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04/29/25 02:46 PM #15520    

 

Deborah Alexander (Rogers)

Mike, I voted for Rylee too!  Hope she wins!!


04/29/25 02:47 PM #15521    

 

Mary Rabe (Talbert)

Voted for Kylee!


04/29/25 03:15 PM #15522    

 

Michael Boulware

Thanks Deb and Mary
My cousin, Jodelle Sims called and told me that you could vote more than once. I am heading over to the computer.

04/29/25 04:03 PM #15523    

 

Mark Schweickart

Wow, Mike, cool story about Dodi. Although I must admit I am a bit amazed that as often as I hung out with  you and Dodi back in the day, I never heard this story about her harrassing Beatle-folk, or, for that matter, that she had even lived in England. Strange, that those things never came up.

Do you remember how you two were the stars of my first attempt at filmmaking for a beginning film course at OSU? It was a 3 minute, silent, Super-8 short about a returning, one-legged, Viet-Nam vet?  How is it that you chose journalism over acting for a career, given such an auspicious (and brilliantly directed) first film experience?

Oh, and you'll like this, being the writing teacher that you are. Back then, I was a grad student in the English department, which meant I also taught a beginning composition course to in-coming under-grads. I had to cover various types of writng assignments, but the one that generally was the least well-received was the "creative writing" assignment. There was often much grumbling about not being able to come up with a story line. So after a while of struggling with this assignment option, I came up with an idea that I thought might make it easier for them. I showed them my little silent film, "The Return," starring you know who, and asked them to imagine what might be going through the minds of the two characters as their imminent reacquaintance was about to take place. What was the lonely wife thinking, and what was the anxious, now wounded, retuning vet thinking? It actualy turned out to be a fairly successful assignment, if I remember correctly. Too bad you opted to be the next Jimmy Breslin rather than the next Jimmy Stewart. But I guess Hollywood's loss has been journalism's gain. You've had an enviable career.

 


04/29/25 04:13 PM #15524    

 

David Mitchell

Mike, B. 

Ot appears that the Dispatch has moved on to a new week of athletes.     I can only find a whole new set of nominees. 


04/29/25 05:09 PM #15525    

 

Michael McLeod

hey mark glad you liked the Beatlemania story.

she did have the autographs to prove it.

and I don't think she''ll ever get over the thrill of it.

We talk about it a lot more that time has passed and makes her whole liverpool-obsession days more and more charming as time goes by.

Speaking of which She clarified my fuzzy memory about the circumstances of getting the album signed by all four -beatles a joint, cross continental effort it was. this is dodi's note to me reminding me, given my fuzzy memory, of how we wound up with an album signed by all four beatles two of whom signed the cover in england, when dodi lived there, and the other two signed it after it had traveled to the united states and it was in my possession. (Note: "Mick" is our daughter's nickname).

"You got Paul’s at a press junket for “Give My Regards to Broadstreet” in NYC.  You took the HELP! Album with you.  Another journalist gave you grief for asking for an autograph.  You didn’t care!

 

You had a friend of your get Ringo’s when he appeared at a local county fair down there.  I sent you the album, you got the autograph and sent the album back to me.

 

I got John and George’s on the same day at their respective homes in Weybridge, Surrey.

 

The album is sealed in two-way glass and preserved.  It will be Mick’s when I’m gone.

 

Dodi Trezevant, Afternoon/Night Support Legal Assistant"

 

ps to mark hey that sounds cool, your story-telling endeavor.

sorry folks for the two of us using the forum as a mini-chat room but i'm hoping the beatles-signatures story and mark's tale are of interest to the gang at large.

mike 

ps to mark: sounds like you had a lot dumbass kids in your class. 

ok i am being harsh but you get a chance to write about yourself fer crying out loud we didn't ask you to study the inherent heroic template as personified by beowulf. 

I just retired from teaching but i think i'll continue freelance writing only not so much of it any more.

 


04/29/25 09:07 PM #15526    

 

David Mitchell

I thought I'd stick in another couple of short portions from "Advanced" Flight School, (at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia) which was only 4 months (on top of the 5 months of "Basic" flight school in Texas, and much less stressful from the disciplinary point of view.

"Advanced" was another 100 hours. I'll pick it up midway through that period. We had already done 50 hours of "instruments" - a very confusing and difficult part of our training. I was so frustrated after my first three days "under the hood", that I damn near quit flight school. One of the hardest things I ever had to learn. I cannot recall my Instrument I.P.s name, but he practically begged me to "Hang in there. It'll come to you - I promise", he said.

And he was right.

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

The last portion of “Advanced” (another 50 hours) was a big step up in responsibility - and pride. They had put us in “Huey’s”. We were now flying the real thing - the stuff we would likely be flying in Vietnam. They were huge compared to what we had flown so far. With their turbine engines, they were fast and had much more complicated instrument panels. I think this step in our training made us realize that we were in this for real and we were nearly ready for the “big time”. We could also now fly in formation and were learning the weapons systems.  

But we had one accident – a weird non-flying accident. We were all lined up in two rows, at a low hover (16 Hueys at about four feet off the ground), when the last ship on one row lost pedal control (a broken cotter pin on a pedal link) and flipped over on its side, and began flipping itself over and back, like a fish on the floor of the boat. We all hovered back away quickly and the two guys on board that ship quickly shut off their engine, which stopped the main rotor from spinning, and they came to rest. Miraculously, they were not injured, but scared as hell, and we were all relieved.            

                                                                  *

We also were having more fun. A lot of goofing off in the dorms (such as would never have been permitted by Mr. Elliot back in Primary”)

        “Colonel” Oscar Meyer (a classmate) - Saturday morning “Inspection”.                               

             Note: shaving cream “wings” and rank - shoe polish lid “medal”.                                                                                                                                                                                

                             

After those last fifty hours there were only a few “small” matters to take care off - our final “check ride”, plus a two-day “survival school” out in the Georgia woods of nearby Fort Stewart. Then a final graduation ball and a commissioning ceremony.

For these final check rides, they paired us up with different classmates than our normal daily flight partners, and different instructor pilots. It was to be a thorough test of all our learned procedures, including several emergency procedures, and yes, those damn auto-rotations! 

I was paired with another good buddy - Russ Kelly. Russ and I did our normal “Pre-flight” inspection of the aircraft, and we found something so terribly wrong with a part of the main rotor head that we were even afraid to point it out to our instructor (low fluid levels in the pillow block” window) - a very serious do not fly condition. But like two frightened little kids, afraid to tell their parents such bad news, we did not point it out to the instructor.  Idiots.

Bad Idea!  

Our IP followed us out and climbed up on top to check out the main rotor head and saw the flaw that we were hoping he would miss - no chance. He yelled at us both - “get your butts up here - NOW!” This was so serious he could have flunked us out of flight school right there. So, after correcting the condition, we both began our check rides in an upset frame of mind.   

I went first and got through my ride without screwing it up too badly. Then Russ went out and took his check ride. I stood and watched from just outside the small classroom building and I could see that he was struggling with the final touchdowns on his auto-rotations.  

When they we’re finished, and walking in from the flight line, I walked out to greet Russ. He walked by me without speaking. All he did was roll his eyes at me, and I knew it had not gone well. He had flunked his final check ride. I felt horrible for him. Nine months of flight training and it all came apart on him now. 

  TBC                 


04/29/25 09:25 PM #15527    

 

Mark Schweickart

Dodi,  If you're reading this, it's great to hear from you. I hope all is well, or at least as well as can be expected at our semi-doddering age. And by the way, each year I still hang Christmas ornaments that you made way back when. Am I remembering that right? I think it was you who made them. Regardless, you get the credit in my mind, so know that I think fondly of you each year at tree-trimming time.


04/29/25 10:37 PM #15528    

 

John Maxwell

A while back I heard about some Japanese scientists conducted an experiment with water. They took two identical flasks of water and placed them in two separate rooms. Then one group of people would hurl insults and negative statements at the water. In the other room the other group spoke positive statements and words of encouragement. Then they froze both of the flasks of water, then placed the frozen water under the microscope. The abused ice looked like a destroyed Myan pyramids, while the encouraged ice was perfectly formed hexagonal ice crystals with a beautifully formed ornamentation on the perimeter of the ice crystal.

Human Beings are 90% water.

Be kind no matter what!

04/29/25 10:44 PM #15529    

 

Joseph D. McCarthy

Mike, I DID get in five votes; the system accepted them.  It was at the time I was refreshing the browser that MY computer decided to take a break.  It shut down and it took me awhile to get it back on track.  I quess it's past time I replaced the browser.


04/29/25 11:06 PM #15530    

 

Michael McLeod

Mike B: tell your daughter her story made another Mike's day.


04/29/25 11:34 PM #15531    

 

Sheila McCarthy (Gardner)

Mike B. According to the Dispatch, you can vote once every hour through 4 p.m. Friday .. My alarm clock is set! Sign me "Sleepless in Gardnerville ..." 


04/30/25 07:04 AM #15532    

 

Michael McLeod

 

 

found this garrison keillor column today which is so well thought out and written that i had to share, especially with this group given our parochial upbringing. Though i am a long time fan of Keillor's I did not know, or at least i had forgotten, that he had a conservative religious/strict right wing upbringing.

Sorry to be so gabby lately but i'm just recently fully retired or at least having a go at it. and gk is one of my idols. if i could write like him for just a day i'd be happy. The thing about having an idol is that someone who does something that you want to do, and does it so extremely well, is both a source of inspiration and something that keeps you humble. Because you can't imagine doing things as well as they do. I sincerely wish I had his storytelling flair. All I could do was try to approximate it now and then.

Anyway here is his column. 

mm

 

The Supreme Court is taking up the case of right-wing Christian parents who don’t want their schoolkids to be assigned to read storybooks in which gay persons are portrayed as normal, which reminds me of my childhood when my parents wrote to school asking that, for religious reasons, I be excused from gym class for the unit on dancing. So for two weeks, while other students did square dancing and ballroom in the gym, I sat in study hall and did my lessons.

   

As I recall, it was no big deal. I didn’t feel odd or set apart or estranged. I snuck off to some school dances and found that dancing to Little Richard, the Coasters, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, was pretty free-form, not the waltz or foxtrot or mambo they taught in gym. I saw no moral wrong in bopping around on the dance floor with a girl. I was 17 and becoming my own person.

America has an old tradition of accommodating minorities. My ancestor John Crandall immigrated to Boston in the late 17th century, preached in the streets, was set upon by angry Puritans, and escaped to Rhode Island where he felt welcome among the Baptists. Quakers found homes in Pennsylvania. Mormons were persecuted in Illinois and made their way to Utah. I live in Manhattan where I see some kosher groceries. The list goes on.

I have idealist friends who wish to shield their kids from a materialistic acquisitive status-conscious conformist culture and so choose to homeschool the kids and live in the woods and not own a TV and discourage exposure to social media. I wish them well though I feel that isolation has its own perils but I do not express an opinion.

   

My parents believed they were doing good by keeping me off the dance floor but I’d suggest that history class was a more dangerous enemy, which omitted Divine Will from the story of civilization, and also science, which omitted Him as well. I know plenty of people who grew up in strict religious homes and who managed to relax their faith in adulthood, even erase it. Evangelicals who became humanists.

I am part of the shrinking population of churchgoers and I sympathize with my neighbors who prefer to sleep late on Sunday, drink coffee in their pajamas, read the Times and bitch about the stupidity in high places, do the crossword puzzle, and figure out a three-letter word for “self.” I do not feel superior, walking up the steps to the sanctuary in my suit and tie, taking a bulletin from the usher, putting my offering in the basket, and kneeling in the pew. I do not feel proud to be there. Don’t imagine God putting a checkmark by my name. I am aware of my shortcomings. I could list them for you here but there isn’t enough room.

I join my voice to the voices around me in the hymns and prayers and the creed. We praise our Creator and acknowledge His love and give thanks for His gifts, His endless goodness. All week I’ve been walking around inside myself and this hour on Sunday morning is when I disappear and feel joined to the world around me. I think tenderly of those I love and I also pray for my enemies. This is the heart of my faith: love, kindness, charity, sitting with head bowed in a beautiful quiet corner of the biggest busiest city in America, in a Jewish neighborhood, a block north of a Hispanic Catholic church, a Buddhist temple and a Muslim temple and Hindu temple within walking distance, in a city where same-sex couples are a common sight, and I pray for those whom I need and love. Religious doctrine does not cross my mind, not even a wisp or whisper. I feel lightened, lifted, buoyant. We sing the closing hymn, our hands raised on the chorus, “And I will raise them up on the last day.”

I slip out of the pew, I give a fist bump to the deacon who read the Gospel, I thank the priest for the good word, and I head out into Manhattan and walk home. I pass the Hispanic church, parishioners gathered around a priest. I pass the Korean Baptist church. A jerk on a Harley goes blasting past down Columbus Avenue. A chopper full of tourists goes overhead at low altitude, chopchopchopchop, and I send them a silent message: “New York is not about rooftops, it’s about people. Walk around. Maybe come to church.”


04/30/25 02:56 PM #15533    

 

David Mitchell

Ahhh, found my way back to the voting site and added one more for Rylee


04/30/25 05:00 PM #15534    

 

Michael Boulware

Sheila, Joe Mac, and Dave Mitchell; I can't thank you all enough. Rylee is hanging on to a slim lead. Fred Clem and Lynn Royer have also voted for a deserving young lady.. THANKS


04/30/25 05:26 PM #15535    

 

Nina Osborn (Rossi)

Rylee got my vote!!!


04/30/25 06:16 PM #15536    

 

Monica Haban (Brown)

Mike Boulware-  We both voted again.

 This is fun, kinda like Chicago in the day.

 Vote early and often!!! 😂😂


04/30/25 06:38 PM #15537    

 

Michael Boulware

Monica and Nina, our granddaughter does not realize how fortunate she is to be receiving votes from such wonderful people. Thanks Thanks and Thanks again 


04/30/25 08:38 PM #15538    

 

David Mitchell

Continued after Russ Kelly's failed final check ride.

 

Later that day the entire class was bused out to a remote, wooded area on nearby Fort Stewart, to spend a day and a night going through “Survival School”. We sat in outdoor bleachers in the woods and had classes on camouflage and evasion. We also learned how to kill and prep a live rabbit and a chicken with our bare hands. And they fed us rattlesnake for lunch. Yummy!        

That evening we were let out into the woods to kill and then cook our own chicken or rabbit, and then, on a given signal, to “escape” to safety - past a certain point in the woods. Of course, I got caught by the “enemy guards” and spent a brief part of the wee hours of the morning tied against a tree trunk upside down. But there was good news later that morning. Russ Kelly had been driven back to the airfield and given another check ride. 

And he passed!  The whole class was elated!

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

 

We had just a few more tasks - a gradaution ball for which they made us buy expensive "Dress Blue" (can't get the photo to post here), and the graduation ceremony itself. See below.

 

                                 My two "roomies"- best buddys. Mike and John.

                                One very proud bunch of young "Army Aviators"

                                             (Gung-Ho and naive as hell !)

       Mom and Dad at my graduation. Dec 2nd 1968, Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Ga.

 


04/30/25 08:40 PM #15539    

 

Michael McLeod

dave: you looked a helluva lot happier in that dress uni than I ever did!


05/01/25 08:32 AM #15540    

 

Michael Boulware

Just an update on my granddaughter's standing for Athlete of the Week. Her lead has increased. It is still close but we are so thankful for everyone's participation. Mike M., I told my granddaughter that she made a famous author happy and she laughed. I explained to her , even though she plays for Kilbourne; she is representing Watterson as well. Voting stops at 4 o'clock on Friday and I will be glad when it is over.


05/01/25 08:39 AM #15541    

 

Michael Boulware

One more thing, my cousin- Jodelle Sims, her daughter- Alicia, and granddaughter- Alayna, have taken it upon themselves to gather all the votes for Rylee they can gather. I want to thank them as well. If Rylee ends up winning; it will truly be a collaborative effort. 


05/01/25 12:13 PM #15542    

 

David Mitchell

Voted again yesterday, and today, and will vote again tomorow. 

This is fun!


05/01/25 12:14 PM #15543    

 

David Mitchell

Mike M. ,

It was a happy day in our lives. 


05/01/25 03:31 PM #15544    

 

Michael McLeod

Jack. You're such a jerk. I only said that because I think you'd look great as a destroyed Mayan pyramid. Gonna try it on my sweetie next.


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