The Blaisdell Blog

In truth, I had forgotten about this anniversary until I saw the story in the paper.   In that instant my coffee cup was suspended before my lips, my eyes looked without seeing and I realized that, had I had my way, I would be looking at the anniversary of my death.              On January 28, 1986 the Challenger space shuttle lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:38 a.m.   Seventy-three seconds later it blew up in a starburst of destruction, killing all the crew members on board.   They did not die instantly, and were probably alive during the ever accelerating plunge toward the ocean.   It is the impact with the water that killed them—that would have killed me. On board was a crew as diverse as American itself.   Included in the group were America’s first teacher in space, Christa McAuliffe, a 37-year-old teacher.   As far as I was concerned, she had taken my place.   I had applied for the Teacher in Space Program and had been sorely disappointed when I was not chos

On October 24, 1921, Sgt. Edward F. Younger, approached four identical caskets laid in the city hall of Chalons-sur-Marne in France.   Sgt. Younger had, himself, been badly wounded in combat, been highly decorated for valor and received the Distinguished Service Medal.   But he was alive, and on this day he had an awesome task.   The four caskets before him had each been exhumed, quite at random, on Memorial day, 1921, from four World War I American cemeteries in France.   Each contained the remains of a soldier who had been unrecognizable and unknown at the time of his burial.   All anyone will ever know about these four bodies is that they were American soldiers and had fallen in “The War to End all Wars.”   Younger’s task was both simple and agonizing.   He would select one of these caskets for internment in the newly created Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.   Sgt. Younger moved forward (at what impulse we will never know) and placed a spray of white roses on the third casket from

My bowling league plays on Friday mornings.   The bowling alley we meet at knows its customers.   We are boomers.   So when we get to the alley, they are playing the music of the ‘60’s loud and proud.   This Friday we were busy getting on shoes, getting money to the treasurer and getting excuses in order when Manfred Mann’s song, “Do Wah Ditty Ditty” came over the sound system: There she was just walkin' down the street Singin', "Do wah diddy, diddy, dum diddy do" People started singing the words. Snappin' her fingers and shufflin' her feet Singin', "Do wah diddy diddy, dum diddy do" My end of the alley spontaneously shouted out the next line. She looked good, she looked find And right on cue, the far end of the alley answered us in a perfect “call” and “response” style. (Looked good, looked fine) We followed that pattern with the final two lines of that very familiar chorus. She looked good, she looked fine A

In 1985 and again in 1986 Evelyn Adams won the New Jersey lottery.   Her total winnings were $5.4 million.   Evelyn (who admits to having a gambling problem) blew through both wins and now lives in a trailer.    She sounds like a soul mate for William Post who won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988 and within one year had lost it all and was $1 million in debt.   He now lives on social security and food stamps.             Ken Proxmire of Michigan won $1 million and five years later was in bankruptcy.   Janite Lee (Missouri) won $18 million so it took her eight years to end up in the same boat.   William Hurt and Charles Riddle ($3 million and $1 million, respectively) both ended up not only broke, but selling cocaine.   At least Post and Proxmire tried investing in family businesses; Hurt and Riddle decided that starting a curb side addiction kiosk was their enterprise of choice.               Suzanne Mullins won $4.2 million in 1993 and is now deeply in debt