Changing of the Guard

"Eden is burning, either getting ready for elimination
Or else your hearts must have the courage

for the changing of the guards

    Bob Dylan, “Changing of the Guards,” 1978

“Changing of the Guards” literally refers to sentries being relieved of duty by another contingent at such places as Buckingham Palace in London and Arlington National Cemetery.  I’ve witnessed both, the latter while working summers during the late 1960s at Boys Village of Maryland.  Even the young teenagers under my watch during the annual field trips were impressed.

There’s been a changing of the guard – without fanfare or ceremony, unfortunately, due to the pandemic - at IU Northwest: Chancellor William J. Lowe has retired after a decade of steady-at-the-helm leadership. He inherited a situation where after his predecessor had gone through several vice chancellors of academic affairs in quick succession, Bloomington had selected one of their own, strongman David Malik, to oversee IUN’s academic policy-making.  While in theory IUN has home rule, the mother campus still has preeminence over budgetary and tenure decisions.  As a result, Lowe, for the most part, deferred to Malik and concentrated on other duties, such as interacting with the outside community, lobbying for a new Arts and Sciences building, and attending campus events.  He was a fixture, for example, at Redhawk basketball games, academic events, and student functions and even dressed as Elwood Blues for a fundraising commercial. The son of a New York City police officer, he tended to administer with a velvet glove rather than an iron fist and apparently did not hold grudges, which cannot be said of some previous chancellors.  Lowe taught a seminar on Irish History last year and officially is taking a leave of absence with the intention of returning as a professor in my old department.  Incoming chancellor Ken Iwama has addressed faculty at a zoom town hall and appears to be a good choice, given his background and credentials, in this uncertain age for higher education. 

 

IUN’s Calumet Regional Archives has lost its longtime curator/archivist Steve McShane, whom Ron Cohen and I hired some four decades ago.  As I wrote in Steel Shavings, volume 49, which I dedicated to him, while I have learned that nobody is indispensable, it is hard to imagine the Archives without Steve.  His stellar service and unfailing patience and good humor sustained what has become a vital resource and repository under his leadership.  The pandemic derailed our plans to have a successor in place for him to mentor, and a top priority will be to convince Chancellor Iwama to authorize the search to continue with all deliberate speed.

Becca and Denzel Smith

Becca’s graduation party Sunday at the Chesterton American Legion Hall was a success despite participants wearing masks except for when they ate and a brief rain shower that interrupted outdoor activities.  We enjoyed house guests who began arriving Friday.  Good friend Tom Wade told me about a podcast on revisionist history that I’d enjoy. Jef Halberstadt recalled that his father worked for the Budd Plant in Gary, once the second largest employer I the city next to US Steel, until it closed four decades ago. When he noted that his father had developed several patents for the Budd company, I said that Vic, who died at age 50, had been a chemist for Penn Salt who had done the same thing regarding the use and treatment of chlorine. We talked about March of Dimes drives when we were in school, and Jef speculated that FDR was on the Roosevelt dime, first minted in 1946, because he started the organization in 1921 after he contracted polio.  It was great seeing Dave’s former student Denzel Smith, now a college graduate and playwright about to take a production on the road. He told me to check out Johnny Cash’s rendition of the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt,” one of the last songs he recorded, about an old man’s regrets.

If I could start again
A million miles away
I would keep myself
I would find a way

For Dave’s birthday number 51 we had Chinese food from Wing Wah in Miller and cake left over from Becca’s graduation open house.  Although everyone was somewhat weary from weekend events, Dave and I got in to games of Pitch, and James joined us for Space Base.  I eked out a win just in time; another round and Dave would have run away with it.

 

A new book by Aram Goudsouzian, “The Men and the Moment,” about the 1968 election and the rise of partisan politics, describes how third-party candidate George Wallace’s blend of racist populism and resentment against mainstream elites gave birth to a new conservative movement that Trump successfully exploited.  Goudsouzian wrote:

    To his followers, Wallace was both hero and outlaw.  He promised order while delivering chaos, dismissed charges of racism while associating with bigots, and championed traditional morality while crushing dissent.  Slipping back and forth from country preacher to the macho bad boy, he applied the modern tools of a national movement to the rituals of an old-fashioned barnstorming tour.  In the process, he forged a near mystical connection with his followers.

Trump becomes more reckless and incendiary as his poll numbers drop; a changing of the guard in the White House has become imperative for the republic’s institutions to survive intact. An increasing number of articulate Republicans have come out against him, and lackeys in Congress and the media are reduced to anti-anti-Trump rationalizations, i.e., seizing on something off-the-wall a Trump opponent might have uttered and attributing the sentiment to Biden and all Democrats.

 

Because Trump is a pathological liar, he has no credibility.  Even if an anti-corona virus vaccine miraculously appeared before election day, few voters would believe the claim. He recently signed a long overdue bipartisan conservation measure, the Great American Outdoors Act, funding neglected national parks, giving no credit to Democrats, mispronouncing Yosemite as Yo-Semite, blaming Obama for past policies going back 20 years, and bragging that it was the greatest conservation measure since Teddy Roosevelt was president.

I’ve just started “Redhead by the Side of the Road” by Anne Tyler.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, social realism is no longer in vogue among Literary Modernists, but I love novelists whose books are firmly root in time and place, in Anne Tyler’s case, Baltimore. Tyler’s previous novel “Clock Dance” is about 61-year-old Willa, whose temperamental mother sarcastically called her father St. Melvin.  Her younger sister became a rebellious teenager whose eyes in 1977 “were so heavily outlined in blush that she resembled a pileated woodpecker.” A poster in her bedroom read “Nobody for President.”  Willa’s son wanted to quit school and hitchhike around the country to meet people.  Her self-indulgent husband died in an auto accident driving recklessly in anger.

Twenty years later, Willa (named for lesbian Willa Cather, one wonders, whose forte was depicting loneliness) receives a call that lures her to Baltimore to care for a nine-year-old girl, Cheryl, that someone mistakenly thought was her granddaughter.  Remarried to an overbearing man and bored with life in Tuscan, Arizona, Willa is ready for a change of scenery.  Tyler writes: “She knows the world, which has largely ignored her, expects her now to coast along that deferential rut into oblivion.”  Aware her time clock was ticking, she had always conformed but now was open to adventure, ready to dance. 

 

Coming to prefer an eccentric new “family” to a lonely life in Arizona, Willa heeds the insight of an elderly Baltimore neighbor who tells her: “Figuring out what to live for.  That’s the great problem at my age.” Willa thinks to herself, “Or any age.”  Reviewer Ron Charles concludes:

   The bond between this lonely child and this obliging woman forms the emotional heart of “Clock Dance,” radiating what Tyler calls a “sweetly heavy, enjoyable kind of ache.” But there’s a steelier theme here, too, an existential sorrow cloaked by the embroidery of Willa’s grandmotherly demeanor. “Sometimes Willa felt she’d spent half her life apologizing,” Tyler writes. “More than half her life, actually.” She knows that the world, which has largely ignored her, expects her now to coast along that deferential rut into oblivion.

Salt of the Earth

“No man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.” Edward R. Murrow (below)

What newsman Edward R. Murrow said of the red-baiting Republican Senator from Wisconsin Joseph R. McCarthy seems particularly relevant during a time when, once again, the timidity of Republicans allows demagoguery full reign, this time from the White House.  In 1954, during the so-called Army-McCarthy hearings, attorney Joseph Welch enunciated what others were too timid to say on the record: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Have you no sense of decency?”

The phrase “Salt of the earth”comes from the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus purportedly said to fishermen and, in effect, all simple folk, “Ye are the salt of the earth.”  It was a fitting title for a 1954 film about Mexican-Americans fighting for decent treatment at Empire Zinc Mine in the company town of Silver City, New Mexico.  The company paid Mexican-Americans less than Anglo miners and housed them in segregated units that lacked indoor plumbing or hot water.  Producer Paul Jarrico and director Herbert Biberman had been blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House UnAmerican Activities and in Biberman’s case, jailed for six months.  Will Geer played the role of sheriff; most cast members were not professional actors but rather miners themselves. When a Taft-Hartley injunction prevented workers from picketing, their wives took their place, in some cases against the husbands’ wishes.  Esperanzo Quintero, pregnant with a third child, gets arrested for leading the protest and is jailed, and, when consoled by a comrade, says, “I don’t want to go down fighting.  I want to win.” When the company attempts to evict the Quintero family, the community comes to their aid and the 15-month strike ends with the company granting most demands.  Most theaters refused to show “Salt of the Earth” after the American Legion called for a nationwide boycott, but it has since been recognized as a classic.

               Jencks in movie and later

Ron Cohen had me pick up a book for him mailed to the History department, “McCarthyism vs. Clinton Jencks” by Raymond Caballero.  A University of Colorado graduate, Jencks (1918-2002) served in the air force during World War II and after receiving an honorable discharge found work at Asarco’s Globe Smelter in Denver. Joining the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, a radical union, he worked as a labor organizer in New Mexico and supported miners who in 1950 went on strike at Empire Zinc Company. Jencks participated in the blacklisted film “Salt of the Earth,” playing a role based on his own experiences.  In 1952 FBI agents arrested Jencks on charges of falsifiying a document by denying he belonged to the Communist Party. Convicted largely due to the testimony of FBI informant Harvey Matusow, who later recanted, Jencks appealed.  In 1957 the Supreme Court exonerated him due to his having been denied access to documents used against him.  During the 1960s he earned a PhD in Economics at Berkeley and became a professor at San Diego State before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan with his third wife, a former grad student.

The Portage Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is awarding an AR-15 to the winner of their raffle.  In an understatement Post-Tribunecolumn Jerry Davich opined that the prize was in bad taste.  One reader was more emphatic, branding it “crazy” and only possible in “redneck” Portage.  Other FOPs sadly have done the same despite the threat to law enforcement officers posed by semi-automatic rifles capable of mass destruction.

On the first week of bowling the Electrical Engineers were down to a single former electrical engineer, Frank Shufran, from our old Gary Sheet and Tin league, due to the retirement of Dick Maloney (macular degeneration) and Mel Nelson (bum shoulder). Fortunately, we picked up Ron Smith from Duke Cominsky’s Pin Heads, which disbanded due to teammates’ similar health problems. Lorenzo Rodriguez, on the DL all last year, would have been our fourth bowler had another team not reached him first.  Early in game one Lorenzo fell, sat down until his head cleared, then left, his return doubtful.  

On the cover of Time is Lil Nas X (Montero Lamar Hill), a gay, black, country rapper, with the hottest song of the year, “Old Town Road,” which has topped the Billboard charts for a record 19 weeks and already streamed well over a billion plays on Spotify, outperforming such heavy hitters as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.  Just a year ago Lil Nas X was homeless, sleeping on a sister’s couch.  Here are lyrics to “Old Town Road”:

My life is a movie
Bull ridin' and boobies
Cowboy hat from Gucci
Wrangler on my booty

Can't nobody tell me nothin

Chancellor Lowe and Laila Nawab

Over a hundred faculty, administrators, staff, and students turned out for the Chancellor’s “Campus Conversation,” which resembles a convocation (something I suggested a decade ago) but without the typical pomp and ceremony. In her welcoming remarks Vice Chancellor Vicki Roman-Lagunas noted the steep increase in on-line offers to a round of applause (I felt like booing but kept silent) and paraphrased Chancellor Lowe’s statement that IU Northwest is the campus of the future, but we’re doing it now.  Faculty Org president Susan Zimmer’s most memorable line was, “Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge, and others just gargle.”  Chemistry major Laila Nawab, president of the Student Government Association gave the student welcome, noting efforts to get more students involved in campus affairs. Business students described an innovative mentoring program they started. 

Chancellor Bill Lowe’s state of the campus address was surprisingly upbeat, compared to the normal doom and gloom over budget matters.  He claimed that enrollment and retention were up after several lean years and that the university’s financial affairs were in order. Touting Hanif Abdurraqib’s October visit to campus, Lowe noted that all students can get a free copy of “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us.” Before introducing Diversity director James Wallace, Lowe noted that the campus will soon be celebrating IU’s Bicentennial year and 60 years of being at our present Glen Park location.

At a luncheon in Savannah gym East Chicago Central grad David Bork, one of Dave’s best former students, who was recently hired as an assistant to Athletic Director Ryan Shelton, greeted me warmly.  Sitting with Chris Young and Nicole Anslover with plates of salad and brisket, string beans, rice, ands gravy, I told Chris I was looking forward to his September book club talk on the Pony Express.  He is presently reading Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” because his son has been assigned it in high school, something I did James’s senior year. I congratulated Nicole on being the new department chair.  Since she is teaching a fall upper division course on Postwar American, I told her about David Goldfield’s “The Gifted Generation: When Government Was Good” (2017).  She plans on inviting me to speak about race-relations in postwar Gary. Joining our table were sociologists Jack Bloom and Kevin McElmurry, geologist Zoran Kilibarda, photographer Jennifer Greenburg, and sculptor Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford (below).

Amazon

“We've had three big ideas at Amazon that we've stuck with for 18 years, and they're the reason we're successful: Put the customer first. Invent. And be patient.” Jeff Bezos 

Jeff Bezos

Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson approved an expenditure of $9,555 for an advertisement in the New York Times business section looking to persuade Amazon.com to build its second headquarters in the city of Gary.  Though admittedly far-fetched, Amazon coming to Gary would create approximately 50,000 high-paying jobs, more than the steel mills yielded in their heyday.  Some area leaders have criticized Mayor Freeman-Wilson for not coordinating her plans without them; of course, any plan that the Northwest Indiana Forum or the Northwest Indiana Planning Commission devised would surely not be for Gary.  The ad, addressed to Mr. Jeff Bezos, Chief Executive Officer – Amazon, stated:

      Recently, you announced that you were looking for a new community partner. Conventional wisdom says based on the qualifications outlined in the RFP, I would not make the grade. But that is because you don’t know about my natural assets - my location 30 miles from Chicago at the population center of North America, three class one rail lines, an international airport, the port, a commuter rail line that get people to Chicago in less than an hour and four interstate highways in a state with a pro-business environment. And land? Jeff, I have all the land you need.

      I know locating to me may seem far-fetched, but “far-fetched” is what we do in America. It was far-fetched for 13 scrawny American colonies to succeed against the might of the British Empire. Far-fetched to land a man on the moon. Far-fetched for a business selling books out of a garage to succeed in business and philanthropy. Like Amazon, I am, once again, both a game changer and a unique opportunity. We can strike a mutually beneficial deal that changes the course of my future as well as the families who live here. There are so many people who have counted you, me, us and the people of Gary out.

The ad refers to a port.  Mayor Freeman-Wilson recently asked me to serve on a newly formed Gary Port Authority as part of a plan to develop the Buffington Harbor area into a facility similar to nearby Burns Harbor, which supports nearly 40,000 jobs and brings almost $5 billion in economic activity. Unfortunately, after first expressing my willingness to serve, I discovered that members must be Gary residents.

Born in Albuquerque and a Princeton graduate, Jeff Bezos, 53, quit his Wall Street job at D.E. Shaw investment firm in 1990 to start a virtual bookstore named after the meandering Amazon River in Brazil.  In 1998 Amazon began selling CDs and videos and later expanded into clothing, electronics, and other consumer items.  Ten years ago, Amazon marketed the Kindle, a digital book reader.

According to Mark Cartwright in Ancient History Encyclopedia, in Greek mythology the Amazons were a race of warrior women noted for their courage and pride who lived at the outer limits of the known world.  Descended from Ares, the god of war, they were a women-only society where men were welcomed only for breeding purposes and all male infants were killed. In legend, the Amazons burnt off their right breast in order to better use a bow and throw a spear.  Amazon queen Penthesilea allegedly aided the Trojans but was killed in battle by Achilles, who supposedly fell in love with his victim when he removed her helmet. 

James started bowling Saturday, so he slept over.  I made pancakes and bacon, took him to Inman’s, where he rolled a 400 series, not bad for first time bowling in almost four months.  Then, joined by Dave, we had lunch at Culver’s, resuming a weekly tradition. At Fest of the First along Lake Street in Miller, an event organized by First Precinct committeeman Michael Chirich, the Wirt/Emerson Jazz Ensemble put on a splendid show. I ran into old friends Al Renslow and Gene Ayers and chatted with Samuel A. Love, Kate Land, and Corey Hagelberg at their poetry project booth.  They are opening a storefront on Miller Ave., so I gave them copies of four recent Shavings.  That evening, Dave brought over Chinese food from Wing Wah, and we watched a rerun of the 2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction program. The show opened with Electric Light Orchestra performing Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over, Beethoven” and closed with Eddie Vedder and other inductees jamming to Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”  David Letterman was hilarious subbing for Young, who had been scheduled to introduce Pearl Jam.

 Wade Davis

Dave Letterman

Sunday the Bears were so awful, I switched to the Cubs, who completed a sweep of the Cardinals thanks to Jason Heyward’s three hits, including the game winner. Eddie Vedder was in the crowd.  Wade Davis picked up a third straight save, striking out former Cub Dexter Fowler, who earlier had tied the score on a three-run HR.  While the Packers-Cowboys game was in progress, I called nephew Bobby, my Fantasy Football opponent.  We were both undefeated, but I needed Ty Montgomery to outscore Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott to have a chance.  The Green Bay running back had a huge game, and we ended up in a tie.

Betsy DeVos at Gary charter school 

Ruth Needleman protests DeVos visit; Post-Tribue photo by Kyle Telethon

Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos visited two Gary charter schools operated by GEO Foundation in Indianapolis as part of her “Rethink School Tour.”  In reality, it should be called a “Screw Public Schools” tour.  At 21st Century Charter School Raven Osborne obtained a bachelor’s degree a couple weeks before graduating from high school.  One has to ask: what kind of a collage experience was that?  A headline in The Nation says it all: “Betsy DeVos Is Helping Education Profiteers Rip Off Students.”

I spoke to an IUN Minority Studies class on the history of Gary, first pointing out photos in Steel Shavings, volume 46, which I gave each of them, and then tracing Vivian Carter’s life and career as Roosevelt grad, deejay, record store owner, and co-founder of Vee-Jay, America’s first successful black-owner record label.  Half the students were from West Side High School; none seemed to have heard of the historic National Black Political Convention that took place at their institution 45 years ago.  Before I played Vee-Jay hits by the Spaniels, Dells, Dee Clark, and Gene Chandler, only one or two people said they’d heard of them.  After I played “Goodnite, Sweetheart,” “Oh, What a Night,” “Hey, Little Girl,” and “Duke of Earl,” a few others acknowledged having heard the songs, probably in commercials or movie soundtracks.  Afterwards, teacher Miriam Jiles thanked me for touching on the Chicago Defender in luring Southerners to the Chicago metropolitan area and pointing out that the Gary schools under Superintendent William A. Wirt had been world famous. Both are subjects of student projects, she said.

As I was leaving the library/conference center, I noticed a sign mentioning a “Coffee and Conversation” session Chancellor Lowe was hosting in the Little Redhawk Café.  Unlike most previous ones, dominated by administrators, two students and a new adjunct in Sociology were engaging the Chancellor in meaningful interchanges.  Library employee Gwendolyn Gross, who always greets me (and others) with a warm hello, told of being with her four-year-old grandchild a few weeks ago when Lowe spoke with them.  Later, spotting the Chancellor’s portrait in the lobby, the girl exclaimed, “That’s the nice man who talked to me.”

 Chris Kern at Gyuukaku's in Chicago

 Chris Kern wrote:

Last night I finished the first part of Henry Adams' history of Thomas Jefferson's administration. A lot of what's in there sounds very familiar -- you had a President accused of sympathy with foreigners, threats of secession (from New England!), an undeclared war against Muslims, fake news, concern over the national debt, an attempt to amend the Constitution to remove judges, accusations that judges were overruling the people's will, complaints of executive overreach, and the Vice President shooting someone.

Barb Walczak’s Newsletter congratulated navy veteran Mike Brissette (above) on becoming a life master.  He described learning bridge by buying a book by William S. Root, taking lessons from Alan Yngve, who taught him a system called “Demand Minor,” keeping a bridge diary, and observing top players such as Joe Chin, Dave Bigler, and Yuan Hsu. 

I gave a very rudimentary bridge bidding lesson to Steve McShane’s students, explaining that one needs 13 points to open and that in evaluating your hand, count Aces as 4, Kings as 3, Queens as 2 and Jacks as 1, then add 3 for a void, 2 for a singleton, and 1 for a doubleton.  Otherwise, pass.  I said to bid one of a suit if holding between 13 and 19 points unless you have 16 or more with even distribution and in that case bid 1 No-Trump.   Over 20 points, bid two of something.  Regarding partner’s responses to an opening bid, I recommended passing with under 6, bidding 1 N-Trump or two of partner’s suit if holding 6 to 8 points, and a different suit if holding 9 to 12 – otherwise, raise the bid with 13 or more points in your hand. I didn’t get into second bids or scoring – that’s for another day. The students were initially confused that bids didn’t correspond to how many tricks one needed; for instance, to make a one-bid, required winning 7 tricks. 

At bridge, Dee Van Bebber and I finished a little above average.  I blew a slam bid by failing to ask for Aces. The most interesting hand had Dee opening 1 Club; I bid 2 No-Trump with 15 high-card points – Ace, King, Queen, ten of Spades, Ace, Queen, deuce of Diamonds, four Hearts to the ten, and two little Clubs.  Dee rebid Clubs, having seven of them to the Ace, King, plus a King of Diamond.  I bid 3 No-Trump, and she passed.  The opening lead assured me 4 Spade tricks.  Since Dee only had one small Heart, I decided to take 9 tricks off the top rather than take a chance on our opponents leading Hearts.  It turned out to be a flat board, with all North-South teams garnering 600 points (we were vulnerable), only most couples ended up making 5 Clubs, which had the same value as 3 No-Trump.

It’s been so warm – even in Michigan – that Alissa and Miranda went to the beach at Saugatuck Dunes State Park, where we attended the wedding of Brianne Ross and Emily Hubbard a year ago at Dorr E. Felt Mansion.  My two granddaughters found hiking trails from the estate to Lake Michigan.