Three Beautiful Things 05/05/07: Uncle Bill, Jbelle, Essays

1. I know very little about Dad's older brother, Bill, killed in the Pacific theater during WWII. Walt Gaby sent me this tender and heart-warming story about my uncle today:

Your Uncle Bill also worked for the Kellogg Reminder. Among other things, he ran a printing press in the basement – the kind where one had to feed one paper at a time as the ink roller moved up and down over the type face. My father’s haberdashery and tailor shop was right next door. The wall between the two basements was nothing more than vertical slabs of wood – often with a one inch space in between. I had a small room on my side where I spent millions of hours building model airplanes – Bill and the printing press was right on the other side of the wall. The great pleasure for me was that I could hear Bill singing as he worked – most often a song entitled Maria Elena.

2. Jbelle and I chatted on gmail today and when the world awakens tomorrow it should find all of its problems solved. It wasn't that hard, really. Jbelle did most of the heavy lifting, I'll admit.

3. My students' papers on Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild and the American Dream and the American Spirit were stellar, a pleasure to read and comment on.