The Blaisdell Blog

  In 1964 I started my undergraduate studies, already knowing that my family structure was not the typical one shared by my fellow students.   My mother worked full time outside of the home.   She always had.   Mom had been trained in two years of Normal school, which was a two-year program that produced teachers for a growing nation that valued education for all.   When we moved from Minnesota to Colorado, she got a better paying job as a bookkeeper for the City and County of Denver.   During that same time my father worked in every aspect of the dairy industry. In that same year, 1964, men spent an average of 42 hours/week working for wages.   The average for women put in eight hours.   In the current decade women make up over half the workforce.   Women’s work hours moved to 36/week by 2023 while men’s had decreased to 40.   As you might have guessed, with more women working, the other divisions of a day’s labor—specifically hou...

  There is a photograph on the wall of my sister’s home that is both precious and haunting to me.   It is a restored, blown up and framed photo of my father on his way to the South Pacific during World War II.   It was taken by an Army photographer from a small tender craft as my Dad’s ship, the S.S. Monterey, left harbor.   In a happy accident, the picture was taken with a close up of Pfc. Frank G. Yatckoske front and center.   He is in the midst of a host of soldiers leaning over the rail, all smiling and mugging for the camera.   My father is leaning out from the rest, his arms braced on the rail of the ship, his smile—a straight, wide grin filled with mischief—is set in a young, lean, handsome face.   Every man on that ship seems filled with enthusiasm, bonhomie, even a sense of adventure. Those poor young men didn’t have a clue.               I don’t want to contemplate what happene...