Dune Days
Up The Down Staircase, Dune Dining, Kinks, Magnificent Milers, Tired Tire
Welcome to my weekly newsletter. This week’s issue includes my favorite moments from our week up north, a 60-year-old epistolary novel, dining out in northern Michigan, the Davies Brothers’ band, two US runners who medaled in the Olympic 1500-meter race, and treaded trash. I hope you like the picks and pics.
There was no issue of Fave Five last week because I was on our annual summer family vacation in northern Michigan. It’s a highlight of every year, with a perfect combination of family fun, sublime setting, and wonderful weather.
This year I had 7/11 of my immediate family, my sister Joan had 8/13 of hers, my sister Ann had 5/6 of hers, and Barb’s brother Buzz had 6/7 of his. That’s 26 total family members, a new Olympic personal best. Not to mention our friends Joci and Don Vanda from Lansing and Rebecca and Jerry Oljace from Northville.
It was a glorious vacation in Glen Arbor and at the Sleeping Bear Dunes. We have already booked our accommodations for next summer at The Homestead Resort.
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Fave Five 96: Dune Days
Bel’s Bestseller (Up The Down Staircase), Dune Dining (Supper at The Mill, Foothills Cafe, La Casa De Rosas), British Band (The Kinks), Magnificent Milers (Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse), and a Tired Tire.
Fave Five List: Favorite Vacation Moments
Running down the Dune Climb: Kathy and I finished in a first-place tie.
Boating on Glen Lake with Captain Barb and First Mate Sommer
Hiking Alligator Hill with Ann, Joan, and Michael Luxenberg (Joan’s husband)
Island Lookout over Lake Michigan
Eating ice cream at the Pine Cone: Kieran likes chocolate.
Watching the Lake Michigan sunset: We were lucky that the person who spontaneously offered to take this photo didn’t run off with Barb’s phone.
Book Best Bet
Up The Down Staircase by Bel Kaufman
I remember reading this bestseller in the 60s and loving it. It would be fun to read it again.
From Amazon: Bel Kaufman's Up the Down Staircase is one of the best-loved novels of our time. It has been translated into sixteen languages, made into a prize-winning motion picture, and staged as a play at high schools all over the United States; its very title has become part of the American idiom.
Never before has a novel so compellingly laid bare the inner workings of a metropolitan high school. Up the Down Staircase is the funny and touching story of a committed, idealistic teacher whose dash with school bureaucracy is a timeless lesson for students, teachers, parents—anyone concerned about public education. Bel Kaufman lets her characters speak for themselves through memos, letters, directives from the principal, comments by students, notes between teachers, and papers from desk drawers and wastebaskets, evoking a vivid picture of teachers fighting the good fight against all that stands in the way of good teaching.
From Amazon: Sylvia Barrett arrives at New York City’s Calvin Coolidge High fresh from earning literature degrees at Hunter College and eager to shape young minds. Instead she encounters broken windows, a lack of supplies, a stifling bureaucracy, and students with no interest in Chaucer. Her bumpy yet ultimately rewarding journey is narrated through an extraordinary collection of correspondence—sternly worded yet nonsensical administrative memos, furtive notes of wisdom from teacher to teacher, “polio consent slips,” and student homework assignments that unwittingly speak from the heart. An instant bestseller when it was first published in 1964, Up the Down Staircase remains as poignant, devastating, laugh-out-loud funny, and relevant today as ever. It timelessly depicts a beleaguered public school system redeemed by teachers who love to teach and students who long to be recognized.
From Wikipedia: Sylvia Barrett, an idealistic English teacher at an inner-city high school, hopes to nurture her students' interest in classic literature (especially Chaucer and writing). She quickly becomes discouraged during her first year of teaching, frustrated by bureaucracy, the indifference of her students, and the incompetence of many of her colleagues. The title of the book is taken from a memo telling her why a student was being punished: he had gone "up the down staircase". She decides to leave the public school (government-funded) system to work in a smaller private setting. She changes her mind, though, when she realizes that she has, indeed, touched the lives of her students.
The novel is epistolary; aside from opening and closing chapters consisting entirely of dialogue the story is told through memos from the office, fragments of notes dropped in the trash can, essays handed in to be graded, lesson plans, suggestions dropped in the class suggestion box, and most often by inter-classroom notes that are a dialogue between Sylvia and an older teacher. Sylvia also writes letters to a friend from college who chose to get married and start a family rather than pursuing a career. The letters serve as a recap and summary of key events in the book and offer a portrait of women's roles and responsibilities in American society in the mid-1960s.
An inter-classroom note in which the older teacher, Bea Schachter, is translating the jargon of the memos from the office includes the memorable epigram "'Let it be a challenge to you' means you're stuck with it." Calling a trash can a circular file comes from the same memo: "'Keep on file in numerical order' means throw in wastebasket." Another, "It has come to my attention" means "You're in trouble."
Restaurant Recommendations
Dune Dining
We mostly dined in last week, but we had a few great meals at restaurants that included a special supper, a hash house, and a taco truck.
Supper at The Mill 5440 West Harbor Highway, Glen Arbor, MI 49636
I previously wrote about lunch here last year. Since then, they have opened an acclaimed spot for gourmet dinners. My sister Joan snagged an elusive reservation, and we enjoyed the agreeable ambience, superior service, and fascinating food.
Snapper with heirloom tomato and summer truffle — this was the highlight
The meals are expensive, and not all of the dishes we tried hit the mark, but the seven of us had a memorable meal. Here is the menu we were offered, which changes daily:
Foothills Cafe 7097 South Dunns Farm Road, Maple City, MI 49664
Its address is in Maple City, but this outstanding breakfast spot is actually on the east side of Big Glen Lake, just north of Burdickville. We stopped here for breakfast on our last day in Glen Arbor and were delighted to be seated immediately for a remarkable repast.
Mollie’s Hash House Hash — Heck Hash Bowl: golden hash potatoes covered in bechamel and topped with jalapeno, tomato, and green onion, and served with a side of Papa Paulie’s salsa
La Casa De Rosas 3798 S Straits Hwy, Indian River, MI 49749
On our way home we stopped to visit our friends Bob and Janelle Burke, who have a cottage on Mullett Lake. They met us in nearby Indian River at their favorite taco truck, located at Northland Brewing Co. It was as advertised — everything was delicious.
Tacos El (sic) Pastor: marinated pork with pineapple
Mama Luisa’s Chicken Mole Taco: Sweet & smoky traditional Mexican BBQ with onion, cilantro, rice, and queso fresco
Elote: Mexican street corn
Marvelous Musicians
Ray Davies turned 80 on June 21, 2024. My sister Joan had the 1966 LP The Kinks Greatest Hits! and I loved all the songs on it. I discovered three of the songs on my playlist from covers: “Dandy” (Herman's Hermits), “Days” (Kirsty MacColl), and “Better Things” (Dar Williams). I previously featured The Kinks in my list of favorite British Invasion bands. And their lyrics are featured in this week’s Picture Pun.
From Wikipedia: The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat and were briefly part of the British Invasion of the United States until their touring ban in 1965. Their third single, the Ray Davies-penned "You Really Got Me", became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. The original members were Ray Davies (rhythm guitar, lead vocals, keyboards), Dave Davies (lead guitar, vocals), Mick Avory (drums and percussion), and Pete Quaife (bass). In 1990, the original four members of the Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Kinks' music drew from a wide range of influences, including American R&B and rock and roll initially, and later adopting British music hall, folk, and country. The band gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fueled by Ray Davies's observational and satirical writing style.
You Really Got Me
Tired of Waiting
Something Better Beginning
A Well Respected Man
Till The End Of The Day
My Playlist
Sports Stars
Magnificent Milers: Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse
I watched the men’s 1500-meter final on Tuesday and was thrilled by the finish. I have always loved distance running events at the Olympics, and this was one of the best ever.
Cole Hocker somehow found an inside lane and unleashed his kick to pull a major upset. His USA teammate, Yared Nuguse, nearly took silver, barely out-leaned by Josh Kerr’s torso at the finish line. What an exhilarating event to witness.
Cole Hocker wins men's 1,500 meters in Paris Olympics shocker by Eddie Pells of AP
The race was billed as a bar brawl between the two baddest 1,500-meter runners in the world. Nobody figured the little-known American guy would sneak up on both of them, steal the show and take the Olympic gold medal with him.
Cole Hocker threw a jolt into track Tuesday night, first catching up to — then slipping his way past — fierce rivals Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr to pull the upset of the Games with an unexpected victory in a much-hyped showdown that wasn’t supposed to involve him.
Hocker bettered his personal best by nearly 3 seconds to win in an Olympic-record 3 minutes, 27.65 seconds. Kerr finished second by .14 seconds. Another American, Yared Nuguse, was third, and Ingebrigtsen faded to fourth.
Cole Hocker (born June 6, 2001) is an American middle- and long-distance runner, who specializes in the 1500 meters. He won the gold medal in the event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, setting an Olympic record and a North American area record of 3:27.65.
Yared Nuguse (born June 1, 1999) is an American professional middle-distance runner who specializes in the 1500 meters. He was the 2019 NCAA Division I champion in the event and bronze medalist from the 2024 Summer Olympics. Nuguse is the North American outdoor record holder over the one mile distance, and the North American indoor record holder for the 1500 meters, one mile and 3000 meters.
Video: American Cole Hocker pulls off a STUNNER in men's 1500m
Picture Pun
So tired, tired of waiting
Tired of waiting for you
