Champion News

CHAMPION—November 16, 2009

        Champion is one of the rare and special places in the world populated mostly by lovers.  Lovers think that rain and wind are just other kinds of beautiful weather.  Champions who have waited patiently for the earlier and the later rains are well rewarded.  Their yea’s are yea’s.  Champion is an uncommonly pleasant place.  It is not commonly known why Champion’s Clever Creek is so named, but current residents are want to believe that it is because it cleverly goes underground at unpredictable spots.  One low water crossing may be dusty dry and the next one a trickle or a torrent and those roles reversed the next day or next hour regardless of rainfall.  Clever.

        Hunters are out in numbers, some prowling the ‘back’ roads at a snail’s pace looking for those unpurpled areas, hoping for the chance deer to walk out in the road and hoping no one will be around when he does.  To residents living out in the wild places, those places are ‘home’ not hinterland wildernesses.  Some keep their car keys handy to activate the panic button when the shots get too near for comfort, thinking a honking horn might alert the hunter to the presence of a house and people.  Foster went out with his Dad and Uncle Dusty on Sunday evening.  It may not have been his first hunting trip though the lad is somewhere in the neighborhood of only four years old.  He is good company.  Different hunters handle their kills in different ways.  Some haul the carcass around for a while to show their friends and get their picture taken, some take it off to a processing plant and hope they get their own deer back in the paper packages, some hang it up for a few days, some jerk it right away, some share with friends and neighbors.  That’s Champion.

        An e-mail has come from a faithful Texas reader who happened to hear Barbara Ehrenreich speak at the Texas Book Fair concerning her book, Bright-Sided:  How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.  “She is (gasp and then hold your breath) a self proclaimed socialist and for some reason this political perspective seemed to be important to her talk-or at least important enough to include in her introduction.  From my perspective, positivism or negativism transcends political ideologies and therefore really shouldn’t be a part of the conversation.  I disagree with her theory that positive attitudes have no effect on the immune system.  She is a molecular biologist or some other high falutin title with a PhD attached to it.  While I liked her overall message (nothing worse than hollow optimism-if I know you are always going to respond ‘Fantastic’ then why should I ask how you are?)  I found her talk a little arrogant, especially when she started attacking breast cancer survivors and the ‘necessary positive attitude.’  Her theory being that cancer sucks, so you have the right to be depressed or negative.  Check.  However, my contention is that if you are going to die anyway, why be miserable, and guess what?  We are all going to die.  Note also that I had attended the Komen Race for the Cure that morning so it was a little tender to me to hear the attack-which quite frankly, I think was as much for effect as message.”  This reader is always a welcome visitor to Champion and her perspective is appreciated.  As a breast cancer survivor and the survivor of a mother who did not survive the disease, she knows what she is talking about.

        “Strange,” says another reader, “you mentioned the jug band Pete, Ben, Lem and Clem and in the very same article asked about Lem and Ned!  Lem is a direct descendent of that Lem in the jug band, I’m pretty sure.  Old Lem did look a lot like Junior in that picture in the paper with the General, but it wasn’t him.  The story I heard was that Lem took off from his folks when he was just a boy.  The jug band was touring around the country and Lem jumped off the back of the truck somewhere in Illinois.  He was gone for about three years.  When he got back to his home in old Kentucky he found that his folks had moved.  He never found them, but he found Ned and the two of them made a good pair.”  This anonymous source may or may not be reliable, but even today there are country housewives who would love to look out their front door screens to see those two coming up the lane.  The hardest, dirtiest and most tedious work that husbands often shy away from is just their cup of tea.  It seems that Ned does all the talking.  “Me and Lem couldn’t help but notice what a nice turnip patch you’ve got there and we couldn’t help but notice that yer out house looks like it’s prime fer fallin over.  We could move it over and dig you a new hole and fill up the old one and set yer little buildin over the new hole and transplant some of them pretty hollyhocks onto the old spot ifin that’s something that you’d care fer.  Ah, don’t bother none fer us, Missus, we brought our dinner bucket but ifin you could spare a few of them pretty turnips, we’d be much obliged.”  So in the housewife’s dream they set about their work and while she is pinning clothes on the line she overhears a conversation.  Ned asks Lem, “Well, just what are them new derivatives that thay’re talking about anyway?”

        Sixteen American soldiers killed themselves in October in the U.S. and on duty overseas, an unusually high monthly toll that is fueling concerns about the mental health of the Nation’s military personnel after more than eight years of continuous warfare.  The October suicide figures mean that at least 134 active-duty soldiers have taken their own lives so far this year, putting the Army on pace to break last year’s record of 140 active-duty suicides.  These figures do not reflect the condition of the Veterans no longer on duty.  Love and Gratitude is a start to the understanding process.  They all need more.

        Fortnight Bridge was a pleasant event on Saturday.  One rubber required thirteen hands to play out.  A broad range of hands made for an interesting game and good visiting made a nice evening.  Vera Cruz reported on a friend who was celebrating some exciting life changes.  Brushy Knob reported improving health.  The Norwood player had sad news about the loss of her sweet old dog and Champion had granddaughter pictures to share.  A receipt for a delightful pistachio desert shared by a friend made for an unusual success for the Champion hostess.

        Look in on Champion at www.championnews.us.  Drop a note to Champion Items, Rt. 2, Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or to Champion News.  Sing any kind of uplifting song out on the porch at Henson’s Store in Downtown Champion.  It is on the north side of the Square on the broad expanse of Lonnie Krider Memorial Drive.  Rain or shine when you’re in Champion, you’re Looking on the Bright Side!