Thursday, November 29, 2012

All Shook Up


“My hands are shaky and my knees are weak
I can’t seem to stand on my own two feet.”
    “All Shook Up,” Elvis Presley

Neither Toni nor I could escape coming down with bad colds as the Thanksgiving vacation was coming to an end.  I felt so listless I spent most of the next three days in bed although I honored an agreement to speak to Steve’s class Tuesday evening on the postwar years in the Region.  Speaking about it being an age of anxiety, I neglected to mention that school officials gave Region kids tattoos of their blood types in case the Russians attacked.  I got more questions than usual, including thoughtful ones concerning Vee-Jay founder Vivian Carter and Tuskegee Airman Quentin Smith.

It’s hard to imagine that in all the years of teaching I never missed class because of an illness – I just gutted it out. In retrospect, that seems compulsive.  Often I’d come down with colds at semester’s end, as if the body was telling me that it needed down time.  I did miss two weeks after a knee replacement operation. I had it done right after the Fall semester ended and thought I could be back in the classroom four weeks later.  Wrong.  Instead Ron Cohen taught my upper division class and a supplementary instructor, Tom Pawelski, showed a four-hour documentary on Reconstruction to my survey students.  When I was finishing up my dissertation in grad school, I caught something going around that lasted three weeks but gutted it out in time to graduate.

When my dad came down with a cold, he’d sensibly take to his bed for three or four days, switch from Camel cigarettes to Kools (believing that the menthol had medicinal value), and have a bottle of bourbon nearby.  Midge would bring Vic meals, and sometimes I’d play gin rummy or cribbage with him. 

I caught IU’s impressive win over North Carolina as well as a couple HBO documentaries, including “41” (about George H.W. Bush).   It made no mention of the notorious 1988 Willie Horton attack ad implying that Michael Dukakis was complicit in allowing a murderer to go free only to have the black man kill again.  Neither was there mention of his involvement in secret agreements with Iran to delay the release of hostages until after the 1980 election or his role in Iran Contra.  When asked about things pertaining to when he was CIA director Bush flatly refused to discuss them. He blamed Ross Perot for his losing the 1992 election to Bill Clinton.  Surprisingly there was no mention of Bush’s subsequent friendship with Clinton and the charity work they worked on together.

Wartorn: 1861-2010,” movingly documents the effects of post-traumatic stress disorders on American soldiers and their families.  During WW I it was called shell-shock, in WW II battle fatigue.  In both cases the diagnosis implied cowardice or a moral failing.  Only after Vietnam did the problem come under examination, and even today soldiers are ill-prepared for the transition to civilian life.  After the Civil War and each succeeding conflict suicide and mental illness have reached shocking levels.  What makes the documentary so hard-hitting is that all the interviews are with veterans themselves, including WW II veterans talking for the first time about how their lives were ruined.  One Iraq War veteran compulsively sits by his computer watching photos he took during his multiple tours of duty.  He got all the men under him home safely but cannot even go to Walmart with his family without getting anxiety attacks.  Conducting the interviews was producer James Gandolfini, best known for his role of mobster Tony Soprano.

High school friend Phil Arnold has an Elvis blog.  Recently he posted photos of what Obama and Romney would look like dressed like Elvis.  Unlike Romney, Obama looks cool.

High school friend Phil Arnold has an Elvis blog.  Recently he posted photos of what Obama and Romney would look like dressed like Elvis.  Unlike Romney, Obama looks cool.

I sent Joyce Davis of Lake Street Gallery jpegs from a poster Paulette Lafata-Johnson produced advertising the IU Alumni Association authors event a week from Saturday.  That’s one reason I dragged my ailing body to school.  Also I needed to do final revisions of my “Dune-Fawn” article that will appear in South Shore Journal.  Editor Chris Young likes it so much it will be the lead article.

Prior to the condo board meeting, President Bernie Holicky mentioned that he hardly ever returns to Purdue Cal, where he was university librarian.  He does get together with several other retirees, however, including historian Lance Trusty.  In college during the 1950s, he recalled that his history textbook was by John D. Hicks, most famous for “The Populist Revolt: A History of the Farmers’ Alliance and the People’s Party.”  At Bucknell Dr. William Harbaugh used a lively text by Thomas A. Bailey.

Sports Illustrated has an interesting article about legendary Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers, part of the double play combo of Tinker to Evers to Chance.  In 1908. the last time the Cubs won the World Series, Evers retrieved a ball after a hit to center that evidently scored the winning run of a crucial game against the Giants, touched second, and convinced the umpires that Fred Merkle, the runner on first was a force out, negating the score.  The author discovered that the famous ball is presently in the possession of political commentator Keith Olbermann.  Franklin Pierce Adams, the author of the poem “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon” that repeats the refrain, Tinker to Evers to Chance, was one of the founders of the Algonquin Club.

In an issue dedicated to innovators Smithsonian magazine included a feature on Anne Kelly Knowles, whose field is historical geography.  Using an application called GIS (Geographic Information Systems), she uses spatial analysis to study everything from industrial technology to the Battle of Gettysburg. 

Monday, November 26, 2012

Working Class Hero


“When they’ve tortured and scared you for 20 odd years
Then they expect you to pick a career
When you can’t really function you’re so full of fear
A working class hero is something to be.”
  “Working Class Hero,” John Lennon

Blues Cruise has another gig on December 14.  I suggested that Dave learn Green Day’s version of “Working Class Hero.”  He could start it by himself and have the band join him after the first couple verses.  He likes the song and may learn it.  Billie Joe Armstrong altered Lennon’s lyrics slightly, throwing in a couple “F bombs.”  My heroes are working class rank-and-file activists, including Fred Gabouri, Al Samter, and Jim Balanoff, mentioned in “Steelworkers Fight Back” (Steel Shavings, volume 30).

Dave had the flu Thursday and Phil was at the Detroit Lions game with Miranda, Anthony, and Tori, so there were just six us for Toni’s Thanksgiving ham dinner.  Angie and the kids came, as did Anne Balay, taking a break from editing “Steel Closets.”  Phil reported that they had a blast.  Prior to the game, Phil used charm and diplomatic skill to get the four of them in the tunnel; as the players ran through, most, including Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson, slapped their hands.   A spectacular halftime show featured Kid Rock and George Clinton.  The game went into overtime after Houston scored despite their running back being clearly down.  Even though all TDs are automatically reviewed, there’s an idiotic rule that if a coach throws a challenge flag, it’s a 15-yard penalty and negates the review. 
On the limo ride back to Grand Rapids, Phil told stories about his teen years, including a time when he, Dave, Jimmy Satkoski, and I entered a lip sync contest as the Ramones performing “Cretin Rock.”  The other groups – representing Michael Jackson, Prince, and Sister Sledge -  were more polished but stayed on too long until their routines were boring while “Cretin Hop” was over in less than two minutes.  Our prize was a black and white TV which we had in the fireplace room for the next 20 years until the digital age rendered it obsolete.

A gunman shot Hector “Macho” Camacho in Puerto Rico, leaving him brain dead.  Winner of 79 fights, he defeated such boxing greats as Sugar Ray Leonard, Ray Mancini, and Roberto Duran.  Known for flamboyant ring attire, including sequined loincloths, he wore his hair short with a trademark spit curl in front.  One writer called him the Liberace of the ring.

Work is complete on the Route 49 overpass at Vale Park Road in Valparaiso, the intersection where Robin Hass Birky lost her life when a trucker ran a red light.  Instead of a cloverleaf, INDOT (Indiana Department of Transportation) opted for a bridge and roundabouts at each end.

 “The Girl” is a mediocre HBO movie about Alfred Hitchcock lusting after his blond “Birds” star Tippi Hedren.  Another film about the director, “Hitchcock,” is currently in theaters and stars Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, and Scarlett Johansson.

Back from Indy, the Hagelbergs had us over for soup and salad and then bridge.  Dick’s business partner George McGuan, a huge Notre Dame fan, flew to Los Angeles for the game with USC, which they won to remain undefeated and secure a spot in the national championship game.

Phil’s family arrived for the weekend, and we also had James and Becca overnight since Angie came down with the flu.  We taught Miranda’s boyfriend Derrick the dice games Shooters and Perudo, and he won a game of each.  He also looked on as Phil won both Amun Re and Acquire.  Despite the weather turning cold, the football got tossed around, a Thanksgiving tradition.  I seem to have avoided the flu germs but have come down with cold symptoms

The next to last “Boardwalk Empire” was bloody.  Nucky’s loyal servant is shot and in his delirium quotes lines from Rudyard Kipling’s “If,” which begins “If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you.”  Just when Nucky seems doomed Al Capone arrives on the scene from Chicago.

Shirley O’Rourke’s family sent a card expressing appreciation for attending her wake and being with them in their “time of sorrow.”  Wonder whether Kathy is still in Hobart or if a sister sent it.

Media whore John McCain won’t let up in his criticism of UN ambassador Susan Rice for statements she made on Sunday morning news shows shortly after the attack against the Benghazi consulate, calling her unqualified to be Secretary of State.  This from a man who graduated at the bottom of his West Point class.  Obama was probably planning on nominating Massachusetts senator John Kerry to that post, but this might cause him to dig in his heels. 

Seven people were shot in Gary over the weekend, one fatally.  Several were innocent bystanders.   Unfortunately the mayor and city council have no power to enact gun control legislation.