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Michael McLeod

couple of things to address today:

Snapping off a belated salute to Loretta Swit, who played Hotlips Houlihan in MASH. And thinking of all the powerful women I've had the privilege of working with -- and taking orders from - in newsrooms over the years.

That show was a cultural powerhouse, not just a popular tv series, and her character was a huge part of that. She was hot, alright - an extremely attractive sexpot type -- and, more importantly, a powerful, powerful woman. That savvy creation, a woman whose intelligence and heart and power and downright acidity was a cultural beacon, a tribute to the elevation of female status in our generation -- her fire and her courage and her resistance to bs was a hell of a lot more significant than her looks. Sure it was just an amusing tv series. But it was way more than that and her character spelled power, power in character more than appearance, and I never really registered it until just now as I'm reading through her obits. Our generation absorbed and contributed to so many shifts in the changing balancing act between the sexes. I'm just struck by that today. And just want to credit that stroke of genius in MASH of using a stereotype to challenge that stereotype. 

On another front: Joe: Thanks for calling that to my attention. The absence of caps, etc., in a recent post. It's also quite a longwinded babble, that post of mine, if I do say so myself having looked back over it. I'm noting the time of the post and assuming I wrote it as I just woke up, so that's as close as I will get to an excuse. I wrote a big long one and was gonna post it but then my more discreet and grown up genes - probably from mothers side - kicked in and said don't be such a baby.

Punctuation station: it's important in my vocation. Next time I'll do coffee first,chatroom later, as I have today in my ongoing efforts to keep senility at bay.

Thanks for catching it and calling it to my attention. it brought back humbling memories. I can't tell you how many times I was eternally grateful to various sharp eyed copy editors who saved me from myself many, many times over the years. Kept me humble. And yep, oftimes the sharp eyes were of tthe female variety.

Looking back on my life I realize I was surrounded by women perhaps more than most men. I had three sisters, no brothers, and I worked in a field where women were represented more evenly than they might have been in other fields.

So here's a toast to their sharp eyes - the female editors and writers I worked with - and - a salute to Loretta's Hotlips. They were hot lips, sure, but the message that came out of them was what was far more important. 

I know this post is a bit more formal and less chatty than usual but I felt like the occasion called for it and it just naturally came out in a different voice.

Joseph D. McCarthy

Mike your last entry was a terrific Obituary to Hot Lips.  I blieve none could ave done it better.

On the other hand, your excuse is more than valid.  The few reporters, and individuals I know in the editorial type of business, all have said that they need some time before they write, with or without coffee.  It has to do with the long, and often late, hours that is required in the reporting industry.

David Mitchell

Three "Bs" 

So proud of my Republican members of congress for this Big Beautiful Bill.

Good to know their priorities are so well focused. They could be wasting their time on unimportant stuff like the Ukraine (wasn't that supposed to be over in one day?).

Or the tens of thousands of children starving in Gaza or Darfur. Or the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of food aid that was alredy allotted and is now rotting in containers on the shipping docks.

But they have their priorities right and they certainly showed that when they included a section that finally (after decades) will allow Americans to buy a gun silencers without having to register it.

And if you were afraid  the wealthiest might have to pay their fair share for it, relax, they won't be bothered.

Yup. So proud!

John Maxwell

Janie Albright (Blank)

Jack, kudos to your son! So many view these and enjoy the memories they bring forth.  

Michael McLeod

Jack:

Wow!

Would love to meet him. It'd be a nonstop current-events shop-talk bonanza. You can imagine how handy that site is to a journalist. and hell yes you are proud of him as you damn well should be.

David Mitchell

 Okay Jack,

  I'll be the first to ask.

What is the image we see used as your ID photo? It appears to be some faded charcoall drawing of a shoulder and skull.

Can you clue us in?

David Mitchell

A BLATANT COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENT

I know this may be a reach, but in case anyone in this crowd might desire to make a gift to thr Univerity of Xavier (my daughter Megan's Alma Mater), she would be the one to contact. She is excited to begin a new job on the fund raising team. Her contact info is as follows;

(If you should happen to try to contact her, let me know if you have any difficulty.)

Megan Mitchell, Xavier Class of ‘98

Major Gift Officer

mitchellm38@xavier.edu

P: 513.745.3573

C: 513.532.5288

Xavier University

3800 Victory Pkwy, Cincinnati, OH 45207

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

GO MUSKETEERS!

John Maxwell

Joseph D. McCarthy

Is it just me, or are others still not receiving the morning email for the Forum?

Joe McC

John Jackson

Joe for the first time in 10 days or so, I got the morning email notice.

Joseph Gentilini

Thanks for sharing, Jack. You are, I'm sure, proud of your son's work and rightly so!!

Joe

Timothy Lavelle

Dave, 

I hate a mystery! Your question to Jack Maxwell re his forum photo went unanswered, at least so far here, and that got me to looking too. Pretty intriguing. Go to Jack's profile and click on photos and check out some J. Maxwell originals. Pen n ink or maybe pencil or charcoal, I am about as artistic as a mole "but I know what I like". He also has a photo of a couple of our great lovelies there. I now consider myself Jocko's self-appointed agent so if you buy anything I am in for 10%.  Send checks directly to me. Humor aside, pretty cool drawings. I like the boot the best I think but the partial skeleton is very decent.

Check spam for those missing updates. I get surprised once in awhile by what goes there. 

Return to the party...

David Mitchell

Tim,

Thanks (if I could spell, I'd be derangous)  for pointing out Jack's other renderings. - some realism, some more obscure. Still wondering what the main one is?

Jack????

---------

I guess someone switched us back on. Got two email inbox notices today

David Mitchell

One of a Kind

Buckeye and Viking football fans are just learning of today's loss of one of OSU and the Vikings greatest players of all time, also known in the NFL as the Iron Man - Jim Marshall at age 87.

He played in 282 straight games as a member of the famed "Purple Gang" (defenisve front four) on the Minnesota Vikings. That was a record until Bret Favre broke it later.

** His is famous for having recovered a fumble for his Vikings and returning it the wrong way for a safety for the other team (instead of a touchdown for his team).

In college - I was in the "Shoe" when he did something I don't think ever happend before or since. He recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass and ran both back for toughdowns in a rainy game against (I think) Purdue. If I recall corrrectly, OSU won the game 14-12 on his two TDs.

The next day on the Woody Hayes Show, Marshall's roommate - offensive Tackle Jim Tyrer - shared this story. They woke up Saturday morning before the gsme and Marshall said he dreamt that he was going to score 2 touchdowns that day.

I can't load it, but you can see it if you click on the link "Watch on You Tube".

Timothy Lavelle

Okay, so this falls under the "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you" file. 

In past posts that you were smart enough to ignore, I ranted about Himself and The Felon. I went so far as to try to think up another word using the letters M-U-S-K and could only come up with Skum. Pretty pathetic. 

Here is my latest weirdity...Elon has come out slamming the effort by his old friend to bankrupt future generations or the big beautiful bill, whatever you want to call it. It has been a loud and notable departure from their old buddy-ship. For some, it makes Elon more likable maybe..."the enemy of my enemy" sort of thing. 

Because I think of both these cats as total malevalent tricksters it makes me wonder if Skum hasn't sat down recently with someone and asked "How the hell do I get my car company to survive?" And someone has answered, "If you want to re-brand yourself and Tesla, you need to make yourself much more palatable to the audience who might afford your cars and that isn't poor white supporters of Big D". "You need to get educated white 'Muricans thinking maybe you aren't such a nut-bag". So he comes out against a bill that his wealth has him totally protected from. 

I think these cats are very adept at fooling a lot of 'Murica into watching their right hand while their left is picking your pocket. Thus the "paranoid file". 

Turning totally away from the above...Dave, do you remember "jump boots" and how popular they were with guys that never jumped? Made by Corcoran up in Massachusetts? Blousing your boots with those little rubber bands with hooks?  Remember me saying that posting here is "cheap therapy?"

Party on. 

David Mitchell

Tim,

I don't think I ever referred to them as "jump boots". I just know we started with full leather boots and then switched to the (cooler)  "jungle boots" once we got over there.

But I clearly recall those silly little bands with hooks to "blouse" our pants over the tops of our boots.

see my neatly "bloused" pants with full leather boots - before my first pair of "Jungle" (part canvas) boots

That's a yellow towlette wrapping my revolver chamber - to keep dust out. The "bib" is what we called a "Chicken Plate" - about 15 (anoying) pounds of layers of metal and ceramics. Nasty flying objects (up to but not including .50 caliber) would bounce off. Worn by all crew members while in the air. 

Timothy Lavelle

Jump boots will be recalled by our distinguished class members who served in the 101st or 82nd Airborne. As a side joke for a second, because the 82nd Airborne had the letters AA on their patch, the 101st guys would call them "Almost Airborne". 

Jump boots were supposed to be worn only by men who had gone through jump school...Benning?...and they were clearly different because they had a bit of a braided quarter of an inch of leather that seperated the toe section from the rest of the boot. They were a mark, like the parachute medallion (right word?) of distinction. 

In jealousy, those if us who stayed on the ground would say "the only thing that drops from the sky is bird shit and paratroopers!" I don't know how some of my group of soldiers in the ASA got away with going to Corcoran's factory somewhere in Massachusetts and paying $80 for those and wearing them. Likely it was because we signed up for 4 years from the git and upper management just decided to let us slide. Or maybe like missing license plates on some cars, they just weren't noticed

Good picture of the bloused boots.  

Back to my cave.

David Mitchell

I think it may have been Kevin Cull - I'm not sure - but I think it was him, who I asked jokingly one time, "You guys were dumb enough to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?"

His response - "Well, they weren't PERFECTLY GOOD airplanes."

Seems to me Kevin was a Screaming Eagle (101st  Airborne) or as we said "One o' Worst".

Michael McLeod

lol this brings me back dave. when i was in the army I remember thinking we needed a more macho word than "blouse" to describe  tucking our fatigues into our boots.

David Mitchell

Mike, it struck me odd too.

"Blouse" was also the awkward name for our jungle fatigue shirts. never did get used to that. 

Michael McLeod

nerd that I am I researched the word blouse and it goes back to latin, as I figured, when the word referred to the everyday go-to-work smocks worn by both men and women. Obviously in its incarnation/adaptation  into the English language, it developed that second usage as a verb.

John Maxwell

David Mitchell

Jack,

I have.

Just sharing a photo or a story now and then.

One could say  "High School is over - Move on".

Or "basketball season is over - Move on". 

Michael McLeod

Dave. I appreciate both your stories and your service. Anybody who doesn't - well they don't have to waste their own time or ours by opining about it, do they?

I've never talked about my service, partly in deference to yours, which was a hell of a lot more dangerous than mine.

I lucked out and went to germany instead of vietnam and worked as a clerk at a nato hq near heidelberg. Got to see europe, brought my wife over, had a child over there, gi bill paid for my masters degree in journalism that got me into one helluva writing career once I got home. So I lucked out, did my duty and got paid back for it, so hell yes it's chunk of change when it comes to life experience and i sure as hell don't mind talking about bein' a gi and don't mind hearing others share their on-duty diary either. In all my time as the son of a ww2 vet and friend of fellow vets I can't recall hearing anybody I respected try to glorify the experience, though I'm surely not dismissing the courage many have displayed over the generations. 

Enlisting or getting drafted as I was is definitely an interesting experience at the very least but in my case one of the best things that ever happened to me -- a boost that via the gi bill paid for my advanced education and the birth of my daughter, led me to a basic grasp of a second language, gave me the chance to see a bit of europe basically for free, and fed and clothed me for a coupla years. I was a helluvalot luckier than some. Had I been in another generation I might have been shooting at Germans and vice versa. Instead I was living, off base, with my wife and then my wife and our baby daughter,  in a basement apartment near Heidelberg that was rented out to me by a german family.  A very friendly german family with a basic command of english. I have german roots on my mothers side so that made it even more engaging. I worked at a Nato Headquarters in Seckenheim, Germany and rubbed shoulders with -- or saluted, depending on the circumstance and the rankings involved -- French, German, Canadians and Italian servicemen in various offices throughout that international base.

And golly gee I hope it's ok if I talk about it now and then given what an important part of my life it was. Quite the turning point, in fact.

You had a helluva lot more to sweat out than I did, Dave, and I respect what you did and relate to both the pain in the ass of it and the tales you gathered up along the way. Thank you, as the saying goes, for your service. And the frigging courage it took to be a target in a foreign sky on behalf of the folks back home.