May 2, 2016

Equal Opportunity.

So I am fascinated by Art Deco-ish architecture that was used for some school buildings built around World War II. This is an extension of my interest in master clock systems. There just seemed to be so much more attention to details back then; many of these school buildings are still standing and holding their own against the tests of time.

When Earl and I are out for a drive I’ll occasionally spot a school of this era and I’m curious as to what kind of clocks they had back in the day, as most likely the classroom clocks have since been replaced by plastic junk of some sort. I’ll look up these schools in classmates.com and gander through yearbooks trying to see if the camera captured a clock in one of the photos. The clocks I collect, made by The Standard Electric Time Company, are easy to spot with the numbers and hands used in the design of the clock.

I was going through a 1967 yearbook from a school in the Finger Lakes when I ran into a club I had never seen before. I’ve been going through old yearbooks for many years, but before tonight I had never seen a photo for “Boys Homemaking Club”.

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Since it was the mid 1960s I always assumed that any sort of Homemaking Club would be left to the girls and ladies of the class, after all, when a woman appeared on a game show of that era, Allen Ludden would ask, “And what does your husband do?” Times were different back then.

Or were they? I’m now going to go through more of these yearbooks to see how many years the “Boys Homemaking Class” endured in this school. I’ve never seen a club of this nature but I think it’s a wonderful thing.

Decency.

Jamie was in a car accident yesterday. He was headed home to Chicago along the Ohio Turnpike, driving in the center lane when I car in the left lane cut in front of him, pushing him into a tractor-trailer in the right lane. Luckily, he hit the cab of the tractor-trailer and didn’t hit farther back, where his Cooper Countryman probably would have slipped under the truck. That would have been nasty and I try not to think about it. Aside from a bruised up wrist, he is OK. Three other drivers, along with the truck driver, witnessed the accident, made sure he was OK and stayed behind to provide information to the police. The driver of the vehicle that cut him off spun out a little bit, righted his vehicle and took off.

Aside from being scared out of my wits over this news, I have to admit that I am very angry. I am grateful that witnesses stayed behind to provide the story for the police report. Apparently when the trucker jumped out of his truck the first thing he said was “that guy cut you off!”. Unfortunately, no one got the license plate of the indecent human behind the wheel of the vehicle that caused the accident in the first place. And I am angry that someone doesn’t have the balls to own up to their mistake.

Someone could have been injured or even killed. The thought that someone made a mistake that created this sort of mayhem and then just fled the scene is not helping my increasing belief that our society, and personal responsibility in general, is headed down the crapper. What has happened to watching out for one another, ‘love thy neighbor’ and all that stuff? Are people so narrow minded and concerned of only their little speck of existence that they don’t care what happens around them?

Horrible!

Jamie’s car is somewhere in Ohio, towed to a shop and awaiting a visit from an insurance adjuster to determine whether the car will be totaled out or repaired.  Personally I’m hoping for repaired because that’s an awesome little car. Earl drove out to Ohio last night to pick Jamie up and take him to Chicago so he could finish his school semester. I’m at home keeping the home fires burning and doing what I can to be supportive.

I still shake my h dad in disbelief that someone could knowingly create such an accident and just drive away from the scene. I really need something to restore my faith in American society (notice I didn’t say “restore my faith in the world”) because I don’t like the direction we seem to be headed toward. 

But most importantly, I’m just happy that Jamie is OK.