Word: scrub
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Except for occasional maneuvering armies, the only people who ever lingered on the scrub-and cactus-sprinkled sand dunes of northeastern Sinai were Bedouin tribesmen. That will soon change. Within the next two months, Israeli surveyors-to be followed by bulldozers and construction workers-will begin charting the site for a new city in a 40-sq.-mi. strip of coastal land below the Gaza border town of Rafah in a corner of the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula. By the end of 1974, a settlement large enough to support 350 families will have been built...
There was also scrub baseball, in which the littlest kid was allowed to play "pigtail," meaning that he stood behind the catcher and retrieved all the passed balls. There were boat races on nearby Crystal Lake, where the air was afume with adult cigar smoke ("One of the great disappointments of my life has been the fact that no cigar ever tasted as good as that cigar smoke used to smell there by Crystal Lake"). Of course there was a high school play. In a performance of Peg o' My Heart, Bruce was called upon by the script...
Downgrading of certain tasks completely disregards the dramatic possibilities of almost any career. We may rant against toil, and yet we were created for it. While deploring job hardships, we doggedly scrub and paint at home to enhance the family image. Prolonged inactivity leaves us mean or deadened...
...script borrows from fantasy and often only the excellent acting prevents the film from plummeting into absurdity: "Have you looked into the mirror lately," a whorehouse madam mockingly asks an adolescent Billie who has misinterpreted a job offer. But, in only a few short scenes, the skinny pig-tailed scrub-girl makes an unexplained Cinderella transformation into the most glamorous lady of the night on the block...
...most visible sign of progress is the proliferation of new sewage-treatment plants, each branded with blue-and-white "clean water" emblems, that dot the shore line. To build them takes money, and it has been forthcoming. San Diego alone has spent $51 million since 1960 to scrub its wastes. Moreover, the sludge does not end up in the ocean but goes back to the land, fertilizing flower beds and lush recreational facilities. Yet even this model scheme is not enough to satisfy the new fervor for clean water. California's water resources control board has adopted a plan...