My father was SO involved with activities that my mom often was overshadowed. My father’s first cousin Ruth sent me this photo of members of the Couples Club.
In the front row is Billie Anderson (I remember from the choir), Trudy Green (mom), and Eleanor Powell. In the back is Walter Smith, Midgett Parker (pillar of the church), and a guy neither Ruth nor I can identify. Cousin Ruth wrote, “This pic was taken from a 1970 / 1971 Trinity AME Zion yearbook.” She’s been “buried working on church history stuff.”
When I searched for Couples Club in Newspapers.com, I found a lot of churches and synagogues had them in that period. They were social groups but would also provide some services to the community. I wasn’t paying that much attention to their activities at my church. After graduating from high school in January 1971, I got a job at IBM in March and was working an average of 56 hours per week.
So I forgot Mom’s nice ‘fro. I’ve said this before, but she was a proud black woman. She might have had to work harder at it actually because she was so light-skinned. My mom and I talked a lot over the years about an array of topics. But I don’t remember us talking about that.
Balancing the checkbook
We did occasionally discussed being overshadowed by dad, the singer/artist/florist/activist. She didn’t, in my estimation, seek the limelight. But she had an ego too and enjoyed being appreciated like almost everyone else.
I have no idea, but if I were to take a guess, I imagine she was probably the treasurer of the Couples Club. She was very good with numbers, first as a bookkeeper at McLeans department store in Binghamton, NY. Later, she was a teller at First Union Bank in Charlotte, NC.
Whereas my father was terrible, awful with money. More specifically, dreadful at keeping track of expenditures. He’d buy items for their various flea market projects in Charlotte but fail to give the receipts to mom or their frustrated accountant Cecil.
Once, in the presence of the whole family, in January 1997, she really lit into him over money issues. It was quite uncharacteristic of her and wasn’t the topic we had been discussing. But she was correct on the facts.
Of all of the comic strips in the various newspapers I’ve read in my life, one seemed particularly stilted. Mark Trail, my wife noted, looked old-fashioned even when we were growing up. The three-panel stories advanced the plot incredibly slowly.
The “handsome hero and outdoor man” was created by cartoonist and national parks guide, Ed Dodd. It debuted on April 15, 1946, complete with a Saint Bernard named Andy. While Jack Elrod had become an assistant on the daily strip around 1950, he didn’t get credit until June of 1979. Then in August 1991, Ed Dodd would retire his name from the strip, though Elrod had been doing the work for some time.
Right from the beginning, Tom Hill was the artist for the Sunday pages, though he didn’t get his name in the signature ball until July 1967. He did much of the drawing of the daily strip as well. He kept that job until he died in 1978. Then the creator for the daily strip generally completed the Sunday version as well.
Around 2004, Elrod “took on James Allen as an assistant and trained him to take over the strip when the time came. From 2014 Allen and his writing partner Brice Vorderbrug ran the show. After the July 25, 2020 strip, King Features Syndicate abruptly dictated that the new Mark Trail would end, right in the middle of a storyline. You can read the full chronology here.
Curveball
Surprise! For the strip of October 12, 2020, Jules Rivera took over. She is the creator of the webcomic Love, Joolz,. Rivera said, “I want to respect the legacy. I appreciate what the fans appreciate,” including Trail’s love for nature and dedication to protecting the environment. But “there are going to be jolts galore.”
And there are, for sure. Mark Trail wants to know if he has a “dadbod”?
It may be a cliche, but this simply is NOT your parents’ Mark Trail. It looks different, it reads differently. From a story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “Rivera, 37, is of Puerto Rican descent. She is the lone Latinx producing a daily newspaper comic strip, a field that is almost solely the domain of white males. But she’s not intimidated by that because she’s been in that situation before.”
Given the fact that I used to use Mark Trail as a tranquilizer, I’ll be checking out the Rivera version for a while. Go to the Comics Kingdom site and see the past week’s strips for free. Or subscribe for $20/year and access its 60,000 comics archive.
This, or a variation of it, happens to me all of the time.
I bought a new phone. It’s an Apple 8 or whatnot, my first iPhone ever. I open it up and start trying to figure out whatever needs to be done. Invariably, I get interrupted. A couple days later, I’m back trying to set it up. But the iPhone apparently wants some settings on my old Android phone. And, of course, I can’t find it anymore.
Then my wife comes home. She’s been to the farmer’s market. She doesn’t have enough cash, and the vendor doesn’t take credit cards or checks, But he does take Venmo. She doesn’t have Venmo, but I do, on my old phone, naturally. After she tells me she needs to make this payment, I redouble my efforts. Not in the backpack or in any drawers or in some clothing in the hamper. After an hour, I give up.
The Albany Public Library had a book sale the previous weekend, which I worked at. I bought a few items, one of which was a CD called Best of Beck. This is by Jeff Beck, not the other guy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t open it, because the plastic encasement was locked. Alas, a dollar wasted.
Wait, I’m going to try to liberate the disc without destroying it. Using a couple of pairs of scissors, I succeed. I need to put the CD in a new case. Fortunately, I have a bunch of empties. I go to that drawer. Sitting right next to that dresser, in the bay window, is my damn Android phone.
It always happens
This happens a LOT to me. When I stop looking for something – total surrender – I often find it. There is a saying attributed to Henry David Thoreau that goes, “Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you.” But why is it always inanimate objects for me? it’s most often keys because I have an irrational disdain for them.
But it is also true that “if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.” Though the woods are never the same. Or wherever.
Certainly, I started listening to Prince anew after he died in April 2016. But he launched into my favorite songs from my favorite band territory because of Sheila E. and the niece Rebecca Jade. Surely, I don’t have to worry about J. Eric Smith’s band requirement. Prince led, for a time, the Revolution, and other times he’s playing 27 instruments.
Sheila sang at a club in New York City in August 2017. Rebecca was one of the background singers. They performed a half dozen Prince songs, including an RJ solo on Raspberry Beret. Then I saw them at the New York State Fair in Syracuse in early September 2019. More Prince tunes.
Let’s Go Crazy: The GRAMMY Salute To Prince was filmed at the Los Angeles Convention Center on January 28, 2020, two days after The 62nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. The all-star lineup of artists performed songs from the catalog of “the 38-time GRAMMY® nominee and seven-time GRAMMY winner.” Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, and Sheila E. were pegged to be the musical directors. Rebecca Jade was a last-minute replacement for another back-up singer.
The tribute concert, originally aired Tuesday, April 21, the four-year anniversary of the superstar’s passing, and was rebroadcast on Saturday, April 25 on CBS. Rebecca Jade was singing with about half of the artists, including Earth, Wind, and Fire; Foo Fighters; Gary Clark Jr.; St. Vincent; Miguel; Juanes; and of course, Sheila E.
Songs
I own all of the Prince albums from the 1980s on vinyl or CD. 1999, Purple Rain and Sign O’ the Times are my favorites. Making YouTube links prior to 2016 was… a challenge. Song list is vaguely leading to my favorite.
Saturday afternoon, after the Associated Press declared Joe Biden the winner of the race, I came to a realization. When I voted eight days before Election Day, I never even looked at who the other choices were.
In New York, it was the two major party guys, but each was also on a second line. The Democrat received 51%, but on the Working Families line got an additional 4.41%. The Republican netted 38.71% on that line but an additional 3.35% under the Conservative banner.
51
Jo Jorgensen was the Libertarian candidate, the only other person to appear on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In New York, she got only 0.72% of the vote but reached 1.2% nationally. Part of her plan “is to turn America into one giant Switzerland, armed and neutral.” She ran with Spike Cohen.
“On Day One of a Jorgensen administration, I will pardon all 80,000 non-violent people imprisoned on federal drug charges. The War on Drugs has been a disaster and has been used to target the poor and people of color, and to ruin lives that could have been salvaged… I will also use my pardon power to free whistleblowers who risked their liberty to expose corruption and abuse by government agencies.” Actually, I’m good with that part.
At this writing, Jo Jorgenson’s vote count percentage is greater than the Dem/GOP difference in AZ (11 Electoral Votes, 1.5 v 0.7), GA (16 EV, 1.2 v 0.2), PA (20 EV 1.1 v 0.6), and WI (10 EV, 1.2 v 0.7), all in Biden’s favor.
Georgia hasn’t been called, but assuming 290 Biden votes, the loss of those three other states would have brought him down to 249. His chief opponent would go up to 255, with NC’s 15 EV likely to go to the GOP. That’s 270 and re-election.
So is Jo Jorgensen a “spoiler”?
Being Green
Howie Hawkins was on the ballot as the Green Party candidate. He received 0.35% of the vote in New York and about 2% of the vote nationally, running in 30 states. I have actually voted for Howie in the past. In 2010, 2014, and 2018, he ran for governor of my state. The latter two times I supported him against Andrew Cuomo and a Republican who frankly was sure to lose. His running mate in 2020 was Angela Nicole Walker.
Incidentally, the Green Party candidate in Alaska was former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura, running with Cynthia McKinney. They got 0.8% of the votes in that state.
Roque De La Fuente got on the ballot for The Alliance Party in 16 states – not NY – but did not get more than 0.3% of the vote in any state, and that in California. In 2018, he was a 2018 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. Senate from nine different states! He had multiple running mates.
Gloria La Riva also had different running mates in her quest running on the Party for Socialism and Liberation. You thought Joe Biden was a socialist? Like De La Fuente, her highest percentage on the 15 ballots she appeared on was in California, with 0.3% of the vote. Not on the NY ballot.
Oh, yeah, THOSE guys
Brock Pierce
Independent Kanye West was running in a dozen states, but not mine. He got as much as 0.4% of the vote in Idaho, Oklahoma, and Utah. The theory was that he might take votes away from Biden, but that did not materialize. He ran with Wyoming preacher Michelle Tidball.
Don Blankenship of the Constitution Party is one of my least favorite people. He “was the chief executive of Massey Energy Co., the leading producer of coal in Appalachia, from 2000 to 2010. He resigned following the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in April 2010 that killed 29 miners.” Blankenship “was convicted of conspiring to willfully violate safety standards and served one year in prison for the misdemeanor,” and should have served longer.
He made it onto 20 state ballots, not NY, and got 0.4% of the vote in Alaska and Utah. His running mate was William Mohr. All the people listed so far got at least 50,000 votes nationally.
The last name on the New York State ballot was Brock Pierce. The Blockchain technology and digital currency guy got over 40,000 votes. He appeared on 15 state ballots and got 0.3% of the vote in Idaho and New York, 0.4% in Alaska, and a staggering 0.8% of the vote in Wyoming.
From his campaign website: “Sustainability is essential at every level, starting with each of us as individuals and growing to encompass the whole that is our collective social organism, whether in the form of our country, our species, or our planet.” His running mate was Karla Ballard.
Literally, the also-rans
Brian T. Carroll/Amar Patel (American Solidarity Party) received over 20,000 in eight states, 0.2% in Illinois and Wisconsin. Then there’s a huge dropoff. Alyson Kennedy/Malcolm Jarrett (Socialist Workers Party) at over 6,000 in six states, never exceeding 0.1%. Now we’re talking about the minor parties.
Fun names. Dawn Neptune Adams for VP on the Progressive Party line. Phil Collins for prez on the Prohibition Party; no, not THAT guy. The Grumpy Old Patriots party got over 1000 votes.
Genealogy Know Your Family History Party received over 550. The independent ticket of Princess Khadijah M. Pres Jacob-Fambro and Khadijah Maryam Jacob Sr.snagged 450 ballots. The Boiling Frog party won 135 supporters.
See the data dump on the topic I posted here and the chart (it slides on the bottom) I created here.
My father was SO involved with activities that my mom often was overshadowed. My father’s first cousin Ruth sent me this photo of members of the Couples Club.
Of all of the comic strips in the various newspapers I’ve read in my life, one seemed particularly stilted. Mark Trail, my wife noted, looked old-fashioned even when we were growing up. The three-panel stories advanced the plot incredibly slowly.
This, or a variation of it, happens to me all of the time.
Certainly, I started listening to Prince anew after he died in April 2016. But he launched into 
