THE E-BOOK WAR: Maybe everyone knows it already - but I didn't find out until last Wednesday or Thursday. There's a "tech" war going on between Amazon e-books (i.e. electronic books) and the McMillen Publishing Company.
I read a great deal - perhaps two or three novels a month. In the summer I like to sit on the deck in the backyard to read. And in the winter I read during television commericials.
I'm hooked on books. And it would be nice if the local libraries shelved my favorite authors. But they don't. So I buy books. And that has, in the past, been a problem. I really have no desire to create a large library in our home. But in time that is what happens - unless, of course, I find someone who'd like to take them off my hands.
Consequently, when Amazon's e-reader called a "Kindle" came along I jumped on that proverbial wagon without much hesitation. With this device I can purchase a book, magazine, or newspaper with my computer or with via the device itself, and it is instantly loaded to my device for reading. Moreover; I can do this almost anywhere in the world at any time.
Doing business in this manner means that the "middlemen" (so to speak) are cut out and, among other things, paper and ink aren't wasted. It also meant that the cost of the product (in this case an electronic book, newspaper, etc.) was less than its organic counter-part. This did not sit well with some publishers like McMillen. So they demanded that Amazaon charge more for their "e-books". In response Amazon pulled the books from their catalog.
Currently Amazon says that they will probably bow to publisher demands and let the consumers decide whether they want the product(s). The introduction of Apple's iPad into the market has certainly played a part in this conflict. This in spite of the fact that the iPad is not yet available to consumers.
In any case, I'm not real happy with this turn of events. I think the publishers - led by men of the ilk of Rupert Murdoch - are simply demonstrating both their greed and misunderstandings of current technologies. The publishing industry as they knew it isn't dying - it's dead.
Printed media will never disappear. There is a real need for a local newspaper. And there is a real need for books. But there is little need for the volume of materials that have been published in the past. Who, for instance, can honestly take a look at the textbook industry and say that it was really, really, necessary to print all those books - just to have them superseded (not just amended but replaced) a year or two after they were purchased.
Ergo; I can understand the reason some print publishers are in such a panic over the price of e-books - whether they're directly involved in these negotiations or not. The industry is on the verge of great change. And the current movers and shakers are simply at a loss. In more ways than one.
War-Is-Heck-ly,
THE VERMILION KID
STU: The "Vermilion Kid" as he's known on the fast-draw competition circuit is my friend Stu White. I've written some about Stu before in various places mainly because he is, beyond the shadow of any doubt, the most clever person I have ever known.
Stu's father, Dr. V.B. White, was a popular Vermilion Osteopath. The family built, and lived in, an attractive brick bungalow home on the northwest corner of Main and Ferry Streets. His mom, Betty, was a member of Vermilion's Osberg family. His oldest brother, Dave, was killed in a military airplane crash in California in 1966. And his other brother, Bruce, is retired and lives with his wife in the quiet Bluebird Beach section of Vermilion. Stu is also retired and lives with his wife, Carole (Lima), in Pennsylvania.
Stu was in town last summer and I stopped and talked with him for a time at his brother's house. I was amazed at the fact that he remembered things about myself that I had forgotten [e.g. I could open the combination lock on my school locker in 7th grade without looking at it]. He still has the lock.
Another amazing thing is that he still looks the same as I always knew him - with one exception. In school Stu was not a tall guy. But today he's over six foot tall. I don't know when he grew. But it was sometime after high school.
For as long as I can remember Stu has had a fascination with firearms. When we was kids I recall that he fired a weapon in the basement of the family home through the door of what was their fruit cellar. And another time he placed some gun powder on the basement floor. We went outside, and he dropped a match on it from a window. The place was filled with black smoke. I've no idea how he explained it to his parents. But that was Stu.
In latter years Stu's fascination turned into the hobby portrayed by his pic. And he looks authentic. (He was born too late.) Of course I played with the pic a bit in "Ps CS4". But if'n you know Stu you'd not fail to recognize him as a "Vermilion Kid".
"“I’ll be damned... none have really changed in looks..."
THAT’S THE WAY THEY WAS...:
From the looks of things it was probably about 1948-49 when late Vermilion resident Hazen Thompson gathered these youngsters in front of the Vermillion News office/print shop on Grand Street and froze their images for everyone to ponder over a half century later. Can you guess their identities? When I showed it to one of my little sisters she said (and this is a quote), “I’ll be damned... none have really changed in looks... I do remember when they did look like that...” She is not one to mince words.
Mr. Thompson, I have been told, was quite the “shutterbug”. This photo, in particular, was made into a postcard. During the early to mid 20th century that was not an uncommon thing for family photographers to do with their pictures. Actually it was quite a nice way to stay in touch with relatives afar. While that may seem to be a rather dull thing compared to the instantaneous digital communication systems that exist now - years ago it, too, was remarkable.
During the First World War Mr. Thompson served with the American Expeditionary forces in France as a Wagoner (old-timers referred to these gents as “Mule Skinner’s”). He was wounded in action on 2 November 1918 and was honorably discharged from the service in May of 1919. When he came home he went to work as a commercial fisherman and married a local girl named Vera Nichols.
When Hazen caught these shadows, he had long since left off commercial fishing and was working at the steel mill in Lorain. He and Vera had paranted five children. Charles, was born born in 1925. Then came Tom, Anna Mae, and Marianne. The youngest, Bill, was born in 1943.
The oldest son, Charles, was also a war veteran. Enlisting in the Army right after he graduated from Vermillion High School he served in Europe during the Second World War and, like his father, was wounded in action and received a Purple Heart for his troubles.
(Please note that whilst I do digress here with all this information about the photog and his family’s history I do so with some reason.)
Pictured left to right (front) are: Larry Howell, Mary Ann (Thompson) Corsino, Pearl “Ginny” (Tarrant) Wilkes, and Alice Mae Thompson. The tall serious looking fellow in the back is Albert Tarrant.
This particular photograph may not be unusual, but it is rare. With the exception of one person all the individuals pictured, in one way or another, contributed substantially to the positive development of the community we know as Vemilion, Ohio. None have become famous nor infamous, but some have quietly and consistently led honest and productive lives as lifetime members of our community. And were it not for a very debilitating illness, which stole her youth and finally her very life, Alice Mae would have likely done the same.
But that’s the way they was on what was, perhaps, an icy Saturday morning in February or March in the late 1940s.
By the way this photograph was loaned to me by Joseph and Mary Anne Thompson Corsino’s son Jack. A US Air Force Major he stopped by to see me at the church kitchen a few days ago. He was on its way to Iraq.
(ed. Note: Jack’s still alive and well - and has been back in the states for some time now.)
Ref: Special Thanks to the Corsino Family; Published in the Vermillion Photojournal on March 9, 2006; Written March 5, 2006 at 10:50 AM.; Oral transcription made 1/03/10 at Oakwood Drive in Vermilion.
"...somewhere in the distance there was a wonderful future awaiting each."
CRANE’S SCHOOL: In 1920 the year the shadows were forever captured on photographic film, the 18th amendment to the Constitution of these United States of America had just become law in the air are commonly known as “the Roaring 20s” was underway. Later that year the 19th amendment to the Constitution also passed - providing (would you believe?) women the right to vote. It was also in that same year that a thing known as an “electric typewriter” came into use; that the Boston Red Sox sold a player named George Herman Ruth Jr.. (A. K. A. “Babe”) to the New York Yankees; and in that same year a Potawatomi Indian named Wa-Tho-Huk, (translated to “Bright Path”) became the very first president of the American Professional Football Association, now known as the National Football League. A few years earlier he had won two gold medals at the Olympic Games. In Antwerp, Belgium. Most folks knew him as Jim Thorpe.
It is impossible to say if any folks gazing into the lens of the camera, and what may have been a warm afternoon in the late spring of that year, were aware of much of the aforementioned stuff. Quite frankly, there were other things to attend to. And following the directive of their teacher, Miss Stirgere, to stand quietly and still for this picture, likely occupied all their attentions at least for that moment. This, friends, was the entire student population of Crane school in Berlin District #6 in 1920. This one room clapboard school (block behind them) once occupied the northeast corner of Mason and Cherry Roads.
In the area of Vermillion Village there were 10 Districts. The districts were mapped out “so that no child need walk more than 1 1/2 miles to school...” At Crane School the sole teacher, Miss Stirgere (standing in the back by the door), supervised the education of nine girls and seven boys in grades three through eight.
Pictured left to right along with their respective grade levels were:
Front row: Daniel Boone (5), Art Hite (3), Melvin Rothgary (4), Calvin Rothgary (4), Josephine Kamp, (3) Helen Greenhoe (4), Irene Greenhoe (4), Mildred Strickrath (Clipson) (5), and Hermann Greenhoe (5).
Middle row: Lawrence Kamp (5), John Justin (6), Alva Boone (7), and Howard Hitet (6).
Back row: Nan Kamp (8), Helen Hite (7), Regina Kamp (Whitt) (7), Irma Rothgary (7), and Nina Summers (8).
Of the 16 children pictured I knew only five personally, and only two in greater detail. WhileI could tell you their stories as I know them, I’m not sure that that is necessary. So let it suffice for me to say that 86 years ago, on a lovely spring afternoon, none had the advantage of knowing what was in store for them. All they knew was that the sun was shining, the air was warm and sweet, and that somewhere in the distance there was a wonderful future awaiting each.
And so it was.
Ref: Brownhelm Historical Society; Special Thanks to Ed and Marilyn Brill, and the Vermillion area archival Society; Written on May 5, 2006; published in the Vermilion Photojournal on May 11, 2006; Oral Transcription made 2/03/10 on Oakwood Drive in Vermilion.
Some things do change...
SOMETHING OLD - SOMETHING NEW: The idea for this piece began as an idea for a coffee-table book of historical photographs of Vermilion, Ohio and, hopefully, it will (someday) be realized.
Originally the concept - as previously stated - was just a picture book. But after mentioning such a project in an issue of my weekly web page - Vermilion Views - a reader by the name of Scott Dommin suggested that it might be interesting if it featured photographs of how people, places, and / or things in the City of Vermilion, Ohio appear today along with photos showing how they appeared in the past. Ergo; the title "Now & Then".
"What a great idea." I told both myself and Scott.
The proposed book will be an 8 1/2 x 11 inch tome and will consist of approximately 250 pages. The comparative pix will be printed in both color and black and white, each accompanied with a concise description. The estimated cost of printing 250 books is $5000.00. That's $5000.00 more than I have. So - until I win the lottery this will have to do. Anon I will have this stuff on a separate webpage.
In the mid 1950's the site where Vermilion's Ritter Public Library would once stand was occupied by private homes along Ferry and Washington Streets, Walker's Dodge and Plymouth Dealership, and a building that once served as a local blacksmith's shop on Liberty Avenue. When it was chosen to be the site for the new library the house seen in the picture on the lower left was moved by the J.R. Parsons Moving Company to a new site on the lakefront behind the place currently (2010) known as the Gilchrist House on Huron Street.
The lower photographs illustrates the construction sequence. The upper photograph shows the same area some 50 years later as another addition is being added to the facility.
The lower photographs were taken from the porch of what was then Dr. Myer's home on Ferry Street. They are courtesy of Vermilionites Frank and Mary Lynn Homitz.
"The personal appearance of this strange character
was in keeping with the peculiarities of his nature."
JONATHAN CHAPMAN: In reviewing text for this spot during the week I came across the following piece that I found to be very interesting. I've footnoted part of it to enlighten thee re: Johnny's religious ideaolgy. But other than that it's a pure document. It's a rather long thing so I'm presenting it here in two parts. I hope you like it.
JOHNNY APPLESEED - PART TWO
[CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK]...]Upon one occasion an itinerant preacher was holding forth on the public square of Mansfield in a long and somewhat tedious discourse upon the sin of extravagance, frequently emphasizing his text by the inquiry: "Where now is the barefooted Christian travelling to heaven?" Johnny, who was lying on his back in some timber, taking the question in its literal sense, raised his bare feet in the air and vociferated: "Here's your primitive Christian" He was a vegetarian, and rigidly opposed to killing any living thing for food. Upon this point his ideas were carried to a fanatical extreme as will be seen by the following incidents, which are well authenticated: One autumnal night, while lying by his campfire in the woods, he observed that the mosquitoes blew into the flames and were burned. Taking the huge tin dipper, which answered the double purpose of cup and mush-pot, from his head, he filled it with water and quenched the fire, remarking afterwards: "God forbid that I should build a fire for my comfort which should be the means of destroying any of his creatures! " At another time he made his campfire at the end of a hollow log in which he intended to pass the night, but finding it occupied by a bear and her cubs, he moved the fire to the other end and slept in the snow rather than disturb the bears. Walking one morning over a small prairie he was bitten by a rattlesnake. Some time afterwards, a friend inquired of him" about the matter. He drew a long sigh and replied: "Poor fellow! he only just touched me, when I, in an ungodly passion put the heel of my scythe in him and went home." Again, while assisting in the construction of a road through the woods, a hornet, whose nest had been destroyed in the operation, found lodgement underneath Johnny's shirt. Notwithstanding the fact that he was repeatedly stung by the enraged insect, he removed it with the greatest gentleness. His companions laughingly asked him why he did not kill it, receiving in reply, " It would not be right to kill the poor thing, for it did not intend to hurt me."
Among his other eccentricities was that of a remarkable stoicism, an indifference to physical pain. To demonstrate this, he would often stick pins into his flesh: and he cured wounds by cauterizing them, and then treating them as burns. This fortitude, or nervous insensibility, whichever it was, led the Indians to look upon him as a being peculiarly gifted, a "great medicine man," and they treated him with great kindness. "Johnny Appleseed" made his home with Caleb Palmer through the war, visited the settlement very often afterward, and was as well known here as in any part of Ohio.
About 1838, he left the State and pushed further into the west, still laboring in his self-imposed mission, impelled perhaps wholly by his philanthropic monomania, but probably by a gnawing misery of the heart as well, for it was commonly believed that some bitter disappointment in a love affair, had, in his young manhood, changed the tenor of Jonathan Chapman's life. If so, a great good was accomplished through the thwarting of one human being's happiness, for the strange, heroic, generous, humane character, whom the pioneers of Ohio and Indiana knew as "Johnny Appleseed, "by his self-sacrificing toil did a vast service to the settlers whom he preceded in the wilderness, and to their succeeding generations. It has been well said of him. that "as a hero of endurance, that was voluntarily assumed, and of toil, the benefits of which could only be reaped by posterity, the name of Jonathan Chapman deserves a perpetuity beyond that of a generation of lesser lights passed in the glare and romance of the tomahawk and scalping knife period."
But little is known of the early life of this pioneer nurseryman, but there is every reason to believe that it was one strangely in variance with his after years. That he was a man of fine education is beyond doubt, for it is testified to by those who knew him in New Haven and elsewhere. At a very early day he delivered a Fourth of July address at Bronson, which, it is said by those who heard it, was masterly in matter and manner, a splendid piece of eloquence and a model of thought, such as only a mind of fine order could give birth to.
In 1845, after nearly a half century of devotion to his chosen mission, and at the age of seventy-two years, Jonathan Chapman died in the cabin of a settler near Fort Wayne, Indiana. The physician who was present said that he had never seen a man in so placid a state at the approach of death, and so ready to enter upon another life.
Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Subject: Huron County (Ohio) - History; Huron County (Ohio) - Biography; Erie County (Ohio) - History; Erie County (Ohio) - Biography
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio: Press of Leader Printing Company
NOT IN COPYRIGHT
Continued Next Week...
God Bless their souls - each and every one.
A LIST OF THINGS THAT A GUY NAMED STEVE WOULD RATHER DRINK THAN STARBUCKS COFFEE
1. Soup Broth Cooked Up In A Bedpan
2. Water From A Faucet In Mexico
3. A Glass Of Milk That Has Been Sitting In The Sun For 6 Hours
4. Toilet Water From A Gas Station Bathroom
5. A Mug Of Dog Drool
6. Used Oil From A Deep Fryer
7. My Own Urine
8. Sweat From A Wrung-Out Pair Of Gym Socks
9. Stagnant Humidifier Water
10. Pickle Juice Filtered Thru A Pair Of Underwear Worn By a Hobo
Podcasts - "forever under construction..."
PODCAST #166: This week the Vermilion Views Podcast #166 takes you into Toledo, O. on the Lake Shore Electric Railroad. Get your ticket to ride...
Persons interested in the history of the Lake Shore Electric Railway - "the greatest electaric railway system" on the planet may want to go to Amazon.com and purchase a book called "Images of Rail - Lake Shore Electric Railway". It was put together by Thomas J. Patton with the help of my friends Dennis Lamont and Albert Doane. It'd make a nice gift for the New Year.
Also, please note that all the video (MP4) podcasts (when used) are done in the "Quicktime MP4" format. If you don't have "Quicktime" it's easy to find and free to download.
NOTE NOTE:Past podcasts are not available in the on-line archive. They just take up too much disk space. But if one really, really, really wants to acquire a copy of a past cast it can be had by contacting me and I will place it on a disc and send it to ye for a minimal fee.
LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: After giving it much thought this link has been "put-down". During the last year most of the folks who used to use this page as a bulletin board have acquired their own and, consequently, no longer need this forum from "Views". I have, however, kept links (in the links section) to Larry Hohler's "Hope Homes" in Kenya - and to Bette Lou Higgins' Eden Valley Enterprises sites. They are historically and socially relevant projects. I suggest that you visit these sites on a regular basis to see "what's shakin'".
Pay particular note to the "Hope Homes" page during the next few months. They've recently received a significant grant from the Dolan Foundation and are constructing a Manual Training Center for their children and for other young people in that community. This is an exciting project.
Although this years Vermilion High School Class of 1959 reunion is over classmates may want to stay connected with each other through organizer Roger Boughton. Ye can connect by mailing him @ 2205 SW 10th Ave. Austin, MN. 55912 or you can just emailRoger.
Where's Alice? I found this link interesting. You just never know what Vermilion expatriots are up to - or where their up to doing it. Alice Wakefield is one of those people. So check out his link. Methinks you'll be surprised: Talking Turkey.
The Beat Goes On: The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Saturday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and come back at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that
is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the links. You might find something you like. If you experience a problem with them let me know. Also, if you want to see past editions of this eZine check the new archives links below.
If you're looking for my old links section (pictured) I've replaced it with a pull-down menu (visible in the small box next to the word "Go"). If you're looking for links to more Vermilion history check that menu.
How the old links menu looked
For Persons who would like to donate to the cause (to keep these "Views" on-line you can send whatever you would like to me at the following address. And THANKS to everybody who has already donated to the cause. I doth certainly appreciate it):
Rich Tarrant
1041 Oakwood Drive
Vermilion, Ohio
44089
Telephone: 440-967-0988 - Cell: 440-522-4459
or you can use PayPal:
"A diplomat's life is made up of three ingredients: protocol, Geritol and alcohol."
-Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)
Vol.7, Issue 47, February 6, 2010
Archive Issue #360
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