Tsunami

“This spot was a playground
This flat land used to be a town.”
“Black Gold,” Soul Asylum

The most powerful earthquake in Japan’s history cracked open highways and caused skyscrapers to sway in Tokeo hundreds of miles from the epicenter. It triggered a devastating tsunami that wiped out entire towns along the country’s northeast coast. The wave that struck the city of Sendai was 23 feet high. What a catastrophe!

Hearing “Black Gold” on the car radio was enough to get me singing along. Although “Runaway Train” is Soul Asylum's most famous song, “Black Gold” is my favorite. The band was big in the early Nineties and played for the Clintons at the White House.

Found “Hotel New Hampshire” On Demand, based on a novel by always quirky John Irving, also responsible for “The World According to Garp” and “The Cider House Rules.” Jodie Foster and Rob Lowe are fantastic as brother and sister who end up in an incestuous relationship. Nastassja Kinski plays a troubled young lady who spends most of her time in a bear outfit. Seeing the movie caused me to check out John Irving’s novel. I found the writing lively and humorous in a droll way. I still recall the car crash scene in “The World According to Garp” where his wife is giving a student a blowjob when her car is rammed from behind and she bites the guy’s dick off. Born a week after I came into the world, Irving studied under Kurt Vonnegut at a Writers Workshop in Iowa, and his “shit happens” worldview is similar to the author of “Slaughterhouse Five” and “Breakfast of Champions.”

Toni found out that we could attend a workshop and purchase a 50-gallon rain barrel for a nominal amount of money to prevent water from our gutter from accumulating behind our condo every time it rains. Following board procedure I obtained signatures of approval from four neighbors.

SI’s cover story about Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941 mentions that the Yankee Clipper loved to read Superman comics but was ashamed to be seen buying them, so he’d have his teammate Lafty Gomez purchase them for him. Joe allegedly screwed countless women in hotel rooms and was possessive towards his wife, onetime aspiring actress Dorothy Arnold, who divorced him soon afterwards. According to Richard Ben Cramer’s unflattering “Joe DiMaggio: A Hero’s Life,” the ballplayer was an egotistic miser who secretly took money from Mob figures in return for gracing their establishments with his presence at such places as the Stork Club, El Morocco and the Copacabana.

The Bulls honored the 1990-1991 team that brought the first NBA championship to Chicago. Michael Jordon and Scottie Pippin were in the house as well as lesser lights such as Cliff Levingston and Stacey King. Led by Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, who each had 26 points, Chicago played virtually a perfect first half against the Utah Jazz and led after 24 minutes 68-41 before cruising to victory. Derrick was draining trees and had 17 points by the end of the first quarter.

Sunday’s Times has a huge cover story about Youngstown, Ohio, and how the blue-collar rustbelt city has attempted to recover from losing its steel industry 30 years ago. Like Gary, Youngstown has lost more than half its population since its heyday when steel mills employed tens of thousands of workers. Bruce Springsteen sang about Youngstown in a song on his 1995 album “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” Although he describes steelworkers as doing a job “that would suit the devil well,” employment allowed workers to provide their families with a decent life. The chorus goes “Here in Youngstown/ My sweet Jenny, I’m sinkin’ down/ Here darlin’ in Youngstown.” Jenny was the nickname of Youngstown Sheet and Tube’s Jeanette Blast Furnace, which shut down in 1977 and whose rusting hulk can still be scene for miles.

Footage of the tsunami in Japan Is pretty mind-boggling. Explosions have taken place at nuclear power plants, and there is a real danger of meltdowns and radiation leakage into the air.

Tom Wade reported that as many as 150,000 people gathered in Madison to protest Republican attempts to strip public employees of bargaining rights. There’s a movement underway to recall the legislative ringleaders. I went 0 for 5 in gaming, losing both Amun Re and Stone Age by a single point, the result of a bad sacrifice and poor dice rolling.

Caught the end of the Blackhawks game Sunday against Washington. The day before last year’s Stanley Cup winners were White House guests. The Hawks tied the game with a minute to go to guarantee at least a point but lost in OT. Had little interest in the college basketball games so watched episodes of “Skins” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” On Demand.

Drove to Theo’s restaurant in Highland for the Arredondo’s presentation of “Maria’s Journey” to the history book club. About 30 people showed up. Judge Ken Anderson was to my left with his Harbor-born mother. To my right was Karren Lee, who seemed interested in being a presenter in the future. With she being a vegetarian and Ken telling his mother he doesn’t eat veal because of what they do to the young calves, I decided against ordering the veal and selected the filet minion, taking most of it home after filling up on soup, salad, and bread. With one Beck added to the bill, it came to $37.80 including tax or $45 with tip.

Karren and I talked about Laura Hillenbrand’s “Unbroken” and feminist Simone De Beauvoir’s romance with novelist Nelson Algren. After mentioning how they came to write the book, crediting me with being instrumental in its conception and execution, Ray and Trish read excerpts from the chapter “Mill Rats.” Ray’s brother, Judge Lorenzo Arredondo, provided anecdotes about his parents and family dynamics – speaking Spanish at home, getting jobs at a young age such as helping the milkman, being disciplined not only by Maria but older sister Jenny. It was interesting watching how Lorenzo, who is used to being the center of attention, resisted the impulse to dominate the discussion. He mentioned bringing a girlfriend to dinner who was shocked that Maria was eating in the kitchen and that the sisters were waiting on the men, but that’s how it was and nobody was going to get Maria to change her ways.

Karren mentioned that when she visited relatives in Romania, the women family members didn’t sit down with the men and when they went to an uncle’s favorite restaurant, it was the first time his wife had ever been there. She described everyone at a long table and servers bringing out plates and plates of meat.

I limited my input to two short remarks. After Trish asked the group which of the family members other than Maria they found most fascinating, I answered Miguel and said that one can’t understand his personality without taking into account the harrowing mills conditions he faced every working day and the energy he put into union organizing, which at one point caused him to be fired and lose his seniority. Lorenzo added that he could have made more money had he not refused shift work, but he believed a man should be home with his family for dinner, at which time he’d talk about national and world events at the table. He was a voracious reader of both English and Spanish newspapers. Lorenzo mentioned that Miguel once said that you never know how the seeds that you plant will turn out. That led me to mention how a family friend told me that the Arredondo offspring were all different from one another but all characters with strong personalities. Trish heartily agreed.

To Karren’s right were attorney Richard Maroc and his wife. When Maroc commented that he had retired as a judge eight years ago, I told him that there’s a photo of him under the headline “Retiring” in my “Ides of march 2003” issue of Shavings and promised to send him a copy. Other people in attendance were George Van Til (pleased that IU Press will be publishing Roy Dominguez’s autobiography) and Bob Selund (who praised my chapter introductions in “Maria’s Journey”). After a woman asked me to autograph the book where my name appears at the end of the Foreword, Karren had me autograph hers (I signed it James “Jimbo” Lane).

Home alone (Toni having gone to Michigan to help Alissa get settled in her n apartment), I popped a beer and turned on the Blackhawks game as they were scoring five goals in the second period in their 6-3 win over the Coyotes. With the sound off in the third period I listened to the Genesis “Duke” album. On MSNBC’s “The Ed Show” they kept showing demonstrators from Saturday’s rally in Madison holding signs and wearing t-shirts with slogans like “Our governor is a Koch sucker.” I kept hoping to see Tom Wade, who had carried a picture of a pig representing the billionaire Koch brothers with Republican politicians including Governor Scott Walker sucking its teats.