Elegy

“The cur foretells the knell of parting day;

The loafing herd winds slowly o’er the lea;

The wise man homeward plods;

I only stay to fiddle-faddle in a minor key.”

    Ambrose Bierce

Sardonic critic Ambrose Bierce’s motto was “Nothing matters.”  At age 71 he joined Pancho Villa’s revolutionary army as an observer revolution before disappearing somewhere in Mexico without a trace.  Kurt Vonnegut called his short story “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” based on his observations as a Union lieutenant during the Civil War, the work of a “flawless American genius.”

John Updike’s novella “Rabbit Remembered” is really an elegy to Harry Angstrom, the hero of his Rabbit trilogy, who died from a weak heart in “Rabbit at Rest.”  Now ten years later in 1999 his son Nelson and daughter Annabelle become friends and come to appreciate their dad for all his narcissistic faults and failings.  On New Year’s Eve they attend the movie “American Beauty” with Nelson’s estranged wife Pru and Nelson’s childhood friend Billy, and, surprise, the story has a sweet, happy ending.  It caused me to shed a tear for dear, departed Bill Batalis, whom I usually called after bowling if the Engineers do well.  Brother George sent an “Appreciation” card thanking me for coming to the hospice and wake.  May he long be remembered.

At lunch Performing Arts professor Mark Baer mentioned that his department will only be performing the annual children’s play during Spring Break and on Fridays so the students won’t miss class like in the past.  I wonder if Mark is any relation to 1930s heavyweight champ Max Baer.

In the 2008 film “Elegy” Ben Kingsley plays an aging professor and beautiful Penelope Cruz a Cuban student whom he lusts after, beds down, and ultimately befriends.  Feeling his mortality, Kingsley’s character quotes Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy that “Old age is the most unexpected of all things that can happen to a man.”  Until seeing the credits I hadn’t realized Dennis Hopper was his lecherous colleague and failed to recognize former punk rocker Deborah Harry in a supporting roll. The film was based on the Philip Roth novella “The Dying Animal,” but director Isabel Coixet made some changes to portray the professor in a more sympathetic light.  Gone, for example, was a rough oral sex scene.

With Toni in Grand Rapids to help Alissa and Josh move, I spent much of the weekend proofreading and fine-tuning an index for “Calumet Regional Connections II.”  I did chat briefly with Sam Barnett, who spent Friday afternoon in the Archives.  I awoke Saturday to discover that I had scratched the side of my face with a fingernail overnight.  I hate when I do that. 

On the front page of the NWI Times was an article about a former student who went on to become a middle school teacher.  He was in jail charged with sending explicit photos of himself to girls who are now in high school.  I felt sick about it all day.

Fred and Diana Chary invited me to be on their Trivia Night team Saturday at Temple Israel in Miller, along with son Michael, Anne Balay, and Tanice Foltz. The Calumet Region category unfortunately concentrated on landmarks  rather than history.  I knew some, such as Marktown and the Lake George gazebo in Hobart, but half of them stumped me.  In the popular song category, I  recognized that it was Don McLain who sang “Vincent” (about Van Gogh), and in the 2012 Election category I persuaded the others that it was was Rick Santorum, not Romney, who won the Iowa Republican primary by 32 votes.  Robin Rich was an awesome mistress of ceremonies, and among the dozens of folks I knew was a History major from the early 70s, Jack Walter.

In the “Lives” section of a month-old Sunday New York Times magazine Edward Zuckerman, who started teaching in 1970, same year as me, went to update his address book.  Of the 836 names several dozen were a complete mystery as to their identity and an equal number were dead.  He decided not to delete the latter group, believing that seeing their names occasionally would keep memories of them alive.

Tom Wade brought over a delicious chicken dish with cheese and peppers for Sunday’s IU game against Michigan State.  In the final minute, up by two and with the shot clock winding down, seven-foot Cody Zeller dribbled to the basket from 20 feet out for a lay-up.  Seconds later, when a Spartan tried a similar maneuver, Zeller stood his ground and drew a charge, assuring his Hoosiers the victory.  They climbed to number three in the rankings, behind just Michigan and Kansas.

Despite a treacherous freezing rain Toni returned from Michigan and Dave’s family successfully made a trip to and from Chicago, where Becca auditioned for “America’s Got Talent.”  She’s great but just one of thousands of hopefuls.   The temp went into the mid-40s overnight, ridding the courtyard entrance to our condo of all snow.  Tomorrow is expected to be in the mid-60s.

In an article about “age stereotyping” entitled “Seeing aging through ‘Rose’ colored attitudes,” Jerry Davich profiled Tony and Patty Rose, who are in their sixties and in great shape.  Patty had just returned from winning a five-kilometer race for her age bracket.  The Post-Trib story mentioned Tony’s radio show “True Country," and Rose, a really nice guy, had been at the controls the last time I was on Davich’s Monday “Out to Lunch” show. 

                                                photo of Tony and Patty Rose by Andy Lavalley

On Lakeshore radio former Andrean and IU basketball star Dan Dakich talked about playing full-court games growing up with current Chesterton coach Tom Peller, married to IUN Chemistry professor Julie Peller, the daughter of my buddy John Ban.  Their Merrillville homes were across the street from each other, and each had a hoop at the end of the driveway, so center court was in the middle of 54^th Avenue.

With the death of investigative reporter Mark Kiesling, the NWI Times hired former Post-Trib columnist Rich James.  His January 27 effort goes after “brazen” Gary City Court Judge Deidre Monroe for paying $787 in taxpayer money for 500 Christmas cards.  When the State Board of Accounts questioned the expenditure, she agreed to pay for them but argued that she didn’t regard it as an excessive cost.  While most online readers agreed with James, several thought it silly to quibble about $787 when tens of thousands have gone for glossy booklets and flyers.  “Winston8724 wrote that “James would be better off making inquire on how millions of Hammond’s tax dollars seems to disappear.”

                                               Rich James

Ron Cohen introduced me to filmmakers from Utah who were making a documentary about the Gary schools.  They threatened to interview me next time they were in town but seemed satisfied with my gift of “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”  Also on campus were Lori Montalbano, who left IUN last year to take a better job in Illinois, and Charlotte Read, who retired last year but always asks about Dave, who she knew from when he was in UTEP (Urban Teacher Education Program) 20 years ago.  The guy who waited on me at Little Redhawk Café stuck a thermometer in a hot dog to see if they were ready.  My bun broke in half as I started eating; bummer.

A former student of mine who became a middle school teacher is in jail for sending an explicit photo of himself 13 months ago to a girl now in high school.  They were flirting by cell phone while she was with two friends, and he stepped way over the line.  How sad.  Now he is facing three felony charges and a life apparently in ruin.  It’s been front-page news for several days, complete with a mug shot of him.