Four Score

“I said four score and seven years ago

Oh sock it to ’em baby,

You’re sounding better all the time!”

    “Abie Baby/ Fourscore,” from “Hair”

Abraham Lincoln made the cover of Time and The Smithsonian, due in part to the upcoming Steven Spielberg movie that focuses on the President’s efforts to garner enough Congressional support to pass the Thirteenth Amendment.  Had the abolition of slavery not been accomplished while Southern states were in rebellion, success would have been far more difficult, if not impossible.  The Gettysburg Address, starting with the phrase “four score and seven years ago,” lasted only two minutes and received no applause, perhaps because of the somber occasion, honoring the thousands who died on that Pennsylvania battlefield. “Abie Baby” is irreverent satire, sung from a black man’s point of view, with the final lines being, “I’m not dying for no white man (Tell it like it is, baby).”

Exactly 160 years ago occurred the funeral of Daniel Webster.  Bostonian Richard Henry Dana wrote that the Massachusetts Senator was “a true product of New England, and on her most sacred spot, the home of the Pilgrims, was he to return.”  Thousands silently passed by the uncovered coffin, as “in it lay stretched, at length, in the full dress that he wore at his last speech, all that is mortal of Daniel Webster.”

I came across “Dinner at Eight,” a 1989 made-for-TV remake of the 1933 classic starring John Barrymore and Jean Harlow, which in turn was adopted from the 1932 Broadway hit written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber.  Lauren Bacall as a worldly novelist and Marsha Mason as a social climbing society matron shine in an otherwise mediocre production.  John Mahoney, Frasier’s dad in the TV series, plays the male lead.  Bacall, 65 at the time, was Humphrey Bogart’s lover and sat on a piano in 1945 while then Vice President Harry Truman “tickled the ivories.”

Bacall in 1989 (above) and 1945

I kept an eye on the World Series and Notre Dame while playing bridge with Dick and Cheryl.  Punchless Detroit is in danger of being swept, while the Fighting Irish beat favored Oklahoma on the strength of its defense.

Woke up tired after dreaming of helping relatives move, only nobody else was taking furniture to the van.  Went one for four gaming Sunday at Dave’s, prevailing in St. Petersburg thanks to early Potemkin and Judge cards.  On the kitchen table were an array of Jack o’Lanterns carved by James and Becca.  Driving home, I mentioned to Tom that the Corolla engine seemed loud.  He agreed and speculated that it might be a compression problem.  It proved to be a wheel bearing.

Alissa and Josh dropped in on their way back from Madison, WI, where Alissa attended a conference.  The night before, they went to Second City Comedy Club, and enjoyed people-watching Chicago revelers in Halloween costumes.  They had planned to visit the Shedd Aquarium, but attendants wanted 50 bucks for parking because of the Bears game taking place nearby.  Josh and I watched last-second victories by both Chicago and the Colts (he lived in Indy growing up).

In “Broadway Empire” the diabolical Gillian (Gretchen Mol) needing a corpse resembling son Jimmy, lures her new lover into a tub and kills him with an overdose of heroin.  Giuseppe “Gyp” Rosetti (Bobby Cannavale) endures a meal with his tough-as-nails wife and sisters.  When he starts to eat without first crossing himself, she slaps him and says, “What are we, cats in an alley?”  Afterwards Gyp curses out God, slugs a priest, and steals from the church.  Still in this “Sunday Best” episode it was fun watching Nucky (Steve Buscemi) juggling balls at his brother Eli’s house for Easter dinner and WW I vet Richard falling for sweet Julia.

The third season of the HBO series is taking place four score and nine years ago (1923) when the Klan was rising, F. Scott Fitzgerald published “Tales of the Jazz Age,” Bessie Smith recorded “Downhearted Blues,” and President Warren Harding succumbed to congestive heart failure (although rumors developed that he had killed himself or that his wife had murdered him), saddling the country with pipsqueak Calvin Coolidge

Emma Balay, who had been working at a Halloween costume shop in L.A. has a new gig as Tinkerbell at Disney World.  She promised to send along a photo of her dressed in her green fairy outfit.

Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast.  Airplane traffic has come to a halt, and weathermen are labeling the monster blast “Frank-en-storm.”  Chuck Todd’s “The Daily Rundown” focused on how it is disrupting the campaign a week before the election.  Matt Lauer signed off speculating that “The Today Show” might not be on the air tomorrow.  When Hurricane Hazel came through eastern Pennsylvania in 1942, Fort Washington Ave. in front of our house became a swirling river that almost killed our dog Smokey.  Toni’s pet parrot disappeared when someone opened the front door unexpectedly.  Four score years ago occurred the election of FDR, which led to the flowering of liberalism.  Let’s hope 2012 does not lead to its dismantling.

Take Me Back

“Take me back

To the hills of Indiana

Take me back

To when I was a kid.”

   Lonnie Mack, “Hills of Indiana”

Due to encroaching glaciers having leveled everything in their path, we don’t have hills in northern Indiana save for sand dunes, but south of Indy lies beautiful hill country.  Neighbor Dave Elliott burned me a CD of Lonnie Mack’s 1971 album “Hills of Indiana.”  Six months older than I, the Hoosier blues legend from Spencer County near the Ohio border recorded “Memphis” in 1963, an instrumental that expanded the role of the electric guitar in rock music.  I saw him at a “House Rockin’ Blues” night at the Holiday Star, the only white guy on a bill that included Buddy Guy, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Lonnie Mack, Albert King, and B.B. King.  The show lasted until 3 a.m.

My “Roaring Twenties in the Region” talk went very well, although I shortened the readings somewhat as we approached the 60-minute mark. Isabelle Vargo recalled playing Post Office and Spin the Bottle as a teenager.  Bethel Mattingly remembered gypsy girls tumbling about on her front lawn in long dresses but no underwear. Several guys talked about skinny-dipping at the Lake George clay banks. 

In “Hobart Memories” is this passage by Franklin Rhoades, whose widow was in the audience, that reminded me of a stunt Sammy Corey pulled with Terry Jenkins, Paul Curry, and me holding our breath: “Another sport on the frozen Lake George was a very crazy thing we did, but we were in a reckless age.  We drove a car on the lake, filling it with anyone wanting to ride.  Then after tying a large rope behind the car, a bunch of nuts would hang onto it while the car gathered speed and started pulling the skaters behind it.  The driver would make sudden stops and sharp turns, causing a whiplash effect on the skaters trying to loosen their hold so they would go flying.  One time my brother Bob was run over by the Model T Ford.  He wasn’t hurt because he was between the wheels.  A car at that time only weighed about 750 pounds, so weight-wise the ice could sustain it.”

Carl Krausse told Bee Stafford about the time in 1920 when the limousine of opera star Ernestine Schumann-Heink got stuck during a snow storm in front of Stommel’s store on Third Street. Several merchants helped dig the vehicle out while the diva was cursing at the chauffeur in German, assuming they wouldn’t understand.  After they finished freeing the limo, much to her surprise they called out in perfect German: “It was a pleasure to serve you, Madame.”

Among the 40 or so attendees were archives volunteer Dave Mergl, Doris and John Ban (Education Professor emeritus), Kay who bowls with Dave and Angie, and Beverly Wright, who recently donated a splendid collection of Calumet Community Congress records to the archives.  Her late husband Jim was a leader in the early-70s Saul Alinsky-style activist group. Kristina Kuzma, who parleyed an internship last year into a full-time job at Reiner Senior Center, helped play my short videos, brought me a hefty bowl of fresh fruit, and invited me back.  I might give my Vivian Carter talk and play Vee-Jay ditties in the spring.

At Hobart Dairy Queen I consumed a chili cheese dog and vanilla shake.  On Sunday mornings Dave, Tom Wade, Bruce Sawochka, and I often stopped there after three sets of tennis nearby at Fred Rose Park.  Imagining how playing such songs as “Hey Little Girl” would go over with Hobart seniors, I thought of Dee Clark’s description of a coed in a high school sweater, black silk stockings, and “that crazy skin-tight skirt” and recalled Mary Bub, who (as we crudely put it in the Fifties) had the finest ass at Upper Dublin.  Two years younger than I, at a party my senior year she asked for a ride home and we smooched in her driveway.  She had just broken up with a long-time boyfriend, but I was content (or too shy) to go beyond “necking.”   I visited her a few days later, but nothing more came of it.  When yearbooks came out near the end of the school year, she asked me to sign hers and I realized what an opportunity I’d missed.  Mary Bub, where are you now, I wonder.

Classmates LeeLee Minehart Devenney and Bob Wolf liked my pro-Obama Facebook comments.  LeeLee’s father, when Treasurer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, claimed to be one of just two Republicans in Fort Washington, the other being the pastor of his Reformed Church.

At IU Northwest’s fall convocation historian Eric Foner lectured on the topic Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.  From ages 7 to 21 our sixteenth President lived in Spencer County, Indiana, just across the Ohio River from the slave state of Kentucky.  He later described himself as “a strange, friendless, uneducated, penniless boy.”  A Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial is located about five miles from Santa Claus, Indiana, Bears QB Jay Cutler’s hometown. In September 1859 Lincoln spoke at Masonic Hall in Indianapolis. In the audience was Hugh McCulloch, who wrote: “Careless of his attire, ungraceful in his movements, I thought as he came forward to address the audience that his was the most ungainly figure I had ever seen upon a platform. Could this be Abraham Lincoln whose speeches I had read with so much interest and admiration — this plain, dull-looking man one of the most gifted speakers of his time? The question was speedily answered by the speech. The subject was slavery — its character, its incompatibility with Republican institutions, its demoralizing influences upon society, its aggressiveness, its rights as limited by the Constitution; all of which were discussed with such clearness, simplicity, earnestness, and force as to carry me with him to the conclusion that the country could not long continue part slave and part free — that freedom must prevail throughout the length and breadth of the land, or that the great Republic, instead of being the home of the free and the hope of the oppressed, would become a by-word and a reproach among the nations.”

Most famous for his seminal “Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877,” Eric Foner is the nephew of the Marxist labor historian Philip S. Foner and the son of history professor Jack Foner, blacklisted during the Red Scare for championing radical visionaries such as Eugene V. Debs and W.E.B. DuBois.  Reviewing Eric Foner’s “The Story of American Freedom,” Theodore Draper concluded: “If the story is told largely from the perspective of blacks and women, especially the former, it is not going to be a pretty tale.” 

Before the lecture Chris Young arranged for a small group of us to meet with Foner in the Robin Hass Birky Women ‘s Studies Room.  Despite having just come from Young’s seminar on Lincoln, he was alert and affable.  Ron Cohen asked whether he’d ever seen his FBI file on him, and he replied that it was embarrassingly small.  When he was a kid, he went to a progressive summer camp, and on visiting day agents wrote down the license plate numbers of parents who showed up. George McGovern’s name came up since he, like Foner, had recently written about Lincoln.

In his address Foner compared Lincoln to President Obama in the sense that their political rise was a result of oratorical prowess – Abe’s eloquent debates with Stephen Douglas and Barack’s keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention.  Lincoln’s views toward ending slavery evolved; where he once favored compensation and colonization, there is no mention of either in the Emancipation Proclamation.  To get the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery, passed took great political skills. Foner deftly answered questions about Lincoln’s relationship with Frederick Douglass, diplomatic problems with Great Britain, and comparisons with Russia ending serfdom in 1861.  The entire History department was on hand, and during the reception I told Chancellor Lowe that it was a good day to be a historian.  Both he and Foner had spent time in Dublin, Ireland, researching reports informants filed about supposed Irish-American terrorist groups.  Both concluded that since their livelihood depended on producing a continuous flow of “evidence,” the dispatches were unreliable.

above, Eric Foner; below, Nicholas Kimmel

Prior to game two of the World Series in San Francisco one-armed veteran Nicholas Kimmel in full uniform made his way with great effort to the mound and threw out the first pitch, a perfect strike, as pitcher Barry Zito and Hall of Famer Willie Mays looked on, in awe of such a courageous hero.  In a 2-0 Giants victory the key play was when Prince Fielder tried to score from first on a double with no outs and was thrown out on a perfect relay.

With the presidential race so close, the key will be getting out the vote.  Democrats appear to have thwarted most attempts to disenfranchise poor people and Latinos, but these groups traditionally don’t vote with such frequency as more affluent whites.  To whip up crowds Obama has employed the word “Romnesia” as shorthand for his opponent’s flip-flopping on positions, now that he is pretending to be a moderate.

Indiana Historical Society offered to pay for hotel accommodations at the Mariott the night I receive the Dorothy Riker Award.  Key Fetters asked me to fact-check a press release; it was fine but I suggested mentioning “Valor” and adding that I was co-director of the Calumet Regional Archives.

In Fantasy Football I am playing nephew Dave’s team Jack Bauer’s Bruisers (he was a big “24 Hours” fan).  Colin Kern recently wrote: “I wonder if I can get my phone to say, "The following takes place between 2pm and 3pm. Events occur in real time" every hour (adjusting the times, of course) in Jack Bauer's voice.”  I forwarded the message to Pittsburgh Dave, and he replied that he actually has something similar on his phone.

Played two board games at Jef Halberstadt’s, finishing third in Seven Wonders and first in Revolution by capturing the apothecary on the final move, enabling me to poison an opponent and gain control of the Market.  Robin picked up pizza at Cappo’s, formerly Bronko’s when owned by former student Nick Tarailo, who went to Merrillville H.S. and IU with Jef and T. Wade.  Home in time to catch Diamond Rings, whose lead singer John O is a gay Billy Idol lookalike, on Letterman.

Look at me now

“I stretch my arms into the sky

I cry Babel!  Babel!  Look at me now

Then the walls of my town,

They come crumbling down.”

    “Babel,” Mumford and Sons

The Mumford and Sons CD “Babel” is on top of the charts.  You gotta love that banjo sound by “Country” Winston Marshall.  Recently they performed “I Will Wait” on SNL.  In Genesis is mention of Babylonians building a “Tower of Babel” in a vain attempt to reach the heavens, causing an angry god to scatter them and take away their common language.  As the saying goes, god (if there is one) works in mysterious ways.

Making national news is a statement Indiana Republican candidate for Senator Richard Mourdock made in a debate with Joe Donnelly defending his opposition to abortions for rape victims because, in his exact words, “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.”   By that logic an omnipotent god must have willed the rape to occur as well, though Mourdock denies that.  Commentators are comparing this idiocy to the “legitimate rape” remarks by Missouri Republican Todd Akin; Romney distanced himself from Akin but recently endorsed Mourdock, who ruthlessly went after moderate incumbent Richard Lugar in the spring primary.  IU Political Science professor Marjorie Hershey commented: “Gaffes make a difference when they fit into a pattern that has already formed in people’s feelings about a candidate.  This comment about rape fits into a perception that Mourdock is an extremist – a charge that Rep. Donnelly has been making for months.”

I told archives volunteer Dave Mergl about my talk Thursday at Reiner Senior Center in Hobart and he intends to come.  I’ll discuss Portage Township, Gary, and Cedar Lake during the 1920s, then talk about Hobart and have ten folks read excerpts from “memory books” compiled by Hobart History Museum mainstays Dorothy Ballantyne and Elin Christianson.  Franklin Rhoades described skinny-dipping and fishing in Lake George B.S. (“before silt,” which killed off aquatic life and polluted the water).  I wonder how much it would cost to clean up Lake George.  It would be worth it on many levels.

Geologist Bob Votaw entered the Redhawk Café wearing a field trip hat.  At age 70 he started teaching again and this semester has two classes.  He taught a TV course that came on at 7 a.m. Toni watched it faithfully, and I found it very interesting as well.

Dunelands Historical Society board member Lynn Welsh thanked me for the “great” program on Vivian Carter and Vee-Jay Records, concluding: “It was a real stroll down memory lane.”

Archives volunteer Maurice Yancy helped prepare announcements for Tuesday afternoon’s Glen Park Conversation by attaching date, time, and place to poster blowups of the cover of “Valor” that I had saved from last month’s Soup and Substance event.  Public Relations assistant Terry Defenser lent me two easels for the Conference Center lobby and the second floor of the library, where the program took place in the Reverend Robert Lowery Study Area.  Attending were both Garrett and Barbara Cope, as well as Chancellor Lowe, Ron and Steve, librarians Tim and Betty, CURE administrative assistant Sandra Smith, and about 15 others, including two of Roy’s former teachers, Mrs. Brown (Art) and Anne Thompson (English).  When Anne made a comment using perfect diction, I recognized her as someone I worked with one summer 20 years ago in connection with IUN Kids College.  Host Garrett Cope raffled off items, including “Valor” and “Gary’s First Hundred Years,” which were the first ones selected.  I won a fancy red artificial wreath with green sparkles that will be perfect for Christmas.

Roy talked about his forebears, growing up in Gary (Cudahy, Tolleston, Brunswick, and Junedale), racial tensions during the late 1960s, attending IUN, becoming the first Latino state trooper, overcoming Guillain-Barré syndrome, and recently returning to his alma mater Valparaiso Law School to speak to minority students.  Roy’s first visit to Valparaiso was one summer to go shopping when as a teenager he was picking crops with his mother’s family, who were migrant workers up from Texas.  Also on the program was city official Ben Clement, author of “Giants on My Shoulder,” about Frank Steele, George Foreman’s sparring partner prior to the “Rumble in the Jungle” against challenger Muhammad Ali.  Fired after he got the best of the champ, Steele then gave pointers to Ali that helped him win the contest.

                                   above, Jimbo, Barbara Cope, and Roy Dominguez; below, Roy and Mrs, Brown

Afterwards I got Sheriff Dominguez and Mrs. Brown, his Ivanhoe art teacher, to pose for a photo on Barbara Cope’s smart phone, then had a student take a shot of Barbara and the two of us. Son Garrett, Jr., helped get them sent to my email address. 

On the cover of Rolling Stone is President Obama, interviewed by historian Douglas Brinkley, who labeled him the Progressive Firewall – the last line of defense in preventing America’s hard-won social contract from being defunded into oblivion.  Consequences of his defeat could include another Middle East war, disastrous Wall Street deregulation, ecological disaster, and the reversal of Roe v. Wade.  So the in this election stakes are high.

With the weather in the high 70s I stripped down to a “World’s Greatest Grandpa” t-shirt, inspiring a quip from Vice Chancellor Malik when he ran into me returning easels to TerryAnn Defenser.  It took me a moment to realize what he was talking about.

I’ve been in contact with IUN alum and kids’ lit author Donna Rae Rendina about the December 8 PopUp Art event at Lake Street Gallery.  She’ll bring copies of “The Golden Leaf” and inquired: “I usually have my characters with me in costume.  Is that something I could do?”  I replied, “Characters in costume would be fine.”  In “Valor” Roy talks about the Rendina brothers being ushers at Holy Rosary Church when he was a kid and that these” scary physical specimens” would demand instant respect when they’d say, “Hey boys, sit here and be quiet.”

Eighty five years ago Franklin Pierce Admas, whose witty newspaper columns, written in diary form, appealed to New York and Chicago sophisticates, wrote of having a new radio set installed and not having any idea how it worked, as was the case with his electric lights or telephone.  He found the advertising, in his words, “pretentious and silly, as when one man spoke many times of the slogan of a company being “You might as well have the best.”  He wondered how many conferences it took to come up with that bromide.

In bowling the Engineers won an exciting game when Melvin Nelson doubled in the tenth.  I discussed my upcoming Hobart talk with Jim Fowble, whose father Don’s reminisces I plan to make use of.  Game one of the World Series was such a rout I tuned in a documentary about Ethel Kennedy.  When husband Bobby was Attorney General, she and the kids liked to visit the shooting range in the basement of the FBI building.  Spotting a Suggestion box, Ethel wrote, “Get a new director.”  Director J. Edgar Hoover hated RFK and vice versa.

Ronan

“It’s about to be Halloween

You could be anything you wanted if you were still here.

I remember your bare feet down the hallway

I love you to the moon and back.”

  “Ronan,” Taylor Swift

                                                    Ronan Thompson

On the cover of Rolling Stone is long-legged Taylor Swift, who stands just an inch under six feet and is dating a Kennedy almost three years her junior.  At a Breast Cancer Awareness Month benefit Swift barely kept it together while singing “Ronan,” based on a true story about a four year-old’s death from neuroblastoma, then ran to a dressing room and wept.  Ronan’s mother Maya Thompson shares credit as co-writer of the song.  Ball players and referees have been wearing pink.  All kinds of paraphernalia are on sale, from caps to headbands, proceeds that will go to fight cancer.

On the way to Lake Street Gallery I stopped in to see Ron Cohen, who inscribed a copy of his Woody Guthrie book for Roy Dominguez.  He may come hear us again when we speak next Tuesday at Garrett Cope’s Glen Park Conversation.  Also on the program is former Gary city planner Ben Clement, a friend of his.  Gallery owner Joyce Davis liked Jennifer Greenburg’s “Rockabillies” book, agreed to display a half dozen framed photos during the December 8 Alumni Association book signing event, and noted that one guy reminded her of her greaser brother during the Fifties.

Traces page proofs arrived for my article on football great Alex Karras.  As always, it was virtually clean, skillfully laid out, and included fantastic photos, some provided by brother Ted Karras.  In the editor’s note, entitled “The Writer and the Mad Duck,” Ray Boomhower mentioned Karras’s close friendship with George Plimpton, author of “Paper Lion,” and his career as an actor in “Blazing Saddles” and “Webster.”  He noted that before Alex’s recent death, he suffered from dementia and had joined a lawsuit against the National Football League.

Saturday a Calumet Heritage Conference took place at Indiana Dunes Visitors Center near our condo.  Steve McShane was particularly interested in August Carlino’s remarks about the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area in Western Pennsylvania.  An afternoon tour started with a South Shore rail car ride to Millennium Park in Chicago and then a bus back to Dune Park via a route out of sight from the train.

Clark Metz invited me to a chili cook-off at Miller American Legion lodge and former union official Rolland Beckham’s seventieth birthday party at Beach Café.  Toni had a birthday dinner scheduled for daughter-in-law Angie, golumpki, rolls, potatoes and asparagus.  Beforehand five of us finished the Rock ‘n’ Roll thousand-piece puzzle.  Dave and I watched IU lose another close game (against Navy) in the final minute.

I finished John Grisham’s “The Partner,” about a Mississippi attorney who stole 90 million dollars from his corrupt law partners and then disappeared after faking his own death.  It had enough twists and turns to keep me interested but no dramatic court scenes or characters I really cared about.

George McGovern, liberal Democratic candidate for President in 1972, passed away at age 90.  I went door-to-door for him and Toni worked in his Gary headquarters.  I saw the Minnesota Senator speak at Gary West Side that year, and at George Roberts’s invitation spoke at IU Northwest years later.  The World War II pilot and history PhD opposed both Vietnam and the American invasion of Iraq.  Slaughtered by “Tricky Dick” after selecting a running mate, Tom Eagleton, who left the ticket after admitting he’d had electric shock treatments for depression, McGovern nonetheless transformed his party in ways that made possible the election of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

At a 2009 history conference McGovern talked about Abraham Lincoln.  In a tribute to McGovern Ray Smock wrote that when he went up to get his autograph on his book, he said “Senator McGovern, I was proud to vote for you in 1972 and have never regretted that vote.” Ray (with McGovern below) recalled that he laughed and said “You know, if everyone over the years who told me they voted for me actually did vote for me I would have won in a landslide rather than losing in a landslide.”  

Sunday we ate Chinese from Wing Wah and played bridge at Hagelbergs (Toni won; I was low man).  Beforehand we perused a scrapbook of photos from Dick and Cheryl’s Danube River cruise, which commenced in Prague, a city I’ve always wanted to visit, especially the Charles Bridge (below) that spans the Vltava River and dates back to the fourteenth century.

 

The Times carried Jane Ammeson’s article about Ron Cohen as well as photos of two of his folk music books, including “Work and Sing,” about labor union songs.  Jane quotes Ron as concluding that Woody was “a creative genius, an influence on everybody as an entertainer, songwriter, and political activist.  Woody is still with us in his songs and writings.”

Recently The Post-Trib’s Mike Hutton wrote a column entitled “More memories from Karras’ friends, family.”  It includes an anecdote from Gary city athletic director Earl Smith, his college teammate at Iowa.  During the 1950s they both had summer jobs working for the Gary street department.  One day Earl, Alex, and two white co-workers went to a Miller eatery for lunch, and the waitress refused to serve Earl.  When the food came, Alex dumped the dishes onto the floor, causing the owner to call the police.  Alex told Mayor Pete Mandich, a former football star at Tulane, what happened, and he was furious.  Earl Smith said of Karras: “He was crazy.  He was just unbelievably loyal to us.  You can just never lose that connection.  He never cared what color you were.”

Despite foolishly not playing Aaron Rogers or Owen Daniels, I edged son Dave, whose second-place Lane Fantasy team was decimated by players on bye week.  I remained undefeated thanks to a “pick six” by the Houston defense and a banner day for Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.  In the CBS pool I finished 10 points behind winner Ben Nicksic, who got every game correct while I had Buffalo beating Tennessee and the Redskins upsetting the Giants.

I ran into Bob Mucci at the Anthropology dollar book sale.  He wanted me to teach in the spring, but I told him I don’t do January and February but might be available next fall. 

Niece Andrea invited me to spend four days in January with her, Nick and Seattle Joe in Mexico.  I’ll probably beg off, though it is tempting.

On the strength of Rolling Stone’s three stars and being a huge Woody Harrelson and Christopher Walken fan, I saw  “Seven Psychopaths” in Portage (I was the only one in theater 11). While much too bloody for my taste, the acting was super, even including cameos by Michael Pitt (Jimmy in “Broadway Empire”) and Harry Dean Stanton (the profane Bud in “Repo Man”). 

Obama was the aggressor in the final Presidential debate, while Romney adopted a “me, too” posture, reversing many of his previous positions.  When Romney claimed Obama had weakened American defenses, leaving the navy with fewer ships than were in use during World War I, the President replied, “We also have fewer horses and bayonets,” adding that fewer ships were needed in an era of nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers.  Ray Smock, who labeled Obama the “Alpha dog tonight,” wrote: “Romney comes across as a complete whore who, like an onion, has no core. He is layer after layer of poll driven opinions, and when you peel all the layers away there is no central core values left. No true character. No true leadership. He is about winning, not leading. Obama is about winning too, but he is also about leading. He has demonstrated leadership and character.”

Rags to Riches to Rags

“Seagull carry me over land and sea

To my own folk, that’s where I want to be.”

   “Gladys Knight, “Every Beat of my Heart”

In researching my talk on Vivian Carter and Vee-Jay records I discovered that Gladys Knight (of the Pips) was a winner on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour in 1952 at age seven.  Some of the lyrics to “Every Beat of my Heart” remind me of a slave lament, pining for one’s African homeland.  Gladys recorded the song, which has a gospel flavor, for three different labels, Vee-Jay in 1961, Fury Records in 1962, and in 1970 for Motown.  1962 was a pivotal year for Vee-Jay.  They released “Sherry” and other Four Seasons huge hits but were hard-pressed to pay the promised royalties.  They gained the American rights to the Beatles and in 1964, after the group’s appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, sold 2.6 million records in a single month, but then they lost a costly lawsuit to Capitol, who lured the Fab Four away.  Opening a California office backfired and the CEO, a compulsive gambler, squandered money on Las Vegas junkets and lavish entertainment.  By 1966 the label that brought us the Spaniels, Dells, John Lee Hooker, Staple Singers, Jerry Butler, and Gene Chandler was bankrupt.  As YJean Chambers concluded of Vivian: “Hers was a story of rags to riches to rags.”

In part to thank Student Life director Scott Fulk for hosting Roy Dominguez and me last month, I attended the Soup and Substance talk by Marty Dzieglowicz, Indiana membership chair for the American Legion.  He was hoping to start an online Legion Post at IU Northwest, but all those in attendance looked too young to be veterans.  He mentioned that the Legion supported the Canadian oil pipeline, and when I noted that it was a potential ecological disaster, he clarified his statement to say it had to first meet environmental guidelines.  I also asked whether the Legion was endorsing Romney or Obama, and he claimed his organization was nonpartisan.  Side dishes of scallions, cheese and bacon bits on hand to add substance to the potato soup.

Two researchers were using Gary archives materials and a third was examining the records of the Calumet Community Congress, a grassroots organization during the early 1970s of citizens groups.  Cullen Ben Daniel came across why Gary Emerson’s sports teams got nicknamed the Golden Tornado.  They were originally the Norsemen, but in 1916 when a football team led by Johnny Kyle defeated a downstate squad 21-0 for the mythical state championship, a reporter wrote that Emerson stormed down the field like a Golden Tornado.  Ray Boomhower sent us two copies of his excellent Jim Jontz biography.  Joelle Gamble gave me a follow up on the Wildermuth mansion in Aetna.  Apparently Fred and Ora were first cousins, not brothers as I had speculated.  She has used material from the 1940 Census as well as records from the Lake County Recorder’s office.

Alissa posted this endorsement for Obama: “Do you think a man who responds to a question concerning the issue of pay equity for women by saying employers should let you leave work early to make sure you can get home in time to cook dinner for your husband and kids seems like a viable candidate to be your Commander in Chief?  A man who thinks that cutting educational programming and Planned Parenthood would make any difference in our economic recovery?”  Right on!  The quote getting the most reaction is Romney saying he solicited “binders full of women” to fill executive posts after he became governor.  The Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus disputed the awkward assertion, claiming its group approached him with credentials for top female applicants.

                                         P-T photo of Jeff Schipper by Steve Gorches

Finally had a decent bowling night as the Engineers won two of three games. I had a turkey (three straight strikes) in the third, and Duke rolled a 258, with only two ten-pins preventing a perfect game.  Cressmoor owner Jim Fowble was mentioned in a Post-Trib article about LakeShore Bowling Association Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Schipper, who credited him with improving his follow through  “I also learned a lot about angles as it applied to the inside part of the lane,” Schipper told correspondent Anthony Nasella.

I had hoped to attend the condo owners meeting but Bob Robinson was in Florida so the Engineers needed me.  Sue Harrison informed that everyone was cordial and that Bernie Holicky was re-elected president with out dissent.  I had given her my proxy in case anyone opposed the former Purdue Cal librarian.

Episode 5 of “Boardwalk Empire’s” third season begins and ends with the terrifying Gyp Rosetti, Nucky Thompson’s nemesis, screwing a waitress while being strangled by a belt.  During the climax one of Arnold Rothstein’s men posing as a newsboy tries to murder him.  Afterwards, with a belt hanging on his neck and the blood of the dead waitress dripping from his naked body, he walks over the bodies of his bodyguards and spies the corpse of the real newsboy.  In one scene unctuous Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon testifies before a Senate Committee.  Jesse Smith realizes that the noose is tightening around his neck and that of his boss, Attorney-General Harry Daugherty.  The real Jesse Smith committed suicide in May of 1923, something obviously that will be covered in a forthcoming episode.

Maryland professor Ira Berlin thanked me for the copy of “Valor” that I sent for the Samuel Merrill seminar room.  He added, “It was good to meet you at Ray Smock’s talk.  Hope to see you again at the next Alum lecture.”

On Ray Smock’s advice I saw “Argo,” the Ben Afflick flick about CIA agent Tony Mendez helping six embassy officials escape from Tehran during the 1979-80 hostage crisis by posing as a Canadian filmmaker.  Ray and Phyllis are friends with Mendez and wife Jonna, also ex-CIA.  At the beginning are newsreel scenes mentioning American complicity in overthrowing Iran’s legitimate leader and supporting the corrupt and brutal Shah. Jimmy Carter didn’t take credit for the successful operation for fear it would jeopardize negotiations for the release of those still held hostage.  One wonders if other Presidents would have shown such restraint.  I loved the movie even though some scenes near the end seemed contrived for purposes of suspense.

My Vivian Carter talk to the Dunelands Historical Society was a rousing success.  Beforehand my three guests (Toni, Sue Harrison, and Dave Elliott) and I enjoyed a delicious beef and noodles meal.  I chatted with two ladies who work at the Brown Mansion, which houses holdings of the Westchester Township History Society.  Saying hi was Pat Lane, a Labor Studies student who wrote an excellent memoir about living by the beach for my “Lake Michigan Tales” issue.  I talked Cheryl Keller into helping me play Vee-Jay songs that went with my talk on a CD player that husband Ken provided.  A comely African-American, Cheryl graduated from IUN in 1974 and knew Paul Kern from when his sons Chris and Colin went to Hobart Montessori School.  I told her that coincidentally, the day before Chris posted a photo of his class on Facebook. 

My talk lasted about 45 minutes, so I had the music and patter timed perfectly.  I had invited Henry Farag to describe his interaction with Vivian and Pookie Hudson of the Spaniels, but his group Stormy Weather was rehearsing for a weekend gig in Toledo.  The only thing I neglected to mention was that Jimmy Reed’s wife “Mama” often sat next to him during recording sessions and whispered the lyrics to him.  If one listens closely to some of his recordings, the whispers are audible. After I finished someone asked me the name of Vivian Carter’s store on 1640 Broadway.  I told him I’d look it up in a city directory (not surprisingly it turned out to be Vivian’s Record Shop).

A woman wearing an Obama button told me to drop by his headquarters in downtown Chesterton if I wanted one.  She added that yard signs on the President’s behalf have been disappearing, in all likelihood a Republican dirty trick.  Because I mentioned my upcoming Alex Karras Traces article, one guy bragged that he caught for Alex on an American Legion baseball team.  A teacher picked up on my mention of Henry Farag’s Ultimate Doo Wop Shows by recounting a show featuring Dion.  When she told her students that she saw him, they thought she meant Celine Dion or Dionne Warwick.  The father of 1970s student Elizabeth Domsic told me that she’s an attorney in Mount Vernon, Indiana.  She wrote about a guy during the Great Depression who found some money in the gutter and bought a dozen cream-puffs, which he devoured all by himself, he was so famished.

Joshua Tree

“Desert sky

Dream beneath the desert sky

The rivers run, but soon run dry

We need new dreams tonight.”

    “In God’s Country,” U2 from “Joshua Tree”

Up at 4:15 to start the journey to Rancho Mirage CA.  Derrick, manning the Holiday Inn front desk, recognized me from past visits, as did Natasha at Appleby’s.  A Justin Bieber look-alike was the greeter at the door; and when I said to Natasha, “I see you hired Justin Bieber to work here,” she paused for a moment and replied, “That’s a really good one.”  Even friendlier was Andrea Aguirre, who was calling me “darlin’” by my third beer.  Across the bar a dead ringer for old softball teammate John Gilbert had an expression like he was surprised to see me, I did a double take until I realized he was greeting folks behind me.  Watched Joe Biden put it to Paul Ryan during the vice president debate; best line was when he called Ryan’s assertions malarkey.  Ray Smock compared it to a father/son disagreemant with the old man “having more wisdom and polish than the brash, edgy, ideologue son.”

I searched the web for restaurants in Twentynine Palms, CA near Joshua Tree National Park and came up with a winner connected to the 29 Palms Motel, dating from 1928.  Encompassing 800,000 acres of the Mojave and Colorado deserts, the area became a national park in 1994, seven years after the U2 album raised awareness of the trees (given their popular name by the Mormons) and unique rock formations within its boundaries.  It took us about an hour to drive from one end to the other, including several stops to gawk at the scenery.  When I took her back to the Mirage Inn, a geezer in a wheelchair near the entrance quipped, “Let me warn you; it’s pretty wild in there.”

Nephew Bob’s family arrived Friday around 9:30, and I played hide-and-seek with Addy and Crosby in their Hilton Garden suite located next door.  I took playing cards and taught Addie a rudimentary version of War (not distinguishing among face cards). Bob asked about the grandkids, so we logged on to Facebook on his computer.  As a security check, before it allowed me access I had to identify a half-dozen photos of “Friends,” including Lorraine Todd-Shearer, Beamer Pickert, and Colin Kern.

                                            Above, Jimbo with Addy and Crosby

Saturday we visited Sunnyland; last time there it was 115 degrees, but with the temp in the eighties we spent lots of time in the gardens before lunch.  The manager apologized for not having a kid’s menu and threw in cookies and extra chips for free.  When I said “just something light” in response to Midge asking what I’d had to eat the night before, Bob quipped, “What, light beer?”  Touché.

Sunday we all had lunch at the Yard House, a sports bar with plenty of room for the kids to roam and scads of TV sets.  An old-timer kept asking waiters to put the Minnesota game on, even though it hadn’t started yet, then left without apparently having anything to eat or drink.  I had a burger and salad plus guacamole and chips for an appetizer.  I gave Addy the deck of cards, and she remembered how to play War.  Vic taught me card games when I was young, so maybe his legacy will live on through her.  After hanging out in Midge’s room, I caught the end of the Redskins victory over Minnesota, as RG3 (Robert Griffin III) put the game away with an 80 yard run just seven days after suffering a concussion. 

Ripping Romney’s abortion flip flops, Bill Maher claimed that his mother considered aborting him when she discovered he was heartless and spineless.  Earlier Jimmy Fallon said: “Romney believes that marriage should be between one man and one woman, which is better than his grandfather, who believed that it should be between one man and five woman.”  Actually it was great-grandfather Miles Park Romney, who fled to Mexico to escape authorities cracking down on polygamy.

Awake at four a.m., I came across the low rent comedy “Black Sheep” starring David Spade and Chris Farley, who when stopped by a cop claims his name is Meoff, Jack, before turning to Spade and making a jerking off motion.  Gene Siskel claims the 1996 movie was one of only two he ever walked out of, but Farley can be hilarious, especially in his manic routines.

Waiting for my American Airlines flight I came within two clues of finishing the USA Today crossword puzzle.  Later I learned that the “Maximus to Gloucester” poet was Charles Olson.  Home in time for old master Peyton Manning engineering a victory after the Broncos were down 24-0.  Thanks to six TD passes by Aaron Rogers the night before, I remained undefeated in Lane Fantasy League.  I finished second in the football pool to Aaron Gearhart, the only one to pick Seattle to upset New England.

Hours before the second Presidential debate Dean Bottorff wrote: “Now that we know that Mitt Romney is for everything and against everything else, his position is perfectly clear.  He wants to be president.”  Obama’s latest TV spot makes brilliant use of clips and narration by actor Morgan Freeman. I watched the entire 90-minute debate and loved seeing Romney get his comeuppance when he claimed that Obama had not originally called the Benghazi in Libya an “act of terrorism” only to have the moderator contradict him.  Afterwards the networks ran Obama’s remarks where he used those exact words.

How to Live - Forgive

“What a great big world

I better find some way to explain it

Guess what, you’re getting old

You still gotta grow up.”

    “How To Live,” Band of Horses”

At Jordan's wedding Charles Halberstadt asked what I’ve been listening to lately.  Band of Horses, I told him, as well as Green Day.  “How to Live” sounds a lot like the Jayhawks.  What a show that would be if those great bands toured together.

At lunch at the Redhawk Café, Anne was worried about her tenure case.  How anyone could have it in for her is beyond me.  She’s the best thing to happen for IU Northwest since Jerry Pierce.  Some colleagues attended a free lunch in Morraine to discuss ideas for the green area where Tamarack once stood.  One person afterwards compared it to a time-shares meal where you were expected to put in your time for your burger, chips, and drink, only it was for a good cause.

Katie Turk emailed  great photos of the Kingsbury Ordnance Plant during World War II that she used in her Indiana Magazine of History article.  

I thanked her and told her I’d forward them to CRA archivist Steve McShane.  They originally appeared in William P. Vogel’s “Kingsbury: A Venture in Teamwork” (1946).  The subtitle is misleading since the black women were forced to endure racist conditions that were quite humiliating.

For my California trip I’m packing a World Almanac Phil gave me covering 50 years of American sports even though for 1980 there was no mention of the Phillies winning the World Series.  The big story was the U.S. men’s hockey “Miracle on Ice,” but the Ray Leonard – Roberto Duran “No Mas” fight got coverage as well as Wayne Gretzky’s rookie MVP year and Gordie Howe’s 800th goal.  The only mention of baseball was George Brett batting .390 after being over .400 most of the season.

In the latest “Boardwalk Empire” episode Al Capone beats a rival to a pulp and then goes home and sings a sweet lullaby to Al, Junior, known as Sonny, his mostly deaf kid, while playing the mandolin.  In real life Sonny was born with congenital syphilis that “Scarface Al” had caught years before and became partially deaf at age seven after a brain operation.

I met Bill Pelke at Country Lounge.  With him was Cathy Johnson, an old friend of his who took a class with me a few years ago.   Bill is going to donate his papers to the archives, which includes materials about organizations he’s belonged to that are advocating abolition of the death penalty, including Journey of Hope . . .From Violence to Healing.  Afterwards I gave him a tour of the archives, and when Steve McShane asked him what he wanted to name the collection, he got choked up answering Ruth E. Pelke, his grandmother who was murdered three decades ago.  In talking to him I could tell that he genuinely forgave the teenage girls who stabbed her to death. Bill lives near Anchorage and showed me photos of moose in his backyard.

Frank Shufran asked me to bowl in his place because his sister-in-law passed away.  I agreed even though I need to get up at 4:45 to catch the airport bus to O’Hare for my trip to Palm Springs.

Former football great and “Webster” star Alex Karras passed away.  Al Hamnik’s Times column today mentioned that his vital functions were failing, and I actually learned about it from Roy Boomhower, who emailed that he included a brief mention of his death at the end of my Traces article about him due out next month.  The Emerson grad was sui generis and friendly to me when I phoned him last year even though he admitted he wouldn’t be much help to me since he had Alzheimer’s like so many veterans of his sport.

Can't Hide Us

“I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken

I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children.”

    “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall,” Bob Dylan

   

In “They Can’t Hide Us” protest singer Richie Havens mentions learning a song from Gene Michaels and then giving him credit each time he performed it.  After singing it in a club called The Wha?, Bob Dylan came up to him and told him he’d done a good job.  The song was “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall. ” Folksinger Dave Van Ronk then informed Havens that Dylan, not Michaels, had written it (supposedly during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis). Havens, who opened the 1969 Woodstock festival, supported himself when he first moved to Greenwich Village by drawing portraits of tourists.

Neighbor Dave Elliott burned a CD of David Bromberg songs similar to the J.J. Cale numbers on one of his earlier gifts.  Bromberg was born in Philadelphia in 1945, making him seven years younger than Cale and three years younger than I.  Mixing blues, bluegrass, jazz, folk, country, and rock ‘n’ roll, he has performed with a virtual “who’s who” of musicians, including Dylan, John Prine, Richie Havens, and Country Joe McDonald.  On his 2011 album “Use Me” guests included Dr. John, Levon Helm, Vince Gill, and John Hiatt.

Jerry Davich wrote a column about William Willis and Henry Hunter, who stood up to a couple dozen Lew Wallace High School students who threatened them after Willis turned a gun over to police that one of them dropped during a police chase.  They called the cops, who took those who had been taunting them to the police station.  Fifty year-old Willis told Davich that neighbors need to do more than “peek through the blinds.”  He added, “If you have video, give it to the police.  File charges, go to court.”  A day earlier, Davich wrote about a Chesterton H.S. band member terrorized on a bus trip and then the recipient of a graphic Facebook message laced with profanity and sexual threats.  His father raised hell, but so far school authorities have not responded as promptly as the Gary police did in Glen Park.

above, Willis and Hunter; below, Lauren and Jordan

For Jordan Halberstadt and Lauren Taylor’s wedding we caravanned in two cars, following Tom and Brady Wade.  The previous time I’d been to Muncie, I drove down 65, around the Indy Beltway, and then up 69.  This time we went east on 30, south on 31, and then east on 24 to 69.  The roads were surprisingly good and it only took three hours.  The service was at an historic Presbyterian church on the outskirts of the Ball State campus, and the reception at a plush country club.  I had three beers, a delicious filet minion dinner, and a glass of champagne for toasting purposes.  Jordan’s brother Charles quoted from Plato in his toast and introduced us to his lovely friend Anne. Parents Jef and Robin were pleased we made the trip and seated us with eight other board gamers.  Like us, they stayed at Comfort Inn, and we ran into Jef at breakfast.  He had a trivial question: what is the most common street name in America?”  After three wrong guesses, he gave me a hint, that it wasn’t First Street.  Second Street it was, my next answer.

“Pittsburgh” Dave Lane quipped: “I see the replacement NFL refs found work.  Apparently they are working the playoff MLB game in Atlanta.”  They invoked the infield fly rule against Atlanta even though a fly ball dropped 75 feet beyond the infield. Atlanta fans littered the field with bottles and beer cans.  St. Louis won the one-game playoff 6-3.   

After a lackluster first half, the Bears scored 35 unanswered points to beat Jacksonville 41-3, thanks to “pick-sixes” by Peanut Tillman and Lance Briggs, who set a record for both doing it in two consecutive contests.  My Fantasy players had a good day, and I was leading Phil by 14 points going into Monday night’s contest between Houston and the Jets.  He had Houston QB Matt Schaub, but I had Houston’s defense and number one wide receiver Andre Johnson.  We had planned to be in grand Rapids that night, so Phil and I watched the game together.  Johnson had just one point, but Schaub didn’t throw much and my defense had two interceptions and three sacks, so I maintained my 14-point lead and am the only undefeated team after five games.  Next week, however, I take on Garrett, who has been on a roll.  Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz scored 23 points for him last week but faces a stiffer defense next Sunday in San Francisco.

That afternoon we watched Tori play in a volleyball contest and Anthony in a soccer match.  Both excelled.  Alissa and Josh joined us afterwards for Chinese food.  Alissa was still pumped over a fashion show she organized for overseas students at Grand Valley State.

Celebration of Life

“They tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise

They tell me of an unclouded day.”

    “Uncloudy Day,” Staple Singers

IUN held a “Celebration of Life” event in honor of Academic Affairs Administrative Assistant Lydia Hairston, who passed away two weeks ago at age 52.  Because she was a huge Steelers fan, many folks wore Pittsgurgh jerseys and tables were decorated in Steeler colors with black and gold jellybeans on them.  The food - hot dogs, burger, chips, popcorn, and the like – was like what you’d find at a stadium concession stand.  Evidently Lydia microwaved popcorn every morning at 11, something Rhiman Rotz used to do in Tamarack. She was, Vice Chancellor David Malik, declared, a confidante and friend who cared so much about students she’d often walk them to where they needed to go to in order to ensure they that their needs were met.  Several people mentioned that  Lydia was a fitness buff, and she’d chide them if they were eating improperly.

Lydia was born in a West Virginia coal town named for Judge Elbert H. Gary.  The Appalachian town predated Gary, Indiana, by a couple years and during World War II boasted over 15,000 residences.  After U.S. Steel ceased coal operation in 1986, however, it has become virtually a ghost town with a population less than 1,000.  Delores Crawford mentioned being outdoors with Lydia when her wig fell off.  Delores told her it was a good thing it didn’t happen in church or she would have had to change congregations.  At that they both laughed until tears came to their eyes.  Next time they were together Lydia said, “Are you sure your wig is pinned down?”  “Delores replied, “You couldn’t pull it off if you tried.”  James Wallace captured a shot of me saying a few words about what a classy and caring person Lydia, below, was.

 

Kay Fetters of the Indiana Historical Society requested a photo for a Hoosier Historian Riker Award press release. Chris Sheid set up an appointment with IT administrator Tome Trajkovski, who took a half dozen shots and even got rid of forehead wrinkles.  When Bill Dorin and I made a pictorial DVD to go along with my “Centennial History of Gary,” Tome helped with the production.

The Post-Trib carried an obit for 82 year-old Fred Eichhorn, a corporate attorney who served 15 years on IU’s Board of Trustees.  After Coach Bob Knight got caught beating up on players, it was Fred who was primarily responsible for the “zero tolerance” policy that led to “The General’s” ouster.  Fred’s wife Judy worked in Admissions when I first got hired at IUN and was a great university booster.  When Paul Kern, John Haller, Nick Kanellos, and I played tennis at Marquette Park, we’d often see Fred and Judy Smith’s husband on the next court. The "Celebration of Life" for Fred is taking place prior to an IU football game, and people are encouraged to dress as if going to a tailgate party.

Eighty years ago, Al Smith went up to 1932 candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt and said, “Hello, you old potato.”  Earlier, during the Democratic convention Smith had tried to deny FDR the nomination, hoping that he could be the candidate like four years before, only this time he’d be a cinch to defeat Hoover.  Smith campaigned for FDR in the fall but, denied any significant role in his a

Anne Balay showed me a letter of recommendation William Buckley wrote that contained the word valorize.  I don’t think I’d ever heard it, even though it is derived from “Valor,” the title of Sheriff Dominguez’s autobiography.  It means to assign merit or to enhance.

administration, became highly critical of the New Deal.

Obama’s closing words during the debate were quite eloquent, I believe, in contrast with Romney’s rant.  The President concluded, “Four years ago I said that I’m not a perfect man and I wouldn’t be a perfect president. And that’s probably a promise that Governor Romney thinks I’ve kept. But I also promised that I’d fight every single day on behalf of the American people and the middle class and all those who are striving to get in the middle class. I’ve kept that promise and if you’ll vote for me, then I promise I’ll fight just as hard in a second term.”

Simply put, I think the election will come down to whether a majority of undecided voters believe that Obama, though perhaps well-meaning, is inept – like the perceived but erroneous knock on Jimmy Carter – or whether they trust him more than Romney to deal with the daunting problems he will certainly face in the next four years. MSNBC’s Al Sharpton speculated that Obama adopted Muhammad Ali’s strategy against George Foreman of doing a rope-a-dope, letter Romney tire and make mistakes.  Let’s hope round two turns out like the title fight in Zaire did.

Ken Keller reminded me that my talk about Vivian Carter and Vee-Jay Records is in two weeks, and he promised to have a CD player on hand.  I shall play parts of these songs: “Goodnite Sweetheart” (Spaniels), “Oh What a Night” (Dells), “You Got Me Dizzy” (Jimmy Reed), “For Your Precious Love” (Jerry Butler), “Hey Little Girl” (Dee Clark), “Duke of Earl” (Gene Chandler), “Boom Boom” (John Lee Hooker), and “Unclouded Day” (Staple Singers).  Even though Roebuck “Pops” Staples and other family members spell their last name with as “s” on the end, the “Staple” in Staple Singers is singular.

Miller Council member Marilyn Krusas (below) was indicted for apparently failing to file income tax statements for then past decade.  Represented by former mayor Scott King she has pleaded not guilty.

 

Two important Marxist historians died, Eugene Genovese, who wrote about America’s “peculiar Institution” of slavery, and Eric Hobsbawm (above), who did pioneering work in the field of economic history.  His most important works were “The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848,” “The Age of Capital: 1848-1875,” “The Age of Empire: 1875-1914,” and “The Age of Extremes: 1914-1991.”