Husband David and I are on a road trip. We are exploring four of six states we have not seen--Iowa, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. When we return, that will leave Alaska and Hawaii and then we'll be able to say we have visited all 50 states. Of course, there will be much we have missed but--hey--we can always go back, right?
This trip was different in many ways than the 1984 road trip we took:
Advice from Bonnie Schupp (me) and David Ettlin (my husband) to bride and groom. We have been married for 34 years so we have had time to test out this advice!.. . . . .
I took this photo in the 80's of my husband, David Ettlin, at work at The Sun. Well..."at work" is used loosely here. As I remember, he was reading the City Paper in this shot. This was taken in his smoking days, before our daughters asked him to stop because "Daddy, we don't want you to die." He has since stopped except for 2 or 3 a year that he bums from others. Other than that, he's been good.
As it turns out, this photo fits perfectly with David Simon's recent article about my husband's days at The Sun in the Sunday Sun Magazine special 175th anniversary issue. I smiled as I read it. It shows what a character my David is but it also shows that he was good at his job (which I always knew). Obviously David Simon thinks so and his praise carries a lot of weight. Simon's projects have included Homicide, The Corner, The Wire and, most recently, Treme. It is also obvious that David Simon is overflowing with talent.
I've always been proud of my David (and the other David too) and it's nice to see this recognition that he deserves.
My husband David found an interesting business card while taking care of his mother's things after she died. It was a card from the mohel who presided at his bris.
Always one to find a humorous side of things, David posed as a rabbi from your worst nightmare. You can see that he really got into his role.
We then brainstormed with ideas for captions. The list below is what we came up with. Maybe you can add some of your own.
Sharp-witted mohel, circumspect to the point.
Mohel with sharp knife for hire.
David cut short his job training.
David's new job was cutting edge.
David's new career required circumspect and forethought.
During the past several weeks we've visited friends in Germany, Denmark and now London. A couple days ago, David received an e-mail from a friend back in Baltimore that led to a discovery...
David finally found out how one of my images of him was used...on a Republican gubernatorial candidate's Web site. It goes without saying that David is a Democrat. When he found out how his picture was used, he said, "I'm an equal opportunity face. Democrats can buy me, too."
I don't cook. Let me repeat that...I don't cook. That being said, last night I made pie crust from scratch.
This is a picture of the pie before it went into the oven. David made the filling and I tackled the crust. I struggled with trying to keep it in one piece so I could get it into the pie dish but it wouldn't hold together.
Could it be because I left out 4 tablespoons of water when I mixed it? Could it be the wine that I sipped while making it?
A cruise on the John Brown liberty ship, led to this article by David Ettlin about a WWII veteran who returns six decades later to sail once again on the ship.
And here's another perspecitve that goes beyond the usual Memorial Day discussion. Darrel Nash is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis:
I have paid more attention to Memorial Day this year than for quite a few years When I was growing up, all of my family went to the cemetery to watch the American Legion put on a program honoring those that have died in wars.
Fred’s talk [Fred Muir] and Russ’s [Russ Savage] sermon [Unitarian Universalist Church of Annapolis] got me to thinking about this day more. Then last night we watched the Memorial Day commemoration on the National Mall.
It is most appropriate and important that we honor those that have died in battle and those that are injured and their families sometimes for years, even generations. It was very gratifying to see a large part of the Mall event devoted to the sacrifices of those that have been in harm’s way and were not killed, yet carry the physical, mental, and emotional scars. It recognized the extreme sacrifices of their families whose entire lives are now devoted to the injured one. In Russ’s sermon, he told of the diary his father kept in the midst of battle in Europe during WWII. His is an eloquent testimony to the tragedy and the stupidity of war.
Yes, we should honor those who have sacrificed, yet also recognize that wars at their roots are caused by failures--sins if you will. Failures of politicians. These failures include greed, self-aggrandizement, pride, selfishness, self-righteousness, retribution, unwillingness to accept that there are other valid points of view. And one more. Some politicians like war. Individuals don’t start wars. Those in power at the national level, and now some non-state politicians start wars. A person can drive down the highway with a bumper sticker saying “I love war,” but that is not what starts wars.
Those in power start wars, then they call on those without power to fight them. In order to get citizens to fight, the war must be cast in terms—for the U.S.-- of defending our freedom, protecting those people back home, children, women, elders, etc.
Even public television this week, in honoring the war dead, casts the honoring in terms of the dead of all wars protecting our freedom—protecting America.
This line puts all wars on the same basis, all are justified. Yet, it is hard to say which wars, if indeed any could be said to have the purpose of protecting our freedom. Not Iraq, not the Gulf War, not Viet Nam, not Korea—it was supposed to be to get North Korea back north of the 38th parallel, not World War I, not any of the incursions we made into Mexico—these were to get some territory for the US, not wars with the North American Indians, these were to get some land for non-Indians. So what do we say about these military cemeteries? We need to honor the sacrifices without sending the message that those that perpetrated the wars always did so to protect American freedom.
I propose a Memorial Day for politicians who are peace-makers. Persons that come to mind right away are, Richard Holbrooke, George Mitchell, and Jimmy Carter. (I know, they are still alive, so don’t call it “Memorial”) Their impact is beyond imagining. How many people have not been killed, how many families have not lost husbands, wives, partners, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, best friends?
How many politicians in other countries, Israel, Palestine, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Rwanda, Burma, Iraq, South Africa……. should be honored as peace-makers?
These should be our political models. Those that intercept the idea that the way ahead is not war and violence, but talking and sharing and working toward solutions that all sides can accept. War begets war. Peace with justice is sustaining.
Bonnie J. Schupp (1944-2021) was raised in Baltimore and graduated from old Eastern High School in Feb. 1963. She earned a bachelor's degree from Frostburg State College, her master's from Johns Hopkins University, and, at age 60, a doctorate in communications design from the University of Baltimore. She was over the years a public school teacher, camera store owner, writer and award-winning photographer, and mother of two daughters,. She self-published half a dozen books combining her writing and photographs, notable among them "Dog Tag Poetry" (2012, Blurb Books), "365 Gifts on Turning 70" (2016, Amazon), and, posthumously, her memoir "Curious Possibilities" (2021, Amazon) edited by her husband, David M. Ettlin.
