Friday, 6/5

It'll be 82 years ago tomorrow when thousands of American, British, and Canadian troops hit four beaches on the northern coast of France to begin the liberation of Europe and the defeat of Nazi Germany. On one of those beaches--Omaha Beach, the setting for the opening 25 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan”--over 2,000 men died in just a few hours.

One of them was from Marquette County.

William Richards was born in Virginia, Minnesota, graduated from the Michigan College of Technology and Mining, and, in 1940, was working for Cleveland Cliffs at the same time he was a lieutenant in the 107^th National Guard Combat Engineering Battalion in Ishpeming. He had been married to a Negaunee girl--Mary Archibald--for two months, when the battalion was called up for a year of active duty. World War II then started, and that one year became “for the duration”.

The 107^th was shuttled around various camps in the U.S., and headed overseas in 1942, where Richards eventually attained the rank of Major. The invasion of Europe was on the horizon, and Richards’ battalion would be given one of the most dangerous of assignments--to clear the invasion beaches of mines, obstacles, and booby traps laid by the Nazis.

The 107^th was going in with the first wave of troops.

Now, if you’ve seen “Saving Private Ryan”, you get a pretty good idea of what the first wave had to face. That did not seem to daunt Richards and his engineers, especially when you read what was written about his actions in a Distinguished Service Cross citation he posthumously received--

“Major Richards landed with the initial assault waves under heavy enemy artillery, machine gun and rifle fire. He immediately effected the removal of barbed wire by directing the operations of a tank dozer, preceding it on foot under heavy small arms fire. After removing this obstacle, he personally reconnoitered inland to find the exact position of an enemy gun which was harassing troops and equipment at the entrance of one of the beach exits. After locating this gun, he made his way back to the beach and reported its location. He then proceeded to organize the units of his battalion for aggressive action against the enemy on the cliffs. Though wounded, Major Richards again proceeded to a beach exit to direct the efforts of the mine clearing and obstacle removing parties. While organizing these parties, he was killed by enemy fire. The courage and devotion to duty exhibited by Major Richards reflects great credit upon himself and is in keeping with the highest traditions of the armed forces.”

This is Major Richards’ final resting place, at the Normandy American Cemetery, on a bluff overlooking Omaha Beach, in St. Laurent sur Mer, France--

Aside from his wife in Ishpeming, Richards left a 2-year old daughter.

(As always, many thanks to Loraine for uncovering this amazing story and supplying the biographical data).

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 6/4

For those of you wondering—yes, I HAVE been sniffing lilacs to the exclusion of almost everything else.

Did you expect anything different?

Not only have I been sniffing the greatest flowers (or, more technically, the greatest tree buds) on the face of the Earth, I've also been snapping a few pictures of them. After all, they're only around for a week, week and a half at most; it's really a shame (at least in my weird opinion) if you don't take advantage of them while they're here. It is, after all, one of those classic “use it or lose it” situations, and I know on which side of that equation I would much rather err.

So here we go, starting with what some people might consider to be paradise--

Or another view of paradise--

Or, uhm, this view of paradise--

While I was just spinning around shooting every lilac I could find, I took this shot. Now, I don't know if it'll show up for those of you looking at this on a phone, but look at the upper half of the picture.

See the bee?

Oh...and how about one more shot of paradise, just for no particular reason--

Okay. I'll stop now. It's hard, but I'll stop now. Instead, let's pivot over to history, and the tour I'm giving next Wednesday, the one I wrote about yesterday. Here's the teaser video my pal Emily and I shot, giving absolutely nothing away. After all, we don't wanna spoil the gag, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 6/3

In one week we'll see if the history gag works out.

I wrote yesterday about my TV gag (gags, actually) from this week. Well, one week from tonight I'm trying another kind of gag for my latest History Center walking tour.

And I'm hoping this one works out as well as the TV seemed to.

The tour itself will be fairly straightforward, as all of my tours all. The gag comes from both the title and the way we're rolling out the tour. It's called “Mystery Spot: Marquette”, and the gag about is that no one knows where we're going. We'll meet at the History Center next Wednesday, and we'll start walking. We'll end up in a place only I know, a place from which you can see a whole bunch of history, but everyone who goes on the walk has no idea where that'll be.

They'll just have to trust me.

The idea for the tour popped into my head last summer as I was walking around the city, and I figured it might provide a hook for a tour. I've found a bunch of interesting and/or fun and/or weird stories, so it should be a good tour. And as far as the hook? Well, I've had a lot of people share their guesses, but no one seems to have gotten it quite right yet. The people at the History Center don't even know (nor have guessed it right yet), and they're joking that they should raise money by selling guesses as to where we're going.

I'd be all for that.

One week from tonight we'll see if the gag pays off. We'll see what the crowd is like. And, if nothing else, we'll see if anyone ever correctly guesses the final destination of “Mystery Spot: Marquette”.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 6/2

Well, what do you know. The gag actually worked out.

My TV piece last night was an out and out 2 minutes of jokes and stupid one liners, something I've been working on for a while now. As you may recall, thoughts just pop into my head, and I'll write them down on a scrap of paper to, perhaps, do something with one day. Well, a scrap of paper that's been lying around for a while now had the words "tourist bingo" written on it. And seeing as how the start of June is usually the start of the tourist season around here, I decided to put a "tourist bingo" card together, just in case people wanted to play along during the summer.

Putting the card together was one of the most fun things I've done recently.

I took every single tourist stereotype I could think of and placed them upon the card. I took a couple of other ideas that were just absurd and added them in. And then I had to take the running gag Kevin and I have and placed it in the one final spot I had left.

Needless to say, anyone who's playing along at home may have a little trouble completing that particular row.

I have no idea if anyone would actually download the card and fill it out during the tourist season, but just in case, we did make a downloadable version available at WZMQ19.com. If anyone does want to play along, that would be the icing on the cake. It was just a blast stretching whatever muscles of wackiness I seem to possess, and having an end product that turned out like this--

If you do happen to play along, good luck filling up your "Tourist Bingo Card"!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 6/1

I can't believe they tore the lilac trees out.

First of all, hope you had a great weekend. I did myself; since it was the first weekend not Germany or in-law related in over a month, Loraine and I went on a date. And, since the the most wonderful things on the planet outside of Loraine also started to bloom, I also spent waaaaay too much time with my nose stuck in these--

And that's when I noticed the lilacs had been torn out.

One of my favorite places to sniff (and sniff, and sniff) is Father Marquette/Lakeside Park in Marquette. I usually sniff all the bushes by the statue, and then make my way behind the old LSCP building and sniff everything there. Only, when I finished sniffing the bushes by the statue and went behind the building, I noticed that all of the lilac trees that were there were torn out, probably as part of the conversion of the structure to the new City of Marquette Arts & Culture office.

The horror. Oh, the horror.

I don't know if tearing out the bushes was planned, or just a by-product of the construction. Nor do I know if the bushes will be replanted once everything is finished. All I know is that for decades now people have strolled into the park--for many, the one time they're ever there--just to sniff the buds. To not have them there any more is...just not right. I mean, if they're gone for a year or two, I think most people can handle that. But if they're gone forever?

That's just a loss beyond words.

Lest you think I'm resistant to change, I'm not. I'm happy that someone is taking over the old building, and that it'll soon be filled with artists and actors and every other member of a very vibrant Marquette arts community.. A city like ours needs a place like that. But to lose one of the things that drew people to a park that hardly anyone visits?

Well, that would be a shame. So on behalf of lilac-holics everywhere, I hope the bushes are replaced, and one day in the future we pay a visit to sniff one of the loveliest fragrances on the face of the planet.

You know--this fragrance:

(jim@wmqt.com), bummed lilac-holic

Friday, 5/29

Maybe that’s why I’m always so calm.

While trying to find yesterday's “Weird Fact of the Day” (25% of women have cried after a bad haircut, if you're curious) I came across another interesting statistic. A new survey shows that people who compulsively check their phones for texts or messages or notifications suffer anxiety or depression at a rate up to 60% higher than people who don’t.

Let that sink in. Sixty percent higher.

I actually know a couple of people like that; people who will look at their phone every two minutes and then seem disappointed when there’s nothing new to attract their attention. These are the same people who will send me a text or an e-mail and then wonder why I don’t get right back to them, even if the text or e-mail was trivial in nature. Well, that’s probably because I don’t check my phone every two minutes. In fact, I can actually go (gasp) hours without even giving it a second thought.

Oh, the horror!!

Call me weird (it certainly wouldn’t be the first time) but I don’t see why I should be checking my phone every two minutes. After all, that’s like being at work or being on call 24 hours a day. I wouldn’t want to constantly be on call without a phone; why should I do it with a phone? There are times when you just need to separate yourself from whatever or whomever. You need to allow your brain to detach and de-tangle, and that doesn’t happen when you’re checking your phone every two minutes.

I can’t say I was surprised when I saw that statistic; we seem to live in a world where there’s too much information and not enough time to process it. And before you go thinking I’m a technological Luddite or something, be aware of the fact that I use technology just as much or more than the average person. I just don’t feel this...compulsion to use it every single second I’m awake. I’m fine with leaving my phone at home when I go to the beach or to leave it in another room when I’m spending time with loved ones. After all, what’s more important in the scheme of things, especially for your mental health--a walk on the beach, or a text message you really don’t need at that moment?

Now can you see why that survey was probably quite accurate?

So the next time you see someone in a restaurant or a store or even (heaven forbid) in a movie theater checking their phone every few minutes, make sure you don’t say “boo” around them. After all, they’re probably anxious enough as it is.

*****

Speaking of ways to remain calm, I'm trying to stay that way while awaiting the arrival of these--

Hopefully, this weekend. If they finally DO pop out, you know how I'll be spending a lot of my time the next few days, right?

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 5/28

I could actually live with a schedule like that.

We've had weird & wacky weather recently—80 Tuesday (when I spent some time in my auxiliary office), 65 yesterday, and in a forecast only the 50s today. It's much like the holiday weekend, when we had a cold day Saturday, a normal day Sunday, and a very hot day Monday. I know it's just a coincidence, but it seems like there might there is a pattern developing—one really hot day, one really cold day, and one normal day. The more I think about that, the more I come to a conclusion--

That might not be a bad way to spend a summer.

I mean, think about it. If we could guarantee that pattern—one hot day, one cold day, and one normal day—throughout the summer, that would kill several birds with one stone. If you're someone who craves heat, like me, you'd know which days you could take off from work and enjoy it. If you're someone who gets overwhelmed by the heat, you'd know that the next day you could cool things down. And then for everyone else there would be a normal summer day.

It's almost like it would be a win-win-win.

Now, obviously, I realize that would never happen. I realize the pattern we're in is just an anomaly. I also realize that if our weather ended up repeating the same pattern over and over that 1). we've really screwed our climate up, or b). someone's developed a weather control machine and just forgot to tell the rest of us.

Either way, that wouldn't be good.

We'll have to see how things go. I mean, the forecast shows it's not going to repeat, but these days, who knows? Maybe Mother Nature likes falling into a routine. After what we've been through the past seven months, weather-wise, nothing at all would surprise me.

Nothing at all.

(jim@wmqt.com)