Dedication

“The university will bring to the state in full measure the light and the truth, and have full right to wear its motto—Lux et Veritas, light and truth.” IU President William Lowe Bryan,1908

Chancellor Lowe, President McRobbie, Mayor Freeman-Wilson, Ivy Tech Pres. Sue Ellspermann, and Chancellor Luis Gonzalez

Indiana University’s top brass and Lake County lawmakers were on campus in full force for the dedication of IUN’s new Arts and Sciences Building. Chancellor emeritus Bruce Bergland gave me a hug and called me Jimbo; his full-contact basketball games put several faculty on the DL.  Former Arts and Sciences dean F.C. Richardson said he’d try to attend the September book club talk of his Crown Point neighbor Brian Barnes.  Trustee Phil Eskew remembered our luncheon conversation of many years ago and Vice President John Applegate expressed thanks for my most recent Steel Shavings.  

below, IUN Student Government President Gabriela Jaimes

The Wirt-Emerson choir received a standing ovation after an arrangement combining “My Country Tis of Thee” with “Lift Every Voice and Sing” (the “Negro National Anthem”). I half expected people to stand.  Representative Charlie Brown joked that Medical School director Pat Bankston was a “brother from a different mother” and pushed for student dorms.  Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson termed the 45-million-dollar building the lynchpin of a master plan to develop a University Park corridor. IUN Student Government president Gabriela Jaimes spoke movingly about her immigrant roots. Ivy Tech Chancellor Luis Gonzalez mentioned growing up in the Brunswick neighborhood of Gary and graduating from IUN.

At the reception, the Billy Foster Trio provided excellent jazz numbers. In the new gallery Toni and I chatted with curator Ann Fritz and Corey Hagelberg, three of whose assemblage pieces adorned the wall.  Former student William Goldsby recalled Sixties parties at our house where Phil, Dave, and I did an air guitar routine to “Sharp Dressed Man.”  Vicki Voller recalled that Toni was an artist. Also in the house: emeritus faculty Ken Schoon, Neil Goodman, Rick Hug, Peter Kesheimer, and Mike Certa. I got waves from civic leaders (and friends of the university) John Davies and John Cain.  There had been a run of chicken nuggets by the time I’d joined the chow line, but I was more interested in the steak filets and crab cakes.  Small eclairs and puff balls adorned the desert table.

 Rafael Mendez

The Dedication booklet featured a dozen Calumet Regional Archives photos documenting the history of the new building’s predecessor, Tamarack (originally Gary Main), including one of the 1977 Theater Northwest production “Hello, Dolly” directed by Garret Cope.  In the cast were Phil and Dave.  The evening’s highlight: a concert by Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Kirk Muspratt mentioned that the group’s very first performance took place in Gary in 1941 (on the evening of December 7). After rousing compositions by Beethoven, Lehár, Suppé, and Dvorák, trumpet soloist Michael Brozick brought the house down playing Rafael Mendez’s “La Virgen de la Macaerena” (the bullfighter’s song).  Mendez (1906-1981) at age 20 emigrated from Mexico to Gary and worked briefly at U. S. Steel before finding greener pastures in Michigan.  Mendez eventually headed up the brass section of the M-G-M studio band in Hollywood and enjoyed a 25-year solo career beginning in 1949, playing classical, popular, folk and jazz compositions.  Double-tonguing became his trademark.

At Chesterton library, a kid apparently suffering from the “terrible twos” threw a colossal temper tantrum while I was returning Richard Russo’s “Trajectory.” Its final story contained this aside about a daughter realizing that her dad subconsciously is preparing himself for life after his terminally ill wife passes away: “This brutal world simply will not spare you – even when you’re young – knowledge of the worm in the apple.” After finding “Teammate” by Cubs World Series star David Ross in the New Book section, I pushed the elevator button to go upstairs and waited and waited before finally trudging up the steps and arriving on the second floor just as the elevator door opened. There was the kid, who must have been fooling with the elevator buttons.  I checked out the Cage the Elephant live album “Unpeeled.”  It contains 21 songs, including “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked,” “Shake Me Down,” and “Come a Little Closer.” In the car, I heard soulful Leon Russell’s 1975 classic “Back to the Island” on WXRT.

I just had to go back to the island

And watch the sun go down
Hear the sea roll in
But I'll be thinking of you
And how it might have been
Hear the night birds cry
Watch the sunset die
Well I hope you understand 

It doesn’t get any better than watching the sunset die on Waikiki Beach.

 Anne and Robert Balay, who recently passed away

On Facebook Anne Balay wrote: “I signed the contract with UNC Press for “Semi Queer: Stories of Gay, Trans, and Black Truckers.”  So far, she has received 180 likes. I was honored to play a small role in suggesting revisions. I called her up to congratulate her and suggested she delete the word “Black” from the title or substitute the word Bisexual.

Terry Jenkins alerted me that he’d be rooting for the Phillies against the Cubs when he attended Sunday’s game at Citizens Bank Park – an annual tradition. In the fifth the Phils converted a triple play and then scored five runs in their half of the inning.  I disappointed Dave recently by turning down an offer to go to Wrigley Field like we used to do.  Maybe I’ll make up for it next year by taking him to Citizens Bank Park.  We could stay at a nearby hotel, invite Terry to join us, and get an Uber ride to the ball park.  Terry likes the idea. 

 Attorney Bryan Truitt comforts Buncich; Post-Trib photo by Suzanne Tennant

In the NWI Times “Forum” section Marc Chase criticized public officials for writing letters of support for convicted felon John Buncich and threatened to expose them by name.  He made a similar comment about supporters of George Van Til, of which I was one. What hypocrisy!  A column by Rich James entitled “Paying an informant to build a case stinks of impropriety” was more to the point.  James wrote:

  There’s something repugnant about our government paying someone – particularly a retired police officer – to go underground to give the FBI the goods it needs to make a case. . . .   [It] is called entrapment, which I think is the last thing a law enforcement agency would like to be accused of doing.  It is not a terribly professional thing.

  The feds gave Scott Jurgensen $130,000 over five years. He will forever be known as the snake who wore a wire to bring down the sheriff.

rescuing a dog in Houston  

Houston is facing catastrophic flooding problem due to Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, as well as a generation of largely unplanned growth.  Forty years ago, our friend Bill moved there and subsequently died of AIDS.  I spent a night in Houston on my way to teach in Saudi Arabia but, having wrenched my back two days earlier, saw nothing beyond the hotel and airport.  Two friends who still live there are Little League coach Ken Pearson and old girlfriend Suzanna Murphy, who has been active on Facebook checking on loved ones and monitoring rescue efforts.

 “We stand with Charlottesville" unity march and vigil photos by Samuel A. Love

Times reporter Carmen McCullum covered the “We stand with Charlottesville" unity march and vigil that started at Ninth Avenue in Gary and ended at City Hall.  She wrote:

  Whoever thought that in 2017 the country would still be fighting against racism and bigotry, Robin Rich, of Temple Israel of Northwest Indiana, asked.

Rich was among more than 150 people who turned out Monday evening for a unity rally and march in Gary following the tragic incidents on Aug. 12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

  Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said it's not about political parties but about people, and she thanked those people from across Northwest Indiana who came out for the rally.  “We have created a traumatic environment for our children, who are worried about things like deportation, bigotry and hatred," she said. "We owe our children better.”

  Two weeks ago, Freeman-Wilson released a statement saying she was “overwhelmed with emotions of disbelief, sadness and fear as I listened to an intemperate President Donald Trump retreat from his reluctant condemnation of white supremacy.”