Friday, 10/20

 Sadly, I don't have any time to write this morning, but TV Jim has an announcement to make. Hope that will do!

Have a great weekend, and a safe Halloween!

(jim@wmqt.com)

Thursday, 10/29

 It's always the strangest, quirkiest thing.

Over the years, I've had people gravitate, for some reason, to some of the strange things that I do. One year it was warm so I decided to go to the beach on my December birthday; I heard about that for weeks afterward. Another year I held a (tongue in cheek) bake sale for NMU when they were going through one of their periodic rounds of budget cuts, and comments about that kept popping up for months afterwards. Now, over the course of the past few days, I've had several people ask about something I got rid of a month ago.

They've wondered what happened to the Corona Curls.

That's right; I've had a couple of people wonder what happened to the mass (or mess) of hair that was growing on my head between early March and late September. I myself had kind of forgotten about them, but apparently I was the only one. One of the people asking about them even asked if I was thinking of coloring my hair purple again any time soon.

I wasn't, but I still have the hair coloring, and it'll probably be a month or so before I can start shooting that TV show I host, so...

8-)

I just think it's funny—I do a lot of strange things in my life. It's part of, for better or for worse, who I am. It's just that it always seems like the things I don't think about much—like the Corona Curls or Birthday at the Beach—are the things that resonate with people the most. I have no idea how; I have no idea why. I just know that if I could figure out I could probably make some money off of it.

I'm not quite sure how, but there must be a way to do so in there somewhere.

So the next time I do something strange I'll be curious to see if people pick up on it or not. I have no idea if it'll happen. About the only thing I'm sure of is that it'll be the most unlikely action that draw the biggest attention.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Wednesday, 10/28

 Hi, my name is Jim, and I might be a tea-aholic.

I came to that realization yesterday after throwing two new boxes of the stuff onto the shelf on which I keep my current boxes. That realization came because the two boxes would literally not fit on the shelf, which was crammed full of existing boxes of tea. I gathered them all together, boxes of tea old & new, and THAT'S when I realized that I might have a problem--

I wonder if I can find a support group for this somewhere online?

There are 12 boxes total in that picture, nine of them various green teas with or without flavorings, mostly citrus flavored. I'm not quite sure why or how I ended up with nine boxes of green tea, mostly citrus flavored, but I did. The others are an orange tea that I was introduced to by my mother, and two others I discovered in Germany—a red tea with vanilla, and that fennel-anise-caraway seed tea that might be my favorite ever.

Despite the fact that every single person to whom I describe the tea looks at me like I'm insane for even tasting it. They just don't know what they're missing.

So, note to self. You really DON'T need to buy tea for the next couple of weeks (or months). It doesn't matter if it's on sale, or if it's a flavor combination you've never tried before. Twelve (mostly full) boxes of tea is probably almost enough for anyone.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)

Tuesday, 10/28

 One week from today, it's over.

I think many of us have been watching this year's Presidential election with a mix of fascination and fear, much like one might watch an innocent little puppy running into the path of an 18-wheel truck. Well, with the election one week from today, we can all (hopefully) breathe a sigh of relief that it has almost run its course.

Almost.

I'm not gonna delve into the politics of the election; after all, we try to stay as non-partisan as possible around here. But I do wanna talk about a trend I've noticed this year, especially on social media, that I don't think is a good trend, and that's the vilification of people who think differently than you. I can't tell you the number of times I've been scrolling down my Facebook feed only to see someone sharing an article that says “so & so DESTROYS Politician One” or “Science proves the followers of Politician Two are stupid”. And those are just the headlines of the articles; once or twice, I accidentally read the comments under the post, and then felt like I had to take a shower.

They were that bad.

Now sure, you can disagree with people on the issues and what they think should be done about those issues. I have friends with whom I disagree politically, but that doesn't mean I think they're morons or should be rounded up and thrown out of the country. That's just...wrong. They're people just like you, people who are concerned about the future of the country and in which direction it's headed. You may disagree with people on something, but that doesn't make them the devil incarnate. It just means they have a different opinion than you. But there's something about politics the past few years, and this election cycle in particular, that has brought out the worst in people. In fact, there have been times this year when I thought things couldn't get any cruder or ruder than they were.

And then I was proven wrong.

I don't know that I would want to be whoever gets elected a week from tonight. I would not want to have to take over a country filled with such venom and hatred, a country where half the people think think the other half are morons or the Anti-Christ. Yet whoever does win next week is going to have that job, faced with the task of trying to lead a country where half the population thinks they should be drawn and quartered. I'd like to say I have hope we'll get over this. However, like I said, I've read some of the comments posted online, and I know that's not gonna happen any time soon.

I wish I had an answer for this; I really do. Because then I could run for President under a platform of national reconciliation, only to find my reputation, my life, and the actions of the people supporting me torn apart, ridiculed, and shoved into the smelly Mason Jar of partisan politics.

So remind me not to do that any time soon.

Maybe, once the election's over, we'll have a cooling-off period, and some people will look back on their Facebook feeds in wonder and disgust at some of the stuff they've posted. Maybe, once the campaign ads are done and cable news goes back to talking about just Covid (as opposed to Covid and politics as a blood sport), people will be able to take a step back and see the bigger picture.

And maybe, while we're at it, I can get that spaceship I ask for every year on my Christmas list. Because I have the feeling there's a better chance of that happening than there is of peace, friendship, and goodwill occurring after next Tuesday night.

(jim@wmqt.com)

Monday, 10/26

 Well, it's good to know I have another 4 to 5 decades of healthy living ahead of me.

I did a lot of reading over the weekend because, you know, the snow wouldn't let me do anything else (sigh).  One of the things I came across a story that the Goldenson Center in Connecticut, a medical research place, had developed a online calculator where you answer a bunch of questions and it tells you how many healthy years of living you have left. Always being curious about things like that, and having a desire to live to be at least 100, I plugged in my info, and found out some good news.

I should make it.

Now, I realize this is just an online test, and in no way indicative of what my future holds (especially because it doesn't ask about family medical history), but after answering a dozen general questions about lifestyles, eating habits, and the like, the calculator says I should have another 42 years of healthy living in front of me, followed by (gulp) five to eight years of failing health before I should shuffle off this mortal coil. Of course, I'm guessing it doesn't take into account any advances in medical treatment in the next half century, but even if it does, I can live with the predicted results.

No pun intended.

Now, I should live that long as long as I keep living the way I do. Because I exercise a lot and (try to) eat well I scored a lot of extra years. However, I know that that could be out of my control sometime in the future and should that happen it would change the results radically. But assuming that I can keep doing what I'm doing (and I PLAN on keeping doing what I'm doing) and not develop any weird diseases I should be able to live the way I do until sometime around 2060, when I then start to go downhill.

Sorry, guys. Looks like you're stuck with me.

What am I gonna do with those 40+ years? I dunno. I suppose I could get a real job one of these days. I've always joked about going back to school once I'm done doing what I'm doing now, studying something really different, and then starting another career for a decade or two. I don't know if that's possible, or if anyone would even want to hire a newly minted college graduate who just happens to be in his 70s, but it's a whole new world out there. I might as well think about giving it a shot, right?

Anyway, that's what my future could hold. If you wanna try it for yourself and see how many healthy years you may (or my not) have left, give it a click—http://apps.goldensoncenter.uconn.edu/HLEC/

(jim@wmqt.com)

Friday, 10/23

I really have to stop forgetting all these things I write.

I received a Facebook message from a friend yesterday telling me she enjoyed my Mining Journal article. I spent a few minutes trying to think about to which one she was referring, then I realize she meant the new one, the article that was in Wednesday's paper.

You know—the latest newspaper article I wrote and then promptly forgot about. That's a talent I wish I really didn't have.

Since I forgot about it, even though I wrote it, and since I know a lot of you don't have ready access to the Mining Journal, here it is—the story of one of the most (in)famous areas of old Marquette.

Have a great weekend!!

(jim@wmqt.com)

*****

On any given warm summer day hundreds if not thousands of locals and tourists will make their way on bike or foot through Founder's Landing, perhaps stopping to walk the beach, swing over the Whetstone Creek, or climb Gaines' Rock. What they may not know is that they're actually treading on a rather unique piece of Marquette history--

Bum's Jungle.

Picture Marquette Regional History Center

At least, that's what residents in Marquette called the collection of people who lived in makeshift shacks along the lake next to the old South Rail Yards. For over half of the 20^th century Bum's Jungle was an object of both fascination and fear for local residents, especially kids who were told to stay away from the area. But the individuals who lived in the makeshift “neighborhood” had a sense of community and integrity that would have surprised most of those local residents.

To start off with, the name of the enclave was a bit of a misnomer. Technically, the people who called Bum's Jungle home weren't bums. They were hobos, homeless individuals who would set up camp somewhere for a little while, hop aboard a freight train, and then move somewhere else. The number of hobos in the country flourished during the Depression, when trains were the best way of getting around the country, so it's not a surprise that there was quite a large number of them living down in South Rail Yards right by Gaines' Rock.

Both the railroad and the local police tolerated the hobos, as long as they stayed out of trouble. And the hobos actually had a code of honor and policed themselves. If you were to stroll through Bum's Jungle during its heyday you would've noticed many of the hobos hanging their laundry out to dry, cooking a meal over either an open fire or on a makeshift stove, or just engaging in general conversation.

Hobos considered themselves “drifters”, and nothing more. They believed they were regular part of a civilized society. If a hobo was caught acting like a “bum”--if they were begging or drunk in public, or making a nuisance of themselves to the general community, a “hobo court” would hand out punishment—anything from a lashing from a belt for someone caught fighting, to an enforced bath in Lake Superior, a punishment especially popular for those hobos who didn't maintain at least an appearance of propriety.

Picture courtesy Marquette Regional History Center

On one rare occasion in 1939, Bum's Jungle even became the national epicenter of “hobo justice”. J. Leon Lazarovitz, described as the “Chief Justice of the Hobo Kangaroo Court of the United States” and “President of the Rambling Hobo Fellowship of America”, visited Marquette (by train, naturally) to preside over a number of hobo court cases. Seventy six hobos from around the Upper Midwest made their way to the South Rail Yards to have their cases heard by Lazarovitz.

In the end, 21 of the hobos were found guilty of their offenses and sentenced various punishments, while the rest of the cases were dismissed.

As the 20^th century wore on and society evolved, the hobo disappeared, not only from the South Rail Yards but from American life in general. By the 1960s, all that remained of Bum's Jungle were a few ramshackle cabins, falling apart from years of neglect. Now, of course, even those few signs of the once thriving community are gone. But there is still a generation of Marquette residents who, as kids, remember their parents telling them--

Don't go down near Bum's Jungle!

Thursday, 10/22

 Like most children, I blame my parents.

Don't worry; Chicky-Poo and Dar didn't do anything really bad.  I don't have to run to a therapist every week.  I have a healthy & loving relationship.  And I actually really, really like what my parents did to me.

Even if it was turn me into a geography nerd.

That thought popped into my mind as I was leafing through a book I bought called “The Passport Book”.  It's basically pictures of the 200-some passports that exist on the planet, and a a few fun facts about the countries that issue them.  I pick up books like that all the time, and I devour them eagerly.

Thanks, Mom & Dad.

Apparently, my nerd-dom started at a very early age.  According to my mom, when I was a little too young to start school I would longingly stare out the window at all the kids walking to class.  So to make me feel a little better she would read a page or two of a giant world atlas we had, so I would feel like I was learning something even if I couldn't go to school.  As I learned how to read myself, that would be one of my favorite books to peruse, as I learned all about different countries and the people who lived in them

The rest, of course, is history.  And have I ever mentioned that I have AWESOME parents?

8-)

They also introduced me to travel, the other reason “The Passport Book” attracted my attention.  As a little kid I got to go to all kinds of interesting places, and when I was a senior in high school they managed to take advantage of an airline promotion where you could buy tickets and, basically, fly anywhere you wanted within a two-week span.  I realize you could never do that now, but back them we went from Marquette to Houston to LA to Miami to DC to Nashville to Houston and back to Marquette in 11 days.

I didn't need a passport for that, but it definitely one of the things that lit something within me.

So, like many people, I can blame the way I turned out on my parents.  Thankfully, it was in a positive way.  You can tell by the books I still read, even after all these years.

(jim@wmqt.com)