Correction and resurrection

          Good evening, 919 Gang. I made a serious error in last night's report. What could be more serious than prematurely mentioning someone's death? Well, doing it perhaps 40 or 50 years prematurely would qualify. And what could be more serious even than that? Answer, killing off not one person but perhaps 20. Read on.

          SHARON REEVES writes:

          I think in the mention of the “Japanese Girls Reserve,” you meant that they might have ended up in internment camps rather than interment, as in buried.

          KENT FREELAND writes:

          Jack, in your intro to Sunday's message you speculated whether members of the Japanese Girls Reserve might have experienced "interment." I Think you meant internment. But come to think of it, some of them were probably interred. Maybe some were interned AND interred...
          See what happens when you send stuff to retired copy editors with nothing else to do?

          REBER: A serious error, but other developments have me especially upbeat tonight. Along with that reference, I printed a photo from a 1940 high school yearbook of Eugene Fuson.

          PAT ROGALLA writes: There is the brother-in law again. Gene Fuson was (as they all say) one of a kind. I knew of him before sister Bonnie married him. He was in Sweetwater High School and I was in National City Junior High.

             Our eyes met. No they didn't!
          Because of the War in Europe and the influx of workers in Consolidated Vultee (war plant) and the Navy training center, San Diego schools in our area became crowded. National City decided to keep the freshman class for Sweetwater High in National City Junior High.
          That appeared to be a bunch of hooey to the band teacher at Sweetwater high who needed all the trumpet players he could get. So it was decided the band class would meet Saturdays at Sweetwater High to accommodate the tenth grade residing a few miles away in National City Junior High. (Get the picture? Oh, well). For some reason known to no one, every band member in junior high was also on the Sweetwater High list. That included eighth grader me.
          And so I met Gene Fuson who was a senior at Sweetwater high. Really hot stuff. In fact in the marching lineup I marched behind Gene. Gene had a swagger when he marched, and I copied the swagger right behind him. That's about it. He never looked at me -- one of those "junior high babies." I did learn Gene and his Buds were described as "Fast," and I knew his best pal's father was editor of "The Keyhole" tabloid of the time. (Very interesting!).
          About the Japanese Reber talked about in today's 919, or yesterday by the time you read this. Of course there were Japanese in our classrooms. In fact, they too went to school (Japanese) on Saturdays. Their celery fields were around us in National City. Unfortunately all Japanese chums were gone shortly after the Japanese destroyed our Navy.
          San Diego and National City are Navy towns. We school kids did understand why the Japanese were relocated but personally we felt it was a bit much. Those who know so much felt there would be great resentment against the Japanese, and that didn't happen. All the school chums I knew were born in California....however their parents were not.
          None of the Japanese in my class came back until after the war. Some finished school in Arizona or Washington State or in the camp. I remember at one of our Sweetwater high school class reunions a couple of Japanese junior high school chums attended and they regaled us (intermission in the bath room) what a time they had in the relocation camp. "All those Japanese boys! They were so cute and they had no trouble getting dates to the camp dances etc.
          Well, what can you say? As a reporter you cannot say "everyone at the party had a really swell time, because some will say it was the worst ever. And so the world turns, especially history.

          RICK SMITH writes:

          Jack: That's Fuson, as I recall. He's not in that bulky, cloak and dagger overcoat with the wrap around belt he used wear into the office.

          BONNIE ROGERS writes:

          Yes, Jack, that is the Gene Fuson who married Bonnie Rogers (me). He was quite a talented musician in high school and was offered a scholarship to Julliard which he could not take because the draft called him up before he graduated. Both of my sisters were in that Sweetwater band (I leave it to Pat Rogalla to tell her stories). My oldest sister Lois, who was an outstanding flutist, remembered Gene as "that little Mexican kid who was always in the back of the band bus necking with one of the cheerleaders." I didn't meet him until I was 17 and he was 30. (That's another story, one which the late Ed Thomas, Union city editor, always made us tell whenever we showed up at a Union "Oldtimers" events.) We didn't marry until I was 33 and he was 45, so seeing him as a teenager in yesterday's Rebergram was quite fun. And just what were you looking for in that Sweetwater annual, Jack? Do tell.

          REBER: Glad you asked. This is the part that has me worked up. A 919er asked if I could help find some details on his birth mother. He had some info, and that led me to some facts about his mother and her family. The 919er knew she was born in 1927 and from voter registration lists I learned her parents were in Chula Vista in 1940. I hoped to find her photo in a high school yearbook, but the closest I could find was that 1940 book from Sweetwater. She was too young for that group, but that's when I stumbled across the photo of Gene Fuson. Some more digging led me to a woman who had some info on the family I was chasing. She tells me her brother-in-law is a son of our 919er's mother and regained contact with the woman after many years. We'll see what the brother-in-law has to say, but it appears he is at least a half-brother of our 919er and that he can supply information about the mother's later life. I've yet to learn if she is still alive. Hope so. If all works out as I hope, we'll have some happy news I can share with the gang down the road.

---------------------------------------------------

          KELLY (the comma czar) MURPHY writes:

          A slight correction to Gordon Murray’s report on the U-T Bistro: It is the UT Bistro. Similarly, the beautiful signage on the third-floor lobby announces UT TV, not U-T TV. Most (but not all) memos from marketing and the executive committee eliminate the hyphen. And now the invasive, non-native UT  is cropping up in staff copy, staff bylines, even AP wire copy and the 919 report. I still fix them where I find them in the print product (I’m going to leave the signs alone). Copyright issues aside, I think one should spell one’s own name correctly. I’m going to ask John “Killer” Kowalczyk, commander of the U-T spell-check dictionary, to add the “UT” as an error to get the U-T back on track.

          DAVID OGUL writes:

          Bistro looks great. Enjoy it in good health!

          BARBARA MOSS writes:

          Thanks again to Gordon Murray for the photo updates. Is that actually alcohol I see on the table in the new U-T Bistro?

--------------------------------------------

          RICK SMITH writes:

          Tom Blair's departure is the U-T's loss. He could write and report, being the first, as i remember, to call Roger Hedgecock into question and get the posse on the trail of the future disgraced mayor. I also heard a rumor that Manchester is moving the paper to North County and will develop the M.V. site into a lux hotel.

----------------------------------------------

          DAVID OGUL writes:

          I had go back and see what Boyce Garrison was talking about when he took a swipe at Rick Smith, and to a lesser extent David Ogul. I'm assuming it was in response to this criticism from Rick a couple days ago on (in)correct usage in a cutline.
          "effort by the Chargers (plural) to reach out to its (singular) fan base."
          Actually, I think sports got it right. The Chargers are a team - singular. Thus, couldn't it be read, "effort by the team to reach out to its fan base" ? If so, then wouldn't the usage by whoever wrote that cutline be correct?
          I'm sure there are smarter people out there than me - hell, everyone out there is smarter than me, otherwise I wouldn't have jumped back onto the Titanic (by working for another newspaper) after I had made my escape from the sinking ship we call journalism. So what say the 919ers?

          REBER: Chargers as a collective noun works in some usages, not in others. Your suggestion of "effort by the team" is much better. The U-T's use of Chargers has bugged me for a couple of decades. You can make a case for "Chargers coach Norv Turner," but "Charger coach" is easier on the ear (or eye). All news people have nits; that's one of mine.

----------------------------------------------

          LISA PETRILLO writes:
          Jack and gang: I appreciate all the book recommendations I love:
          Everything by Lisa Scottoline, especially the Vendetta Defense. Everything by Donna Leon, whose character is the police chief of Venice and everything is so Italian, they stay focused on what matters because no matter what's going one must stop for a proper lunch. Raymond Chandler, James Thurber, Evelyn Waugh (Scoop!) James Lee Burke (the southern rhythms of his language are so wonderful), Tennessee Williams and Michael Connolly, LA Times cop reporter turned novelist.

--------------------------------------------

          JAMIE RENO writes:

          Friends, here's my latest exclusive: Internet heavyweights, including Facebook's co-founder, have created a brand new site to push viral videos that are entertaining… but also matter.

With Upworthy, Internet Heavies Push Social Media With Significance

By Jamie Reno – The Daily Beast/Newsweek
Apr 29, 2012
http://bit.ly/IIXWET

------------------------------------------

         REBER: Two more birthdays tonight. Happy Birthday (April 30) to Larry Ross and Marcus Stern.

---------------------------------------

          BRIAN CLARK writes:

          To Vince Hottle, I say:
          There is accordion music and then there is accordion music. I live in Wisconsin, and I find polkas -- which are big in certain parts of the state and use a lot of accordion -- somewhat painful to the ear.
          But Zydeco, she is wonderful. Now that's how to use an accordion.
          For those not familiar, Zydeco evolved in SW Louisiana in the early 19th Century from forms of Creole Music. It combines Cajun music, Irish Celtic fiddle tunes, Latin rhythms, Appalachian music, rhythm and blues and the German button accordion.
          It rocks.

          REBER: Which reminds of a friend who talked about his experience on one of those tour buses which visit six countries in eight days in Europe. No one warned him that most of the seats on that bus had been reserved by a group of harmonica players. Oh, the torture.

Jack Justus Reber

P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.

1940 faces

          Good evening, 919 Gang. Sometimes when you are doing research, the questions wind up being more thought-provoking than the answers. Tonight I was sifting (online) through an old yearbook from Sweetwater High School. I didn't find what I was looking for, but look at all those smiling faces -- happy healthy kids no doubt with great futures ahead of them. Then, I realized this was the 1940 edition. In less than two years this country would be at war, and these boys, by then 18 or 19, would be in the thick of it. I wonder how many of them made it home from that war. One page had a large photo of about 20 girls in uniform. There was no explanation, except the group was labeled "Japanese Girls Reserve." Pearl Harbor was about 18 months away, and I wondered about their future. Would they finish high school at Sweetwater or wind up in interment? A brighter thought came when I saw the photo below. Is that the Gene Fuson who married 919er Bonnie Rogers? Perhaps we'll hear from her on that. I hope he's the one.

--------------------------------------------------------

          GORDON MURRAY writes:

          U-T Bistro celebration Friday night. Although the kitchen is still not ready, U-T San Diego held a going-away party for someone in Finance. The dining area got a test drive with a fabulous spread. Newsroom folks were invited to the first floor to join in and help celebrate the early launch of the U-T Bistro. The food was prepared in the upstairs cafeteria and brought down to the first floor. Still not quite ready for the U-T Bistro opening, but it was a fun first trial run. Dining area is quite impressive and we're all just waiting for the kitchen to be finished.

----------------------------------------------------

          ROBIN KLEVEN DISHON writes:

          Thanks so much for the update straight from the source. The era of Tom Blair at the U-T may have ended, but it will always be the era of Tom Blair here in San Diego. Wherever he ends up working, he’ll bring style, wit, insight and an encyclopedia’s worth of institutional knowledge about the city and its cast of characters.
          I’ll always be grateful to Tom for being a friend and mentor when we were both at the San Diego Union-Tribune, and a few years later, for hiring me to join the estimable David Nelson as a restaurant critic for San Diego Magazine. Tom, thanks for being a terrific colleague, writer and boss. All the best to you,  and please keep the gang posted on your adventures.

          JOE GANDELMAN writes:

          On Tom Blair's firing. I always figured when the new company came in they would want to re-create the UT as much as they could and often there is "collateral damage". Regime changes on newspapers are always a bit tempestuous -- and I saw several in my years on papers. I left before the merger but did see some key editors change. Some of the changes in Wichita were the most glaring: a new ME would come in and suddenly there were new people on the A list...and on the other lists including one whose initials I will refrain from using. Columnists are a very personal thing for many papers, and even blogs like mine. In X number of years any columnists on the UT will be totally new or they may do away with in house columnists if they feel it does nothing for readership.

          JAMIE RENO writes:

          Tom Blair is a class act, and it's the UT's loss. I've always valued my friendship with Tom, from the time we met during my three-year stint at the Tribune and then throughout Tom's tenure as editor of San Diego Magazine, where I wrote features and investigative stories for him regularly and for a a long time was his pop-music writer. He's an excellent editor, and writer, and more importantly a kind, decent guy. Tom will succeed in whatever he does and I wish him well.

----------------------------------------

          MICHELE DAVIS writes:

          Michael Grant: It is true that they stop your heart after putting in the defibrillator. It is just a very short second or two and it is to test the device. You are still under sedation while this is happening. I would reconsider waiting on having it implanted. CHF is very serious and the device can truly save your life. I too contracted CHF from a virus when I was just 24 years old. Unfortunately, Kaiser treated it as asthma for greater than 20 years and the condition of my heart declined. My ejection fraction is now 17, which is why I am waiting for a heart transplant. I would encourage you to go with Medtronic. When my first device, which was not placed properly, shocked me seven times and landed me in the ER, it was the Medtronic rep and not the ER docs who first came to my side. I had been there for five hours with no attention from the ER physicians, frightened as I did not know what happened. I called my cardiologist's office from my ER bed and told them what happened. They paged Medtronics and "Tommy" came to see me. He had been in the hospital while they were implanting another patient. He is the one who told me it was the unit and not my heart. The lead that goes through the heart got a false signal as the device kept moving and twisting in my body. The lead had frayed and caused the shock. That being said, I would NEVER be without the device. If Kaiser is offering it, take it. They may change their mind later. It is much easier to have this surgery when you are well than when you are sick. I had mine implanted on Thursday, had my regular days off of Fri-Sun and was back to work on Monday. It was painless. Please reconsider.

          VINCE HOTTLE writes:

          I, too, have recently joined the ranks of those with an object buried inside their chest: my Medtronic device came with a deep brain stimulation (DBS) operation I went through for my Parkinson's disease last July at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Speaking of shocks -- programming the device was worse than the operation -- but well worth it!!

-------------------------------------------

          BOYCE GARRISON writes:

          To Rick Smith and to a lesser extent, David Ogul, who has criticized us in the past:
          Anytime you want to come to Mission Valley and help out on the sports desk -- no pay offered of course -- come on down. On the night in question, we had two editors and one full-time writer on the desk for 51 columns.
          Ten years ago, we would have had a news editor, three full-time copy editors, a slot, and an editor on the desk on a heavy night like an NFL Draft event, plus a backshop person as a last line of defense.
          Let's see, 7 vs. 2 1/2. Do the math.
          Stories would be read 4-5 times. Now? Two at the most.
          Our deadline now is 10:38 p.m. six nights a week (10:30 on Saturday). Ten years ago? 11:00 Sunday-Thursday, midnight on Friday and 11:25 on Saturday. For the most part, events are not ending earlier.
          A day later than which you are referring, we had four staff-written stories come in after 10 p.m. If that happens on news side, they order pizza and call it an election night, complete with later deadlines.
          We make a mistake 10 years ago, we chase the page, and the correction gets on most editions except maybe the North. Now we're lucky if they get on any editions.
          Plus we have to post stories online, something the seven people 10 years ago didn't have to take the time to do because Signon staffers posted them after deadline.
          So, unfortunately, things are going to slip by.
          I am amazed at the job we do every night as shorthanded as we are. We make deadline ever night with seconds to spare, if we make it at all.
          There's talk that we're going to a 16-page sports section every Sunday in about a month.
          Have they offered to hire more people? Not yet.
          We're not perfect, of course. But we're working in far from perfect conditions.
          Not making excuses. Just stating the facts.

----------------------------------------------------

          JERRY RIFE writes:

          Praise is a sweet dish to savor. But it tastes best when it comes from respected colleagues. Thank you Joe Holly, Kent Freeland, Bob Rodriguez and Jack Reber for the kind words about my work. I am very moved.
          One of the nice things about the Rebergram is its ability to resurrect forgotten memories. Bob Rodriguez brought back to life the time that Capt. Andy kept mistaking Bob as the photographer when he was holding a strobe light for me. "Thanks for the memories", as the song says, Bob.

          EMMET PIERCE writes:

          Thanks to photographer Jerry Rife for using his talents to explain the importance of compassion for the disabled. Words never could capture the story as well as Jerry's camera.

---------------------------------------------------

          JOHN MARELIUS writes:

          Here's something for people who are covered by COBRA to watch for. When it transitions from the federal COBRA to CalCOBRA, dental and vision care is no longer covered -- at least by HealthNet -- although none of the literature makes that clear. My wife made a dental appointment the other day and was told our dental insurance ran out at the end of 2011. So if anybody is on federal COBRA and has been putting off major dental work, it would be a good idea to get it done. Might as well get a new pair of glasses too. As for vision care, there's another possibility. I had minor laser surgery about four years ago and since then have gotten my annual checkups from the ophthalmologist, which is covered by HealthNet, rather than going to the optometrist at the nearby shopping center which is much more convenient, but not covered.

--------------------------------------------------

          OTTO KREISHER writes:

          Joining the discussion on books. It might not surprise anyone that my selection of memorable books are histories, mainly in the military genre, although I read a lot of fiction in my younger years -- C.S. Forrester's Hornblower series, most of Hemingway and Leon Uris.
          But books that left lasting impressions: "We were soldiers Once and Young," by a great journalist, Joe Galloway, and retired Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. A gut-wrenching account of one of the first major fights between US and North Vietnamese soldiers. Just when you think you've gotten through the most emotional parts, after the survivors get back to base, the last chapters deal with the widows and orphans and brought a lot of tears. Another Vietnam account, more of how politics, egos and lack of cultural and historic understanding got us into that unnecessary war, was "A Bright Shining Lie -- John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam," by Neil Sheehan.
          Two books about our more "recent unpleasantness" (the term a grand old Southern matron used to refer to the Civil War -- "Not a Good Day to Die," a gripping, and irritating story of the bravery and command incompetency in Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan, by Sean Naylor, and "One Bullet Away," a short but finely written account of a young Marine officer's combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, by Nathan Fick.
          Two books about the "good war" -- WWII: "An Army at Dawn," about the North Africa campaign, and the even better "Day of Battle," about Sicily and the awful, and usually ignored, grind through Italy. Both by Rick Atkinson. I anxiously await the promised third book, on the Western European campaign from Normandy to Berlin.
          Anything by Barbara Tuchman is well worth reading. My favorites, "A Distant Mirror," an amazing examination of the 14th Century in Europe - black death, religious wars etc, and "The Guns of August," the first months of WWI and the political errors that led to that horrendous blood bath.

          VINCE HOTTLE writes:

          I have a request for John McPeek: When you become a dictator I beg of you to also ban all accordions.
          After reading a small article in the latest issue of "Vanity Fair" about Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel, whose lectures are the No.1 attraction on campus, I used my Kindle to download two books he has written -- "Justice: What's the Right Thing To Do" and "What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets." I highly recommend.

          ALAN MILLER writes:

          Frank Langella's memoir ,"Dropped Names," is fascinating for his perceptive insights about some famous folks he encountered and is very well written.

          DAVID FARMER writes:

          Ambrose Bierce not only wrote startling short stories. He also authored "The Devil's Dictionary," which contains cynical definitions of common words. Example: aborigines, "persons of little worth found cumbering the soil of a newly discovered country."
          I have my own devilish definition: slut: "a woman who behaves sexually exactly like a man."
          There's a website devoted exclusively to "The Devil's Dictionary," plus 5,280,000 other references. Alas, D. Farmer's version has a much smaller circulation.

----------------------------------------------

          REBER: This has to be the biggest birthday of the year for the 919 Gang. Happy Birthday (April 29) to Bob DiVeroli, Bill Osborne, Pauline Repard, Sharon Reeves and Rose Wojnar.

----------------------------------------------

          JOE GANDELMAN forwards:
          Pew: 17% of Americans get no news daily.
http://tinyurl.com/d5nz335

Jack Justus Reber

P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.

Missing persons

          Good evening, 919 Gang. Tonight we try to catch up with some old friends.

          CLIFF SMITH writes:

          Phil McCracken's widow Tallie of the greater Mount Shasta area asks for help in contacting Hal Steward, the inimitable colonel who has a flat in the Golden Triangle.
          Tallie said the news clippings Hal sent her almost daily stopped a couple of weeks ago. She fears he might be in a hospital.
          Calls to Syd Love, Joe Brown and Steward's operating answering machine haven't yielded any clues.
 

          TERRI SPILECKI writes:

          Do you know by any chance what ever happened to Don Learned? How to contact him?

          REBER: Tom Blair also is a missing person, at least temporarily. I'm skipping all the assorted rumors about why he was let go in favor of letting him tell the story himself.

          TOM BLAIR writes:

          OK, Jack, thanks for the interest in my new adventure. I'll try to give you a bit of backkground and bring you up to date.
          Over 40 years, I've covered the city by snapshot in my column and long form with San Diego Magazine. During that time, I've written countless items about San Diego's cast of characters -- most positive, some not so.
          When The San Diego Union-Tribune changed hands in December, I wondered how that would work out for me. It didn't. On Monday I was fired. "The Tom Blair Era with the U-T has ended," I was told. That was pretty much it. It probably was enough. Fortunately, I had other options. I have been talking with two solid companies, and it looks like I will be working with them both in media relations involving charities and politics. I'm excited about the future, and will give details, if 919ers are interested, as soon as I can. Stay tuned.

--------------------------------------------

          MICHAEL GRANT writes:

          Good ICD info this morning, friends, and I thank you. I have a cardiomyopathy situation created in 1999 by stress or a virus. I believe it was a virus because the situation erupted practically overnight. So now I am 69, my heart has an ejection fraction of 34 (normal is 50), and my cardiologist says those parameters, to him, whisper, “arrythmia,” even though I walk most every day, teach a regular schedule, and do other labors without difficulty. So my wife, Karen, and I are doing the research. This week we talked to a Kaiser electrophysiologist. He told us about battery life, and the lead into the heart, which can actually screw its way through the heart, which is very serious. They use either Medtronic or St. Jude’s. From your info, if we choose to go forward, we will choose Medtronic. But then he said, when the implantation is complete, they actually stop your heart, and start it up again with the defibrillator. Karen leaned way back at that one. The EP said the defib was not a treatment, just a monitor. Right now I am thinking we’ll put it off for a while and continue the usual medications and exercise.

-------------------------------------------

          DAVID OGUL writes:

          I haven't owned an American car since my 1968 Pontiac Tempest, but next time I need a new vehicle, I'm heading to Drew Ford to see my friend Chet Barfield. But only if he can play the "Come to Drew Ford and you'll find out what Drew Value is all about" jingle on his guitar.
          Congratulations, Chet. I've known many a successful auto salesmen in my years, and they have nothing on you.

          EMMET PIERCE writes:

          Good luck to Chet Barfield in his new profession. Chet always had the readers' best interests in mind as a journalist. I'm sure that car buyers now will benefit from his high standards. If a car isn't right for someone, I sincerely doubt that Chet will sell it to them.

---------------------------------------------

          RICK SMITH writes:

          Regarding interest in books, check out "The Hindenburg Letter" on amazon.com. It's written by Roger Conlee, my old running mate in Tribune sports. When Mel Zikes, making scale, $120 a week, took a job with the L.A.Times in 1960, sports editor Gene Gregston, forever known as '"Ston," hired Roger and me for $60 apiece, Conlee covering the county prep teams (he went to Helix), me the city teams (I went to Lincoln). "Hindenburg" is not about the blimp that crashed in New Jersey in the Thirties but is a World War II thriller that includes characters ranging from President Roosevelt to Werner Von Braun, to Walt Disney." Conlee has done three or four novels, I think. I really enjoyed this one. That was beauty in the sports section this morning, caption under fans at stadium, saying..."effort by the Chargers (plural) to reach out to its (singular) fan base." And of course the obligatory team posture that it was "shocked" that first-round pick Melvin Ingram was available at 18.

          JIMMY THORNTON read books:

          As I previously mentioned to impress the gang of 919, I cut my teeth on Jean Jacques Rousseau and his confessions. For a French guy he was really neat. Later I advanced to someone an older woman recommended at the University of Texas during my Hemingway stage (his books were also swell, I tell you, swell).
          The two books that seemed to stretch my Texas mindset a bit were by a guy called Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser, known as Ted by close associates such I who daydream of such relationships.
          The first book you may have heard of, An American Tragedy. It was a tragedy in the Shakespearean sense (for those Englandfiles). What I like about it was how a kid from Texas could relate to the tragedy. Didn’t Liz Taylor’s eyes lure us into a flick about it later? Can’t remember for sure. Boating was never the same for me after that book.
          The other book Ted wrote that I appreciated (but less so than the Tragedy thing) was a book called Sister Carrie. I need to read it again to remember what it was about. As I remember these days, it wasn’t about a nun. Actually, I think Penny of The Big Bang TV series is somewhat similar to Sister Carrie. I wonder if some comedy writer had Ted’s book in mind? 
          Oh, can you get Dumb & Dumber in paperback? It would have to have the toilet scene in pictures.

          ELIZABETH GABRIEL writes:

          I'm surprised at the dearth of book suggestions, so I must weigh in. I like humor and quirky, but do serious, too. Here's a very short list.
          "Forgotten" authors worth reading: James Thurber and William Saroyan. For a shot of period humor, Damon Runyon and Don Marquis' "Archy and Mehitabel"
          BIOGRAPHIES: The three-part life of Winston Churchill by William Manchester and the three-part life of Teddy Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, "Biography of London" by Peter Ackroyd.
          HUMOR: Anything by Douglas Adams; "Eyre Affair" by Jasper Fforde (know your "Jane Eyre" for this one); several by Christopher Moore, including "The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal," Practical Demonkeeping," "Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove."
          Yes, I was a child of the '60s and yes, I have some quibbles with the movies: "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
          Yes, I read all of them and have a quibble or two with the films: the Harry Potter series.
          "Trinity" (troubles in Ireland) by Leon Uris, "The Right Stuff" by Tom Wolfe, "Sarum" and "The Forest" (very Brit) by Edward Rutherfurd.

--------------------------------------------

          BETTY PEACH-TSCHIRGI writes:
          Recently you mentioned reading a delightful "Autobiography of William Allen White" and in another account reported a credit card crook who made money for you. I wish to comment on both:
          The William Allen White family lived across the alley in Emporia, Kansas, from the H.E. Peach family which consisted of the banker, Mr. Peach, his wife Josephine, their sons, Joe, Gene and John and daughter, Elizabeth, the first Betty Peach. The Whites had a son the same age as Gene Peach, and they played baseball in the wide alley that separated the two big houses on the tree-lined streets of Emporia. The late Gene Peach had his first newspaper job on the Emporia Gazette which White edited and as he said in the biography, he had to please the bankers who loaned him the money to keep the paper going in hard times. Gene began as a delivery boy when he was in high school, then reported on high school sports for the paper before heading off for college. Gene and William Allen, Jr. kept in touch for many years and I corresponded with White after he wrote to me following Gene's death. It was a lovely relationship between the two families, both Sr. and Jr. ---
          As to the credit card crook I did not fare as well as you. I was awakened early in the morning by a stockbroker who asked if I had been in Mexico City lately. When I assured him, I had not, he said I'll call you right back and hung up. When he did call back, he told me that my credit card had been lifted sometime within the last week and the thieves had charged six hundred dollars worth of maternity clothes, baby clothes, a rain coat and a twenty-five dollar bottle of perfume all at Nordstrom's in Los Angeles. In addition, there were charges at a hotel in Mexico City, at expensive restaurants and several boutiques. The total came to more than sixteen hundred dollars. What triggered the suspicion of the credit card company employee was the frugality of the first purchases and the more luxurious purchases in Mexico City. It was the first time that I knew that Merrill Lynch kept a profile of Visa card holders, and a sharp-eyed employee noticed the discrepancy between the frugality of the purchases for mother and baby and probably daddy's raincoat and the more extravagant charges made in Mexico City. They did not get the image of a widow in her nineties. My insurance covered all but fifty dollars. Now back to my gardening.

---------------------------------------

          JERRY RIFE writes:

          Having a personal handicap in Mexico poses some unique problems and offers some compassionate opportunities. In San Miguel de Allende, our cobblestone streets and narrow sidewalks evoke a romantic "old Mexico". But the cobbles and high curbs constitute an obstacle course for the handicapped.
          Our neighbor, a young man named Luis, lost the use of his legs in a car accident. Thanks to his own determination, in addition to community and individual involvement, Luis navigates the streets of SMA in a donated wheelchair. When an obstacle cannot be overcome, passersby willingly lend a hand to send Luis on his way.
          The city is constructing curb ramps. New buildings feature wider doors and flat surfaces. These physical facilities are concrete demonstrations of community concern.
          Compassion brings a community together. Government, business and the public all have a role to play. But it remains the determination of the individual that exemplifies the triumph of the human spirit. Our friends such as Luis, Bill Stothers, and Al JaCoby are the heroes of the tale. The rest of us are the supporting cast.

     

          JOE HOLLY writes:

          Jerry Rife, you are on fire! Your reflections on mannequins are fine, fine, fine. Congratulations. Not only are you the only photog capable of stringing words in a meaningful manner, but you are a poet as well. Certainly, your decision a couple years back to dust off your old Nikon and start shooting again will result in the world being a better place.
          A while back at the Zoo I was reminded of the way you used to come back from an assignment and tell the story using the faces of the participants -- a talent I admired and coveted. So this time I decided to explore some faces at the zoo -- a few of which I have enclosed -- in honor of you, Mr. J. Rife, and that time long ago.
          However, let me say that the quality of work you are producing these days in San Miguel de Allende and other Spanish-speaking territories exhibits quantum growth. It is striking. And fun to watch. What's next? The world awaits as your third eye deepens, hones and perfects your hip-view of the world.
          Fly, Jerry, fly…!

-------------------------------------------------

          DAVID FARMER writes:

          My wife and I watch "Glee," a TV series about alleged high schoolers in a glee club. I say alleged because the performers appear to be between 20 and 30, some possibly a little older. But they're very talented, and you can see why they got hired.
          A recent episode featured music from "Saturday Night Fever," so we rented and watched the 1977 movie (for the first time.) We noted that John Travolta was a gifted dancer, no surprise. And the twenty-somethings spouted endless variations of the f-word, also no surprise, since it was commonplace then and still is. But I didn't expect the frequent use of the c-word, often directed by a young man toward a young woman.
         It's puzzling how one truly offensive word (starts with a c) can be more or less stamped out, while the other continues to pour out of the mouths of the nation's youth. And its older folks too.

------------------------------------------------

          JIMMY THORNTON writes:
          The greatest actress on Earth with those eyes was Liz Taylor who earned her place in the sun and my heart after a real-live alleged event in her life off camera.
          As some might know, Liz married Eddie, and Mr. Fisher sang songs for a living when he wasn’t cheating on the woman he married (before Liz). Here is the real-life alleged event that is so dear to my heart.
          The story goes: After their marriage, Eddie and Liz were having breakfast when suddenly Eddie burst into a love song to Liz. As the story goes, Liz rolled her eyes and basically told Eddie to stick a cork in it.
          I hope it is so. If anybody has the real alleged anecdote, I’d love to hear it again.

----------------------------------------------

          REBER: Before we go, Happy Birthday (April 28) to Chuck Boyd, a neighbor long ago at the U-T and at "Birdland" in San Diego.

 

Jack Justus Reber

P.O. Box 2239
Ramona, CA 92065
U.S.A.