Download: Ralph J. Palazzo

I love to read Kate Murphy’s “Download” column in The New York Times.  Today she wrote about an interview with Dale Chihuly.  While reading it I got a great idea.  Here goes:

Reading: Ralph reads the comics every day.  When I asked which was his favorite, he said, “Oh, that old guy” which turned out to be Crankshaft by Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers.  He also is a fan of Sue Grafton’s mystery series.

Listening: “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and Pips.  For years that was the only CD in his car.  He also loves the music from the film Mamma Mia!

Watching: Bob Barker’s old  show, which is now hosted by a Clevelander Drew Carey, The Price is Right.  He recently added The Big Bang Theory to his favorites.  He watches those two alone.

Following: For this one Dale Chihuly replied, “To be honest, I’m not a tech kind of guy – I still prefer to use a simple flip phone.”  Ralph too, except he doesn’t even want a cell phone.  We are constantly arguing about that.  I don’t want him driving around without a cell phone.  What if he got in an accident or got lost!  But he does follow his girls – Robin, Grace and Claire – on Facebook.

Eating: His favorite restaurant is Frankie’s on Center Ridge in Westlake.  Their Italian Wedding Soup is the best. We go there once or twice a week.  He loves the girls who work there, Nancy, Kandi, Chris and Morgan and they like him.  Frequently when they ask if there is anything else he would like, he replies, “You could go out and wash the windows on my car.”  They never do more than laugh. But maybe we go there so often to wear them down.  Ralph, I don’t think that is ever going to happen.

Collecting: Pez dispensers. He has been collecting them for years.  But not the candies.  He eats them right away. And Native American bear fetishes.  He started that collection when I brought a tiny turquoise bear home from a Lynn Andrews retreat in Chicago in the early 1990s. I thought it was mine but turned out to be his.  Next time you come to visit, ask him to show you his 50-some bears.

Retracting: This was a Chihuly question about his beautiful yellow and white 1958 Ford Fairlane 500 Skyliner. We don’t have a Ford Fairlane.  But that reminded me of one of Ralph’s dreams.  Driving on I-90 in Westlake, you pass a three-story building with lots of windows and a bank of garage doors on the ground floor.  Every time Ralph sees that building he says we should buy it and turn it into our home.  “We could drive our cars into our living room just like Dan Tanna.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juneteenth

On Sat. June 14, members of my book club went to Oberlin OH for the Oberlin Heritage Center’s Freedom Friends walking tour.  Here we are on the steps of the First Church of Oberlin with our tour guide.

On steps of First Church

On steps of First Church

Aside from our visit, banners across Main Street announced that Oberlin was celebrating Juneteenth so there were vendors, a parade and music everywhere in Tappan Square.  It was fun but what is Juneteenth?

This morning the Lorain Morning Journal had an article by Eric Bonzar reporting Lorain’s Juneteenth Festival.  Lorain and Oberlin have been celebrating this national holiday, which symbolizes the end of slavery for 20 years.

Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, proclaimed the freedom of all slaves within the 10 states still in rebellion with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.  However, “it wasn’t until June of 1865 that the last enclave of slaves in Galveston, Texas, found out about it…Sometimes communications were a little slow in those days.  I reckon those slaves weren’t using YouTube or Facebook.”

Since that time Juneteenth has become a standard celebration in honor of the emancipation of slavery.  “It isn’t about African American history…it’s about American history.”

Oberlin was an abolitionist stronghold from the beginning and was active in the underground railroad system.  Oberlin College was the first in the country to accept black students and its citizens risked personal danger to protect runaways from the bounty hunters.

Prior to the Civil War the Federal Government passed legislation calling for the arrest and prosecution of any citizens harboring or helping runaways.  Oberlin didn’t stop and Lorain County passed a law prohibiting kidnapping and enforced it against the hunters of runaways.

Oberlin has a lot to be proud of!

 

 

 

Chief Meteorologist Mark Johnson, Denver Needs You.

Over here in Cleveland, you have trained us in the proper behavior for stormy weather.  You cut into General Hospital and bombard us with Doppler Radar views and weather maps, zeroing in on actual streets that are in the path of a storm.  You have instructed us to contact our friends and family members who may be engaged in outside activities and not watching TV.  You have instructed us to cancel school or other activities, to stay home and off the streets, and to go to our safe place.  And we have learned well.  I can’t tell you how many people have told me that they spent the evening in their basements a few weeks ago when we followed the approach of severe weather with you from Toledo to the Pennsylvania State Line.

We were in Denver last week.  They were having severe weather.  Sky was black and very scary.  I got a weather warning on my iPhone and we were surrounded by tornado sirens.  Kind of scary to an Ohioan.  But my granddaughters announced that they were going for manicures and did I want to go too. We went and the storm blew on by.

Next day we were driving into Denver to the graduation ceremony.  Sky again looked bad and the tornado sirens were wailing.  Grandson called and told us that the weather at the auditorium was terrible and the cops were directing people to park as quickly as possible and get into the building.  Despite that, the highway was bumper to bumper with people heading into the storm.

Obviously, Mark Johnson, they need your firm hand.  I should know.  A couple months ago I ignored your warnings and totaled my car.

 

 

Elliot’s Science Project

Last week my 11 year old neighbor boy Elliot asked me to help him with his science project. We did it today after school

Elliot

Elliot

I baked the cake before he arrived so it would be cooled off.  We took turns rolling out the Fondant since it was so hard. He did the rest.  In case you are wondering, it is not modern art.  It is  a model of a plant cell.

The cake is Blue Velvet.  He loved the blue which proved my sister Dee Dee was right.  She said Elliot was too creative for a plain old white cake, that I better buy the Blue Velvet she saw at Giant Eagle.

My friend Connie Metro was concerned about how he would carry it to school. She suggested using the lid from one of the bankers boxes I brought my personal stuff home in when I retired.  So that is what we did.

I think Hilary Clinton said it takes a village to raise a child.  We are proof it takes at least 3 old ladies.

The cake is beautiful.  He will surely get an A on this science project.  We had a heck of a good time doing it.

 

 

Satire: 20th Century Style

This CWRU/Laura and Alvin Siegal Lifelong Learning course began on March 24th.  Three novels are being discussed: Brave New World by Huxley, A Clockwork Orange by Burgess and Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street.  The Lifelong Learning program is really extensive, offering numerous courses in locations throughout the Greater Cleveland area.  The Satire course is being offered on Mondays for 8 weeks at the Rocky River Public Library.

There are 9 students, 7 women and 2 men, 1 of the men is a retired executive of a company my first lawyer boss represented – what a small world that some one from a past life should be in that class. One man and 3 women of the 9 are 90+ years old.  At 76 I may be the youngest in the class.

First day the instructor asked us to go around the circle introducing ourselves and to include an interesting , little known fact about ourselves.  First was the 90+ year old man.  I know his age because he told us but that wasn’t his little known fact.  Years ago he had been in a little theater production with a famous movie star.  He described that experience building up to the reveal – the name of the famous movie star.  And OMG, he forgot the movie star’s name.  So he said “he was short and pudgy and had black hair” but those clues didn’t help.

The next woman – I think she is only 87 years old – introduced herself.  And in the middle of the third person’s speaking he raised his hand and said “Peter Lorre.”  Now you young readers probably are thinking “Peter who?”   Peter Lorre is probably most known for his part in the movie “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.”  He died shortly after his last movie “The Patsy” in 1964.

Over here in Cleveland our retired people just keep active and learning forever.  No sitting at home in a rocking chair.  These lovely people comb their hair, get dressed up and go to the library to discuss literature. That is how we roll in Cleveland.

If you don’t believe it, just ask Betty White.

 

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