<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In one of the earlier segments of <\/span>The Simpsons Tree House of Horrors<\/span><\/i>, they do an extremely funny lampooning of <\/span>The Shining<\/span><\/i> (the Jack Nicholson version, only here called <\/span>The Shinning<\/span><\/i>).\u00a0 After Marge discovers Homer\u2019s writing consists of nothing more sinister than, \u201cFeeling fine,\u201d\u00a0 she expresses cautious optimism about the situation.\u00a0 A sudden flash of lightning then reveals that every surface of the room is covered with a less optimistic message:\u00a0 \u201cNo beer and no TV makes Homer go crazy.\u201d\u00a0 Thus ensues a conversation between Homer and Marge that ends with Homer cooly channelling Jack (Nicholson):\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think Marge?\u00a0 I was thinking of calling my book, \u2018<\/span>No Beer and No TV Make Homer . . . something, something.\u2019\u00a0 <\/span><\/i>Marge offers, \u201cGo crazy?\u201d\u00a0 Homer erupts at her suggestion with, \u201cDon\u2019t mind if I do!\u00a0 Hummana, Zit Zit, (and a bunch of other Homeresque sounds),\u201d before he is startled by his own reflection in a mirror and knocks himself out. \u00a0 Like the families isolated at their mountain top lodge in <\/span>The Shining<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Shinning<\/span><\/i>, I spent four consecutive summers without TV (a little over a year in total when added up).\u00a0 Unlike Homer (and Jack), I did not go crazy.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t deprived of beer during either period<\/span><\/p>\n but as for the other kinds of \u2018crazies\u2019 induced by this substance… we won\u2019t dwell on them here.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The first three summers sans TV were courtesy of my time at the Huron Mountain Club.\u00a0 AT the HMC, Homer\u2019s lament would have been more like, \u201cNo phone and no TV make Homer go crazy\u201d because the other deprivation of working at the Club was the lack of a phone.\u00a0 Making a personal call\u00a0 required a trip to Big Bay to use the payphone next to the general store (and yes, in those days pay phones were not confined to old Superman movies).\u00a0 The club office did have a radio that could be used for emergencies, but not for personal messages.\u00a0 Before my dad retired, we never had a phone at camp either so I was kind of used to living off the AT&T grid, at least for small chunks of time.\u00a0 Ma Bell got more of my business on my one day off when I would go back to civilization to catch up on a week\u2019s worth of business.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Part of this business my first year at HMC included getting signed up for orientation and classes for my freshman year at Northern Michigan University.\u00a0 In these days of \u2018everything can be done on-line\u2019, only those of us who registered for college in those primitive times will remember the amount of paperwork and the number of phone calls it took.\u00a0 My second and third years ATC (at the Club), meant returning the half a dozen (sometimes more) calls my mother had taken about band jobs.\u00a0 I always had a three month calendar of our current jobs filled out for the summer.\u00a0 A working copy for the first months of the fall schedule was posted by the phone.\u00a0 God Bless her because mom used her best secretarial skills to eliminate the calls for dates already booked (\u201cI am sorry, they are already playing somewhere that weekend\u201d), it saved me time on my day off.\u00a0 I only had to call back the names on her list inquiring about open dates.\u00a0 On Saturdays when we were playing a gig, my \u2018day off\u2019 consisted of no more than the hours between noon and seven pm (rising time after a late band job and departure time for the next one), so any time saved was much appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There was a TV in the employee recreation building ATC, but I only remember it being turned on twice.\u00a0 The first time because one of our resident Packer fans tried to watch a pre-season football game.\u00a0 They gave up because the reception was so poor the picture resembled watching polar bears run through a blizzard (in other words; \u2018snow, snow and more snow\u2019 as the static\u00a0 rolling across the screen was called).\u00a0 The second time, one of our co-workers from Canada expressed confidence that our far northern location (she was from Windsor, Ontario) would allow us to find at least one Canadian station\u2019s signal.\u00a0 She found out\u00a0 this might be true in southern Ontario where she hailed from, but it did not hold true in far northern Marquette County.\u00a0 The TV sat in the corner of the smaller recreation building lounge like a large, unblinking eye.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On my one day off each week, I would be in town, but watching TV was far down on my agenda of things to do while back in civilization.\u00a0 The first year I worked ATC, I had to catch up with my friends back in town and cram a week worth of recreation with them into one day.\u00a0 As previously mentioned, I also had things like college orientation to attend to.\u00a0 The second and third years employed at the HMC, I was commuting back and forth two or three nights a week for band jobs.\u00a0 After tossing my social and recreational activities into the mix, there wasn\u2019t any spare time to spend watching TV.\u00a0 When those in my social circles would discuss some event they had seen on TV, I would have to profess ignorance because (as I would remind them), I was living in the land of no TV.\u00a0 They would shake their heads and laugh about me spending my summers like a hermit.\u00a0 The truth be told, I absolutely didn\u2019t miss it one bit.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean the TV went into the dumpster once I got back home in the fall, but after each three month run without the boob-tube (my dad\u2019s favorite description), it didn\u2019t seem to be that important.\u00a0 Once school resumed, the only real \u2018must see\u2019 programming on my schedule were Packer games on Sundays and late night music programs like <\/span>Don Kirchner\u2019s Rock Concert<\/span><\/i> or <\/span>Bert Sugarman\u2019s The Midnight Special.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After three years washing dishes by day and playing the drums on some nights, I approached the summer before my Senior year in college with no band and no job.\u00a0 The regular crew I had worked with at the club had all moved on to other things.\u00a0 The idea of being the oldest kitchen staff guy didn\u2019t really appeal to me, so the decision to find something else had already been made.\u00a0 My neighbor up the street (and one of my Geography profs) Pat Farrell took care of the problem when he casually asked me what my plans for the summer were.\u00a0 He was in charge of the summer program at NMU\u2019s Field Studies Station at Cusino Lake just east of Munising.\u00a0 Ordinarily, one of the graduate students in the department would be hired to be the Assistant Manager, but there weren\u2019t any available the summer of 1974.\u00a0 He asked if I was interested and suddenly I had another job out of town, only this one stretched past the summer and into the fall.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pat knew I had spent three summers at the HMC because I had delayed taking the summer Field Studies class all Geography majors were required to take.\u00a0 Every spring semester he would ask when I was going to get around to taking Field Studies and he always got the same answer:\u00a0 \u201cWhen I don\u2019t have a summer job at the club anymore.\u201d\u00a0 Once I was on board for the NMU job, he sat down and reviewed the \u2018need to know\u2019 basics for the summer season.\u00a0 First up, I would be expected to get a Chauffeur’s License so I could drive one of the university vehicles to Cusino Lake.\u00a0 It turned out the license would also allow me to drive the field station truck on garbage and supply runs.\u00a0 Secondly, I would be required to stay at the FS on the weekends and if any other students stayed, it would be my job to cook meals for them.\u00a0 \u201cHave you ever cooked on a gas stove?\u201d Pat inquired.\u00a0 I assured him I had both at camp and some at the club when I got pressed into service during the breakfast rush.\u00a0 Lastly, he asked if I knew how to change the oil in a car but I must have looked perplexed when answering in the affirmative.\u00a0 \u201cGood,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause we have to change the oil on the diesel generator there after so many hours of operation.\u00a0 If I am gone when it hits the magic number,\u00a0 you will have to do it.\u201d\u00a0 Never having worked on a diesel engine before, it made sense to not mention that fact until he showed me how it was done.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Almost as an afterthought, Pat said, \u201cOh yeah, there won\u2019t be a phone or a TV.\u00a0 You have to drive to Melstrand to use the pay phone and there is no TV because there is no reception there any way.\u201d\u00a0 When I informed Pat this was exactly the conditions I had lived with for the previous three summers, he said, \u201cI never thought about it before.\u00a0 I guess they built the Huron Mountain Club where they did for a reason, but the lack of TV and any phone service does make a better camping atmosphere.\u201d\u00a0 Pat is no longer with us but I still wonder what he would have thought of his Field Study students lugging cell phones around the swamps of Alger County.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The biggest difference between the three summers at the HMC and the one at the FS? \u00a0 At the club, there were always other people around.\u00a0 At the FS, the majority of the weekends I stayed there by myself.\u00a0 I kept myself busy during the day doing maintenance duties like cleaning the kitchen and dorm rooms, mowing the lawn, doing my own laundry, and yes, on occasion, changing the oil and filter on the generator.\u00a0 The first time I shut the generator down on a weekend, it dawned on me that I could shut it off for a few hours every Saturday and Sunday.\u00a0 Not having to hear the incessant \u2018thrum\u2019 of the generator and with no one else around to keep me company, it provided some peaceful hours.\u00a0 If there were others staying over the weekend, I made sure I cleared it with them first in case they had laundry to do.\u00a0 The first weekend I had company, a teacher from the Flint area asked if it made me crazy to be out in the middle of nowhere for a couple of days at a crack without any communication with the outside world.\u00a0 After explaining my previous three summers at the HMC, I pointed out that there was always the radio for company, but I assured him it was rather nice playing hermit for a few days.\u00a0 Even though I knew everyone would be back for class on Monday morning, it was always a little disappointing when they began to trickle in on Sunday evening.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of my first memories concerning television dates back to age four.\u00a0 I can be certain of this time frame because we were in our new house on Norway Avenue.\u00a0 My brother and sister were at school and I recall spending many mornings with Captain Kangaroo as my mother went about her home chores.\u00a0 We had a Setchel-Carlson black and white TV with the picture tube housed in a big wooden box elevated on four spindly looking legs.\u00a0 One day, a TV repairman came to the house to work on our set and mom told me I could watch as long as I sat on the couch and didn\u2019t get in his way.\u00a0 He unscrewed the back panel and was going about his work when there was a \u2018pzzztt\u2019 sound and a flash, followed by him leaning back against the wall with a thump.\u00a0 His eyes were open but he looked a little dazed.\u00a0 He shook his head as if he was clearing the cobwebs from his brain when noticed me watching him with what must have been bug eyes.\u00a0 The TV guy said, \u201cThat\u2019s why you never play around with the inside of a TV kid.\u201d\u00a0 It is advice that I have religiously followed ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In my later elementary school years, cable TV came to our neighborhood.\u00a0 We signed on and instantly expanded our viewing selections from one to three channels.\u00a0 During my junior high years, my dad had decided that cable had nothing to offer and had it disconnected, thus forcing me to visit my buddy Nick Gorski\u2019s house to get my weekly dose of <\/span>Star Trek<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Eventually, my mother decided a couple of her soap operas made it worth having the cable reconnected.\u00a0 Except for my two years attending JH across town at Graveraet, I was able to walk home for lunch every day.\u00a0 The way my senior year schedule was arranged, I actually had a ninety minute lunch, a half hour of which would be spent watching Graham Kerr\u2019s <\/span>Galloping Gourmet<\/span><\/i> program with my mother (and I will confess, even without her if she was not home).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My first year in Ontonagon was almost as spartan an existence as being without TV.\u00a0 I inherited a small black and white set with heavy emphasis on the \u2018small\u2019 part.\u00a0 Had I not been in a small apartment with a very small living room area, it would have been difficult to watch without a magnifying glass.\u00a0 I resolved to upgrade to a bigger color set by the time I came back to Ontonagon after summer break.\u00a0 Having misjudged my summer finances, I had to borrow the money to purchase my new set from the folks, but I wasn\u2019t returning without a better TV.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A couple of years ago, we attended a wedding reception in Escanaba and my wife and I ended up seated at a table with three other couples who were all from Marquette.\u00a0 One turned out to be the son of the man who sold me my first colored TV back in the summer of 1976.\u00a0 When I told him about our connection, he rattled off the exact specs of the set I had purchased from their family shop.\u00a0 \u201cHow in the world can you remember one sale from over forty years ago?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.\u00a0 \u201cEasy, it was the only color TV model we sold back then.\u00a0 It was a good one, so we didn\u2019t bother to stock any others.\u201d\u00a0 It must have been a good set because when we married in 1979, we gave it to my folks and they watched it in their downstairs rec room for many years.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Can humans exist without TV in their lives?\u00a0 The simple answer is, \u201cYes,\u201d and there are a lot of things one can do to entertain themselves if they aren\u2019t glued to TV.\u00a0 Unfortunately, TV is the least of our worries as a new addiction has pushed the old fashioned TV aside.\u00a0 Now that everything can be streamed to just about any device, people are exposed to more screen time than ever before.\u00a0 Nobody saw this coming during the gestation of \u2018the TV generation.\u00a0 Today, with mom and dad also glued to screens of all sizes, is anyone concerned about what happens to growing brains bombarded by streaming media?<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before signing off, we need to revisit Homer\u2019s adventures in <\/span>The Shinning <\/span><\/i>in case you were wondering why the episode wasn\u2019t just called <\/span>The Shining. <\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Groundskeeper Willie is performing his maintenance man duties in this version of <\/span>The Shining<\/span><\/i>, only he is an enhanced Willie who can \u2018shine\u2019 or read minds, as can Bart.\u00a0 Bart asks Willie about his ability to \u2018shine\u2019.\u00a0 When Willie corrects him (\u201cShush boy, do you wanna get sued\u201d which is said telepathically in his thick Scottish brogue), Bart rolls his eyes and changes his question about his gift from \u2018shining\u2019 to \u2018shinning\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Remember when futurists kept promising us flying cars and personal jet packs?\u00a0 We haven\u2019t exactly withered away without them have we?\u00a0 Can we similarly live without TV?\u00a0 Probably, but it would have been a shame if it meant missing out on <\/span>The Simpsons <\/span><\/i>of The Packers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Dire Staits performing one of the all time great songs name checking TV!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In one of the earlier segments of The Simpsons Tree House of Horrors, they do an extremely funny lampooning of The Shining (the Jack Nicholson version, only here called The Shinning).\u00a0 After Marge discovers Homer\u2019s writing consists of nothing more sinister than, \u201cFeeling fine,\u201d\u00a0 she expresses cautious optimism about the situation.\u00a0 A sudden flash […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,8,12,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-from-the-vaults","category-humor","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2365,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions\/2365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}