Category: default || By jt3y

I've always had a great fondness for "Peanuts" --- the comic strip, not the legumes, though they're pretty good, too. I've only written one fan letter in my life, when I was 8 years old, to Charles Schulz. To my astonishment, he wrote back. It was a form letter, to be sure, but can you imagine what a thrill it was for a third-grader to get an envelope in the mail with a return address of 1 Snoopy Place, Santa Rosa, Calif.? I wish I still had the letter, but I have no idea whatever happened to it.

I'm not ashamed to admit that I was fairly depressed when Schulz died a few years back, ironically just as his last comic strip was hitting the papers. It was like part of my childhood had died, too. A year or so later, I heard his widow, Jeanne Schulz, being interviewed on the radio as I was driving home from work, and I felt myself starting to choke up again. Goofy? Maybe. But that's the kind of impact Schulz's work had on me.

Still, the syndicate that distributes "Peanuts" announced plans to put his "classic" comic strips into distribution, I was skeptical. There are enough comic strips in the newspaper that have outlived their creators, and frankly, their usefulness. With real estate on the comics pages being scarce enough as it is, why waste the space with reruns? (Or "Reruns," as the case may be.)

I'm not skeptical any more. Reading "Classic Peanuts" for the past few years has been like watching a favorite movie over again, or hearing a certain song on the radio. I first saw all of these early '70s strips in paperback books when I was learning to read; I didn't appreciate many of the punchlines, but I liked the funny pictures. Seeing the same strips now, and being able to appreciate the humor, is a very sweet feeling.

Why the affection for "Peanuts"? Heck, Schulz's doodles have been dissected, analyzed, re-analyzed and studied for more than 50 years, by cultural critics, clerics, countless professors, and other people much smarter than I, so I'm not about to rehash their conclusions. (Go read one of Rabbi Twerski's books, or Robert Short's famous "The Gospel According to Peanuts," instead.)

Suffice it to say that I relate to "Peanuts," and mainly to Charlie Brown, because I'm constantly having Charlie Brown moments. Yesterday in church, at a fairly sparsely attended service, the collection plate was making its rounds. The usher handed the plate to the woman at the end of the pew; instead of passing it to me, she handed it back to the usher, who handed it to me ...

... but I was reaching to her, and missed the plate, sending it crashing to the floor behind me. The usher and a woman sitting behind me were left scrabbling on the floor to pick up the money and collection envelopes (thank God there was no loose change) while I was left to watch them, helplessly. Worse yet, I was sitting near the front of the church, so everyone behind us had a great view of the action.

If that's not a Charlie Brown moment, I don't know what is. What else can you say in that case but "good grief"?

...

In the news, and on a somber note: Tragedy marred the inaugural game of McKeesport's entry into the new American Basketball Association. With about eight minutes left to go at the Wunderley Gymnasium Friday night, and the Pennsylvania Pit Bulls up by 18 points, Head Coach Tom Washington collapsed on the court. He was pronounced dead a short time later at UPMC McKeesport hospital. Greg Kristen had the story in Saturday morning's Daily News. According to a follow-up in the Post-Gazette, an autopsy determined that Washington was suffering from heart disease.

The Pit Bulls stopped the Friday game and cancelled another matchup set for Saturday because of Washington's passing.

Nicknamed "Trooper," Washington was a graduate of Cheyney University and played in the original ABA with the Pittsburgh Pipers from 1967 to 1970, according to an ABA press kit. He leaves behind a wife and one daughter. Funeral arrangements are incomplete, according to the Philadelphia Daily News.

The Pit Bulls play their next two games at home on Thanksgiving weekend versus the Philadelphia Fusion. Details at ABAlive.com.

...

Update: I don't know if we have any regular readers in Caketown, but there apparently have been some hinky dealings on the Mt. Lebanon School Board, and Professor Pittsblog is covering them like the dew. The school directors bought out the contract of the superintendent at a price of about a half-million dollars, with little or no discussion in public, and now the parents are steamed up. Good for them.

It's worth noting for readers in Our Fair City and the Mon-Yough metroplex that we had a similar situation not long ago, when the school board in South Allegheny bought out the contract of its superintendent for more than $325,000. The former SA superintendent has since turned around and applied for the same job in the McKeesport Area School District.

(Disclaimer: I'm treading on treacherous ice here, because I know many, many people in both school districts, including at least one school director; and a family member is a public schoolteacher. Let me just emphasize that any opinions are mine, and mine alone, and reflect only what I've read in the public prints, and should not be construed to represent anyone else's opinions.)

Considering that they're the taxing bodies responsible for the lion's share of local taxes that Pennsylvanians pay, school boards operate with a shocking lack of transparency, and most people pay little or no attention to what they do.

Issues like the firing of a school superintendent are handled behind closed doors; snooping reporters and prying citizens who question decisions are brushed off with the comment that it was a "personnel matter" --- a catch-all term that covers any issue that elected officials in Pennsylvania don't want to discuss.

More on that in a day or two, when I gather my thoughts; I just thought it was important to tip the Tube City Online hat to Pittsblog while the issues over there were still fresh.