Student Walkouts

“Gun control is necessary, and delay means more death and horror.” Eliot Spitzer 

walkout at Chesterton High School; Post-Trib photos by Meredith Colias-Pete

Students throughout the nation demonstrated in memory of the 17 people gunned down in Florida and in support of gun control legislation.  At Chesterton High School, several hundred stood during 17 minutes of silence, broken only by reading the names of those killed at Margery Stoneman Douglas H.S.  Heather Augustyn, whose son Sid participated, said: “I’m super proud of him.  He believes so strongly in this.  This is why there’s hope.” Several area schools held programs indoors, as well as Tori’s in Wyoming, Michigan (where she spoke during the service).  At Valparaiso H.S., students who walked outside received detentions.  Ollie Gricich told Post-Tribune reporter Meredith Colias-Pete: “When you walk out, you give up something.  That’s kinda the point.  In the end, we’re giving up something for a greater cause.”

Chesterton Tribune ace reporter Kevin Nevers treated the student vigil with the gravitas it deserved, writing:

  To call it a protest or demonstration would sully its dignity.  It was, instead, a memorial service, a cry from the heart of children grieving and fearful.

  There was no mention of gun control, no call for specific political action, only a plea to stand together to end the violence.

  At 10 a.m., several hundred students at Chesterton left their classes, filed out the doors of the main entrance, and gathered by the flagpole, to remember and honor the 17 shot to death exactly one month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.  The students then stood in silence for 17 minutes, 17 of them holding the name and photograph of a victim.  At 10:23 a.m. the students quietly re-entered the building.

  “I’m so proud of every one of them, just so proud,” mother Kelly Henning told the Chesterton Tribune.  “I’m crying here.  I’m digging my nails into my hands trying not to.  I don’t want them to be afraid.  They believe in this.  They’re going to make change.  They’re just amazing.”

  “I saw greatness today,” Henning added.

above, Wyoming H.S.; below, James

Angie posted a photo of James on crutches and this message: “Guess who sprained his ankle trying to do a pirouette during the school musical auditions! Hoping he won't need the crutches to much longer.”  Angelo Jarvis responded: “Trust me, he didn't try to do it, he did it successfully multiple times! It just so happened that there was one small mishap that led to the sprain. But James, we are all so proud of you for sticking through it for the script reading and singing and we love you bud! Hope you have a fast recovery! Coming from the thespians as a whole!”

At Hobart Lanes the Engineers split the first two games, and then we bowled 80 pins over our combined average (I had a 166), only to lose when all four members of Frank’s Gang – Mike Reed, Mark Garzella, Kevin Selby, and Frank Vitalone – bowled over 200 for a rare handicap score of over a thousand.

 Liz Wuerffel (left) in 2017 with Allison Schuette

VU professor Liz Wuerffel sent a touching “Thank You” note signed by her 15 seminar students, who used such adjectives as passionate, insightful, and humorous.  Julian enjoyed listening to my stories, while Ben said, “Awesome blog!”  My favorite was the comment by Gary resident Gabrielle “Gabby” McCullough Hanks: “You’ve inspired me to look at my hometown through new eyes.”

This email from Easy E arrived:

Hi, My name is Eric Lozano. A LONG time ago I used to live in East Chicago, IN (Harbor side). My neighbor was Louis Vasquez. I remember my mother would take my brother and I over to visit Mr. Vasquez and his wife quite frequently. They were very nice people. The reason for the email is because I remember he gave our family a copy of his autobiography (which somehow was lost in our move to Texas). I was too young to "care" about books and or reading at that age, but now that I'm older I wish I would've been more excited about a book. I love to read now and I was trying to track down a copy of Mr. Vasquez' autobiography. I called the local E.C library and they are looking to see if they can find their copy. Would you happen to know of where else I would be able to get my hands on one to read and possibly own. I love history and enjoy reminiscing on my youth years in East Chicago during the 90's, so this is something I am very interested in reading.

I told Eric that Louis Vasquez is still alive and that I recently gave his grandson a few of my remaining copies.  I wish there were a practical way to have a second printing of “Weasal” (Steel Shavings, volume 24, 1995),Vasquez’s Harbor nickname growing up, due to his diminutive size.  Latino Historical Society president Jesse Villalpando introduced us and informed me about his thousand-page manuscript, hand-written on back of Inland Steel paper. 

NWI Times reporter Joseph Pete wrote about TOYs ‘R’ Us going belly up, the latest retail casualty to Amazon.  Pete wrote:

It's just the latest in a long list of national retailers that have shuttered locations in the Region because they lost ground to e-commerce or went out of business entirely. Closures in the Calumet Region over the past year include Best Buy, MC Sports, Sears, Kmart, Gander Mountain, HHGregg, Charming Charlie, Gymboree, Rue 21, Ashley Homestore and Dollar Express.

Letterman and Markoe; Larry "Bud" Melman as Roy Orbison

According to Jason Zinoman’s “Letterman: The Last of the Giants of Late Night” head writer Merrill Markoe was primarily responsible for the zany nature of David Letterman’s early shows and enjoying pranking him on and off the air, usually to his annoyance.  He would have preferred a show patterned more after his mentor, Johnny Carson.  Merkoe had guest Sandra Bernhard pretend to be pregnant with Letterman’s child and feign having her water break on the set.  In one skit Merkoe wrote, a steamroller was about to crush a huge doorknob that had appeared in numerous episodes, only to have Dave replace it with Larry “Bud” Melman (Calvert DeForest), the butt of countless pranks.  Melman was a perfect straight man, with nobody certain whether or not he was in on the joke.