I Found Out

“It's not the love that's in your mind
It's the love that you might find
That's gonna save our lives”

    The Head and the Heart, “I Found Out

On September 11 the Head and the Heart performed at 20 Monroe in Grand Rapids, where 8 of us saw them last year.  They put on such an awesome show then that Phil, Dave, nephew Bob, and I traveled to Pappy and Harriet’s in Pioneertown, California, my favorite roadhouse, for a special midnight show prior to their appearance at the Coachella Valley Music Festival.  Phil offered to go with me again, but both of us have been busy. I love the band’s new CD “Living Mirage,” especially “Missed Connection” and “I Found Out,” whose chorus is in my head. John Lennon recorded a different song by the same title on the 1970 “Plastic One Band” album that Red Hot Chili Peppers covered on the tribune CD “Working Class Hero.”  Expressing disillusionment with false idols and panaceas, Lennon wrote this lyric:

I've seen through junkies, I been through it all
I've seen religion from Jesus to Paul
Don't let them fool you with dope and cocaine
No one can harm you, feel yer own pain

I finished first in duplicate two days in a row, partnering with Charlie Halberstadt in Chesterton and Don Giedemann in Valpo, with whom I’d never played. Returning after long stints on the DL were Dee Browne and Karen Fieldhouse. Partnering with Pam Missman was a woman who introduced herself as Sarabel Nowlin, adding it rhymes with Clarabell – the mute clown on “The Howdy Doody Show” that aired afternoons between 1947 and 1960 during my childhood and teen years.  Sarabel’s niece, Marcia Carson, had brought delicious, home-bakes chocolate chip cookies to the Chesterton game the previous evening. One weird hand, Don opened a strong 2 Diamonds (18 or 19 points with even distribution), and I responded 2 Spades, indicating 7 or more points.  He bid 4 Clubs, asking for Aces, and when I signaled none, he bid 4 Spades, meaning I’d play the hand, being the first to bid that suit, despite holding just a Spade singleton. Don lay down Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 2 other Spades, but one opponent was void in trump and the other had 6, as many as were in the dummy.  I ended up down one but tied for high board as 3 No Trump twice got set 2 and 6 Spades went down 4 doubled.

 Judy Selund and Don Geidemann at Portage Riverwalk; P-T photo by Carole Carlson

Corey Hagelberg dropped off posters announcing a “Northwest Indiana Youth Rally” at Portage Open Air Pavilion, organized by an IUN freshman who graduated from Portage High.  One consequence of global warming: rising water levels have eradicated Lake Michigan beachfront Portage Riverwalk.  I gave one to Raoul Contreras, adviser to the Public Affairs Club.  

 homeless man in Boulder; below, Willie Baronet

Several posters adorn faculty office windows reading, “This Is Awkward For Me, Too,” publicizing an IUN gallery exhibit titled “We Are All Homeless.” Willie Baronet, a creative advertising professor at Southern Methodist University, collected the signs used by indigents begging for help over a 20-year period.  Many were featured in the 2014 documentary “Signs of Humanity.” 

The Valparaiso University Invisible Project “Stories of Home and Homelessness” contains interviews with victims forced to seek shelter wherever they could. Co-directors Alison Schuette and Liz Wuerffel wrote, “Homelessness does not always look the way we imagine, and the homeless are important and valuable members of our community.”  A woman who suffered a nervous breakdown and lost her job, the use of the trailer she’d been living in, and custody of her children, told them:

I was in a car. And not wanting to ask for any help whatsoever. But finally I had to stay at my parents’ house, and my parents were trying to take the discipline type of road with me because I was acting out. They didn’t understand mental illness at the time. So, I slept on the couch, and I had a laundry basket with just my possessions. That was it. And I did that for an entire year. Which was very difficult, because I was in a household that didn’t understand what was going on with me. And then Housing Opportunities saved my life. They were fantastic, but I was on a waiting list for about a year. But they were wonderful, they talked to me. They were compassionate and helpful. The application process was painless. It’s sad that I had to wait a year, but they actually checked on me, also, to see, you know, how my situation was going and everything.

Housing Opportunities, a community-sustained nonprofit, provides a variety of services for the homeless in Porter and LaPorte counties. Its website states: “Some of our clients are not able to work due to crisis or disability. Some clients are professionals with college degrees who’ve hit hard times. Many clients are working or underemployed at minimum wage, struggling to support themselves or their families.”

As part of Indiana University’s Bicentennial Celebration, an IUN program will highlight faculty research projects, with professors speaking just 8 minutes.  My offer to report on “A Queer History of IU Northwest” was summarily rejected, as friends predicted, despite “queerness” currently being a hot topic in academia. I had been cautiously optimistic, if the decision was left to faculty and out of the hands of administrators.  In a form letter, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Cynthia Odell wrote: “The selection committee, composed of representatives from the academic units, was very impressed with the breadth and depth of the proposals and had a difficult time making their final selections. Regretfully, your proposal was not selected for presentation this year. However, we hope to make this an annual event and encourage you to apply again in the future.”  I replied: “People told me my topic, “A Queer History of IU Northwest, was too controversial and certain to be turned down, but since I vowed not to mention names, I had hoped IUN had advanced into the twenty-first century.”  The shadow of queer scholar Anne Balay’s nemesis still looms large despite his recent retirement.

Fifteen years ago, when Paul Kern and I published “Educating the Calumet Region,” we mentioned the short-lived existence of the Gay/Lesbian/Bi-sexual Alliance during the 1980s and Pride Alliance in the 1990s, but did not mention that virtually all non-tenured gay faculty were closeted.  We also decided to leave out an incident when a professor rumored to be gay was removed from the classroom on spurious grounds.  Clearly the time has come to explore in depth this subject despite what others might think. “Educating the Region” contains this testimony by former librarian Ellen Bosman, now head of technical services at New Mexico State (below):

  During the late-1990s IUN’s handbook mentioned the existence of a club for gay and lesbian students but listed no adviser.  Its club statement implied a degree of secrecy I thought unnecessary and demeaning. I offered to be faculty adviser, and we rewrote the club description to make it more positive and inclusive.  One of our goals was to get people to embrace a concept of diversity that included sexual orientation.

  When the club was functioning, a good turnout would be maybe eight people.  We got to know each other and realized we weren’t so isolated.  We had a variety of activities, including a photo display, “Love Makes a Family,” that showed gay and lesbian couples with their children. One guest speaker talked about his bisexual experiences.  He was married, and his wife was aware of his lifestyle.  We brought in high school students from Evanston, including one who was transgendered, to talk about their experiences.

  We wanted people to realize our presence on campus.  For National Coming Out Day, we got big buckets of chalk and marked up the sidewalks with sayings, such as “Oscar Wilde was gay.”Some students were offended when we used African-American names such as Bessie Smith and Langston Hughes. They’d say, “How do you know they were gay?”  We’d say, “We didn’t make this up.  It can be verified in the library.” Sometimes when we put up signs, they’d be taken down. Eventually we got them put in locked cabinets.  Others claimed we were going against God’s will and expressed disappointment that such a club existed at IUN.

  After years of haggling, IU approved a domestic partner benefits program.  It allows same sex partners to register with the university and have their partners eligible for health coverage.
 

Noticing students and staff staring out windows in the Arts and Sciences Building, I found out that a careless driver had turned onto Broadway and plowed into someone legally in the crosswalk.  Next day, a female African-American IUN police officer told me the victim, likely in shock, originally claimed to be all right but was taken in an ambulance to be checked out.  It brought back memories of English professor George Bodmer struck and badly injured jaywalking near the accident site – one reason traffic signals were installed.  Until fairly recently, IUN’s police force was all-male and employed mostly white former Gary men in blue.  Researching “Educating the Region,” I interviewed African American Don Young, who endured hazing as a rookie and patrolled make-out areas in the evening such as Raintree Auditorium, isolated spots in the library, and far edges of parking lots (a dead giveaway that he’d find a couple in a compromising position).  I’ll mention Young’s experiences in explaining to Jon Becker’s freshmen seminar students the difference between a social and administrative history.
  

In the third week of bowling the Engineers salvaged one game against the Boricuas (the name indigenous Puerto Ricans called their island) mainly due to Ron Smith’s 213 in the finale.  Opponents Melody and Jaime Delgado brought a well-behaved baby. The Hobert Lanes manager wouldn’t switch channels to the Cubs game (causing me to miss Yu Darvish’s 6 shutout innings and 14 strikeouts); he claimed to be too busy juggling myriad duties at the counter and tending bar.  Instead we were stuck with a soap opera, mercifully on mute

 below, Zander Delgado; right, proud parents

Jim Spicer’s weekly witticism:

  Upon hearing that her elderly grandfather had just passed away, Katie went straight to her grandparent’s house to visit her 95-year old grandmother and comfort her. When she asked how her grandfather had died, her grandmother replied,“We were making love on Sunday morning.” Horrified, Katie told her grandmother that two people nearly one hundred years old having sex would surely be asking for trouble. “Oh no, my dear,”replied her grandmother. “Many years ago, realizing our advanced age, we figured out the best time to do it was when the church bells would start to ring. it was just the right rhythm. Nice and slow and even. Nothing too strenuous, simply in on the ding and out on the dong.”She paused to wipe away a tear and continued, “He’d still be alive if the ice cream truck hadn’t come along.”

 monuments in Marysville (left) and Sacramento

Prepping for Chris Young’s upcoming book club talk on the Pony Express, I found out that monuments exist in towns along the mail route from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.  One pictured in Jim DeFelice’s “West Like Lightning” is in the Marysville, Kansas, town square.  Sculpted by Richard Bergen, it depicts Jack Keetley, who traveled a trail leading to Big Sandy, located in Woodson County, where a pony truss bridge over Big Sandy Creek was recently removed but a cemetery contains the remains of several riders.

On September 11, 2001, watching the Today Showat breakfast, I witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center towers right before leaving to teach a U.S. History class at IUN’s Portage Center. From the car radio I found out that planes had rammed into the Pentagon and mysteriously crashed in western Pennsylvania. In class, one I’ll never forget, I talked about events that live in infamy, including the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor and JFK’s assassination, as well as meeting a Shiite family in Saudi Arabia while teaching in IU’s overseas program during the mid-80s.  One student had suggested I dismiss them.  I replied that anyone was free to leave, but nobody did. Colleague Rhiman Rotz, who was adviser to the Muslim Student Association, was critically ill at the time, and his last thoughts were concern for those students.

Network commentators are treating Trump’s dismissal of National Security adviser John Bolton as yet another example of a dysfunctional White House. Thoughtful liberals should be shouting hosannas. As Trump himself said, Bolton was a relentless hawk who would have the country warring on fronts from Venezuela and Cuba to Iran and North Korea. If I could cheer Nixon on the day he recognized China, I can breathe a sigh of relief with Bolton gone, whatever the cause.  Trump, first and foremost, is an America Firster, isolationist in foreign policy but unfortunately the ally of predatory capitalists and white supremacists.  A rank opportunist, he assumed this image for political gain and is beholden to those MAGA faithful that remain his base of support.

Toni was cutting up basil, and the aroma reached me in the basement. In Fort Washington neighbor Herb Sadtler, who shared our two-car garage, loved to brag about his herb garden, so we pronounced his name with the “H” silent, like “erb.”  Toni served basil atop a hamburger patty, and it was quite tasty when, at Toni's urging, I got around to eating it.  Ray Arredondo emailed me the obit he wrote for wife Trish, a good friend and collaborator on “Maria’s Journey.” He wrote this poignant remembrance: “Her love of nature and gardening brought her joy and she spent many long days outside, creating her garden “rooms.”  Although she would often comment about the deer and bunnies eating her blooms, she never did one thing to deter them.”

Trish, Maria, Ray Arredondo

Shep

 “The reality of what we are is often times found in the small snips, way down at the bottom of things.” Jean Shepherd

A decade ago I reviewed Marc Fisher’s “Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution that Shaped a Generation” for Magill’s Literary Annual.  It contains a chapter on Calumet Region humorist Jean Shepherd:  I noted:

 While pop music dominated the AM dial [in the 1950s] an eccentric genius named Jean Shepherd invented what came to be known as talk radio.  Twice fired for persistently digressing from the music, he migrated to WOR in New York, where he held forth nightly for four and a half hours.  Intermittently spinning jazz records between acerbic monologues, Shepherd’s tales of festering youth had universal appeal, as did his irreverence toward sponsors and management functionaries.  His eventual successor, Long John Nebel, attracted night owls interested in UFOs, health nostrums, and conspiracy theories of all kinds. 

 During the 1960s FM came into its own. The Federal Communication Commission forced stations to stop simucasting AM shows, and automobile manufacturers wired their vehicles for FM.  Carrying on Shepherd’s legacy in Los Angeles was John Leonard with Nightsounds,while New Yorker Bob Fass hosted Radio Unamenableon WBAI.

On the radio Shepherd’s avowed objective was to stimulate trains of thought, and his improvisational style was similar to the jazz music he loved.  

 Bill Clinton and Dale Bumpers in 1999

New York Review of Books contributor Sean Wilentz’s article “Presumed Guilty” on Ken Starr’s “Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation” argues that the hatred and distrust of Bill and Hillary by Starr and his staff (including zealous reactionary Brett Kavanaugh) turned “a faltering right-wing political vendetta against a Democratic president into a constitutional crisis over consensual private behavior.”  According to former Arkansas governor and senator Dale Bumpers, “Javert’s pursuit of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables paled in comparison”to Starr’s pursuit of the Clintons.  An incredulous Wilentz points out the irony of Starr being worried about what he termed “the inherent danger of prosecutorial overreach”in the Mueller probe.  “Presumed Guilty” cites several egregious actions by persecutor Starr, in addition to the browbeating of Monica Lewinsky:

 Susan McDougal, the ex-wife of the eccentric progenitor of the Whitewater project, Jim McGougal, refused to testify before the grand jury, fearing that saying anything other than what she believed the independent counsel’s office wanted would lead to her indictment for perjury.  She wound up serving 18 months in prison for civil contempt of court, eight of them in solitary confinement.  Then, upon her release, Starr had her indicted on criminal charges of contempt (which ended in a hung jury) and obstruction of justice (which ended in an acquittal). Julie Hiatt Steele contradicted claims by her friend Kathleen Willey concerning an alleged inappropriate advance by the president. Starr accused her of obstruction of justice and making false statements, which led to a mistrial, whereupon the matter was dropped – but only after Steele had been harassed over the adoption of a Romanian child.

Reading Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” for an Advanced English paper, grandson James is fascinated by the narrator’s espousal of a fictitious religion called Bokononism.  It reminded me of existentialism, which James learned about in a recent unit.  “Cat’s Cradle” opens with this advice supposedly found in the Books of Bokonon, many of which were written in the form of calypsos: “Live by the forma (harmless untruths) that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”  

 Pony Express monument in St. Joseph's, MO

Jim DeFelice’s “West Like Lightning: The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express” contains fascinating tales about the 1,900-mile mail delivery system from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California that, to my surprise, was short-lived and was a financial failure.  DeFelice wrote: 

 Daring young men with colorful names like “Bronco Charlie” and “Sawed-Off Jim” galloped over a vast and unforgiving landscape, etching an irresistible tale that passed into myth almost instantly. Equally an improbable success and a business disaster, the Pony Express came and went in just 18 months but not before uniting and captivating a nation on the brink of being torn apart [by the Civil War].

DeFelice recounts exploits by the likes of Jim Bridger, Jack Slade, “Wild Bill” Hickok, and William “Buffalo Bill” Cody but then admits that many may have been pure fabrications.  The two men most responsible for spreading myths regarding the Pony Express were author Edward Zane Carroll Judson, who assumed the pseudonym Ned Buntline, and William Cody, whose Wild West shows usually began with a dramatization on the Pony Express riders.

Dave’s family brought over Chinese food and a key lime pie for my 77th birthday. Dave burned me a Kurt Vile compilation CD and on a card called me his role model.  Nice. We played the dice game Qwixx and Love Letter, which involved cards with various powers and worth that I was just starting to comprehend when Becca won.  I watched the Oscars intermittently and enjoyed the opening Queen medley with Adam Lambert and original band members, Spike Lee’s speech after winning for best adapted screenplay (for BlacKkKlansman) and Lady Gaga’s incandescent performance with Bradley Cooper singing “Shallow” from “A Star Is Born.” Gaga has previously sung memorable duets at awards shows with Elton John, Tony Bennett, and Metalilca – a true superstar.

Anti-Trump Republican columnist Max Boot laments the decline of college History courses and the public’s ignorance of America’s past.  Boot mocked the slogan “Make America Great Again,” as if there were some mythical “Golden Age.” Citing nearly forgotten events, he mentioned the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, the Red Scare, and the Balangiga Massacre.  The latter had me stumped until I associated it with an American atrocity carried out in 1901 on the Philippine island of Samar in retaliation for 48 U.S. soldiers slain by villagers supporting nationalist Emiliano Aguinaldo.  In retaliation General Jacob “The Monster” Smith ordered entire towns put to the torch, every Filipino over the age of ten killed, and, most damaging, the population starved into submission.  Up to 50,000 civilians perished.  Smith was subsequently court-martialed, found guilty, and forced into retirement but otherwise not punished. 

Riley Kuzos as Pink Diamond; NWI Times photo by John Luke

Northwest Indiana Comic-Con took place over the weekend in Schererville, featuring cosplay contests and all sorts of displays and items for sale.  One of Steve McShane’s former students was a big fan and wrote  about attending a Comic-Con in Chicago. I included her journal in my forthcoming Steel Shavings (volume 48).

 Julius "Lil Jay" James

In the Post-Trib was one article stating that Gary’s crime rate was down by almost 67% and another reporting on the death of 25 year-old Julius “Lil Jay” James IV, gunned down on the 2300 block of Clark Road shortly after noon.  James was the great-grandson of civil rights leader Reverend Julius James and nephew of IUN’s police chief.  Reverend James, a personal friend of martin Luther King, led the 1964-65 “Gary Freedom Movement” that pressured City Council into passing the civil rights ordinance that established a Human relations Commission with subpoena power to investigate housing discrimination and other forms of segregation.

Film documentarian Nick Mantis spoke to appreciative seniors at a Munster Center Art in Focus presentation.  For the past seven years the Hammond native has been gathering material on Jean Shepherd and had many interesting anecdotes and clips to share, including a brief snippet from an interview with me.  I learned that Shep’s childhood home on Cleveland Street in north Hammond is still standing and that his father (the “Old Man”) deserted the family as soon as younger brother Randy turned 18.  Though a jazz buff, Shepherd hung out with the Beatles in England before they took America by storm and befriended many New York City literary figures and folk singers. His friend Shel Silverstein wrote “A Boy Named Sue,” recorded by Johnny Cash, after hearing Shep complain about being stuck with a girl’s name.  

Mantis spoke with one of Shep’s close friends from their early days in New York City who recalled that he enjoyed starting arguments with fellow patrons in diners of coffeehouses.  Verbal jousting was one of Shep’s specialties.  After publication of “Land of the Millrats,” folklorist Richard Dorson invited Shepherd to be featured speaker at a conference in Bloomington.  Deliberately needling  his host, Shep claimed that Gary was not really part of “Da Region,” only Hammond, East Chicago, and Whiting. Over drinks, Shep complained that his books were listed on the New York Timesbest-seller list under non-fiction rather than fiction.  During sessions, he’d be smirking and passing notes containing sarcastic or off-color comments.  Saturday evening he took the stage and put on a hilarious two-hour performance that pre-teens Phil and Dave still remember.

Shep’s cantankerousness alienated both business associates and admirers, including Jerry Seinfeld, who admitted: “He really formed my entire comedic sensibility.  I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd.”  Although Shep narrated “A Christmas Story” (1983), he was ultimately banned from the set because of his incessant carping. The TV series “Wonder Years” was inspired by “A Christmas Story” and Steven Spielberg invited Shepherd to provide input to the creators. He was so ornery and obstreperous the meeting abruptly ended within minutes.  He hated syrupy nostalgia and termed his literary output anti-nostalgia.  Mantis showed a clip where Shep answered a question about whether he had fond memories of growing up in Hammond by asking if one is nostalgic about a cold sore.  Shep died virtually friendless in 1999 at age 78, soon after his fourth wife passed away, having disowned his two children. 

During Q and A I mentioned Indiana University awarding Shep an honorary degree in 1995 and at a luncheon on my campus beforehand having everyone rolling in the aisles recounting how, after getting discharged from the army, he went to take classes at IU’s East Chicago extension and was made to take an aptitude test.  Two days later a guidance counselor told him that results indicated he should become a dentist.  Shep’s concluding remark: “I walked out of that building and never looked back.”  I’m certain Shepherd was truly touched to receive the honorary degree and making fun at the university in a 20-minute bit was the Hoosier humorist’s way of showing appreciation.

When I’d arrived, every seat appeared to have been taken.  I grabbed a chair from up front and plunked it down next to two ladies.  One recognized me from previous talks but the other asked how I’d learned about the Art in Focus  series. When a snippet from Mantis’ interview with me appeared on the screen, I nudged her.  Afterwards, Nick thanked me for coming and I said hi to bridge acquaintances Mary Kocevar and Marcia Carson.