Nelsons

 “Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode

Playing guitar like a-ringin' a bell and lookin' like he should
If you gotta play at garden parties, I wish you a lotta luck
But if memories were all I sang, I rather drive a truck

And it's all right now, learned my lesson well
You see, ya can't please everyone, so you got to please yourself”

    “Garden Party,” Ricky Nelson 

Ricky Nelson (1940-1985) began an unlikely career as an actor and pop singer at age eight on the radio program “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” starring his parents (a former band leader and vocalist) and also featuring older brother David.  Five years after the show became a successful TV series in 1952, Nelson made his singing debut, a cover of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’,” and the following year enjoyed his first of 19 Top Ten hits, “Poor Little Fool.”  In 1959 Nelson co-starred in the Howard Hawks Western “Rio Bravo” with John Wayne and Dean Martin. One summer when in high school, I caught a glimpse of him leaving a concert at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier mobbed by fans.  A girlfriend told me I looked like him, quite a flattering comment, I thought, if perhaps an exaggeration. Around the time of the 1964 British Invasion, the hits stopped coming for Nelson, except for 1972’s “Garden Party,” which he wrote in disgust after being booed at an Oldies show when he sang new country-oriented material rather than stick to mostly lame former hits. 

Rick Nelson died when his private plane, a DC-3 formerly owned by Jerry Lee Lewis, crashed bear De Kalb, Texas while his band was en route to a concert during a “Comeback tour" after a fire erupted in the cabin.  After toxicology reports found drugs in Nelson’s body, rumors spread that the fire was due to passengers free-basing cocaine; but the likely cause was a faulty in-cabin heater. Rick’s twin sons Gunnar and Matthew subsequently formed a band called Nelson.

The name Nelson, of English, Scottish, and Scandinavian origin, has been both a first and surname; in some cases, it literally denoted son of Nels. Examples of the former include South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela and New York governor Nelson Rockefeller; famous people with the last name range from British naval hero at Trafalgar Viscount Horatio Nelson and actor Judd Nelson to performers Nelson Eddy and Willie Nelson. Sports stars include infielder Nellie Fox and grappler Battling Nelson.  Two popular wrestling holds are the half and full nelson, which involve locking a hand on an opponent’s neck in an effort to turn and pin him.

On the way to Jon Becker’s freshman seminar on the fourth floor of IUN’s Hawthorn Hall, I dropped in the offices of poet Bill Allegrezza and Brian O’Camb, now English department chair and a former lunch companion, along with Jonathyne Briggs and Anne Balay.  Becker gave me an inscribed copy of “The Flunked-Out Professor: Six Steps for Turning Big Failure into Bigger Success” about turning his life around after then girlfriend and future wife Kate warned she didn’t want to marry a bum.  The book contains inspirational advice by the likes of Star Trek’sCaptain Jean-Luc Picard (“Let’s see what’s out there”)and Martin Luther King (“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the entire staircase”).Heading a section advising students to start a reading program was this quote from President Harry S Truman: “Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers”- sadly inapplicable in rudderless America at present.

 Becker family in 2016

Becker introduced me as his Vietnam War summer class professor 32 years ago in which he received a “D.”  He’d just gotten married, Jon explained, and had other things on his mind. In discussing the history of IUN, I explained how “Educating the Calumet Region,” which I had given each of them the previous week, was in large part a social history employing oral testimony by students, staff, faculty, and administrators. I spoke of Ruth Nelson’s 60-year stint with the university, beginning as secretary for Gary College director Albert Fertsch and continuing after retirement as a library volunteer.  In 1970, my first year at IUN, Nelson was IUN Bookstore manager.  By then directors of admissions, registration, and financial aid had been hired to oversee functions she once handled for a tiny fraction of their combined salaries. I first interviewed her for a Post-Tribune column later included in my history of Gary, “City of the Century.”  Ruth told me:

    In 1934 I graduated from Horace Mann and after my father broke his neck at a July Fourth picnic became secretary to Director Albert Fertsch.  The salary of $55 a month was paid by the New Deal agency FERA and helped put food on the table. When my father got a job as a watchman, my wages were reduced by ten dollars.  The only time I spoke to Superintendent William Wirt was to request a raise.  He turned me down, saying, “The class of people you are dealing and working with should compensate for the lowly salary.”

    Tuition was five dollars for the first five hours, four dollars for the next five, and three dollars for any over that.  The father of Alexander S. Williams, who became Lake County’s first black elected official, walked from Gary’s southside every week to pay part of the tuition.  Sometimes he’d pay as little as 50 cents.  A student once asked Mr. Fertsch whether he had a physical education program. He replied, “Do you walk to school?  That’s your hour of physical education.”

    Gary College had a picnic at Marquette Park.  A policeman interrupted the festivities and ordered the lone black student to leave.  I just couldn’t believe it. It hurt me so much that I said to him, “Wait a minute.  If you have to leave, I have to leave.”  So we left together.  The picnic went on without us.

    Indiana and Purdue both vied for Gary College when it was about to cease functioning, but it was no contest. Mr. Fertsch had no love for Purdue because of the negative survey their educators did of Dr. Wirt’s work-study-play plan.   

I traced the careers of historian Bill Neil (a part-time student at Gary College who became Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) and Chancellor Peggy Elliott (a former Horace Mann English teacher who started at IUN as a lowly adjunct) as exemplifying changes that took place during their long tenures with the university.

Bill Neil and Peggy Elliott

groundbreaking at new campus site, August 29, 1957, President Herman Wells at microphone

From the outset I encouraged discussion of such matters as why a century ago Bloomington started offering “extension” courses” in the Region, reasons behind demands for programs in Black, Latino, and Women’s Studies, and how much independence should be given editors of university newspapers. Turning to photos in “Educating the Calumet Region,” I explained that President Herman Wells, shown at a groundbreaking ceremony for the initial building (Gary Main, later renamed Tamarack Hall) at the present Glen Park site, ended segregation on the main campus and took heat for supporting Alfred Kinsey’s sex research. On the cover was a 1967 shot of IUN’s first commencement as a four-year institution. It took place outdoors, a practice that ended soon after Jon Becker’s graduation in the late-1980s.  Pointing out an illustration showing Chancellor Elliott holding Mary Ann Fischer’s baby during a visit by child psychologist T. Berry Brazelton, my voice broke slightly as I told of Peggy spotting Toni on campus holding granddaughter Alissa when she was an infant and breaking away from Bloomington muckedy-mucks to gush over how cute she was.  Students were amazed at how inexpensive tuition once was compared to the present and asked why no student dorms, something legislator Charlie Brown fruitlessly advocated for years.

In my latest Steel Shavings, Becker came across a photo from Halberstadt Game Weekend of Jef and Evan Davis playing Terraforming Mars, Jon’s favorite board game.  He mentioned owning the many upgrades to Ticket to Ride.  When I told him the version using the map of Pennsylvania was my favorite, he exclaimed, “Mine, too.”  He hadn’t noticed his being mentioned in “Educating the Calumet Region,” where former Mathematics professor John Synowiec lamented 15 years ago that most administrators held Arts and Sciences in low esteem but that his department seemed in good hands because of excellent young faculty such as Iztok Hozo, Vesna Kilibarda, and “an IUN graduate, Jon Becker.”

Lorraine Hansberry and Chance the Rapper (Chancelor Jonathan Bennett)

In advance of music critic Hanif Abdurriqib’s speaking engagement at the university, IUN is holding discussions on “They can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us.”  The first will deal with the first five essays, including “Chance the Rapper’s Golden Year” and “The Night Prince Walked on Water.” about the “Purple Rain” genius’s incandescent Superbowl XLI performance that included renditions of Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” and Foo Fighter’s “Best of You.”  A common theme is the search for moments of joy in “the vicious and yawning maw”of a country where mass murders have become commonplace and a “xenophobic bigot”occupies the White House.  The author quotes Chicago native Lorraine Hansberry: “I wish to live because life has within it that which is good, that which is beautiful, and that which is love. Because this is so, I wish others to live for generations and generations and generations and generations.”Abdurraqib compared Chance the Rapper’s album “Coloring Book” to the poetry of fellow Chicagoan Gwendolyn Brooks, who also captured the triumphs and failures of ordinary black folk.  In an endless and sometimes unbearable age, Abdurriqib wrote, “we are nothing without our quick and simple blessings, without those [like Chance the Rapper] willing to drag optimism by the neck to the gates of grief and ask to be let in, an entire choir of voices singing at their back.”

One of Abdurraqib’s essays is “Carly Rae Jepsen Loves You Back,” about the Canadian singer’s concert appearance at Terminal 5 in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood singing selections from the 2015 album “E-MO-TION.” Abdurraqib credited Jepsen with being able to convince a room full of people – teenagers, hipsters in their early 30s, blacks in their 20s, couples kissing passionately during “Warm Blood,” to, in his words, “set their sadness aside and, for a night, bring out whatever joy remains underneath – in a world where there is so much grief to be had, leading the people to water and letting them drink from your cupped hands.” I picked up “Dedicated,” Carly Rae’s most recent CD, at Chesterton library and especially enjoyed “No Drug Like Me” and “Right Words Wrong Time,” which contains these lyrics:

Took a million miles to feel the final separation

Don’t you tell me now you know what you need

I need to find a love to love me with no hesitation

Don’t you tell me you’re ready for me.

At bridge 87-year-old Dottie Hart had a new partner.  I held Dottie’s arm and said, “I hope you are in good hands.”  "I am now,” she joked.  At Charlie Halberstadt’s urging I tried  a new system called “Reverse Drury,” used after two passes and with a hand containing just 10 or so points but with good Spades.  The experiment did not end well. At bowling the following day, Jerome Tashik, on the DL last season, rolled a 715 series, winning the pot for high game over average all three games.  As Frank Vitalone announced after the final game, “We have a triple winner”– unprecedented in the years I’ve been in the league.  A 715 is a hundred pins higher than my best series ever.

Toni and I represented IU Northwest at the Dunes Learning Center’s annual banquet, “A Dunes Affair,” held at Sand Creek Country Club (only a mile from us as the crow flies), as did IUN Dean of Education Mark Sperling and wife Sandy, where Gary native Ken Schoon was the recipient of the Green Apple Award; the citation stated:

 Ken is a Northwest Indiana native and professor emeritus of science education at IU Northwest.  After 22 years as a middle and high school teacher, he joined the faculty at IUN, retiring 23 years later as a full professor and associate dean.  His research interests center around science misconceptions and local studies.  Ken is a founding board member and past president of Dunes Learning Center, an adviser to Shirley Heinz Land Trust, secretary of Munster Education Foundation, a member of the IUN Science Olympiad steering committee, and a member of the Indiana and Munster historical societies.  He has published three books about regional geology and history.

One of his publications is a book about Swedes who settled in Indiana’s Lake and Porter counties, which includes several Nelsons, including one of the founders in 1874 of Bethel Lutheran Church in Miller, Christina Maria Nelson, prohibited from signing the original charter due to her sex.

Ken Schoon at IUN, September 2017

Greeting us at the door was event committee member Bill Payonk, a former nontraditional IUN student who wrote a Northwest Phoenixcolumn called “The Old Guy.”  Diane Brown introduced herself to Toni as a former next-door-neighbor to Evelyn Passo’s mother, and recalled meeting her when Toni and granddaughter Alissa were visiting with Evelyn and her two sons.  A short film showed children visiting Dunes Learning Center, including  a group from Marquette School with teacher Tom Serynek, a friend and former president of Save the Dunes Council.  In accepting the award, Ken related having been a history major at IUN when he took a class with Mark Reshkin and became hooked on geology and dunes preservation. He credited Lee Botts as a mentor to whom one does not say no. Several items were auctioned off that each went for over a thousand dollars, including a ten-course meal for 8 prepared by chefs who came to your home and “Before the Sun Goes Down,” a painting by Porter, Indiana, landscape artist Mark Vander Vinne.

 below, Hakim Laws

Former Philadelphia firefighter Hakim Laws helped rescue babies from a burning apartment by catching them when they were tossed down to him.  Afterwards he told reporters that he was more sure-handed than Eagles receiver Nelson Agholor, who dropped several passes in a loss to the Detroit Lions.  The comment went viral, and Agholor called him a hero and offered him tickets to Philadelphia’s next home game.  Classy.

As Time Goes By

“Play in once, Sam, for old times’ sake.” Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) in “Casablanca”

The song, of course is “As Time Goes By,” which Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) had ordered Sam the piano player (Dooley Wilson) not to play; but then Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) walked in and got him to play it, which began the resumption of their romance.   Later Rick told Ilsa that he had a job to do and where he was going she couldn’t follow; then he declared: “I'm no good at being noble, but it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Someday you'll understand that.” Here are the lyrics to “As Time Goes By”:

You must remember this
A kiss is still a kiss
A sigh is just a sigh
The fundamental things apply
As time goes by

And when two lovers woo
They still say, I love you
On that you can rely
No matter what the future brings
As time goes by

Moonlight and love songs never out of date
Hearts full of passion, jealousy and hate
Woman needs man and man must have his mate
That no one can deny

It's still the same old story
A fight for love and glory
A case of do or die
The world will always welcome loversAs time goes by

Written in 1931 by Herman Hupfeld for the Broadway musical “Everybody’s Welcome,” “As Time Goes By” was voted second best song of all time in films, surpassed only by Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” in “The Wizard of Oz.”

For July’s book club Brian Barnes will report on Noel Isenberg’s “We’ll Always Have Casablanca: The Life, Legend, and Aftermath of Hollywood’s Most Beloved Movie” (2017). Ken Anderson is looking into the possibility of showing “Casablanca” in its entirety beforehand.  I can’t recall seeing “Casablanca” from beginning to end but am familiar with the most famous scenes and quotes such as “Here’s looking at you, kid”and “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship,” as well as Ilsa’s request, often mistakenly quoted as “Play it again, Sam,”when she returns unexpectedly to Rick’s Café, the Casablanca “gin joint.”

In a chapter entitled “Hollywood Goes to War” Richard Lingaman’s “‘Don’t You Know There’s a War On?’: Homefront, 1941-1945” mentions that the foreign intrigue plot depicted in “Casablanca” bore similarities to the spy and gangster genres of the 1930s.  Since most war news in 1942 dealt with defeats in the Pacific at the hands of the Japanese, Hollywood produced a spate of last-stand movies similar to what happened a century before at the Alamo, where heroic defenders defy overwhelming odds. In “Bataan,” for example a sergeant played by Robert Taylor shouts: “Come on, suckers.  What are you waiting for? We’ll be here!”  As the war went on, audiences tired of unrealistic or propagandistic war flicks and even booed phony scenes.

FDR and Churchill at Casablanca Conference

Kenneth S. Davis, whose fifth volume of his magisterial biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt “FDR: The War President, 1940-1943” (2000) was published posthumously, concludes with the President making plans for a summit conference in Casablanca, Morocco, in mid-January 1943, just months after Allied forces had landed in North Africa.  Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was unable to attend, but Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would draw up plans for the invasion of Western Europe and proclaim that the war’s objective was nothing less than unconditional surrender by the Axis forces.  Davis ends with this White House scene on New Year’s Eve, 1942: 

 There was more unalloyed good cheer in the While House this year, as Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt seated themselves with their guests after dinner in a room that had become the White House motion picture theater, where they viewed a film that, when released for public showing a few days hence, would become an instant box office hit and was destined to become a movie classic that would thrill scores of millions, again and again, through all the remaining decades of the twentieth century. A bittersweet story of love amid war, of individual lives overwhelmed by history and enabled to become significant of good or evil only through their willed responses to it, the film was soaked through and through with the selfless idealism and spirit of personal sacrifice to a transcendent cause (that of postwar world democracy) that was a dominant theme of the prevailing public mood of the 1940s. Even people who deemed themselves hard-headed realists and objected to the sentimental as a perversion of honest emotion were often deeply moved by this picture story.  Perhaps Franklin Roosevelt was moved by it to add to his customary midnight toast “To the United States of America” the words “and to United Nations’ victory.”

 The name of that film, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, was Casablanca.     seminar organizer Julie Zasada and keynote speaker Ken Schoon

Julie Zasada and Ken Schoon

I drove to Cedar Lake for the third annual “Seminar for Organizations and Historians” organized by Julie Zasada of the Cedar Lake Historical Association and taking place at Lighthouse Restaurant adjacent to the lake.  When I arrived, Julie introduced me to Bryce Gorman of the Indiana Historical Society, who praised my just published Joe Louis Tracesarticle and helped me retrieve from the car free copies of Steel Shavingsfor the seminar participants.  IUN geologist Ken Schoon, the keynote speaker, explained the effect of the Ice Age on the Calumet Region.  I learned that the “Lake of the Red Cedars,” as Potawatomi referred to Cedar Lake, was formed as a result of a huge piece of ice breaking off from a glacier and ultimately settling in what eventually became marshy land.  Like last year, the meal was delicious steak with mashed potatoes, string beans, salad, rolls, and chocolate cake.  I chose to attend roundtable discussions on marketing strategies and event experiences by Bryce Gorman and Ted Kita of the Hesston Steam Museum.

above, Ted Kita roundtable; below, Jimbo, Andrea Ledbetter, Mika Lansdowne

Jim and Mika at Lassen Museum with Scott Bocock and Kim Trevino in background; photo by Andrea Ledbetter

I met former Tolleston resident Peggy Schmidt, who recalled Jack Spratt’s Ice Cream Parlor in Miller, and East Chicago librarian Suzana Bursich, who is interested in reviving that city’s historical society; I told her about the Latino Historical Society papers housed in IUN’s Calumet Regional Archives.  She knew about my publications and is working with Northwestern grad student Emiliano Aguilar, a former East Chicago Central valedictorian and student of Dave’s.  I also enjoyed meeting Decay Devils Andrea Ledbetter and Mika Lansdowne, a native of Athens, Georgia.  Andrea graduated from Gary West Side in 1990 and talked about girls basketball coach Rodney Fisher being gruff but dedicated to his players.  I tried not to openly stare at Mika’s impressive tattoos. 

At a wine and cheese reception at Cedar Lake Museum, formerly the Lassen Hotel, curator Scott Bocock congratulated me on the Joe Louis article and told me that “The Champ” once visited a gym that wrestler Ambrose Rascher established at the Lassen garage complex that is now part of the town hall during Louis’s brief career as a professional wrestler.  Rascher, an All-American at IU wrestling in the 174-pound heavyweight division, helped the Hoosiers win the 1932 national championship and went on to compete in the Olympics in Los Angeles.  Born in the hamlet of Klaasville just west of Cedar Lake, Rascher also lettered in baseball and football and had a short career with the Portsmouth Spartans, forerunner of the Detroit Lions.  A professional wrestler from 1934 to 1942, Rascher went on to promote matches at Gary Armory and Hammond Civic Center as well as Lassen Resorts and founded the Rascher-Fagen Insurance Agency.  In January 1988, two months before his death, Rascher was inducted into the Indiana Wrestling Hall of Fame.

I’ve come around to the view that an impeachment inquiry is necessary even though, as it stands, there is scant chance Congressional Republicans are ready to abandon their demagogic leader, who now is claiming past members of the FBI might be guilty of treason.  Disgraceful! The latest example of presidential pettiness: the navy used a tarp to cover up of the name of the U.S.S. John McCaindocked in Japan near where Trump would be passing, fearing the sight of it would upset him.  Trump claimed to know nothing about the fiasco but went on to say tastelessly that he was no fan of the former Arizona Senator.  Here’s Ray Smock’s convincing argument for a House inquiry: 

    Special Counsel Robert Mueller, in a brief but poignant public statement, his swan song on the Mueller Report, said the only thing that held down his investigation was a Justice Department ruling, not even a law, that determined the President of the United States cannot be indicted for crimes while he is in office. His report leaves no room for doubt that the President of the United States has committed enough acts of obstruction of justice and left enough evidence of criminal behavior and constitutional violations to exceed the threshold needed to launch an impeachment inquiry. It is the first step to gather information and to walk farther down the investigative path that Mueller has mapped for us. Mueller did his job. We cannot expect him to act as judge, jury, and executioner. He passed the torch to Congress to finish the race to defend the Constitution. 

This just in: Trump’s pal Kim Jong-un purged his top nuclear negotiators, evidently angry at their performance at the Hanoi summit.  Special envoy to the U.S. Kim Hyok-choi was allegedly executed by a firing squad.

I had lunch at El Jimador in Hobart with Gary native Joe Medellin, whom I interviewed a couple weeks ago.  Joe grew up a block from IUN’s campus in a small house now literally inches from the new Arts and Sciences Building.  My two-taco meal came with soup, chips and salsa, plus rice and beans for a grand total of $6.50.  I don’t know how the restaurant makes any money at those prices. I gave Joe a DVD of our talk, and we vowed to get together soon. On the way home I stopped at Chesterton library and picked a book of short character sketches by Ray Boomhower titled “Indiana Originals” and CDS by Warren Zevon, Fountains of Wayne, and The Beths.

 Marie Siroky, Jimbo, Mika Lansdowne; below Joey Lax-Salinas shots of City Methodist

Mika Lansdowne reminded me of the “Haunts” photography exhibit opening reception at the Gardner Center in Miller.  Curator John Cain introduced me to Joey Lax- Salinas, whose shots of City Methodist Church are truly haunting.  Mika was with Marie Siroky, who was wearing a Decay Devils shirt and familiar with my work, claiming to have an original copy of “City of the Century.” Tyrell Anderson was explaining the group’s mission to former Gary First Lady Irene Smith-King, who gave me a hug and said she’d purchased a half-dozen Gary pictorial histories for friends and relatives. I gave Jim and Elaine Spicer and George Rogge and Sue Rutsen copies of Steel Shavings,which I had in the trunk left over from Cedar Lake.

I Am Somebody

“I may be poor

But I am

Somebody.”

         Rev. Williams H. Borders

Civil rights activist William Holmes Borders wrote “I Am – Somebody” six decades ago while pastor at Wheat Street Baptist Church in Atlanta.  In 1957, following the Supreme Court decision that desegregated the buses of Montgomery, Alabama, Borders and five other ministers were arrested for sitting in the front of an Atlanta bus; they successfully appealed their case to the Supreme Court.  Reverend Jesse Jackson adopted his moving poem in countless speeches and as part of a PUSH-Excel program to motivate young people.

The mistreatment of children is a recurring theme in the novels of Toni Morrison, whose latest work, “God Help the Child,” features young black kids who, according to Francine Prose’s New York Review of Books essay, “Growing Up Too Black,” “have nothing: no power, no agency, no protection from the unfeeling or predatory adults around them.”  Morrison is a treasure, but I don’t plan on reading “God Help the Child.”  I get my fill of reading about predatory adults from the newspapers, starting with child molester Dennis Hastert.

Jane Pauley profiled actor Ben Vereen on Charles Osgood’s Sunday morning CBS show.  In 1978 the “Roots” star paid tribute to vaudevillian Bert Williams in concert with the Boston Pops.  In 1981 he reprised the act – complete with bug eyes and black face – at Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural gala.  African-American critics piled on.  Missing the irony, Earl Calloway of the Pittsburgh Courier called the performance sickening and degrading.  Vereen believes the incident stunted his subsequent career opportunities. 

Bert Williams, I learned from Edward White’s “Tastemaker” (2014), was one of iconoclast Carl Van Vechten’s “all-time heroes,” an example of what the Twenties cultural critic came to believe as an essential truth: that, (in White’s words) “in its primitivism, blackness contains the essence of modern art.” Booker T. Washington said of Williams: “He has done more for our race than I have.  He has smiled his way jnto people’s hearts.  I have been obliged to fight my way.” The native of Nassau in the Bahamas partnered with George Walker, and the team of Williams and Walker became vaudeville headliners.  Later as a solo act, Williams starred in Ziegfield’s Follies and recorded numerous hits, including “Nobody,” which Bing Crosby, Nina Simone, and Johnny Cash covered.  Written by Williams and Alex Rogers, “Nobody” contains these verses:

When life seems full of clouds and rain,

And I am filled with naught but pain,

Who soothes my thumping, bumping brain?

[pause] Nobody.

When winter comes with snow and sleet,

And me with hunger and cold feet,

Who says, "Here's two bits, go and eat"?

[pause] Nobody.”

W.C. Fields called Williams “the funniest man I ever saw – and the saddest man I ever knew.”  Ben Vereen paid a heavy price for evoking the man behind the mask.

NWI Times photo of EC Central graduation by John J. Watkins

At graduation Dave told East Chicago Central’s Class of 2015 to consider North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano’s advice on what to do each day:  find humor, use your brain, and have something move you to tears.  As “Jimmy V” put it at the first annual ESPY Awards less than two months before he succumbed to cancer, “If you laugh, think, and cry, that’s a heck of a day.”

 flooding in Hebron

Daughter-in-law Beth Satkoski paid an overnight visit after a business trip to Baja, California.  Unfortunately, I had a bad cold in addition to a sore back and ribs and was pretty anti-social.  I didn’t even answer calls from three good friends, Tom Wade, Paul Kern, and Dick Hagelberg.  Toni drove Beth home to Carmel despite torrential rains and tornado warnings.  Miranda spent her twenty-first birthday at an Italian bar where customers serenaded her.

Future teacher Aza Braner visited a second grade classroom one day a week; she also taught  Sunday school to pre-schoolers.

March 19: Today is my twenty-first birthday! I am officially legal.  I must admit, I am a “goody-goody.” I did not drink before today and have no intention of getting drunk, but I am excited to try different kinds of alcohol.  When my mom and sister enjoy a casual glass of wine in the evenings, I have wanted to join them.  Now I can. Unfortunately, I have been sick all day!   Tonight I might try one of my brother’s Angry Orchard ciders.  My sister is planning me a “Sparkle Party,” an excuse to put sparkles all over the house!

March 21: Went out with my brother, sister, and uncle, the “party engineer” who compiled a list of places we might want to go.  We started out at a small Chesterton bar called Upper Deck, on the second floor of an old building.  We all sat at a tiny table and my brother ordered cranberry vodka.  It was HORRID.  It tasted like cough syrup.  My brother explained that it needed to be stirred; after that it tasted much better and made my ears very warm.  The second drink was a rum and coke, my brother’s favorite.  It was good, but really just tasted like a slightly creamy coke.  The last, chosen by my Uncle, was an amaretto stone sour.  It was delicious! My Uncle called it a “danger” drink because it didn’t really taste like alcohol.  At Duffy’s in Valpo we got three drinks; none compared to the amaretto stone sour. I shared them with my two siblings and didn’t feel hardly anything.  I am not sure I understand why people spend so much money on alcohol. 

March 22: My boyfriend came home for the weekend to celebrate my birthday! We didn’t do a whole lot, but he did take me out to dinner.  He is the most thoughtful man I have ever met. He doesn’t plan romantic dates or say a whole lot of romantic things but is reliable and always gives the best gifts.  Over Christmas break, I had told him that I wanted to go on a picnic and wished it were warm outside.  He set out a blanket in the basement and made us sandwiches and bought me flowers.  For my birthday he gave me my own picnic basket! It was totally unexpected and beautiful!

Aza with boyfriend and sister

March 30: My sister Tae is getting married this fall! I am so excited.  She is my best friend and I am the maid of honor, which is super exciting but also a lot of work.  My duties have included calling bridal boutiques to schedule appointments, calling florists to get flower estimates, attending bridal expos, creating timelines, and lots of shopping.  The first big order of business was the wedding dress.  My sister had always wanted a full lace fitted dress but didn’t like the feel of any she tried on and bought a one-shouldered tulle ball gown! I was so surprised by her decision, but she looks beautiful in it.  We knew it was the right dress when she, my mom, and I started crying.  She originally wanted the bridesmaids in long flowing purple dresses.  We ended up deciding on a short wisteria (dusty purple) dress with a sweetheart neckline and sheer collar with sleeves.  It is really pretty and comfortable.  The next order of business will be flowers.  Speaking of flowers, for the shower, I am creating over 600 paper flowers! We are having a “tea party” theme. My mom and I will make favors and prizes like tea towels, aprons, and homemade vanilla extract.  My summer is going to be very busy!

March 31: All this wedding stuff got me thinking about my own wedding.  I can’t wait to get married and start a family.  I once thought that I would have only my sister as a maid of honor and no bridesmaids, but I’d like to recognize three friends who have been there for me.  One is a spunky girl who is always happy and enthusiastic; I’ve known her for 14 years, and she is my rock.  No matter how long we have been apart we can pick up right where we left off. A second I met in middle school.  She makes more friends in a day than I could in a year.  The third, I have only known for three years but we are both passionate about loving children and teaching needy kids.

IUN student Trisha Miles received grievous news in March of 2015, her journal reveals:

  March 12: After an appointment with an oral surgeon, I found out I need surgery to remove this huge lump on my gums. They aren’t too sure what it is.

  March 16: I’m doing my volunteer hours at Lafayette Elementary School in Hammond.  Many students live in poverty, and for some school is the only time they eat breakfast and lunch.

  March 17: My mom is 100% Irish and goes all out for St. Patrick’s Day!   In the morning Andrew and I went fishing off the docks in Cedar Lake at the marina down the street from my house. It was very windy; we didn’t get a bite but had a good time. For dinner my mom and I made shake´n bake chicken and of course green mashed potatoes and milk dyed green.

  March 21: It’s a Brooklyn weekend! Brooklyn is my 6 year-old cousin.  Her dad passed away 5 years ago, so my mom makes sure we get her at least once a month.  At the mall we interacted with the clowns that were with the Easter bunny.  Brooklyn had her face painted and got a flower balloon made.  I took her to Toys R Us to pick out a birthday present. She chose Legos.

  March 23: Since I can’t eat or drink anything, I cleaned my 10-gallon fish tank to keep busy. Normally I don’t clean all the rocks and water, but I haven’t done it in a month so today is the day. I have one guppy, one platy, one bottom feeder (a catfish), and two tiger barbs. My gum surgery went well: I was in a little pain but feel good. Not being able to consume hard food sucks; I’ve been eating mashed potatoes and cottage cheese.

 March 30: I drove all the way to Chicago Heights for surgery results to learn that they didn’t have them.  The trip wasn’t a complete waste of time.  I did visit the gravesites of my mom’s parents and my uncle and cousin.

  April 1: For my surgery results they requested that a parent came with, which I thought weird since I’m 22, but I was glad my mom was there.  I found out that I have cancer; the lump in my mouth was a tumor. This is the worst day of my life. The doctor said that we should go to the University of Chicago and gave us some names. For now all I really know about it is that it’s in my glands. I broke down and cried in the doctor’s office, but the hardest part was telling Andrew, my boyfriend of almost 5 years.  When I broke the news, he was in shock.  He was grabbing something out of his truck and kept doing so till I asked him to hug me. That’s when he started to cry. It was a long hug.   I know that he’s going to be strong for me and stay with me through it.

  April 2: I have done so much crying by now that I’m almost cried out. I told a couple other people that I thought should know.  Andrew texted his cousins who are away at school; when I called to tell him I was on my way, I could tell he was crying.

  April 3: Today should have been a lot better because most co-workers know by now, but it wasn’t.  It’s the last Friday of lent for tilapia and mac and cheese for dinner.

  April 5: I woke up and ate Easter candy and it felt great. I hadn’t had I such a treat since lent started. My dad made my favorite breakfast, hash browns and eggs.  I spent most of the day at my uncles.  They didn’t drill me and waited till after I left to ask my mom about my cancer. With Andrews’ family we played ultimate Frisbee and it was a blast. Andrew just got a GoPro so we recorded it on there. I talked to Andrews’s aunt about everything.  She is a nurse at Rush in the children’s cancer wing. She’ll look into some doctors for us. I ended Easter laying in bed with Andrew talking about life.       

My heart goes out to Trisha and pray her gum cancer comes under control.  I complain about sore ribs and back muscles but am fortunate to be ambulatory and capable of keeping an entertaining blog.  Eight years ago I learned I had prostate cancer.  I got help, and it’s in remission.  Because of Trisha’s journal I knew a Jeopardy answer in the Fish category for bottom feeder: catfish.

On campus I recognized incoming Vice Chancellor Mark McPhail walking through IUN’s Redhawk Café and introduced myself.  He had recently sat through his first Council meeting, Chuck Gallmeier told me.  Chris Young’s two sons were on their way to attend Samuel A. Love’s class on Still Photography, offered as an experiment to both kids and seniors.  I hope to sit in from time to time.  In the Archives Ken Schoon was researching Region events held on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970.  Chuckling, he read from an article reporting that the Daughters of the American Revolution decried Earth Day as subversive and passed a resolution condemning pollution, not of the fragile planet, but of the mind.  The women quoted, such as Mrs. Samuel Neill and Mrs. Henry Norsen, went by their husbands’ names.