“Natural abilities are like natural plants; they need
pruning by study,” Francis Bacon
Landscaper George Brenn gave a power point presentation to
condo members on what he called “Pruniphobia.”
As the title indicates, he tried to lay to rest the fear that pruning
will destroy a plant and pointed out how, when, and where best to do it. We’re hoping to hire him to beautify our
grounds. He certainly knew his stuff and
his estimate seems reasonable. I still need to get assurances from him that he
plans to plant a rose of Sharon bush near where we lost an ash tree last year.
Jerry Davich reported that The Lure on Route 20 in Portage
had closed. I am amazed it stayed open
so long. Bob McGuire told Davich: “The building was a dump but the food was
fabulous.” Joseph Baruffi said, “I drove by it for a decade and never saw a
car there. I figured it was a mob
front.” Once while in the drive
through line the kid in front of me mishandled the change and drove off without
bothering to collect it. I got out of
the car and picked up about 85 cents.
On the way to school an 80/94 overhead sign warned that at
mile 9.5 the left lane was closed due to a clean-up following a crash. Right before the I-65 exit I noticed traffic
was completely halted but was able to get onto I-65 and get off at Ridge. Around noon it was off to Indy for the 33rd
annual Indiana Association of Historians (IAH) conference. I arrived at Comfort Inn without incident,
found a Taco Bell nearby and settled in for an evening of reading and TV. On “Real Time” Bill Maher was particularly
acerbic in going after the Catholic cardinals gathering in Rome. Absent will be Scotland’s Cardinal Keith
O’Brien, enmeshed in yet another sex scandal. One wonders if there are any clerics among
them who haven’t covered up sex crimes of those under them. Referring to the fact that Pope Benedict
won’t be wearing red shoes after he resigns, Maher quipped that people will no
longer know who is tapping them from the next men’s room stall. One impressive guest was California
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newson, formerly mayor of San Francisco and an
outspoken advocate of gay rights.
In the middle of the night someone kept knocking at my
door every few minutes or so. I figured
it was either a robber, a hooker or someone who had forgotten his room number,
so I did not respond. After 8 or 10
tries the intruder gave up. Thirteen
years ago I had to deal with a home invader (See my “Survival Journal” in
volume 33) and dealt with a prostitute during a 1994 China trip. A young man from Berkeley had ordered a
masseuse from the hotel front desk. For
a “happy ending” she charged extra, and when the guy showed her a necklace he
had purchased for his fiancé, she thought it was an extra tip and took it. Then she inquired if he knew anyone who might
want a massage. I answered his knock and
a beautiful young woman smiled and made a motion toward my crotch. The Berkeley guy, though embarrassed stated
the reason for the visit, and I declined.
The theme of the IAH meeting was “Dreams of Freedom” in
honor of anniversaries of Lincoln’s Emancipation and Martin Luther King’s “I
Have a Dream” speech. Arriving shortly
after the 8:45 sessions had begun, I walked into the wrong room and found just the
moderator and the two speakers, discussing Africa. They were so pleased someone had joined them
I didn’t have the heart to leave. In
fact, both papers were excellent, one on the Boer War and the other about the
South Sudan. Commenter Phyllis Boanes
reminded me of favorite high school English teacher Delphine Vandling.
At a session Eric Sandweiss chaired entitled “Race and War
in 20th century Indiana Norma Erickson discussed the first
African-American hospital in Indianapolis, which only lasted six years. One doctor complained that some black
patients preferred to be treated by whites, a claim which seemed dubious but
caused me to recall a “Sanford and Son” episode where Redd Foxx was upset that
the dentist assigned to treat him was black.
In Gary, denied access to white-controlled hospitals, blacks went to a
clinic started by Italian-born Antonio Giorgi and then black-owned St. John’s
on 22nd and Massachusetts, which was in operation for a
quarter-century, beginning in 1929. Praising
the papers, Sandweiss, good editor that he is, suggested that the presenters
needed to put their findings in a larger historical context.
St. John's Hospital in Gary
At a session on Black freedom struggles moderator Wilma
Moore, from the Indiana Historical Society, passed out free copies of the
latest Traces, with a photo of AIDs
victim Ryan White on the cover. Being a
subscriber, I already had one but took another for the Archives. The paper that most interested me was Monroe
Little’s “The Battle for Educational Freedom: The 1949 ‘Fair Schools’
Bill.” When signed into law by Governor
Henry F. Schricker, it supposedly ended de jure school segregation although the
realities of neighborhood housing patterns meant that there was little
meaningful change. Little talked mainly
about Indianapolis but made mention of developments in Gary. Afterwards I promised to send him a copy of
“Gary’s First Hundred Years.”
Purdue Cal’s Saul Lerner, at least ten years my senior,
was supposed to deliver a paper but cancelled due to illness. In the final session George Geib of Butler
University introduced two papers on Richard Lugar, first his years on the
Indianapolis school board and finally a very abstract assessment of his
political philosophy as a pragmatic conservative Mayor and Senator. As mayor,
Lugar pushed through a concept known as unigov to basically broaden the
political boundaries of Indianapolis to include all of Marion County. Under
unigov Indianapolis flowered while Gary declined due to white flight and
business disinvestment, which might not have happened had Gary been able to annex
area to its south including Merrillville.
Lugar’s successor as mayor, William Hudnut, was someone Richard Hatcher
admired even though Hudnut was a Republican.
Geib stated that he was not surprised that Richard Mourdock was able to
defeat Lugar in the 2012 Republican primary, given that he had attended
countless Lincoln Day dinners in 2006 and 2010 whereas Lugar hadn’t. I told Geib I voted in a Republican primary
for the first time in my life to cast a ballot for the Tea Party’s
statesmanlike target.
At the Indiana Magazine of History Board of Trustees Meeting,
my main reason for coming, Eric Sandweiss was fairly optimistic about the
journal’s future at a time when so many publications were going out of business
save for becoming online periodicals. Afterwards
Pam Bennett from the Indiana Historical Bureau asked me for help with a marker
being prepared to commemorate Froebel School as a historical landmark. Eric thanked me for coming and invited me to
have lunch with him next time I was in Bloomington.
Having decided to spend another night at Comfort Inn
rather than drive at night, I watched the Indiana-Iowa game. Despite having an off-night offensively IU
won handily thanks to a stellar game by Cory Zeller. At one point he dove to knock the ball away
from an opponent, then got off the floor to run down court to catch a pass and
get a slam-dunk basket.
Opening up Traces
magazine I found an article by Wilma Moore entitled “Everyday People: Signing
for the Cause.” It reproduced petitions
and resolutions having to do with race beginning in 1814, when citizens of
Harrison County petitioned Governor Thomas Posey protesting blacks settling in
their midst. A 1915 resolution from
black YMCA members requested that hair product mogul Madam C.J. Walker not
leave Indianapolis for New York City (she did anyway). In 1922 black residents wrote a letter of
protest to the Indianapolis school board requesting that a segregated school
not be built (it was anyway). Finally Moore
included letters on behalf of death row inmate Paula Cooper. A Swedish member of Amnesty International
wrote to the Indiana Supreme Court: “It
is sad that the leading democracy in the world still uses this cruel, inhuman
and degrading punishment.” After the
Indiana General Assembly raised the minimum age for the death penalty to 16,
but not retroactively, the Supreme Court commuted Paula’s sentence to 60 years.
I made it home in plenty of time for the “Guys and Dolls”
musical at Memorial Opera House. Based
on short stories by Damon Runyan about underworld gamblers and chorus girls, it
had a long Broadway run in the early 1950s and was a successful 1955 film
starring Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blaine. I was familiar with several songs, such as
“Luck Be a Lady” and “Bushel and a Peck,” and the four main actors were
topnotch, especially Mary Kay Steele as Miss Adelaide. Rotund Jordan Chaddock as Nicely-Nicely
Johnson almost stole every scene he was in.
We finished off a nice day with the Hagelbergs at Sage Restaurant. I had potato soup, the house salad, two
Southern Tier IPA beers, and crab cakes.
On Facebook someone posted 20 things lesbians are tired of
hearing including these: “You don’t look gay?”
“So which of you is the guy?” “So
how does scissoring work?” I correctly
guessed what the last one meant and found on Wikipedia that it also is called
tribadism or tribbing.
My trip to Indy caused me to miss Anthony’s final
basketball game (a 67-63 victory with him contributing 16 points), Tori’s
thirteenth birthday (we left a phone message), and Dave performing with Blues
Cruise at Camelot Lounge (which was a huge success, according to all
reports). Oh well, there will be more
ball games, birthdays, and concerts.
Blues Cruise at Camelot Lounge
Neighbor Dave Elliott spotted that a rear brake light on
the Corolla was out, so Monday afternoon I stopped at Lake Shore Toyota and
also got an oil change. Passing Leroy’s,
I noticed Planetary Blues was performing Friday night. Wonder if old student Joe Hengstler is still
with them. I finally got the go-ahead
from IU Central Purchasing to take volume 42 to Home Mountain and stopped at
Wise Way on the way home for fruit, coffee, and milk.
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