Tag Archives: Found items

Guns and saccharine

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Drawing of a handgun with the caption "This killed 9000 Americans last year. Drawing of a pack of saccharin with the caption: This killed 4 white rats...Caption under both reads "Can you guess which one's been banned?"

Back during the Reagan administration I clipped this political cartoon out of the paper. I don’t know if it was the Elgin Daily Courier News or the Chicago Tribune (or even the Chicago Sun-Times). I taped it to the front of my desk at the school where I worked. While the message was probably lost on the moderately functioning developmentally disabled students I taught, at least the teachers who popped into my room would know I was for gun-control.

I’ve not changed. I despise guns. I truly believe that if we had better gun control (I cannot see the United States ever banning guns) we would not have the same murder rate in this country.

Unfortunately the gun control issue has become very contentious in recent years. Gun proponents call on the Second Amendment and claim that guns are not responsible for the gun deaths in the country. Those in favor of gun control point out that if the guns were not available to most of the folks who pulled the triggers the people they shot would still be alive. To me it is obvious who is right. It is clear as day to me that if we had better gun control those 20 children killed in Newtown, MA would have celebrated another birthday. The 32 college students killed at Virginia Tech would have graduated by now and the 12 people murdered during the Batman movie in Aurora, CO would still be alive and able to watch more movies.

The number of gun deaths in 2013 is reported to be 12,000 according to http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/31/president-obama-gun-control-push, however there is really no data on gun violence anymore because the Republicans blocked the CDC from researching gun violence saying they didn’t want to fund propaganda. (http://www.propublica.org/article/republicans-say-no-to-cdc-gun-violence-research)

Yes, the saccharin comparison is a bit misleading. It turns out that saccharin was never banned in the United States, although, according to http://enhs.umn.edu/current/saccharin/reghistory.html, in 1981, probably the year this cartoon ran in the paper, “The National Toxicology Program (NTP) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) listed saccharin and its salts as “anticipated human carcinogen” based on Canadian rat studies.”

Anyway, I wanted to make sure this clipping was saved and I was able to tell the story of how I came to have it in my collection of everything.

Seaborn Wright to speak in Elgin (maybe 1910)

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Seaborn Wright
Seaborn Wright. Famous Georgian Orator Speaker at “Dry” Meeting Tonight

I don’t know what year this newspaper clipping was from — but it had articles mentioning Elgin, Illinois on the back. I found the clipping in an old suitcase that also contained tatting materials and several receipts for various items and services for a house on Watch Street in Elgin. Maybe the owner (a Ms. Switzer) belonged to the temperance movement? Maybe she just thought he was hot.

There is not a whole lot about Seaborn Wright on the Internet, but it seems he was active in the Prohibition Movement, was a lecturer on the subject and even ran for a government office in Georgia as a Prohibition Party politician.

He went on a tour to discuss his favorite subject in 1910 according to many newspaper articles. Apparently he was a captivating speaker.

 

Puzzle from Cindy/Cynthia

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My friend Cindy (now Cynthia) knew I liked Rupert Bear and when she was travelling in England the year she and her folks lived in Spain she sent me a Rupert Bear puzzle and orange chocolate bar (possibly with Rupert on it) for my high school graduation. Cynthia graduated from high school a year early so she could go to Spain when her father took a year-long sabbatical from teaching. She wrote a colorful, slightly silly, slightly inspirational note on the back of the puzzle box.

June 29, 1975

Dona,

Happy Happy Graduation!!

This isn’t much, but the thought behind it is!! I hope you have a super summer. And a good Fall & winter too! (why did I write that?? I’ll be talking with you before then!) Anyway, I’ll be thinking about you, struggling away on this 800 piece puzzle with sticky, orange chocolaty fingers.

Just keep a stiff upper lip & you’ll make all life’s ups and downs pass like porridge!

Love,
Cindy

I’m not sure I have ever put the puzzle together, but I kept it nearly 40(!) years.

We lost touch for a while, but have reconnected on Facebook. She lives only a few hours from me and one of these days I hope to jump in the car and visit her. Maybe I will bring the puzzle and we can put it together. Together.