Raffle Winner

Yesterday I had a nice chat with Chris Young about his excellent article comparing the efforts in Chicago to have statues honoring American Revolution heroes Haym Solomon and Nathan Hale. Interestingly, during the late nineteenth century statues went up for Civil War heroes, but then in the twentieth century the interest was in Founding Fathers. I discovered that there is at least one Haym Solomon Memorial Park in Pennsylvania and a statue dedicated to him in Los Angeles. There are several Hale statues in Connecticut as well as one in New York City.

At my suggestion Eva Mendieta, who is working on an article about a Mexican-American Benevolent Society, interviewed Oscar Sanchez (Roy Dominguez’s former chief aide) who was active in its successor, the Union Benefica Mexicana (UBM), and a past president. Oscar brought an old-timer with him, Daniel Lopez, who was very helpful. He was more comfortable speaking in Spanish, which Eva, a native of Spain, handled with ease.

Troy Davis was executed in Georgia even though seven of nine witnesses recanted and someone else confessed to the murder. What barbarism. Recently when someone during the Republican debate brought up all the people executed in Texas, the Tea Party crowd applauded, just as they did when it was mentioned that someone died due to lack of health insurance. This, rather than being a beacon for freedom, is the reality of American Exceptionalism.

At lunch with Alan Lindmark and Karl Nelson I mentioned a TV show dealing with people who hoard things until there’s virtually no room left in their house. Karl, a Psychology professor, said that it is an obsessive-compulsive disorder and that there are varying degrees and that it is similar to people taking in dozens of stray animals.

TerryAnn Defenser in University Relations informed me that I was a raffle winner at last Friday’s Back-to-School celebration. They called my name after I left. I received a tote bag containing stuff similar to what we handed out at the County Fair but also a White Sox flag and a clapper for use, I guess, at Redhawks basketball games.

At the library courtyard the Business Division distributed free hot dogs, chips, cookies, and pop – an annual tradition. Seeing former Vice Chancellor Marilyn Vasquez hard at work reminded me of when Vice Chancellor Marion Mochon had her assistant, history colleague John Haller, flipping burgers at a Faculty-Staff picnic at Wicker Park, looking for all the world like he’d rather be anywhere but there.

I made contact with Karen Freeman-Wilson, Gary’s next mayor, about interviewing her for my book “On Their Shoulders.” She was born in Gary, so I hope to learn about her parents’ influence on her. Talking to Mike Cherich about politics past and present, he said Karen was a good person who should bring solid leadership qualities to City Hall when she takes office in January. He is good friends with tamburitza maker Milan Opacich, and mentioned that whenever his Serbian mother needed a favor from the Eastern European politicians who were in power 60 years ago she would take them some of her homemade strudel.

LeeLee Minehart keeps encouraging me to add to the “tiara” story, and I keep pushing the envelope, so to speak. Here’s the latest: “As LeeLee, Sissy, and Susan touched bases to plan their trip, they discussed Wendy’s edict about no spouses and realized that they had a revolt of sorts on their hands. Their husbands had decided that they’d fly into Atlanta with them and have fun on their own. On their agenda were a ball game and Road Atlanta, a 2.5-mile oval where they’d race against one other in SuperKarts on an indoor track designed by Mario Andretti. They were planning a canoe trip down the Chattahoochee River and a concert at Centennial Olympic Park. There was talk of a visit to the Blue Flame Lounge, where one of their friends had been for a bachelor party. If you bought one of the waitresses a drink, she’d do a pole dance for you. A stripper evidently treated the groom-to-be to a lap dance, at the end of which with the quick flick of the wrist she somehow managed to remove the guy’s jockey shorts. Unbelievable. The guy still hasn’t lived it down. At least he had the sense not to enter the Blue Flame’s inner sanctum, where more than one bachelor party got out of hand and doomed the groom’s marriage.

As the big event neared, Wendy asked everyone to name the one person still alive not at the reunion that they most regretted not seeing. Without hesitation LeeLee answered “Ricky H.” As she recalled, “We were super friends in seventh and eighth grades. Then Pam T won him over, and I just had to get over it. Ah, young innocent love . . . and we move on.” LeeLee still had in her possession a crushed flower inside an invitation from a dance they attended together as well as a sterling silver charm bracelet Ricky gave her with a heart; one side says Ricky and the other says LeeLee. Looking back, she wondered whether his mother had helped him pick it out. She was quite beautiful, a romantic, and someone girls could talk to in confidence. Ricky’s father was a six-footer, so being tall and handsome was in his genes.

“Jimmy pondered answering Vince, Wendy’s high school sweetheart and first husband, who for 40 years has rebuffed all efforts to get him back to reunions. He was one of a kind and seemed to seek out other unique characters to befriend rather than being interested in fitting in with the “in” crowd. Jimmy felt honored to be his friend. For a tenth grade project they boiled a dead cat and reconstructed its skeleton only to be edged out at the science fair by Ray B, who had 21 specimens of fertilized chicken eggs, opened each day of the incubation period. During an overnight Vince introduced Jimmy to Jean Shepherd’s all-night radio show that they were able to pick up from New York. Shepherd spun tales of growing up in Northwest Indiana; Jimmy never imagined that he’d end up living there. Vince also had a deck of X-rated playing cards that educated Jimmy to the concept of oral sex as well as three-way combinations. Vince enjoyed visiting Charley Thomas, a self-professed atheist and nonconformist who lived on a small farm and had a cynical view of the world. One time Charley took Vince and Jimmy to see his sheep and quipped, “You can learn a lot about sex from them.” Charley often threatened to write a “Peyton Place” type expose of his class. “Too bad the title ‘High School Confidential’ has already been used,” he said, referring to a 1958 movie. What a shame he never followed through. Or perhaps there’s an unpublished manuscript somewhere among his remains. The old curmudgeon never came to a reunion, but in 2005, shortly after his death, a woman who worked at a hospice where he spent his final days showed up. She thought him to be a warm, wonderful person and wanted to meet some of his old friends. Truth be told, loner that he’d been, he hadn’t had more than a handful. Jimmy gave her directions so she could go past the homestead where he grew up.

“Rel put down Paula T, his old girlfriend Marianne’s cousin, as exotic and mysterious as Marianne was down-to-earth and outgoing. While Marianne had fair complexion, there was no mistaking Paula’s Italian ancestry. Once in Mrs. Vandling’s English class for a Word Power assignment Rel had to use the words “laconic” and “loquacious” in a sentence. He was tempted to use the two cousins as examples of each. While Rel was pondering his decision, his wife, who was very religious, got wind of the husbands’ tentative plans to go to Atlanta. Maybe I’ll join them, she teased. “I don’t think you’d approve of the Blue Flame Lounge,” he said. “It sounds like a perfect place to proselytize, she replied.”