Water Under the Bridge

Saturday, May 25, 2019

Reconciliation March 14, 2019

March 14, 2019

Reconciliation

As is frequently the case, a couple of different recent incidents have combined to get me interested in the concept of reconciliation. The first incident was the February edition of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall’s fine “Second Saturday Civil War Lecture Series”.

This presentation, entitled “The Meaning and Legacy of Gettysburg”, was made by a well-qualified Civil War historian, retired Air Force officer David Albert. One of the several concepts that he believes contribute to the long-term legacy of this sacred battleground is that of reunion.

It is well known that the battlefield was the site of regular reunions of men from both sides who fought in the battle, for many years. Mr. Albert exemplified this by showing a famous photograph of two grizzled veterans, one in Union blue and the other in Confederate gray, shaking hands in 1913, fifty years after the battle. It is not clear why this concept became so important at Gettysburg, but indeed the battlefield has become a symbol of reconciliation, the eventual healing of a great wound.

A week or so after attending this presentation I came across a 1958 newspaper clipping while researching for one of our workshops on the history of Bridgeville High School. It cropped up because one of my classmates, Raymond Sherp, was in a photograph accompanying the article.

At that time Raymond was a member of Edwin Peterson’s famed creative writing course at the University of Pittsburgh. In fact, he was one of four of Professor Peterson’s students who had placed among the top five winners of the Atlantic Monthly’s national short story competition.

I was surprised to see that one of the other students in the photograph was a young man named Paul Zolbrod. Could this be the same Paul Zolbrod I had met in the early 1950s? A very short Internet search confirmed that it was indeed the same person. In addition, I learned that Zolbrod had had a distinguished academic career at Pitt, followed by an equally distinguished career teaching English at Allegheny College.

I also found a video of a fairly recent interview of Dr. Zolbrod for the Veterans Breakfast Club, which includes numerous references to a novel he wrote about the Korean War, “Battle Songs”. I also learned that his military service paralleled mine. He was drafted seven months before me and he too served in Japan immediately after the Korean cease-fire was signed.

Obviously I had to read the book. It was written when he was a graduate student, but never published until 2007. Despite its obscurity I found it to be quite thought provoking; it is the March selection for our book club.

Zolbrod describes “Battle Songs” as a story of the Korean War in four movements. It documents the experience of four young men from Western Pennsylvania who are drafted early in the 1950s and end up in combat in Korea. The four movements refer to four different perspectives on war in general as personified in four different young men.

The first perspective is man’s inherent need for conflict, to show his superiority over his inferiors. The second perspective is man’s instinctive need to fight to protect his companions against their common enemies. The third perspective is the absolute horror and insanity of war.

The final perspective I found to be profound, the idea that the only way a combatant can overcome his guilt about participation in such an uncivilized activity is by reconciliation with his enemy. In “Battle Songs” the author exemplifies this by inventing a relationship between a noncombatant GI in Tokyo (like me or Zolbrod) and a bitter, badly injured survivor of Hiroshima.

This is not a new concept for me. In last week’s column I mentioned three books dealing with POW camps -- “The Unbroken”, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”, and “When Hell Froze Over”. In each of them the theme of reconciliation is highly emphasized.

Historically, reconciliation has an excellent track record. I recently heard Todd DePastino give a fine presentation on the conclusion of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles, which focused on punishment rather than reconciliation, virtually assuring the certainty of World War II. In contrast, our treatment of the defeated Axis powers after World War II has produced healthy nations that are among our strongest partners.

If reconciliation is such a powerful force for good, can we use it to resolve other longstanding problems? Our society is plagued by guilt trips for massive social injustices of the past – the Holocaust, slavery, and the uprooting of the Native Americans.

I try to distance myself from guilt regarding the Holocaust by the fact that my ancestors left Germany seven generations ago; nonetheless I share the genes of the Nazis. I have always claimed that none of my ancestors owned slaves and that they fought to free them. However recent information suggests that our assumed progenitor, Johann Georg Euler, did indeed have a plantation in New Jersey, complete with slaves. I never had much success avoiding responsibility for taking Pennsylvania from the Lenape and Seneca; certainly my ancestors were heavily involved in that venture.

I wish I believed that there was some way we could achieve reconciliation with these people. Somehow being resolved to treat them as equals isn’t enough. Perhaps reconciliation requires forgiveness by the offended party. I wonder what we can do to achieve that.

John McCain and "Faith of My Fathers" March 7, 2019

March 7, 2019

John McCain and “Faith of My Fathers”

On the final Sunday afternoon in February the Bridgeville Area Historical Society welcomed back Dr. John Aupperle for his annual visit and was rewarded by another informative and entertaining presentation.

Dr. Aupperle was profoundly impressed by the significance of Senator John S. McCain’s remarkable life when it was celebrated by his funeral and memorial service last summer. He then commented that he believed that history, rather than being a record of events, is the story of people and the way they affect events.

He reported that this got him wondering what influences combine to produce “difference-makers” and especially this specific unique individual. Being an avid reader of history and of human nature, he wisely decided to read “Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir”, the 1999 book McCain and Mark Salter wrote about the Senator’s life and heritage.

His presentation was a thoughtful review of this book and the conclusions he had reached when he extrapolated Senator McCain’s experiences to the much broader question.

The McCain family has a long history of military service, dating back to pre-Revolutionary War times. One of them was a member of Washington’s Staff during the Revolution. Another fought on the side of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

John S. McCain, the Senator’s grandfather, followed an undistinguished academic career at Annapolis with an assignment with the Great White Fleet on its famed world cruise from 1907 to 1909. He served on the cruiser San Diego escorting convoys in the North Atlantic during World War I.

Recognizing the potential for naval aviation he went to flight school at Pensacola, earning the distinction of being the oldest person (52) to earn his wings there. During World War II he served as Chief of Staff of the third fleet, as a four-star admiral and “Bull” Halsey’s right-hand-man.

John S. McCain, Jr., the Senator’s father, had an equally mediocre academic record at Annapolis, but quickly demonstrated his competence on active duty. He served on a submarine in the Pacific during World War II, then progressed upward through the ranks in a succession of responsible assignments.

By 1967 he was promoted to full (four-star) admiral, becoming part of the only father/son combination to reach that level. A year later President Lyndon Johnson named him Commander in Chief Pacific Command, in charge of all U. S. forces in Vietnam.

Five months earlier his son, the future Senator John S. McCain III, had been shot down in Vietnam and was imprisoned in Hanoi. Lieutenant Commander McCain spent five and a half years as a POW, many of them in solitary confinement. When his captors offered to release him as a propaganda move, he declined citing the Military Code of Conduct.

Dr. Aupperle did not dwell on McCain’s ordeal as a POW, except to highlight his efforts to retain his principles. The horror of Asian POW camps has been well documented in numerous books. Laura Hillenbrand’s story of Louis Zamperini’s ordeals, “The Unbroken”; Richard Flanagan’s novel “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”; and Dr. William Shadish’s powerful memoir, “When Hell Froze Over” tell us that McKain’s horrible experience and his strength in surviving it are not unique.

Following his repatriation in 1973, McCain resumed his career in the Navy. In 1977 he was appointed to the Navy’s Senate Liaison Office, an assignment he described as “my real entry into the world of politics and the beginning of my second career as a public servant".

Four years later he retired from the Navy and began a political career as a Congressman from Arizona, a career that included six terms as an extremely effective United States Senator and an unsuccessful attempt to run for President.

A widely reported incident from his failed campaign is indicative of his character. When a supporter encouraged him to say something negative about his opponent, he responded "No ma'am. He's a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues." In today’s political environment it is difficult to realize that happened only ten years ago.

Consequently we must add McCain’s name to a long list of distinguished public servants who wanted to be President and whom we rejected – Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, John Anderson, Robert Dole, etc.

Let me interrupt briefly to insert a trivia question. We know that Vietnam War POW John McCain ran for President. “What other Vietnam War POW ran for Vice President?”

Dr. Aupperle reported that, after considerable reflection, he had concluded that John McCain’s greatness came primarily from his family heritage, a synergism of heredity and environment. He chose a career in the Navy and went to Annapolis because that was what was expected of him. He adhered to his principles when he was a POW because that was what was expected of him. He strove to do what he believed was right when he was a public servant because that is what was expected of him.

The speaker also, perceptively, pointed out that the Senator and his father and his grandfather all had “feet of clay”, but that these imperfections did not deter from their greatness. That’s a good lesson for all of us; a little bit of tolerance would serve us well.

He concluded his presentation by reiterating what he believes were the cornerstones of John McCain’s vision – Integrity, Honor, and Respect. Again, we were struck with the contradiction between these concepts and today’s political environment.

It is easy to agree with Dr. Aupperle’s interpretation of what John McKain believed was the source of his greatness; converting it into a generality is a little more difficult. It is much too easy to point out obvious exceptions to it as a rule.

The answer to the trivia question is Ross Perot’s running mate in 1992, Vice Admiral James Stockdale. Their ticket polled almost 19 percent of the popular vote that year.

Next month the Historical Society will return to its “Last Tuesday Night” schedule with a presentation on Benjamin Franklin by another welcome old friend, Jack Puglisi. Guaranteed to be entertaining as well as informative, it is scheduled for 7:30 pm on Tuesday, March 26, 2019, in the Chartiers Room at the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department.

Friday, April 26, 2019

BHS Classes of 1958 and 1959 February 28, 2019

February 28, 2019

BHS Classes of 1958 and 1959

The February “Second Tuesday” workshop of the Bridgeville Area Historical Society focused on the penultimate graduating classes of the Bridgeville High School, 1958 and 1959. The audience included several members of each class; their participation was greatly appreciated.

The summer of 1957 began with serious uncertainty about the future of the new Chartiers Valley school district jointure. Scott Township abruptly withdrew because of a disagreement regarding cost sharing between them and the other three school districts involved – Bridgeville, Collier Township, and Heidelberg. The threat of a law suit was enough to resolve the issue; by September plans for the new school were back on track.

The football team started the season with a 20 to 18 win over Cecil. Ironically, according to Tom Volovich, Cecil’s placekicker was Bruce Gossett, who would go on to a fine career in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco ‘49ers. Ineffective kicking plagued the Indians the rest of the season, including a 6 to 6 tie with Rankin that eliminated them from playoff consideration.

Dan Gillis reported that our coaching staff downplayed the importance of “extra points”, preferring to concentrate on touchdowns. In addition to the Rankin tie, several losses because of missed kicks proved the folly of that philosophy and converted a potentially successful season into a disappointing one.

One highlight of the season was a 15 to 0 rout of Fairchance. When the facilitator asked where Fairchance was located, several members of the audience reported that it was a rural school in Fayette County. Lucille Kovach Herman announced that she had distinct memories of the game.

After the band’s halftime performance she and the other majorettes decided to visit the restrooms, which turned out to be outhouses with no lighting whatsoever. Fortunately the girls had batons with battery operated lights that were the highlight of their performance. These they used as flashlights to navigate through the darkness.

BHS fans and alumni were saddened by the death of former coach Bob Hast in March, 1958, following his participation in a faculty basketball game at Scott Township where he was serving as their coach.

In April, 1958, Washington Elementary School was completely destroyed by a massive fire. The resulting vacation for the students was quickly shortened by plans to relocate them to temporary facilities at Bethany Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, and Cook School. The School Board lauded the community for pitching in to eliminate this problem.

Tom Munnell was President of the ’58 Class; Dan Gillis, its Social Chairman. Polly McKee served as May Queen; she was crowned by the previous year’s Queen, her sister Judy.

Tom Grossi was a member of the Class Play, “Come out of the Closet”. Gloria Lutz was the play’s sponsor. Tom reported reminiscing about the play with her just before she passed away.

The Lesnett sisters, Grace and Sara, were both featured in newspaper articles that summer. Grace Lesnett Shaw was looking forward to the fiftieth reunion of the 1908 Bridgeville High School class, all five of whom were still alive. Sara, a graduate of the class of 1910, was the subject of a feature article celebrating her forty-three years of teaching first grade in Upper St. Clair Township.

BHS alumni were making their mark as athletes at a wide variety of colleges – Gary Jones at Carnegie Tech, Marvin McCormick at Marietta, and Bill Host at Columbia, to name a few. Bob “Huck” O’Neil had just announced that he was leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers and joining the Calgary Stampeders.

The next football season began with a surplus of optimism, an attitude that was quickly dampened by a 7 to 0 loss to a strong Class A opponent, Crafton. The team then proceeded to roll off eight straight wins. Unfortunately they lacked sufficient “Gardner System” points to make the playoffs. At the end of the season, the loss to Crafton was negated when it was learned that they had used an ineligible player. The BHS team that year was destined to be “Undefeated, Untied, and Uninvited”.

The facilitator showed a clipping dated October 6, 1958, which reported the tragic death of a thirteen-year-old Boy Scout, David Houston. Part of a Scout troop hiking home from a campout in Cecil, he was killed by a train while crossing a trestle. Frank Tome promptly announced that he had been a witness to this event; he was a member of the troop who had safely negotiated the trestle before the train arrived.

The basketball team ended its season with a three-way tie for first place in the section, then lost its first playoff game, to Snowden. Led by Alex Kwasniewski the soccer team won the WPIAL championship.

Bill Novelli was Class President, showing an early indication of his leadership potential which eventually led to his successful career culminating in serving as Chief Executive Officer for AARP. His brother Jerry, a strong supporter of the Historical Society, was in the audience for the workshop.

Other class officers included Albert Bigi and Bob Cimarolli. Faith Whitby was the 1959 May Queen, with Louise Capozzoli as her Maid of honor.

Next month’s “Second Tuesday” workshop will deal with George Washington’s dispute with the Seceder Squatters on his property in the Venice area in 1784. It is scheduled for 7:00 pm March 12, 2019 in the History Center. The final workshop in the series dealing with the history of Bridgeville High School will be presented on April 9.

February 21, 1919 February 21, 2019

February 21, 2019

February 21, 1919

I am a big fan of “This Day in History”, so I decided to try my hand on it and see what was going on in Bridgeville and the Pittsburgh area exactly one century ago. A quick look at available newspaper archives confirmed my suspicions that this would be an excellent subject for a column.

This particular date in history was fourteen and a half weeks after the Armistice that ended World War I; the news was dominated by the efforts of the Allies to come to agreement on a peace treaty that would insure that the recent hostilities would indeed be remembered as “The War to end all Wars”. Unfortunately the overpowering temptation to punish Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, plus massive isolation sentiment in the United States, led to the ill-fated Versailles Treaty and laid the seeds for World War II.

One century ago the Pittsburg Pressadvertised itself as the newspaper with the largest circulation in the city. I was surprised that the paper spelled Pittsburgh without an “h”; the h-less spelling had been officially terminated in 1911; for some reason the Press remained obstinate till well into the 1920s.

The major headline on the front page of the Press one hundred years ago today was “Plotted to Slay Both Wilson and Clemenceau”. Three days earlier French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau had been shot by a would-be assassin. This paper reported that Clemenceau was recovering nicely and would return to the peace conference in a few days. The headline referred to a plot that the French had uncovered which included plans to assassinate President Woodrow Wilson.

In the mean-time Wilson was on board the U. S. S. George Washington on his way home for two weeks on a mission to muster support for his plans for the League of Nations. An article reporting on his voyage mentioned the fact that Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt was sending a fleet of warships to escort the George Washington to Boston. Bad news for Wilson was an article reporting that Senator Borah was gathering support for a national referendum to permit the voters to oppose a pact “mortgaging the future destinies of this nation”.

Other war-related articles covered a variety of topics. The cruiser St. Louis had arrived in New York bringing 1338 troops, many of them from the Keystone State, home. According to another article, it would be necessary to keep 450,000 American troops in the field until “Germany settles finally”. Two articles discuss the ongoing conflict in Russia where the Cossacks appeared to be besting the Bolsheviks while at the same time the Bolsheviks were pushing back the Allies near Archangel.

The Pittsburg Pressfor Friday, February 21, 1919 consisted of forty pages and could be purchased for two cents. At least three fourths of the space was occupied by advertisements, almost entirely by retail stores. Kaufmann’s, Horne’s, Rosenbaum’s, and Boggs and Buhl had full page ads; the rest was supplied by smaller specialty stores and food purveyors. Donahoe’s advertised their own brand of margarine at thirty cents a pound, as well as pork loin for thirty cents a pound.

I was surprised to note that the weather report (Rain with a high of thirty-four degrees) was accompanied by a detailed report of conditions on the Lincoln Highway. “Pittsburgh: Condition far, Laughlintown: snow and sleet condition bad, Bedford: two inches of snow”, etc.

The only mention of Bridgeville in this particular paper was a legal notice reporting that all persons indebted to or having claims on the estate of the late Maria Ostermaier should contact the Executrices, Maria and Amelia Ostermaier, R. D. No. 1, Bridgeville, Pa.

Bridgeville did show up in six other Pennsylvania newspaper archives on that date, including three articles in the Canonsburg Daily Notes. A farm (probably McKown) was advertised for rent. One hundred and forty acres on a macadam road half a mile from Bridgeville. I was surprised to see the description include “bath room hot and cold water”; I wonder how many farm houses had replaced outhouses with indoor plumbing by 1919. “Inquire Lloyd McKown, Bridgeville” if you are interested.

The Daily Notes also reported the passing of a young (29) lady, Mrs. Ella Carlisle Fife, just four months after her wedding to Arthur E. Fife. A member of Bethany Presbyterian Church, she was the daughter of Bridgeville residents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Carlisle. She was a victim of the horrendous 1919 Flu Epidemic.

The same paper credited the Carnegie Signal-Itemwith the information that “All the holders of liquor licenses in Carnegie, Bridgeville, and surrounding boros and townships have re-applied”, this despite the fact that the Eighteenth Amendment had already been ratified, ushering in “Prohibition”. Apparently they expected to reap a bonanza in the remainder of 1919. An article a day later in the Pittsburg Pressidentified Angelo Pepe, 112 Washington Avenue and Benjamin F. Stedeford, 522 Washington Avenue as Bridgeville’s two applicants. Morris Goodman had a license for the Upper St. Clair Hotel in Beadling.

The government was still issuing casualty lists from the recently terminated war. The Pottsville Republican and Herald reported one which included George C. Roston, Bridgeville, as “slightly wounded”. The same information was reported by the Lebanon Evening Reportand the Harrisburg Evening News. Also in this category was John Lapienski according to latter newspaper.

A few days earlier the Allentown Morning Call published a casualty list with Carl L. Gastberg, Bridgeville identified as wounded”. The Pottsville Republican and Herald

included Corporal Samuel B. Reed on a “slightly wounded” list a few days later. The ReadingTimesreported Private Henry G. Golbach and Corporal Eugene P. Drake, both of Bridgeville, in the same category. On a positive note the Pittsburg Pressreported that Murray W. Ayers, Bridgeville, had been honorably discharged from his military service.

One hundred years ago Bridgeville’s development was still on the upswing, eighteen years after its formal incorporation. The business district along Washington Avenue was booming. Baldwin Street was the center of new construction and entrepreneurship. The 1919 high school graduating class boasted thirteen Seniors; it was only a year ago that the school system had added a twelfth grade.

Business was good at the C. P. Mayer Brick Company, although Mr. Mayer’s attention had turned to aviation and the new airfield he was building nearby. Universal Steel was booming. So were the Flannery Bolt Company and the Vanadium Corporation. The Flannery brothers had shifted their interest to the production of radium at the Standard Chemical Company in Canonsburg. General Electric was in the process of acquiring the J. B. Higbee Glass Company plant.

The doughboys who survived World War I were beginning to trickle back home. Next year would begin the Roaring Twenties and a chance for a return to peace and prosperity.

Mass, Spree, and Serial Killers February 14, 2019

February 14, 2019

Mass, Spree and Serial Killers

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society presented the first program meeting of the new year on the last Sunday afternoon of the month, as is their seasonal custom. This program featured Valerie Weil, C. G., discussing “Mass, Spree, and Serial Killers (Evil is as Evil Does, Behavior in Handwriting)”.

Ms. Weil is an interesting person; C. G. stands for Certified Graphologist. Her certification is from the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation (AHAF), an organization she serves as Education Chairman. AHAF includes about two hundred individuals interested in Graphology,“the study of personality in handwriting as it relates to aptitude, attitude, integrity, intelligence, and more”.

AHAF graphology certification requires candidates to pass two rigorous examinations in a five-month period. To qualify for the tests the candidate must have completed “12 units of college studies, which include courses in psychology, and two years of independent study in the handwriting sciences or with a recognized course or instructor.” Current AHAF President Sheila Lowe provides an online course for $350 which is “recognized”.

The “Campaign for Cursive” is a major AHAF initiative, one that Ms. Weil supports enthusiastically. It is a passionate effort to reverse the abandonment of teaching cursive writing in public schools, a policy contained in the Common Core adopted as part of the “No Child Left Behind” legislation enacted by Congress in 2001. The logic behind the abandonment was that computer keyboard entry skills had become more important that writing cursively.

Advocates of cursive writing, however, point to a significant body of research that supports their opposition to this practice. One argument involves the advantages of developing basic motor skills by the physiological process of neural development in the student’s brain. Another study suggests that “handwriting builds a sense of writer identity and self-efficacy.” Regardless of the practical value of the skill learned, it certainly appears that the mental rigor of cursive writing is superior to the mechanical, reflexive action of keyboard entry, as far as developing intellectual capability is concerned.

It is difficult for me to take sides in this dispute. I was one of the few students in our eighth-grade class whose handwriting was so bad that I did not earn a Peterson Penmanship certificate. My ineptitude and my general interest in engineering combined to convert me to relying on printing (lettering) whenever possible. The “Campaign for Cursive” folks consider this to be at least as bad as keyboard entry; for it they have coined the demeaning term “ball-and-stick” printing. Perhaps that will explain some of my numerous psychological problems.

The speaker’s presentation began with an overview of handwriting analysis, focusing on the correlation between penmanship and behavior. Young children learn discipline and the expected rules of society when they learn to write. Instinctively we each develop our own individual style, based on our own behavioral preferences.

She emphasized that predicting behavior tendencies from handwriting samples did not necessarily predict actual behavior. An interesting example of this was a comparison of two samples she showed. The one on the left indicated“a dynamic personality that does not like to be wrong or told what to do.” In contrast the one on the right was ”an intelligent handwriting, full of emotional loops that hold onto feelings.” The former was Donald Trump; the latter, serial killer Ted Bundy.

She then introduced a number of “red flags” apparent to handwriting analysts that indicate the probability of non-normal behavior. First is temper or anger, illustrated by heavy pressure, underscoring, and emphasized punctuation. Uncontrolled emotions are shown by an unstable baseline and inconsistent letter slant. Both of these were easy to understand; “warped or twisted thinking” was more difficult. It was shown by letters created backwards and by twisted formations.

A variable baseline suggests unstable reality. Separating words by excessive spaces indicates antisocial behavior. A postcard Charles Manson wrote filling the space was shown as an example of “no boundaries”, complete disregard for any sense of social order. Resentment and retribution show up in ambiguous letter shapes and retraced lower zone ovals.

Somehow, after the first several logical examples I felt the list of red flags deteriorated rapidly into “grasping at straws”. However, I am not a certified graphologist.

The speaker then subdivided homicides by victim quantity, in accordance with FBI vernacular. More than three related homicides qualifies as “mass murder”. “Spree murders” are defined as several separate incidents occurring in a short time, without a cooling off period. They are typically committed out of anger/rage or retaliation. The FBI defines serial killing as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s) in separate events.”

She then discussed myths about serial killers, giving examples that demonstrated the incorrectness of each myth. She proved that serial killers are not “all dysfunctional loners”, “only motivated by sex”, “insane or are evil geniuses”, unable to “stop killing”, “operating interstate”, eager “to get caught”, “all white males”, or “an American phenomenon”. Her arguments were conclusive unless one believes “the exception proves the rule”.

Ms. Weil then focused on the handwriting of serial killer Ted Bundy. It includes “barbed harpoon shaped lead-ins” (deep resentment), “over-connectedness” (need to be in control), “mis-applied heavy pressure” (displaced energy), and “shark-tooth formations in some letters” (extreme dishonesty). According to her “these are all signs of his capacity for evil”. This was corroborated by a list of anti-social statements attributed to Bundy.

She concluded her presentation with the popular parlor game “Draw a Pig”. Each person in the audience was given a blank sheet of paper and instructed to draw a pig. She then explained the significance of the location of the pig on the paper, the direction the pig was looking, the amount of detail in the drawing, the size of the pig’s ears, and the length of its tail, so we could self analyze ourselves.

I turned out to be a realist, a friendly traditionalist, analytical but cautious, secure but stubborn, a mediocre listener, and reasonably intelligent, in addition to being a lousy cartoonist. I leave it to my readers to evaluate the effectiveness of this analysis.

Ms. Weil is an entertaining speaker, obvious sincere about the scientific basis of the technology that she practices and her support of teaching cursive writing in elementary school.

The next BAHS program meeting is scheduled for 1:30 pm, Sunday, February 24, 2019 in the Chartiers Room of the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department. Dr. John Aupperle will discuss

John McCain’s 1998 book, “The Faith of My Fathers” and the premise that “ Values of country, duty, and honor affect the historical development of our country”.

The Water Under the Bridge Blog February 7, 2019

February 7, 2019

The Water Under the Bridge Blog

I have been writing this column in one version or another since 1994 for a variety of long-suffering publishers, currently Tribune Total Media’s “The Signal-Item”, serving Carnegie and Bridgeville. The version published in the newspaper these days is about 550 words long, satisfying the requirements of the printed newspaper, which is circulated to about 9,500 homes.

To produce this version I begin with a rough draft that, typically, is about one thousand words long, then edit it meticulously to reach the desired length. In the early days I compiled a book each year made up of the original drafts. In the summer of 2016 I decided to enter the twenty-first century and archive the longer versions on a blog.

I determined that this capability was readily available for anyone with a (Google) gmail account. When my application asked me select a username, I fell back on an old favorite – “wiseoldowl” – my “Indian name” when my children were in the YMCA Indian Guide and Princess programs.

I chose the name in those days because of advice my father gave me in the form of a familiar poem:

“A wise old owl sat in an oak,

The more he heard, the less he spoke,

The less he spoke, the more he heard.

Why can’t we all be like that bird?”

I was not surprised when the system responded, “Sorry, but that name is already taken”. No problem, I will use “wiseroldowl”, as I have done in the past. “Sorry, but that name is already taken”. My next suggestion, “wisestoldowl”, turned out to be a winner. Consequently Google, the world’s premier Internet company has anointed me as the “wisest” of all wise old owls. If you don’t believe it, send an email to wisestoldowl@gmail.comand see who responds.

As a result I have been able to archive the long version of the most recent 122 columns at the website mywutb@blogspot.com, a convenience for which I am quite grateful. The Bridgeville Area Historical Society also began to archive them on their website at about the same time; you can find them under the pull-down menu “Water Under the Bridge”. Unfortunately, logistical problems with the volunteer organization has interrupted that process recently.

In addition to publishing the edited versions weekly in the printed edition of the Signal-Item, Trib Total Media occasionally includes them on their digital page, “Trib-Live” in the “Local/Carnegie-Bridgeville” section. These columns are also archived; searching for “Oyler” turned up old columns as far back as 2015.

An added bonus to the “mywutb” blog site is the information on viewers of various columns. To date, there have been 4,230 page views, about five per day and thirty-five per column. The frequency of viewing, of course, continues to increase as more columns are added. The most views in one day was fifty-two on January 5 this year. This January has also seen the most page views – 358.

To put the thirty-five views per column in perspective, it is constructive to estimate the size of the audience for the column. I have a mailing list of twenty-seven friends and family who receive the long version each week.

The Signal-Item circulation is large, perhaps 3,500 adults in Bridgeville; how many of them read the column? Five percent would be 175. Add a handful from the Trib Live website and a few from the Historical Society website, for a total of, say, 200. In that context, thirty-five is a significant audience.

The site also records the source of the viewers. Sixty four percent of the views are folks in the United States – about 2,700. Then come German and Poland at six percent apiece, followed by France, “Unknown Region”, Ukraine, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and Netherlands. Today, for example, there were thirteen views from India and ten from Bangladesh. What suddenly generated interest in that part of the world?

The blog also records statistics for each column. The current all-time leader is a column I wrote in the Spring of 2017 about the Pitt Civil Engineering Senior Design program. Its popularity comes from the fact that it is referenced on the Department website. I have no explanation for the other columns on the list.

Second is“The McLaughlin's and Saw Mill Run Railroad” with fifty-four views. Since “The Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad” is fifth most popular, with thirty views. I suspect that there is a small clique of rail-fans in the audience.

A column I wrote on, the demise of the “Bridgeville Area News” newspaper came in third. Along with “The C. P. Mayer Brick Company” (4), “Catfish” (8), and “The Flannery Brothers” (10), it is an encouraging endorsement of our interest in local (Chartiers Valley) history.

A curious entry, at number seven, is “A Wandering Octogenarian Mind”. It is a tongue-in-cheek discussion of my inability to retain my attention on any specific subject, hardly a topic that warrants any popularity. Nonetheless it has moved up the list recently, at the same time the views from India and Bangladesh increased.

Coincidence? Have I unwittingly struck a chord with some bit of Muslim philosophy? That column had eight views today. Perhaps it is about to go viral on the Subcontinent; I will keep you posted.

Despite the thousands of page views, there has only been one comment posted on the blogsite. It was in response to a column on “Upper St. Clair History” that I wrote last summer. The author was a great-grand-daughter of Joseph Lutz, looking for information on the Lutz family. A dialogue between her and the Historical Society has been initiated on this subject.

So far, my involvement with the blog has been very positive. It is an excellent place for me to store old columns and a great source of amusement following the statistics on viewership.

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Saturday, February 16, 2019

Poetic Waxing (and Waning) January 31, 2019

January 31, 2019

Poetic Waxing (and Waning)

A number of unrelated events have me thinking about poetry recently. Our Book Club recently read various works by Edgar Allen Poe, including his poem “The Raven”. This led to a discussion of poetry in general and complaints about the awarding of the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature to Bob Dylan for his song lyrics.

Part of our extended family this Christmas was my granddaughter Lai An’s other grandfather, Grandpa Pan. He is a scholar of ancient Chinese poetry, specializing in interpreting poems written in archaic Chinese, for modern readers. I gave him a copy of Robert Frost poems for Christmas, accompanied by an explanation that I considered Frost to be the most representative of American poets.

Last week my daughter Elizabeth gave a talk on behalf of the Japan-America Society at City of Asylum on the North Side. Her subject was “Beyond Haiku: Japanese Poetry in Time and Art”. She did an excellent job of tracing the evolution of poetry in Japan from the “choka” of the eighth century to today’s interest in haiku.

Thinking about poetry, I have concluded that I enjoy it more than I realized. I certainly have always liked the long narrative poems of the Longfellow style, especially “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha”.

In my engineering classes at Pitt I often quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes’ “The Deacon’s Masterpiece” as an example of balanced design. Upset that the failure of one component in a buggy destroyed the utility of the still serviceable parts, he designed a “wonderful one hoss shay”, with every part designed to last one hundred years. Sure enough, one hundred years to the day after it was built, its owner found himself sitting in a pile of dust when everything deteriorated at once.

How about “Casey at the Bat”? It was my choice to recite in high school when I tried out for the Dramatic Club. Unfortunately, my recitation failed to match the drama of the poem, and I was turned down. Another questionable, more recent, recitation was “A Visit from St. Nicholas” which I stumbled through with lots of help from prompters this past Christmas Eve.

Beyond that, I certainly like all of Frost’s poems. Each one is a classic; in total, they paint a myriad of images of Americana that are dear to all of us. And mixed throughout are memorable touches of philosophy, e. g., “promises to keep” in “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. I am sure it helps that his poems follow a standard format, and that they rhyme.

The current definition of poetry focuses on the aesthetic and rhythmic qualities of language to evoke non-prosaic meanings. Prose mimics the natural flow of speech, completely ignoring rhythm and meter. Rhyming is merely a characteristic of a special form of poems, one that I consider an enhancement.

I wonder if my general difficulty with poems is related to the concept of rhythm, a problem that always inhibited me on the dance floor. Certainly it is a common denominator between poetry and music, one that does not come naturally to me. Do you suppose good dancers are also good poets?

At some point in my graduate school career I took a course in Appreciation of Poetry at Carnegie Tech; the poems we read and discussed continue to be favorites of mine. “Pied Beauty”, by Gerard Manley Hopkins; “Dover Beach”, by Matthew Arnold; “anyone lived in a pretty how town”, by E. E. Cummings – I remember and enjoy re-reading each of them.

What a shame that I have to study a poem to enjoy it! My wife used to tease me about my inability to appreciate something without dissecting it into its tiniest constituents. She loved poetry without qualification, and, yes, she was an excellent dancer. Somewhere in our documents is an eloquent, poignant poem she wrote following her father’s untimely death.

One of the highlights of Elizabeth’s undergraduate days at Pitt was the evening she and her mother spent there listening to Maya Angelou. Apparently Elizabeth has inherited the her mother’s poetic genes.

In contradiction to the opinion of my colleagues I think awarding the Nobel Prize to Dylan was appropriate. I have long believed that popular songwriters were the poets of our society in the late twentieth century. Personally, the hillbilly in me prefers Kris Kristofferson, Townes van Zandt, and Jimmy Webb to Bob Dylan, but it is impossible to overlook his place in popular music.

Interestingly I counted forty-seven recipients of the Prize for Literature since 1901 who include poetry as one of the forms of literature they practice. However there were only two – William Butler Yeats and T. S Eliot – whom I recognized. Dylan makes three. Too bad the judges in the earlier years didn’t consider Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, or Cole Porter --- they too were excellent poets.

As for haiku, my attitude toward it is colored by bad experiences in the past. On several occasions when Elizabeth was teaching Japanese literature, she sponsored haiku writing competitions for her students, and in parallel for her circle of friends and family. Invariably I came in dead last or nearly so, greatly embarrassed by her Maddy cousins.

Today haiku has been formalized, three lines (phrases) in a five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables sequence. References to nature and seasons is common. It is also typical for a haiku to include two dissimilar images and ideas with a transitional idea linking them.

The most famous haiku is by Matsuo Basho. Its first phase has been translated as “old pond”. Easy to imagine the image of a tranquil, never-changing small body of water somewhere in a forest. Then comes “frog leaps in” and “water’s sound”. Dramatically different image – impermanence, chaos.

I am comfortable with the concept of contrasting images that are well presented, but it is not clear to me where the idea of rhythm and meter applies. Recognizing rhythm in such a short poem is akin to clapping one hand. Perhaps if one understood the subtle meanings of the Japanese words and heard the haiku recited, one could appreciate its poeticism.

My “Appreciation of Poetry” textbook is by a distinguished scholar and teacher from Wesleyan University, Fred Millet. The introduction to his book states that its purpose “is to train young people in the intensive reading of literature”. The professor would be surprised to know this octogenarian is still referring to it six decades later.