The Floods of 2008--and a Contest for Blog Readers

Sorry, friends. This week I’m just too preoccupied with the present—and future—of my adopted state of Iowa to write much about the past. My husband and I here in Ames, as well as our daughter and her family in Wisconsin, are not suffering as so many Midwesterners are right now. Yes, we mopped up a few leaks after the torrential storms that have dropped about 8 inches of rain in this area over the past two weeks.

On May 29, Ames got 5 inches overnight, and the next few days were when most of the damage was done to homes, businesses, parks, and student’s cars left in parking lots anywhere near our two creeks—Squaw and College—and one river, the Skunk. Ames got skunked all right. This past weeks other parts of the state got socked—Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and Des Moines especially.

The other curse has been the tornadoes that flattened the town of Parkersburg in May and destroyed the Little Sioux Scout Ranch in the loess hills of western Iowa this week. I’m continually proud of the Iowa spirit of fighting back: hundreds of people filling and preparing levees out of countless bags of sand; the boy scouts, who soon proved that they indeed were prepared (click here for one scout’s story); and all the people who followed instructions of state and city officials to help, evacuate, or even just follow the jingle drummed into our heads when driving our cars in flash flooded areas—“Turn around, don’t drown.”

One hundred miles east of us in Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, where both of our daughters and sons-in-law have studied (and later two of them taught), summer school classes were canceled on Friday. Every able-bodied student, faculty, and staff member was needed to fill sandbags and protect campus buildings. The photo (right) shows part of one of the “bucket brigades” set up from the basement to the third floor of the library that were formed to hand up, a few at a time, all the books and dissertations stored in the basement—over 100,000 volumes. To read the story, click here.

Well, that’s the Iowa I love. And as I said at the beginning, I’m worrying about it right now. (Photos from Des Moines Register)

On a lighter note…

Enter the Senior Moments’ Contest!

Readers ask me how I remember such minutiae about North Allegheny in the mid-1950s. I have to confess, it’s not that I possess a photographic memory. I’m a packrat; I’ve kept scrapbooks and saved mementoes that probably should have been chucked long ago.

When looking for something else the other day, I came across the January 16, 1957 edition of The Cardinal News, published by Wauwatosa High School (NW suburb of Milwaukee, WI). Its exchanges section contained a poem by one Barbara Sweeney.

I didn’t recognize it at first, and thought I must have saved it because someone else had my name (I’ve already discussed the multiple-Barbara problem). After reading the first line (with raised eyebrows), I realized I had written it for The North Star in December 1956.

A Has-Been

By Barbara Sweeney

I’m just a “has-been” at N.A.H.S.
The boys used to love me, I freely confess.
Just ask Bob or Andy—you’ll certainly see,
They once enjoyed spending their evenings with me.

Lots of other guys liked to be with me, too—
Stan, Wally, and Randy, to mention a few.
They took me out often on Friday night
And in their strong arms would hold me tight.

September, October, in lots of ways,
Were really wonderful “Courting Days!”
When I passed by for all to see,
A lot of strange boys made a play for me.

I was only with Chotta now and then,
But one pass from him had me hooked again!
I was dropped and kicked—but ‘twas all in fun
For I knew they loved me, everyone.

Things are different now.
They don’t see me at all.
Because, you see,
I’m just a
FOOTBALL!

(Hope you didn’t miss my sophomoric cleverness in shaping the lines to look like a football)

So here’s the contest: Without looking at your yearbooks, can you tell me the full names of the six gridiron heroes of 1956 who are mentioned in my poem? The first to email me the correct list will receive (if they come to the reunion) the authentic black-and-gold pencil sold by the 1956 NAHS football team to earn money. Consolation prizes will be programs from NAHS football games—the 5 we actually won that year. Winners to be announced 28 June 2008.

Eligibility Rules: To enter this contest you must be a member of NAHS Class of 1958 but not a member of the aforementioned football team. (That would be like shooting fish in a barrel, after all.)