Happy Together

“Don’t question why she needs to be free

She’ll tell you it’s the only way to be

She just can’t be chained

To a life where nothing’s gained.”

    “Ruby Tuesday,” Rolling Stones

“Mad Men’s” Pete Campbell gets beat up twice in the latest episode.  George Bodmer must have loved it.  A woman undergoes electro-shock therapy, in retrospect what seems a barbarous practice. In 1968 George McGovern had to drop running mate Tom Eagleton from the Democratic ticket when revelations surfaced that he had underwent the procedure.  The season finale of “Mad Men” was set in the spring of 1967 when The Turtles’ “Happy Together” replaced “Ruby Tuesday” at the top of the charts.  None of the couples in “Mad Men” seem particularly happy together though.  On the other hand, the Turtles’ members Flo (Mark Volman) and Eddie (Howard Kaylan) are still together as a comedy and musical act.

I took the Corolla for an emissions test, required by the State of automobile owners living in Northwest Indiana.  I used to dread the procedure, waiting in line, keeping your foot steady on the gas pedal, and worrying, at least before we started buying Toyotas, about not passing.  These days there is little wait, no gas pedal maneuver, and slim chance of flunking.  Still, given industrial pollution and the volume of trucks passing through on the interstates, the process seems unnecessary.

Visiting the Archives was Lee Botts, working on a documentary commemorating Save the Dunes efforts.  2016 will mark the hundredth anniversary of the Dunes State Park and the 50^th anniversary of the National Lakeshore.  I showed her my “Lake Michigan Tales” issue that includes John Laue’s oral history of Edgewater.  It includes an interview with her, which she’d never seen before.  Laue wrote: “Lee Botts is a well-known environmentalist who bought a leaseback in Edgewater in 1986.  Originally from Kansas, she moved to Hyde Park in 1939 and worked for the Hyde Park Herald.  In the 1960s she started working for the Open Lands Project and in 1970 she founded the Lake Michigan Federation.  Since moving to Edgewater, she has continued her involvement with both local and regional environmental groups.”

In the interview Botts told Laue: “The house was originally owned by Dr. Wood, who lived on the second floor and ran his colonics business out of the first floor. (Wood believed that the cure for most anything was an enema).  I used the downstairs as a kind of gathering place for environmentalists and friends from the Great Lakes region.  I’ve hosted many retreats since I moved in full-time in 1990.”

Lillian Foley wanted a book autographed that she purchased when I spoke to the Ogden Dunes Historical Society.  She is related to a Judge Thomas Slick, who served Indiana’s northern district.  Lillian brought two memoirs about going to school in Glen Park and downtown Gary in the 1930s and early 1940s.  She wrote: “The streetcars were wonderful.  They made us bounce around a bit, but we didn’t mind.  They were all electric.  And they had a small box that blew out hot air in the winter months.  In the summertime, one was able to put down the windows to create a breeze.  What a wonderful and blessed time that was.”

Becca sang the National Anthem Wednesday in front of 3,700 people at a RailCats baseball game.  She was great, just belting it out near home plate with out any backup music.  Afterwards players gave her high fives.  It was kids and seniors day, so there were plenty of wheel chairs and groups of youngsters with matching t-shirts.  On hand were Becca’s great-grandparents, who’ve been together nearly 60 years.  The game started at 12:10, with ideal weather, sunny and in the 70s with low humidity.  The RailCats won 4-2 to bring their record up to .500.  I consumed two hot dogs, one less than James.  Toni’s chicken soup at supper settled my stomach.

The latest Traces issue contains an article by Indiana Magazine of History editor Eric Sandweiss entitled “A Fair Collection of Interesting Pictures: Charles Cushman’s Indiana, 1938-1966.”  Though from southern Indiana (Posey County not far from Evansville and New Harmony), Cushman took photos of Inland Steel and the Indiana dunes.  

A successful salesman of business machines, Cushman left over 14,000 Kodachrome slide transparencies to the Indiana University archives.  The collection is on line, and Steve McShane and I might put together an exhibit of his work pertaining to the Calumet Region.

I congratulated Eric Sandweiss on the article and his new book “The Day in Its Color: Charles Cushman’s Photographic Journey Through a Vanishing America” and mentioned the possibility of an exhibit.  He replied: “Many thanks; your interest in the Region/Chicago shots means a lot to me.  We’re going to have a general exhibit at the Mathers Museum in Bloomington; but certainly it’d be interesting to think about something specifically related to the Region.”

Producer Jay Mukoro of Oxford Film and Television company in London is coming with a team to Gary in three weeks and sought my advice.  He wrote: “We are looking for a former steel worker to speak to – who has a compelling story to articulate, and an engaging way of telling it. We want to hear their story, but we’re also looking for people that can speak to wider concerns: why people care less about making things, why Wall Street is seen as more important than ‘Main Street’.   We’ll be looking at a number of pressing social and political issues; for example healthcare, equality and poverty, the condition of the US middle class, and what’s happened to the American dream, and what’s happened to America as a place that manufactured things?”

I spoke at Lighthouse Charter School to incoming teachers about Gary history, with an emphasis on the public schools dating back to the work-study-play system of Superintendent William A. Wirt.  The group looked quite young but were very attentive and asked good questions, including why the Wirt system was discontinued.  I arrived at lunchtime but saved my pizza and salad until after my talk.  I discussed the Emersion and Froebel school strikes, mentioned the proud heritage of Gary Roosevelt, and ended by reading John Sheehan’s poem “Gary Postscript 1989,” which begins:

“The schools I taught in were noisy but friendly

The jiving mainly merriment

The gangs mostly clubs

The learning more than you’d think

Though six of my students were shot to death

Out of six thousand.”

Nobody cared more about Gary’s children than Sheehan.