By Louis A. Zona
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – If you’re anything like me, you’re bothered by the smallest of things and fret over what I consider the largest of things.
Why, for example, should the name Bad Bunny seem stupid to me?
I’m sure if the roles were reversed, he would think that a name like Zona is strange. But do you see where I’m going with this?
I’m sure that Mr. Bunny’s mother is proud of him, especially when he performs at the Super Bowl.
I also laughed the first time I heard Lady Gaga’s name. My name, Louis, seems pretentious. And please realize that I’m just referring to their names, not their music.
On a dramatically different topic, do you feel bad about the demise of so many of the anchor stores in the mall?
I guess that’s what we get when a day of shopping today means sitting in front of your computer and going to a website to find what you want.
Amazon Prime Days have all but ruined box store shopping. But as far as I’m concerned, I like going to the mall stores and feeling the merchandise. Most of us see mall shopping as entertainment anyhow.
Speaking of buying things, it’s hard to feel sorry for the big market baseball teams.
One would expect the New York Yankees’ and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ zillion-dollar payrolls will get them a World Series practically every year.
I do have mixed feelings about the fact that a very small market team like the Milwaukee Brewers wins almost every year against the big market guys. The Milwaukee Brewers technically should lose every year, but they don’t. I’ve always felt that the Pirates should have seminars on how a small market team can win.
I also put the Cleveland team in the “always close” to winning column. Every year they seem to be at the top or near the top in the rankings.
I must tell one truth that my very favorite baseball team of years past was the Yankees, headed by my favorite ball player of all time – Mickey Mantle. Lord, what a great player he was!
When the Covid diabolical disease struck us and we were forced to stay in our homes watching television, I was reintroduced to the famous TV show “Gunsmoke.” I fell in love once again with that ensemble of four or five characters headed by James Arness, playing Marshall Matt Dillon. And of course there was Doc Adams, Chester (with the bad leg), Festus (straight from the hill country) and, of course, Miss Kitty, who owned the Long Branch Saloon. Fans of “Gunsmoke” always felt that the writers of the long-running Western really could not figure out if Miss Kitty was more than a bar owner. But whatever her role, she brought a great deal of life to that small town of Dodge City, Kan.
If you have a chance to stop by The Butler Institute of American Art, check out Kim Novak’s exhibition.
That’s right, I am talking about the movie star who was educated as an artist at the Art Institute of Chicago before she was discovered and moved to Hollywood where she became the star of so many great films. The exhibition at The Butler is “sensational,” to quote one of the visitors the other day.
Let me share something with you that is fun. Sue Carfano of The Butler staff found an audio tape in the office of me teaching my university art history class 30 to 40 years ago. It was an amazing experience, like going back in time – which I no longer sound like I do. Nonetheless, I think that my old voice was certainly better and my knowledge of art history slightly better back then. In all, it was an enjoyable experience for me.
And to think that art history does indeed continue to transform itself just as general history continues to grow. I do remember that the artists that we studied back then were just as great or important as those in today’s art history texts.
I remember that the renowned nationally known commentator and founder of The National Review, William F. Buckley Jr., once made the comment that it is impossible for those big jumbo jets weighing thousands of pounds to fly. It is impossible for them to lift off because they are just too big and too heavy.
But Buckley also told his audience that some things can just do the impossible.
I personally am afraid of flying. I take the white-knuckle flights because I must, but once I’m on the plane I listen to every sound and keep my eyes on the airline attendants because I figure they must know what to do.