Defection

Posted on September 6, 2023 by Eric

Back in July I had every intention of posting right away about an American soldier stationed in South Korea who had… somehow… gone across the DMZ to the North Korean side of the line. It felt like it was the sort of thing that I could comment on, and wanted to get it out there in some form of timely manner. There was also the idea of recognizing armistice day and giving a little bit of history. Clearly, given the dearth of actual posts over the summer months that didn’t happen, but that actually makes this post hit harder.

A little background. Back in the early 90s I was in the army. It was a single ‘tour’. I didn’t reenlist and got out when my contract was up. I don’t consider myself a particularly good soldier, nor do I believe I should use my status as a veteran for any kind of advantage. I signed up and did my thing and got out. The luckiest part of my entire military life was not being sent to the desert like so many of my friends (Gulf War time). One thing I did do was a year in South Korea. I left the US and headed to Camp Hovey, around ten miles from the DMZ. It was called a dependent restricted tour (no families) and generally meant spending that year with a bunch of dudes. The male to female soldier ratio was about 18 to 1. There were many, many off duty rounds of drinks and more than a little fighting.

While I was there I learned. I saw things I had never known of, participated in things I had never done before and it became part of the life changing thing that was my military service. One day during my year there I pulled on my full dress uniform and went on a tour to see the DMZ. It was a surreal experience. I got my photo taken inside one of the buildings on the north side of the line. There was a great deal of tension. We were given strict orders not to gesture, make faces or otherwise make any sort of noise or motion that would give the north something they could use for propaganda purposes. I asked when was the last time anyone had actually taken a shot across the line, thinking in my naive way that the answer would be in the 1950s. The corporal leading the tour said, “Two weeks ago. Did you see it on the news?” I shook my head no. He continued, “Then it didn’t happen… did it?” with the sort of emphasis that I inferred to mean, NO, indeed, nothing of the sort would possibly happen.

For emphasis, the ‘shooting’ part of this war was supposed to have stopped back in 1953. About 40 years before I was standing there. As I stated, it’s a bit surreal.

Fast forward to 2023. For those of you not catching the math, that’s 30 years after my trip there. Guess what? Nothing has changed.

That’s right. Nothing has changed. At the 70 year mark there are still people willing to shoot at each other for things that went on during their grandparents’ lives. It’s not like the veterans from that war are going to be standing out there – it will be the 20 somethings in the military today. The saddest part is, the kids on the US side probably didn’t even get a full lesson on the conflict. That makes the ‘running across the line’ that much sadder.

When I said the story hits harder now? That soldier from the US who ‘defected’ or whatever? That was July 19th. It’s September as of this writing – almost a full 2 months later. Have you heard any more about him? Is it still a headline thing?

No. And it won’t be. That kid is gone. IF he comes back, and I think that’s highly unlikely, he will be physically damaged from his ordeal and you will be able to see it. He won’t be the same in his thought process either, though that will likely be harder to see.

It’s been 70 years. Why aren’t we teaching more about what is happening there? What will it take to get people to change their minds?

Some history:

Recognizing “National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day” – July 25, 2023

Seventy years ago on July 27, 1953, the Korean War Armistice was signed. This ended fighting between the parties and left the boundary between North and South Korea at approximately the same location as when the war began a little over three years before.

A look at the numbers:

Over 1.8 million American troops were sent to fight in South Korea
36,000 Americans lost their lives
100,000 came home with injuries from the result of the war
7,500 men and women who still remain missing in action

For reasons that we can only speculate, Korean War Veterans never had victory parades or welcome-home celebrations. They simply came home and were expected to pick up where they left off before they went off to war. Some speculate that there was no celebration because there was no victory, or perhaps the American people were tired of war, this being so close to the end of WW2, and were ready to move on. Or maybe they did not see the importance of war in some far-off land that no one had heard of before June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. Regardless, the Korean War deserves a day of recognition.

By tradition, on July 27th every year, the President of the United States issues a proclamation declaring the day National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day. If you know a Korean War Vet, your father, uncle, aunt, or maybe even a coworker, please thank them for their service. They deserve recognition for their sacrifice.

Changing Attitude?

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Eric

I once heard a very famous author state that he wanted nothing to do with the internet. He based this (I vaguely recall) on the idea that people would then be able to go back, digging into past comments or opinions he had posted from years ago, dragging them out and trying to judge them by some current standard. It was a prescient commentary from a science fiction author. We are now seeing what can happen when people go digging into the past, looking for any scrap of conversation made by (fill in person of choice) in years gone by. Once on the internet, out in public forever… I try to be mindful of this. Part of this past author’s comments were based around the idea that a person can learn, change and grow. The things that once were a passionate position may have been challenged and defeated. Education can happen. Changes in how a person lives, works, acts or presents themselves are common. This is true of anyone.

It’s also true that technology, truly successful technology, will find it’s way into your life. What was once edgy and new will move into the realm of the commonplace. Exceptional will become expected. Delivery methods of said technology will become streamlined and efficient. I place e-reader (Kindle specifically) in this category.

I saw that cartoon and it made me wonder how my opinions on certain things have aged. So I went digging (I am in no way known or popular enough to have people trying to dig things up on me). I was fearful that when I went to look at my posted blog comments they would contain the sort of statements that seem outlandish or desperately funny (or worse).

I was most shocked to discover that it has been 10 years since I first wrote about the Kindle. I got my first e-reader back at the end of 2010. It was a stand alone device. I remember my own hesitance toward the device. I occasionally argued against them. I didn’t like certain aspects, but the convenience very quickly won out. In the decade since the stand alone device has merged into phones and tablet tech. The e-book is ubiquitous and somehow the paperback survives. If you have a deep seeded need for nostalgia, you can check out my original post HERE and then check out the follow up a few months later HERE. The second one would definitely be a different vibe today. I don’t think most people would have any issues letting somebody peruse their book collection, but I don’t know anyone that would unlock their device and just hand it over to a coworker to check out… but that’s a topic for another day I suspect.

What’s on your bookshelf right now? Is it virtual?

Riot

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Eric

I try to stay away from political things on my site. I don’t want to deal with all the BS that comes along with saying anything political on the internet. There are far too many people out there that only use their time to try to start fights over the inane details of anything one might say. This is MY site and I do with it as I please. It pleases me to stay away from the massive shit show that is the US political system of late. That is not just nationally. It is also right here in the state of Pennsylvania where I now reside.

This is the normal for me. I don’t want to talk about it, so I don’t. Books, movies, gaming, crafting or whatever else catches my fancy, sure. Those are the posts that go up here. That does not mean I am unaware or that I don’t pay attention, I just like to stay away. Today… today was not normal. It feels like something that needs to be marked in much the same way that the September 11^th attacks and the start of the global pandemic needed to be noted here.

Today “protesters”, many of them carrying signs in support of the individual currently residing in the office of the president, stormed the capitol building in a (successful) attempt to stop the duly elected officials there from carrying out their jobs. In America. People stormed the capitol.

This is not some third world country. This is Washington DC.

Calling this unacceptable seems like the negligent misuse of understatement.

I, and anyone else that joined the military swore an oath. We signed on the dotted line stating that we would pay any cost up to and including our own death to defend the constitution and our way of life here in the United States.

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

I will defend unto my dying breath the right of any American to shout at the top of their lungs in support of the thing I most despise. That is what freedom means. It is not free. It’s not even cheap. It requires hard work and a lot of personal responsibility. You have to be paying attention and working toward making things better. Every day.

The people that believed what they were doing was the right thing today are the core of the problem. They have not done the work nor have they understood the limits of what can be tolerated. The self righteously over privileged that did this need to be brought to justice.* This was not my initial reaction, but if I claim to be in favor of the rule of law this is the course that must be taken. My initial reaction was one of a significantly more stern reaction. I am still not sure the significantly more stern option should be taken off the table. There are a lot of folks on social media (that gigantic echo chamber) throwing around some big and serious words. Words matter and the ones you pick should be appropriate to the action/event you are discussing. Sedition, treason, instigating violence are all out there at this point (for the people that did the action as well as the person Tweeting them on). Those are big words with serious consequences. They are also not wrong. The penalty for treason against our nation goes all the way up to death. That was my initial reaction and I’m not sure it’s the wrong reaction still. These people DO NOT get to take away what we have here in this country. They need to become an example. The fullest extent of federal law needs to be brought down on as many as can be identified. I don’t care how long it takes. This includes the person Tweeting them on.

What we have here in this nation is special. It’s important. It matters to everyone that lives here, but it also matters to all of those people viewing our nation from the outside. Today a group of people not only made us look like the buffoons we have become, but they have made us look weak and chaotic to those who would plot against us. We must do better. We need to embrace scholarly endeavors, civil discourse and the sort of actions that show us as leading the world in freedom, fairness and compassion. We need to embrace the concept of studying hard and working hard to back that up ~ no matter what it is that you love to do. I love this country and all that it is supposed to be. Today hurt. Today was scary. Is this the world I want my daughter to live in? Today will be marked in history ~ let’s work hard to be sure that it marks a turning point toward a better place for all that choose to live in this great nation.

*Side note – I am also not unaware of the difference in treatment based on color of skin. This deeply embedded racism is also unacceptable. A systemic issue that I feel others have better, more insightful things to say about it.

Zombies!

Posted on October 31, 2020 by Eric

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked this one up early on, but for some reason I didn’t dig into it right away. I can’t place a finger on the reason for that, but I will say I’m glad I picked it up. This book is a great ride. Spoilers ahead~

I’m not normally a big fan of zombie horror. It doesn’t bother me the way it does some, but I also have never found zombies to be particularly scary as a monster type. As with any zombie story I’ve seen, the real monsters and the true horrors are the humans.

As I started reading Jane’s story I thought this could be a fine action story set around the time of the Civil War. As it turns out there is a lot of action, but not in the sense I was thinking. This was certainly NOT the Harry Potter-esque life at a boarding school adventure type. The model of the school Jane attended was the Carlisle school, albeit slightly time shifted. This was racism and the blatant attempts of one group of people trying to keep another group of people down. The school, the treatment of the people and way they were expected to behave was just the starting point for the monsters.

The teachers at the school practiced the sort of abuse that wasn’t just physical. True to abusers everywhere there was psychological abuse riding hand in hand. Early in the story I wanted to see Jane make some move to solve the mystery of the missing family and give the school some sort of “comeuppance” that would allow for some kind of happy ending. I failed to see the problem with that line of thinking right away, but the author deftly moved to remedy the situation by wiping out not just the school, but the entire state of Maryland.

Taking Jane and her friends west into the plains removed any sense of East Coast familiarity from me and placed them all squarely in the path of the most monstrous people in the whole book – the self righteous. Using religion as a bludgeon to maintain the oppression of a people stoked the ugly feelings toward those opposed to Jane. I was sincerely glad when that town was wiped out and Jane’s little band made their escape. The writing here was really wonderful. It’s good writing when you loathe a fictional man that much.

I’m glad the main aspects of the story wrapped up in the first book. The history of each character and development of the world was excellent. The “cliffhanger” for the continuation of the story is there as Jane is in the middle of the prairie, but I do consider the story of the first book wrapped up. I could leave it at that if I wanted, but I suspect I’ll be going out and grabbing up the next book.

I hadn’t realized that I had subconsciously bought into the “that’s how things are” feeling of the way the schools were set up at first. I had to step back at the end and realize just how messed up that was. I’m glad the author put the reading recommendations at the end of the novel and I’d like to add one of my own (since I’m being so bold). For anyone sports minded it’s worth picking up Carlisle Vs. Army, a story about some of the athletes from the school in question and how they helped to shape the modern sports world.

Definitely recommend picking this book up.

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It’s how old?

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Eric

This post could have also been titled, The past, exclusion, anachronism and genre. It’s a conversation that has come up more than once with others and in more than one context, so I thought I’d try to lay out some thoughts to get them in order here.

The past and exclusion:

I’ve been involved in genre stuff for a long time. OK, a long time for me but not long enough for others. Even as somebody who’s supposed to be the perfect person to ‘fit in’ at 50, straight and white, I find that I still don’t fit within certain groups in the science fiction landscape. This came up again after the most recent Hugo ceremony where a famous author apparently made a speech that excluded wide swaths of folks and made a bunch more feel angry about how it was all presented. The term “microaggression” came up. For that I defer to somebody much more in the know – an author I would recommend you read when you get a chance! See his post about said microaggressions here.

That feeling, that nagging tiny comment that seems to slide off the chosen group but digs directly into your subconscious is something I deal with frequently. That probably sounds a bit odd, but it’s true. I often feel as though I’m just outside “the group” or that I’m part of the group in question, but only in my particular slice of it and don’t get into where everyone else is.

The microaggression part is in reference to science fiction authors. It is an odd club and one that has for a long time had some twisted form of gatekeeper. This is not the only place where I’ve felt as if I am the outsider. Running conventions has always been on that list too. Fandom in general if I’m being honest about it. That’s where the anachronism part comes in.

Anachronism:

There are a lot of times when I think I have landed just a decade or two later than I was supposed to. I seem to be interested in things that were really big, but really big in the past (recent or otherwise). The fanzine is an example of that. In the 70s and 80s the fanzine held a vital place in the genre landscape. Connections were made, thoughts were shared, and in some cases careers were launched. I’ve helped out with a fanzine for two decades now, but find that ours started about two decades too late for that “control group”. Even when I have reached out to those groups I’ve gotten no reply. WE were here long ago ~ you “newbie” are unwelcome here. It’s rarely said directly, but the feeling is certainly there. It’s something that truly bothers me about a genre that’s supposed to be so progressive (hint – it’s totally NOT).

That lead to another discussion about older works in science fiction. Do you really need to read the works of the people given grand master status? Should you pick up and push through something that was written thirty years before you were born? Maybe. Maybe not. Does your familiarity with these works, chosen by folks that believe they control who’s in and who’s out, matter? Other authors have taken on this topic and put forth decent opinions about it. I tend to like this take on the subject, but I don’t think it fully expresses where I am.

Genre:

I frequently enjoy any number of those old works. Reading the words of Ray Bradbury were amazing to me when I was a kid. He was truly gifted. His prose is smooth, evocative and moving. Sneaking out of the house to go to the local carnival is not a thing that any child I know today will relate to. Tattoos are not seen in quite the same context as when “Illustrated Man” was written. I like to dig into the history and see where so many amazing ideas came from. It gives context to so many things, as any study of history will… but that’s just it, they’re history. They are not entirely irrelevant, but their relevance is limited. Do they have the tug of nostalgia or the faint whiff of ‘this was big‘, of course they do. They were big and important or nobody would remember them. Movie makers have dug into many of those old works and adapted them to great success. None of them have had the cultural impact of a certain boy wizard, but even his influence has already started to change and fade. Things grow and change. It happens.

It has happened with gaming. My dearest lifetime hobby has undergone a vast change in the forty years that I have been playing it. Dungeons and Dragons is not what it used to be. Guess what? It shouldn’t be! If it had been static all this time it would have been relegated to the dust bin a long time ago. It has grown and changed and become something that looks a lot like what I have always loved, but is something new. Should I scoff or brush away people that don’t remember what it was like to have to poke chits out of a piece of cardboard because polyhedral dice were not a thing when I started? They haven’t “paid their dues” … that’s an amazing amount of bullshit all in a few simple words. Thing is, it’s an easy feeling to get. It’s easy to be resentful of people that didn’t go through challenges and to be protective of what you endured pain for.

The simplest answer is no. Whatever my feelings about genre fiction or role playing games might be, they should never be a limiting factor of how others enjoy them. Being the curmudgeonly old bastard yelling about kids and lawns is the fastest way to ensure that what you love dies. IF you’re driving people away from your hobby because they “don’t fit in”, first check your bias and privilege and second, you’re directly complicit in said death. Science fiction is supposed to be about the future. Fantasy gaming is supposed to involve your imagination and dreams. If you can’t see the future or evoke your imagination and are mired in the past, perhaps it’s best if you step aside. The best response, as far as I can tell, when somebody likes something new and shiny (that is entirely a remake of something from way back when particularly) is to say something like, “Oh, really? If you like that, I bet you’ll love this…”. The most important part of that whole statement being a welcoming and social attitude. Helping folks find more of what they love by aiming them at the things you’ve found that you love can be a fantastic way to make a personal connection and the absolute best way to get what you love to live on for a long time to come. I want science fiction and role playing games to be around for a long time to come. I hope I can share some history with you as we go.

The New Normal

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Eric

And there it went. The first full week of the “new normal” is in the books.

Covid-19 is rampaging across the world and killing thousands. Everyone is getting a little crazy about the whole thing – with some justification. Something like this has not occurred in our memory. There was the Spanish Flu back in the 1920s, but there are no people alive who can relate to us how society was at that time. We can read about it, but that’s all we’ve got.

We’ve also got a dramatically different method of communication at our disposal. We know more about what’s going on in the world around us at a faster speed than ever before. Hopefully this will allow us to get ahead of this virus and stop things from reaching Spanish Flu levels. Right now thousands are dying and that’s bad. The other one? Yeah, that killed somewhere between 20 and 50 MILLION people.

Million.

I would never attempt to diminish the loss of a person, or collection of persons, but as a question of scale we’re doing… as well as can be expected. Honestly, probably better than can be expected. Yes, the virus has forced us to change the way we conduct ourselves. No, we don’t know how long this is going to last. Yes, after two solid weeks of news, media and home grown “experts” yelling at us about coronavirus it seems like it’s been here forever, but it hasn’t been that long. How long will it be? No idea. Nobody knows. Lots of people are making predictions, but until we get there we won’t have any idea.

I am fortunate to still be able to work, at least right now. I have shifted to working from home and connecting to everyone via my internet connection. My lovely wife has been given the same opportunity and has a similar computer station set up next to this one. We’ve been in the same house along with the kiddo for a full week + and haven’t gone completely insane. In fact, we all seem to quite like it. We’re much more relaxed. Work has a lot of the same kind of stupid, but it’s muted by the overwhelming noise of change. I’ve heard there are people out there not handling the social isolation very well. I hope those folks take advantage of the technology we have access to and stay as connected as they can without actual physical presence.

So – big changes. Things we were told would never be a thing have come to pass (particularly the sudden ‘realization’ that certain jobs CAN in fact be done remotely). Life will be forever changed by this event. My daughter will have this as a marked point in her life that she will remember long into her adulthood much the same way I remember events like the shuttle disaster that happened when I was in high school. No where close to the same level of impact – but a bright and clear memory of that time for me.

Forging ahead. I’ve gotten a bunch of things done around the house. That’s the thing – when you can’t leave, you have to make it a point to actually create and stick to a schedule that works for your household. What am I trying to say? Well, just this: I’ve been working essentially the same schedule as before. Sure the commute is a hell of a lot better and the dress code is pretty lax, but I’m still on schedule. It means that I’m spending all that work time here on my home computer. So when I “get home from work” I have even less desire to jump on here and keep working than before.

I’m hoping to pick up some creativity soon – but given the circumstances of the world, I’m not sure I’ll get there. Maybe I’ll start cranking out the words. Dunno. Hopefully you’ll keep coming back here to see.

More Context

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Eric

It’s been a week since I posted “historic context” and I haven’t written a single thing in that time. I am not alone in that. This past week has seen an extraordinary amount of change because of the world wide pandemic that is COVID-19 (commonly called the coronavirus). I simply have not had the wherewithal to just sit down and write. There is a staggering amount of anxiety out there and it has leeched into us here. It is hard to NOT panic when everyone else is in panic mode. The biggest fear is the transmission rate and our lack of ability to stop it. We don’t have any kind of vaccine to counter this and people have been dying by the thousands over the past few weeks. It is true that most of the deaths are not near us here in the middle of PA, but the simple fact that within a stunningly short number of days there are hundreds of people near us that have this virus makes that panic suddenly sound more reasonable. Panic is not a reasonable response, but it is understandable to be deeply shaken by the speed this hit us with and our genuine lack of preparedness.

When this was ramping up I started to make a list of meetings and events that had been called off because of this virus. It seems almost quaint to look at that list from a week ago. What has been canceled? Everything. The Governor of the state issued an order for all non-life sustaining business to close. All of them. There’s a sudden mad scramble to change how people can work and discussions about the nature of that work (and in many cases that people can’t work now and have been laid off or fired in vain attempts to save a business). In a move that was previously declared as “never going to happen” I have started to set up the ability to work from home. This is admittedly a challenge because the very nature of my work is collaborative. We shall see how it all works out only after more time has passed.

If you’re reading this right now, I have no doubt that you know most of what I have just written. It’s not possible to avoid this news. Why am I writing it here? Historic context. I didn’t remember small parts of what happened when America was attacked on 9/11. If I had not written them down in one of my sketchbooks at work I would have forgotten. There are other parts in my book, but I posted the most relevant to what I am trying to get across.

Businesses are closed. The government has moved to bare essential personnel, schools are closed. Stores have row upon row of empty shelves (see panic above). Anxiety rides high. It has become more and more clear how unprepared we are for anything that changes how we charge ahead in our day to day lives unthinking of what can happen. Everyone is aware now. The change is here and you can’t avoid it.

I think Douglas Adams put it best:

Tomorrow I start my first full day of working from home. So does my lovely wife. She and I will be sharing office space now. My daughter will be home from school all this week at a minimum. That might extend even longer, depending on the spread of the virus and how attempts to contain it work out.

Welcome to the new normal.

As things stand right now, I am still filled with anxiety. There are massive numbers of unanswered questions. Plans as far out as May are already canceled and plans for July are being questioned. My daughter is supposed to be traveling to France in August to begin a year of study in that country – and the entire program is in doubt right now for the first time in 70 years. I can’t comprehend the scope of this right now, but I wanted to write this all down so that someday I will be able to look back at this and remember some of the smaller details. I might even print this out – just in case the electronic version is somehow unavailable. There’s that panicky edge again…

Stay safe and healthy.

Historic Context

Posted on March 15, 2020 by Eric

I’ve been distracted by the real world again. I’d love to spend tons and tons of time here in writer land but sometimes things happen. What I need to learn to be better about is actually writing down the things I’ve got bouncing around in the ol’ noggin.

Right now, here in the United States we have a panic happening about a global pandemic. People are getting sick at an alarming rate – and being terrible to each other at an even more alarming rate.

I’ve got a number of thoughts that I want to put here, but I’m still formulating how to pull it all together. For some frame of reference I tried to think of another event that really changed things across the country in such short order. The one I could think of most recently was the terror attacks of September 11, 2001.

I was at work that day. I remember it quite clearly. I know where I was sitting and could paint you a picture of my surroundings. What isn’t as clear in my memory was the thought process I had going on. I was writing then. I didn’t have things in electronic format. I didn’t have a blog or really even understand what was involved in starting one at that point. What I did have was my sketch book. I always have a sketch book at work. It’s part of the job. I track my hours on projects, but a lot of other things land in there too. I’ve pulled 3 pertinent pages from that old book (it was almost 20 years ago at this point – a bit staggering to consider) and have them here.

I knew a number of people living in NYC at the time and made an effort to reach out to one of my closest friends of the time. I was lucky to get a response, and get it quickly.

I recall a number of things about price gouging, hoarding and people being terrible – but more than that I remember people reaching out to help each other.

I am seeing some things about the pandemic that are similar here in the US, but I am also seeing a number of differences. I want to give this all a lot more thought before I try to write up how I feel about it all. I need to put all the thoughts someplace. Having some historic context is going to matter to me at some point in the future.

Carlisle Vs. Army

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Eric

Carlisle vs. Army: Jim Thorpe, Dwight Eisenhower, Pop Warner, and the Forgotten Story of Football’s Greatest Battle by Lars Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There’s no half star available on the rating scale here – I’d really put this book around 3.5 stars.

I liked this book and the slice of history it represents. One of my favorite parts of this book is the way it ties together the other things that were happening at the time when the game in question was set to go off. Historic context is very important. It’s also fascinating to draw parallels to things that still happen today, around 100 years later.

I did struggle with the way the story flow of the book was chopped up. The author went backward and forward across the time line even in the same chapter and more than once it pushed me out of my momentum so it took longer to read than it might have otherwise.

I find this book more interesting based on the simple fact that I, and my parents and my sisters family, live very near where these things took place. When I mentioned this book or folks in this area saw the cover they generally had some knowledge already about the famous Jim Thorpe. There is a lingering sense of pride even after those same 100 years and all the related issues.

IF you happen to be near the central Pennsylvania area you will find this book of interest. Some of the places mentioned are still around. If you’re a fan of football as it is played today, it is worth digging into this story to get a sense of why the game is what it is and how we’ve landed where we are. I’ve heard other versions of Pop Warner’s story, not in connection with Jim Thorpe and it interests me to see the contrasts. A different view point is always good to have. I Recommend this book based on those particulars.

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Still Burning

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Eric

Centralia by Deryl B. Johnson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was a single sitting book for me. Generally I really like that as an idea, but somehow for this book it didn’t work. I had difficulty with the pictures. I understand that many of the actual photos would not be easy to see – but having them reproduced in this volume somehow managed to make them even harder to see clearly.

I think I wanted more of a timeline based series of pictures. Some of the photos are doubled up in here and they don’t always progress chronologically. The author mentions at least 3 times the play that he wrote… once would have been enough, particularly given the brevity of the written word in here.

The story of Centralia is certainly an interesting one and for that I’m glad to have taken this quick peek back in time. IF it were anything more than a quick peek I would have been very disappointed. As it is, one sitting works for me and I’m moving along.