The Searcher

“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus,” Martin Luther King, Jr.

An HBO documentary about Elvis Presley,  appropriately titled “The Searcher,” emphasizes Presley’s fascination with black music, both gospel-tinged ballads and upbeat rhythm and blues.  It offers a nuanced view of manager Colonel Parker, who guided Elvis’ career to heights it probably wouldn’t have otherwise reached but, in the words of critic Jon Pareles, treated him like a commercial workhorse, making trivial movies and performing like a nostalgia act. Elvis was a unique talent and true American hero, with tragic flaws that cut short his extraordinary career.

When I put on my 1958 dance party for Art in Focus seniors in Munster, I’ll open with a recording of Elvis singing “Hard-Hearted Woman” ( from the movie “King Creole” and Presley’s first Gold Record for RCA), One Night,” originally an R&B hit in 1956 for Smiley Lewis and called “One Night of Sin” – with sanitized lyrics,changing, for example, “One night of sin is what I'm now paying for”to “One night with you is what I'm now praying for.” Elvis sometimes inserted the original words during live performances. The third Elvis song in the medley will be “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck,” and I’ll have Dave turn up the volume for the final spectacular drumroll. 

The 1956 film “The Searchers,” directed by John Ford, starred John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, a Confederate Civil War veteran on a mission to rescue his niece Debbie (young Natalie Wood looking ravishing in Native American dress) from Comanches.  Ethan is a racist, bent on revenge and, until the very end, intent on killing Debbie or bringing her back to “civilization,” even against her will.

above, Tori at prom; below,James (with tie) at final curtain call

Daughter-in-law Beth spent the night after catching the final performance of James in “The 25^thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”  At Strack and Van Til primarily for donuts, I found my choice of shelled peanuts limited to raw, hot and spicy, or dill-flavored.  WTF?  I opted to go with hot and spicy to my later regret.  Why no lightly salted roasted nuts?

At Inman’s award banquet, James sat with his Bowling for Donuts teammates while I chowed down two slices of pizza next to Angie and Dave, whose pot luck contribution was a delicious salad.  Toni prepared a veggie platter, with hot peppers being the most popular item. I limited myself to one but took a half-dozen of the slow-moving black olives.  During the award presentations a young kid made a hand motion that, according to Dave, was giving dap.  The practice originated with black soldiers in Vietnam chest-bumping or exchanging intricate handshakes and now can be any number of subtle hand gestures.  Racist critics jumped on President Obama for giving dap by using an innocuous gesture.

Watching Jeopardy, I did a double take when in an ad a young woman eating an ice cream cone under a tree was day-dreaming when bird droppings landed on her thigh; she scooped it up with her finger and was ready to eat it.  The sponsor was For Eyes demonstrating the victim's need for glasses. I knew all the “Rhymes with Bob” Jeopardy answers but was slow on the draw with “Eighteenth-century Enlightenment” terms, failing to come up with Denis Diderot’s “Enyclopedie” or one I should have known, Voltaire’s religious philosophy, Deism.

Host James Wallace and IUN’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs (ODEMA) honored graduates who belonged to ALMA, Brother 2 Brother, My Sisters’ Keeper, Delta Phi Rho (a Latin-based fraternity), the Asian American Association, and MORE (Minority Opportunity for Research) Scholars.  

For a crossword puzzle Toni wanted to know the name of a Finnish architect.  Voila! Alvar Aalto, who designed many buildings in Jyvaskyla, including the university where the upcoming oral history conference will take place. Before returning Deborah Swallow’s Guidebook to the Valpo library, I learned not to tip in Finland and that Finns loves saunas, especially during the long winter.  Swallow passed on these sayings popular with a laconic people belonging to an egalitarian society: “Behave in a sauna as you would in a church”and “Remember what the fleas say, you’re just a man like any other.”

At bridge, partner Dee Van Bebber asked if I persuaded my wife to play on Wednesdays.  “Never,”was Toni’s answer. We tried it when we first moved to Indiana and she disliked it.  We did meet a nice couple at Temple Israel and invited them to our house. After they arrived, they mentioned having been on the radio earlier talking about being practicing nudists. Telling that story led Sally Will to say that one of her friends is a nudist.  Jim Carson told of camping at Lake Mead near Vegas during a heat wave. He was outside his tent when a young French woman wearing nothing but a string bikini bottom walked up to him needing help to locate her campsite. Jim, usually not at a loss for words, was so befuddled all he could do was stammer incoherently.

 photos by Cindy Bean; above, Horace Mann; below, barred window of abandoned Gary store

At Crown Point Library I enjoyed an exhibit of Cindy Bean’s photography, especially shots of Gary.  On hand were old friend Rocky Ferrer and fellow book club member Barb Wisdom, who asked if I knew IUN History professor Bill Neil (he hired me), who was good friends with her father.  I brought up that he played the bagpipes, and she recalled hearing him play.  Small world. Arriving early, I perused Amy Chozick’s book Chasing Hillary,about the 2016 election.  She believed Trump’s outrageous antics detracted attention from  and distracted Hillary from concentrating on winning over working-class voters.  Also husband Bill was a millstone around her neck, neutralizing the issue of Trump’s abusive treatment of women.

For her forthcoming book “Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers” Anne Balay wrote this blurb for the University of North Carolina Press website:

      Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves--even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood. 

     Through the voices of drivers who spend eleven- to fourteen-hour days hauling America's commodities in treacherous weather and across mountain passes, Semi Queer allows truckers from marginalized communities to speak for themselves, revealing stark differences between the trucking industry's crushing labor practices and the perseverance of its most at-risk workers.