances I was having a conversation with a man I thought was an orderly.  Then a nurse came, wrapped her arms around the guy and said “OK, It’s time to go.” and she escorted the patient back to his room.

I ran 14 miles on Saturday.  One of the benefits of running in northern New Jersey is that I ran through five towns: Montclair, West Orange, Verona, Cedar Grove and Little Falls.  I could run a 14 mile loop and not leave Highlands Ranch.  

My hometown, Montclair, is about one mile wide and four miles long.  On Sunday I decided to run back and forth across the town as I made my way from west to east.  This run down memory lane ended up being 10.5 miles.

I ran to Montclair State University where our high school held its swim meets.  I went into the building to have a look around.  The facility has changed little since I held the pool record in the 500 yard freestyle in 1982.

Unlike past visits where I ran on quiet residential roads and through parks, this time I ran along the main business streets.  It was early Sunday morning and there were few people about.  Many of the stores that I shopped at as a kid are still in business today. 

On this trip my father and I visited two historic sites that were prominent in the Revolutionary War era, Paterson Falls and Fort Nonsense.  When I was eight years old I saw Karl Wallenda walk a tight rope across Paterson Falls.  Fort Nonsense is where George Washington camped his men during the brutal winter of 1779 – 1780.  By all accounts that winter was worse than the winter they spent in Valley Forge, PA. 

I enjoy these visits to my hometown because I get to spend time with my siblings and because of the connection I feel with the place where I grew up.  It puts me in a good mood. 

And that’s me.  Happy happy happy all the time.