Summer of '87

"Born in secrecy during the summer of ’87, the child of lofty idealism and rough political bargains, the Constitution is a story that will continue as long as the nation does,” David O. Stewart

At Monday’s History book club meeting Joy Anderson gave away books, including “Maria’s Journey,” which Ray and Lorenzo Arredondo gave a report on last year. Handing it to Barbara Wisdom, there with her sister and friend Rock Ferrer, I told her of having edited it and written the afterword. I took home David O. Stewart’s “The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution” and started it while getting an oil change and 30,000 check-up at Lake Shore Toyota.  Stewart introduces George Washington, eulogized in Nathaniel Philbrick’s “Valiant Ambition,” in this manner, describing a 1784 meeting at his Mount Vernon plantation with fellow Virginian George Mason:

  Known to crack walnuts with a single large hand, the strongly built Washington had thrived on outdoor living and battlefield dangers.  At 53, he retained the grace and power of a splendid horseman and dancer, but it was something from the inside that made him the master of every room he entered. Certainly, he was a Virginia gentleman of courtesy and integrity, but so were others. Equally, he had his flaws, including being “addicted to gambling . . . avid in the pursuit of wealth, . . . a most horrid swearer and blasphemer ,” and unrelentingly ambitious.

  Washington’s force came from the antagonistic qualities he blended.  His “gift of taciturnity” radiated dignity and calm, yet he simultaneously implied, in the words of one admirer, “passions almost too mighty for man.”  No one who saw Washington’s rage ever forgot it. The combination of steely discipline and powerful drive generated a charisma so compelling that, by one account, every king in Europe “would look like a valet de chamber by his side.

end-of-summer party; Phil and Dave on both ends: below, Dave and Toni at IU

During the summer of 1987 the Lane nest was emptying, as son Dave prepared to join his older brother at IU Bloomington, where Phil participated in celebrations touched off by the Hoosiers winning the NCAA championship.  It was a memorable summer at Maple Place, with visits from friends and relatives and a lively end-of-the-summer party featuring friends of our college-bound sons.  I was 45, Toni 43, and our lone home companion was Marvin, a cat inherited from Suzanne Migoski, also off to school. I don’t recall suffering from “empty nest syndrome,” then or since. Nine months later, granddaughter Alissa came into our lives.  In the news: President Ronald Reagan accepted responsibility for the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Senate rejected reactionary Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.

At Chesterton YMCA Alan Yngve’s lesson dealt with being overly aggressive when your hand doesn’t justify a game bid.  On the hand he demionstrated from last week, I went down one in 4 Hearts, but others get set two and three tricks.  Against Carol Miller and Barbara Larson, I was dealt 7 Clubs, Ace, King, Queen, 4 Spades, a doubleton in Hearts, and a void in Diamonds.  Carol, on my left opened 3 Diamonds, Alan bid 3 Spades, and Barbara bid 5 Diamonds.  In short, to bid Clubs, I’d have had to go to the 6 level.  Instead, aware of going against Alan’s lesson but convinced it was a good sacrifice, I bid 5 Spades, and Alan went down one.  Another couple bid and made 5 Spades doubled, the double allowing the declarer to correctly guess whom to finesse.  Our worst score, against Kris Prohl and Barbara Mort, began when Alan opened one Diamond.  With 17 high card points, I jump-shifted to 3 Clubs and, much to my chagrin, he passed. All other pairs bid and made game, either 5 Clubs or 3 No-Trump.  Alan suggested I should have said 2 Clubs, evidently a demand bid. I’ll have to learn that  system, known as New Minor Forcing.  We finished right around 50%, fifth out of 11 couples, with Chuck Tomes and Tom Rea the winners.

Dee Van Bebber and Chuck Tomes achieved a 75.66% at Charley Halberstadt’s Valparaiso game, Barb Walczak’s Newsletterreported.  Chuck recalled: “Not only is Dee a lovely lady but also a solid, experienced player from whom I’ve learned a lot, especially about bidding. We plussed 18 of 27 boards with 9 tops and 3 tied for top.  We made no major mistakes and got a lot of good breaks.”  Dee added: “Chuck is one of my favorite players, never critical and always complimentary.  We were in sync all afternoon.  Of course, we had our share of good luck – making for a memorable day.”

AM 670 (The Score)sports jocks Dan Bernstein and Connor McKnight claimed that Dodger pitcher Clay Kershaw’s great-uncle was on the team of astronomers that in 1930 discovered Pluto, the so-called dwarf planet. Located in the Kuiper belt beyond Neptune, Pluto’s solar orbit takes 248 years.  Tom Wade has a t-shirt defending Pluto against detractors who in 2016 argued that it wasn’t a real planet.  One thing about Dan Bernstein, dating back to his afternoon show with Terry Boers, he often abruptly hangs up on obnoxious callers.

Weather has remained summery, sunny with highs in the 80s, but the daylight hours are markedly shorter. At lunch with Mike Olszanski, I discovered the veggies I had packed were missing. Later I found them on the ground near the Corolla.  On a library elevator a half-dozen students were peering at someone’s phone.  I asked what interested them; Apple was unveiling new products. 

Nicki Minaj and Cardi B got into a shoving match at a New York Fashion Week event after Cardi had called Nicki a bitch.  In retaliation, Minaj evidently stepped on Cardi’s dress, causing it to rip in the back.  After security teams separated the two rap divas, Cardi threw a shoe at Nicki, who kept it as a souvenir. The New Yorker’s Carrie Battan believes that Minaj epitomizes rappers’ tendency toward self-mythologizing and braggadocio:

 It feels cheap to draw a parallel between Minaj and President Trump, but the attitudinal similarities – the obsession with winning, the instinct to dismiss critics as losers or liars, the paranoia, the rabid fixation on the initial    victory rather than the ensuing work – are too obvious to ignore.

East Chicago Central grad and friend of the family Denzel Smith wrote: “I remember when I had a speech impediment. Now I’m doing speeches in front of Presidents. Honored to have been asked to lead the invocation for the Bethune Cookman Annual President’s Assembly at the Mary McLeod Bethune Performing Arts Center.”  Son Dave was one of his mentors.

below, former coach and AD Earl Smith praising Rod Fisher

Both the Post-Triband The Timescovered protests at a Gary school board meeting regarding the unjust termination of longtime West Side girls basketball coach Rod Fisher. Supporters of Fisher plan to present a petition (I’ve signed it) to the Indiana Distressed Unit Appeal Board. West Side principal Marcus Muhammad praised Fisher’s extraordinary career but claimed a woman could relate to “the young ladies we have today”better than a man.  Former athletic director Earl Smith called Muhammad’s statement “asinine”and predicted that this would have a negative effect on the community. Smith said, “He dedicated his life to the West Side Cougar family and former players love Coach Fisher.”  Smith added that during the 14 years he was AD, Fisher “never asked the athletic program for anything.  What he couldn't do raising (money) with the parents, he took out of his pocket. You find me another coach that's any more dedicated than that.”  Fisher’s wife Linda told supporters, “They didn’t just tale away his job, they took his life” and asked, “Is he too old, too successful, too white?”  My Facebook coverage generated numerous emoji responses, including sad and angry. 

Times photos by Ed Bierschenk (above) and Jonathan Miano

The third edition of Ron Cohen and my “Gary: A Pictorial History” arrived, looking great. The photos covering the past 15 years are in color and more vivid than I’d hoped for.  In ones by Timesphotographers Ed Bierschenk and Jonathan Miano of protestors at City Hall opposing efforts to open an immigrant detention center near Gary Airport I recognize Miller activists Ruth Needleman and Tom Eaton and possibly Jim Spicer and Carolyn McCrady. Cohen’s updated bibliography even includes Leonard Moore’s 2018 book on the 1972 National Black Political Convention at West Side High School. At my suggestion chapter 8, “Looking Ahead, 2004-2018” begins:

     On the evening of July 14, 2005, Gary’s Centennial Committee held a gala at the Genesis Center.  Waiters on loan from Dean White’s Star Plaza served hors d’oevres. The Roosevelt High School band marched through the crowd playing “76 Trombones” from “Music Man.”  Emerson students put on a moving skit.  The musical group Stormy Weather, whose members were self-proclaimed “region rats,” entertained with doo wop hits and a stirring, a capella version of the national anthem.  Not since Mayor Hatcher’s “Evenings to Remember “was there such a glittering party. More important, U.S. Steel pledged $400,000 toward a “Fusion” statue and other efforts.  President of the Centennial Committee, appropriately, was First Lady Irene Scott-King, who stated: “It’s important to understand where you’re come from in order to see where you are going and move ahead in the future.  It’s critical to enlighten and give young people the foundation they need to one day take over the reins of the city.”

I also added this final peroration to Cohen's draft:

 Though a tough environment, especially for those struggling to find work and raise families, Gary in the past has afforded opportunities for a host of athletes, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and other notables who have achieved success elsewhere.  Even more impressive are those who stayed or returned and became community pillars. While some lament what Gary has lost, there is potential for a bright future, not only in the development of the lakefront but in commercial possibilities associated with airport expansion, an academic corridor along Thirty-Fifth Avenue (anchored by IU Northwest and IVY Tech’s new building on Broadway), and downtown revitalization (exemplified by the newly refurbished main library).

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.

Stone Cold

“If you piss me off, Donald Trump, I’ll open an eight-billion-dollar can of whoop ass and serve it to ya.”  Stone Cold Steve Austin

In 2007, at WrestleMania 23, Donald Trump got in the ring with wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin and as a publicity stunt was the recipient of Austin’s signature move, the Stunner.  Another one of Austin’s gimmicks was to pour two cans of beer toward his mouth at the same time and douse himself with the contents.  Twenty years before, Trump promoted WrestleMania events in Atlantic City in hopes of boosting casino revenue at the Trump Taj Mahal, which nonetheless filed for bankruptcy in 1991.  Last July in a tweet that originally appeared on the rightwing site Reddit (posted by user HansAssholeSolo), Trump used footage from one such event where he body-slammed WWE owner Vince McMahon only the figure had a CNN logo over its face.  CNN responded that it was “a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.”

At a Chesterton show choirs Open Mike fundraiser held at Val’s Famous Pizza and Grinders, Becca sang “Stone Cold” by Demi Lovato, a breakup song that starts out, “Stone cold, stone cold, you see me standing, but I’m dying on the floor.” Dave backed her up on guitar.  

Christina Hale spoke at IUN’s Women’s Center on the topic “Yes, You Too: What To Do When You Want To Set Your Hair On Fire.” Formerly a Democratic State Representative and candidate for lieutenant-governor in 2016 as John Gregg’s running mate, she described herself as a 46-year-old Latina native of Michigan City and former single mother who graduated from Purdue Northwest and is still paying off her student debt. She is presently CEO of Leadership Indianapolis, whose mission is to recruit and develop community leaders. She was dozing on a plane in rural China when she felt a hand on her breasts. Next to her, the culprit was masturbating.  She tried to report what happened but nobody would listen until she boarded her subsequent flight.  The pilot warned that if she pressed the matter, she might be detained for hours by Chinese authorities and miss her flight. Anxious to get home, she demurred, but the incident brought home to her why many victims fail to report sexual assaults due to the unpleasant consequences.

In addition to talking about the value of the Me, Too Movement, Hale described the frustrations of being in the distinct minority in the Hoosier statehouse.  Republican lawmakers recently made it illegal for people to tattoo their eyeballs but avoided passing legislation defining sexual consent.  In rural Wayne County, she said, ten percent of newborn babies suffer from opiate addiction, and on highway signs FARM stands for “Find and Report Meth.”  Millionaires buying private planes need not worry about sales tax, while struggling mothers pay duties on diapers and tampons.  The onetime reporter is a board member for the Indiana Humanities, the Indiana Commission on Latino Affairs, the Domestic Violence Network, and the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault. When she apologized if she made Chancellor Lowe uneasy bringing up tampons, he said no problem, he has a wife and daughter.

In the audience were students from two Sociology classes, plus several faculty, including Philosopher Anja Matwijkiw.  When Christina asked for questions, nobody initially responded until one of the few males in the audience spoke up, which got things going.  I kept silent but afterwards thanked the speaker and added that, while I agreed with her on the need for new blood in politics, people in the Region will sorely miss retiring  State Representative Linda Lawson, a former police officer and IUN grad.

Joining our Chesterton bridge group were Unit 154 president Gary Chaney and Fort Wayne sectional chair Kim Grant, who presented certificates of accomplishment to Terry Bauer and Chuck and Marcy Tomes. In the hand that kept me thinking afterwards, Dee Van Bebber opened a Spade.  I had five Hearts to the Queen, Ace, King and two other Clubs, 3 Diamonds to the Queen, and a singleton Spade.  I bid 2 Hearts, Dee responded 2 Spades, and I jumped to 3 No-Trump.  Dee had 6 Spades Ace, Queen Jack, Ace spot of Hearts, 4 little Diamonds, and one little Club.  With only 22 combined points, we were in trouble, especially after Chuck Tomes led a Club and my Spade finesse failed.  Marcy led back a Club, which Chuck took, and then forced my Club Ace.  I crossed to the board with a Heart and led out the remaining Spades, which fortunately broke 3-3.  Still, I needed one more trick with a bare Queen of Hearts and a Queen-3 of Diamonds left in my hand and both red Kings out against me.  Marcy took my Diamond lead from the board with her Ace and cashed a good Club.  When I played my Heart Queen on it, Chuck discarded his Heart King, keeping a Diamond King over my Queen.  Marcy then led the 8 of Hearts, which beat dummy’s Heart 7.  So close but no cigar!  It turned out that we ended up with the second highest board since other couples went down 2 or 3.

Brenda Ann Love reports: 

Today I thought I may have seen one of three things: 1) a dick measuring contest; 2) a circle jerk; or 3) a literal pissing contest. To give some context, there were three men standing in a circle down the alley. There seemed to be quite a bit of tittering, which could explain any of the three things above.  Upon discussing the above with Sam, he explained to me that they were most likely just three dudes smoking a joint, something he used to catch his students doing back in the day.  My mind is clearly in the gutter.

Ray Smock posted this assessment of House Speaker Paul Ryan, who claims he wants to spend more time with his family but will likely take a lucrative position as a corporate lackey.  As bridge buddy Helen Booth puts it, he is the latest rat abandoning the sinking ship of state:

    Paul Ryan will not seek re-election. The speculation about this is over. He never liked the job and it never fit him well. As the former House Historian who worked with three Speakers, I hereby dub him: The Reluctant Speaker. He was reluctant to take the job. He was reluctant to challenge members of his own party in the so-called Freedom Caucus. He was reluctant to cooperate across the aisle. And he was very reluctant to challenge our demagogue president. Furthermore, he has been reluctant to use his constitutional office to help set the national agenda. He was never able to get the House to work using the regular order of business. He bears a good deal of the blame for the terrible dysfunction in the House during his tenure.

 B-24 Liberator at Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson

At bowling Chris Pfeiffer showed me a WW II-era publication called Tucson Liberatorthat contained a photo of his mother and other defense workers who belonged to a bowling team, as well as other memorabilia.  There is a good chance that she was a real life Rosie the Riveter working on B-24 Liberator planes.  I told his to get in contact with the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tuscon, Arizona, as curators there might be interested in what he discovered.

“Straight Man” takes place in a distressed Pennsylvania city Richard Russo calls Railton, whose demoralized workers, the author writes, “have gone from unemployment to subsistence checks and whose marauding kids roam the streets at night marking time until they’ll be old enough to acquire the fake IDs that will allow them to climb on barstools next to their sad parents in seedy neighborhood taverns that sport out-of-date beer signs in their dark windows.”

 Betty Dominguez at right and below

Jerry Davich moderated a debate held at IUN’s Bergland Auditorium among the candidates running for Lake County sheriff.  He had audience members submit questions and chose the ones he felt were most germane.  Rather than ask for a closing statement, he asked each what their greatest regret in life was.  Richard Ligon said that it was waiting 45 years to get married.  Betty Dominguez, who I’d vote for if I lived in Lake County, said she didn’t have any.  

The Troubles

 “Another head hangs lowly, child is slowly taken

And the violence caused such silence, who are we mistaken?

Another mother's breakin' heart is takin' over
When the violence causes silence, we must be mistaken”

         Cranberries, “Zombie”

Dolores O’Riordan of the Cranberries passed away suddenly at age 46.  Best known for her yodel-like vocals on the song “Dreams,” she wrote “Zombie” in 1993 in memory of 12-year-old Tim Parry and 3-year-old Johnathan Ball, killed in an IRA bombing in Warrington, England, on March 20 of that year, during a period of guerrilla war over the fate of Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.  Ball was with a baby sitter, shopping for a Mother’s Day card. O’Riordan declared: “This song is our cry against man’s inhumanity to man, inhumanity to child.”  Here is the pre-chorus and chorus:

But you see, it's not me
It's not my family

It's the same old theme
Since nineteen-sixteen
In your head, in your head, they are fightin'
With their tanks, and their bombs
And air bombs, and their guns
In your head, in your head, they are cryin'

In your head, in your head
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie
What's in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie

Warrington bombing

Historian John Dorney described The Troubles, a euphemistic folk name also used in earlier Irish conflicts, as a 30-year low intensity armed conflict beginning in 1968 that killed 3,500 people.  The worst violence took place in 1972 including the “Bloody Sunday” atrocity, when the British army killed 14 marchers. What precipitated the Warrington bombing was the exclusion of Sein Fein from peace talks until the organization gave up its weapons.

In New York Review of Books Eric Foner critiqued “Goddess of Anarchy: The Life and Times of Lucy Parsons, American Radical” by Jacqueline Jones.  The African-American wife of Haymarket martyr Albert Parsons, executed for a crime he did not commit, Lucy Parsons was just as celebrated an orator as contemporaries Bill Haywood and Emma Goldman. Foner wrote:

  Today, after Timothy McVeigh, Osama bin Laden, and ISIS, loose talk celebrating violence seems rather less exhilarating than in the Parsonses’ era.  Jones makes it clear that she believes their advocacy of violence was “largely harmless.”  Few workers seem to have taken it seriously.  A local newspaper, covering one of Chicago’s labor picnics, reported that after speakers harangued the crowd to arm themselves, listeners did – with beer.  Jones points out that the language was entirely counterproductive, needlessly frightening law-abiding citizen and allowing authorities to tar all radicals with the brush of insurrection.

 Gary librarians during 1918 flu epidemic

Perhaps motivated by the current flu epidemic, Doug Ross of the NWI Times is writing about the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed more Americans than died in combat during World War I and sought information and photos from the Archives.  In our pictorial history Ron Cohen and I used a hundred-year-old shot of Gary librarians wearing masks, accompanied by this caption:

In October 1918, a nationwide flu epidemic spread to Gary, causing the closing for several weeks of all public places, including theaters, schools, libraries, churches, pool halls, and dance halls.  In a single month, a total of 64 people died in Gary, including 35 residents and 29 non-residents who had been brought to local hospitals (not a good idea, it turned out).  The quarantine was lifted in November, but some library staff members continued to wear protective masks.

Steve McShane put my latest blog, titled “Nostalgia,” on the screen in order for me to provide suggestions on possible things to include in student “Ides of March” journals, including musical and sports preferences, commentary on current events, and memories about school and family.  I believe class went well.

While eating lunch by my computer, an order came over the loud speaker for everyone to evacuate the library/conference center.  I figured it was just another drill, but gas fumes were permeating the building.  Spotting groundskeeper Eddie cutting the hedge with a gas device, I said, half in jest, “There’s the culprit.”  It turned out I was right.  Eddie was working near the building’s ventilation intake system.

 photos of Dee Van Bebber in Barbara Walczak Newsletter

I hadn’t played duplicate with Dee Van Bebber in two weeks due to the weather.  Nonetheless, a few brave souls showed up last week, I learned from director Alan Yngve’s email.  He wrote:

What an unusual Tuesday we had.  Many of us had substantial lake-effect snow and I-90 was closed both ways in Portage due to a big accident that involved semis.  So?  Well, when I drove out of the snowy dunes to the YMCA, northbound Indiana 49 was barely moving with all the traffic coming off of the tollway.  I had seen the tollway backup earlier in the afternoon from the 249 Bridge in Portage but at the time I had no notion of what that was likely to portend.  Clearly it would have virtually impossible to get to Chesterton from the south!  Nonetheless, four of us, all from Chesterton, were there and we played about 1.5 hours of rubber bridge.  I think we all enjoyed it; Joel, Barbara and George Bolesch, and me.

Back at Chesterton Y, Dee Van Bebber and I held our own.  My worst and best hands came back to back against Charlie Halberstadt and Tom Wade.  In the first I misinterpreted Dee’s 3 Diamonds response to my 1 No-Trump (my fault).  Then, with a favorable lead, I made a 4-Heart contract doubled.  

 Michael Schoon and Joe Chin 

Here’s a revised version of Michael Schoon’s Indiana History paper “Joe Chin and My Experience with Bridge”:

    In my first email with Joe Chin, I wrote: “Hello Mr. Chin. I am excited for the opportunity to meet with you and hopefully get to learn a new card game. I live in Morocco, Indiana, which is about 60 miles south of IUN. I am free on most days, but do work nights at Wal-Mart. I am interested to learn more about you and what you do for hobbies or on a day to day basis. Hope to hear from you soon.”  This led to our first meeting in which I was on crutches. I had unknowingly run through poison ivy that spread to my foot and I contradicted cellulitis. Joe told me that his father was an avid reader of bridge books and would talk about the game, even though he didn’t play; but Joe did not show much interest. It was not until his later years, college and beyond, that he took up the game.

  That same day, Chin gave a bridge lesson to the class. I learned a lot about him from his first quote on the board: “Bridge is not life or death, it is more than that.”  After class, Joe gave me a book about bridge and emailed me a link to a website, so I could review bridge terminologies and lessons.

     In my next email, I asked him a few questions, including, knowing he loved coffee, if he had to choose between never drinking coffee again or never playing bridge again, which would he choose.  He replied: “Ethnically I’m Chinese, born and raised in the Philippines, and was named after the cedar tree (in Chinese).  But my English name is Joseph due to a March birthday, the month of the Catholic Saint Joseph, the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus.  As a child I was fascinated by dad’s paperback on contract bridge, which he read again and again.  When some relatives visited from Hong Kong, I witnessed my first real life bridge game.  Then in college a few dorm mates asked me to play with them.  But it was not till I settled into my teaching career in Gary that I started taking serious bridge lessons and dived into this fantastic competitive avocation.  Regarding coffee and bridge, one’s a physical addiction while the other is a mental addiction.  Once I mentioned this to a now grown-up son of a bridge partner that if you had to be addicted to something, caffeinated coffee is not too bad.  I got him a Starbucks gift card for his college graduation since he visited Starbucks frequently.

    After several more email exchanges, Joe invited me to Starbucks in Schererville on Indianapolis Boulevard.  We talked about our families. Joe choose not to start a family of his own but is close to a sister and brother and told me stories about his nephews and bridge friends, whom he considers like family. It ended up being a great night.  We talked there for about 3-4 hours straight.  The time flew by. 

Joe Chin on right, photo by Michael Schoon

    The next time Joe and I met up was at a Sunday bridge tournament at Highland Community Center.  At first, I stood back and watched politely from a distance. After about five minutes, the director told me to have a seat at Joe’s table.  I pulled up a chair and whispered hello to Joe. He introduced me to everyone around the table with a cheerful spirit, which made me feel welcome. Then an older woman turned to me and Joe and said sternly “I do not appreciate talking during a game!”  Joe is usually soft-spoken, but he immediately raised his hand and complained to the director. He turned to me and said “I am sorry you were treated so rudely.  Not everyone here is like this. Do not be scared off the game because of her.” After several hands, Joe and his partner, Tom Hallum of Mishawaka, faced several other opponents.  All were very polite and sociable.  Hallum was especially humorous and had plenty of jokes to tell. He and Joe played the game very quickly, so I did not hardly have a chance to process their moves before they had made three more. They also talked to one another in what seemed like a whole new language.  I was thoroughly lost by the end of the day.

    The next time I contacted Joe, I asked how he did in the tournament that I attended. He replied, “That Sunday, we finished third out of 19 teams. Overall, I had the second highest number of master points for the entire sectional tournament.”  Then Joe mentioned going to Connecticut to visit a sick brother-in-law asked me about my girlfriend Shawna, who had gone to St. Louis for a concert. We agreed to stay in touch over the holidays, even though my paper would be due by then.   Overall, meeting Joe was a great experience. I now value the game of bridge, am aware of its complexity, and will continue to try and learn it in my spare time. I will also try to keep in touch with Joe, a very engaging and charismatic individual.