Glimpsing UMM's exciting past through memorabilia

The image shows Ralph E. Williams being honored as "faculty coach" for the Cougars' 1975 opener which was against St. John's University. The players are co-captains Myron Engebretson (left) and Chuck Senkyr. Coach Al Molde exchanges a smile. Molde had quite the football regime at UMM.
 
Mom's death has left me treading water in some respects. It has been a personal sea change. Yes there's a void. To the extent there is boredom and the inevitable emptiness, this is offset by my health being fundamentally good, knock on wood. My next birthday will be my Medicare birthday.
I have had the time to attend to the family property on Northridge Drive. Part of this has been to locate old photos from various places and organize them. My parents did a good job organizing photos and other memorabilia up through the 1950s. After that it became more scattershot, not sure why. My father did not do the best job saving and organizing memorabilia related to UMM. Going through stuff he saved previous to that, I'm reminded of what a remarkable and important person he was. This I learn through items in the Twin Cities media among other places.
I'm not sure he came to understand the "hip" generation of the '60s and thereafter. On purely cultural terms, this Depression-era product might have had some trouble relating, though I hope I'm wrong. Based on scrapbook material, he was totally in tune with his own young generation in the '30s and '40s. Then he got married. Rimshot.
He was a lieutenant in the Navy in World War II.

Dad at UMM graduation, 1975

He undoubtedly did remarkable things coming to UMM. He was not lock-step with his generation, the one that Richard Nixon tried to appeal to, as Nixon's presidency faltered. My father Ralph was always skeptical of the Vietnam war. He'd say "that war is a bad deal." Doesn't seem like a biting comment now, does it.
I'm reflecting on a time when the conservative political establishment actually thought Martin Luther King was a dangerous character. The conservative folks of today - granted that term seems nebulous - try to be first in line praising the civil rights icon. MLK was against the war when this position was largely deemed edgy or subversive.
My instincts told me, from the time I could comprehend the news at all, that the war sucked. This was reinforced when our family attended the funeral of a family friend in Brainerd, Mom's hometown, in 1966. The young man was a victim of friendly fire in Vietnam. He should not have been in an open casket.
 
Distilling the past
One can solve mysteries when going through old photos/memorabilia. Six years ago when Dad died, I supplied a nice "action" photo of Dad directing, to the UMM music department which was planning a memorial concert. Mom and I took some stuff out to Simon Tillier. It was a nice 8x10 black and white photo but one problem: the background looked unfamiliar. Where was this?
I think many families lament not having enough specific information for a lot of old photos. Today in this age where people can share so easily with online resources, old photos become even more precious. Without specific info for a lot of these, the value is diminished to the point where it's not practical to share them.
I discovered as I ferreted through old stuff, a "companion photo" to the "action" one just cited. A "partner" as it were, and it was in an envelope that elucidated. Mom and I had wondered if the "action" photo was taken at the old P.E. annex at UMM. I doubted it but verification was impossible because the P.E. annex is no more. It was an important structure in UMM's early days. I watched Cougar basketball there while Dad directed the pep band in the days when having an active pep band was practical. It became impractical in later years due to the proliferation of sports teams and how the musicians just couldn't provide this service equitably.

Dad and Jim Carlson at UMM recognition event

Dad directed the original UMM fight song which he wrote on request of the original UMM head person, Rodney Briggs. Briggs' title was "dean."
The fight song was later retired in favor of the main campus "rouser." My father had played the rouser countless times as he graduated from the U in 1939. He has lots of scrapbook material from that phase in his life.
Whatever you think about his original UMM fight song, I assure you that if you were at a game back then and heard the band, saw the cheerleaders - I seem to recall we had cheerleaders - and if you had your heart in supporting the fight song, you would have loved it! I assure you.
A few years back at UMM Homecoming, I remember Gary McGrath coming into the Bella Cucina restaurant singing the original UMM fight song. He had a twinkle in his eye. Maybe a UMM music class could dust it off just for the purpose of analysis someday.
So, let's finish the story of how I identified the location where Dad's "action" directing photo was taken. Due to finding that photo's partner, I learned from writing on the envelope that these photos were taken at one of those "select group" events at another college. I wish I could have supplied this information to Tillier at the time of the memorial concert. They used the photo anyway and it looked great.
 
Some other gems turn up
I made other interesting discoveries while going through old material in our household. I paged through a booklet of items prepared at the time of Dad's retirement in the late 1970s. Prior to this, I always assumed this scrapbook was composed solely of testimonial letters including some from main campus big shots. Those letters were very nice. I finally took the time to page through the whole thing.

Martha Williams with David Johnson, UMM chancellor

Surprise. I found some neat photographs at the end of it. There's a terrific photo of Dad rehearsing the UMM orchestra at the HFA, probably in the 1970s. I greatly appreciate Del Sarlette being willing to scan many of these photos for me now. He isn't asking for payment but I may remedy that.
On the corner of my mind, is the possibility I may request another framed tribute to Dad somewhere at the HFA in exchange for an infusion of money into the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. It's merely theoretical now, i.e. in my head.
When in Morris, do as the Morrisons do.
I have some flexibility with money, knock on wood, and of course it's nice that I do not have a girlfriend. Rimshot again.
One storm cloud, though, is the increasing possibility that interest rates are going to be taken down to zero again, possibly quickly. This prediction is being heard. Why? I thought the economy was gaining strength. I depend on interest income to a pretty fair extent. Will I have to abandon the Morris banks? I might have to. Will I be forced into the stock market with its attendant risk? Maybe I'll have to. I might just have to delegate all this to a trusted financial advisor - yes, one I can truly trust, who I'd pay directly to be an advocate for me and no one else. Jeez, you have to watch your back.
No rush for any of this. Most importantly, I need to make it to my Medicare birthday. One cannot predict all the challenges that God may thrust in front of us. Mom and Dad are in a place now where they don't have to worry about money.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

The UMM band for the first year of the institution, 1960-61. Dad poses in back. He was a 1939 graduate of the U, and when he heard the Twin Cities campus was getting new band uniforms, he showed enterprise to get the previous ones.

Here's the UMM men's chorus with director Ralph E. Williams in 1966-67. The men's chorus did much to raise the institution's visibility in the early years.

Retired faculty/staff gathered for this photo as part of the Founders Day 40th Anniversary of the University of Minnesota-Morris, in September of 2000. Photo was taken at the Stephen and Arden Granger residence. Mom wrote on the back of this photo "it was a special day."

Just like the barber in Beatles' "Penny Lane"

Del Sarlette gets his last haircut from Dave Evenson.

A song can be inspired by the most mundane things. A simple barber shop can be fodder. And so we offer as an exhibit the Beatles' classic "Penny Lane." Barbers! Their cultural place seems in retreat.
We're in quite the gender-neutral age now. Our community of Morris is losing its last barber. People my age can offer up several names of barbers we remember here. My high school friend Scott Reese was the son of Bob Reese.
As we speak there's one barber in ol' Motown and it's Dave Evenson. And he's retiring and moving to sunny California. It's imminent. I'm told there was a big recognition gesture for him Sunday morning at my church of First Lutheran. Dave was feted at "coffee hour." Coffee lubricates the social life of Scandinavia, of which Dave is a proud member in spirit, as he even uses the Norwegian tongue with people out and around. He'll share a cheery "good day" in Norwegian.
It is delicate to announce that we're losing the last of our barbers. I was asked to suggest text for a mayoral proclamation. Immediately I felt discomfort and it's for the reason I cited earlier: we live in a gender-neutral culture, so why should we view "barber Dave" as distinct from the females who are professional haircutters? In theory we should not.
So is it "politically incorrect" to talk about the town "losing its last barber?" I of course think it's harmless. Beware the P.C. police on this. Honoring Dave is not going to hurt the so-called "cosmetologists," a term that seems confined to females.
You might say we should all just "lighten up." Well, I don't know.
 
A personal hiatus from church
I should have been in church Sunday but I have stayed away because of some issues. Some people seem to think the church sanctuary is a nursery on Sunday morning. First Lutheran has gone through some decline spasms. Having two ELCA churches in town means you have to choose one over the other. Whichever one you choose, members of the other might feel some resentment. Why get into that?
Better yet, why don't we have just one ELCA church in town?
The ELCA became controversial because of the gay rights issue where our proud synod ended up choosing inclusiveness, love and bridging the gap. There is a whole new Lutheran church just outside of town that rejects those things.
I have an issue with Martin Luther having been such a terrible anti-Semite. You think Ilhan Omar is an anti-Semite? (Well, I don't view her that way.) Strange how we develop our attitudes. Some evangelicals are starting to talk about Donald Trump like they think he's sent by God. This might be enough to get me to reject Christianity for the rest of my life. Where will I go? Few people will care, I guess.
 
"A barber showing photographs"
So we have the great "Penny Lane" song from the Beatles when they were at the height of their powers. "Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs of every head he's had the pleasure to know." I was struck by that because I have always heard the line as ". . .pleasure to have known." The "to know" version seems most accepted, but I have found evidence that I am not alone. Listening carefully to the recording is confounding.
Song lyrics are often difficult to understand with precision. I have studied the craft of songwriting and learned that clarity is in fact important. Sometimes the pros don't seem to care as much.
The song continues, "And all the people that come and go, stop and say 'hello.' " With Dave it would be in Norwegian. The song continues with the most routine observations. Of course the melody was a real selling point.
Paul McCartney was sitting at a bus shelter when the seeds for the song were planted. He saw a barber shop with pictures of its clients. Penny Lane is a road in Liverpool, England. But the song specifically focuses on the Penny Lane bus station, now gone. The bus station was convenient for the Beatles when they were boys. It was a hub for getting around.
Ah, the trumpet part! That comes back to you readily, n'est-ce pas? You have noticed that it's not an ordinary-sounding trumpet. It's like the trumpet that used to open the William F. Buckley TV show "Firing Line." It's a piccolo trumpet! What a defining feature.
McCartney was watching the BBC when he saw "The New Philharmonica" perform a Bach work. McCartney decided he wanted to add the trumpet part. He approached the trumpet man, Dave Mason. George Martin had to get involved to musically "translate," as it were, and why was this? Mason "read music" the standard way while McCartney was on the pop side where the whole thing is more intuitive and instinctual. Mason needed his part written down as if it were a symphonic work. Martin was able to do this, and the rest is history.
John Lennon played piano and George Harrison the conga drum. There is no guitar. The lyrics include some "sexual slang" that I never picked up. Am I a rube?
In my own song, "When I'm at Target Field," on YouTube, my original version ended with a tag line that had the word "coaxed." My studio guy Frank Michels got back to me and shared concerns that the word would be heard as "cokes," I guess a drug reference. Sheesh. Within minutes I composed an alternate line, emailed it to him and he went to work.
I am probably more fascinated with the craft of songwriting than with journalism. Science cannot explain so much about what makes a song popular. It comes from a mysterious place.
"Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were intended for the Sergeant Pepper album. However, in light of Lennon's controversy over the "more popular than Jesus" comment, Capitol Records released the two songs as a single to right the boat. Lennon's comment was misunderstood. He was exasperated over how the Beatles were so popular when churches seemed pale by comparison. (BTW I have always hated "Strawberry Fields Forever.")
Penny Lane in Liverpool is named after James Penney, an 18th Century slave ship owner. And we thought we had problems with Lake Calhoun? The barber in the song is James Bioletti who was the Beatles' barber when they were kids. And, "the banker in the motor car?" Guess what? This was developed by McCartney for no other reason than he needed a rhyme! I have done that type of thing myself. Songwriters' secret. Even classic songs can have a throwaway line because of the need for prosody or rhyming.
I wonder if our barber Dave Evenson ever cut a celebrity's hair. Would he keep the locks as a souvenir? Well, at any rate we wish him and Yvonne a wonderful retirement in a place far away from Minnesota winters.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

What message to take from Shopko closing here?

All over but the crying

Someday we'll all remember where we were, when we heard Shopko was closing. Maybe it's not a big deal. If it were a really big deal, there would be a business justification for keeping it open. Apparently there is not. So let's all just step aside and let the free market system work, right?
We have heard much about the whole "bricks and mortar" thing fading away, the idea that we shop at "stores." Or, at shopping malls. My, there was a time when the mall was at the apex of American culture - there was no more trendy place you could be. Today there's a haunting "Dead Malls" series on YouTube. I was at the Alexandria mall last summer. This was when Herberger's was hanging on with its going out of business sale. There was some activity on one end of the mall, whereas the rest was "dead." The Brass Lantern restaurant was hanging in there. It doesn't feel right to dine there now. I went across the street to Burger King.
Here in Morris we have sensed that Alexandria siphons away a lot of business activity. I have called it the "Hector phenomenon." The Star Tribune had a feature on Hector MN and how that town was on the ropes because of a cluster of big box stores a half hour's drive away. Alex is a 45-minute drive from Morris.
The Shopko building in Morris has a neat history. That place was a precursor to the "Wal Mart model." This is marked by a location away from the old standard "business district." I'm amused when getting close to a town and seeing a sign directing me to the "business district." As if the prime business activity was really concentrated there. And BTW why is it necessary for these roadside signs pointing to a particular church? It's visual pollution because I'm sure these signs never serve a useful purpose.
Our Shopko building started out as Gibson's. The old main street business people felt consternation. Here was a new business that was not a magnet for "main street" or the "business district." Free parking seemed revolutionary. So, it was a matter of time before it became necessary to remove the downtown parking meters. I suppose I'm in the shrinking circle of people who can remember parking meters and the meter attendants who would assess fines.
 
New store opened eyes
"Gibson's" was a real event when it opened in Morris. You could sense that something culturally significant was happening. Such a variety of things to buy under one roof. Not so much of a need to scurry to the variety of specialty stores any more. We called Gibson's a "discount store." Well, all things being equal, we certainly prefer lower prices, don't we? The "discount store" term faded so we came to just call the store by its name. Gibson's was retired and Pamida took over. Pamida had a long history with a black mark toward the end: horrendous potholes in the parking lot. "Somebody finally got hurt" because of that, a friend told me one day.

Nice while it lasted

The pothole situation got addressed when Shopko came to the rescue. The quality of merchandise seemed better but with prices somewhat higher, if that's a tradeoff you approved of. I found the store agreeable though I'm a low-consumption person. It may not have been a true "big box store" but it was close to being big.
I found these stores risky to visit because you could get chased down by someone wanting to check your receipt. This happened to me at Fleet Farm in Alexandria once. I had made an impulse purchase of a DVD (of old TV commercials). My parents and I were heading across the parking lot when an employee wearing an orange shirt chased us down. The DVD had tripped off some sort of alarm. I fished out the receipt and showed it to this person, who I presume took no pleasure in having this job. Of course the DVD was paid for. I don't recall her apologizing.
Later I fantasized about how I could have blocked her return to the store and demanded to be taken to someone in management who could apologize to me. But discretion is the better part of valor, if that's the proper expression.
Obviously I became less enthused about ever visiting Fleet Farm again. Oh, and subsequent to that I purchased a DVD as part of a visit to Pamida here in Morris. I heard a little beep as I went out the door. I turned and looked back at the employee who had checked me out. He almost seemed to be anticipating my look, and he instantly just waved for me to go on out. These experiences are traumatic. I don't buy DVDs or CDs any more because tech has advanced to where I get all my entertainment from my laptop.
I read recently that people exiting these stores can now get intercepted on the way out, not by someone who suspects theft but by someone who wants to check your receipt to make sure you got all the proper discounts. Still, I don't want the trauma of being "jumped" while I exit. So I have tended to avoid these outfits. Or, I will limit my purchase to 3-4 items which I can clearly verify with my receipt before I attempt to exit.
I personally will not miss Shopko at all. A young family would be more apt to miss it.
 
Town's complexion changing
What is happening to Morris? I live across the field from the old Sunwood Inn, where on many days I notice either no cars in the parking lot or maybe 2-3. There's a "for sale" sign in front of Northern Impressions. Anything going on there? Shopko will soon be a "ghost" building I guess. As for the old Heartland Motors location, in the same general vicinity, my understanding is that it was purchased by Superior. Well congratulations, but that place has the look of being vacated. It would be nice if Superior could at least slap a sign on it.
All these vacated-looking properties: are they going to start giving the impression of Morris being blighted? Look out, it could be coming. What's with the big long new service road going to the east of Grandstay? What could possibly be envisioned for that? As we see the bricks and mortar model for business steadily fading? There was a rumor for a time that Pizza Ranch was going to re-locate there. No dice, I guess.
A friend of mine who works at UMM commented recently that Morris could use another restaurant. I have maintained for a long time that Morris lost something special with the closing of the restaurant known in its later years as Ardelle's. Before that it was Kelly's and before that the Del Monico. It was a nice standard restaurant with American fare - no, I'm not prejudiced in saying that. Prices acceptable for the common folks. Well-lit and no alcohol. A nice meeting room with piano even. And it's just gone. Shopko is gone.
You might joke with me that there's no pool hall either. I don't know, what does "community" mean any more? It just means something fundamentally different, and I'm just not catching up with it.
We hear that Stone's Throw Cafe, what I'd call the hippie place, is starting a "Go Fund Me" page. Isn't that akin to requesting donations? Not sure that's consistent with the purpose but if it's legal, well. I shared this report with a DeToy's employee who said: "We don't need to do that because we have customers."
"Far out," a hippie would say.
Our only barber in town is retiring. No successor. No more Prairie Pioneer Days as a summer event - that's just as shocking as the death of the American shopping mall.
I think I first noticed a trend toward declension with the cancellation of the Morris community Thanksgiving meal. Why was that allowed to just die? Oh I've heard excuses to be sure. Well if there were problems, deal with them. Just like with PPD.
The retreat of such things in our community is such, I'm wondering whether we'll even be celebrating the Sesquicentennial. I remember the Centennial in 1971 being such a grand and glorious event. I guess Morris was much more of a "people" place then.
I recently shared concern with a friend that Bank of the West might close its Morris branch. The staff turnover gets me to wondering. It seems half that building has been emptied out - there are vacated desks. What's up with that? What happened to Jim Mahoney? Last time I was in the building, not one person knew who I was. I have lived in Morris since 1960. My personal opinion of Bank of the West is that it's a lot like Wells Fargo. Surmise what you want from that. "Corporate bank." Anyway, I shared my feelings with a friend via email and got this response:
 
I don’t think Bank of the West would shut down – they’re just a branch of a large institution, so I’m sure their overhead is less than a locally owned bank. Good question on what business is next. Paul Lesmeister is retiring and closing his shop in April, Joe Lembcke’s garage will never reopen. Is there anyone in the Eul family to take over the hardware store? I never see anyone in there younger than Tim, Rob or Kathy. (Cindy or her hubby don’t seem to be around there any more.) One has to kind of wonder about Design Electronics (nee Radio Shack), as that’s the kind of place Amazon or Best Buy.com would hurt. But, whenever I go in there there never seems to be enough help to take care of waiting customers, so they must be doing OK - for now. The writing appears to be on the wall for Stone’s Throw. Too bad the new owners couldn’t capitalize on the business Bela did – maybe they shoulda just continued the Italian motif instead of trying something new. 

 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

"T.A.G. The Assassination Game" (1982) a cable nugget

Our family got HBO for free during the 1980s. It was the Ronald Reagan era. Certain movies got lots of exposure thanks to the '80s cable landscape. These could get re-run often. I guess these movies could not break through on the big screen. Some have fallen back into obscurity since that era.
The boundless online universe of today opens the door to re-discovery. It opens the door to nostalgia.
We could not have have dreamt in the '80s that we'd someday view certain aspects of the era as being so dated. A defining part of nostalgia is that we notice "the old way" of living. The '80s movies thus reveal various nuggets. Such as, people smoking like it's quite acceptable nearly anywhere. We notice rotary telephones and people working "switchboards." We notice the clunky manual typewriters.
We notice hippies, not just people with the superficial traits but real hippies. The Robert Carradine character creates a distraction by announcing a Grateful Dead concert. But the distraction doesn't work until he revises the announcement to "the free Grateful Dead concert." So Carradine creates his distraction to help the Linda Hamilton character. The "free" enticement causes a hippie in the T.A.G. game to exit the scene. "He's slow but he's good," Hamilton said. He had a white mouse pet/companion.
The movie gave Hamilton her first feature film starring role. She and Carradine had chemistry. But it was Bruce Abbott, as the bad guy, with whom Linda developed real-life chemistry. The two became married.
1982's "T.A.G. The Assassination Game" had the alternate title "Everybody Gets It In the End." Carradine would go on to "Revenge of the Nerds" in which he was much thinner, not that he's overweight in "T.A.G." You'd hardly need reminding of Hamilton's future fame/roles, yes "Terminator" alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger. I wonder how many "Terminator" viewers were reminded of "T.A.G."
Words can hardly describe my excitement discovering the movie in the online world over the weekend. So I took the nostalgia trip. One can scour the web further and find other '80s gems including "Super Fuzz" with the unforgettable Terence Hill and ubiquitous Ernest Borgnine.

Linda Hamilton in "T.A.G."

Watching "T.A.G.," we're transported into a world where no one makes a fuss about anyone smoking. Smoking is done casually and routinely.
I remember watching "T.A.G." back in the day and thinking it really captured the campus atmosphere of the times. To watch it now, the campus buildings seem old and utilitarian. And nobody cares. Everyone seems fundamentally content. To be more blunt, the young people don't come across as pampered or showered with amenities like the youth of today. Amenities? Well, let's consider the "climbing walls." The dormitories are plain Jane and who cares? Boomer generation kids were packed like sardines into those places.
 
It left an impression
I wouldn't be writing about "T.A.G." if it didn't have some real original spark. There are quirky characters, genuinely funny. This is juxtaposed with the serious plot element of murder.
OK there's a plausibility issue as so often emerges in movies. Maybe it's more serious here, as a sick individual cannot just use a firearm to kill a couple souls without serious issues of leaving evidence. There would be blood and the stench of a decaying corpse. Maybe 40 years ago we were more willing to give a pass on this kind of lapse. Might the lapse explain the movie's drop into obscurity?
Today's college students would do well to watch it and to notice the more mellow, less hurried or tense atmosphere. People seemed to just enjoy each other and react to each other sans all the electronic distractions of today.
The movie came out on VHS in the early '80s but copies are hard to find. What's the deal? Who owns the rights? So much budding young talent, e.g. Xander Berkley, Kristine DeBell, Michael Winslow and Forest Whitaker. Yes, we see "The Last King of Scotland!"
The musical score was an important part of the appeal for me. Here the credit goes to Craig Safan who gives us a theme that smacks of Peter Gunn, jazzy and even with a little "scream" trumpet.
Only cable TV consumers of the '80s would remember "T.A.G. The Assassination Game." Let's also consider "Eddie and the Cruisers" in the same light, indeed. Maybe "Eddie" is the best example of a movie that only found its footing with the burgeoning cable TV landscape. "Eddie" in its various iterations or releases was destined to fail on the big screen, this despite the big following it attracted. It even spawned a sequel. "Eddie II" was hammered by critics but when I finally saw it, by accident on - you guessed it - cable TV, I found it to be rather OK. Ah, the vicissitudes of entertainment. Remember, the Three Stooges found a whole new heyday thanks to "kiddie TV" of the 1950s.
 
Idyllic vision of the "press"
Part of the appeal of "T.A.G." for me, was that the heroic Carradine played a reporter. I'll theorize that this was a continuation of the Woodward/Bernstein thing, immortalized in "All the President's Men." We saw this is the Roy Scheider helicopter movie "Blue Thunder" too. Come to think of it, "Blue Thunder" was another '80s cable TV item. Scheider with Candy Clark. (I always had a hard time watching Scheider after "Marathon Man" for reasons I shouldn't have to explain.)
In "Blue Thunder" Scheider works with a TV reporter to expose government corruption! I must say as a former Fourth Estate person myself, writers had a far more exclusive position in our society then. Tell people you're a "reporter" and they got excited and deferred to you! You're special. Oh I'm serious, that's the way it was. Barely a hint of that is sensed anymore in the digital world. Today we create our own platforms and reach our desired audience, each and every one of us. We all "type" whereas in pre-digital times, typing skills were rare and associated with the feminine gender.
So, Carradine plays a reporter for the college newspaper, an entitled position that seems even to impress Hamilton. He writes for a paper because where else would he write? People's offices have a dingy look with piles of paper around because that's how we did business then. An office was a place where a lot of tedious work got done. No option of seeking a little online-based entertainment now and then.
Watching the movie today, I'm amazed at how I could anticipate certain lines as if not a day had passed! Should I be surprised? Hamilton turns to Carradine at one point and says "got that?"
Let's note that like all fine movies, the movie gives us symbolism and metaphors. Two of these make an impression IMHO. Carradine notes that Hamilton's interest in the T.A.G. game parallels how she approaches romance/relationships, like it's a game. Casual, take it or leave it. Carradine is able to push past her facade and make an impression.

We learn that the bad guy character once got psychologically devastated by finishing second in something. It was a music competition. First place had tons or rewards and second had essentially nothing. The guy internalized the message of "winning is everything." He extrapolated this to the game of T.A.G., a campus fad that involves dart guns. It's an elaborate hobby that has a supervisor with office, one of those quirky characters. It's hard to describe here. We see a game player who is a funny oddball and does sound effects.
 
The heroic mantle of writers/reporters
At one point a character is suspicious that Carradine is out to do an "expose." This is Watergate-borne commentary. Reporters were out there trying to ensure that forces of good prevailed. Today we have a president of the U.S. who rails about "fake news" and gets legions of admirers.
In "T.A.G." we see students at a raucous campus dance, enjoying a group performing "Born Dead." The movie pulls its viewers into an authentic campus setting of the '80s throughout. Fortunately the humor seems to prevail over the grim tone. The romance is plausible.
We see Carradine as hero at the end not with his typewriter but with his gun. The bad guy is dispatched.
The movie probably has the effect of making Hamilton look older in her later roles. Might this be a reason the movie seems to have disappeared? "T.A.G." would not have been the same with any other actress. She was wonderful. The opening is a perfect takeoff on .007 movies. An ingenue with a come hither look - it appears not to be Hamilton - is juxtaposed with images of a guy brandishing a pistol. Perfect. A guy gets cornered and shot in the opening scene, but the scene ends with levity as we see it's merely a rubber dart! The victim says "shit." Then we get the rousing big band theme, without which this movie wouldn't be the same either.
It all makes me feel like I'm once again in my late 20s or early 30s. I gave not a thought to Medicare back then. I ran an occasional 10K. Gee, maybe I could do it again, just by being whisked back in time by a movie? No. Nor can we get a classy gentleman back in the office of the president just by wishing. No, instead we have something else.
Ronnie Reagan, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you.
"T.A.G. The Assassination Game" was directed by Nick Castle. The movie has value just because it was a stepping stone for so much young talent. Yet it seems gone into the ether. What's the deal? Naturally the Internet can be the hero in all this, so today I can practically get misty watching it again, whoever put it there. Bless you.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Admissions scandal shows money is honey, indeed

A Minnesotan will describe the college admissions scandal as a "heckuva deal." Remember the book by Howard Mohr? "How to Speak Minnesotan?" We're in another of those times where, due to a bombshell news report, we might hear the comment out and around. "Man, the college admissions scandal, that's a heckuva deal, isn't it?"
The comment is in line with reserved Scandinavians: it indicates that we are following the news, paying attention, but we're not going to offer an opinion. It's risky to offer an opinion. Not that Minnesotans are averse to forming opinions - quite to the contrary - we just want to maintain a reserved face.
How might Scandinavians or anyone else form an opinion about the admissions scandal? I feel moved to react as someone who has made a financial gesture to UMM on behalf of my family. My deceased parents were synonymous with the U of M. Dad got his undergraduate degree from the U, taught at the U's St. Paul School of Agriculture in the 1950s, and then of course came to Morris to work hard launching our UMM. Mom worked on campus for many years and got the Martelle Award.
Me? I was a passive onlooker. I had lots of contact through my involvement with the Morris newspaper, owned by the family that has emerged as prime UMM benefactors: the Morrisons. I felt a sense of obligation to make a like gesture, given my parents' background. Let me put it this way: if it weren't for the Morrisons' gesture, most likely I would not have made one in the name of the Williams. A photo of my father directing music is across the hallway from the art gallery named for the Morrisons.
 

Clyde Johnson

Keeping up with the Johnsons too?
Through the years we got solicitations for the Clyde Johnson Scholarship Fund. I had feelings tugging at me that the Williams ought to be active in the same way. Dad and Clyde were the early prime movers in UMM music. My father was the music founder and the only music faculty in UMM's first year. All those glorious concerts were at Edson Auditorium. The auditorium is now part of an entity (?) that has the Morrison name.
For a while I thought maybe things were getting overdone with the Morrison name out there.
I was clueless about the trend of money from private sources - hell, from any sources - really taking over. Well, you might argue that of course money is essential. So yes, I'm not naive, it's just that for most of my life I subscribed to the idea that public colleges were simply funded by government in a consistent way. What do I know? So when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
I have contributed $ in my family's name and I'll likely contribute more. This will certainly happen when I croak but it could happen sooner. And, will I suggest a little more family recognition? Well maybe. Maybe it would be another framed photo display somewhere. All these things are negotiable, what we are learning in spades with the college admissions scandal. Such a "heckuva deal," eh?
"Money's honey, my dear sonny, and a rich man's joke is always funny." I learned that from Mad Magazine when I was a kid. It was a caption under a photo that showed Nelson Rockefeller with some well-heeled friends in suits and ties, yucking it up. I remember when Rockefeller, old Scrooge McDuck, had a press conference to announce his proposal for a "lottery" for military conscription. What he and so many other politicians deserved at that time was a robust retort of "f--k you." As much as Donald Trump comes across as a dangerous clown, he hasn't done anything even remotely as bad as promoting military conscription for a tragic war like Vietnam.
 

Complicated background
I recently had the opportunity to have our family fund be subject for an article in the U of M's "Legacy" magazine. I initially felt enthusiasm and said I'd be happy to do anything that helps the U of M.
On the other side of the coin, there are various stuffed-shirt community leaders in Morris, if not present then former, who would not like seeing my name in connection with a prestige U publication.
There was a time in our community's history when I clashed with a very powerful local labor union: the public school teachers. This reached a head in the late 1980s. To this day I stick with the opinions that I had.
Clashing with a powerful union can be dangerous. A union will fight you by any means they can think of, like promoting a meme that you are hopelessly stupid. I faced this in spades. There were orchestrated efforts to ruin me. The contrary elements toward me got a new person hired at the Sun Tribune, although I ended up outlasting that person at the place. That person had a spouse who was a division head at UMM. But then, that marriage became dissolved.
Your "creds" can be so important in this town. Me, all I had was my commitment to honest journalism, a passion for the whole craft and for life in general.
My parents owed everything they had to the U of M. My personal feelings don't reflect that kind of bond because I'm skeptical of higher education in general. I'm skeptical about public spending for education at all levels. Despite recent puffy pronouncements for the State University system ("Minnesota State"), in which we hear the cliche testament about education being so doggone important, we should cut back some. We should look at closing one or more of these institutions. We need to ignore the cliches.
We hear that high schools might be given a pass for canceling school days due to the weather. As if the kids are actually going to be hurt if they miss a few days of school. Preposterous. The issue here is really funding: if "x" amount of tax dollars are allocated for each day of school, isn't it problematic to outright cancel some days? I have suggested that taxpayers get a rebate check like in the days of Jesse Ventura.
Why don't we just cancel half the whole school year? Or, if we really want to apply common sense, let's re-structure the school calendar to reflect reality: have six weeks vacation in winter, beginning a week before Christmas, and have the other six weeks of vacation in summer. I've been told that teachers would recoil at this, that they would want consecutive vacation time. Teachers are always an irritating distraction.
 
"Almost" a magazine article
I cooperated with the U of M's "Legacy" publication to a great degree, we just didn't reach the finish line. What I did, was I typed an email to the Legacy writer that included everything I could think of in connection to the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. So at that point all systems were go.
But when I was then requested to take part in an interview, I had to withdraw. There are people out there who, when noting any quote coming from yours truly in a U of M publication, will be so sensitive, so eager to portray me as a "dumb s--t" and to use other expletives when doing so - this is part of their nature - I could not continue.
I'm sorry Mom and Dad, but I have to live with reality back here on Earth.
 
A special-interest network
The public school teachers had affinity with UMM people because, they were in the same profession and were unionized also.
If you ever want to kill off giving to UMM, just allow another employee strike on campus with people and their placards on the outskirts. Motorists would drive by and honk their horns in a seemingly approving way - hogwash, most of these motorists probably wanted to cuss out the strikers. If all those strikers could be away from their jobs for so long, are their jobs even necessary?
Maybe the U of M doesn't need our money. Just find some obscenely rich celebrities and get them to dump money on you, in exchange for just letting their kids get through and get their prestigious degree. Maybe the kids wouldn't even have to attend class. Unethical? Well I suppose, but I wonder if this even matters anymore, today when we have a "grifter in chief" in the White House.
I don't think the road to heaven is paved with money. But then again, I have always been an outlier. I stick with my views.
 
Addendum: I was viscerally attacked by a teacher when I was in high school. Steve Poppe was there. Even at that young age I was probably starting to give the impression that I was a contrarian toward the teachers. So the teacher had his power in that moment. Years later I would enter the media and find I had my own power. Fair enough? John Stossel went through the same thing. He recalled being bullied when a kid, so when he got to work with a camera in the media years later, he found he could "turn the camera back on the bullies." Fair enough.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tigers to play Redwood Valley for #1 in 3AA-North

Ah, the weather
High school hoops helps counter the "down" mood resulting from the weather of late, wouldn't you say? Yours truly just got home after walking to and from town this a.m. (Sunday). I'm just going to neglect the driving until the springtime conditions come. They have to come soon, don't they?
I got downtown and found the snowed-in conditions to be worse than what I expected. DeToy's was closed. That was going to be my sanctuary this morning. I figured the old mainstay Willie's would be open. And yes it was. It was amusing to see the snow removal guy in the lot try to find places to dump snow as he opened up parking spaces. We are running out of space to deposit snow, n'est-ce pas? And it's a heavy snow this morning. It probably challenges the snow blowers. A friend reminds me that it's "heart attack snow." So I'm not going to shovel.
The snow is at present no impediment for yours truly 'cause I'm walking to and from town. Should be acceptable - I did the Twin Cities Marathon three times in the 1980s. Yes, my age is starting to get up there. My next birthday will be my Medicare birthday. Incidentally I had my breakfast at Caribou Coffee at Willie's. I was outraged at the prices. I had two biscuits and coffee. And for one dollar less, even considering the tip at DeToy's, I could have gotten their breakfast special of two eggs, sausages, toast, hash browns and coffee. And to think we used to get free coffee at Willie's.
 
Tigers 55, Minnewaska Area 50
OK so now it's on to a more fun subject for March: basketball. Unfortunately we're having to travel to Willmar. Don't you miss the days when we played so many games at UMM? Our boys hoops Tigers will play at Willmar on Monday night - it's the sub-section title game. This game could also be called the section semis. We're in 3AA. The game was supposed to have been played Saturday. Weather unleashed its fury. Hey it's mid-March, isn't it? Enough already.
Jaret Johnson was a standout for MACA in our win over rival Minnewaska Area. Johnson poured in 24 points. He connected three times from 3-point range in the Tigers' 55-50 win over the Lakers. The game might have seemed too close for comfort. The score was tied at halftime. The Tigers haven't exactly been burning the nets in first half play. We were behind at halftime in our game vs. ACGC. Well, we outscored the Lakers 32-27 in the second half.
Our win was No. 18. 'Waska ends its season with 18 wins too. In our previous game vs. Minnewaska, during the regular season, the Tigers were so dominant, the refs called for "running time" toward the end. But consider also that in these teams' first matchup this season, we lost. How to make sense of all this? What matters now is that we won in the playoffs, and now we're getting ready to face Redwood Valley Monday at Willmar.
Camden Arndt contributed 13 points to the winning effort Thursday. Jackson Loge cooled off considerably from the ACGC game - this time he had seven points. Durgin Decker put in eight. Jaden Maanum contributed three. Maanum and Decker each made a '3' to complement Johnson's three successes from long-range. Arndt and Loge each grabbed eleven rebounds while Johnson had eight. Arndt with his five assists led there. Maanum executed three assists. Johnson stole the ball three times.
The Lakers had two players in double figures: Grant Jensen (22 points) and Shawn Carsten (11). Here's the rest of their scoring list: Jack Blevins 7, Ryan Amundson 5, Austin Ver Steeg 3 and Luke Barkeim 2. 'Waska had a fair amount of success in 3-pointers led by Carsten who made two. These Lakers each made one: Blevins, Jensen, Amundson and Ver Steeg.
The Willmar paper quoted Jaret Johnson. A major reason I quit the Morris paper was management's expectation, expressed in writing, that I get quotes from student athletes, presumably on a frequent basis. I didn't see much of a point in doing this, and I'd feel uncomfortable doing this.
How will the travel conditions be for the Monday night game? Fans will have to drive home after dark. I'm glad I'm not obligated to make such trips, sorry. Have a good time.
 

Dave Evenson (from sr. perspective)

End of an era
Dave Evenson came into Willie's while I was there this morning (Sunday). All good things must come to an end, and the clock is ticking toward Barber Dave's retirement.
As of now we can't expect anyone replacing him as Morris barber. I plan on seeing him later this month with his retirement imminent, to get a haircut in which I'll ask him to make it real short. So, I can live with that haircut for a long time. I may eventually attack my hair with a pair of scissors.
And then after that? When I finally feel I need to see a hair cutter again? Probably I'll have to see a female cosmetologist. I haven't done that for a number of years. And when I get sat down and she applies the apron, I'll keep my hands outside of it and say "OK, I'll keep my hands where you can see them." That's a light-hearted reference to an event from Morris history, the kind of event that will not be preserved by the Stevens County Historical Society. Ah, there's all kinds of interesting characters in Mayberry, isn't there?
- Brian Williams, morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" was contrarian tome

(Note: It is coincidence that I am posting this on Jim Bouton's birthday, March 8. A friend just gave me the heads-up. We wish J.B. well on this day, at a time when he's dealing with serious health issues.)
 
How to explain the book "Ball Four" to young people of today? I guess it's like trying to explain the "Gong Show." The Gong Show had nothing in common with the talent shows on TV today, except in the most superficial way. If it wasn't a true talent show, then what was it? Ahem. That is a very difficult, or rather uncomfortable, question to answer. 
A book like "Ball Four" had to come along at that stage of our cultural history. The literary world was champing at the bit. (I guess it's "champing" and not "chomping.") 
Again I rather grope trying to explain all this. People my age are not proud trying to explain the deconstructionist wave that permeated so much of our culture back around 1970. What fed into this? Good question. 
We can cite the Vietnam war which tragically escalated partly because the journalism establishment in the U.S. was too compliant with government. Once the veneer of fraud was peeled away, there was a wellspring of anger. It colored my youth. It haunts me and many of my age. 
I've been to our local school and seen a poster that encourages kids to, among other things, follow directions, i.e. respect authority. The whole push to get the U.S. extricated from Vietnam required rejection of the respect/authority model. It was instilled in me so strongly, I probably could have used a deprogrammer eventually. 
I digested Jim Bouton's book "Ball Four" like so many young fans, mostly male. The book was an in-your-face rejection of the traditional sports book or sports biography. It showed human beings with none of their weaknesses stripped away. It seemed to revel in human failings and how our behavior can disappoint us. Mickey Mantle? He wasn't the Greek god type of soul that we may have felt he was. But did we really feel that? Maybe that in itself is myth. 
Again, "Ball Four" was deconstructionist in spades. It was hailed as a revolutionary sports book. It opened the door for imitators. Our heroes were exposing their navel, just as the Gong Show did on TV. Isn't life difficult and depressing? (And yes it's "navel" not "naval.")
 
And our elders just carried on
I'm sure the older generation was puzzled by the contrarian stuff. Puzzled and rather dismissive, I feel. "Oh, isn't that cute?" They wouldn't want to pay any mind, not after all they had been through with the Depression and World War II. They indulged their boomer kids. They put up with the annoying loud rock music. They did so with hardly a comment, yet they wouldn't choose to listen to this if you paid them. I don't think there was anything revelatory about human nature in "Ball Four" for them. They might be amused. Frankly, I think they'd shrug and just move on to other things. "Isn't that cute?" 
I was 15 years old in 1970. There was a wave of publicity about Ball Four in the media. The book gained attention due to complaints it was getting from the baseball establishment. We heard from people like Tony Kubek, the former Yankee on NBC's "Game of the Week." Kubek was confrontational with Bouton in an interview. I think Kubek realized this was the side of the fence he had to be on, if he knew what side his bread was buttered on. So much ado about small potatoes. 
For sure, "Ball Four" developed a cult-like devotion among a generation of male baseball fans who can today quote a lot of the potty-type humor from the book. The book was written in a time when excess consumption of alcohol was considered mature and amusing. 
I'd almost be embarrassed trying to explain Ball Four to a young person of today. The old deconstructionist template has had a stake driven through its heart.
What was the old cynicism like? I remember the movie "Bridge at Remagen," set in WWII but with an attitude about war cultivated during Vietnam. A soldier in a jeep is approached by a superior who says "you don't want the Russkies to beat us to Berlin, do you?" The guy in the jeep with an air of withdrawal says "think I should care?" A young person might be perplexed seeing this scene today. But such an air of shoulder-shrugging was common back around 1970. 
"Think I should care?" Maybe that defined the zeitgeist. 
It's important to me because it affected me. I enthusiastically digested "Ball Four." For better or worse I can quote a lot of the potty humor stuff. No need for me to show off doing that. 
Bouton dissed the traditional type of sports biography, the type that had the subject answer proper questions into a tape recorder. Then the author would tell the story in a sanitized way. Bouton and his fans would sneer at that. I'm of no mind to sneer today. I can understand both types of sports books, the proper kind and the more irreverent. I'm not stupid and I can understand there's always an underbelly to sports stories. Human nature is a given. 
A little of the deconstructionist stuff is not harmful. "Ball Four" just reveled in it too much. 
  

Yes, it could have been a case of bitterness
A high school friend of mine, Joe LaFave, summed up Ball Four by observing "Bouton was bitter." That assessment floats back into my mind now. Why? Here's what I think: Bouton's ability to pitch well in the majors gave him his greatest happiness in life. I don't think he has ever found a substitute for it. 
I suspect he'd try to deny that. He loved being a contrarian. But when he developed a sore arm after 1964, I think it devastated his psyche. You can tell reading Ball Four that Bouton reveled in being part of the Yankee glory. When his arm failed him - such a common thing to happen to pitchers then - he could see how he was getting put on the scrap heap, that no one cared about him in the same way anymore. Yes he was disposable. I think he was profoundly hurt. In many ways I cannot blame him. 
Surely these ballplayers entered their profession with the knowledge that the whole thing could well be meteoric, that there was hardly any guarantee they'd make the majors at all. Bouton crept in there and was in the spotlight to win two World Series games in 1964. He represented the Big Apple no less. Up there with Mantle. The Yankees of '60 through '64 took on an almost fairy tale-like quality. We sense this watching the Billy Crystal movie "61*." The Phil Linz harmonica incident had reach and gravitas (?), trivial though it was. 
Boomer boys were looking for idols as boys always do. Bouton's stardom ended ignominiously with a sore arm. Ah the pathos of our human experience. 
 
Ode to a conflicted guy
I'm pleased to have written a song about Jim Bouton. It could be called simply "Jim Bouton" or "Ballad of Jim Bouton." It's a strophic melody with two parts. I'm pleased to share the lyrics here. 
We feel for Bouton as his health issues seem to be mounting. Let's hope he copes as best he can. He is living in more idealistic times now. Kids need the old cynicism explained to them. It needs to be yanked from a time capsule.
History can repeat itself, oh yes it can.  
  
"Jim Bouton"

By Brian Williams

His name was Jim Bouton

And pitching was his game

For the pinstripe crew

Quite the winning brew

But it was not baseball

That got him so much fame

It was what he wrote so true

The life of a player was not so neat

The grass was not green everywhere

He wrote in his diary for all to read

The players were people laid bare

He bathed in the credo 
Of "give it all you've got" 
Throwing with such force
Knocking down the door

So hard was his fastball 
His cap would come right off

He is part of Yankees lore

He was in the limelight with Whitey Ford

The Yankees of yore we all loved

They played under Yogi in '64

And shone with their bats and their gloves

He soaked in the springtime

With newness in the air

Workouts in the South

Get the cobwebs out

As fans watched and wondered

Just how their team would fare

Bouton had his fastball down

And yet it is fleeting when your star shines

You'd better enjoy while you can

So Jim had his moments to seize the prize

To win all the love of the fans

He pitched in the Series

When Yankees were on top

Mantle in the groove

Maris in there too

And Jim had to figure

It would not ever stop

Optimism only grew

But fame can be fleeting for everyone

As even the Yankees would learn

And though they retreated from No. 1

Their image stayed classy for sure

So now Jim was seeing

His fortunes not so bright

Having to admit

Aging bit by bit

His arm was not able

To give him those great times

It was not his style to quit

So Jim found the savvy to find his course

Without any horsehide at hand

He found as a writer a whole new force

And "Ball Four" projected his brand

So then he got famous

For being just a scribe

He was in the news

With insightful views

He wrote of the grand game

With stories not denied

Of the escapades and booze

And though we loved Mickey with no restraint

We knew he was not a Greek god

The book only showed us his common strain

It really should not have seemed odd

So Jim had the ticket

To keep his baseball fame

How we loved "Ball Four"

Candid to the core

But don't you imagine

If he could have his way

He'd be on the mound once more

He saw the illusion that baseball sold

Of making the players out-sized

So Bouton portrayed them like mortal souls

So we knew they all laughed and cried

He pitched for the Pilots

In their brief history

So far from the Bronx

Far from those horn honks

The fans in Seattle

Could see the big league teams

With enjoyment they all watched

And Jim liked the city aside from sports

He talked of the art galleries

The team was expansion, a long-shot horse

So it came and went like a breeze

He pitched in the minors

Vancouver was the place

Mounties was their name

There in Triple-A

And then he was vaulted

Into a pennant race

It was like the good old days

So he was in Houston to feel the love

The Astros were playing with style

With Jim and his knuckler they made their run

And surely they made the fans smile

And when it was over

His work had just begun

Going through his notes

All the things he wrote

He went on a mission

To tell it like it was

Players are just normal folks

He saw all the pathos and broken dreams

Of players who would rise and fall

And yet there was laughter behind the scenes

So live for the moment, you all

His name was Jim  Bouton
And pitching was his game


- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

 Jim with the Pilots, '69 (image from pinterest)