A Clear Midnight

 “Tell my friends I’m coming down

 We’ll kick it when I hit the ground.”

   Paramore, “Hard Times,” from “After Laughter”

After reading in New York magazine about Hayley Williams, longtime vocalist for Paramore who just recorded a solo album, “Pearls for Armor,” I checked out Paramore’s 2017 studio album “After Laughter’ and put it on heavy rotation with Weezer, Daft Punk, Lush, and Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks.”  Paramore is often grouped with emo bands such as Panic! At the Disco (once a favorite of Becca’s) and Jimmy Eat World (one of my favorites) who grew out of the punk scene and feature confessional lyrics.  Here’s an example from Paramore’s “Fake Happy”:

I’m quite alright

Better hope I don’t blink

Delia Owens

At the library, open for curbside service I also picked up “Where the Crawdads Sing” by retired wildlife biologist and environmentalist Delia Owens, which I noticed Alissa was reading last weekend. A 2018 novel that was on the New York Times best seller list for 30 weeks, it takes place in a coastal marshlands of North Carolina.  NYT reviewer Marilyn Stasio called it “a painfully beautiful first novel that is at once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.”  I’m intrigued.

 

New York magazine’s special issue, “Listening to the Very Old,” opened with a section titled “Long Lives: Old People have never been so powerful – or, now, so vulnerable.” A photo showed wheelchair-bound Bill Streiber peering at his son through a window at Solheim Senior Community in Los Angeles.  Amelia Schonbek interviewed 90-year-old former farmworkers organizer Dolores Huerta, who marveled at how quickly people can be mobilized into action on the internet.  She added:

    One negative thing about the online issue, though: You realize that you don’t know your neighbors.  Yesterday, on my daily walk, a women greeted me and said, “Are you Dolores Huerta?,” and it turns out she’s a schoolteacher.  And a man shouted, “Are you Dolores Huerta?,” and it turns out he just bought a house and he recognized me because he was active in a labor union in L.A. I guess we’ve had social distancing in a different kind of way about relating to our neighbors.  And that’s different than when I was young. When I was young, you knew everyone on the block.

 

Poet Susan Howe, 82, told Amelia Schonbek that lying down and going to bed, she thinks of Walt Whitman’s poem “A Clear Midnight,” written near the end of his life.  It goes:

THIS is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,

Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,

Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes
thou lovest best,

Night, sleep, death and the stars.

Howe’s poem “The Midnight begins:

For here we are here

BEDHANGINGS

daylight does not reach

Vast depth on the wall

Neophyte

 

On “Final Jeopardy” with the category “Pre-Civil War Presidents” the clue was, “After a grand tour of Europe he retired to a life of obscurity in Concord.”  One contestant, thinking of Concord, Massachusetts, guessed John Quincy Adams; I knew that was incorrect because Adams spent his final years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.  I knew it had to be New Hampshire native Franklin Pierce, like James Buchanan, whom he preceded, a Democrat who favored appeasing the South in a vain attempt to save the Union from Civil War. Next day, a “Jeopardy” clue asked where Noah kept the bees. It was a riddle Calumet Regional Archivist Steve McShane always asked his Indiana History students the first day of class.  Answer: the ark-hives.  When I told Steve about it, he replied, “They owe me royalties.”

 

Cindy C. Bean posted a photo of her grandmother’s Oak Forest bowling team, Pin Crushers, in 1973.  When I said I wish I had known her, Cindy replied: “She was so awesome! So ahead of her time! She ran their Flower and Garden shop and was also a cosmologist! She was extremely social! Always had her hair and nails perfect! She was great! You would have liked her!”

Guy Rhodes photographed East Chicago Central’s drive-thru graduation and posted

    I enjoyed my time this afternoon checking out East Chicago Central High School's first-ever drive through graduation ceremony, brought on by social distancing measures still in place for the COVID-19 pandemic. To my knowledge, this is the first time something like this has ever been done in the city's 127-year history. Students and families drove to several stations set up around the campus for gifts and hand-outs before students got out and walked a short distance to receive their diploma. A parking lot traffic island replaced the stage, a DJ playing popular music replaced a choir, and the resulting atmosphere was fun and lively. I later got word that more than a few people suggested it be done this way from here on out. 

Vanessa Hernandez Orange, left, (Coach V) added: “My go to guy, he’s the man who steps up and makes it happen. Whatever you need I got your back! You have had EC Students back for the past twenty something years!! I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now let’s get drive through graduation going. Mr. Dave Lane, senior class sponsor, Honor Society Sponsor, English teacher, tennis coach, the voice of EC Athletics, the of Central High School. All love, Coach V”

Doughface

    "We are all docile dough-faces,

They knead us with their fist

They the dashing southern lord

We labor as they list"

    Walt Whitman

“Doughface” originally referred to masks made out of dough but came to be used disparagingly referring to politicians who were pliable and easily manipulated.  During the 1850s Northerners, including poet Walt Whitman and antislavery newspaper editors, employed the insult against Northern politicians with Southern sympathies, such as presidents Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan (above), who believed appeasing the South on the slavery issue was essential to keeping the Union together and that slavery would eventually go away when it proved economically unprofitable. Examples of “Doughface” policies included support for pro-South forces in “Bleeding Kansas” and acceptance of the Dred Scott decision and enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act

My cousin Tommie (Thomasine) Adelizzi, who is enamored over our family being James Buchanan’s closest relatives of our generation, recently appeared in a BBC documentary about America’s fifteenth president, commonly considered one of our worst.  A staunch defender of someone whose name would have been hers had she not been born a girl (instead that some would say dubious honor fell to me), Tommie wrote:

    He was not the worst President.  He was not a person who wanted slavery. ln fact he freed several slaves that he was given by friends.  His story is really about trying to save the fragile United States at the time.  It’s a story of a President who fought the press and how the writers of that time rewrote history.  He was possibly the best or one of the best educated gentlemen to hold the office.  He was not only a member of Congress, he was Secretary of State, Ambassador to Russia and England, and a successful lawyer, which the writers say he was a pauper.  They claimed he was gay.  He was very interested in ladies, especially Southern ladies.

I emailed back, “JB’s poor reputation as worst President is undeserved.  The main rap against him – that he dithered while Southern states seceded – is inconsequential in view of the fact that the Civil War, given the existence of slavery and Southern intransigence, was inevitable, even desirable. Regarding rumors that JB was gay, unsubstantiated though they are, if true, more power to him for finding a measure of happiness after his true love committed suicide.” I could have added that the bachelor President’s niece, Harriet Lane, was the greatest First Lady of the nineteenth century, Dolley Madison having been given undue credit for saving the portrait of George Washington and a slaveowner to boot, who sold a loyal servant of 30 years so her waistrel son could purchase a suit.

When Harriet Lane was just 25 years old, she served as Buchanan’s hostess when he was appointed Minister to Great Britain. In a short biography Ginger Shelley and Sandie Munro wrote that Harriet accompanied her uncle when he received an honorary degree from Oxford University, along with Alfred, Lord Tennyson.  They wrote: “When the students at Oxford saw Harriet, they greeted this fashionable [and well-endowed] woman with cheers and much whistling.  She became the center of attention at an event which was supposed to be for her uncle and the English poet!”

“Never on Sunday” (1960), with a “Pygmalion plot about a whore with a heart of gold, takes place on the Greek coastal town of Piraeus with actress Melina Mercouri played a free-hearted soul whom an American name Homer attempts to woo by convincing her to give up her profession in favor of a classical education. Unlike the other town prostitutes, one of whom’s fantasy is to marry a rich 84-year-old uninterest in sex, she is not beholden to a pimp and only takes clients she likes.  It earned a PG rating and many Oscar nominations after censors demanded that nude and sex scene be cut.  It comes off as tame, mild entertainment, interesting primarily for the dinging, dancing, and Melina Mercouri’s performance.

After reading positive reviews of the Starz series “Vida,” about to begin its third and final season, I binge-watched season one, then learned that the cable station wanted me to pay for season two.  No thanks.  Two Latinas (Lyn, an upwardly mobile snob, and Emma, a total narcissist) reunite in East L.A. after their mother dies and learn that she had married a lesbian named Eddie, who like them inherited one third of the family-owned neighborhood bar. The most compelling characters are Mari, a militant community activist fighting gentrification still subservient to men, and Eddie, whom the sisters first resent and gradually begin to appreciate and warm to.

Leaves of Grass

“Memories

How sweet the silent backward tracings!

The wanderings as in dreams -

The meditation of old times resumed – 

Theirs loves, joys, persons, voyages.

    “Memories” by Walt Whitman, from “Leaves of Grass”

When Walt Whitman published the 95-page first edition of “Leaves of Grass” in 1855, critics branded it as obscene because of its sexual and homoerotic references. Fellow poet John Greenleaf Whittier reputedly threw his copy into the fire.  During the mid-nineteenth century, the word grass often denoted lesser literary works while leaves referred to pages.  Thus Whitman declared his volume to be of modest importance.  Expanded in later printings, it has since become a classic expression of the American spirit.

Bucky Dent after winning HR

In “14 Back: Hate, Fate and the Summer of ’78,” a Sports Illustratedcover story, Tom Verducci asserted that a New York City newspaper strike was a crucial element in the unprecedented Yankees comeback from 14 games behind to overtake the Red Sox for the American League pennant.  The black-and-white cover was intended to emulate a newspaper front page. The Bronx Bombers’ roster of 40 years ago contained such feuding hotheads as Russell “Bucky” Dent, Albert “Sparky” Lyle, Richard “Goose” Gossage, Jim “Catfish” Hunter, and Reggie “Mr. October” Jackson.  Nearly to a man they hated owner George Steinbrenner and fiery manager Billy Martin. In the clubhouse and at hotel bars the city’s omnivorous beat reporters publicized every rumor and insult they unearthed, often from an inebriated Martin.  For three months, the presses were silent, and the Yankees went on an unlikely run culminating in a Bucky Dent HR (the “Boston Massacre”) in a one-game playoff, followed by a 4-2 World Series triumph over the L.A. Dodgers. Print journalists would never again have such influence over a team’s destiny.

above, Lanes 1978; below, with Rhiman Rotz, Paul Kern, Neil Nommensen

I still have vivid memories of the summer of 1978, especially Phil and Dave’s Little League exploits and parties on the hill at Maple Place. Being a huge Phillies fan, I watched them lose to the Dodgers in the National league championship but then had little interest in the World Series itself.

Anne Balay

I met former colleague Anne Balay at the South Shore Miller station prior to her IUN appearances in Tanice Foltz’s Sociology class followed by a campus talk in the Women’s Studies classroom about “Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers.”  We picked up two boxes of the hot-off-the-press books that she had mailed to friend Melissa, and I drove her past her old house, still purple with green trimmings.  We passed apartments Anne remembered because a girl who lived there once knocked on her door needing money for a train ticket to join her aunt in Illinois. When Anne accompanied her to pick up a satchel of clothes, she spotted a bunch of unattended kids, including the girl’s little sister.  Anne gave the girl enough money for the two of them.   I drove through Marquette Park (with north winds, Lake Michigan was gorgeous) and the Lake Street commercial district. Reaching campus, Anne had time for a brief visit at the Calumet Regional Archives and a salad at Little Redhawk Café before speaking to 80 attentive Sociology students.

Anne and Tanice; photo by Tome Trajkovski

In her introduction Tanice credited me with mentoring Anne when she embarked on her previous oral history “Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers.”  After Anne spoke without notes about her innovative research and fascinating discoveries, students peppered her with questions, belying the absurd claim by the superior responsible for her dismissal four-years ago that her teaching was inadequate for tenure.  She told the class that gender identity was fluid, like colors of the rainbow, rather than rigidly binary.  She described long-haul trucking as exhausting but often exhilarating and a good fit for marginalized groups unwelcome in other professions.  During the past 40 years, however, onerous government regulations have fallen almost exclusively on drivers rather than on their corporate bosses, resulting in escalating  work force turnover. Asked what she’d be researching next, Anne replied, “Sex workers.”

Anne's talk and book signing; photos by Tome Trajkovski

above, Alyssa and Gabby; below trans truckers Dana and Mary Lou

Among the overflow crowd attending Anne’s 1 o’clock appearance were several lesbian and trans truckers interviewed for “Semi Queer,” as well as someone working on a documentary about the trucking industry. A half-dozen faculty were on hand, including Bill Allegrezza and Jonathyne Briggs, whom Anne and I used to have lunch with, and numerous former students of hers.  Two I’d known from auditing her Women’s Studies class were Portage special education teacher Alyssa Black and Kaden Alexander, whom four years ago I had known as a transitioning woman.  During Q and A Ron Cohen, noting that “Steel Closets” had led to a dramatic change in the United Steelworkers of America position toward bullying, wondered whether “Semi Queer” might have comparable impact on the Teamsters. Unfortunately, Anne replied, fewer than 8 percent of truckers belong to unions, due to a variety of economic, political, and demographic factors. When asked about HIV rates among truckers, Anne said that it was impossible to know since, without health insurance, most don’t see doctors.  

Chancellor Bill Lowe showed up, a nice touch that Anne appreciated.  In fact, her stellar performances provided a degree of closure after her ordeal of four years ago.  Afterwards, helping myself to a sandwich and fruit in the Robin Hass Birky Center next door, I thanked Tanice Foltz for arranging the events. Kaden, sporting a beard and speaking with a deep voice, told me that our mutual friend Amanda Marie had come in from Glacier National Park last week for his wedding.      

The televised Senate Judiciary Committee appearances of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Judge Brett Cavanaugh held the attention of the nation. Having accused Cavanaugh of sexual assault while at a party in high school, Basey Ford came off as totally believable while the Judge ranted and raved about the unfairness of the hearings and refused to endorse an FBI investigation that might clear up what really happened.  This heated exchange with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar took place, for which Cavanaugh later apologized:

 Klobuchar: "So you're saying there's never been a case where you drank so   much that you didn't remember what happened the night before, or part of what happened?"

 Kavanaugh: "You're asking about blackout. I don't know. Have you?"

 Klobuchar: "Could you answer the question, judge?  You have -- that's not happened, is that your answer?"

 Kavanaugh: "Yeah, and I'm curious if you have."

 Klobuchar: "I have no drinking problem, judge."

 Kavanaugh: "Nor do I."

 

Perhaps to impress Trump, Cavanaugh modeled his behavior on how Clarence Thomas had reacted 27 years before when faced with sexual harassment charges from her assistant Anita Hill. The performance made him come off as injudicious, however; he’d have been better off admitting he sometimes got drunk at parties and may have stumbled upon Christine and pushed her onto a bed but without the intent to rape her.  Earlier, Cavanaugh admitted partaking immature high school behavior which now makes him cringe.  But, just as her Basel Ford said she was 100 percent certain Cavanaugh had pinned her down on a bed, groped her, and put his hand over her mouth to prevent her from screaming, he claimed to be equally certain he was not the perpetrator.  Next day, the Judiciary Committee voted 11-0, on straight party lines to send Cavanaugh’s name forward, but three Republicans joined Democrats in insisting on an FBI investigation prior to the final vote. Had Cavanaugh from the beginning humbly apologized for any actions that may have traumatized her, the gambit might have worked. Now he’s opened up a potential can of worms.

Discussing chapter 3 of Babbitt with James, I mentioned that envy (of the more exciting lifestyle of the Doppelbraus next door neighbors) and temptation (for bobbed-haired secretary Miss McGoun) were major themes, as aging businessmen in the 1920s feared domestication and emasculation that could not be assuaged by drinking beer, smoking cigars, gambling around a poker table or driving the latest model car.  Babbitt passed 9-foot billboards on the way to work featuring sexy ads for tobacco products and talcum powder, now primarily used while changing babies’ diapers but a century ago also a men’s product to apply to the groin area. Babbitt’s life may have seemed like a paragon of bourgeois virtue, but dissatisfaction was near the surface and rebellion not far from the horizon.  As Babbitt said to himself, “Oh, Lord, sometimes I’d like to quit the whole game.”

I have never stomached cigars, just filtered menthol cigarettes, and didn’t start drinking beer until college but enjoyed getting tipsy at fraternity parties as a way to relax and relieve stress but never blacked out or tried to get girls drunk. Like Cavanaugh, I did some cringeworthy things but never exposed myself or sought to trap women in a bedroom as he allegedly did. Some Bucknell frat parties featured a grape juice, soda water, and vodka concoction nicknamed Purple Passions that may have incapacitated unsuspecting coeds. Compared to other “Animal House” “jock” fraternities, Sig Ep was rather tame, at least in the early 1960s.

In Ticket to Ride: Pennsylvania, I finished second to host Jef Halberstadt, playing too cautiously.  Had I taken 2 more Pennsylvania Railroad stocks rather than the Erie line, I’d have won.

Beginnings

“Afoot and lighthearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.” Walt Whitman

 Lovers Bill Duckett and Walt Whitman

HBO has begun offering the 2010 film “Beginners,” for which Christopher Plummer deservedly received an Oscar for best actor in a supporting role, at age 82 the oldest winner ever.  He plays Hal Fields, a 75 year-old retired museum director who comes out of the closet after his wife dies.  His lover Andy, played by Goran Visnjic, tells Hal’s son Oliver not to be threatened by the relationship.  As critic Roger Ebert wrote: “Andy truly and deeply loves the old man, with a fullness that almost shames Oliver.”  Despite having terminal cancer, Hal embraces a gay lifestyle socially and politically and seems to have found true happiness.   After Hal dies, the son finds the letter and photo he used to place a personal ad in an encounter column identifying himself as a gay man looking for a younger partner.  The role for the Canadian actor is a far cry from his playing Captain Von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” (1965). The movie contains references to the murder of Harvey Milk, Alan Ginsberg’s “Howl,” Gay Pride parades, and the mistreatment of homosexuals during the pre-Stonewall era.

Samuel A. Love and Ava Meux

Samuel A. Love and Ava Meux were on two radio stations to express opposition to plans by The GEO Group to set up an immigrant detention center on property formerly belonging to St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church. Sam took a note with him that read, “Don’t curse.”   Attorney Brenda Love carries a similar note with her when in court.  Pressure by citizens groups has resulted in Hobart mayor Brian Snedecor backing away from any support of the project.  According to Post-Trib reporter Karen Caffarini, The GEO Group “has been dogged by complaints of sexual harassment, wrongful deaths and skimping on inmates’ health needs.”

In another black eye for the reputation of Lake County politics, a grand jury has indicted Lake Station mayor Keith Soderquist and wife Deborah on charges of stealing money from the city’s food pantry account to support their casino gambling addiction.  Former Gary mayor Scott King is representing them. The mayor’s stepdaughter Miranda Brakley, who previously worked for the city, also is also under indictment. All three entered a plea of not guilty.

Anne Fritz and Corey Hagelberg spent Wednesday hanging a show at Gardner Center that will feature former IUN Fine Arts students.  The opening is Friday from 6 to 9.  One sculptor produced busts of professors Neil Goodman and David Klamen.  We had lunch at Miller Bakery Café, where Corey’s artwork adorns the walls.  I was almost floored when Ann mentioned having nine grandchildren; I can remember when she first announced she was a grandmother.  Jackie Gipson called beforehand and joined us.  She is interested into community projects, such as renovating the Palace Theater at Eighth and Broadway and enjoyed meeting Corey and Ann.  We go back a long way.  Jackie was my student in the 1980s and after graduating from Valparaiso Law School was a lecturer in SPEA for about ten years until, like Anne Balay, she made enemies in high places for being outspoken and unwilling to put up with departmental nonsense. 

Frank Shufran bowled for me so I could attend a condo owners meeting.  Our budget took a major hit because of all the snow removal bills.  We’re hoping the late spring will reduce the number of necessary lawn mowings (at $300 a shot).  We’ve also decided to forego a major mulching since that was done last year.  Ken Carlson is condo association president now that Bernie Holicky moved to Chicago; he is an old hand at the job and things went smoothly.  Ken has built homes in Mexico and Africa with Habitat for Humanity and is quite handy; one owner noticed bees coming in a small hole near the ground and offered to bring a caulking gun and try to fix it.

Henry Farag sought advice onpossible changes in “The Signal: A Rhapsody” prior to the performance at Gardner Center in 10 days.   He’ll mention going to nearby Jack Spratts for ice cream following dances and work in references to Cedar Lake Ballroom (where he first saw the Skyliners and other live groups) and seeing movies produced by Alan Freed at the Palace Theater.  Next week he’ll be on Lakeshore Radio with members of the Spaniels and Soul Stirrers.

Paul Turk’s daughter Kat will be interning again at the Virginia Museum of Natural History.  The proud papa wrote: “She has formally declared geology her major, cementing (you should forgive) a choice she made back in the days when we found rocks from her pockets rattling around in the washing machine.”  I recall Paul putting Kat in a car seat when she was a toddler.

Anne Balay’s UConn lecture was part of the Sexuality Studies Spring Symposia Series.  Campus newspaper correspondent Carles Lopez Penalver identified her as being from the University of Indianapolis.  Wouldn’t it be great if that college had suddenly hired her?  If so, it would be IU’s loss and their gain.  Penalver wrote: “Balay offered a variety of stories that portrayed the harassment and violence gay steelworkers suffer. Brenda, a lesbian steelworker suffered from sexual harassment from a coworker multiple times, who would continuingly tell Brenda that she should try to be with a male. This coworker went to such extreme that he even attempted to rape Brenda, but was stopped by a third coworker.”

Huffington Post, which recently ran an interview with Anne and a story about her being denied tenure, reported on a three year-old boy who crawled inside a claw crane machine filled with stuffed animals at a Nebraska bowling alley. According to the Omaha World-Herald, he climbed through the prize shoot and was “playing happily” when discovered.

I am undecided whether or not to send out my article “Steel Closets and Injustice in Academia: The Anne Balay Promotion and Tenure Case.”  Six weeks ago, Anne wrote this appeal IU President Michael McRobbie, the last step in a procedure that so far has been egregiously unfair:

“Most students I have taught love and support me wholeheartedly.  Not because they're gay, and not because our political views match, but because I believe in them, and push them to think, achieve, and surprise themselves with the pleasure of learning.  I have enjoyed teaching in Gary.  It led to a book that is the accomplishment of my career, and . . . to moments where students became scholars, and I saw the joy of that in their eyes.

    I welcome opportunities to have my teaching evaluated, and seek advice about how to improve.  Just as I challenge my students, I challenge myself, and I'm learning that *how* you ask a question can be as important as what question you ask.  If you study my student evaluations after my denial, you will notice that I'm trying to learn, even from this experience, and to grow as a teacher.  Please consider giving me the chance to continue to do that at IU.”

Three weeks have passed since McRobbie was to have responded to Anne’s letter.  Unless IU’s president reconsiders, Anne will be terminated at the end of spring semester.  If only justice would prevail – but who said life is fair?  Poet Walt Whitman learned this tending to wounded Union soldiers, comforting them as best he could, with love and tenderness.  If Anne is forced into a new beginning, she’ll survive and probably even flower, but IUN will be the poorer for losing her.

Miriam Pawel’s new book “The Crusades of Cesar Chavez” probes into what former allies of the Mexican American labor leader call his “dark side” – his tendency to isolate himself and see himself as a saintly martyr.  While the time has come for historians to study Chavez, warts and all, as others who have examined Martin Luther King’s life have done, both were truly heroic and deserve to be held in high esteem despite their human frailties.

Alycard Black posted an article about teenage slang.  Getting “chirped,” for example, means being told off or called out for something.  One clever phrase young folks use after saying something they think especially clever is, “Can I get an Amen?”
 

I finally got for in time for Jeopardy only to have it cut short by a Presidential press conference about Obamacare and the easing of tensions (hopefully not temporary) in the Ukraine.  Dang, I was looking forward to questions in a category about things that happened on certain historical dates.  The President opened by expressing sympathy toward the families of South Korean casualties from the ferry disaster.

Hockey playoffs have begun.  When St. Louis tied the Blackhawks with just 105 seconds left, I went to sleep.  The Blues eventually won game one of the series in triple overtime.