Did you get to the Albaugh Classic?

Told ya! I was one of thousands of car buffs in Ankeny on Saturday for The Albaugh Classic supported by hundreds of volunteers and sponsored by Karl Chevrolet. Besides the Albaugh Collection there were about 500 owners from the Midwest displaying their vehicles: classics; street rods; cars and trucks. Included were quite a few orphan cars – some with names that old-timers know like Nash, Hudson, Willys, and Packard, and some orphan brands that younger folks know too like Oldsmobile and Plymouth. There were more Corvettes than I had ever seen in one place. Below are a few of my favorites.

For the first time I saw Dennis Albaugh’s collection of 130 Chevrolets. What a collection! My favorite was the one-of-a-kind 1928 Chevrolet Camp Car owned by John and Dora McMullen and shown below. It came complete with a non-anchored wicker chair driver’s seat with a second for the front seat passenger. Imagine what a State Trooper would say about that! It also had a quilt rack to the left of the driver’s seat, drop leaf dining room table just behind the front seats, and roll down window shades. Move over Winnebago!

The Albaugh’s Collection represents a Chevrolet and a Corvette from every year, and some years with two. It’s a privilege to walk through. Watch for Dennis to open his garage again. You’ll get your chance and you don’t want to miss it.

Speaking of you don’t want to miss it, watch for the 2009 Salisbury Automobile Classic on September 13.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Trouble at GM? It’s not the first time

The wheels have come off at GM, but it could be worse.

After all, you will wake up on Tuesday June 2, 2009, and there will still be a General Motors. (That’s good.) You will own the lion’s share of GM until (and if) it starts to make money, and then someone else will get to buy it back. (That’s mixed.) I would probably favor the idea that we (aka, the federal government/U. S. Treasury) would make some big bucks before we sell. Some question whether making money anytime soon is going to happen.

If you read 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic on AroundDesMoines.com last September -especially the links to Billy Durant – you know that GM has had its share of trouble.

Billy Durant created GM in 1908 for a small sum of money, raised a large sum of money by selling stock, bought Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (Pontiac), was pushed out in 1910, quickly joined forces with a race driver named Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet Motors, regained GM in 1916, was forced out again in 1920, and before he could rebuild his fortune, was ruined in the stock market crash of 1929. Durant was a dandy entrepreneur who lived too close to the edge once too often.

You can examine the way GM views its history. While the Web site has a corporate spin, the photos make it great fun for a car buff.

CNBC.com has a timeline history that was posted on May 27 2009. While it wanders a bit, it has a lot of facts.

The foreign press is sometimes a nice read since they mince fewer words. Try the Telegraph.co.uk from England.

So while the trouble at GM is not the first trouble, it is the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. history, and it does have our attention.

I sure hope we like the changes in GM ‘cuz looking for a Chevy is never going to be the same.

photos by flickr by bobster885 and James G. Lindberg

Memorial Day in Des Moines, 2009, part 3

President Obama asked all Americans recently to make an extra effort to honor our veterans this Memorial Day. While I have many reasons and many relatives that always make me think about veterans and service on Memorial Day and Veterans Day, Obama’s invitation prompted me to go to the Memorial Day Program at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. It was a good decision.

There were veterans, young and old, many decorated (including the 8% who are women). They came from every branch of the military and stood in turn while a band played the song of each branch

In the photo above you can see Representative and Vietnam veteran Leonard Boswell; keynote speaker, Iowan, Vietnam veteran and ex-POW, now retired Lt. Cmdr. Larry Spencer, and Vietnam Veteran Marty Cardines of Des Moines, all standing in front of Patrick J. Palmersheim, Executive Director of the Iowa Department of Veteran Affairs. and 1st Lt. Martha Kester, a Chaplain in the Iowa Army National Guard (seated). Cardines (shown below and left) received medals for service and exceptional courage in Vietnam. His actions in Vietnam were exemplary, but his records were not carefully kept. It has taken decades for the bureaucracy to catch up, but catch up it did, and everyone present was honored to be part of the recognition ceremony.

Near the end of the ceremony National Guard member, Edwin Gonzalez (whose photo is shown below), a native of Honduras, was sworn in as a U. S. citizen. He is scheduled to be deployed overseas within two months. He was happy and proud.

Me too.

Retired Lt. Cmdr. Spencer, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War and ex-POW offered comments with grace and humor, understating the difficulties he experienced as a prisoner of war. He emphasized the importance of communication, of community in the home and in the service, and of the joy of being part of Iowa and the Midwest. He closed by saying that any day that you wake up, look at the door to your bedroom, and find a knob on the inside, you know it is going to be a good day.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Honoring veterans, part 2

Not all families were so fortunate to have their loved ones return from war safely. Every family has its own stories. Every combat veteran’s story is difficult. Every veteran is affected and every family is affected. The veterans themselves are least likely to use the term hero. In one sense the following is one family’s story, in another every family’s.

The Purple Wren’s family is just one example.

• her Uncle Kay Anderson, a science teacher turned navigator in the Army Air Corps in WW2, was killed on take-off when his bomb-laden B-17 clipped the tree tops; he is buried in England
• her father Bob Renshaw as an infantryman in the South Pacific fought in some of the toughest battles of WW2 including beach landings; he returned safely and deeply affected
• her Uncle Stan Swanson served in the Army in WW2; near 90 he lives in Arizona
• her only other uncle, Minnesota native, Medal of Honor winner, Lt. Colonel Leo Thorsness was an F-105 pilot flying Wild Weasel missions over Vietnam when he was shot down, captured, and held in Hanoi for six years. His backseater was Iowan Harold E. “Harry” Johnson. His story is powerful, and he is a frequent speaker in the Midwest. You can hear his story in a 90 minute video at Pritzker Military Library. You may also want to read Leo Thorsness’s book Surviving Hell: A POW’s Journey.

Every family has its own stories.

photo by flickr by OZinOH

Memorial Day 2009: Honoring Veterans

Set aside a little time to remember your veterans.

During 8 of my first 12 years of life, the United States was at war. I was born just before the U. S. entered WWII and by the time I was 13 the Korean truce had been signed. During that time I had 4 uncles and 4 cousins over 21 and under 40; all 8 were in the military, and all came back.

• Uncle Fritz, a Swedish immigrant served in the U. S. Army in WWI
• Uncle Denny was an infantryman in the U. S. Army, landed at Normandy, fought at the Battle of the Bulge at age 38; he would sometimes talk about the bitter cold and the howl of the German 88mm shells.
• Uncle Bill was in the Navy in the South Pacific during WWII
• Uncle Russ was a Navy gunner on an oil tanker, was torpedoed in the South Pacific, survived 14 days on a life raft, and was rescued
• one cousin was in the Coast Guard during WWII
• another cousin was in the  Merchant Marine taking cargo back and forth across the North Atlantic during WWII
• a third cousin was in Korea during the Korean War
• and a fourth was also in Korea

In addition, my Aunt Julia was in the Marine Corps (play the video) stationed in San Diego during the entire 2nd World War.

There was a time in American history when every able-bodied man served; the duty fell to all.

From my relatives I learned that serving was a mix of boredom, terror, seasickness, hard work, extreme loss, revulsion, and homesickness.

Take some time to remember and honor your grandparents, uncles and aunts, parents, cousins, nephews and nieces, and all others who served in conflicts in the World Wars, in Korea, in Vietnam, in the Gulf Wars, in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and those who were prepared to fight.

In Des Moines the local Memorial Day program will be

• May 25, 2009
• 11 am
• Vets Auditorium

Guest and speakers include Vietnam veteran and Representative Leonard Boswell; Vietnam POW and retired Lt. Commander Larry Spencer will speak.

photo by flickr by Elassar

Thomas Friedman at Grinnell College

Good message!

Become the generation that will be called the Re-Generation.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times world affairs columnist and prolific author, gave the commencement address at Grinnell College on Monday May 19, 2009. You can hear the entire address (in 3 installments totaling just under 25 minutes) courtesy of YouTube.

In his initial remarks Friedman related several issues cited by fellow journalist Kurt Andersen in his recent Time magazine article, The End of Excess.

Continuing, Friedman then focused on a generational theme, first on the The Greatest Generation (that of his parents and grandparents – the generation that survived The Great Depression then fought in World War II). He cited the qualities that characterized the greatest generation:

• hard work
• delayed gratification
• achievement oriented
• focused attention

Those were my parents too and I would add to that list

• frugal
• humble
• accountable

Friedman contrasted the Greatest Generation with his own generation, the baby boomers (post-WWII babies) and named that generation the Grasshopper Generation – eating through the fabric of the nation like hungry locusts. He credited the grasshopper generation with such dubious qualities as

• excess (over-consuming, over-building, over-borrowing, over-lending, over-eating) and
• dumb as we wanna be (delaying the solutions to Social Security, health care, energy, environment, and immigration).

He cited the subprime meltdown in particular as illuminating a decline in basic values, risk management, accountability, and ethics.

Friedman then challenged the Grinnell graduates to become the Re-Generation

that could restore the basic values of

• hard work
• accountability

and added that the graduates should carry with them

• ethics
• uncompromising idealism
• unbending convictions
• principled behaviors

and that they should create value through

• invention
• innovation
• imagination

all in order to do real engineering of materials, of services, of societal movement that fulfill needs, both seen and unseen.

It was great advice to the Grinnell College Class of 2009.

Friedman also told an interesting story with several Iowa connections. While studying in London in 1975 and dating wife-to-be Ann Bucksbaum, daughter of Carolyn “Kay” (a Grinnell alum) and Matthew Bucksbaum (an Iowa alum), Friedman (not a journalist at the time) was so stirred by the politics of the day that he wrote an op-ed piece. Ann carried it back to Des Moines. The piece made its way to The Des Moines Register editorial page editor who published it. Friedman received $50, and he was hooked as a journalist. Thus, Friedman’s exceptional career has a strong Des Moines connection.

If you’d like to read two recent Friedman books try

• The World Is Flat
• Hot, Flat and Crowded.

photos by James G. Lindberg

Everlasting Moments

Maria Larssons eviga ogonblick is the title in Swedish – Everlasting Moments in English, and the film is playing at the Varsity Theater.

I read a lot of film reviews Saturday including Roger Ebert’s review of Everlasting Moments and decided that of all the films in Des Moines, it looked the best. He gave it 4 stars; tv4 in Stockholm gave it 4 solar.

In one of the scenes the main character is described as having “the gift of seeing”.  As the moviegoer, you will need the gift of seeing too. Everlasting Moments is

• wonderfully visual
• melancholy
• unrushed
• subtle in color, music, and spirit

This factual story is based on a real character (Maria Larsson) as narrated by her daughter Maja.

The movie is set in southern Sweden about 100 years ago, about the time my father’s family was leaving Sweden. I enjoyed hearing the Swedish spoken, the subtitles seemed good, and the characters seemed very real (rough men, strong women, quiet children). The movie has enough stories to tell that it kept me entertained over its 2 hour 11 minute run. You might like it too.

Watch the trailer on YouTube, and you’ll know if you want to see it.

photo by flickr by dreamsjung

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

I was in Salt Lake City for a national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Now while I love chemistry, the best moments of my visit were musical. On Sunday March 22, 2009, I heard The Mormon Tabernacle Choir as part of the 4149th broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word.

What a great moment! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang with a spiritual power that transcended religion.

• The late President Ronald Reagan called them America’s Choir.
• Since July 15, 1929 each broadcast of Music & the Spoken Word has begun with the words, “From the crossroads of the West, we welcome you to a program of inspirational music and the spoken word.“
• The general public is welcome in the Mormon Tabernacle as the choir performs for the broadcast, and the Purple Wren and I were two of them.
• You can get an impression of the choir by listening on YouTube, for example, to Consider the Lilies.

You can also hear broadcasts of Music & the Spoken Word around Des Moines too.

In the metro, early risers are in luck. KCOB in Newton (95.9 FM and 1280 AM) broadcasts the half hour program at 7:00 am on Sundays. The closest Iowa stations are

• Atlantic KJAN (1220 kHz on your AM radio) at 10 am on Sundays
• Cedar Rapids WMT (600 kHz on your AM radio) at 10 pm on Sundays
• Newton KCOB (1280 kHz on your AM radio or 95.9 MHz on your FM radio) at 7:02 am on Sundays
• Oskaloosa at William Penn KIGC (88.7 MHz on your FM radio) at 9 am on Sundays
• or you can find the others from Bonneville Communications

I know that I heard hundreds of radio broadcasts as a child because my father loved the music. I saw a few more broadcasts on black and white television. So when I walked into the tabernacle for the first time in 2009, it all looked very familiar. It should. The Tabernacle has been there (of course remodeled some) since 1867. The Tabernacle is known for its acoustics, but I was unprepared for the power and quality of music – an organ with 11,000 pipes; 360 disciplined, well-rehearsed voices (They rehearse or perform on 180 days/year). It was quite a thrill. If you are in Salt Lake City on a Sunday, don’t miss it.

Find a local Church of Latter Day Saints.

photos by Jim Lindberg

Billie Jean King, a Champion still championing great cause

Where do you start with a champion like Billie Jean King? Her incredible tennis career? Her decades of fighting for social change and equality?

Billie Jean King’s legendary career in sports does seem to be eclipsed only by her endless efforts on behalf of the rights and dignity of people across the globe. The American icon spoke Tuesday night as part of the Smart Talk series at the Civic Center of Des Moines. She continued to champion a commitment to worthy causes.

King retired from competitive tennis 19 years ago, but it’s hard not to highlight some accomplishments on the court: 39 Grand Slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, including a record 20 titles at Wimbledon. Starting as a 15-year-old in 1959 in her debut at the U.S. Championships, King gained international recognition just two years by winning the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon. Things just got better: for one 10-year period from 1966 through 1975, King won

• 12 Grand Slam singles titles
• 9 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles, and
• 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

On March 24, 2009 at the Civic Center of Des Moines, Billie Jean King paid little homage to these statistics, instead focused on lessons learned in her extraordinary life.

Three themes framed her message -

• Accept and cherish the relationships in your life.
• DON’T make assumptions. About yourself, or others.
• Accept pressure as a privilege.

King, (named “one of the 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life Magazine in 1990), emphasized the work that still needs to be done to achieve equality in all facets of our culture. The crusader for women’s sports, told of her passion for empowering others with “micro financing”, where small loans to entrepreneurs in poor countries can “change generations” of poverty. Of course, King has been helping people stand on their own two feet for decades – whether fighting for Title 9, or for equal rights for the Gay and Lesbian (GLBT) community.

Crowd favorite’s on Tuesday night included her illustrious victory over Bobby Riggs in 1973, dubbed the “Battle of the Sexes”, and how at the last minute she decided not to just crush opponent Riggs, but to run him all over the court. And of course her 37 year relationship with Sir Elton John, and how the #1 hit and homage to King, Philadelphia Freedom, came to be. The song was played at her entrance and exit from the Civic Center stage.

Following up in the “Meet and Greet” after the show, Billie Jean was generous and attentive to her fans, talking freely about family, human rights, her favorite tennis moment, and expressing a love for Bigelow Tea. Once she signed everything, from her latest book Pressure is a Privilege to several tennis racquets, it was clear that her championship ways included the message from her presentation, that the most important relationship is being comfortable with yourself.

Photo by flickr by The Heart Truth

Article written by David Borzo

State Historical Museum of Iowa

And a good time was had by all.

The State Historical Museum of Iowa is a wonderful place. Visit frequently

• by yourself
• with your children
• with your grandchildren

Use any excuse.

They are quite pleased to tell you that they are open every day of the year except for Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s a credit to them; they serve the public first.

The museum has permanent exhibits and changing exhibits, and they are all very well done. One exhibit that seems to be a sure hit traces the history of people in Iowa and their connections to our natural resources. That’s where the buffalo above is found, along with loons, foxes, raptors, and other Iowa creatures.

When you first enter the museum, you are greeted by a mammoth skeleton. When I was there Tuesday that prompted the question, “Was it really that big?” Mammoths ranged from 9′ to 15′ tall and roamed the Midwest during the Ice Age. Read up at the museum’s site or go see for yourself.

There are also artifacts and modern representations of Native American cultures including a walk through bark shelter. While I went through it four times in both directions, my unofficial 7 year old guide was leading a fast-paced tour, and some of the details have escaped me – a decent docent nonetheless.

If you like local history Patten’s Neighborhood is terrific.

And you can visit a few exhibits on-line.

I went to the museum on Tuesday for the Irish Fest and did something for the first time: I got a green stegosaurus spray painted on my face. I thought it matched my personality.

Keep posted about the goings-on at the State Historical Museum. Until you get there, you won’t know how good it is – so go.

• visit the museum
• visit the gift shop
• use their archives
• use their libraries and special collections
• check out the education resources
• visit their remote historic sites away from Des Moines
• check out their historic preservation program
• read their publications
• volunteer and get involved

You can even rent space!

Or you can read what I said last year.

photos by James Lindberg and the Purple Wren

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