Area 52 is NOT Area 51. There are no aliens there (allegedly). There are no space ships there (allegedly). There is no denying the area exist (you know the word by now). In fact allegations, jokes, and wild conjecture aside, Area 52 may not be an actual location. It’s just the name I made up for a place that I tried to visit on a summer day while out riding my bike with my friends.

So, what does area 52 have in common with its “now” widely known, but not really understood “cousin” Area 51? Well, they’re both government-owned sections of land, both restricted to the public, both lacking valid information, and oh yea, both patrolled, and protected by high level security, and gun-toting guards! Aside from that, what is the real difference? Forget every rumor, and conspiracy theory you ever heard (as much as I hate doing that), Area 51 is an actual top-secret U.S. military base that designs, and test the latest aircraft technology such as the B-1 bomber. Area 52 on the other hand is an island in the middle of Boston Harbor, among 33 other islands. At the moment, Long Island via Moon Island contains a homeless shelter, a lighthouse, and a partially used fire-department training facility. To put it bluntly, let’s just say there is no talk about Will Smith making the movie “Independence Day 2” based on the “next level stuff” going on there. Six years ago, The Boston Globe wrote an editorial about Long Island calling it “Off-limits island”, noting that among other things, it received a $300,000 dollar grant so as to determine the best point to place a dock on the island ……..just determine; not design or build! 

www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/07/15/off_limits_island/

Where can I get a grant like that to determine if I should walk up the stairs or down the stairs in my house?

I found this information out the hard way after biking a few hours with 2 friends, only to get to the “armed beachhead” and be denied access. Thinking that I may have come to the wrong entrance, I revealed that the 3 of us just wanted to take a quick bike ride out there for a visit. Never figuring that our literal impasse would continue, I was told by the armed guard in a rude and gruff voice that I was not allowed to pass. I had to ask “why not?” He replied “HOMELAND SECURITY!”  Qu’est que c’est??!! Having spent 5 years in the U.S. Navy, I was quite familiar with “homeland security,” and it never involved a city-owned, urban deserted island in the middle of no-where, so as to stop 3 middle-age cyclist, in the middle of a warm summer day! I couldn’t help myself; I repeated “homeland security” in my best incredulous voice. “HOMELAND SECURITY!” he said again. We were not even allowed to so much as approach, and read the Civil War Monument five feet from the guard shack (just more evidence that reading is becoming a crime of suspicion in itself; wink, wink…hello sarcasm!).

My ride back home was fueled not by energy bars, but the bitter taste of indignation for government waste, shown disrespect for the public, and the sadness that nature on this planet is not shared as it should be.

Maybe things will be better on my bike ride to Area 53!