“Christmas Eve will find me
Where the love-light gleams
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
If only in my dreams.”
Bing Crosby
The folk duo Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers) put out a holiday album entitled “Holly Happy Days” (a take-off maybe of the phrase “Happy Holidays”). One track is called “It Really Is a Wonderful Life” and the wistful (because so many soldiers were overseas) 1943 Bing Crosby hit “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” In the Editors Note to “Age of Anxiety” I mention that Terry Jenkins and I sang a duet for a Fort Washington Elementary School Christmas pageant, and the original program included “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” Because of sensitivities towards families with members fighting in Korea, the director made an eleventh-hour change to “Frosty the Snowman.” The Indigo Girls are openly lesbian although not a couple. In “Rock and Roll Heaven’s Gate” that Amy wrote are these lyrics: “No one wants to hear the truth coming from three political queers plucking the punk rock groove.” The song appears on a commemorative album from the 2007 True Colors Tour put together by Cyndi Lauper for the benefit of groups that support the GLBT community. Pink has also recorded it.
Missy Brush and James are now Facebook friends. On News Feed Missy wrote: “Some ignorant lady in my class just really pissed me off. She said gay people have a higher chance of getting AIDS than "normal people." Wtf is that shit about?” I replied, “The lady shouldn’t have used the word “normal,” but active gay males do need to be aware of AIDS risks and take precautions.”
Daughter-in-law Delia left a Facebook message that her dad (Gun) had a cardiac defibrillator inserted and afterwards was joking with the nurses. When Sonny got one, they purposely stopped his heart to test if it worked. Suzanna mentioned that she was having heart problems, too. I’m a little worried that she hasn’t answered my last email.
Vietnam vet Jay Keck sent my “Jingle Bells, Mortar Shells” blog to all his comrades. In an email titled “Wish You Were Here” LeeLee Devenney mentioned that she enjoyed our card and family photo and that she and Susan McGrath were having lunch today at Suzi Hummel Slacks’ house and might take along the “Missing Tiara” story. I think they have already seen it. I replied: “As I write this, you are probably on your way to Suzi’s. Indeed I wish I were with you. Are the husbands invited? I had a nice conversation with Susan Mcgrath the other evening. We have a lot in common politically, and her daughter is a historian. Glad you liked the Christmas card photo. Some years I do a newsletter, and 2010 was certainly an eventful year – with our move to a condo and the reunion – but we wanted to get the cards out early since some people didn’t have our new address. Cheers, Jimmy”
Nephew Joe Robinson wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas and called me his wing-man. I got him a subscription to Rolling Stone. I asked who he’d want with us if we went to French Lick next year. His dad and Tom Dietz, he replied. He’ll think about whether to include any women or children.
In “Boardwalk Empire” Stephen DeRosa plays vaudevillian Eddie Cantor, a song-and-dance man who once played Gary’s Palace Theater. His famous songs include “Makin’ Whoopee,” “If You Knew Susie,” and “Ida, Sweet as Apple Cidar.” I recall him hosting the Colgate Comedy Hour during the 1950s. It was on Sundays at the same time as Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.” My favorite hosts were Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. When I was a kid, Jerry Lewis could literally have me rolling in the aisle.
I talked at length on the phone with Mayor Hatcher about the public radio interview and daughter Ragen running for mayor. When I told him that the quote Mike Puente used went counter to the main drift of the interview, he replied that he knew more than anyone how the press can manipulate statements to fit their own purposes. He asked me to provide Ragen with reading matter to familiarize her with Gary’s history and in particular his 20-year administration. I plan to send her “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”
I’d love to know more about James W. Lester, who was secretary of the Lake County Old Settlers and Historical Society. He put together “Papers by Various Hand” and like me was proud to be an oral historian. In “Pioneer Stories of the Calumet,” published in the Indiana Magazine of History he wrote of being interested in the home life of Northwest Indiana pioneers. He interviewed 90 year-old Eleanor Phillips in 1922. In 1836 her family built a log cabin between present Merrillville and Crown Point. She recalled: “There were a few scattered settlers. We used to get together and have husking bees. The old settlers would cut their corn and set it up, then call on their neighbors to help husk it. The would serve cider and a cup of tea, and sometimes Johnnie-cake pancakes.” Johnnycake is cornmeal flatbread, a Native American food and early American staple. Southerners call it hoecake. Sometimes Phil and I call our pancakes hoecakes, saying, “Nobody don’t like hoecakes.” It’s one of our inside jokes.
Lester interviewed Henrietta Gibson whose mother-in-law Anna kept a “stage house” (Gibson Tavern, Gary’s first permanent building, located near the future site of Froebel School). Henrietta’s husband was Tolleston station agent for the Pennsylvania and Michigan Central railroads. One winter day in 1865 she had cooked potatoes for dinner and put the parings in a pail that she set on a bench behind the house. “Pretty soon,” she recalled, “we heard some bumping and knocking against the side of the house and I went outside to see what the matter was. A deer had been attracted to the salt in the potatoes and put his head in the bucket to get at them. His horns had got fast against the bale and he couldn’t get out. He shook his head, then started to run with the pail still sticking. He jumped the high board fence and the pail came off. He ran for the woods, but my husband started after him with a gun and soon brought the deer back.”
Alfred Anderson moved to Miller in 1855 at age nine, traveling with his family on a wagon pulled by oxen. Six years later he spotted a black bear while picking wild grapes for wine. As Anderson recalled, he and Andrew Wall “were in the hills about a mile and a half west of Miller and had climbed a big jack pine. We heard a noise down in the hollow and then we saw him coming right towards the tree we were in. We got down in a hurry and hiked for the beach. I don’t know how far he followed us.” A more common sight were wolf packs, potentially dangerous but scared off by gunshot.
Feasted on fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, Cole slaw, grapes, carrots,and scallions at the Arts and Sciences Holiday lunch. Dean Mark Hoyert’s witty greeting mentioned programs offered at other colleges that we might think about adapting, such a Celebrity Studies (Madonna, Oprah, David Beckham), Parapsychology, Surfing, and the Philosophy of Star Trek. Wearing a more subdued tie than his normal Christmas one (perhaps son Matt still has it), he claimed that people had warned him not to sing like in past years. Some people clapped, but most of us were disappointed. I sat next to Vice Chancellor David Malik, who is about to step down as director of FACET. Tanice Foltz reported that her cookie exchange party went well despite Sunday’s blizzard. Neil Goodman has to move out of the Fine Arts Department’s old digs in condemned Tamarack Hall before going on sabbatical. Only one person made a crack about my being retired. Not only had I been invited, there were other “friends of Arts and Sciences” in attendance. No other historians attended despite my recommendation that they attend more university social functions.
Sports Illustrated put “The Fighter” co-stars Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale on the cover, and the movie lived up to the rave review. Set in Lowell, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the industrial revolution in America, by the 1980s the city had fallen on hard times. Wahlberg plays “Irish” Mickey Ward and Bale gives an Oscar-worthy performance as his crackhead older brother. Based on a true story, it explores the tension within Mickey’s dysfunctional family, which includes seven sisters with such nicknames as “Pork,” “Tar,” Red Dog,” and “Beaver.” They treat Mickey’s girlfriend (played by lovely Amy Adams) as an interloper and a skank, leading to a great catfight scene (pardon the chauvinism).
By email vote the condo board approved work to begin on the gutter above the porch. I took the estimate to the treasurer, who had an old-fashioned sled on her porch with the inscription “Rosebud.” I recognized that “Rosebud” was the last word uttered by main character in “Citizen Kane” but didn’t know the meaning – that it had been what he called his boyhood sled. Director Orson Welles modeled the main character somewhat after newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. According to Gore Vidal, Hearst called his mistress Marion Davies “Rosebud” in a ribald reference to her clitoris. I doubt the condo treasurer had that meaning in mind. Like in the movie it probably symbolized the carefree days of our youth.
Showing posts with label Richard G. Hatcher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard G. Hatcher. Show all posts
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Civil Rights Hall of Fame
“Sometimes I can't believe it
I'm movin' past the feeling and into the night”
Arcade Fire, from “The Suburbs”
The band Arcade Fire has the number one album in America. Despite being from Canada originally, where arcades were probably an integral part of youth culture, they played several free concerts on Barack Obama’s behalf. “The Suburbs” mentions “all of the walls they built in the 70s” to keep minorities in their place finally falling. One can hope.
CRA archivist Steve McShane, IUN librarian Tim Sutherland and I met with Richard Gordon Hatcher to discuss the Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The former Gary mayor has been attempting to launch such a project since 1981, the year archconservative Ronald Reagan took office, signaling the demise of Great Society model cities initiatives. For $50,000 the Gary school board is making available the old Bannaker School (now occupying the former Kennedy-King middle school in Miller). It will take millions to refurbish it as the temporary quarters for the Hall of Fame until a new facility is built next door. For years The Post-Tribune has insinuated without proof that contributions have been wasted. Most of the pledged money came with strings attached – such as construction begin within five years.
Wanting the Hall of Fame to have an archives and library, Hatcher sought our advice on how best to proceed. We believe the best course to be a partnership that would have archival materials stored in our temperature and humidity controlled stacks. I recommended that a Gary room highlight the city’s role in “the movement.” After all, Hatcher became the nation’s first Black mayor as a result of a grassroots movement that overcame an entrenched political machine. The Archives could provide exhibits. Ever since Hatcher left office in 1987, we have been after his papers, which remain warehoused in his garage. He seemed receptive to our ideas, but we’ll see. He’s very deliberate. Some years ago I spent a many hours interviewing Hatcher at his home on a book project that never materialized. I wanted it to be autobiographical while he envisioned a series of essays along the lines of Cornell West’s “Race Matters.” I used much of the material in Steel Shavings magazine, for a book about Black Mayors, and in putting together “Gary’s First Hundred Years.” Now 77 years old, Hatcher is still sharp as ever though somewhat hard of hearing. He went through life with one eye, so being a little deaf should be no big deal. He’s one of my few political heroes, a Sixties militant yet willing to work within the system. With Hatcher was Hall of Fame board member Lamar Taylor, to whom I gave a copy of “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”
Indiana Historical Society Press sent four more copies of “Maria’s Journey.” I gave one to Minority Studies professor Raoul Contreras in hopes he’ll adopt it in his course on Latinos in America. Looked into how to get The Post-Tribune to do a feature on it. Rich James suggested contacting columnist Jerry Davich, adding: “I would like to read ‘Maria’s Journey.’ I heard over the years that she was the glue to the family. And of course I followed the careers of the Arredondo brothers. They are all different.” On the NWI Times website discussion page some joker who calls himself “mytwocents” dissed the book as one-sided and wondered how much the authors paid to have it published. I replied: “I suggest you read the book and reconsider your criticism. John Bodnar, the foremost immigration in the country, would not have written the introduction, nor would the Indiana Historical Society Press have published it, unless it had historical value.”
William J. Lowe, IU Northwest’s new chancellor, held two “town hall meetings” to defend making the staff basically punch a time clock (logging in and out) and provide details on a shuttle to and from the Village shopping center at Grant Street, the site of art and theater classes as well as additional parking. Being officially retired, I opted not to attend. Wonder what faculty and staff thought of him. In 1970, I befriended a Psychology professor named Frank Lowe. His wife invited me to a surprise fortieth birthday party, and Frank seemed pissed that his wife called attention to his age.
I sent John Laue, in town working on his book about residents who lived within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, my “Last Hurrah” account of our final weekend in our old place. He emailed a typescript of our interview. This paragraph makes reference to a traumatic incident of ten years ago when Dave, Angie, and I feared for our lives. Three armed robbers held us hostage for 90 minutes (see Steel Shavings, volume 33, “Life in the Calumet Region during the Year 2000”): “Our relationship with the National Park Service has always been pretty good. Over the years, we’ve had minimal dealings. We might see a ranger car once a week or even less. One time, a tree fell down on our driveway, and a ranger came by and helped remove it. There was a cabin down the street from us—we called it the mystery cabin until a couple moved in whom we befriended. When they got divorced and moved out, it started to deteriorate. They ended up giving us the cabin after we paid the back taxes. My wife Toni spent a lot of time and money fixing that place up, and my son and his wife moved in. In the year 2000, there was a home invasion that caused Dave and Angie to move elsewhere. Later that year, we found a dead body on Maple Avenue a block down from us, the result, authorities suspected, of a drug deal gone sour. Other than those two incidents, we’ve always felt safe and secure. It’s rare that we see a car come up this road. Paul and Lauren, who bought the leaseback to the cabin, have dogs whose barking discourages folks from walking up the road.”
Bowled a 529 series, including a 200 game, on opening night of Sheet and Tin league play (one more sign summer is nearly over). Clark Metz beat my score by six pins, opening with a 217. Pressed into service because Rob was on one of his frequent excursions, 82 year-old Bill Batalis bowled above his average, enabling the Electrical Engineers to win 5 of 7 points. Despite the dismal economy, we had a full house of 16 teams. A friendly Latino guy who hadn’t bowled in years expressed surprise that our team was still in existence.
In an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” entitled “Club Soda and Salt” (a formula for removing stains), Cheryl has a male friend named Jeff who Larry is convinced is trying to get in her pants. In her car Larry discovers a tape of Al Green songs Jeff’s given her, including “Be With Me.” In the final scene wine gets spilled on the front of Cheryl’s dress, and Jeff is groping her as he administers club soda and salt.
Toni finished the August 8 New York Times Magazine Sunday crossword puzzle (one answer was Fabian, the one-named Fifties teen idol) whose cover story by Daphne Merkin, “My Shrunk Life,” dealt with going through 40 years of psychoanalysis, starting at age ten. Merkin uses anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s phrase “thick description” that I first heard from Chuck Gallmeier when he was touting the value of Steel Shavings magazine.
I'm movin' past the feeling and into the night”
Arcade Fire, from “The Suburbs”
The band Arcade Fire has the number one album in America. Despite being from Canada originally, where arcades were probably an integral part of youth culture, they played several free concerts on Barack Obama’s behalf. “The Suburbs” mentions “all of the walls they built in the 70s” to keep minorities in their place finally falling. One can hope.
CRA archivist Steve McShane, IUN librarian Tim Sutherland and I met with Richard Gordon Hatcher to discuss the Civil Rights Hall of Fame. The former Gary mayor has been attempting to launch such a project since 1981, the year archconservative Ronald Reagan took office, signaling the demise of Great Society model cities initiatives. For $50,000 the Gary school board is making available the old Bannaker School (now occupying the former Kennedy-King middle school in Miller). It will take millions to refurbish it as the temporary quarters for the Hall of Fame until a new facility is built next door. For years The Post-Tribune has insinuated without proof that contributions have been wasted. Most of the pledged money came with strings attached – such as construction begin within five years.
Wanting the Hall of Fame to have an archives and library, Hatcher sought our advice on how best to proceed. We believe the best course to be a partnership that would have archival materials stored in our temperature and humidity controlled stacks. I recommended that a Gary room highlight the city’s role in “the movement.” After all, Hatcher became the nation’s first Black mayor as a result of a grassroots movement that overcame an entrenched political machine. The Archives could provide exhibits. Ever since Hatcher left office in 1987, we have been after his papers, which remain warehoused in his garage. He seemed receptive to our ideas, but we’ll see. He’s very deliberate. Some years ago I spent a many hours interviewing Hatcher at his home on a book project that never materialized. I wanted it to be autobiographical while he envisioned a series of essays along the lines of Cornell West’s “Race Matters.” I used much of the material in Steel Shavings magazine, for a book about Black Mayors, and in putting together “Gary’s First Hundred Years.” Now 77 years old, Hatcher is still sharp as ever though somewhat hard of hearing. He went through life with one eye, so being a little deaf should be no big deal. He’s one of my few political heroes, a Sixties militant yet willing to work within the system. With Hatcher was Hall of Fame board member Lamar Taylor, to whom I gave a copy of “Gary’s First Hundred Years.”
Indiana Historical Society Press sent four more copies of “Maria’s Journey.” I gave one to Minority Studies professor Raoul Contreras in hopes he’ll adopt it in his course on Latinos in America. Looked into how to get The Post-Tribune to do a feature on it. Rich James suggested contacting columnist Jerry Davich, adding: “I would like to read ‘Maria’s Journey.’ I heard over the years that she was the glue to the family. And of course I followed the careers of the Arredondo brothers. They are all different.” On the NWI Times website discussion page some joker who calls himself “mytwocents” dissed the book as one-sided and wondered how much the authors paid to have it published. I replied: “I suggest you read the book and reconsider your criticism. John Bodnar, the foremost immigration in the country, would not have written the introduction, nor would the Indiana Historical Society Press have published it, unless it had historical value.”
William J. Lowe, IU Northwest’s new chancellor, held two “town hall meetings” to defend making the staff basically punch a time clock (logging in and out) and provide details on a shuttle to and from the Village shopping center at Grant Street, the site of art and theater classes as well as additional parking. Being officially retired, I opted not to attend. Wonder what faculty and staff thought of him. In 1970, I befriended a Psychology professor named Frank Lowe. His wife invited me to a surprise fortieth birthday party, and Frank seemed pissed that his wife called attention to his age.
I sent John Laue, in town working on his book about residents who lived within the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, my “Last Hurrah” account of our final weekend in our old place. He emailed a typescript of our interview. This paragraph makes reference to a traumatic incident of ten years ago when Dave, Angie, and I feared for our lives. Three armed robbers held us hostage for 90 minutes (see Steel Shavings, volume 33, “Life in the Calumet Region during the Year 2000”): “Our relationship with the National Park Service has always been pretty good. Over the years, we’ve had minimal dealings. We might see a ranger car once a week or even less. One time, a tree fell down on our driveway, and a ranger came by and helped remove it. There was a cabin down the street from us—we called it the mystery cabin until a couple moved in whom we befriended. When they got divorced and moved out, it started to deteriorate. They ended up giving us the cabin after we paid the back taxes. My wife Toni spent a lot of time and money fixing that place up, and my son and his wife moved in. In the year 2000, there was a home invasion that caused Dave and Angie to move elsewhere. Later that year, we found a dead body on Maple Avenue a block down from us, the result, authorities suspected, of a drug deal gone sour. Other than those two incidents, we’ve always felt safe and secure. It’s rare that we see a car come up this road. Paul and Lauren, who bought the leaseback to the cabin, have dogs whose barking discourages folks from walking up the road.”
Bowled a 529 series, including a 200 game, on opening night of Sheet and Tin league play (one more sign summer is nearly over). Clark Metz beat my score by six pins, opening with a 217. Pressed into service because Rob was on one of his frequent excursions, 82 year-old Bill Batalis bowled above his average, enabling the Electrical Engineers to win 5 of 7 points. Despite the dismal economy, we had a full house of 16 teams. A friendly Latino guy who hadn’t bowled in years expressed surprise that our team was still in existence.
In an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” entitled “Club Soda and Salt” (a formula for removing stains), Cheryl has a male friend named Jeff who Larry is convinced is trying to get in her pants. In her car Larry discovers a tape of Al Green songs Jeff’s given her, including “Be With Me.” In the final scene wine gets spilled on the front of Cheryl’s dress, and Jeff is groping her as he administers club soda and salt.
Toni finished the August 8 New York Times Magazine Sunday crossword puzzle (one answer was Fabian, the one-named Fifties teen idol) whose cover story by Daphne Merkin, “My Shrunk Life,” dealt with going through 40 years of psychoanalysis, starting at age ten. Merkin uses anthropologist Clifford Geertz’s phrase “thick description” that I first heard from Chuck Gallmeier when he was touting the value of Steel Shavings magazine.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Ain't Misbehavin'
Got an email from Tim Jackomis thanking me for volume 38 of Steel Shavings dealing with the social history of the Calumet Region during the 1980s and entitled “The Uncertainty of Everyday Life.” He wrote: “ I read the entire book this weekend. It brought back many memories. A lot of people that I have not thought of or seen in many years! Thanks again!” The issue contains the third and final installment of my oral history of the Gary Mayor Richard G. Hatcher’s 20 year administration (1968-87) as well as student articles ranging from teen sports and partying to family activities and tragedies.
One of my favorite articles is by Charles Halberstadt dealing with annual Game Weekends at his house in which my family participated. Here it is: “The 1980s: what a decade. We had two failed assassination attempts, one on President Reagan and the other on Pope John Paul II. The steel industry was having a tough time. The Berlin wall came down finally ending the cold war. Episodes five and six in the Star Wars Trilogy came out, and I was born. One annual event of importance to my family was called Game Weekend, a three-day excursion where friends get together to play board games. Its creators were my parents, Jef and Robin Halberstadt. My dad described Game Weekend as “a weekend long open house for playing board games that starts Friday evening and ends Sunday night. The type of people that come to Game Weekend can be put into four categories. The ‘social’ gamers were friends and family who were there more to visit than to play games and who were more into group games like Taboo. The second group liked more serious games like Diplomacy or Rail Baron that were challenging and took a long time to play. The third group basically showed up just to play Backgammon for an extended amount of time. The final group consisted of those who just popped in to see what it was all about. So all sorts of people would be there, some for a few minutes and some for a few days.” Asked how Game Weekend changed during the 80s, Jef replied that at some point the date was moved to the weekend closest to New Year’s Eve. Also in 1985 after daughter Sheridan came along, the location was moved to the home of Tom Wade, who still is hosting it to this day.” One regular participant, Evan Davis, went on to create the popular board game Air Baron. Two Halberstadt offspring became World Board gaming champions. My brother Jordan became King Maker champ in 2005, and I am the current Mystery of the Abbey champ.”
My nephew Joe Robinson returned home to Seattle after a week with us and other relatives. His IPod contains over 4,000 tunes, mostly very hard metal rock ranging from Iron Maiden to Used but also a few show tunes and even Fats Waller’s rendition of “Ain’t Misbehavin’ (I’m savin’ all my love for you).” He had a college course on the history of pop music but had no interest in listening to my current favorite group Phoenix ("Litzomania"). At Best Buy I bought him the latest CD by the alternative rock band The Used called Artwork and enjoyed it myself. Last year he picked out CDs by Disturbed, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. Joe also loves the Mamma Mia! Soundtrack, and on the way to Indianapolis we listened to an ABBA Greatest hits CD. Joe pointed out when song lyrics had been slightly altered for the play and movie. Joe just may set a record for longest name; incorporating various Polish family names, it is Josef Anthony Siedleska Gasiewski Trojecki Okomski Robinson.
One of my favorite articles is by Charles Halberstadt dealing with annual Game Weekends at his house in which my family participated. Here it is: “The 1980s: what a decade. We had two failed assassination attempts, one on President Reagan and the other on Pope John Paul II. The steel industry was having a tough time. The Berlin wall came down finally ending the cold war. Episodes five and six in the Star Wars Trilogy came out, and I was born. One annual event of importance to my family was called Game Weekend, a three-day excursion where friends get together to play board games. Its creators were my parents, Jef and Robin Halberstadt. My dad described Game Weekend as “a weekend long open house for playing board games that starts Friday evening and ends Sunday night. The type of people that come to Game Weekend can be put into four categories. The ‘social’ gamers were friends and family who were there more to visit than to play games and who were more into group games like Taboo. The second group liked more serious games like Diplomacy or Rail Baron that were challenging and took a long time to play. The third group basically showed up just to play Backgammon for an extended amount of time. The final group consisted of those who just popped in to see what it was all about. So all sorts of people would be there, some for a few minutes and some for a few days.” Asked how Game Weekend changed during the 80s, Jef replied that at some point the date was moved to the weekend closest to New Year’s Eve. Also in 1985 after daughter Sheridan came along, the location was moved to the home of Tom Wade, who still is hosting it to this day.” One regular participant, Evan Davis, went on to create the popular board game Air Baron. Two Halberstadt offspring became World Board gaming champions. My brother Jordan became King Maker champ in 2005, and I am the current Mystery of the Abbey champ.”
My nephew Joe Robinson returned home to Seattle after a week with us and other relatives. His IPod contains over 4,000 tunes, mostly very hard metal rock ranging from Iron Maiden to Used but also a few show tunes and even Fats Waller’s rendition of “Ain’t Misbehavin’ (I’m savin’ all my love for you).” He had a college course on the history of pop music but had no interest in listening to my current favorite group Phoenix ("Litzomania"). At Best Buy I bought him the latest CD by the alternative rock band The Used called Artwork and enjoyed it myself. Last year he picked out CDs by Disturbed, Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode. Joe also loves the Mamma Mia! Soundtrack, and on the way to Indianapolis we listened to an ABBA Greatest hits CD. Joe pointed out when song lyrics had been slightly altered for the play and movie. Joe just may set a record for longest name; incorporating various Polish family names, it is Josef Anthony Siedleska Gasiewski Trojecki Okomski Robinson.
Friday, August 21, 2009
creating this blog
I recently finished publishing a "retirement journal" in my magazine "Steel Shavings," which deals with the social history of Northwest Indiana, and found that I suddenly had more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. I saw the movie "Julie & Julia," where a young woman played by Amy Adams starts a blog having to do with cooking from Julia Child recipes and thought it a good idea. Also my old high school friend Phil Arnold has a blog about Elvis Presley that has achieved some fame. Hopefully this blog will allow my to disseminate information about the history of Northwest Indiana, including my own research. In addition to personal experiences, my retirement journal included book reviews I wrote in 2008 for "Choice" and "Magill's Literary Annual" as well as excerpts from articles of mine about women steelworkers (for TRACES magazine) and former Gary Mayor Richard G. Hatcher (for The Encyclopedia of Urban History).
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