Mississippi Revisited

This was originally posted in 2017.  I need to add an addendum here.  Look, I have been a blessed man.  I know that.  Today, I wish I could have been in Mississippi to say goodbye to my Aunt Authula Crout.  I’m not sad.  She was 95.  She lived a life most of us would dream of living.  Simple.  True.  Loving.  Tough.  Honest.  Classy.  Funny.  My Aunt Authula was all of those things and more than I will know.  Aunt Thula’s funeral was held today. I wish I could have been there to hug the necks of Janet, Bobbi Sue, Joyce, and Doyle (Fred Biletnikoff)…an inside joke.  I love them all so.  I have been in Indiana my entire life.  My sojourns to Mississippi are too sweet to mention.

This was the last time I saw Aunt Thula in December of 2019.  I hope I make it back to that most important front porch of my life.  I want to sit there and write for a while.

From 2017…

A few days ago my dear wife, Carrie, my sister, Lynn, and my niece, Katie, visited family members in Mississippi. It was the first time we had been there since 2013 and that is shameful. As much running around as Carrie and I do, we need not wait four more years to get back. I say it again, it is shameful.

We had a great time. It was a wonderful visit. It always works out that way even when Carrie and I are walking at 8 in the morning to get a little exercise and the bright sun there is already strong enough to take the hide off of you. How do they practice football in this, I asked. I know…they are used to it. I am not. But that is not to say that I do not like it. The air there is much more kind to my pipes that the crud we are relagated to breathe in and out in Southern Indiana. Like the Berkshires, I’ll take the Mississippi air to take in and out any day, sun or no sun.

We saw Uncle Stanley and Aunt Reat. They are in a nursing home in Morton, Mississippi. Neither one of them can get around too well. Uncle Stanley can make out what you have to say to him if you can keep your voice long enough to do it. You have to speak up a great deal. Though he can’t hear and can’t see very well, he still has his wit about him. He was the only one on the visit to bring up the political spectrum in this country. Pleasantly, we agreed on the dim horizon from “left” to “right”.

Aunt Reat is an inspiration. She told us she never thought she would ever be in the spot she is in…in a nursing home. She was then quick to bring out the fact that many others there have it much worse than she does and that she is thankful and still has a great deal to live for. She is tough. It was hard to say goodbye to them. She’ll be 90 her next birthday.

We also had a visit with Aunt Barbara. This is another self-procliamed “tough old sister”. That is what she said in 1989 when it started to rain at an Ole Miss-Arkansas football game she and I were attending. I asked if she wanted to find cover. She set me straight.

Aunt Barbara’s husband, my Uncle Durwood Hines, was the first of the 17 brothers and sisters born to W.E. and Levi Jane Hines to leave us. He died of a brain tumor in April of 1988…April 18th to be exact. I know where I was when I got the call from my mother that day.
We still talk football, Aunt Barbara and I do. She still works fulltime. She will be 82 in less than a month. We also enjoy taking in a meal together. We ate catfish on Tuesday night at a place called The Cock of the Walk along the Ross Barnett Resevoir not far from Jackson. It was a feast. The best fresh water fish in the world.

Our last stop was at Uncle Carlton and Aunt Wanda’s house. Carlton Hines is the youngest of the 17 Hines children. He is 70 these days. He does not look it. I have all his white hair. He and I have a shared interest in music and football and we held forth on both subjects with earnest vigor sitting on his back deck while the ladies shared stories inside. It was an old-fashioned meeting of sorts. Carrie did come out to join us eventually. Our time there went by so quickly it is sad.

If there is one constant in geography and personage, it is a country road, maybe Old Hillsboro Rd, I really am not quite completely certain and I don’t have to be because I know the way. It is the same road that my parents drove on to the same house we visited in the 1970s,80s, 90s, 2000s, 10s. Five decades rolling up to the same house.

My Aunt Authula moved into this house in 1952. He her husband, Everett Crout, planted Sycamores in 1953. They are prominent on the property today along with an array of other tall and wide trees including Oak, Magnolia, Pine, and others I don’t know quite as well. My leaf collection was puny in the 9th grade Biology.

I do know I shot some ball on this hoop as a child.

Only in Mississippi could I get artsy with a basketball goal.

The back of the house.

Aunt Authula will be 91 this month. Like the house she still lives in, though Uncle Evertt passed many years ago, the place is still like it was in so many ways when I was young. There is a peaceful sensibility about the front porch where my Grandaddy Hines dipped snuff and took note of the weather. It is the Ryman Auditorium of front porches to me. I considered it a hallowed spot.

So does Carl. Carl, you are in the midst of greatness. I hope you appreciate it.
And so it goes. Mississippi is as sweet as ever. A much better place than given credit for or understood. But I suppose you have to know a thing or two to appreciate it, like anything else. Thank God I know what I know. Hope I can hang on to it, even if only in my mind.
Speaking the Mississippi rights…
Danny Johnson

There is nothing wrong with aiming high and dreaming of achievement.  There is an old adage about belief and achievement. Hopefully my students have caught on to a little of this.   My hope is to leave students with knowledge and creativity for utilizing the English language.  Communication is the key.  Relating opens the door.

I am blessed beyond measure to be able to go on wonderful nature walks with no need to do anything with my automobile besides waving goodbye to it in the driveway as I walk on.

Yesterday I went on a 5 mile hike and after play practice today I walked a couple miles.  There is a hill across the road behind my dear wife, Carrie’s, cousin’s house.  I made it up to the top of that hill for the first time yesterday.  Know that I have lived across the road from this hill for more than twenty years.  I have hiked in every other direction many times over and over.  I had heard about the field at the top of the hill.  I must say I have never seen anything like it.  The path up the hill is steep and winding.  Not quite the long and winding road.  A quarter of a mile up and a much increased heart rate later, one can find something special.

Finally, wishing I had a bottle of water later.  It was all worth it and very much worth the wait.  Yes, I had heard it was a lovely spot.  And I went back again today.

Through the woods, up the hill, and then…

Pictures don’t give this space its due.  This is a thimble of the expansive piece of flat land on top of this hill.  The last time I felt so moved by the landscape in front of me was a walk around Walden Pond.  Henry David Thoreau knew what he was doing.

Down from the hill across the road, I took to the lane behind the house and took a few great pictures.  I won’t lie.  The flat land was a friend.

I always say that when the light is right you have a good chance with any camera.

Just about where I turned around and headed for home.

The play is next weekend!  How about these posters designed by Clay Brown of Celery Signs!  Very nice.

This is only post #7 of 2022.  Enjoyed it.

Love one another.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

Hello, Group.

It is good to be back.

The Easter Holiday is special to me on so many levels.

Memories of my childhood and the great Easter Sundays I spent at the Brownstown Baptist Church.  I can still hear that choir sing, “UP FROM THE GRAVE HE AROSE!”  That I can still hear it all so clearly is a musician’s blessing.  I know how fortunate I am.

This is the church I was married in back in 1996 to my dear wife, Carrie.  John Abbott married us.  For years, including 2022, John and I went back and forth each February 10th.  I never ceased to thank him.  John passed away recently.  But I know that was just a new beginninig.  Good Easter to you, John.

Easter is new life.  Walking around the last few days and a couple weeks ago on the North Carolina coast, I thought I would share a few photos.

I never tire of looking forward to see the sun come up in the morning.  Whether it is over the railroad tracks below the Tunnel Hill bridge or the North Carolina coast.

For me, the water offers a new perspective that is bright and full of possibility.

A couple Saturdays ago I was at Indiana University Southeast doing a little writing.  I was the only one in the room and it was a peaceful experience.  What I learned in some of those classrooms I now hope I can pass along to my students.

It was nice to walk around the old place again.

Speaking of walking.  I enjoy walking along St. Louis Road toward Milltown.  I have mentioned this many times on these pages.  The photo above was taken a month or so ago.  There is no way I can put together all the photos I would like to share.  This is the first post I have made since early March, I think.  And only the second one in two months or so.

Yesterday I took a long walk.

What a lovely day it was yesterday.

After a while on the paved road, I decided to take the walk behind the house and into the woods and say hello to a busy and raised Blue River.

It won’t be long.  These woods will be filled with leaves and more critters and I don’t know what all.  It is very sweet to pay a visit when the woods are teeming with new life.  Thanks be to God!

My how things change in thirty-seven years.  Last night was the return of the United States Football League.  It was a spring football league that lasted from 1983 to 1985. Last night in the Louisville televison market, you could tune in to watch this game on either WAVE 3 or WDRB 41.  When the USFL was televised all those years ago, the Louisville ABC affiliate did not carry the games.  They differed.  Be glad you have no idea how difficult it was to make out those football games watching them from a grainy over the air signal from Channel 7 in Evansville.  But that is what my Dad and I did.  Last night, it was all there in HD for the Louisville market to enjoy.  New life.

Good Easter to you!

Speaking the rights for the first time in a while…

Danny Johnson

Nearly twenty years ago I printed off a speech that was made by John Grisham, the noted author of what we call “legal thillers”.

This particular speech was ten years old at the time.  It was made at the commencement of the 1992 graduating class of Mississippi State University.

A native of Southaven, Mississippi, not far from Memphis, John Grisham was a 1977 graduate of Mississippi State.  He got his undergrad in accounting before he trotted from Starkville northwest to Oxford and on to law school at Ole Miss.  In 1984, as a young trial lawyer, John Grisham took out a legal pad and began writing a story called A Time to Kill.  That story was published and by the time he made his commencement speech in Starkville for that 1992 graduating class, he had three books to his credit.  Today the number of books John Grisham has produced is over 40.  His books have sold more than 300 million copies and have been translated into more than 40 languages worldwide.

Enough of the John Grisham public service announcement.

So on a Wednesday, it was May 8, 2002, I printed that particular1992 Mississippi State commencement speech that John Grisham delivered.  Why I printed that speech is a mystery to me.  At the time I was not teaching seniors and I was a year away from seeing a high school graduating class to the finish line as a school counselor which is something I did for a long time.

For twenty years I have always known where I could put my hands on this speech.  Oh it has changed from cabinet to cabinet and from drawer to drawer, but I have always known where I could find it.  Why?  I have no idea.  But, believe it or not, it came in handy recently as I was teaching English in Room 104 at North Harrison High School in Ramsey, Indiana.  Things just work out that way sometimes.  When they do, you are thankful and you move on.

Above is the paper I printed off in 2002.  I suppose I can relate to the quote to the left of his picture.

“If you’re sitting out there now with a nice, neat little outline for the next ten years, you’d better be careful.  Life may have other plans.”

I often give a refrain that goes like this, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

So as I was lesson planning, I looked for this speech and was delighted to put my hands on it in quick fashion.  Twenty years on, I knew where it was sitting.

Unaccountable with just this paper copy, I knew I needed more.  I told myself that if I was going to share this with my students, my reading of this speech (which I dearly love and appreciate) just wouldn’t do for me or my students.  Action was needed.  I wanted to find a video of this speech.  Even though google and youtube could not locate it, I knew it had to be out there somewhere.

A very simple “chat with someone” on the Mississippi State University Library page turned into a mission.  And to my academic, spiritual, and simple delight, I was shocked that folks in Starkville, Mississippi wanted to make it their mission too.  A call out to share with my students turned into an all out media history search at State.  Four days and an exchange of more than ten emails later, the video of this speech was found and yesterday I had the chance to share it with some of my students.

In earnest, I did not believe this would be pulled out of Mississippi State’s maroon hat.  Therefore, I had already showed my students John Grisham’s 2010 UNC-Chapel Hill commencement address.  Guess what?  With the additonal ability to view Grisham’s 1992 address to the State grads, we were able to….wait for it…compare and contrast!!!!  Get those Venn Diagrams flowing!

Yesterday we watched the 1992 Mississippi State commencement speech by John Grisham in Room 104 at North Harrison High School in Ramsey, Indiana. Under the QUOTE OF THE DAY, I added the names of Julie Shedd, Jennifer McGillan, Emily Harrison, Paul Huddleston, and Li Zhang.  These kind folks in Starkville, Mississippi went to work for North Harrison students and I am so grateful.

As an additional point of reference, I can easily lay my hands on a book by S.E. Hinton called The Outsiders.  There is a post it note that puts me right to one particular page whenever I need to read it.  The words I read, when life tells me to do so, are:

“There’s still lots of good in the world.”

Some kind folks at the Mississippi State Library reminded me of just that this past week.  I am so thankful.

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson

I had other aspirations for this post.  Like that Van Zant song lyric, “If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.”

So I have to go down other roads today.  Not the map that was in my mind will I follow.  I have to follow my heart this time.

“Not exactly the way I wanted to say goodbye, Radar.” That is what came to mind when I sat down to write these words.  Colonel Potter then said to Radar, “God speed, son.”  They hugged and the rest is sweet TV history.

We can all hope for a sweet history, even though it does not work out that way.  There are scrapes and burns and duct tape around the frame of every life.  How we get through some of what we get through, I will never know.  God’s hand is there to hold.  We can get into an argument of why bad things happen til the cows come home, go to pasture, and come back again.  Now is not the time.

I wanted to sit down and get wistful and take a trip down memory lane about some of the people and places I have written about on these pages since I began writing speaktherights.com.  This is post number 656.  I have written more than a half a million words here since I started in the summer of 2014.  This has been fun.

It is time to take a break.  There are a few of you out there.  I know you read these pages regularly.  I thank you for that.

For some time I have been wanting to work on a more ambitious piece of writing that I need to get out of my system.  No, it is not a bad thing I am dealing with.  It just feels that way sometimes when I feel bad for not putting something on here when I am wanting to get the other finished.  In the process, I make less progress here and there.

Time.  There just isn’t enough of it.  So, when I finish the writing project, I will be able to come back here and get on with this once again.  I’ll be back in the Spring.

Music from February 1977

1   NEW KID IN TOWN –•– Eagles
2   LOVE THEME FROM “A STAR IS BORN” (Evergreen) –•– Barbra Streisand
3   BLINDED BY THE LIGHT –•– Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
4   FLY LIKE AN EAGLE –•– The Steve Miller Band 
5  I LIKE DREAMIN’ –•– Kenny Nolan
6  ENJOY YOURSELF –•– The Jacksons
7  TORN BETWEEN TWO LOVERS –•– Mary MacGregor
8  NIGHT MOVES –•– Bob Seger
9  DANCING QUEEN –•– Abba
10  WEEKEND IN NEW ENGLAND –•– Barry Manilow

This was the American Top 40 top ten songs of the week ending February 26, 1977.  That would also be my Mother’s birthday!  It was a good time to be listening to the radio.  In 1977 my station of choice, the one I was probably listening to in between running upstairs to see how many points Dave Cowens or John Havlicek or Jo Jo White had for the Boston Celtics on the NBA on CBS Sunday afternoon telecast, was 1010 WCSI in Columbus, Indiana.

When Robert Becker sold 96.3 WJAA in Seymour in 2020, my daily radio listening life came to an end.  Oh there are a few shows I make a point to listen to.  Not many.  Not everyday.  Not like it was.  Thankful I had what I did for as long as I did.  I tuned in to listen to Becker every morning for nearly thirty years.

Nowadays I spend more time listening to Amazon Unlimited Music and Classic American Top 40 on the IHeart Radio App.

Well, here we go again (I can hear Ronald Reagan’s voice).

This was my classroom last week.  It was miserable.  The only thing I can think of that could be more miserable is having a classroom full of kids without masks on after a week that looked like the one is this picture.

When word came down from on high that will we be returning to the classroom tomorrow, I was delighted.  I was not impressed when that word included masks in the classroom were optional.  Oh, I know, it said Parental Choice in leading CAPITAL letters.  Having been away from the class for a week, I wish the message had said for the safety of our students and our staff WE ALL NEED TO WEAR A MASK WHILE OUR COUNTY IS IN THE RED.  That message would have been much more respectful of all involved in the classroom setting.

We asked parents to wear a mask when they were picking up food outdoors during lunch distribution last week.  But go ahead and send your kid to a classroom full of 30 or more students (mask or no mask).  Some of those classrooms have no outside windows.  I know this all too well.

I suppose it would not sting like it does, had more professionals been recognized as stakeholders in protecting all stakeholders.  I don’t blame all of this on the administration.  I blame it on the teachers too.  As an educator I was not asked what I thought was important for the next steps by either the administration or the classroom teachers association.  Seems like my membership (and my remuneration) in the association is respected more than I am.

You better know when it comes time to formulate a school improvement plan, the surveys and the questionaires will be flying around like leaves in a November windstorm.

In full disclosure, I am not one who has worn a mask in my classroom all year long.  I am wearing one now for sure cos I want to help us get through this level red mess.  This very school year I went from the football sideline to the stage as the drama club sponsor.  This ole boy ain’t been hiding.

I feel like when we are not wearing masks and being as responsible as we can be we are throwing healthcare workers under the bus in the process.

Remember when we used to watch National TV news, be it John Chancellor or Walter Cronkite, and we saw a story that looked awful about folks suffering somewhere?  What did we tell ourselves?  We said, “I sure am glad that ain’t happening here!”

It is happening here.  We don’t have to look at it for 30 seconds at a time before Walter says, “That’s the way it is.” or before John Chancellor says, “That’s Nightly News for this evening.”  This is 2022 and we have to look at this health disaster 24/7.  Why do we have to make decisions that remind us of 1978?

I recently told a friend as long as there is sand, you will always be able to find some Hoosier heads.  Sorry kids.  Geography can be studied and it can hurt at the same time.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

It has been too long away from these pages, hasn’t it?

Maybe.

Or, as my Granny used to say, “Might…Might Not!”

It was a miracle. I called the College Footbal Game correctly.  Georgia won over Alabama and at the beginning of bowl season I made that call.  It all sure went quickly.

At some point I will add up my win-loss picks for the entire bowl season.  I doubt I report that.  It will be uglier than a bowling shoe.  If Lewis Grizzard was somewhere watching last Monday, I hope he enjoyed it.

Don’t be greedy, BAMA.

The Bengals won one.

No, the Bengals helmets don’t look like that anymore.  They did when I saw them in person for the first time.  They were playing the Packers in 1975 in what we used to call an “exhibition” game.  Now it is called the preseason.

The last time I saw the Bengals in person they defeated my Eli-led New York Giants in 2012.

It will be the last time I attend a Bengals game, as the flyover that day left me adversely phased to a point no return.  I will never step foot into Paul Brown Stadium again.

But good for the 2021 Bengals.  The beat the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday to earn their first playoff victory since the 1990 season on January 6, 1991.  Who beat them the next week in 1991?  That would be the Los Angeles Raiders.

Two Hall of Fame coaches went at it on Decemebr 28, 1975.  This time it was the OAKLAND Raiders (as the Lord intended) defeating the Cincinnati Bengals.

RAIDERS 31         BENGALS 28

John Madden’s Okland team beat Paul Brown’s team.  Talk about some history on those sidelines.

I was watching the game in my grandparents’ den at 1439 Alma Street in Shreveport.  I still remember being sore at my Granny cos she was rooting for the Raiders.  It was George Blanda’s last season in 1975.  His first on was in 1949.  A quarterback turned kicker.  There was only one like Blanda and that was Blanda.  Granny was for Blanda.

That was the last quote of the day my students saw in the room.  I had no idea that on Friday, we would not be together and that the rest of this week, starting tomorrow, will be what we call ELearning.  The kids are at home.  I am at my desk looking at a computer screen hoping they will all show up for our “virtual class time”.  We do the best we can do.  That covid shadow just kept creeping in closer and closer.  We could feel it.  That would be a rather hopeless feeling.

I pulled a large Moodies poster out of mothballs, as I needed a larger coloful backdrop.

Carrie and I  picked this up for my Dad this weekend at a large, majestic store in Jasper.

A 5 lb bag of goobers!

Dad got after them watching his Southern Miss Golden Eagles at Marshall some years ago.

We’ll give Granny the last word.  Though she disappointed me when she rooted against my Bengals forty-seven years ago, I thought of her when I ran across this just yesterday.

She enjoyed watching her Cowboys.  Captain America led the way.  And when the Cowboys were on defense, Granny yelled out a hearty, “Get Him!!!!”

I will be for the Rams over the Cardinals tonight.  If I had it my way, the Rams will play the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.  I think that is the correct Roman Numeration.  If not, I contend to just speak the rights…

Danny Johnson

Let’s be careful out there.

Those were the final words from Sgt. Phil Esterhaus during morning Roll Call, as was the time and place the television show Hill Street Blues would open each week.

January 15, 1981 at 10 PM EST was the night Hill Street Blues premiered on NBC.  Walter Cronkite was still telling us “That’s the way it is…” just before 7 PM on CBS.  Walter wrapped that up on March 6, 1981.

To this day, when I am asked what my favorite television show of all time was I answer Hill Street Blues.  It was different.  The use of handheld cameras taking a more cinematographic approach made it look different immediately to the eye.  And the cast?  This ensemble made the number of memorable characters on MASH seem paltry.

We won’t get in to all the characters.  But as MASH was winding down, it would end in 1983, Hill Street gave so many of us something to discuss on Friday mornings at school.

MASH was the same, probably to a larger degree.  That was ‘THE SHOW” in the 70s. We all watched.

I get wistful at times thinking about all the great travel my dear wife, Carrie, and I done over the dozen years or so.  We have been fortunate to see a great deal.

A few years ago I tracked down a complete seried set of Hill Street Blues on DVD.  I watched it through.  I started it again a couple days ago.  I watch it as I excercise in the basement.  It is every bit as good as I remember.  The characters.  The lines I still remember.  And there is the Hill Street station.

A photo taken of my TV screen.

Hill Street Station is in Chicago.  Carrie is in front of it in this picture.  Yes, that is snow and ice around her feet.  It  was a chilly day.

This building, at least while we were there, was serving as a police station for the University of Chicago.  It took some looking to find.  But it was worth it.  I could see Captain Furrillo ducking out of the building in the dark of night to get into his car.  And let us not forget that great Mike Post Hill Street Blues Theme Song.

I think this classy piano driven theme song was part of Hill Street Blues’ great appeal.  There was violence on this show like we had not seen on network TV before.  The realism was a priority.  This was not CHIPs where every car that flipped turned over three times.  It was serious stuff.  The juxtaposition between sweet theme and ugly streets came out of the televison on those Thursday nights in buckets.  As a fan of the show, this was our show.  The critics were not kind when it started.  If a critic agrees with you, how much of a critic are they?  Exactly.

I will keep watching and keep rememberg this great show I grew up with from age 12 to 19.  Doing so keeps me young, until I have to climb the stairs after a workout.

Speaking the rights.

Danny Johnson

January 2022.  That sounds very very nice right now.

If we ever needed a good turning of the calendar, it is now.  I am delighted to see 2022 here with us.

As I type these words, I am listening to Barry Manilow singing a song from his 1977 Barry Manilow Live album. The song he wrote with Marty Panzer is called Another New Year’s Eve.  I don’t know that it appears on a regular Manilow solo album.  The finale of the album, playing now, is the Bruce Johnston penned iconic tune called I Write The Songs.  If you have paid attention to The Beach Boys you will recognize Bruce as a memebr of that band for a number of years post Bian Wilson touring that always has a smile on his face.  I’d smile too had I wrote that tune.

This album made a great impression on me.  Long before I ever saw a music concert in person, I had already imagined what that meant.  I was an odd ten year old kid.  Barry Manilow songs were tunes I analyzed and put myself in.  When I was ready to make my own music, nothing ever really intimidated me.  I appreciated it all.  I did.  I respected the folks around me to the point of deference.  But I was not intimidated.  Had I been, I would have taken my songs and ran in fear.  Yes, I know I never deserved to be in the room with guys who’d played with or led off for some of music’s notable including The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffett, The Charlie Daniels Band, Vince Gill, Billy Swann, Velvet Elvis, Bodeco, The Wulfe Brothers, and so on.  But I found myself there.  And guess what?  I Write the Songs too.  That is what got them and me in the room.  I should just be thankful for what it is.  And I thank Jeff Carpenter, my partner in music, for leading me there.

This was yesterday at my parents’ house.  We watched some good old January 1st football.  This may be my favorite day of the year.  This tradition has held long and steadfast.  I am so thankful.

Of all the pictures I look at before this Covid mess hit, I often look at this one.

All is right in the picture.

Speaking the rights!

Danny JHohnson

How’s it going, group?

So I took a few walks across campus recently.  Felt and found myself concentrating on lines before me.  I tried to capture them.  In some way shape or form, I saw them.  I don’t know if anyone will want to agree with me.  That is why I find art and photography so very interesting.  My curiosity and mental placement inside the works of Edward Hopper is something I can’t explain.  I don’t want to.  But I can point to his work in my classroom and pass along a few anecdotes.  That is what have here today with some of these photos I suppose.  Enjoy or don’t.  That is in the eye of the beholder.

If you know North like I do, you are familiar with the old gym, locker room, and weight room.

You old Uncle Dan can remember when all the surface in this photo was gravel.  The closest door was the home football locker room.  The next one up was for the visitng team and was the NH girls locker room as well.  Two opposing teams this close together was not a great idea.  Not surprising.  North did not start playing varsity football until 1978.  We made a serious run of good time from 1979 to 1982.  NH Football’s support then moved to Seymour with my friend Bob Mahan.  It would take 30 years for football to find its way again to North in earnest.  In 2012 it was realized, finally, that football can be successful and you can play good basketball too.  Brownstown has done it for years.  Some things take time.  Some things never change.

A new tennis court was installed this year and it is very nice.  Coach Bart Bigham deserves this too.  He is a great coach and example for student-athletes of any sport.

Benches on both sides of the court.  Nice.

The gravel road above “THE HILL” at North Harrison’s Football Stadium.  I like the BLUE paint it received this year.

Lines of bleachers.

Okay, riddle me this, Batman.

The following pictures show an East side goalpost that is “leaning” a little to the right. Taken along the line of the West side goalpost.

Then, and I will grant you that it is tilted a bit…but look at the recovery the far post makes below.

My art teaching friends David Shiner or Jerry Brown could probably add some insight where I cannot.  Still, it is an interesting photo.

The Band got a great new sign with nice lines.  They did a fantastic job this year during football season.  I told them so heading to the locker room at halftime during one of our football games.  Their dedication to their craft is an inspiration to anyone looking to see what hard work can do.

An empty guidance office getting a new makeover.  Thirty years on, it is time.  Good for Mrs. Eckart.  I spent some time in that room.

Talk about lines!  Wow.  Many stories are here.  The play, A Christmas Scarol, was a great time earlier this month.  I was delighted to be a part of it.  The cast and crew did a great job pulling this off and I sincerely thank them.

These evergreens act as a sanctuary of sorts.  They may be the most beautiful things on the North Harrison campus.  Simply a breath of fresh air every time I look at them.  Away from a coast, is there a more compelling sound than a stiff wind rushing through pine trees?  I don’t think so.

From the Meijer parking lot a couple days ago.  Cargo planes were coming in like crazy to Louisville’s Standiford Field.  This one doesn’t even have a paint job yet.  At first glance, this photo looked to me like a plane that was flying toward Ultraman…the ancient TV show.  This thing doe not look real to me.

Then this one came along with its paint job.

Those are some mighty big planes.

Smile, Justin!  This ain’t 1969!  In those days, The Moodies’ admit now, they looked a bit too serious for their own good.  It worked out, didn’t it?

During the worst days of the current pandemic, Justin Hayward, God Bless him, put a video/music series called Tuesday Afternoons with Justin Hayward.  Released on Tuesdays, as the name suggests along with the reference to one of The Moody Blues’ classic tunes that Hayward wrote called…Tuesday Afternoon.

This week Justin released 9 songs, rather deep-cuttish, from Moodies, Blue Jays, and solo material that he featured on this series.  As the photo above suggests, it was offered as an audio file only.  10 bucks.  The man is still working!

With that, I transferred them over to a few CDs I “burned” as the term goes.  Today I will be going over to see my parents and deliver one to them.  They enjoy The Moody Blues too.  They saw The Moody Blues four times and went to Justin’s solo show in Lexington in 2017.

Look out for those parallel lines.  Ironically, as I types these last words, I am listening to John Lodge’s Live from Birmingham (England) CD.  John, The Moodies’ bass player and singer, is singing the soung Nervous. The song mentions straight lines, parallel lines.

I am so waiting for his new live album to make its way my doorstep on CD and vinyl.

I gave my Dad John’s Live at Birmingham double LP for Christmas.  He opened it and was so proud of it.  Dad loves vinyl.  If you remember it like I do, you know why.

I can still remember my Dad looking at me after The Moody Blues’ concert at The Louisville Palace in late March 2016.  The man who had Bo Diddley play his prom in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1959, looked at me and said, “That is best show I have ever seen.”  I can still hear his voice.

My dear wife, Carrie, and I had tickets to see John with Yes and Asia and Carl Palmer when they played near Buffalo in 2019 in Lewiston.  We were head back to Indiana from New Hampshire and found one delay after another one the drive to Niagra Falls.  I was so disappointed.

The first time I met John was in 1994 in Birmingham, Alabama.  And in 2012 he was next me before the show at The Murat n Indianapolis…below.

From The Moodies last show at Red Rocks in 2011.  So glad we were there.

I hope to catch a John Lodge show one day.

Today as I was walking on the school campus, I was listening to John’s Birmingham concert.  I was taken aback by the tightness of the sound.  His song “Isn’t Life Strange” got better treatment than I ever heard in concert with the Moodies.  My apologies, but as my website suggests…I speak the rights.

Danny Johnson

Had a brief chat with my Aunt Barbara last night.  She reminded me that I have not posted my bowl game picks.  I told her that it was probably a by-product of how the season turned out.  If you are an Indiana Hoosiers football fan, you want to forget it.  Wish I could.

But I am optimistic.  Y’all know me that well. Indiana will bounce back.  I still BELIEVE!

Y’all also know there are so many bowls it is laughable.

One concept ESPN has not grasped yet I bring to you now.

The Toilet Bowl

Yes.  The Toilet Bowl.

Take the two most disappointing teams of the college football season, based on a fan and media vote the Sunday after the rivalry games are played out, and let these two farts of the season stink it up one more time.

But the game in Atlantic City.  That would be even more punishment.

The Waste Management-Rid-X Toilet Bowl sponored by Help for a Cleaner Jersey Shore

The 2021 opponents as the most disappointing teams in college football?

Indiana ( of course) taking on the Florida Gators.  Sounds painful to me.  But I am sure a few dollars could be made for ESPN if a mouth other than mine were to open up the suggestion.

A man can still dream.

On to this year’s College Football Bowl Picks:

My College Football season started with embarrasment and an oh no, here comes the Natural Order of Things to Bloomington again this year.

The Hoosiers’ season opener at IOWA. Awful.

The Seems Like Old Times Crowd at the Rugers game. Awful.

Yes, the game in September against the Cincinnati Bearcats was a little better.

So I am left to root for the Ole Miss Rebels in the Sugar Bowl against Baylor.

I hope the Herd wins tonight in New Orleans vs. Louisiana.

And I will pull for Western Kentucky today.  God Bless those folks in Bowling Green.

Here it goes:

Western Kentucky beat App State in the Boca Raton Bowl…Go Hilltoppers.

Jackson State beats SC State in the Celebration Bowl…Coach Prime getting recruits!

Fresno State beats UTEP in the New Mexico Bowl…Trembling a bit as I type this.  Miners?

BYU beats UAB in the Indepence Bowl…Hope they can keep this game going.  Ugh.

Liberty beats Eastern Michigan in the Lending Tree Bowl…Coach Freeze can coach.  Terrible name for any bowl.  Toilet Bowl almost sounds better and certainly if you need it!

Oregon State beats Utah State in the LA Bowl…Bless Jimmy Kimmel for putting this on.

Marshall beats Louisiana-Lafayette in the New Orleans Bowl…Can’t pick against the Herd.  Hope they can keep it close.

Old Dominion beats Tulsa in the Myrtle Beach Bowl…Is it me or does Myrtle Beach sound like the name of an old lady you cut grass for?

Wyoming beats Kent State in the Idaho Potato Bowl…Geography and Dan Quayle never get old.

UTSA beats San Diego State in the Frisco Bowl…This has the potential to be the gem before semi-final games get going.  Don’t miss this one.  If you can get past the ugly uniforms, you got some good football to look at here.

Mizzou beats Army in the Armed Forces Bowl…Rootin for Army!

North Texas beats Miami, Ohio in the Frisco Classic Bowl…Geography again.  Though I am glad to see Miami, OH in a bowl game.  They have been patient in Oxford, OH with Coach Chuck Martin.  He left as Notre Dame’s OC to take this job in 2014.  Improvement has been steady.  Good to see coach and school hang in there. I have no doubt he could leave the “Cradle” and find a bigger pan of fish.

UCF beats Florida in the Gasparilla Bowl…Sarsparilla sounds better.

Hawaii beats Memphis in the Hawaii Bowl…Geography again.

Ball State beats Georgia State in Cameillia Bowl…Can’t let old Dave Letterman down.

Nevada beats Western Michigan in the Quick Lane Bowl…Nothing like a good wrench on a trophy.

Boston College beats East Carolina in the Military Bowl…Eagles or Pirates?  Well, I am for ECU!

Auburn beats Houston in the Birmingham Bowl…But only of the Tigers show up ready to play.

Louisville beats Air Force in the First Responder Bowl…Louisville fans get the bowl they need.

Mississippi State beats Texas Tech in the Liberty Bowl…Memphis gets a compelling matchup again.  In the stadium where Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant got his last victory…

We have Coach Mike Leach at State taking on the school that fired him, Texas Tech, in the days of “Adam James in the Shed and made Daddy Madgate.”  The pressers should be entertaining even when they are not trying to be.

UCLA beats NC State in the Holiday Bowl…Oh yes. San Diego and the Holiday Bowl.  It was 1979 and a 7-4 Indiana team beat and undefeated top ten ranked BYU….no…no…really…I am not dreaming!  That happen.  Look it up.  For UCLA, this will be the best competition they will face outside of practice until they meet Washington in the Rose Bowl next October 1st.  Their first four games of next season are at home:  Bowling Green, Alabama State, and South Alabama and then a trip to Boulder the last weekend in September.

Minnesota beats West Virginia in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl…Did I really just typ that bowl name?  Go Goldy!

SMU beats Virginia in the Fenway Bowl…Left field is a doozy!

Maryland beats Virginia Tech in the Pinstripe Bowl…Coach Locksley is like Robin of Locksley.  Straight shooter and better at hitting targets all the time.

Iowa State beats Clemson in the Cheez-It Bowl…Iowa State has a better “we still care” ratio than Clemson does, studies show.

Oregon beats Oklahoma in the Alamo Bowl…Another VERY GOOD matchup.  San Antonio will sell something well.

North Carolina beats South Carolina in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl...Oh my.  At least someone is paying attention to what fans might want to look at, in addition to running an adding machine behind money’s closed doors.

Purdue will beat Tennessee in the Music City Bowl…PU stunk it up here against Auburn a few years ago and they will be ready for the Vols this time around.  I have been to a sold out Music City Bowl and it is a good time.  This one should be close to that.

Pitt beats Michigan State in the Peach Bowl…Michigan State has proven it can play well against tough opponents and just as fast get blown out as a top ten team the next week. Pitt’s loses were 3 and 4 points and they have only lost two games.  They were (THAT) close to putting the UC Bearcats where they belong…the Peach Bowl.  Bama will up on UC by 30 points at halftime.

Arizona State beats Swissconsin in the Las Vegas Bowl…I refuse to pick Bucky for anything.

Wake Forest beats Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl…I know, I know, but Wake’s not bad.  Turnover here or there, missed field goal, I just think it is going to work out for Wake this time.

Miami, FL beats Washington State in the Sun Bowl…El Paso still has the Sun Bowl on CBS.  There are still a few traditions that have stood the test of whine.

Central Michigan beats Bosie State in the Arizona Bowl…The Chips are a good team.  They will tag you.  The Broncos are on the need of a win.  Not so fast myfriend!

Alabama beats Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl…Won’t be close.  Have you seen the way the offensive schemes for Bama have swiss-cheesed linebackers and beyond?  UC can answer that?   Yeah, I know.  What do I know?  I made reservations for Pasadena in June to see the Hoosiers play in The Rose Bowl.  The difference?  I love Indiana.  I enjoy watching Alabama and don’t always root for them!  This is a College Football Playoff Semifinal game.

Georgia beats Michigan in the Orange Bowl…It’s an SEC World and the Big Ten is not living in it.  I hope Michigan wins.  I would be delighted to see BAMA play Michigan in the final game.

Arkansas beats Penn State in the Outback Bowl…Coach Pittman is impressive at Arkansas.  Give him this much time to prep for Penn State and I think we will see an entertaining game and a few trick up the sleeve that come out.

Kentucky beats Iowa in the Citrus Bowl…Don’t tell my sister-in-law, or my father-in-law.  If Iowa wins I can still smile.  I still will probably root of UK.  It is nice that we talk about football into November around these parts (Kentuckiana new area).  Once upon a time it was basketball talk in mid-Ocotber that dominated  sports talk.  not so these days.

Notre Dame beats Oklahome State in the Fiesta Bowl…Seen Brian Kelly lately?  This will be a postscript to an Irish exit celebration they did not expect to enjoy!

Utah beats Ohio State in the The Rose Bowl…Can’t root for Brutus.  How his nuts get busted!  This is my game.  The is the one bowl game I look forward to like no other.

This is probably the least compelling matchup I could possibly dream up and it hurts me.

Ole Miss beats Baylor in the Sugar Bowl…The Rebs are back in the Sugar Bowl, as it should be.  Hotty Toddy all the way home!

Kansas State beats LSU in the Texas Bowl… The great LSU experiment begins with more research dollars than most other microscope views on campus.

Georgia beats Alabama in the College Football Final…It’s all about field position and turnovers, Gus.  That is what I told my old radio partner Gus Stephenson when we called high school games.  This will apply here.  Georgia was in a hole a great deal of the time during the SEC Championship, as memory serves.  Uga bites Al this time around.

That is that!  How many of these I will get wrong is a good guess.  But know that my post season prediction record pretty much stinks compared to my history of regular season over the years.

I hope you have enjoyed these.  They have been fun for me.  

Speaking the rights…

Danny Johnson