Grandpa Hyman: My Favorite Draft Dodger

My grandfather Hyman Gussman dodged the draft.  He was 44 years old at the time and in Odessa, a Black Sea port in Tsarist Russia.  It was August 1914 and Grandpa had inexplicably visited his former home after emigrating to America in 1900.

When his ship landed at the Odessa docks, the customs officials realized Grandpa was an emigre Jew and sent him to the Army.  Hyman managed to escape and started walking north.  He kept walking for until February of 1915 when he made it to Finland. On the way he almost died from pneumonia, suffered starvation and terrible Russian winter. 

Eventually he got to Portugal and back to Boston.  He lived until 1932 and in that time never left Boston again.  I wrote more about this story here.

Thinking about Grandpa made me realize that my position on draft dodging has some gray area.  Not in the order of Commander-in-Chief: no one should command armies who let another man serve and die in his place.  But in Tsarist Russia in World War I, the draft was a death sentence for Jews.  I am glad Hyman Gussman disobeyed Russian draft law.

Nuts About Cycling: The Next Call After a Broken Collarbone

My collarbone after I crashed

Twenty-five years ago, in 1994, I decided to get a vasectomy, but it was spring and I knew it would mean a week or more off the bike.  I thought I would wait till cold weather in the fall.

One Saturday in April of that year, I was riding rolling hills. I went down a mile-long hill in an aero tuck until I could feel the bike losing momentum.

I stood up to crank hard on the pedals and attack the hill. 

Then I was in the ditch on the side of the road.  When I stood, my right crank snapped in the middle.  I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my shoulder. 

In the ditch I tried to get up, but when I moved my right arm, I heard crunching coming from my collarbone—like potato chips were being stepped on.

I had smashed my collarbone.  A nice person with one of those big early cell phones came by and called me an ambulance. 

At the hospital, the emergency room doctor stuck his finger in my shoulder at the site of the break. I groaned in pain. He smiled.

“You smashed the collarbone,” he said.  “It will heal up great with no surgery if you don’t move it too much.” 

They strapped my right arm to my side and sent me home.  For the next three weeks I heard a lot of crunching if I moved the wrong way. 

Then I realized this cloud had a silver lining.  Monday morning, first thing, I called the urologist and said, “Can you get me in this week?”  They had an opening on Thursday. 

When I showed up the nurse and then the doctor asked if I wanted to let the collarbone heal up before the surgery. “No,” I said. “I’m in pain anyway. Let’s go.”

The collarbone healed, the surgery was successful and if someone asks how much I love cycling, I can say, “I’m nuts about it.”

My Top 15 Video Series

Lucius Verenus, Centurion, HBO Series ROME

I watch video series more than any other kind of video entertainment. I was talking with a friend and made a list of my favorites. I just started watch the Handmaid's Tale, Season 3. When I read the book thirty years ago, I thought it was crazy.  Now it's scary.

Here's my list based on no criteria other than how much I like the show:

1.     The Wire, HBO—Best TV I ever watched. So hooked I watched entire series 3 times, once with my sons.

2.     Band of Brothers, HBO—watched 3 times, once with my sons.

3.     Sopranos, HBO—entire series once, some episodes again.

4.     The Americans, FX—I may watch it again.

5.     Justified, FX—I watched because the lead actor is so good, Timothy Olyphant.

6.     Blacklist, NBC—weird but as with Justified, the lead actor makes the show endlessly entertaining: James Spader.

7.     Mad Men—Uneven, but overall very good.

8.     The West Wing, NBC—I watched it when it was new and watched it again after Trump was elected as a total fantasy: a brilliant, mature, thoughtful President.

9.     The Shield, FX—so dark, so good.

10. Breaking Bad, AMC

11. 24, Fox, good for three of seven seasons, really good. Different WMD each season.

12. Alias, ABC Jennifer Garner, Camp,, lots of fun.

13. Rome, HBO—wish it lasted longer.

14. Deadwood, HBO—so dark. Timothy Olyphant is amazing.

15. The Pacific, HBO--not as coherent as Band of Brothers. At its best it is excellent.