Mood Swings

“Bother me tomorrow,

Today I’ll buy no sorrows.”

    “Looking Out My back Door,” Creedence Clearwater Revival

I finally watched the Coen brothers’ “The Big Lebowski” in its entirety on Encore.  John Goodman is awesome as Vietnam veteran Walter Sobchak, as hyper as The Dude (Jeff Bridges) is laid back.   Steve Buscemi, John Turtorro, and Philip Seymoue Hoffman are three of my favorites, and I loved every scene they were in.  The funniest parts took place at a bowling alley and when Buscemi as Donny convinces Walter and the Dude to pick up In-and-Out burgers.  The music is great, including Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me,” Elvis Costello’s “My Mood Swings,” and two Credence Clearwater Revival songs, “Run Through the Jungle” and “Lookin’ Out My Back Door.”  Funniest line is when The Dude tries to get a taxi driver to change the radio dial when “Peaceful Easy Feeling” comes on, saying “I had a rough night, and I hate the Eagles, man.”

“Thoroughly Modern Millie” had some great numbers, and the acting was super, but the story was certainly dated, with a goofy Asian lady, Mrs. Meers, as the villainess and the main character hoping to marry a rich man.  The play was set in 1920s New York City, and Millie called herself a New Woman who had left the boredom of rural life in Kansas behind, but she didn’t seem very liberated beyond embracing the Flapper lifestyle.  “Thoroughly Modern Millie” was first a 1967 film starring Julie Andrews, Mary Tyler Moore, and Carol Channing, and the play opened on Broadway ten years ago.  At the end Millie thinks she is abandoning her ambition to marry for love, only her boyfriend Jimmy turns out to be a multi-millionaire, so she can have it both ways. In the Meet the Cast section of the program was mention that the actor who played Jimmy, Andy Polomchak, “works at Vanis hair salon and spa in Valparaiso where he lives with his boyfriend Mike (Gloriso, who played the part of Ching Ho)."  Nice.  Colleen Peluso (in purple) shined as Millie while Amy Lowery (red dress) sparkled as Miss Dorothy.

It being our annual outing with the Hagelbergs and Tom Eaton and Pat Cronin, afterwards we had dinner at Sage Restaurant.  We were the only ones there at first, and the manager joked that he had cleared the place out for us, but then several other groups arrived.  We like the place so much, we hope it’s doing OK financially.  Some of their specials are just 25 dollars for a salad, an entrée, and dessert.  I had an eight-ounce steak, mashed potatoes and broccoli.

President Obama spoke at a prayer vigil in Newtown, Connecticut.  He was incredibly moving.  After quoting Jesus having said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them – for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven,” he read off the names of the kids who died at the Sandy Hook school shooting: Charlotte.  Daniel.  Olivia.  Josephine.  Ana.  Dylan.  Madeleine.  Catherine.  Chase.  Jesse.  James.  Grace.  Emilie.  Jack.  Noah.  Caroline.  Jessica.  Benjamin.  Avielle.  Allison.”  Tears flowed freely.

Thanks to a 200-yard rushing day from Adrian Peterson and my wide receivers Andre Johnson and Michael Crabtree each earning more than 20 points I doubled Phil’s score (138-68) and reached the LANE Fantasy League finals against Dave.

I took packages to the post office, arriving around 8:45, but it didn’t open until 9.  It turned out to be a smart move because I was first in line and by 9 there were a dozen people behind me.

Eric Sandweiss asked me to serve a three-year term on the Indiana Magazine of History editorial advisory board.  There’s an annual meeting in February during the Indiana Association of Historians meeting; otherwise my duties will consist mainly of reviewing articles and suggesting new books to review.  I emailed back, “Sign me up.  I’d be honored to serve.”

The Arts and Sciences holiday party featured fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, and Cole slaw – three favorites of mine.  After Zoran Kilibarda appeared to be laughing at the amount of gravy on my plate, I said I was having “a little meal with my gravy” rather than a little gravy with my meal.  At the table Jack Bloom was pontificating to Mary Ann Fischer about Indiana historically being a Southern dagger pointed at the heart of the North.  When he started describing details of a 1930 lynching of two men charged with murdering a white man and raping his girlfriend that took place in the city of Marion, I went to get a fruit plate and sat down at another table next to History prof David Parnell.  I asked how his first semester at IUN went; the survey classes went well but several upper division students taking his History of Rome course failed to turn in written assignments even though they came to class and participated in discussion.  Dean Hoyert sang a clever song about a student complaining about her English grade, and Poulard and Bloom sang a Christmas carol duet in French after Jack made clear he was not a Christian.

Talk about mood swings: a Facebook message about a good person dying too young left me in tears, and then Tori posted a Muppet video of singing chickens belting out “Joy to the World.”  At the Newtown vigil the first responders got an emotional standing ovation and President Obama described scenes of teachers acting heroically and children helping one another, including one telling a grown-up, “I know karate.  So it’s okay.  I’ll lead the way out.”