Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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JANUARY 14-21, 2015 UCW 5 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM It's January's first column, which means the mandatory review of events 100 years ago to determine if past performance is a guarantee of future results. As usual, the answer is probably not. We are hard wired not to learn from the past thus freeing us to repeat our mistakes. There is a comfortable rhythm in repeating past mistakes. So, into the Way Back Machine we go with Sherman and Mr. Peabody. 1915 was a big year for World War I. No one is sure why we had World War I, but it was in all the papers so it must have happened. It was also a year for uppity women folk who wanted the right to vote. The Germans launched the first of their Zeppelin attacks on Britain in January. Zeppelins later became famous as the inspiration for submarine sandwiches. In January, 1915, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down a bill to allow women to vote on the grounds that voting was unladylike. This would not be the first or the last time that male politicians decided they knew better than women what was good for women. George Claude patented the first neon sign the same month making the world safe for the Las Vegas strip, Times Square and thousands of greasy spoon restaurants. Imagine the boredom of a world without neon signs. The mind boggles. Thank you, Mr. Claude, for lighting up our humble lives. February is the month of love due to Valentine's Day and all the candy hearts that are sold and consumed that month. February, 1915 brought us the book end to love. Nevada passed its divorce law, which allowed people to spend six weeks in the desert and get divorced. Who can forget the amazing baseball story in March, 1915 when Brooklyn Dodgers manager Wilbert Robinson tried to catch a baseball dropped from an air plane? In a bit of ball park whimsey, the pilot of the air plane substituted a grapefruit for the baseball — much to the surprise of Mr. Robinson. This event was the inspiration for the famous WKRP in Cincinnati episode in which Arthur Carlson, the station manager at WKRP, had turkeys dropped from a helicopter to honor Thanksgiving. Mr. Carlson made the classic statement after the turkeys plummeted to their untimely ends, "As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." Oh, the humanity and the giblets. From the health news desk, in March, 1915 our old friend Typhoid Mary Mallon was finally arrested after eluding the health police for five years. Typhoid Mary was a carrier that sparked several typhoid epidemics whilst on the lam from the health authorities. Mary's disdain for quarantines was later emulated by Kaci Hickox, the Ebola Negative Nurse in Maine and NBC's resident health expert, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, who likewise did not feel that quarantines were applicable to their behavior. Thomas Edison invented the "telescribe" to record telephone conversations in May, 1915 thus paving the way for the NSA to record your every utterance. Erich Muenter, an instructor in German at Cornell University had a busy week in July, 1915 by detonating a bomb in the U.S. Senate reception area and then shooting banker J.P. Morgan the next day. Not to be outdone by a mere homicidal college professor, Johnny Gruelle patented the first Raggedy Ann doll in September, 1915. This laid the groundwork for unrealistic female body types culminating in the invention of the Barbie Doll by Ruth Handler in 1959. Barbie then created the basis for eating disorders in untold multitudes of girls. Somehow sensing that being denied the right to vote was not actually in their best interest, despite what the wise menfolk said, 25,000 women marched in New York City in October, 1915 demanding the right to vote. So what can we learn from 1915? Zeppelins, although nifty in appearance, make for lousy weapons of war. Never try to catch a grapefruit dropped from an airplane. Men don't always make the best decisions for women. Neon lights are better than mere moonlight. Turkeys can't fly. Quarantines are okay as long as they are for other people. Not everyone likes big banks or big bankers. Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy can still get a quickie divorce in Las Vegas. Thank you 1915 for all you did. Let the good times of 2015 roll. PITT DICKEY, Contributing Writer, COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. A WALK DOWN MEMORY L ANE IN 1915 BY PITT DICKEY Your Trusted Skilled Arborist on call! Skilled arborist with the equipment and experience to get your job done right! Veteran Owned and Operated Fully Licensed and Insured for your protection and trust. Call (910) 813-7227 www. www.brudertree.com TO BOOK EARLY TIS' THE SEASON Recently engaged? 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Phone: 910-425-6667 x235 or Email: Ashley@gatesfour.com TO BOOK EARLY TIS' THE SEASON Recently engaged? Gates Four Golf and Country Club would celebrate your engagement by saving you money from the start! Secure your wedding date December 31 st , 2014, you will receive 50% off your room rental! New bookings only. Discover what's hidden behind the gates. Phone: 910-425-6667 x235 or Email: Ashley@gatesfour.com Gates Four Golf and Country Club would like to celebrate your engagement by saving you money from the start! Secure your wedding date by February 14th, 2015, and you will receive 50% off your room rental! New bookings only. Discover what's hidden behind the gates. TO BOOK EARLY TIS' THE SEASON Recently engaged? Gates Four Golf and Country Club would like to celebrate your engagement by saving you money from the start! Secure your wedding date by December 31 st , 2014, you will receive 50% off your room rental! New bookings only. Discover what's hidden behind the gates. Phone: 910-425-6667 x235 or Email: Ashley@gatesfour.com 910.425.6667 • Ashley@gatesfour.com TO BOOK EARLY TIS' THE SEASON Recently engaged? Gates Four Golf and Country Club would like to celebrate your engagement by saving you money from the start! Secure your wedding date by December 31 st , 2014, you will receive 50% off your room rental! New bookings only. Discover what's hidden behind the gates. Phone: 910-425-6667 x235 or Email: Ashley@gatesfour.com In 1915, women were fighting hard for the right to vote.