Nephew Jack is so cool, he doesn't even have to smile.
At 5:30 this morning, I stood outside on Indianapolis Boulevard and started talking on the radio. For whatever reason, I talked about when I worked at WJOB in the 1980s. I covered a story about Stauffer Chemical. They wanted to burn hazardous waste at their facility on Indianapolis Boulevard. Whole sections of Hammond and East Chicago came out to protest. Some of the most vocal were members of my own family.
This put me in a precarious position. My relatives lived less than a city block from the incinerator… yet I was charged with providing reasonably objective coverage of the permitting process. It’s when I first learned to be a journalist. I interviewed the plant manager, a guy named Ron Miles, several times. My family and others criticized me for going easy on him. I just wanted the information. That’s all.
At 6am – I came inside and talked about more Region stuff. Gavit athletic director Doug Friend came into the studio and we talked about what a great school Gavit is. Doug was once a principal and now he’s an athletic director. He says the football team has a 6-5, 285-pound defensive end who should rock the Region this season. Maybe we should schedule Gavit a couple more times.
At 7:15, Indiana attorney general Curtis Hill called in. He’s the guy that Mara Candelaria Reardon says grabbed her “buttocks.” Yesterday, U.S. senator Joe Donnelly told me on WJOB that Curtis Hill should resign.
“Without an investigation?” I asked.
“Well, four other women came forward,” Donnelly said.
I asked Curtis Hill about the incident from several different angles. That’s what a good journalist should do. He parried away each of my attempts. He is a practiced orator and it showed. In the end, Hill says that it’s time to let things play out and we’ll wait and see what the various investigations come up with.
In other words, nothing juicy.
At 11am, I headed to the Dynasty Banquet Center in Hammond, where I interviewed Mark Finley, head of Global Energy Markets and US Economics for BP. Mark works out of Washington DC. He was in town to give a presentation for the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. I set up my Viltrox tripod, placed my Iphone 7 on top of it, hooked up an iRig translator and a Schure microphone, and asked Mr. Finley about things like natural gas, renewable energy and surging oil prices. He did a good job in the four or five minute interview. You can watch on Facebook if you like topics like energy consumption in emerging economies.
I was sitting at a table and a woman who works for Screw Conveyor was telling me that she and her husband, who sells for Calumet Lumber, listen to the show in the morning. Then the woman got a text.
“It looks like the Goodfellas Club in East Chicago is on fire.”
I quickly gathered my equipment and drove down Gostlin past Lang Ice over to the Goodfellas Club. It’s a drinking establishment in the heart of industry where they didn’t used to allow things like women and minorities. Now they do.
Now, they also need to rebuild th front end of their establishment. A bush in front started on fire and took out some roof and a few windows. I interviewed the assistant fire chief, Mr. Duda, and took some video of the charred facade. A couple was standing in front of the place watching the firemen do their thing.
“You couldn’t get squat out of Curtis Hill this morning,” the woman said.
“I don’t know if he did it or not,” the husband said. “But he sure is slick.”
You can watch the video of the fire chief, not the couple standing there, on Facebook if you have nothing better to do.
Around 2pm, I made my way back to the WJOB studios, where I worked with the three marketeers – Darya, Christina and Mark. We are basically working on three different projects simultaneously.
1. We are creating a TV station.
2. We are creating a website to hold the TV station and a bunch of other stuff.
3. We are filling out marketing management software so that we can sell advertising on our yet-to-be finished TV station.
This is a lot to get done over one summer. Today, I worked with the marketing team. Tomorrow, I’ll work with the video team – Ryan, Same, Jimmy, Sonny, Will and others - on aggregating video files into a software program so that we can stream our TV station. We’re a ways away from getting this done.
After work, I rode my bike for 50 minutes down the Little Cal. Then Alexis and I drove to Doc’s Barbecue on Calumet Avenue in Dyer. We ran into the owner, Brent Bershears, and his assistant, Bryan Atkinson. We talked with them about their restaurant in Milwaukee, which we recently visited.
We also ran into Andy Qunell. He was on his way to hang out with Governor Eric Holcomb. Good thing he ran into Alexis first.
“Before you visit the governor, Andy, I must call you out on your fly being open.”
Brent, Bryan and I laughed as Andy hopped to pull up his zipper.
Alexis and I ran into one of her fellow judicial officers, Judge Bob Vann, and his kids. It turns out his 8th grade son plays basketball and baseball against my 8th grade nephew. Bob is from Kentland, a small town half way to Lafayette. He’s the fourth person I know from Kentland. The other three are Mary and Dave Ryan and Pete Hatton. For what it’s worth, they’re all good people.
Alexis and I then went to my nephew Jack’s 11u All Star game in Dyer by Kahler Middle School. Several Dedelows and Foreits showed up.
- Mark Foreit
- Jennifer (Dedelow) Foreit
- Maddy Foreit
- Brian Dedelow
- Michelle Dedelow
- Alan Dedelow
- Alexis Vazquez Dedelow
- Me
- Jack
We bought one big popcorn and shared it. I’ll see them all in a couple days along with other family for stuff on the weekend. On the way home, Alexis and I drove down US 41 to PetSmart for some dog food.
“Look at that sunset. It won’t go away,” I said.
“So beautiful,” she said.
“I like our lives.”
“Me too. Lots of family.”
Jack’s Munster team beat Highland 14-1. They play Dyer on Friday night. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be there. Alexis will be there… and so will a dozen or so Dedelows and Foreits. Afterwards, we’ll go for pizza and beer. When we get home, Alexis and I will let the dog out and give her a treat. We’ll watch a little TV then go to bed. In the middle of the night, I’ll probably wake up and start typing to the three or four of you.
At 6am – I came inside and talked about more Region stuff. Gavit athletic director Doug Friend came into the studio and we talked about what a great school Gavit is. Doug was once a principal and now he’s an athletic director. He says the football team has a 6-5, 285-pound defensive end who should rock the Region this season. Maybe we should schedule Gavit a couple more times.
At 7:15, Indiana attorney general Curtis Hill called in. He’s the guy that Mara Candelaria Reardon says grabbed her “buttocks.” Yesterday, U.S. senator Joe Donnelly told me on WJOB that Curtis Hill should resign.
“Without an investigation?” I asked.
“Well, four other women came forward,” Donnelly said.
I asked Curtis Hill about the incident from several different angles. That’s what a good journalist should do. He parried away each of my attempts. He is a practiced orator and it showed. In the end, Hill says that it’s time to let things play out and we’ll wait and see what the various investigations come up with.
In other words, nothing juicy.
At 11am, I headed to the Dynasty Banquet Center in Hammond, where I interviewed Mark Finley, head of Global Energy Markets and US Economics for BP. Mark works out of Washington DC. He was in town to give a presentation for the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce. I set up my Viltrox tripod, placed my Iphone 7 on top of it, hooked up an iRig translator and a Schure microphone, and asked Mr. Finley about things like natural gas, renewable energy and surging oil prices. He did a good job in the four or five minute interview. You can watch on Facebook if you like topics like energy consumption in emerging economies.
I was sitting at a table and a woman who works for Screw Conveyor was telling me that she and her husband, who sells for Calumet Lumber, listen to the show in the morning. Then the woman got a text.
“It looks like the Goodfellas Club in East Chicago is on fire.”
I quickly gathered my equipment and drove down Gostlin past Lang Ice over to the Goodfellas Club. It’s a drinking establishment in the heart of industry where they didn’t used to allow things like women and minorities. Now they do.
Now, they also need to rebuild th front end of their establishment. A bush in front started on fire and took out some roof and a few windows. I interviewed the assistant fire chief, Mr. Duda, and took some video of the charred facade. A couple was standing in front of the place watching the firemen do their thing.
“You couldn’t get squat out of Curtis Hill this morning,” the woman said.
“I don’t know if he did it or not,” the husband said. “But he sure is slick.”
You can watch the video of the fire chief, not the couple standing there, on Facebook if you have nothing better to do.
Around 2pm, I made my way back to the WJOB studios, where I worked with the three marketeers – Darya, Christina and Mark. We are basically working on three different projects simultaneously.
1. We are creating a TV station.
2. We are creating a website to hold the TV station and a bunch of other stuff.
3. We are filling out marketing management software so that we can sell advertising on our yet-to-be finished TV station.
This is a lot to get done over one summer. Today, I worked with the marketing team. Tomorrow, I’ll work with the video team – Ryan, Same, Jimmy, Sonny, Will and others - on aggregating video files into a software program so that we can stream our TV station. We’re a ways away from getting this done.
After work, I rode my bike for 50 minutes down the Little Cal. Then Alexis and I drove to Doc’s Barbecue on Calumet Avenue in Dyer. We ran into the owner, Brent Bershears, and his assistant, Bryan Atkinson. We talked with them about their restaurant in Milwaukee, which we recently visited.
We also ran into Andy Qunell. He was on his way to hang out with Governor Eric Holcomb. Good thing he ran into Alexis first.
“Before you visit the governor, Andy, I must call you out on your fly being open.”
Brent, Bryan and I laughed as Andy hopped to pull up his zipper.
Alexis and I ran into one of her fellow judicial officers, Judge Bob Vann, and his kids. It turns out his 8th grade son plays basketball and baseball against my 8th grade nephew. Bob is from Kentland, a small town half way to Lafayette. He’s the fourth person I know from Kentland. The other three are Mary and Dave Ryan and Pete Hatton. For what it’s worth, they’re all good people.
Alexis and I then went to my nephew Jack’s 11u All Star game in Dyer by Kahler Middle School. Several Dedelows and Foreits showed up.
- Mark Foreit
- Jennifer (Dedelow) Foreit
- Maddy Foreit
- Brian Dedelow
- Michelle Dedelow
- Alan Dedelow
- Alexis Vazquez Dedelow
- Me
- Jack
We bought one big popcorn and shared it. I’ll see them all in a couple days along with other family for stuff on the weekend. On the way home, Alexis and I drove down US 41 to PetSmart for some dog food.
“Look at that sunset. It won’t go away,” I said.
“So beautiful,” she said.
“I like our lives.”
“Me too. Lots of family.”
Jack’s Munster team beat Highland 14-1. They play Dyer on Friday night. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be there. Alexis will be there… and so will a dozen or so Dedelows and Foreits. Afterwards, we’ll go for pizza and beer. When we get home, Alexis and I will let the dog out and give her a treat. We’ll watch a little TV then go to bed. In the middle of the night, I’ll probably wake up and start typing to the three or four of you.
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