PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST – Chicago Stories You Can Sink Your Teeth Into

For the first time in my life, I’m working remotely from home.

It’s been months, and I sit here alone, except for listening to WXRT Radio as my companion:  Fittingly, Beck’s Uneventful Days is on today’s line-up.

The advisory comes through each hour:

“Stay home as much as you possibly can.”

Staying in place.  It’s getting more difficult each day.

The isolation is getting the better of me.  Plus, I need to distract myself from the pervasive news.

I call my mom.

As usual, she has good advice for me:  Stay Busy.

She relays a story about her own father, who found himself relocating himself, wife and five children to New York in 1942.

His mechanical expertise was needed at LaGuardia Airport, where he spent long hours working to support the war effort.

To decompress during those stressful times, my grandfather set to work on a venture of his own.

He garnered all the excess lumber he could find in those days, recycling wooden pallets and the like, in order to start his project.

He devised a plan in the backyard of the family home.

“What are you building out there?” 
his wife asked the next afternoon.

“I’m building you some kitchen cabinets,” was his reply.

My grandmother looked out the kitchen window the following day, shaking her head.

What she saw looked nothing like the cabinets she had requested.

To be sure, the project looked more like a boat.

The secret was out.  My grandfather spent his leisure hours designing and building a wooden cruiser cabin in the backyard of their rented home.

Looking toward the future, he knew, once the war was over and his family was back home in Illinois, he would use that watercraft to cruise the blue waters of Lake Michigan.

The time came for my grandfather to move his family back home.  With the help of his buddies, they removed the panels of the backyard fence,
allowing enough room to push the new boat out of the yard and onto a trailer hitch to be taken to the railroad yard.

Grandpa paid to have his prized possession sent by freight car to Lyons, Illinois – its new home.

My grandparents enjoyed their cruiser cabin for years by taking excursions on Lake Michigan.

The craft even survived damage from a fire – started when my uncle was careless with holiday fireworks.  My grandfather and uncle repaired
the beloved boat back to near original condition, ensuring its capacity to act as a source of recreation for many years.

Decades later – 1969 to be exact – my grandparents trailed their cabin cruiser by car, down to their newly built home in Lake Placid in central Florida – a tranquil location for their retirement years.

Why did my mother tell this story?

… to remind me to search for a healthy diversion.

… to remind me that it’s time for a project of my own.

My venture won’t be as large.  Nor is it likely mine will last 30 years.  All I need is a task to occupy my time, alleviate my stress, and influence my imagination.

It’s time to make a plan.

THANK YOU FOR READING – PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST

Everyone is working from home these days. It can be challenging to find a quiet office space when everyone is home and you can’t leave the house. If you don’t park in your garage, why not turn it into an office? Here are a few tips and tricks to help you make the most of your extra space so you can finally work in peace.

Cleaning

If you’re like the rest of us, your garage is a bit of a catch-all for everything that won’t fit in the rest of your house. It won’t be easy to turn your garage into an office if you have to parkour your way over boxes and garden tools every time you head into the room. With that in mind, start by cleaning and organizing your garage.

Go through everything you’ve stored in there and figure out what you want to keep and what you can stand to part with. That should cut down on the clutter. Then you just need to organize what’s left.

Insulation

Most garages aren’t designed with temperature control in mind, so your next step will be to insulate the space to keep it comfortable while you’re working. If you’re going to leave a work computer out there, the insulation will keep it from overheating. If you’re not sure where to start, it might be a good idea to consult with a professional — especially if your garage walls are finished and you’ll need to tear down drywall to insulate.

Security

The last thing you want to do is waste all your money to create the perfect garage office, only to have someone make off with your work computer because the space isn’t secure. Remember to have your garage door inspected regularly to ensure it’s working properly and will protect whatever you store in your garage. Proper maintenance will also make sure your door doesn’t accidentally injure someone when opening or closing — including you!

Lighting

Don’t kill your eyes squinting at a computer or laptop screen in the perpetually dim light of your garage. Natural lighting is best, but if that’s not an option because it’s hot outside, upgrade your lighting so you can actually see what you’re doing. Overhead fluorescent lighting is inexpensive and easy to install. Depending on your garage’s design, you may even want to install a ceiling fan and an attached light fixture to keep the air moving.

Climate Control

Whether you live in warm or cold climates, this will be a necessity. In most houses, the garage isn’t attached to your HVAC system, so there’s no heat in the winter and no AC in the summer. You have two options here. One, you can pay an HVAC technician to connect the garage to the rest of the home’s ventilation. Or two, you can purchase a portable air conditioner to keep you and your office comfortable.

Keep in mind that portable ACs can chew up a lot of power if you use them often, so if this garage office space will become a long-term thing, it may be more cost-effective to choose option one.

Create Your Space

Once you’ve got the basics down, your garage office space is yours to create. Add some wall hangings, fairy lights or whatever tickles your fancy. Hopefully, once it’s done, you’ll be able to get the peace and quiet you’ll need to work from home.

I admit I wasn’t enthusiastic about the 2020 MLB season initially, but that has changed. The Cubs and White Sox have both come out of the gate well. I can only hope that more MLB teams don’t go all Miami Marlins and force the 2020 season to shut down. If that was to happen, it would be like when Delmer, of “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” fame offered Everett some gopher. To paraphrase Everett, he said the gopher would only arouse his appetite without satisfying it. I hope MLB hasn’t just aroused fans appetite for baseball.

The Cubs currently sit at 10-2 after Wednesday night’s 6-1 win over the Royals. It seems like the Cubs came out of the gate well prepared and ready to play. Frankly, that’s a departure from the team’s last couple of seasons under former manager, Joe Maddon. Joe’s laid back approach currently has helped the Anaheim Angels get off to a 4-8 start.

A number of guys who seemed underutilized under Maddon have helped the Cubs get off to a torrid start. Ian Happ has seen more playing time under David Ross and currently has an OPS of 1.047. Tyler Chatwood has given the Cubs two excellent starts, going 2-0 with an ERA of 0.71. With all the bullpen woes the Cubs suffered during the 2019 season, it seemed like Chatwood should have gotten more opportunity.

Alec Mills has also given the Cubs two quality starts, going 2-0 with an ERA of 1.38. Mills was effective in limited action in 2019. In 36 innings he out together an ERA of 2.75 to go along with a 1-0 record and pretty good peripheral stats. I don’t believe he wasn’t a better option than what Maddon would often roll out of the pen in 2019.

Finally, there’s the matter of the closer. I didn’t think Craig Kimbrel could possibly be any worse in 2020 than he was in 2019. I was wrong. Kimbrel currently has an ERA of 32.40. He hasn’t been good for a long time now. Rowan Wick looked to be the best option the Cubs had as their closer last season. He looks like a decent option this year. If not him, Jeremy Jeffress should get a shot.

One of the most frustrating things about the Cubs in the last couple of seasons was the feeling they were were playing up to their potential. The 2019 Cubs should have won 90 games instead of 84 based on the Pythagorean method. While a lot of Cubs fans were upset about the loss of Nicholas Castellanos to free agency, the substitution of David Ross for Joe Maddon as Cubs manager has more than made up for that loss.

The improvement of the Cubs under a new manager illustrates why the last two seasons of Cubs baseball were so Maddon-ing.

In 1881, in Buffalo, N.Y., former steam-boat engineer, dentist, and inventor Alfred P. Southwick witnessed an intoxicated man die instantly after inadvertently touching the terminal of a large generator.   Southwick had been thinking about a more humane way of executing condemned criminals and electrocution he thought could be the answer.

After David B. Hill was elected governor of New York in 1885 there were a number of publicized botched hangings and Southwick saw the opportunity to approach Hill with the idea of electrocution as a more civilized means of execution.

Dr. Alfred P. Southwick who became known as the father of the electric chair.

In 1887, Hill formed a three-person Commission made up of Southwick, Elbridge T. Gerry of New York, and Matthew Hall of Albany.  They studied different means of execution then currently in use including the guillotine by ten governments, the gallows by three, the sword by nineteen, the musket by two, and the ax by one.  On January 17, 1888, they submitted their report with the unanimous support of electrocution.   The New York legislature framed and passed a bill that received Hill’s signature on June 4, 1888, and the new law, the first in the world, establishing electrocution as the modern means of execution went into effect in the state of New York on January 1, 1890.

The stage was set for the world’s first execution by electricity but who would be the star of the show?

William F. Kemmler was born on May 9, 1860, and was living in Philadelphia when he became interested in a married woman by the name of Mathilda Ziegler.  Mathilda was the sister-in-law of Kemmler’s brother Henry.   Kemmler was a produce peddler and called on Mathilda Ziegler as a customer.  They had conversations that she was not happy with her husband and in 1887 Kemmler married a woman named Ida Fortner that he was not happy with.  Kemmler and Ziegler decided to take off together to escape their unhappy marriages ten days after Kemmler’s marriage to Forter.

Around November of 1887, Kemmler and Ziegler left Philadelphia for Buffalo, NY, and took up residence in a couple of different locations under the names of John and Mathilda Hart.  Kemmler started up again as a peddler of produce and they ended up at 526 S. Division Street.  John DeBella was one of the persons working for Kemmler and lived with the couple starting in January of 1889.

Kemmler was a heavy drinker and co-workers and neighbors would hear them arguing frequently.  According to Kemmler, Ziegler was constantly saying that she was going to take him back to his first wife because he was worthless.

There also seemed to be some suspicion on Kemmler’s part that Ziegler was taking a liking to his employee DeBella.

It all came to a head on the morning of March 29, 1889.  Kemmler and Ziegler were in a heated argument when Kemmler took an axe and brutally murdered Ziegler in the kitchen of the home.  He hit her with the ax in the head no less than 26 times and fractured her skull in over 17 places.

William F. Kemmler aka John Hart was the first man to be executed by electrocution.

Kemmler left Ziegler on the floor and walked out of the house wiping the blood from his hands.  He told Mrs. Reid who was their landlord and lived in the front of the house what he had done.  He then walked to Martin’s Saloon, ordered a beer, and told them exactly what he had done.  He stated that he killed his wife and was willing to hang for it.

Mathilda Ziegler, Kemmler’s victim and her four-year-old daughter.

He was arrested, arraigned and plead not guilty to first-degree murder.  The Trial was short and he was found guilty of first-degree murder on May 10, 1889, and was sentenced on May 14, 1889, to die by electrocution sometime during the week starting June 24, 1889, at the state prison at Auburn, NY.

It all seemed pretty cut and dried and Kemmler was resolved to die for the crime that he had committed even if he would be the first to die by electrocution but there was something going on behind the scenes that remained secret for some time.

Kemmler’s crime was taking place during what we now call “The Current Wars”.  American Inventor, Thomas A. Edison who was banking on direct current (D.C.) was deeply at odds with George Westinghouse and genius Nikola Tesla who were proponents of alternating current (A.C.).  Both were banking on the fact that their preferred currents would be the predominant mode of transmission going forward.

It seemed that on December 19, 1887, A.P. Southwick had written a letter to Edison asking him for his advice on the best method to execute a human being using electricity.  Edison, who was technically against capital punishment, advised Southwick to procure a Westinghouse Dynamo because alternating current was by far the more lethal of the currents available.  Of course, Edison had been on a crusade to generate fear about alternating current to persuade people that alternating current would be too dangerous to use in commercial or residential applications and thereby eliminating Westinghouse as a competitor.  What better way to show how dangerous alternating current was than to use it to kill people.

Southwick attempted to procure a Westinghouse dynamo for his death chair but Westinghouse denied selling it for that purpose stating that they didn’t sell to government entities.  Of course, it was because Westinghouse did not want the negative publicity for their alternating current.

It was later determined that Edison used an employee of his named Harold P. Brown who had also set himself up as an independent consultant to advise the New York State Agency in charge of designing the electric chair.   He was able to procure the Westinghouse dynamo which he then used under contract to the New York Medico-Legal Society who was tasked with the help of Southwick and Auburn Prison Warden Charles F. Durston to design the death mechanism.

Westinghouse learned of the scheme and hired the best lawyers he could find to appeal Kemmler’s case even without Kemmler’s or anyone else’s knowledge.

The appeals were based in part on an assertion that death by electrocution would be considered a “cruel and unusual punishment”

Ultimately, all attempts at saving Kemmler failed.  Early in the morning of August 6, 1890, William Kemmler was led to the death chamber at the state prison in Auburn.  He was very calm and collected and had become friends with his keepers and Warden Durston.  In fact, Durston’s wife had studied the bible with Kemmler and had him converted while in captivity.  He had made out his will gifting his bible, his autograph cards (he had learned to write his name in prison), and various other personal effects to his captor friends.

Warden Durston introduced him to those who were there to witness the execution and then said, “I have informed you as to the provision of the warrant and it is now my duty to carry the sentence and judgment of the court into effect.  Have you anything to say?”

“No, I haven’t much to say.  The newspapers have been saying a lot of things about me which was not so.  I wish you all good luck in this world.  I believe I am going to a good place.”

The clergy present said, “Amen.”  Kemmler said, “Goodbye.”

He took off his jacket and laid it on the back of the electric chair.  The chair was made of wood and was in the shape of a dentist’s chair with straps for the arms, chest and legs.  His shirt had been precut for one of the electrodes to be placed on his lower spine, his head was shaved for the electrode to be placed on his head.  Later the small of the back electrode would be replaced with one on the calf for future executions.

After a few minutes, the straps were in place and Kemmler shook his head stating that the electrode on his head was a little loose.  Kemmler looked at the warden and said, “I guess you’d better make that one a little tighter, Mr. Durston”

Warden Charles F. Durston, Auburn Prison July 1887 to May 1893.

Durston tightened the electrode on his head.   The last strap was fastened around Kemmler’s face.  It was a wide strap that covered the eyes, nose, and chin but left the nostrils and mouth free to be able to speak and breathe.

A syringe was used to inject a saline solution on the sponges used by the electrodes to make sure a good electrical connection was made and to reduce burning.

Warden Durston stepped to where he could reach the door where the switch was and said, “Nothing has been forgotten, Goodbye William.”  Durston tapped twice on the door leading to the anonymous executioner who was later determined to be another prisoner.

A muffled, “Goodbye” could be heard from Kemmler.

The electrical switch was thrown and Kemmler’s body tensed.  For seventeen seconds over 1,300 volts of electricity passed through Kemmler’s body as his hands and arms constantly contracted.

When the current stopped Kemmler’s body relaxed.  The doctors stepped forward and a blue froth could be seen on the corners of Kemmler’s mouth.

The doctors attempted to remove the strap around Kemmler’s mouth and then he twitched!  The froth was blown from his mouth and the doctors yelled out, “He is alive!  Turn on the current again. Quick more current!”

The sound of the switch could be heard again and while the body movements ceased the overwhelming smell of burnt flesh and singed hair filled the room.  At the base of Kemmler’s spine, a small blue lick of flame could be seen.  One man turned and vomited.  The stronger and longer current was turned off.  The doctors waited about four minutes before approaching Kemmler.  He was indeed dead but nothing so horrible or gut-wrenching had been witnessed by anyone in the room.

The Chicago Tribune published Westinghouse’s reaction to the horrors of the execution on August 7, 1890.

Pittsburg, PA., Aug. 6 [Special] George Westinghouse Jr., President of the Westinghouse Electric company, breathed a sigh of relief when he was advised this morning of the result of Kemmler’s electrocution.

                “I do not care to talk about it,” he said.  “It has been a brutal affair.  They could have done better with an ax.”

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My article in The Federalist defending Chicago Tribune Columnist John Kass.

Ed Yong at The Atlantic has published an incredible piece on the pandemic, which I highly recommend reading in full. He provides an excellent overview of how we got here.

The coronavirus found, exploited, and widened every inequity that the U.S. had to offer. Elderly people, already pushed to the fringes of society, were treated as acceptable losses. Women were more likely to lose jobs than men, and also shouldered extra burdens of child care and domestic work, while facing rising rates of domestic violence. In half of the states, people with dementia and intellectual disabilities faced policies that threatened to deny them access to lifesaving ventilators. Thousands of people endured months of COVID‑19 symptoms that resembled those of chronic postviral illnesses, only to be told that their devastating symptoms were in their head. Latinos were three times as likely to be infected as white people. Asian Americans faced racist abuse. Far from being a “great equalizer,” the pandemic fell unevenly upon the U.S., taking advantage of injustices that had been brewing throughout the nation’s history.

Additionally, Yong touches on this, but the one factor that I can’t seem to get over: the continual exalting of American individualism over collective health, safety, and livelihood. It applies to guns. Education. Healthcare. Climate change. Public Health. Pandemics. To preserve the “freedoms” of an insistent few, America sacrificed the ability to truly lock down and/or contact-trace —both of which have proven key to countries that were able to control the spread. 

There was a twitter thread I read a while ago about how Taiwan handles a passenger arriving from the US. The writer described in detail how she had to provide a phone number and address on arrival and was contacted daily during a two-week quarantine, with in-person spot-checks an option on a daily basis as well. Americans would never stand for this. But other countries quickly figured out that, while the invasion of privacy and space is very reaching, it is necessary to defeat such a highly infectious and debilitating virus. The threat of mass death/suffering proved much worse than the individual’s momentary loss of privacy. In the States, pure selfishness precludes this approach. There was absolutely no messaging from the top that we are all in this together, that we will get through this together.  This attitude is all reflected in the mask debacle here, too. Asian mask culture has always been about individuals inconveniencing themselves to protect others. Meanwhile in America, this piece of cloth has been demonized by some as a violation of personal freedom.

Instead by providing effectively no top-down pandemic leadership (Dr. Fauci is an exception, but he lacks policy/enforcement capability), states, counties, cities, hospitals, schools…all the way down to individuals were left to DIY everything from equipment procurement to mask enforcement. And so the haphazard, inconsistent responses led us to the mess we have today. Trump actually did try to unite the country against a common enemy, only it wasn’t against the virus. It was to vilify China and endanger Asian Americans through his deliberate, inflammatory word choices of the China Virus and Wu Flu.

Add to this Americans’ distrust in the government, the wild media coverage of facts/alternative facts/conspiracies, election year chicanery, chronic under-investment in public health/social safety nets, a complete failure of White House leadership… all of it is in the article. It’s unsettling, disheartening, and frankly, it’s also bizarre to have this level of understanding of a current, live-action failure. Usually we get this kind of post-game analysis post-game. And yet here we are, live-streaming a series of unforced errors that may lead to our own actual, physical demise. That’s not really my worry though—my real worry is that after we do get through all of this, nothing substantive will have changed for the better.

COVID‑19 is an assault on America’s body, and a referendum on the ideas that animate its culture. Recovery is possible, but it demands radical introspection. America would be wise to help reverse the ruination of the natural world, a process that continues to shunt animal diseases into human bodies. It should strive to prevent sickness instead of profiting from it. It should build a health-care system that prizes resilience over brittle efficiency, and an information system that favors light over heat. It should rebuild its international alliances, its social safety net, and its trust in empiricism. It should address the health inequities that flow from its history. Not least, it should elect leaders with sound judgment, high character, and respect for science, logic, and reason.

Will we pursue the “radical introspection” Yong’s piece calls for? I truly don’t know. It would have been so interesting if covid had struck a few months earlier, i.e. before the Democratic primary settled on Joe Biden. All our systemic, chronic problems would have been illuminated for the masses in the worst possible way, which would have, in turn,  highlighted the need for “radical introspection” and meaningful change. Perhaps then Joe Biden’s  status quo and “return to (a false sense of) normalcy” would have been quickly dismissed as inadequate, in favor of a much-needed overhaul of the institutions that Yong identifies. 

For the next five months, things will almost certainly only get worse. And the most frustrating thing is knowing that Trump could tomorrow just change his tune and make things better—people will listen—and knowing that he won’t. At this point, it feels like criminal negligence, but I can’t tell if it’s due to willful ignorance, denial, or ego. 

No one should be shocked that a liar who has made almost 20,000 false or misleading claims during his presidency would lie about whether the U.S. had the pandemic under control; that a racist who gave birth to birtherism would do little to stop a virus that was disproportionately killing Black people; that a xenophobe who presided over the creation of new immigrant-detention centers would order meatpacking plants with a substantial immigrant workforce to remain open; that a cruel man devoid of empathy would fail to calm fearful citizens; that a narcissist who cannot stand to be upstaged would refuse to tap the deep well of experts at his disposal; that a scion of nepotism would hand control of a shadow coronavirus task force to his unqualified son-in-law; that an armchair polymath would claim to have a “natural ability” at medicine and display it by wondering out loud about the curative potential of injecting disinfectant; that an egotist incapable of admitting failure would try to distract from his greatest one by blaming China, defunding the WHO, and promoting miracle drugs; or that a president who has been shielded by his party from any shred of accountability would say, when asked about the lack of testing, “I don’t take any responsibility at all.”

Below is a press release via PETA

Des Plaines, Ill. — Girls wrestling state champion Amelia Nidelea-Polanin can now add a national title to her name: The 11-year-old Des Plaines resident has just been chosen as the winner of PETA Kids’ 2020 Cutest Vegan Kid Contest, earning a special prize pack filled with goodies, including a personalized trophy.

Amelia and her older brother went vegan seven years ago after learning that the chicken that people eat comes from smart, sensitive birds. Since then, she and her mother have protested Canada Goose’s fur-and-feather coats, circuses that force animals to perform, and slaughterhouses. Amelia even gave a speech at last year’s Animal Rights March in Chicago, saying, “I don’t want to live in a world where I have to look into my suffering friends’ eyes and tell them, ‘I can’t save you. I love you. Forgive me. I will keep trying.’ … I want to live in a world where I can open the last truck and save them all. I want to live in a world with sanctuaries, not slaughterhouses!”

“Amelia nabbed PETA Kids’ Cutest Vegan Kid title for showing that you’re never too young to start speaking up for animals,” says PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg. “She is determined to lead her generation toward a more compassionate future, and her passion sets an example for people of all ages.”

Amelia is known for out-wrestling both girls and boys during practices, and when parents and teammates ask how she’s so strong, she’s quick to say that it’s because she’s vegan—and she always has leaflets about going vegan ready to give away. Her favorite animal is the gorilla, because they’re vegan and strong—just like her!

The last several weeks have been brutal.  Hot weather takes a big bite out of the fishing.  It’s not comfortable and the fish become sluggish.

One thing to do when it’s really hot outside, switch from fishing the lakes and ponds to river and creek fishing.   Wading in moving water somehow just seems cooler and you’ll find more active fish.

A friend of mine, Ken O’Malley, aka Husker, did just that and spent a few hours on the Kankakee River.

“Hey Don,   Here is a recap of this past week’s fishing.

Kankakee River is very wadeable right now. Water clarity is slightly stained, which is perfect. Working a Bandit 100 along current seams took the larger smallmouth. Pitching a TRD along current breaks took good numbers of bass.  TTYL”

Ken “Husker” O’Malley
Husker Outdoors 

Give this a try.  Even on a hot day you may just enjoy getting back into the outdoors.

Filed under:
Fishing

Tags:
back into the outdoors, creek fishing, fishing, hot water fsihing, husker, illinois outdoors, kankakee river, ken o’malley, river fishing

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  Don Dziedzina

  Don Dziedzina of Illinois Outdoors Inc., has been involved in the outdoors industry for over 40 years.
  
  Don has written columns for numerous outdoor magazines and many local newspapers. For a couple years he wrote outdoor columns for the Chicago Tribune in the Sports section.
  
  For over 20 years ago Don was the producer and host of the Illinois Outdoors TV show. It aired on Comcast, Insight, and MediaCom Cable stations having a reach of nearly 7 million viewers every week.
  
  Don joined Jim DaRosa as a co-host of the Fishing and Outdoor Radio Show. The very popular outdoor radio show aired every week, simulcast on WCSJ AM 1550, WCSJ FM 103.1, WSPY FM 107.1, WSPY AM 1480, WSQR FM 93.5 and WSQR AM 1180.
  
  After two years of retirement from writing, TV and Radio, Don started a new blog on ChicagoNow titled Back Into the Outdoors.
  
  On the Illinois Outdoors TV Show, Don always says, “Great Fishing (or hunting) is not that far away.” tm That saying is still popular today.

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