Playing' Around

posted by Jim Spicer

“Playin’ around with some sweet señorita
Into her dark hallway she will lead ya
In some lonesome shadows she will greet ya
Billy, you’re so far away from home”

         Bob Dylan, “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Billy4”)”

Bob Dylan not only wrote and performed the soundtrack for “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” but appeared in the 1973 Sam Peckinpah movie as someone who goes by Alias.  Kris Kristofferson plays Billy and James Coburn his onetime friend Pat Garrett, hired by corrupt cattle barons to track him down.  

Dave, Tom Wade, and I played board games, first time in a long while.  I went two for four, pulling out a rare victory in St. Petersburg thanks to receiving bonus points for amassing the most different orange Noble cards after getting a blue card that enabled me to draw from that pile on each subsequent turn. I won at Stockpile  by employing what we call the “Brady strategy,” named for Tom’s son, who liked to start the bidding process at zero, thus leaving his options open and not giving away his ultimate objective. The ploy often backfires, but in the final bid on piles of property (some cards hidden, others face up), it worked perfectly.  In North Carolina working for the Democratic Party, Brady has been doing stand-up comedy, Tom informed us.  He even videotapes his routines to study demeanor and hand motions.  Performing in several comedy clubs, he can ascertain what works best with audiences.  Tom and Darcy caught his act, and were impressed.

Tori with dead microphone; some of her entourage cheer her on

Tori’s graduation from Wyoming H.S. took place at the Grand Rapids First mega-church. Before an audience numbering more than a thousand, she was delivering the Student Welcome when the microphone went dead. Rather than panic, she handled it with a smile and a shrug as classmates cheered.  I was really proud.  In front of us was an African-American family.  A teenager and two older women remained seated during the National Anthem. When Tori’s name was announced, they cheered and must know her.   The school’s nickname, Wolves, produced many references to the obligations of the pack.  The choir sang “Shenandoah,” originally about an Iroquois chief leaving dear ones. Retiring school superintendent Thomas Reeder gave each student two one-dollar bills (one for celebrating, the other for a good cause) and his cell phone number in case they even needed his help. Nice.

 at New Beginnings

In the massive parking lot afterwards we witnessed a heated argument.  A graduate bumped the back of a pickup truck at about 2 mph, causing no damage but eliciting in a stream of cuss words from the driver.  The girl’s friends gave as good as they got; an older woman joined in.  Many threats and taunts ensued but no fisticuffs or weapons drawn.  Next morning at New Beginnings Diner, Miranda discussed vacationing in Dubrovnik, where I spent a week 30 years ago participating in an IU-sponsored conference on Pluralism.  I told her about checking out a nude beach on the nearby island of Lokrum and staying at the Imperial Hotel now part of the Hilton chain.

Ray Smock commented on Trump nixing (or maybe not) meeting with Kim Jong Un:

   The much-ballyhooed summit was unilaterally and arbitrarily scuttled today in a one-page letter from a petulant president who gave as his excuse the fact that North Korea said nasty things about Vice President Pence, calling him a “political dummy.” To earn this insult, Pence had made comparisons to our strategy to stop North Korean nukes using methods like those used years earlier with Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

   Gaddafi was subsequently overthrown and murdered in 2011. This is not the kind of thing Pence should have been talking about weeks before the summit was to take place. But it does reveal with strong documentary evidence how amateurish and childish our president can be. Someone ought to remind Trump of the adage, sticks and stones make break my bones, but names will never hurt me. He was hurt, or feigned being hurt, by a verbal insult. If he is that thin-skinned, how could he possibly negotiate a complex agreement to denuclearize North Korea?  Trump’s withdrawal came as a complete surprise to our State Department and to our allies in South Korea and Japan. President Moon of South Korea was just here in the States two days ago. Why wasn’t he told of Trump’s sudden change of heart? I can only conclude that Trump decided this on his own, on the spur of the moment. It is a monumental foreign policy blunder.

Dave with Jimbo (1976) and Christian Montemayor

Jack Serynek sent me vintage photos from Porter Acres softball days.  He complimented my red pants; I replied:  “I recall those red pants – the fly buttoned rather than zipped, kind of a pain.”  On Facebook was a photo of East Chicago Central top 20 student Christian Montemayor with Dave, whom he credited with being the greatest influence on his intellectual development.

For my Cedar Lake workshop, I decided to give participants an exercise.  Here is a summary of my intended opening remarks:

    Cedar Lake has the most fascinating history of any community in northwest Indiana, starting when Native Americans encamped by its water’s edge.  The changes Cedar Lake has undergone in the past 200 years are truly profound, beginning during the Pioneer Era with the forced removal of the Potawatomi and construction of the area’s first school, church, library, saw mill, and brick kiln, followed by the coming of the Monon Railroad and tourist resort heyday between 1870 and 1930.  Then followed the Great Depression and the pollution of the lake, as otherwise homeless people and then World War II steel and defense workers from the South moved into what had been summer cabins, and phosphates from detergents blocked the natural flow of underground springs. The last 50 years have seen Cedar Lake’s incorporation, installation of modern sewers, and revival, auguring a promising future. 

  I hope to convince you in the short time given to me that collecting oral histories of Cedar Lake residents is vitally important.  Thus, your workshop assignment is to write down the name of someone you’d like to interview, if not an actual person then a description – ranging in age from student to senior citizen; newcomer to longtime resident; occupation from laborer or businessman; and either male or female. 

Back in the town of Cedar Lake for the first time in 20 years, I recognized Lassen Hotel (now a museum) and the Lighthouse Restaurant, where Bob Petyko and his wife once took Toni and me, but gone was Tobe’s Tavern, famous for gigantic steak sandwiches and scene of more than a few parking lot rumbles.  I said hello to Naomi Millender of the Gary Historical and Cultural Society and Miller community organizer Jessica Renslow, who would be directing one of the workshops. A contingent of Purdue Northwest students and faculty arrived, including old friend Kenny Kincaid and 51-year veteran Saul Lerner.  Department chair Kathleen Tobin said she used to be an adjunct at IUN.   While eating a filet minion lunch at a table with mostly historical society officers and museum directors, I noticed that instead of merely conducting a workshop, I was listed as keynote speaker.  I learned later that when historian Scott Bocock got wind of my coming, he lobbied for me to be afforded that honor.  Fortunately, I came well prepared, with anecdotes about how I came to put together Steel Shavings,volume 26 (1997), “A History of Cedar Lake,” combining writings by town historian Beatrice Horner with oral histories covering the postwar years. 

 Saul Lerner

Kenny Kincaid

My talk sparked much discussion.    Especially interesting were comments from longtime residents who knew Bob Petyko, whom I credited with piquing my interest in Cedar Lake.  One had been a childhood neighbor in blue-collar Cedar Point Park; another knew him as a school teacher.  When I mentioned that Scott Carnahan had interviewed his dad about working at the roller rink as a teenager, a woman noted that girls would fall on purpose so Bob Carnahan would come help them up.  Saul Lerner mentioned Richard Dorson’s folklore classic “Land of the Millrats” and suggested looking into Cedar Lake folklore.  I brought up several possibilities, including boating and fishing tales, sightings of Potawatomi, gypsies, and Al Capone as well as Jazz Age all-night parties at San Souci Hotel frequented by Tin Pan Alley celebrities such as Paul Ash (famous for “Wabash Blues”).  On the spur of the moment, I decided to conclude by reading the final paragraph of volume 26, this remark by Bob Petyko:

I wouldn’t change growing up in Cedar lake for anything.  We had woods.  You were always outside.  Your mother would have to scream for you to come home. We camped out a lot and had campfires.  None of it was supervised by adults.  Since then I’ve raised two children, and they never had that.  They were more structured.  I got them into Little League and wrestling.  It was difficult for them not to become bored easily..

I’ve moved to the west side now, I’m almost embarrassed to say, but I’m still a Lake Rat.  My house is just a small place rather than some snobby middle-class subdivision-type house.

When I sat down, Lerner patted my shoulder and said, “Good job.” 

I attended hour-long workshops conducted by Serena Sutliff-Ard from Westchester Township History Museum in Chesterton and Jane Lump of Strategic Innovation, who stressed that she was a facilitator, not a consultant. Serena concentrated on how to handle controversial issues in museum exhibits.  Since hers houses records of the Prairie Club, I imagined an exhibit that touched on its members interest with nudism and, in some cases, male-male sexual exploration.  Jane elicited discussion on strategies to involve volunteers of all ages in local boards. When I mentioned having students interview senior citizens, she interjected that perhaps seniors could interview young people.  As a social historian interested in examining the contemporary history of adolescence, I thought it an excellent idea.

 John G. Shedd

At a wine and cheese reception at Lassen Museum, Scott Bocock told me that he’s been unable to find tangible evidence that John Shedd, who donated three million dollars to the Chicago aquarium that bears his name, ever lived in Cedar Lake.  A New Hampshire transplant, he rose to prominence as President of Marshall Field. While he probably never lived in Cedar Lake, a company bearing his name stored blocks of ice harvested from the lake.

Saul Lerner and I caught up on mutual acquaintances. Until recently director of the graduate program, Lerner had students interested in public history work under Purdue archivist Joe Coates, my former student.  Former Purdue librarian, a former neighbor, was Saul’s regular lunch companion.  I told him that Lance Trusty, who recently passed away, had been my mentor when it came to speaking to community groups. Lerner first got me interested in writing reviews for Magill’s Literary Annual,which both of us continued to do for about 30 years until it ceased publication. Kenny Kincaid introduced me to one of his students and vowed to enlist me to speak to his Fall class about the history of Latinos in Northwest Indiana, as I’ve done before.  Since then, he’s moved from the Westville to the Hammond campus. 

VU professors Liz Wuerffel and Allison Schuette invited me to end-of-semester party.  I had mentioned their Flight Paths project linking Gary and Valparaiso, and several museum directors were familiar with it.  When Kenny Kincaid brought up the use of oral history in Reconciliation projects in South Africa and Peru, where his wife is from, I made the analogy with Flight Paths  bringing former Gary residents in touch again with their old neighborhoods.

 Jack Johnson

In the news: the NFL, in reaction to Trump’s pressure has mandated that players stand for the pregame National Anthem or remain in the locker room.  Pretty silly. Sylvester Stallone convinced Trump to issue a posthumous pardon for black heavyweight champ Jack Johnson, jailed on trumped up charges of transporting a prostitute across state lines for immoral purposes.  The woman in question was his white girlfriend whom he later married.  In my Cedar Lake talk I mentioned that Jack Johnson and his entourage stayed at the Mitch Hotel while training for a fight.  In the Archives the following day, Region historian John Hmurovic noted that during one trip through Hammond on the way to Chicago from Cedar Lake, Johnson’s roadster got stopped by a train and crowds gathered to meet the champ and admire his flashy auto.