Marrakesh Express

“Sweeping cobwebs from the edges of my mind

Had to get away to see what we could find

Hope the days that lie ahead

Bring us back to where they've led.”

    Marrakesh Express,” Crosby, Stills and Nash

With the possibility of a steel strike looming, Steve Walsh wanted to interview me about the 1986 lockout, the longest in Gary’s history, for his Labor Day radio show.  I begged off, suggesting he find a steelworker instead.  Management bastards want to impose a two-tier system whereby new employees would be under an inferior wage scale and receive no pension benefits. 

Ron Cohen forwarded to me a piece from “Jacobin: A Magazine of Culture and Polemics” co-authored by an old Trotskyite acquaintance named Michael Hirsch recommending that radicals eschew Obama in favor of a Socialist candidate.  No thanks.  Ron was on Jerry Davich’s Friday radio show as a call-in to talk about his new Woody Guthrie book.  He reported that Nancy finished “Valor” and really enjoyed it.  I’ll try to get her to come to the Merrillville History Book Club next Monday.

The library elevator reeked of perfume when I entered it.  I guess it could have been worse had someone recently farted. The best smell is when Steve or Will have coffee with them in the morning.

At the Taltree Arboretum in rural Valpo for a 6:30 concert by Marrakesh Express, a Crosby, Stills and Nash cover band, I searched in vain for Marianne Brush, who had alerted me to the show, but sat next to a woman who inquired, “Professor Lane?”  It was Nancy Hrnjak George, who had taken classes with me in the mid-70s, recalled my book about Jacob A. Riis, subscribed to Steel Shavings for several years, and effusively praised my classroom talents.  Growing up in Brunswick, she knew members of both the Farag and Dominguez families.  Her husband Jim took my survey course in 1971 in Gary Main, Room 93, which could hold about 150 students and showed me a wedding picture where the Joyces were looking very Seventies.  They offered me beer and wine and gave me a plate filled with grapes, cheese, crackers, and cherry tomatoes.

 The 8-member band was great, capturing the spirit as well as the harmonies of such classics as “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” “Southern Cross,” and “Almost Cut My Hair.” The outdoor setting was scenic and mellow and the audience, me included, got thoroughly into it, despite the apparent absence of weed, at least none I could smell.  Marrakesh Express had recently played at an Alaska state fair, and someone asked whether they were Styx.

Toni and I traveled to Granger, Indiana, to visit her sister and brother-in-law while daughter Lisa and Fritz were in Ireland for the Notre Dame-Navy football game and extensive pub tour.  Mary has been ministering to Grace and Oliver’s many needs.  Tom and Michele came up from Indy with Sophia and Nickolas, at 11 and 12 slightly older than their cousins.  After staying up late telling and listening to family stories, I slept soundly in a bed with a perfect thin pillow.  In the morning I took Sophia and Grace to Krispy Kreme while Ton prepared bacon and eggs.  They were fascinated by the doughnut assembly line in plain view and laid claim to three doughnuts apiece (out of 18) as the price for not starting to eat them in the car.  In the afternoon Sonny, Toni and I got in four pinochle games while others went to Oliver’s football scrimmage.  The diminutive cornerback looked lost in his helmet and uniform, which reminded me of Nickolas (left) two years ago who after some violent hits wised up and switched to soccer.

 Tigers swept the three-game series with the Chisox to claim a share of first place in the AL Central.  They clearly have the superior team, but Chicago has some cagey veterans who could make the final month of the season interesting.

At the Wades for Labor Day we played croquet, Wits and Wagers, and Say Anything (which James and Becca really enjoyed).  A person reads a question, such as, “What is my favorite type of pie?”  Then the others write down answers.  If two are the same, the second person has to come up with one not already mentioned.  Once the person reading the question locks in his answer, the others can bet on up to two of the choices.  Toni benefitted from knowing I would choose blueberry, but several others followed her lead and put their chips on blueberry as well.  Jef Halberstadt, who like me grew up in the east, recalled how Tasty Cake’s 12-cent blueberry pies were surpassed only by the lemon-flavored ones.  Jef, who works for ArcelorMittal (the former Bethlehem Steel), reported that a strike has been temporarily averted, as employees are continuing to work under the terms of the old contract.

Charlotte Pribish Conjelco requested a copy of the presentation I delivered last year for National Carpatho-Rustn Day.  I complied and added that most of the historical information came from the book “Peopling Indiana” and my “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”

Latest Republican strategy is to revive the Reagan line about asking yourself whether you are better off now than four years ago.  Anyone with an ounce of historical memory would realize that the country was on the edge of a precipice four years ago and, to make matters worse, Romney supports the very policies that got us into the mess.  This tactic hopefully will backfire as (I predict) will the tasteless line about Obama worrying about the oceans rising.  Meanwhile rightwing hatemongers are continuing to spread lies that only true believers could swallow, such as that the DNC is bussing into Charlotte 20,000 Muslims.  One intriguing but far-fetched rumor is that Biden and Hillary will trade jobs, with him becoming Secretary of State and her being Obama’s running mate.

 George Bodmer has a blog of his clever drawings, including his “Oscar” series.  Sadly reading the morning newspaper may soon be obsolete.