The Press-Dispatch
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My So Called Millennial Life By Stephanie Hayes Class of 2021: The pandemic gave you an edge Sweet's Column By Barb Sweet Columnist's note: This speech is free to any school in need. For example, if your commencement speaker falls ill and the janitor agrees to step in, just hand him these words. It's fine. Don't worry about it. Dear senior class of 2021, Congratulations on finishing high school in a pandemic. Matriculation? More like ma-TRICK-ulation. Graduate? More like SAD-uate. Scholarship? More like BL AH-lar ... OK, anyway. This is a momentous occasion, and you should be proud. For untold days on the 2020/21 school calendar, you said, poet- ically: "Really? Whatever, I guess." Senior year in America is an apocry- phal tale inspired by bad movie come- dies. You envisioned cups and scream- ing at games and singing sappy songs about how tomorrow starts today. Aca- demics would take a back seat to just, you know, hot breathing. But if school is supposed to prepare you for life, it did an exceptional job in this pandemic. If you were virtual or in-person, if events were canceled, if teachers started each day with garlic and a crucifix, senior year was a person- al trainer for the suckfest ahead. Wait? Suckfest? Graduation speeches are supposed to be pep talks brimming with optimism. Sure! However, as Mama always said, "take the edge off your de- pression by lowering your expectations." For instance, you will have strange roommates. You might even be mar- ried to one or two. But this year upped your patience. You were supposed to be frolicking, riding bikes in the aisles of Walmart at 2 a.m. Instead, you were home, forced to watch "The Masked Singer" with your dad, who kept drink- ing your Spindrift. You will say so many things you re- gret. They will pour out like rainbow Skittles. Get ready to lie in bed after a party and replay conversations, won- dering if everyone hates you. Relax. Everyone is do- ing the same thing. Next time, though, think back to your mask days when you had to conserve communi- cation. Is it worth it to weigh in on what Kendra did? Are you qualified to speak on the Middle East? Proceed slowly and clearly. Dating will be awkward, and heart- break lies ahead. But it will not be worse than when you had a family meeting to bring Alex into your COVID-19 bubble, because you were ready to take things to the next level. Nothing will ever be that bad. You'll be qualified for a job. Painful- ly qualified. But it will go to some Ade- quate Kyle whose father holds an incrim- inating photo of the hiring manager. You have been ready for this ever since you got vaccinated but still had to skip grad night because someone in statistics test- ed positive. Maybe you'll choose a trade, working with your hands. You are equipped for all skilled industries after cutting your own hair, unclogging the toilet, emptying the air conditioner pan and constructing tiny kingdoms out of hand sanitizer bottles. Or maybe you're ready for your first big office job! Haha, the company prob- ably realized it can save money by keep- ing you remote. It's going to be just like senior year, with your roommate asking you how to use Microsoft Teams and drinking your Spindrift. Here's the truth, se- niors. No one knows what lies ahead, not one minute, year or decade. Graduation speeches have opined on the unpredictable nature of exis- tence since the dawn of time. It's usually like, "The boy to your left will be indicted for identity theft," not, "The world will erupt in a deadly pandemic." Never say, "It can't get worse," unless you are into hexes. But it can, and will, get better in bits. You've lived through an unforgetta- ble chapter of history. You've witnessed death, devastation, political upheaval and injustice on a world stage. Odds are you've decided the kind of person you want to be, the kind of voice you want to have. Maybe you emerged harder and less trusting. Or maybe you came out more compassionate, more open. Maybe you let Dad have the Spindrift without roll- ing your eyes. Just know that what you went through at the end of high school will forever inform who you become — someone strong, wise and brave. We need you that way to push through our tomorrows, however messy they might be. Stephanie Hayes is a columnist at the Tampa Bay Times in Florida. Follow her at @ stephhayeswrites on Facebook, @ stephhayes on Twitter or @ stephrhayes on Instagram. Hi stars and welcome to the big stage all lit up bright red, white and blue lights and decorated to help celebrate with all our stars who will have a birthday or an- niversary in the week of June 17-23. Come up onto this stage and take a bow. BIRTHDAYS June 17-Theodore "Ted" Nicholson turns 75; Bill Stone turns 58. June 18 -Kathy Kixmiller turns 52; Jeff Scott Stilwell turns 53; Lisa Renee Jones. June 19 -Bob Price turns 88; Tina Head turns 52; Jeff Cassitty turns 52; Bransan and Addyson McDowell celebrate 14 years; Dave and Tammy McKinney cel- ebrate 39 years. June 20 -Tina Gerber; Sunny Hartley turns 65; Caison Russell turns 9. June 21-Candence VanMeter turns 16; Charlie Crane turns 88; Abigail Benjamin Vinnedge turns 42. June 22-Jeff Gayhart turns 34; Adam Russell turns 33; Eric Knight turns 38; Zachary McDowell turns 14; Natalie Wil- liams turns 24; Kaydence Sutt turns 17; David Riester turns 68; Mary Lou Kix- miller turns 86. June 23-Gabrielle Korryn Hall turns 6; Mark and Dee Houchin celebrate 16 years. May all our stars have a really great day and may all your wishes come true. Keep in your heart and in your prayers all our stars who have COVID-19 and those recovering from it, those going through therapy, testings, surgeries and then recovery, and those with the aches pains of everyday life: Dale, Mildred, Dixie and Katy. EVENTS June 17-Winslow Lions Clubs meets at 7 p.m. at the Gamble House. June 19 -Open Fun Horse Show begins at noon at the Rockin' G Saddle Club, south of Otwell Jct on Hwy 257. June 20 -Summer begins and it's Fa- ther's Day, show your father, dad or pop how much they are loved and tell him, "I love you." June 24-26 -Power Wagon Rally on Main St., Winslow. Winslow senior citizens are meeting again on Monday and Tuesday at the Community Center. Petersburg seniors may meet in the courthouse basement, so call first. June 28 -Winslow Town Hall at 6 p.m. There were one point of interest at Sweets Column, Winslow, IN 47598. The Winslow Beautification is needing new members who could help out with projects like watering the flowers, mak- ing signs, sprucing up the gazebo, provid- ing ideas for the community and the up- coming September Festival. If you are in- terested in joining or helping this group, contact Ellen Hall at 812-582-2928. Winslow Patoka River is really close to the rim since we got showers and thun- derstorms this past week. One day, it rained so hard, there was ponding on the roads where you could hydroplane in spots. Most of the showers lasted a few hours and it cooled down the area, but the humidity finally came back. Our temps were in the middle to high 80s, but the nights stayed 68 -70. We are using fans with open windows and doors, but I know some have already turned on the air con- ditioner. In our area, around the Peters- burg/Alford area, there was an EF1 tor- nado last Tuesday night, June 8. Laura was on her way to work and missed it by 15 minutes, but she got some great after shots of the storm itself. Winslow area has had the sounds of cicadas since May 17 or 18 and they have got- ten louder each day. If you are near the wooded area, you hear them more. Some areas have started see- ing and hearing them now. Sometimes you get used to the noise, but other times, they are really loud and one of them likes rock music, more specifical- ly the CSI Miami theme. Last Friday, a week ago, there was a star who stopped to view some land and he was wondering what that loud sound was because wher- ever he was from, the cicadas didn't come out yet. This area of Winslow is in a low sec- tion of town, where when the leaves are on the trees, the antenna can't find any station until, like the old saying goes, you hold your tongue in one position, it will or might come in. Nowadays, cable isn't in this area, but if you get a dish or satel- lite system, you might get some channels. So, the radio is the noise for now until lat- er in the fall. Oh, yes you also have to get internet service and we don't need that. Last Friday, I dropped the column off and sitting on the desk at The Press-Dis- patch was a pot of white daises, but this pot of flowers will make you smile real big or laugh out loud when the button is pushed. You will hear it sing, "Welcome" and the daisies dance to the music. This pot of daisies is one of two that Pam and her father, who has passed on, had. When they ran a flower shop, it greeted every- one who pushed its button. Check it out and see if it doesn't make you laugh. Saturday, June 5, George and Deby picked up Mom from Terri and Ted's, then they met us at Oakland City for a nice dinner before they left to go home. Terri, Ted and Laura couldn't come this time because they are recovering from a cold-like virus that has left Mom with a cough. It's not too bad, but chicken noo- dle soup can make it worse for her. How- ever, the grilled cheese was just fine. Not too many people were there, but the ser- vice was great and the food was made just the way we like it. A fter we all said our goodbyes and went on our way, Norm and I drove to Mt. Carmel, Ill., just for a drive. It was a hot, but nice day as the wind blew in from the open windows and sunroof. Along the way, not too many vehicles were out and as we crossed the Wabash River, I saw where it's also up to its rim. The old down- town has a few shops open, so we stopped in at one that had just opened and Norm found several items that we both liked. They were a blue star necklace, three pins of a blue stone with a pear center flower, a snowflake and a mother of pearl butterfly. But the main item was an I Love Lucy doll in the box from the "Lucy does a T V commercial" episode, where Lucy has the lines of "So why don't you join the thousands of happy, peppy people and get a great big bottle of Vitameatave- gamin tomorrow. That's Vita...Meata... Vegamin." I could have seen the origi- nal show, but I was only four years old. However, I did see this episode when I Love Lucy was on T V again in reruns and I would laugh and laugh to see Lucy as she took spoonful after spoonful in each take of this commercial with Ricky be- hind the camera. If you haven't seen it, check it out. You'll love it. As we started home, we did a good deed by giving a star a ride from Princeton to Francisco because his van broke down and he was on his way to work. He was really grateful. Sunday morning break- fast started our day off with another, but on the way, we passed the 57 Bones fami- ly, who were resting against the porch pillars, tired from a long month of Olympics. We were on our way to Highway 41 by way of SR 64, and as we passed Francisco at the curve, before the church on the hill, there were several trees either cut down or they fell, and some of them were almost in the road. We got on Highway 41 at Prince- ton, where the construction was still go- ing on. Then, we crossed over the White River, where a speedboat was seen. Lots of fields were planted along the way. We saw a large strawberry and a large peach, plus several melon and farmers markets after you pass Vincennes. We saw where the big boot place is and it also has small, rustic-like shops within the area. There are lots of small to medium towns along the way and the railroad tracks cross over Highway 41 twice, where signs are up to "watch for stopped traffic." We mad it to our destination of Terre Haute, but we only stayed on Highway 41 and it has really changed since we were there over 40 years ago. There are lots of shopping centers and loads of fast food eateries. We passed the courthouse of brick and gold, saw Indiana State University and Ivy Tech. We were also behind the rain that came into that northern area. The Vigo Fairgrounds was set up with the big Shriners' tent for the circus June 10 -12. As we started back on Highway 41, we turned off on the back road to Bruceville and Wheatland area. Bruceville has lots of houses, almost next to each other in this town bigger than Winslow. We con- tinued down this road until we came to a detour through Bicknell, then to 50/150 at Wheatland, where we really caught some downpours and wind that cooled things off for awhile. From there, we took Highway 57 into Petersburg, then home. We had a great time out and saw more of Indiana areas by taking some paved side roads, just to see where they would lead as we saw the countryside. People or stars we saw this week were Tim, Jeanette, Weiner, Diana, Larry, Le- na, Wayne, Pat, Vernon, Mike and Lau- ra, plus stars all along the way to some- where. On Friday morning, we all had heavy fog that lasted from 4-9 a.m. in our ar- ea, but it covered a large section of Illi- nois and Indiana, and parts of Kentucky. The Winslow town workers have more help as they do their mowing, weedeat- ing and other projects that may appear in town or are requested by the council. These extra workers are needed, espe- cially with the weeds and grass that keep growing every week, but also to help with more projects in our town of Winslow. It's looking great, guys. I guess it's time to dim the lights for this week. Keep an eye on family and friends during these hot and humid days. Keep wearing your mask to keep others safe. Slow down and see all the wonders in your area. As always, smile, wave and say "hi" to everyone you see this week. REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS James A. Brown and Brenda J. Brown convey to Teresa S. Kruse Trustee and Teresa S. Kruse Revocable Trust of 2004, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Brooks Yon and Jana Yon convey to Stanley D. Reed and Connie G. Reed, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Barbara Ann Craig, Carolyn Sue Ferguson and Amy L. Ropp convey to William E. Goliver and Dawn E. Goliver, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Beth Ann Soderling conveys to Billy J. Marshall and Karen F. Marshall, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Steven Wayne Dyson AIF, Larry Vaughn Dyson and Bri- an Wesley Dyson convey to Ryan Beadles, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Judith G. Camp Trustee and Judith G. Camp Primary Trust DTD 08/01/1991 convey to Tracy M. Evans, real es- tate as recorded in Pike County. Paul Wilson, Bryan Wilson and Michael Wilson convey to Zachary D. Parks and Chelsie Parks, real estate as re- corded in Pike County. Natalie A. McGiffen conveys to Devyn Michael Bark- er and Miranda Marie Merter, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Paul Wilson, Bryan Wilson and Michael Wilson convey to Zachary D. Parks and Chelsie Amanda Jo Parks, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Michael B. Barley quitclaims to Michael B. Barley and Emily R. Knapp, real estate as recorded in Pike County. Linda Parker conveys to Rusty W. McDonald and Melis- sa A. McDonald, real estate as recorded in Pike County. HEATING AND AIR 812-789-3065 jmcdonald@alltradeheatingandair.net or admin@alltradeheatingandair.net WE TEST. SO IT RUNS. Patoka Valley Amateur Radio Club to participate in field day event, June 26-27 The Patoka Valley Ama- teur Radio Club (PVARC) will participate in the Ameri- can Radio Relay League (AR- RL) Field Day event from 2 p.m. Saturday, June 26 to 2 p.m. Sunday, June 27. AR- RL Field Day is an annu- al nationwide exercise that tests the amateur radio op- erators and equipment, and their ability to operate under adverse conditions, such as those that may occur during a disaster. Amateur radio is recog- nized as one of the only vi- able communication means that would be available after a large-scale disaster. This exercise involves amateur radio operators throughout the U.S. and Canada who set up temporary stations, ma- ny using emergency power from generators, batteries or solar power. From these temporary stations, they con- tact as many other stations as possible in North America and beyond. There are over 750,000 amateur radio licens- ees in the U.S. and approxi- mately three million around the world. More information regarding Field Day and the over 1,000 participating sites around the nation can be viewed at http://www.ar- rl.org/field-day-locator. The PVARC is operating from Shelter House #4 at the Dubois County Park, locat- ed at the 4-H Fairgrounds one mile north of Bretz- ville, on Highway 162. Ev- eryone is welcome to watch the amateurs in operation as they communicate with sta- tions around the country and around the world. For more information on the Field Day event or on be- coming a licensed Amateur Radio Operator, contact the PVARC at mvogler1@fron- tier.com. The Patoka Valley Am- ateur Radio Club meets monthly on the second Tues- day at Headquarter's dining room, 201 S. Main St., Jasper at 7 p.m. Eastern time. The public is welcome to attend the meetings. net edition yeah, it's that fast! Z M www.PressDispatch.net/Subscribe It's The Press-Dispatch. No matter where you live. Delivered every Wednesday morning! Add it for $5 to your current print subscription or stand-alone for $35/year. B-2 Wednesday, June 16, 2021 The Press-Dispatch To enter the Birthday Club, email your name, ad- dress, phone number and birthdate to birthdayclub@ pressdispatch.net. Only the person's name, town and birth- day will appear in the paper. As an added bonus, one lucky person each month will receive a free three month Press-Dispatch subscription. This month's birthdays have a chance to win a $25 gift certificate from Downtown Emporium, in Huntingburg. THIS WEEK'S BIRTHDAYS Brian Fisher .............................. Petersburg ........... 6/17 Hallie King ................................ Petersburg ........... 6/18 Jennie Houtsch ............................. Otwell .............. 6/18 Addison McDaniel ..................... Petersburg ...........6/21 Steven Fish ............................. Oakland City .........6/21 THIS MONTH'S SPONSOR EMPORIUM DOWNTOWN 407 E. 4th Street, Huntingburg 812-683-0123