Jimmy had always been a loser. In every aspect of life, he did not succeed. He always bought 50-50 raffle tickets, scratch offs and lottery tickets. None of them were ever winners, not even a dollars’ worth. He never won the girl or got lucky. He worked a dead end job and still lived in… Read More He Won The Sweepstakes
There used to be a family joke about being duct taped in a chair and fed oatmeal when we became old…Ernest Cline: If Nostradamus Were A Guidance Counselor, from the book The Importance of Being ErnestThen they’ll stick your generic ass in some tomb of a retirement community where you’ll live out the remainder of… Read More Ernest Cline; If Nostradamus Were A Guidance Counselor, from the book The Importance of Being Ernest
For whimsical, intense Pinup portraits, the master is Gil Elvgren. His work adds a sense of wholesomeness to the model. His depictions of the female form are fantastic.Gillette A. Elvgren (March 15, 1914 – February 29, 1980) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago.His work with… Read More Gil Elvgren – Painter
Roscoe Vanzandt – Union HeroOn February 1, 1937, the motor line at Flint Chevrolet Plant Number 4 was running, producing motors for General Motors. Just after 3:30 pm, as the afternoon shift ramps up, Kermit Johnson and a handful of other Union supporters begin running down the line. As they go, they instruct the men… Read More Roscoe Vanzandt – Union Hero
The General Baptist Denomination in Flint MichiganAs you drive around Genesee County today there is no want for Cannabis businesses. Almost every street corner seems to have a store or grow facility. This was not the case when I was growing up. Flint during the 1950s to the 1980s was filled with Coney Islands, Banks… Read More The General Baptist Denomination in Flint Michigan
Alfred Cheney Johnston (April 8, 1885 – April 17, 1971) is one of my most favorite, if not my favorite photographer. My eye for art has always been drawn to the female figure and the graceful curves that God graced them with. Alfred was the photographer for the Ziegfeld Follies. The Follies were presentations on… Read More Alfred Cheney Johnston – Photographer
Alfred P Sloan – A Friend to No OneI recently wrote a poem about the 1936 Sit-Down strike in Flint, Michigan and I began to wonder about the man who was president of General Motors at the time. Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr. (May 23, 1875 – February 17, 1966) became president of General Motors in… Read More Alfred P Sloan – A Friend to No One
The Yellow HouseUntil I was about five, a family of multiple children lived next door. Their house was a poor kept, two-bedroom bungalow with no basement. One of my earliest memories is of the children coming out of the house to play in the summer. They must have finished breakfast and their mother shooed them… Read More The Yellow House
Zigmund Warren arrived at Woodland Elementary in 1967. He transferred from another school and began to attend the third grade with me. His parents I found out moved him because of the enormous amount of teasing and bullying he was receiving.You might assume he was receiving ridicule because of his strange first name but actually… Read More Guys I Went to School with – Zigmund Warren
My maternal grandmother was a Crossman and a Cary. The Cary surname had been extensively documented back to 1170 to Adam DeKary. It has always been reported that he was the Master of Castle Kari in Somerset, England; some documentation puts him rather at Devon, England instead. (http://www.advsolutions.com/carey/castlecariresearch.htm.NOTE): Birth dates before the arrival of John… Read More Cary Family
Ramblings of an Old Coot 