The Union Ruler, circa 1984

Growing up my Father had an odd obsession with attending irrelevant conventions and expos.

For instance, despite not owning our own home, we often attended the Home Builders Expo at State Fair Park. While we only went fishing a few times in my childhood, were never hunters, and didn't enjoy boating or camping, the annual Milwaukee Journal Sports Show was a frequent stop around my birthday.

I'm actually not complaining. Some of my best memories are of those times: tasting buffalo at the sports show, collecting free samples at every expo, being awed at the new home remodeling products, and so forth.

Of all my nostaligia driven memories of my youth, those are some of the fondest.

One of these expos was a large Union show held downtown. I don't *think* my Dad was in a union at the time, although he might have belonged to one at the hotel where he was employed.

I think it was 1984 or thereabouts, putting me at ten years old at the time, and Dad took the whole family. We spent the day walking around, looking at this or that, and collecting the free giveaways around the hall.

[A dim snippet of conversation left in my head recalls that this was some big national event, something unique that wouldn't happen again in Milwaukee for a long time. Come to think of it, I don't think it's returned since.]

Anywho, one of the neatest giveaways - and certainly the one with the longest life - is this great ruler.

I ADORED this ruler (still do, actually) because it not only showed a picture of each President, but his name and years in office (note that Reagan still had an open ended date at the time). On the reverse it had each state capital.

I memorized the Presidents in sequence because of this ruler (and some Harry Lorayne tricks). I tried to memorize their faces. I tried and failed to remember all the capitals.

In short, I was a big dork.

None-the-less, I love this ruler and still have it in my home office. Mind you, from time to time Lisa makes a run at having me get rid of it, as it is redundant and out of date, but pshaw!

If I have my druthers I'll own it until the day I day.

Thanks for taking us Pop.

All-Star Squadron Annual, 1984

The comic book above - the 1984 'annual' for the All-Star squadron  -was one of my favorite's as a kid. I loved the series, with it's mix of 1940's nostalgia and Golden Age superheroes, and I especially loved this issue as it tapped into my love of history.

The members of the All-Star Squadron fan out across time to prevent the murder of seemingly insignificant people. In reality the intended victims are future Presidents of the US, all the way through Reagan, tho' the Squadron never learns of the fact (it is revealed to us by way of a series of news clippings on the then-current whereabouts of Nixon, Carter, etc)

Green Lantern fails in his quest and a boy - and now unknown would-be President - is killed.

I read and re-read this issue until long after the cover fell off, and I was a kid that treated his comics with care.

Should I ever find the $, it'd be nice to gather a complete collection of this series. I'd certainly enjoy reading them again.

My spooktacular school

I came across a link to this on myufo.com. According to a list of WI locales, my old grade school features some bonafide ghosts and ghouls. 

The school building used to be the church. Rumor has it that a boy fell to his death from the balcony. The balcony has since been walled over and converted to a room. Former teachers and students at the school attest to a strange feeling in the former balcony area. There is also a rocking chair in the attic that keeps rocking with no one around and no breeze. A strange man has been seen by staff and children in the church basement. Neighbors report that a former building on the site had a light that never went out even when the electricity was cut. Teachers also report feeling uneasy in the basement bathroom and hearing a strange ?wooooooing? sound.

My opinion? The school was spooky, sure, but mainly due to my classmates. .

In all seriousness, I remember the balcony, which overlooks the current (?) gym. It was kind of creepy, but only in a 'never used/dark and dusty' kind of a way.

Although, come to think of it, reading the paragraph brought back a dim memory of a teacher cracking a joke about a/the? ghost when I went with her to get some paint jars off the balcony.  

I never heard of any rocking chair, though, and in nine years there (K-8) I never  saw a 'strange man' in the basement. If anyone had I'm sure the police would have been called - the '80's were hardly a time of naive, blind trust.

As far as the other building, when I started there in the late seventies an old school building still stood on part of the lot. It was torn down when I was in Kindergarten or 1st grade. Like any abandoned building it sometimes gave you goosebumps, but I never saw the perpetual lightbulb they refer to in the paragraph.

Maybe I'll stop by again, just to check it out.