August 20th, 2017
The thought-provoking words brought forth today by John Skipper deserve more than just recollection, they invite us to visit similar moments in each our lives. Hopefully for those of you who read these words I have written, your journey through life will be long and healthy. But know that it will also be arduous and fought with roadblocks you will later discover were built by yourself.
There will be accountings in your life that will remain indelible in your memory, instances that are deeply engraved as constant reminders of your environment and the landscape upon which you live. If you have gray hair and have never experienced occurrences such as I have described; then you’re living in a bubble.
Let me share one such assault perpetrated on me in a farmhouse kitchen. In every way, from every angle…… it was a verbal assault. I was in the early stages of a new relationship with a very bright and attractive girl. She radiated a sense of effervescence…..an exuberance for life surrounded her. Her father farmed North of Ventura and her mother taught school. When I would pick her up at the farm, I would always enter the house through a back door which led into the kitchen….there her mother would be cooking something, and once inside her father would come into the kitchen to greet me and tell me that he was Irish and he only drank Irish Whisky. I can remember always congratulating him on that fact.
This took place slightly over 60 years ago, but today on television we see riots by white supremacists marching against white people who fit my profile. So what’s changed?
Then came that fateful night……the night that would changes lives and engrave memories that would last to eternity. I entered the kitchen as always and there stood her mother as expected only this time was different….much different.
“I have some questions for you,” her mother exclaimed.
“Alright,” I replied.
“Do you speak a foreign language?” she asked.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Do you eat foreign food in your home?” She asked.
“We buy the food right here, in this country,” I answered, wondering at the same time what constituted foreign food?
“Are you Orthodox?” was the last question….to which I answered yes.
By then I knew this was over. Her father never came into the kitchen….and her daughter remained upstairs. I never for a moment blamed her daughter for the actions of her mother, not even for a second.
Later her daughter married “the right guy”, had four children then divorced him for infidelity. But he did not speak a foreign language or eat garlic and olive oil…. He just cheated on the mother of his children. And he wasn’t Orthodox……
Words are innocent by themselves or damning in the wrong hands. They can be loving or hateful, kind or hurtful. Words are the stock and substance of our lives…and if you are reckless with them you shouldn’t be allowed a platform in which to use them……
My mother was born in Mason City as were I; this makes me second generation American.
Peter Children (Yankovich)
Mason City, Iowa
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Oh, and if you were a woman and needed a used car? No money required. You just made regular “payments” in Mike’s office. He especially loved 22-yr-olds. Heard that from his own lips.
Mike Yankovich was the real Anti-Christ. You have no idea of what he was capable of.
Story? I think the readers would love to hear about this.
I do. My Dad bought a car from him once because he was local That was just before he changed his name to Yanky.
I knew your uncle Mike. I also knew that he would steal anything that wasn’t bolted down. A truly disgusting person.
Pete – Read a comment about a dentist chair ? Any interest in selling that old icon ?
I have no dentist chairs, no iron
So Pete, when and how did your last name become Children?
My mother married Sidney Children in 1932 and I was born in 1934. They later divorced when I was 5.
Pete ! You should have bought some bibs – stepped lightly in a cow pie and bedazzled them with your bullshit – OH SORRY! Take your not a democrat.
For 35 years I was registered as an independent. Then when Obama ran I changed my affiliation to democrat so I could vote in the caucas.
So, you admit you made a mistake. At least you have admitted it and now you can change back to being Independent.
Pete! Been there -done that – spot ON. Groupies abound !
Pete – Super ! I believe we have a new clan out their now – Super rich welfare farmers – Farmersonly.com – non farmers and poor people not allowed ? Is this a joke? Doubt it. -Catholics and Jewish faith always were their own institution but they never used violence like the muslims to covert the rest of the sheeple.
Great article Peter. I have experienced something very similar to what you did. I knew Yankovich’s pretty well as I grew up with some of them.
Are you related to Mike, and John? Did you have a brother who played in the Yankee organization?
Mike was my mother’s brother….not a nice guy.
You are referring to Bob Yankovich, my uncle. He did sign a contract with a Yankees farm club. The Second World interrupted his baseball career. In high school he threw 3.5 no hit games in a row. These were 7 inning games. He was a wonderful guy, total opposite of his brother.
Is he in the Mohawk hall of fame. If not we need to work on that.
What year did he graduate?
You could probably research him through the Globe Gazette. I know they even put it in the paper when he got a haircut.
According to NIT, one Golden Pen award from the Globe Gazette equals “award winning journalist”?
Bwaahaaaa!
Dozens of people received that over a two year period way back about 15 years ago.
Ya, that is right up there with a Pulitzer….ROTFLMAO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxmoUmvsekQ
Truly hilarious as NIT is always slamming the Globe Gazette and yet considers an extremely minor accolade from them as some form of journalistic excellence.
The farce that NIT perpetuates in this matter is most amusing..
Truly BS yellow rag Internet blogging perpetuated at its worst.
It is funny as hell, but sadly they believe in this garbage .
To say is it is comical is an understatement.
No one slams the Globe here anymore; that’s like torturing a dying hog on the slaughter line that didn’t get gassed quite enough. Just to show I care, I say we take up a fund for the last 2 dozen or so employees who get canned on the Globe’s last day, just to help them out with enough gas money to get to the soup line. Care to kick in a buck or two, Reggie, old pal?
Powerful! Sincere thanks for that touching recollection.
Ah, what took you so long to write your “opinion”? As always, you wait for skipper to supply you with a topic to write about. Aren’t you tired of plagiarizing topics to write about from skipper? Maybe you are not who you claim to be, an “award winning journalist”. HAH. I highly doubt that your story is even true. And thankfully the young lady made a good (and better) choice.
Skipper really doesn’t write about “life experiences”. If he did, he’d tell us all about how his LEE stock tanked ever since the company went into the crapper (deservedly so) and now he’s forced to work well into his golden years. He won’t tell us that story, nor about how he runs out of Geritol everyday, or how his canvas shoes have holes in the soles from walking to Eric’s office for secret, closed door meetings with low light and possibly light petting. Mr. Children, again, merely reacts to whatever crap Robin and Eric make Skipper write about so we are not fooled by their shenanigans.
Hmm just what wiil he do when Bookmeyer is gone?
Celebrate!!
Whoever you are you are a schmuck! That’s Jewish for prick. You were a school yard bully and you suffer from lack of self esteem. You are afraid of public indentification and you are begrudging of others. You wait for a chance to criticize me and you’re at a point where your dislike for me is consuming you. You are a pathetic example of a human being.
Best editorial by Peter thus far !