Our USA 速
magazine
Charming Stories & Photos Created by remarkable Americans just like you!
Our Country - Our People - Our Stories
Our USA Magazine
W
my notes
e have gained so many new contributors (and friends) to our digital edition. Stan Hitchcock, celebrated country music personality, writes a poignant tale of “a memory, a vapor, a ghost of the music that is gone” in The Old Man That Time Forgot. I was immediately enchanted with Suzie Duncan Sexton and Secrets of an Old Typewriter when she expressed that she wrote “stories from a smart and sassy small town girl.” Maura Knowles “The Morselist,” writes about ways to be healthy, in Throw Open the Windows. Our returning contributors – Sally Edelstein, Tama Kieves, Kay Thomas, Mark Barkawitz, Larry Fish, and Shelly Morris – each offer their individual vignettes of “Our USA.” Included among these is a loving tribute about Hope, written by my sister Mary Valentino. I still love print, mind you, but am finding there are many interesting, varied avenues that digital offers, which print does not. For example, we are able to link directly to our contributors’ blogs and websites, and just with a click of your mouse you are taken there. We are able to expand the number of pages, 100 with this issue, primarily because we don’t have to worry about the cost of paper, print and shipping, which allows us to lower the price to our readers. I hope you enjoy our summer issue, and as always, if you have a downto-earth story, a poignant memory, an amusing anecdote or fantastic photography or art to share with us and your fellow Americans, please do so at www.ourusamagazine.com. Wishing you a wonderful summer!
Cher
Cher Valentino, Editor Wendy Junker, Marketing Director Our beautiful cover photo is an enigma. It was taken by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Tina M. Ackerman on March 27, 2002. The caption read “With American flags creating a patriotic theme, a youngster waits on the pier for a Sailor stationed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), during homecoming events for the carrier battle group (CVBG). Theodore Roosevelt departed Norfolk, Virginia, on September 19, 2001, to join the fight against terror.”
CJ, Production Manager Debra Jennings, Text Editing Bubba, Director of Goodwill
This file is a work of a sailor or employee of the U.S. Navy, taken or made as part of that person’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain. We have been unable to track down the photographer or the little girl who would now be a teenager. Does anyone out there know these people?
Back Cover - Randy Litwin www.rlitwinphoto.com P. 16 Nigel Wedge P. 24, 29, 70 Bob Oswald
http://lightbanditphotography.zenfolio.com
P. 35 Kristin Talluto
http://www.kmtphotography.org
P. 36 John Peña
http://www.johnpena.net
P. 50 Stuart Chapman P. 64 Gary Bridgeman P. 68 Alina Alexandru http://alinalungu.com/
our usa magazine PO Box 275 Leicester, NY 14481 PO Box 761 Sidney, NE 69162
www.ourusamagazine.com admin@ourusamagazine.com
www.facebook.com/Our.USA.Magazine
www.ourusamagazine.com/blog
Summer ‘13 Copyright © 2013
All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, in whole or part is prohibited.
Our USA Magazine
10 Photo - Carol Highsmith
Our Country, Our People, Our Stories
10 Saving America 26 Occupation: for Posterity
Iconic photographer Carol Highsmith’s gifts to all the American people.
14
Garden Rebels
Will the next Revolutionary War take place in our own backyards?
20 Vegetable
Gardening
Gardening from seed to Harvest.
Our USA Magazine
Housewife
The mid-century American housewife was the most envied woman in the world.
34 A Deeply
Moving Portrait
This story is nothing short of a real life Notebook.
38 Hope “Hope is something we always hear. When we hear it we experience it, and when we experience it we speak it!”
Summer 2013
42 Roll Up for the Mystery Tour
A visit to lesser-known North American Beatles Landmarks.
50 The Old Man
That Time Forgot
“Yeah, it had been 63 years ago, now,...man, it don’t seem more than yesterday.”
56 Homeward
DEPARTMENTS
Bound
3 Photographers
Memories of a place held deep in your heart.
6,7,9 Contributors
60 When You
68 Throw Open
Trust in yourself and you’ll likely find everything you’re looking for.
Open sunshine! Open your windows and breathe in the fresh air! A lil’ fresh oxygen does the body and soul good.
Discover Your Real Self
the Windows
Natural Order
When a little help from a friend seems appropriate.
78 The All Stars As American as baseball and mom’s apple pie.Old images, old smells, old memoriies, stir up the deepest emotions.
64 Secrets of an
Old Typewriter
Stories from a smart and sassy small town girl.
66 Gotta Love
86 Made in the USA
Media, PA
Made in USA
33 Patriot Profile: Simplicity Sofas 41 Patriot Profile: Bullet Blues 72 Back in the Day Freckles
76 I’m Just Sayin’ Overthrowing the Queen
www.facebook.com/Our.USA.Magazine
74 Upsetting the
30 My Hometown
The 30 Day Journey
Movie review and Interview with Josh Miller.
88 The Story of
Change Those Summertime Picnics The Story of Change urges us
94 American Moment
An informal gathering of old and new friends, and food.
98 Resources
to start exercising our citizen muscles to build a more sustainable, just and fulfilling world.
Our USA Magazine
Saving America for Posterity
Historic Route 66 Motel sign, Kingman, Arizona July, 2006
“Ice Cold Pop� sign and American flag advertised on Route 66, Seligman, Arizona, May, 2009
66 Drive-In Theatre, Carthage, MO Built in 1949, one of less than 400 Drive-In theatres in the United States today. August 12, 2009
10
Our USA Magazine
Carol M. Highsmith, a distinguished and richly published American photographer, has donated her work to the Library of Congress since 1992, and has dedicated the rights to America’s people. On April 28, 2013, the CBS television news magazine “CBS This Morning” featured Highsmith’s work in a lengthy segment titled, “Saving America for Posterity at the Library of Congress.”
Snow Cap burger cafe, Route 66, Seligman, Arizona - July, 2006 Delgadillos is also known for its silly staff, described by some as “madcap,” who have been known to make a show out of entertaining kids with fun practical jokes.
Hamel is where the two Metro East alignments of Route 66 part ways, the earlier path heading through Edwardsville and Mitchell towards the Chain of Rocks Bridge and the Show Me State. The later corridor heads further south towards Troy and Collinsville before heading into Missouri from East Saint Louis. July, 2009
Our USA Magazine
Garden Rebels
By Daisy Luther The Organic Prepper
10 Ways to Sow Revolution In Your Own Back Yard
S
ometimes I think that the next Revolutionary War will take place in a vegetable garden. Instead of bullets, there will be seeds. Instead of chemical warfare, there will be rainwater, carefully collected from the gutters of the house. Instead of soldiers in body armor and helmets, there will be back yard rebels, with bare feet, cut-off jean shorts, and wide-brimmed hats. Instead of death, there will be life, sustained by a harvest of home-grown produce. Children will be witness to these battles, but instead of being traumatized, they will be happy, grimy, and healthy, as they learn about the miracles that take place in a little plot of land or pot of dirt. Every day, the United Nations and the Powers That Be take steps toward food totalitarianism. They do so flying a standard of “sustainability,” but what they are actually trying to sustain is NOT our natural resources, but their control. This morning I came across one of the most inspiring, beautifully written articles that I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a long time. Julian Rose, a farmer, actor, activist, and writer, wrote an article called “Civil Disobedience or Death by Design” and it is a “must read” for anyone who believes in the importance of natural food sources. “From now on, unless we cut free of obeisance to the centralised, totalitarian regimes whose takeover of our planet is almost complete, we will have only ourselves to blame. For we are complicit in allowing ourselves to become slaves of the Corporate State and its cyborg enforcement army. That is, if we continue to remain hypnotized by their antics instead of taking our destinies into our own hands and blocking or refusing to comply with their death warrants. This ‘refusal’ is possible. But it will only have the desired effect when, and if, it is contemporaneous with the birthing of the Divine warrior who sleeps in us all. The warrior who sleeps-on, like the besotted Rip Van Winkle in the Catskill mountains.”
Our USA Magazine
Our USA Magazine
Homeward Bound
By Amy Abbott
T
he home I left more than three decades ago is no more. The houses I lived in are still there, but my childhood is long past. My trips to my hometown are for funerals, wakes or cemetery visits. Ten days ago, my brother, father, and I drove to the cemetery to visit my mother’s grave. That Saturday was a sunny day with a hint that spring may be coming.
http://vintagetravelpostcards.blogspot.com/2010/05/indiana.html 10
Our USA Magazine
57
Our USA Magazine 11
Patriot Partners
WHO WE ARE
We are a non-partisan organization lobbying for American made manufacturers, small business owners, suppliers, distributors, mom and pop stores, local boutiques and service providers. We are dedicated to encouraging consumers to buy American made products; providing our members with resources to expand their use of U.S. made products; and serving as a place to share ideas to increase our members’ bottom lines. We are a conduit for change by uniting American voices to tell Washington to bring American jobs home.
OUR MISSION
To play a part in the restoration of the U.S. economy by connecting American manufactures with consumers; to educate consumers on the importance of buying American made products; and to partner with American manufacturers and businesses to collaborate on maximizing their use and distribution of Made in USA products.
BECOME A CORPORATE MEMBER
Receive 15% off membership when you mention Our USA Magazine 12
Our USA Magazine
Our USA Magazine 13
America’s Heartland by Dave Barnhouse 14
Our USA Magazine
Our USA Magazine 15
T
he old man stood in the shadows, back stage in the large, historic theater, leaning on his push broom next to the wheeled cart that held his cleaning supplies, listening to the loud music and screaming crowd. His arthritis was aching bad tonight, his hands twisted and swollen, and although he could no longer make the chords on his guitar, he could still hold the broom well enough to get by. He was lucky the theater manager dimly remembered his theater history, when the old man had stood on that stage, sharing the show with Hank Williams, Sr., Red Foley and Minnie Pearl. Yeah, it had been 63 years ago, now, and he had just been 24 years old, but already had his number one song on the charts, hmmm…man, it don’t seem more than yesterday. Those were the days, man, rolling high, drawing the crowds, selling the records. He would have to make a point to meet this young Star when he came off stage, tell him a few stories of where it all came from, this Country Music…yeah, that’s what he’d do.
16
50
Our USA Magazine
He had been hungry and cold, the day he came and applied for the janitor position at the old theater, but then, seemed like he always felt hungry and cold, in his late eighties, but able to lie and pass for a somewhat younger age, because he really needed to find work. The flop house where he had a bed was threatening to kick him out if he didn’t come up with some money. Come up with some money…man, that used to not be a problem…not for him in the glory years…Now, it was old age pension, and a small retirement check each month from the Musicians Union, which together just barely paid for the lumpy bed, a meal a day and a bottle of Thunderbird Wine about once a week.
http://vintagetravelpostcards.blogspot.com/2010/05/indiana.html
The Old Man That Time Forgot By Stan Hitchcock
Photo - Stuart Chapman
Our USA Magazine 17
Everybody’s Home Town By Patrick Hannigan
M
edia, a suburb of Philadelphia, has all the great qualities of a special home town. Its most distinguishing feature is its trolley cars. Running in the center of the main avenue, State Street, the trolley system is the only one of its type still in operation in the entire country. Being the original final stop of the railroad from center city, Media originated as a summer vacation destination for Philadelphians. Media was home to a number of grand hotels that have since been converted into homes and businesses. Throughout the year, many outdoor events are held along State Street and have become annual traditions. From the lighting of the tree and the holiday lights outlining the buildings, to several food, arts and craft fairs, music events, and car shows, Media provides an abundance of special events for all to enjoy.
30
18
Our USA Magazine
Robert Bohinick at a John Phili[p Sousa tribute concert in Media, PA - Photo - Patrick Hannigan
Our USA Magazine 19
Beth b Peter Blum-Tinsmith
a ara
Higland Games 20
Our USA Magazine
Advertise Your Product Here Increase Your Web Traffic by Targeting our Web Audience and Digital Subscribers!
Connect With Our USA LIKE
FOLLOW
Call: Wendy @ 308-249-7358 wendy@ourusamagazine.com
PIN
Our USA Magazine 21
Photo by Randy Litwin
Our USA Magazine.com