Vanilla Twilight

My new favorite Owl City song is "Vanilla Twilight," about someone who misses an old lover ("When I think of you, I don't feel so alone"). It contains the line, "Cold nostalgia chills me to the bone." I take that to be a reference to unpleasantries, but I associate nostalgia with Happy Days. Speaking of which, on Facebook Leelee (Minehart) Devenny shared some fifth grade memories, including two (sledding at Molly Schade’s estate, dances at the Fort Washington firehouse) that I had to think about before recalling them myself. Others (Ambler movies, dance lessons with Mrs. Surgner) brought back vivid snapshots in my brain. Our teacher that year, believe it or not, was named Mrs. Bytheway. I replied: “I have great recollections of Schady Acres, including studying for Mr. Cicak's Civics final around a large table and having a laughing fit when someone mentioned how Cicak smelled like a cigar. The gym at Fort Washington School is where I learned the box step. Ten years ago (the day of the fortieth reunion) Terry Jenkins and I visited the school, reconstituted as a Montessori facility. Principal Sue Cameron (married to Jimmy Coombs) let us in. The place looked great, with the big windows letting in lots of light, but the gym seemed really tiny. My parents participated in theater productions on its stage. Coached by Mrs. Bytheway, Terry and I did a duet for a holiday pageant. Terry recalls that we were to sing "I'll Be Home for Christmas," but it was changed to "This Is My Father's World" because of sensitivities towards families with members fighting in Korea. The best thing about Ambler movies was getting Italian zeps (hoagies) afterwards; once Vince Curll ate an entire hot pepper in a single bite.”

On Thursday I bowled for the first time all summer. After a 195, I tailed off and finished with a 480 series, a little under my average. Clark Metz beat me by striking in the final frame, meaning that I paid the nine bucks for our six games. In “The Audacity to Win” David Plouffe talks about Obama’s embarrassment when the press reported that he bowled a 37 (with a tie on, no less) campaigning in Pennsylvania. He had only finished six or seven frames and groused that he easily could have broken 50. His campaign organizations distributed background reports to newsmen about John Edwards’ $400 haircut. Hoping to publicize Hillary’s seeming unconcern about jobs being outsourced to India, they found a quote where she said while in that country that she should be called the Senator from Punjab because she is such a friend. When Obama found out the staff had circulated a document titled “Hillary Clinton, D-Punjab,” he was furious and ordered the negative campaigning to cease. Concentrating on caucus states, where delegates were not necessarily awarded by statewide proportional representation, was crucial to defeating Clinton. Even though Hillary won New Jersey by a margin of ten percent, she only picked up a net of 11 delegates while Obama that night picked up a net 12 in Idaho. In the general election when self-described rogue Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin claimed that Obama was “pallin’ around with terrorists,” a reference to Obama’s casual relationship while a Chicago community organizer with onetime Weatherman Bill Ayers, Plouffe wanted to hit McCain hard for being implicated in the 1980s “Keating Five” scandal, but Obama nixed the idea. Again they had a clear view of the electoral map and saw Colorado and Pennsylvania as keys to victory. Hence Obama’s outdoor Denver acceptance speech and Scranton (PA) native Joe Biden on the slate.

On Friday 16 year-old teen idol Justin Bieber performed four songs on the “Today” show, including “Baby,” “Somebody to Love,” “One Time,” and “Never Say Never” (the new “Karate Kid” theme song. Teens had started camping out two days ago, and there were lots of hearts throbbing by the time he was through. Backed up by African-American dancers, he did mini-raps in the middle of pop fare. From time to time he seemed to come close to putting his hand on his crotch in mimicry of real rappers but I may have been imagining it. He seemed like a good kid not too stuck on himself in his interactions with the Today anchors. Also on the show were “Get Him to the Greek” co-stars Jonah Hill and Elisabeth Moss, looking pudgy and homely respectively and nothing like Hollywood idols.

I interviewed Sheriff Roy Dominguez, first time in weeks. Regarding last month’s primary for Lake County sheriff, he speculated that had he endorsed Colonel Richard Ligons two weeks sooner, the underdog might have won. Tom Philpot dismal fourth place showing hurt Ligons because he and winner John Buncich were essentially going after the same votes and a close race between the two might have allowed Ligons to pull an upset. Responding to rumors that Evan Bayh might run for governor in 2012, Roy put the odds at about 30-40 percent and said he’d not run against him and would be honored to be his running mate if he did. Bayh was one of three Veep finalists, along with Virginia governor Tim Kaine and, of course, Joe Biden. I encouraged Roy to ask Evan (or maybe his father Birch Bayh) if he might write an introduction.

Enjoyed “Get Him to the Greek” with Russell Brand reprising his raunchy role of sexy rock star Aldous Snow from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” Colm Meaney, who played Chief Miles O’Brien on TV in “Star Trek” TV (both in “Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine”), is a hoot as his estranged, debauched father. Sean P. Diddy Combs almost steals the show as the head of a company putting on Snow’s tenth anniversary comeback performance. The tubby Jonah Hill gets to have sex with two groupies, but one almost gets him stuck in a toilet and the other stuffs a dildo in him before he can stop her.

I picked up a biography of Henry Clay, three-time Presidential candidate and the greatest statesman of the first half of the nineteenth century, sometimes known as the “Great Pacificator.” With considerable hyperbole, Clay’s handlers portrayed him as an orphaned “Millboy of the Slashes,” forced to ride through swamps (slashes) to a gristmill. In truth his mother quickly remarried, and the family was affluent enough to own slaves. Clay was very quick to emulate those he admired, whether it was great orators or teachers with good penmanship. His beautiful handwriting allowed him to become a clerk in Richmond, where he acquired an addiction to card-playing. The account of the young attorney arriving in fast-growing Lexington, Kentucky (named in honor of the revolutionary battle) reminded me of young William Jennings Bryan (The Great Commoner) moving to Omaha, Nebraska, or Gary, Indiana, during the 1920s. All three cities were less than 20 years removed from their pioneer days.

Steve McShane’s daughter Maureen got married Saturday, and during the reception we sat at a table with Tim and Cathy Sutherland as well as Ron and Nancy Cohen, who drove us. At one point the deejay asked all married couples to dance and then started eliminating people according to how long they’d been married. At 45+ years Toni and I were the second-place finishers. Sunday I watched James while Dave and Angie attended the East Chicago Central graduation and Toni was at the condo. We played two card games, Sleeping Queens and a version of Squabble Slam that Toni invented. James was quite good at spelling new words he made from letters on the cards he was dealt.

Hoosier John Wooden, the greatest college basketball coach of all time, passed away at age 99. Times reporter Al Hamnik and Post-Tribune veteran John Mutka, had nice columns about him, mentioning how his two greatest players at UCLA, Kareen Abdul Jabbar and Bill Walton, kept in almost daily touch with him. Among the epigrams he was famous for was this advice: don’t mistake activity for achievement.