Week of Aug. 29, 2004

Week of Aug. 29, 2004
Monday, Aug. 30, 1 a.m.
The images above are originally from the "Coleslaw" comic strip I drew for the Messenger jr. newsletter in the late 1990s. The image depicts the Cole's family sitting down to dinner. In the strip this panel is taken from, Galatia and John announce Galatia's pregnancy. (We find out in the last strip of the series that she has twin boys).

I reworked this panel for the National Council of Christian Churches' "Peacemaking Begins at Home" nonviolence curriculum, which can be found in its entirety through my links page. This drawing was used to illustrate the "To Respect Self and Others" aspect of the Family Pledge of Nonviolence, in which family members strive to "respect self, to affirm others and to avoid uncaring criticism, hateful words, physical attacks and self-destructive behavior."

I submitted the drawing on the left, which was probably the best panel in the entire "Coleslaw" series. I was asked to make some changes, to make the drawing more "inclusive." I very reluctantly turned Philip's chair into a wheelchair to include a handicapped person and added a baby to the scene, to expand the age range of those depicted.

With the changes, the artwork was deemed inclusive. But one detail always bothered me... In the revised version, the baby's high chair replaces one of the two empty chairs for John and Galatia. There is no room for them at the table...

And that doesn't seem very inclusive to me.


Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2004—Day 74
Tonight I went to the 58th Annual Millersport Lions Sweet Corn Festival, a big to-do in the small village of Millersport. This is the first time I’ve been able to attend since 1996(?), as we’ve had our synod youth gathering Labor Day weekend since 1997. Mom, Dad, Scott and I ate at the Festival around 5 p.m., before the big crowds came and the lines got long. I had a shredded chicken sandwich and French fries (and later cotton candy and fried cheese). The grand parade began at 6 p.m., leaving from school, heading down Lancaster Street, then turning down Chautauqua Boulevard. We watched the parade from Marlowe’s house. It was pretty enjoyable. Several of the bands were very good. There are lots of band, a queen candidate from each area school, and the like. There didn’t seem to be any Shriners… I think 90% of the Jeffersontown Gaslight Parade is Shriners. The Sweet Corn Festival parade organizers put the horses at the end of the parade so no one would have to step in horse poo. Then after the parade, Scott and I enjoyed more of the Festival.

We usually had Thursday and Friday of Festival week off when we were in school. This year, Millersport also had today off. A good percentage of income for the Millersport Athletic Boosters, Music Boosters, and Sophomore, Junior and Senior classes comes from booths at the Festival, so some of my memories of the Festival are of working. My first job experience was probably at the Cub Scouts’ Mouse Roulette booth. There was an oversized roulette table in the center of the booth. A live mouse was dropped on the center of the wheel. Customers placed quarters on a number. If the mouse went in that hole, then that person would win a prize. Unfortunately, Mouse Roulette is no longer there, probably due to protests from PETA.

Another booth was the CRAZY ball booth, which was operated by the Band Boosters, and later the Music Boosters. I think the gambling aspect was similar, except the winning number was determined by rolling the CRAZY ball, a polyhedron-ish die. The slogan was “Come one, come all, come play a little CRAZY ball.

The sophomore class traditionally had game booths (duck pond, sucker tree, etc.) When we were juniors, we sold roast beef sandwiches. And when we were seniors, we sold steak sandwiches (aka hamburgers). Most of the funds raised went toward our junior/senior program and our senior class trip to Walt Disney World.

When I was growing up, we lived within walking distance of the Festival. When we went to bed at night, with the windows open, we could hear the sounds of the Festival.

As far as actual sweet corn goes, we never ate much…. We tend to be sweet corn snobs. The sweet corn my grandpas and Dad grew was/is much better than the corn served at the Festival. And sweet corn on the cob is the only sweet corn served at the Festival—it’s not one of those festivals where all the food is derived from the title food.

But my favorite part growing up was the midway rides. We usually rode rides on Saturday, when one could ride all day for $5 or so… I think it's $12 now.

Friday, Sept. 3, 2004—Day 76
John Kerry was speaking today in Newark, Ohio. I went with Mom and Dad, though I was a bit misinformed about the event. I was under the impression that because we had special red tickets we would have seats, and that he would begin speaking at noon. Neither turned out to be true. We went through several “security” points. At the first point, Kerry supporters were checking the shirts some Newark football players were wearing under their jerseys, possibly to make sure no Bush/Cheney propaganda got in. They also made some people take off their “flip-flops” off and throw them away, apparently because some Republicans have accused Kerry of “flip-flopping” on the issues. Then we went through the metal detectors. I was asked by one security person to turn on my digital camera, then I was yelled at by another for not going through the detector. Local Democrats spoke prior to Kerry, including John Glenn. We only stayed for part of Kerry’s speech, in part because my back was getting sore from standing up, and in part because we wanted to avoid the rush after the event concluded.

After the event, we went to Columbus to visit my great-aunt Martha (my Mom’s aunt). We had a nice visit. Aunt Martha was born on July 4, and her middle name is Liberty.