ephemera

The Superior Scribbler Award

The ephemera blog has received the coveted Superior Scribbler Award!

I received this prestigious award from my blogging pal, Gina, who l recently interviewed. Thank you, Gina.

For details of this award and its beginnings, visit The Scholastic Scribe.

As with many of the Blog-type Awards, there are rules that go with the award:

• Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to five most deserving blog friends.
• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author and the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog and link to the original post at The Scholastic Scribe which explains The Award.
• Each blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit the original post at The Scholastic Scribe and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who wins This Prestigious Honor.
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules to his/her blog.

And with that said, here are the blogs that I have selected for this fine award:

Buzz, Balls, & Hype

Cabbages and Kings

Craphound

Dispatches from Tanganyika

Patti O'Shea

 

Beer League Softball Retirement Announcement

I officially retired from playing beer-league softball in 2002. I wrote the following tongue-in-cheek press release to announce my retirement from the game I loved. If I had a blog in 2002, I'd have posted this letter then, but, since this blog started in 2004, and, since I just came across the release again as I was culling through some old files, I'm posting it now for your amusement.

Fighting back tears as he reflected on a softball career that included virtually no notable personal accomplishments, Marty Weil announced his retirement from beer league softball.

"It was a long, painstaking decision for Marty Weil," said the retiring outfielder. "I couldn't find anyone—past players, present players, family members, or close friends—who cared to see me play. Maybe my decision would have been different if there had been someone I could have turned to."

"It wasn't an easy decision because an athlete can always look in the mirror and say, 'OK, I can still play,'" Weil said during a sparsely attended news conference at his home. "Deep down inside, probably I thought I still could. But why not go out while I'm still mediocre. I remember the words of a former teammate who said, 'You're not seriously considering playing Marty in the outfield during the playoffs.' It is memories like these that I'll look back on and remember most fondly."

Weil said the beer league will do fine without him. "I think the game itself is a lot bigger than Marty Weil."

He referred to himself in the third person at least a dozen times, always when discussing his lackluster softball ability and his total anonymity. He said he wanted to watch his kids (he has none) play basketball, and he wanted to take them to school in the morning. He hadn't had a chance to do enough normal things like that because his Wednesday nights during the summer were so busy, he said sobbing.

"Thanks to my teammates and my coaches, and the support of many other people, my softball dreams have come true."

50 Years Behind The Shears

Donna Weil, my mom, celebrates her 50th year as a professional hair stylist this year. So, I thought I'd write an off-topic post about it.

Indulge me a moment.

Mom has been cutting hair professionally since 1959. That year she graduated from the American School of Beauty Culture and worked and trained with Kurt Achstatter in the Maller's Building in Chicago. When I was five or six, my mom took me to meet Mr. Kurt. I remember being introduced to him and shaking hands. My mom was very excited about the whole thing—and that's why I recall it so vividly.

For many years, while raising her family, she cut and styled hair in our home in Niles, Illinois, where she developed a dedicated clientele among Chicago's North Shore residents. The family room, where I watched TV as a boy, doubled as the waiting room. The parade of blue-haired old ladies would start around 9am on Saturday morning and continue through the late afternoon.

She is currently a stylist at Vintage Salon & Spa Salon in Sarasota, Florida, where she lives with my dad, a retired businessman.

 

Artifacts Collectors Interviews Ephemera

A blogger on the Artifacts Collectors' Web site posted an interview with me. Of the several interviews I've done online, this is one of the most in-depth and well conceived.

I'd like to thank Linda at Artifacts Collectors for her interest.

15 Books That Altered My Way of Thinking

A Facebook friend recently asked me to list the 15 books that most altered my way of thinking. These weren't necessarily the best books I'd ever read—although a few from the list qualify for that distinction as well—but, rather, the ones that most altered my world view or changed my viewpoint on a particular subject.

Here is the list I provided in response (in no particular order):

The Catcher in the Rye
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country
Blue Highways: A Journey into America
Fast Food Nation
The American Way of Death Revisited
The Millionaire Next Door
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
The Real Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War
What It Means to Be a Libertarian
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men: Three Tenant Families
Atlas Shrugged
The Grapes of Wrath
Truman
Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

What book most altered your way of thinking?

By the way, if you're curious about one or more of these books, please buy it by clicking through on one of the Amazon links I've provided. [Full disclosure: This blog receives a micro commission sale, which helps support its continued existence. In fact, if you're buying anything through Amazon (it doesn't have to be the thing you've clicked on), be sure to click through to Amazon from any active Amazon link on this blog. Rest assured, it doesn't add a penny to the price you'll pay on Amazon.]

Also, if you're a Facebook user, please join the ephemera group. And be sure to friend me while you're at it.

The Ephemera of Your Life

If you had to choose one piece of ephemera to remove from your home if it was about to be flooded or engulfed in flames, what would it be?

For a lot of people, a beloved photograph would be the top choice, but, for the purposes of this post, I'm eliminating the photo option. So, what single piece of non-photographic ephemera would you save? Your college diploma? A prized autograph? A letter from a long departed relative?

For me, it would be this scroll—the only tangible piece of my grandfather's life that I have, which I wrote about it in this old post.

I'm interested to hear about the one paper-based item you'd save above all others. If you want to share the actual item, please send me an email and I'll feature it on the site. Please be sure to provide a brief description of the item and a JPG image of it, included as an attachment to your email. If that's too much trouble, simple leave a comment about the item.

 

Ephemera Celebrates Third Anniversary

I began this blog in March 2006. That was over a thousand posts ago.

I had no idea this blog would become so popular. To date, the blog has been visited more than 300,000 times by people from virtually every country in the world.

It's been a joyful and humbling experience, and I hope to continue the journey with you, my new friends, well into the future. Speaking of friends, I've made hundreds of acquaintances through this exercise, including people I now count among my dearest friends.

The blog has expanded my understanding and appreciation for old paper. It's brought me in touch with dozens of world-class collectors, researchers, authors, historians, bloggers, and artists. That's the magic of the Web. It is a medium that connects people and challenges the status quo.

I've tried to expand the scope, of what some might view as a narrow subject, to all corners of the anthropological landscape. By combining the discussion of old paper with relevant topics of the day, I've fashioned this blog into part memoir, part travelogue, and part wacky adventure story. Even so, I've stuck close to the mission statement, never losing sight of what I'm really trying to do here: entertain and inform by showcasing the best parts of our shared heritage and culture.

One of the best things about blogging is reading comments from readers like you. The readers of this blog are some of the most knowledgeable on the Internet, and those thoughtful souls have turned this blog into a storehouse of knowledge on the subject of ephemera. If you poke around this blog and read some of the old posts, you're liable to stumble upon comments that reveal mysteries, solve puzzles, and expand the universe of thought on a wide range of topics from comic books to illuminated manuscripts. You're also likely to find topics that haven't been discussed anywhere else on the Web. That's the wonder of this blog—there's virtually no subject that hasn't been placed on paper. So, there's no limit to what you might find or what I might cover in the future. And so you never miss a post, please be sure to subscribe to my FREE feed.

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

 

 

1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass - An American Classic Remembered

My first car was a not-so-gently used 1976 Oldsmobile Cutlass with a 455 four-barrel engine and crushed red velvet seats. My father hated it.

I bought it at night, in a dark parking lot, from a guy who had stupidly waxed the vehicle in the broiling sun—leaving weird circles burnt into its silver-colored flesh; a flaw I failed to notice until seeing the car in the light of day the morning after I'd purchased it. I was 17 and not very bright. Yet, I was still the proud owner of an American muscle car from the tail-end of the American automotive juggernaut.

My dad wouldn't let me park the car on his property until I'd agreed to his demands that it be insured to his specifications, loaded with obscure and unnecessary riders--for an outrageous sum--in order to "protect his interests" (whatever that meant). The upshot was that my insurance premium was somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 per year (the car was only worth $2,000). To my further torment, gas was at an all-time high, and I was working for minimum wage at a dilapidated K-MART store as a stock boy. But still…I owned a Cutlass, an American classic. It leaked oil, of course. But the sound of that four-barrel opening up made up for a lot of faults. The stereo system was also boss. It had a tape player. It was loud…but not as loud as that 455 under the hood.

To make the money needed to pay for the gas, oil changes, and my old man's insurance riders, I took a job as a package courier. In my silver Cutlass, I delivered packages to every corner of Chicago in the worst possible weather and in the midst of a congested, festering city that was blighted by a horrible economic downturn.

The Cutlass got about 9 miles to the gallon.

It was 1982. The American cars coming off the assembly lines were retched. My dad's mother had died that year and left him a Chrysler K car or something of the sort. My dad had wanted me to buy the K car off of him. I remember it being parked across the street from my house for a few weeks while my dad figured out some way to unload that horrible, horrible mistake from Detroit.

Meanwhile, I sweated the insurance premiums on the old '76. I made them all—on time, paid in full—much to my dad's chagrin.

A little while later, I went off to college. I sold the Cutlass--at night, in a dark parking lot--to another brilliant teenager.

 

 

Ephemera Receives a Dardos and Recognizes Others

I'm humbled and grateful to have received The Dardos Award, which was bestowed upon me by Jim Leonard, the creative force behind I'm Learning to Share.

In presenting me with this wonderful award, Jim wrote of the ephemera blog: "Beautifully crafted, I always enjoy a visit to the rarefied atmosphere of Marty Weil's world. Amazing."

The Dardos Award is given "in recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web."

With this honor comes the responsibility of selecting five of my favorite bloggers to whom I may pass the award along, in accordance with The Dardos Award rules:

1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.


2) Pass the Dardos Award to another five blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

Here are the blogs I've selected for this honor:

DarkRoastedBlend. Avi Abrams has been a supporter of this blog since early in its development. His thoughtful links to several of my posts has brought a myriad of new readers to my site; this blog wouldn't be what it is today without his kindness. DRB is a true blogger's blog.

DailyPoetics. Kariann Burleson's blog embodies the Flaubert quote she uses--to such wonderful affect--in her blog's "bio" line. The DailyPoetics blog is a poetic feast. If there's a blog that deserves a Dardos, it's this one.

Ashevegas. When it comes to keeping up with what's going on in Asheville, there's only one source. Ashevegas, baby. This blog, produced by Jason Sandford, is one of the few I read daily, and it has become my primary source (above all other media) for the real news in town. Asheville wouldn't be the same without Ashevegas.

Scrutiny Hooligans. Gordon Smith's Scrutiny Hooligans blog is what blogging should be. Gordon's solid, sincere grassroots commentary and insightful, thoughtful reporting is a standard that all who blog should ascribe to meet. Gordon is a central figure in the Asheville blogging scene and an all around great guy (in spite of never having added a single one of my blog's to his blogroll).

Ptak Science Books. John Ptak's blog is what my blog would be if I did research and put my heart and soul into every post. John has a seemingly unlimited supply of genius to share with the world. His blog is a work of monumental brilliance. Amazing.

There are many others that I'd like to bestow awards upon. And I've mentioned many of them in other similar posts. These few that I've selected by no means take away from my admiration for so many others.

A Note of Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that this year, despite the dismal economic news, that you have a warm and bright holiday. I'm thankful for your patronage and readership of this blog. To everyone who reads regularly, I want to thank you for giving relevance to the work I do here. I've been fortunate to have made friends with a number of you, and I give thanks for your support and encouragement. To everyone who stops by, even for a single visit, I offer my humble and sincere thanks.

[Editor's Note: Except for a very special interview post with CQ's Deanna Dahlsad (appearing tomorrow), I'm taking the Thanksgiving holiday weekend off to be with family and friends. The Dahlsad post will stay live through the weekend. So, everyone will have a chance to see it between sleeping off turkey, watching football, and traveling. And a new post will appear on Cyber Monday when I return to my regular daily posting schedule.]

Photograph by riptheskull.