Mexican American baseball

Richard Santillan sent me a book about Mexican American baseball that includes two great photos of teams from the Indiana harbor section of East Chicago. We have been corresponding for the past month after I asked if he could send the footnotes and bibliography for his PhD dissertation (which we have in the Archives) about Latinos in the Midwest. I have been able to collect a half-dozen of his scholarly articles for the Archives and put him and John Fraire, whose working on Region Latino teams, in touch with each other. I sent Richard a copy of volume 41 and said it contained info about “Maria’s Journey” and Sheriff Dominguez’s forthcoming book “Valor.”

I finished watching the mini-series “Mildred Pierce.” I can see why the original movie was considered film noire, and Kate Winslet at times bears a strong resemblance to Joan Crawford, who was in the original. I asked Alan Barr if he saw the HBO production. He said he doesn’t have cable but liked the original as well as my suggestion that it might be a possibility for his film course.

Tuesday’s Thrill of the Grill was a bit of a disappointment since a rainstorm forced it inside, cutting down attendance. Singer Danica Holmes was very good, but Tamarack lounge isn’t as good acoustically as outdoors would have been. I have been calling event coordinator TerryAnn Defenser “Linda” for the past year until finally being set straight. She is really nice and after I apologized said no problem.

I finished Thomas Flemings’ “Intimate Lives of Our Founding Fathers,” the selction for September’s book club. It really isn’t that intimate, denigrating stories that George Washington was banging his neighbor the night before he died and doubting that slave Sally Hemmings was Jefferson’s mistress and bore him children. Franklin was supposedly just flirting with those French women. The only real rake, Fleming believes, was Hamilton.

After two bad practice outings, I rolled a 201 in my first game of the new bowling season. Captain Bill Batalis claims he is officially retired, but we have two new bowlers, John Bulot (a substitute last year) and his friend Duke. Both bowled last night but they seem content to alternate when our regulars are back. I gave volume 41 to Cressmoor Lanes owner Jim Fowble, whose init as is his son Dave and father William (who recalled in a book put out by the Hobart Historical Society that he watched silent cartoons at the Strand Theater while Ted Coons played the pipe organ.

Filmmaker Alex Semchuck interviewed me for almost an hour about the history and future of Gary. He teaches part-time in the Department of Communication. After I answered all his questions, he asked if I had anything to add. I told him he should not forget about Latinos living in Gary and their potential contributions to turning the city around.

We are enjoying fresh tomatoes from our neighbor Gina’s garden as well as some our neighbor Joan gave us from her daughter’s garden. Gina has a stand by her street with a scale and a jar for money from customers. She charges a dollar a pound. She also gave Toni some delicious homemade sweet pickles.

An old friend, Sheila Hamanaka, is in town from new York City to see her son and spent several hours at the condo with her friend Russell, a Philosophy professor. We talked politics and told anecdotes about when she was a neighbor of ours. After a judge screwed her over during a custody fight, I wrote a letter to the judge appealing to him to reconsider, and the arrogant S.O.B. contacted IUN’s Chancellor Orescanin trying (unsuccessfully) to get me in trouble.