Gay Paree

Granddaughter Alissa arrived in Paris and started off her group email, “Bonjour family.” She relates: “Speaking rudimentary French to people as Dad advised and everyone has been ridiculously helpful in response. This couple we met on the train actually took Jen and I in hand and wandered around the train station trying to find someone who spoke English. And all I was able to really say to them was 'phone' 'call' 'hotel' 'merci merci merci!' Went to the Eiffel tower and wandered the city today. Skipped going up the Eiffel with the girls (waiting to go at night) and wandered by myself in a huge garden. Spent last night at the hostel bar (because it was raining) playing cards and drinking wine with some hilarious French and French-Canadians dressed as Sesame Street characters Bert, Elmo and Cookie Monster.” Replied: “Sounds like the adventure is continuing. Twenty-five years ago I took a train from West Berlin to Paris and found myself drinking beer with some rowdy Australians. They suggested I hang with them at a place where they were headed that sounded like a bordello, but I declined. I wandered around for 12 hours and then took an evening train to Amsterdam. So, chicken that I was, I missed out on some potentially memorable experiences, but then again I was married. At one point I was in a part of the train station where all the turnstiles were facing the opposite of how I wanted to go. I ended up jumping over one and then shrugging my shoulders and muttering an apology to a man looking at me from a booth. Keep enjoying life. Au revoir and love, Jimbo”

Daughter-in-law Delia sent me a really nice Facebook photo that I’m in from Alissa’s graduation from Michigan State. Wish I knew how to add photos to my blog. Someone told me it is very simple, so I must look into it, even though some guys might regard that as gay. I recall reading somewhere that it was a certain person’s opinion that “Gay” had been such a wonderful, expressive word meaning happy or carefree that it was too bad it had taken on a pejorative context to a majority of Americans by referring to homosexuals. I don’t see it as a negative word, and in fact I read that Paris tourist bureaus are using the phrase “Gay Paree” to market the “City of Lights” as a desirable vacation place for gays.

Toni and I made the rounds getting our address changed to the Chesterton condo, starting with the license bureau. Then after a stop at Allstate we found the county auditor’s office after a delay caused by too faithfully following MapQuest. Everyone was helpful. Did yard work in the afternoon at the old place, finished Vonnegut’s “Fates Worse Than Death” and enjoyed his words of praise for antiwar prankster Abbie Hoffman. After some Chinese leftovers and Darcy’s Memorial Day potato salad watched the Flyers’ exciting overtime victory with Clark Metz. An expert cook, he served me two delicious barbecue chicken legs. Childhood chum Terry Jenkins sent me an email right before the game, but since he usually tapes games because of his early bedtime and watches them in the morning, I dare not reply to him yet unless I was very cryptic. Home from Clark’s around 11, I phoned West Coast buddies Joe Robinson and Gaard Logan, but neither had watched the game nor cared to hear about it.

Suzanne has completely recovered from the sudden illness that landed her in intensive care. She wrote: “I went into Amish country today and visited in the home of one of my Old Order Amish friends. She is very sweet. She bakes on Tuesdays and I came away with some yummy goodies. I will be going to a large annual benefit auction on Saturday. There will be about 100 horse and buggies there and they will auction hundreds of quilts and great items. I got a kerosene lamp last year.” I replied: “I bowl with a teammate (Frank Shurfan) who quilts. He took it up after going to various shows with his wife, also a quilter. When my mother moved to California, we inherited a quilt that had belonged to her second husband Howard. We had it appraised (the estimate: $1,400) and discovered it dates from the 1880s.” The appraiser called it a crazy quilt and pointed out patches from France that contemporaries would have considered pornography. That’s part of what made it so valuable.

I met with Aaron Pigors and Tome Trajkovski of Instructional Media Services to discuss how to put the French Lick interviews on DVDs. I hope to combine excerpts of them with footage from sessions and the installation ceremony into 3 to 5-minute spots that might run on Hoosier PBS stations. While doing an hour-long documentary is beyond our capacities, the shorter clips could work, I think.

In the news: Joe Jackson, Michael’s father, is in Gary touting a massive multi-use project estimated to cost investors an estimated $300 million. It would include a museum, arts center, golf course, hotel, and theme park. Unfortunately, Michael Jackson’s estate is not on board with the plans and Michael’s old man is hardly trustworthy. Mayor Rudy Clay arranged for much valuable land near IU Northwest, including Gleason golf course, to be turned over to the investors at no cost. It’s doubtful any of these plans will see the light of day. While in town Joe participated in the unveiling of a plaque at the old Jackson homestead.