Hey, Joan Baez, thanks for Thrity Umrigar!

BY TOM JACKSON, SANDUSKY REGISTER

If you pay any attention to American literature and the local book scene, you probably know that Cleveland is home to an acclaimed novelist named Thrity Umrigar. Her new novel, The Story Hour, is receiving the rave reviews that Umrigar likely has come to expect. "This satisfying, psychologically complex story will appeal to a wide range of readers" —  Library Journal. "An impressive writer, Umrigar delivers another smart, compulsively readable work" — Kirkus Reviews. 

I was curious how she wound up in northern Ohio, so I looked at the interviews on Umrigar's official site. It turns out she wound up in Ohio because she likes to listen to Joan Baez.

No, really. Here's a bit of one of her interviews:

So you came to Ohio State? Why Ohio State?

Well, that's a funny story. It's indicative of how so many major decisions in my life have been made. I was sitting in my living room in Bombay, checking off a list of American universities that offered a M.A. in journalism, when my eyes fell on "Ohio State University." There was a Joan Baez record playing on the turntable and right then, her song, Banks of the Ohio, came on. I looked up and thought, "It's a sign", and decided to apply there.

Sandusky Register reporter Tom Jackson reviews and recommends local and national reading opportunities. You can read the other blog posts and follow this blog on Twitter.

Email him at tomjackson@sanduskyregister.com

Posted Thrity, the former BJ reporter who became one of India’s most famous novelists:

“Hands-down the strangest headline I have ever received.”

To paraphrase Joan Baez’ “No Man Is An Island”:

When I help my sister
Then I know that I
Plant the seed of adventure
That will never die

But perhaps it was this refrain from Joan that caused Thrity’s trail to wind up in Ohio:

Down beside where the waters flow
Down by the banks of the old Ohio

Regardless, as the Sandusky Register headline blared:

Hey, Joan Baez, thanks for Thrity Umrigar!

Art Beck has kidney surgery

Art Beck, who retired from BJ circulation where he was office manager in 1987, had kidney surgery this week.

His daughter, Shirley Beck Letta, Facebooked:

Art & Eleanor Beck

“Very thankful praise! My dad went through a successful operation. He had a very large tumor on his left kidney that was cancer. They had to remove the entire kidney, plus repair a hernia. Dad turned 84 the day before his surgery.

“Prayers have been raised around the country for him, and God brought him through a 5-hour operation. We thank those of you who prayed for him, and we thank God for his continued blessings in our family. It's been a time of ups and downs the last couple of months, but Dad will be back to his joking, loving self in no time.”

In 2007 Art posted this email to the late BJ Alums founder Harry Liggett:

“My daughter, Shirley Letta, works for Ohio.Com  My son Carl Beck works as a mechanic in the mail room, My grandaughter Stephanie Crace works in Editorial on Saturday and Sunday answering the phone. I work 4 part-time jobs (like to keep busy).

“I am a sub in Falls High parking lot (guard) -- work in the Falls school system as an attendant with handicaped children, work at Leisure Time
golf course (which no longer exists) and swimming pool and also am an usher at Akron Aeros baseball.”

Obviously, Art likes to keep busy.

Arthur Beck and Eleanor Sirota Beck celebrated their 60^th wedding anniversary in 2011. They have five children and 11 grandchildren.

Ken Wright passes away

Ken Wright, one of the nicest people in my 26 years at the BJ, passed away Tuesday, Nov. 18.

Calling hours for Ken, made New Processes Coordinator by Dick Coddington as part of Ken’s 38 years at the BJ, will be 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the Bacher Funeral Home, 3250 Greenwich Rd., Norton.

Ken Wright

BJ Composing retiree Rita Stapleton, who informed me of Ken’s passing, wrote:

“When I worked with him in Composing, in the late 60's early 70's,  he was a very knowledgeable, amicable guy and great to work with. Even after he retired he visited and did a few guided tours.”

I heartily endorse Rita’s “amicable” label for Ken.

We sat side-by-side in a small room off from the main Composing area when I was newsroom electronics coordinator, and I trained the first person in the newsroom on the first terminal in the newsroom in the 1970s.

It was a tremendous education program, switching old warhorses from copy paper and glue to computers. Ken’s level, calm approach helped everyone make the transition.

Too many of my BJ Composing friends are gone, most notably Terry Dray, an extraordinary makeup man who retired to Avon Park, Florida, and Dave White, Composing honcho whose $2,500 check started the ball rolling toward the multi-million dollar healthcare settlement for 45 retired printers and 5 Guild retirees. Dave’s widow, Gina White, another BJ Composing retiree, still lives in Venice, Florida.

Ken and wife June enjoyed Januarys in the Miami sun at their son’s home.

Ken’s obituary:

Kenneth L. Wright 1935 - 2014 Kenneth L. Wright, 79, went home to be with the Lord on Tuesday, November 18, 2014. Ken was born February 26, 1935 in Akron to Charles and Claudia Wright. He graduated from Hower Trade School in 1943 and then served in the United States Army. He retired from the Akron Beacon Journal in 1999 where he worked as the New Processes Coordinator for 38 years. Ken enjoyed traveling and had visited all 50 states. Ken was part of Grace Church in Norton where he and his wife June were part of the Grace Group Bible Study for many years. Ken had a real love for people and enjoyed taking time to get to know those around him. Ken is survived by his wife of 58 years, June (nee Persons); sons, Keith (Nicole) Wright and Steve (Heidi) Wright; granddaughter, Hannah; and brother, Charles. Friends may call at the Bacher Funeral Home, 3250 Greenwich Rd., Norton, on Saturday, November 22, 2014 from 2 to 4 p.m., and where a Celebration of Ken's Life will be held beginning at 4 p.m., Pastor Bob Combs officiating. Private inurnment will take place at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Grace Church, 3970 Cleveland- Massillon Rd., Norton, Ohio 44203 in memory of Ken. Map, directions and the Wright Family Condolence book can be found at the funeral home website. Bacher -- Norton (330) 825-3633 BacherFuneralHome.com Published in Akron Beacon Journal from Nov. 21 to Nov. 22, 2014

Carney’s new knee leaving hospital

Retired BJ reporterJames Carney is leaving St. Thomas Hospital’s Crystal Clinic today after his left-knee replacement surgery.

Let Jim tell it:

“Going home after knee replacement soon. Feeling pretty great. Very swollen. Pain under control. Moving on a walker like a greyhound. Well, not like a greyhound but getting around. More like an old fart using a walker but getting around. Big thanks to Dr. Ian Gradisar and everybody at Crystal Clinic/St. Thomas Hospital for their amazing care and skills and for KT's patience and TLC.”

BJ reporter Katie Byard, his wife, will be there to take him home. Sharon Lorentzen and husband Paul cleared the snow away for a safe homecoming.

Dr. Raymond Acus did my right-knee replacement about  half-dozen years ago. It works great. As long as I don’t go more than 15 minutes without flexing it. But the pre-surgery pain is a distant memory now.

Jim and I belong to a not-so-exclusive club: 719,000 knee surgeries are done every year in America.

Mike Nichols, 83, dies

Director Mike Nichols, one of 12 people to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award, died Wednesday evening.

Nichols, 83, who directed "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "The Graduate," was the husband of former "ABC World News" anchor Diane Sawyer. She was his fourth wife.

Mike Nichols

Born Michael Igor Peschkowsky in Berlin in 1931, Nichols in the 1950s co-founded the Chicago-based comedy troupe Second City, who graduates included  John Belushi and Bill Murray.

The family changed its last name to Nichols after settling in New York City.

The couple was married for 26 years. In addition to Sawyer, Nichols is survived by his three children -- Daisy, Max and Jenny -- and four grandchildren.

Only 12 people have won the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony -- in competition. Three others have all four thanks to honorary awards.

To see the list and a myriad of other details about Nichols, go to the CNN article at http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/20/showbiz/obit-mike-nichols/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

Thrity off to Miami . . . hopefully

If the Cleveland Hopkins Airport weather cooperates, author and former BJ reporter Thrity Umrigar is on her way to the Nov. 16-23 Miami Book Fair International at Miami Dade College. There will be 599 other authors there. Thrity wrote:

“At this point, I'm more worried about Cleveland releasing me to fly there.”

The Miami Book Fair International brings national and international authors and exhibitors to a weeklong celebration and includes pavilions for translation, comics, children and young adults.
The eight-day book festival draws hundreds of thousands to downtown Miami.

Authors from Argentina, Bosnia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic, England, France, Finland, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, Israel, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Trinidad.

Bombay, India native Thrity’s latest novel is “The Story Hour.” Previous novels are “Bombay Time” (2002), “The Space Between Us” (2007), “If Today be Sweet” (2008), “The Weight of Heaven” (2010) and “The World We Found” (2012), and all set in the country of her birth, as was her memoir, “First Darling of the Morning”  (2008).

Four with BJ ties -- Kathy Antoniotti, George Bing Davis, Doug Livingston and Lew Stamp -- and Eric Poston, the late BJ Alums founder Harry Liggett’s nephew who is a Kent State journalism student and lives in Green, were among 80 named to the Ohio School Board Association 2014 Media Honor Roll.

All five were nominated by the Green School District, but Livingston also was nominated by Coventry and Akron school districts.

Why George Bing and not George W. Davis, as we knew him during his earlier BJ days? 

Explains his wife, Merleen Fick Davis:

“His grandmother called him that when he was born. Everyone from his hometown and family call him Bing. So if he forgets someone's name and they call him Bing we know it has to be from the McDonald/Youngstown area.”

George W./George Bing was a McDonald High School graduate before he moved on to Youngstown State and Bowling Green. George and Merleen live in Massillon.

Kathy Antoniotti is a pets columnist and southern Summit/northern Stark reporter.

Livingston, BJ education writer, will need to add a room to his house for all his awards and did a bang-up job exposing the charter schools disgrace in Ohio.

Stamp took a 2006 BJ buyout after 30 years with Ol’ Blue but his camera still clicks away with panache.  

By the way, counting the editor, managing editor, reporters and interns, the BJ lists 70 people to contact for news. That’s a long way from the 200+ in the newsroom when I retired in 1996.

Only Antoniotti and Livingston among the honored quintet are on the BJ list.

Welcome to the club, Jim!

Retired BJ reporter Jim Carney has joined the fastest-growing club in America: People with store-bought knees.

Carney had his left knee replaced with the man-made version in the Crystal Clinic area of St. Thomas in Akron.

Wife Katie Byard, still a BJ reporter, wrote: “He'll be here until Wednesday or Thursday, and then will go on his acrobatic tour. That actually will have to wait three weeks or so while he is using a walker.”

Although the first knee arthroplasty wasn’t performed till 1968, there are 719,000 such procedures during in America every year. By 2030 it’s expected to rise to 3.4 million annually!

I had mind done a half-dozen years ago. It’s tricky getting in and out of cars and into those cramped concert and theater seats and it gets stiff if you don’t flex it every 10 or 15 minutes, but it sure beats the pain of the human knee gone wrong.

PD and former BJ television critic Mark Dawidziak was the harshest critic of Katherine Heigl’s new drama series, “State of Affairs,” which premiered Monday, Nov. 17 on NBC.

Spit out Mark, in a Mark Twain kind of humor that he does so well: "How can you hate anything that's this funny?" (And not in a good way.)

This happened on the weekly “TV Coast to Coast” national blogcast that included host Kristi Turnquist of The Oregonian and Vicki Hyman of the New Jersey Star Ledger. 

Vicki settled for “a thriller that’s not that thrilling.” Kristi trolled into tepid.

Heigl has been floundering since leaving the well-regarded “Grey’s Anatomy” role as Dr. Izzy Stevens for her big leap into movies. First she got “Knocked Up,” then did some films that nobody remembers.

Unforunately, Alfre Woodard, a damn good actress, is trapped in this loser, as the U.S. President to Heigl’s feisty CIA analyst. 

Apparently, Heigl is no Claire Danes, who is soaring into the stratosphere with her “Homeland” series role.

To read the story about Mark and his weekly blogcast partners in crime, click on http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2014/11/state_of_affairs_tv_coast_to_c.html

Reunions, remembering, revitalizing

Boy, you never know. You go to an Art and Jewish Food Festival at Temple Israel, 91 Springside Drive, Bath Township and a Beacon Journal mini-reunion breaks out.

There were a few quick moments with BJ reporter/food writer Katie Byard, who spent threedays in Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris after her plane was turned back short of Iceland because of engine trouble, and then the Frogs couldn't figure out a way to get get and BJ retiree Sarah Vradenburg back to the USA.

It could have been worse. For Paula when we spent our 8th anniversary there, it was the food at DeGaulle airport. And the unpleasant consequences.

Former BJ reporter Kathy Spitz Lipkin was at one of the tables, selling products to people whose stomachs just had a love affair with kosher food.

Kathy’s the one with two teenagers and a CPA husband. Who knew she would fall in love with a bean-counter.

David Black, sure. He’s crazy about bean-counters. Even if they aren’t Canadians.

I can be a smart-alec about bean-counters because I have four in my family. They'll own Brunswick before long.

Kathy came from Corpus Christi, Texas and went from the University of Texas to Tufts to the University of Akron (community counseling master’s degree) before living happily ever after in Copley.

I had the latkes that Katie was praising on Facebook in her pre-Temple appearance. Pierogis are my thing, having a Polish father and a Polish grandmother who made them sing to your soul.

Katie was “with a bud” – not BJ retiree husband Jim Carney. Ladies night out.

I’ve run into former BJ co-workers in New Zealand (1970s State Desk reporter Cathy Robinson Strong & retired photographer Don Roese) and in Florida (Don Roese; he gets around), including year after year of seeing the late Composing honcho Dave White, whose $2,500 check started the ball rolling toward retirement-day healthcare reinstatement – with a judge looking over the BJ’s shoulder – for 45 retired printers and 5 Guild retirees. 

That was on Siesta Key, adjacent to Sarasota, Florida, on a deck overlooking the beach and the Gulf of Mexico across the street from former printer Bill Gorrell’s vacation complex (Poor Bill's, which drew BJ printers for poker and booze before and after golfing).

Dave’s wife, retired printer Gina White, would be there. She still lives in Venice, Florida.

There also was the late Terry Dray, retired printer who lived in Avon Lake, Florida and who, with co-conspirator Red Reeves, convinced BJ management that I was an asset and not an albatross to wrap an anchor and chair around its neck and throw it into the lake. 

Short story: If I was makeup man Saturday night, the Sunday paper printed early; if I was not, the paper often was late. 

Coincidence? OK, you go with that. Those printers had a lot more control than the college boys in the newsroom thought.

All I remember was Terry telling me: "Don't worry; we'll take care of you." Man, did they!

And another retired printer, Don Pack, who was my late father’s bookie, but who was the pool guy at Sea Castle on Siesta Key, and who spent his vacations in Central America with his main squeeze and drove to his pool jobs in convertibles that teenagers would drool over.

And the late Don Bandy, maybe the best rewrite man the BJ ever had, who would come down from Bradenton where he lived near his sister.

Quiet and classy; that was Don.

BJ reunions are ALWAYS fun, because they remind us of how much joy we got from putting out the paper at Ol’ Blue. Even when they’re as brief as they were at Temple Israel on Sunday.