As a child, I traveled around the Midwestern United States with my mother, who was an elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Midwest Conference of the International Typographical Union (a forerunner of the Communication Workers of America) as well as a union organizer.
Many of the conferences were held in Detroit, where we lived. For other meetings, mom drove her black Thunderbird with rock and roll blaring while drinking a Fresca (a carbonated grapefruit drink that was low in calories).
I liked staying in hotels with pools and did not mind reading while the conferences were going on. Some of the infinitely cool places we visited include:
-Toledo, Ohio
-Cleveland, Ohio
-Cincinnati, Ohio
-Gary, Indiana
-Indianapolis, Indiana
-Chicago, Illinois
-St. Louis, Missouri
Even if a meeting were held at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, my mom drive up Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago to get to the airport, so we could model white-rimmed sunglasses while listening to rock music. The Detroiters were in Chicago.
My mom would tell me Detroit insider music information that her fiends in bands told her such as:
-“Everyone in the music industry knows that the Pontiac Silverdome has 82,666 seats that they can fill with people who will buy at least one $20 T-shirt.”
“People who sell rock merchandise need to sell sunglasses.”
“Rock concerts would sell out faster, if they could get an army of salesman to sell on commission as a side-job.”
Today, she would probably agree that online boutiques are a great way to sell 24/7/365. I think her remarks encouraged me to become a member of the Major Activities Board (Concert Board) when I was a student at the University of Chicago.
The place I remember best from these travels, though, is St. Louis (Missouri) for its Gateway Arch, designed by architect Eero Saarinen. My mom told me it was the tallest arch in the world.
Even as a child, I knew it was a doorway to a big land with high mountains in the West.
As an adult, I like living in the Western United States in California where it is okay to write, cook, and use technology.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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| Ruth Paget Photo |
