Porter County Fair

No gaming Sunday but got in six games the day before. I won Acquire (barely) and Amun Re (in a rout). From noon to three I worked the IU Northwest booth with Stela Pudar-Hozo at the Porter County Fair. We chatted with interested passersby and handed out literature, plus all kinds of stuff containing the university logo, including balloons, jar openers, envelope openers, computer screen cleaners, fans, pencils, Frisbees (they went fast), and things that we guessed was intended to be used as business card or cell phone holders. Born in the former Yugoslavia, Stela told me that her grandfather was in the Russian army during World War I and would have been killed by the Nazis during WW II had villagers not saved his life. I ran into five people I knew, including Cressmoor Lanes owner Jim Fowble and his wife, Robin Halberstadt (whose house we had been to Friday for a cookout), State representative Ed Charbonneau (the Republican Party booth was up from ours), and Sue Darnell, who once worked for the IU Northwest Credit Union and threw nice parties. I knew three of her boyfriends. I promised two guys wearing Vietnam Veteran caps, Mike Garza and David Guernsy, that I’d send them “Brothers in Arms.” Hungry, during a break in the action I secured free samples of fudge, mixed nuts, malted milk balls and Culligan water. I walked around after my shift and bought a hot dog, but it was too hot to venture into the exhibit halls where the animals were. Years ago, my kids and nieces Alanna and Cristin loved to watch the pig races. You could “bet” on one of them (it didn’t cost money) and win a prize if your pig finished first. I called Cristin to wish her happy thirty-second birthday, told her I had been at the fair, and the first thing she said was, “Did you go to the pig races?” Sadly they are no longer there. She and Alanna have such good memories of summers with us at the house on Maple Place.

Vice Chancellor David Malik asked about 20 other interested faculty to discuss ways in which IU Northwest could be more involved in interacting with the Gary community and how we could better inform community residents about existing programs. Conducting the meeting was an African-American consultant that the university has hired named Jeff Johnson, who is a correspondent for BET (Black Entertainment Television) and hosted “Rap City.” With long dreadlocks, lean body and handsome face, he reminded me of SPEA lecturer (and friend) Jackie Gipson. After mentioning the Archives, I talked about how the academic corridor idea along Thirty-Fifth should be resurrected and community outreach things Garret Cope has done, including Senior College and the Glen Park conversation. Once after my Gary book came out, Garrett had me on a program with tattoo artist Roy Boy, who was so interesting that there was hardly any time left for me. Roy Boy died recently, and the obit mentioned that he was world famous and celebrities such as Greg Allman and Cher would come to Glen Park for tattoos. I hope Jeff Johnson gets a chance to talk with former Mayor Richard G. Hatcher, who still teaches at IU Northwest and is a priceless community resource. Also at the meeting were kindred spirits Chuck Gallmeier, DeeDee Ige, and Rick Hug. When I said that the biggest disappointment about the university in my 40 years here is that it has remained an island without any nearby restaurants, shops or dorms, Rick jumped in to say it was his, too. Several of us, including Malik, continued the dialogue at lunch. Medical school director Patrick Bangston passed by and kidded the Vice Chancellor about not being invited to the meeting. Bankston told me he was enjoying Ken Schoon’s “Calumet Beginnings” but found the type awfully small. I sent him my Gary book, which has a large font.

For my review of “He Crashed Me So I Crashed Him Back” I needed the author’s year of birth. I located Mark Bechtel’s email address through the Sports Illustrated website and got an answer from the author himself within 20 minutes. I told Jim Tolhuizen, a racing fan, that I was reviewing Bechtel’s book, and he knew the details of most of the key events of the 1979 season. I also traded emails with Stela about the fair. “Same time next year?” I asked. “Sure,” she replied.

NFL training camp begins in a few days, and Sports Illustrated had an article entitled “Cutler’s Last Stand,” a take-off, of course on General George Armstrong Custer’s Last Stand. The Bears hired offensive coach Mike Martz to work with their prize quarterback, but there is the feeling that if Chicago misses the playoffs, Coach Lovie Smith will be fired. The best article dealt with a fan’s long crusade, ultimately successful, to get former Denver Broncos running back Floyd Little into the Hall of Fame. Just inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame was Andre Dawson, one of my favorite Cubs, who hit 49 homeruns in 1987, his first of six years in Chicago. In his speech he thanked the Wrigley Field fans for making the games so enjoyable. The cover story in the latest Rolling Stone magazine is on Leonardo DiCaprio. It mentioned (I had forgotten if I ever knew) that he played young Tobias in one of my favorite movies, “This Boy’s Life” starring Robert DeNiro (in it his character Dwight uses the expression “Shut your pie hole”). Ellen barkin plays DiCaprio’s mom, and when the principal tells her that her son wrote obscene words on school property, she asks which ones. When the guy says, “Fuck You,” she replies, “That’s just one obscene word.”

TRACES editor Ray Boomhower sent a copy of my article on Vivian Carter and Vee Jay records to proofread. Most of the corrections (there weren’t many) were my fault. Twice I mentioned YJean Chambers, a teacher at Gary Roosevelt who was a friend of Vivian and knew the Spaniels, whose song “Goodnite Sweetheart” helped launch America’s first black-owned record label. Like many Fifties rhythm and blues songs, a cover version with the slight title change to “Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite” outsold the original. James “Pookie” Hudson, the Spaniel who wrote the song, got no royalties. Vee Jay also had hits by the Dells, Dee Clark, Gene Chandler (the immortal “Duke of Earl”), the Staple Singers, and even the Four Seasons. Thinking YJean was a typo, the press changed it to just Jean. In my article I quoted several times from Henry Farag’s autobiography “The Signal” (Steel Shavings, volume 32). Henry was turned on to doo wop music listening to Carter’s radio show “Livin’ with Vivian” and went on to become a leading producer of Oldies shows.

On The SCORE the morning sports jock talked about a friend from Italy whose only words of English were: “Magic Johnson Coast to Coast.” Whenever something excited him, that’s what he’d say. Pretty soon the radio jock and his friends adopted the saying as well, whenever they were excited. Pretty funny. A few days ago there was a mild earthquake in the Washington, D.C., area. Steve Pickert sent a humorous email showing the damage – an outdoor set of table and chairs with one chair on its side. I forwarded it to Terry Jenkins, along with comments about the surging Phillies and received this reply: “I had the "privilege" of going to the game yesterday which was rain delayed. The guy that took me is a cheap bastard, and we parked about a mile away for free. We left at the rain delay while it was light, but ended up getting soaked by the time we reached the car. But they won!!!!”

Day at the Office

James knows his way around IUN’s campus and walked from the library to his Kids College classroom in Raintree Hall although I observed him until he went in the back door. He also announced that he could walk by himself to the Archives after class. Yesterday he forgot his water bottle after class and the other boy in the class, Xavier, ran after him and caught up to us. My Pet detective Agency story for the day featured their pet cockatoo Razz. In Canberra, Australia four years ago I saw an entire tree full of them. What a pity to take them out of their natural habitat.

I told secretary Vickie Milenkovski, in charge of signing up to county fair volunteers, to put me down for Porter County a week from Sunday. I’ll get a free pass plus an IU Northwest t-shirt. Last time I got a classy crimson one. I chose the noon to three shift even though it will cut into gaming because my partner will be Stela Pudar-Hozo, whom I had such a good time with two years ago. The Fairgrounds are quite close to our condo, just a few miles south on Route 49. Chris Young, happy to get my critique of his article on Haym Solomon, has a son in three Kids College classes with a lunch break between the second and third. Like Boston Tea Party casualty Crispus Attucks and Polish patriot Thaddeus Kosiuszko, Solomon’s importance is largely symbolic of Jewish support for the Revolution.

Archivist Steve McShane was back from vacation and three volunteers were doing their thing. John Trafny, author of several photo books on Gary neighborhoods, was looking through a folder documenting when the Senior Little League World Series took place in Glen Park’s Junedale subdivision. I attended a game in 1971, and hundreds of Chinese-Americans were cheering for the team from Taiwan. A few white fans booed Mayor Richard Hatcher when he threw out the first ball. Trafny had started researching and gathering photos about Glen Park a few years ago, but all the files on his computer were destroyed when his basement flooded. Bummer.

I picked up Chicago style hot dogs loaded with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers - the works - from Depot Dog on the corner of Route 20 and County Line Road. Nephews Bobby and Joe loved them when they visited. The owner has beautifully manicured a once shabby corner lot. At Maple Place Toni packed Christmas decorations into two big Kmart tubs while I cleaned square plaster molds that grandkids gave us six years ago. We found a place for them at the condo and did some weeding.

Ensconced in my basement “cave,” I listened to the Romantics’ 1980 breakthrough album featuring “What I Like About You” (voted one of the best songs to dance to of all time). At the time of my twentieth reunion, I gave it to Terry and Gayle while staying overnight with them. I saw the Romantics at Valparaiso University after they had faded from sight and their power pop style was no longer in vogue. Playing before a few hundred people, they were terrific and played like they were entertaining thousands. Opening for them was Digital Hair, whose frontman Chad Clifford, a former student, is now with the band Crawpuppies.

Fell asleep in the sixth inning of the All-Star game with the AL ahead 1-0. I was happy to learn that the National League won and that Cubbie Marlon Byrd not only scored a run but made a brilliant play in rightfield, catching a bloop hit on a bounce and throwing out David Ortiz before “Big Papi” could lumber from first to second. As a result, if the Phillies can get in the World Series for the third straight season, they’ll have home field advantage.

In the news: seven year-old Kyron Horman of Beaverton, Oregon, is still missing more than a month after mother-in-law Terri supposedly dropped him off at a school science fair. Terri, a body building 40 year-old narcissist, has become the chief suspect. She allegedly tried to hire a guy to kill husband Kaine and has been sending a paramour nude images of herself. Sexting, I think it’s called and normally involves teenagers. The press is salivating. Also Bristol Palin is engaged to Levi Johnston, the father of baby Trip, who angered mama by posing nude for Playgirl magazine but is the father of Bristol’s baby Trip. Bristol announced that she is not pregnant again and is practicing abstinence until the marriage. No word yet is Sarah will attend.

Post-Tribune columnist Rich James wondered who came up with the city of Gary’s official motto “City of the Century.” It goes back to the early days of boosterism and is also an oblique reference to having been founded at the beginning of a new century (the twentieth). We also talked some politics as is our wont, and I suggested that he interview IUN’s new chancellor William Lowe.

Bruce Bergland

I picked up granddaughter Rebecca for her dance class to find a third dog at their house, a male bulldog that Angie is tending while Dave and another teacher (the owner) took high school graduates to the amusement park at Cedar Point in Ohio. The dog tried to dominate Sammie and freaked out Maggie, who was under a bed, and tries to hump James’s leg. Angie had him caged when I arrived. On the way to IUN I made up a Pet Detective Agency story starring Becca, Maggie, and Sammie.

Chancellor Bruce Bergland’s Retirement Reception was an elaborate affair, with all kinds of entries and hors d’oevres, at least a dozen different desserts, and free beer. George Bodmer thanked me for sending him Richard Russo’s “Straight Man” and was delighted to discover the main character to be, like him, an English professor. Stela Pudar-Hozo praised my shirt, a Christmas present, I told her, from my mother. She jokingly asked if my mother helped me buy all my clothes. I told her how in 1980 she didn’t like what I was planning to wear to my twentieth high school reunion and went with me to purchase a pin-stripe suit.

Former IU trustee Fred Eichhorn came up for the reception from Bloomington with wife Judy, who worked for the university when I first arrived in 1970. Fred was responsible for the “zero tolerance” policy that led to basketball coach Bob Knight’s dismissal after “The General” laid his hands on a student who had baited him. Chatted with state representatives Charlie Brown (his campaign posters, borrowing a line from Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, claimed “He’s a good man”) and Ed Charbonneau, who when on the Gary Centennial Committee helped secure $10,000 toward publishing “Gary’s First Hundred Years.” In turn I donated a thousand copies to schools and libraries. The committee had first approved it but then under pressure from one member wanted to divert almost all their funds toward constructing a sculpture. As the publishing deadline approached, Charbonneau assured me that if the committee didn’t give me the money, he would out of his own pocket. Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. Ed asked if I had put out any recent Shavings; I got his address and promised to send him my last two. Bobby Farag was on hand wearing a sharp Hawaiian shirt. His golf course was wiped out in the September 2008 flood, and I told him I really miss it. Bob's brother Henry wrote "The Signal: A Doo Wop Rhapsidy," which I published as volume 32. Bruce came to one of Bobby’s St. Patrick’s Day parties with Bill Staehle (who was also in attendance) early in his regime.

Chuck Gallmeier, speaking as Faculty Organization president, mentioned that he didn’t always agree with Bruce’s policies (an understatement) but respected his openness and dedication to the university. Women’s basketball coach Ryan Shelton gave Bruce an autographed basketball plus a part of the net from the team’s tournament win. IU President Michael McRobbie mentioned how Bruce set in motion discussions that culminated in a Shared Vision for the campus. He also presented proclamations from the governor naming Bruce a Distinguished Hoosier and a Sagamore on the Wabash (I got the first when I retired but not the second). Gary Mayor Rudy Clay praised the chancellor’s commitment to the city and, citing budget restraints, presented him not with a gaudy gift but a navy blue cap with Gary, IN, on the front. Bruce’s wife Cynthia and son Todd spoke; both claimed that they weren’t used to speaking to audiences but were quite moving and eloquent. When it finally was Bruce’s turn to speak, he was quite emotional. Mentioning, for example, the flood of two years ago and McRobbie’s quick response to the crisis, tears came to his eyes, causing his wife to admonish him to “Stop the flood.” Taping the event were my FACET oral history partners Aaron Pigors and Tome Trajkovski, who also put together a video biography of the outgoing chancellor.

On hand, copies of the university’s 2009 Annual Report put together by the indefatigable head of marketing Chris Sheid. He is so modest his name was nowhere on the document despite the fact that he took most photos and wrote the polished text. In a section on Publications Chris replicated the cover of Steel Shavings, volume 40, which he described as “a personal journal Lane has kept since embarking on his retirement in 2007. Despite the personal nature of the work, the periodical touches on a wide variety of interesting subjects related to Northwest Indiana, past and present.” Then he quotes me thusly: “The journal is consistent, I believe, with the overriding purpose of this series – to record everyday life. Over time, Steel Shavings has undergone numerous transformations but has consistently emphasized the social history of the family, that most fragile but resilient of institutions.” If that wasn’t enough of a pleasant surprise, Chris also included in a different section a photo of a boy holding up my Shavings volume on the history of IUN, “Educating the Region.” He had won it in September 2009 at the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration. Wonder if he’d have preferred a Frisbee or t-shirt. I emailed Chris my appreciation and congratulated him on an outstanding job.

I’m adding two more quotes when I have Steve’s students read excerpts from “Age of Anxiety” next Thursday. The first is by Ed Wistosky, who in 1948 moved to a house located next to a grocery store whose garbage attracted rats. One night he heard splashing and squealing. A rat was trying to get out of their toilet. Ed shut the lid and his wife boiled a pot of water. They scalded the rat and flushed the carcass back down the toilet. Rose Frisk went to a strip club in Calumet City with her husband and another couple. She recalled: “ A woman who I bet wweighed 300 pounds got on the stage. She had boobs down to the belly and was slinging them over her shoulder. Lord have mercy. I will never forget that as long as I live.”

In his Post-Tribune column Jerry Davich wrote: “Anne Balay, an assistant professor of English and gender studies at Indiana University Northwest, is conducting research on gay and lesbian steelworkers, who are closeted, as you could imagine if you've ever worked in a steel mill (which I have). Balay contacted me after reading my recent column on this region's third annual gay pride parade -- the column that attracted so many (differing) comments. Balay attended that parade with her gay student club at IUN, and she agrees this region is quite homophobic (obviously), and also that gay and lesbian NWI residents need to be more visible. But she's also interested in the work lives of gay and lesbian residents, and she's seeking such people to talk with -- confidentially of course -- with no names used or identifying info in her eventual book, she said. She asked if I could get the word out, so if you're interested, or know someone who may be, contact Balay at abalay@iun.edu or 980-6575. Anne thanked me for suggesting she get in touch with Davich and added: “It all adds up to an interesting section about why this region is so uptight about queers.”

The Henry Clay biography “The Essential American” by David and Jeanne Heidler mentions my great great great Uncle James Buchanan several times. In 1824 the then Congressman tried to get Andrew Jackson to name Clay Secretary of State in return for the Kentuckian’s support when the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. Jackson supporters claimed the meeting was at Clay’s initiative, but Buchanan, a Jacksonian, acted on his own. Later Clay called Alabama Senator William Rufus King a coward, which led to a duel because of King’s sensitivity about being thought of as gay because of his suspiciously close relationship with fellow bachelor James Buchanan, whom he roomed with. The authors compare Clay after the 1844 Presidential defeat to James K. Polk to a milk wagon horse unable to change his habits – or in his case unable to give up his quest for the Presidency.

I don’t usually read the daily comics but came across the phrase Occam’s Razor in the comic strip “Non Sequitor.” Citing the axiom that the simplest explanation is almost always the correct one, a character proceeds to do just the opposite when confronted by a conundrum. I first became familiar with reading Richard Russo’s “Straight Man.” The main character, Hank Devereaux, has a dog named Occam who loved to greet visitors by placing his nose in their crotch.