Classmate Roger Johnson wrote the following two short stories some time ago and he has submitted them here in the hope that you may enjoy reading them:

A Brief History of Mass Communication

Global mass communication began with the first rising and setting sun as everyone of that early era watched in dismay as the great light in the sky just fall away and be replaced with total darkness. After only one or two cycles earthlings knew this would be an ongoing experience for all and should be expected every so many hours. But they were incapable of measuring time with any accuracy primarily because they didn’t know what time even was, let alone what time it was at that precise moment.

The four seasons were well known by all after their first appearance. Each season left its mark on civilization approximately twenty-five percent of the time which amounted to the very first weather dedicated installment program for the entire viewing audience. This phenomenon singlehandedly launched the seasonal clothing industry that still exists to this day.

Fires on the horizon spread messages of potential lifestyle disruption, or improvement, to everyone or everything in visual range. This flame-technology was particularly well suited for nighttime broadcasting.

Howling predators instantly alerted people of lurking danger for great distances. Humans returned the communique with campfires which would prove to be a risky response since even though the fires frightened the hungry beasts, those very same flames pinpointed the exact location of the animals’ next meal.

Town Criers were successful mass communicators during 500-1500AD because few people could read or write. The crier’s news proclamations were mostly in redundant headline form although some editorialized freely. And just like today, they usually claimed all was not well.

Smoke signals effectively transmitted messages many miles and were first used by guards on the Great Wall of China to alert the home team of the impending danger from uninvited visitors. High altitude base stations were recommended for maximum exposure. This was the very first example of energy reclamation technology in action. Many centuries later, Lewis and Clark actually cracked the alphabetical code of the preferred smoke signal the American Indians favored and utilized what they learned to communicate with various tribes during their expedition. Unfortunately, random gusts of wind often times led to horrible misunderstandings. The best, or worst, example of this glitch was that sad day on June 25th, 1876, when the Indians were supposed to greet Custard and his troops at the Little Big Horn gatheringꟷnot to defeat them.

When the Gutenberg printing press was developed around 1440 AD it increased Europe’s book production capability from a few million to billions of copies. That technology launched the popular catch phrase “Information Super Pathway” since so many more people had access to so much more knowledge all for the simple cost of a library card.

The camera’s origin can be traced to the pinhole version of the 5th century BC, but it would be the 19th century AD before actual image replication was possible for mass viewing. In 1839, the discipline was officially named photography. But, in the early years of this technology certain chemical elements required for the developing process were slow to be perfected. So, at that time in history a picture was only worth about 100 words.

By 1920, the radio allowed just one person to reach thousands of listeners all at once, even if they were many miles away. Say hello to KDKA Radio in Pittsburgh PA, the oldest commercially viable station in the land. Eventually, this concept would go on to spread music, news and general conversation far and wide and by the sixties made rock stars out of disc jockeys broadcasting from small rooms who talked to countless people they could neither see nor hear.

Advertising first appeared in ancient Egypt when locals used hand painted wall posters to promote a variety of services. This marks the first known attempt to mass-communicate non-critical data. These early venders soon discovered all they really needed was a little sleight of hand, or word, and a gullible audience to promote their wares. For a concept that was first conceived over 5,000 years ago advertising specialists have never lost their desire to insult and otherwise belittle the same masses they think they’re communicating with so effectively.

When the automobile became a necessity of modern life it gave a whole new meaning to mass communication. In this case simple words were supported with actual style, function, image, and attitude. You could let anyone know what you’re thinking with a simple rev of the engine or jerk of the steering wheel. As a mass communication tool, a car, truck, or motorcycle allows you to spread your message to any landmass on earth that has a at least one road.

In the 1950s, television came on stream and messaging could now be shared with millions although the cost of doing so (advertising) was well beyond the means of most individuals. Now, it required a group of thousands, as in large companies, to communicate with a group of millions, as in us.

It was two-thousand years after civilization’s loss of the priceless knowledge housed in the Library of Alexandria in Egypt before humankind could invent a better way to contain all the world’s data in a safe and secure manner. Eventually, little black plastic boxes got the nod and computers changed the dynamics of mass communication in never-ending ways. Instead of one person communicating to many, everybody is now in touch with everybody else in the world which completely destroys the very premise of an individual’s right to private information. As a result, modern computers and smart-phone off-shoots generate as much hysteria and general anxiety as the concept of mass communication was conceived to alleviate in the first place.

The Shear Hate Report

I was about eight when I got my first bad haircut. I ran home in horror, went to my bedroom crawled under my desk and pulled the chair in front of me. I wanted to believe It was just beginner’s bad luck, nothing more. I was just a kid, what did I know? But after fifty years of hearing barbers say “Don’t worry, it’ll grow back” the word conspiracy started coming to mind. There just had to be more to it than simply catching them on a bad day four-hundred times in a row. A closer look at the history of barbering seemed in order and yielded some very interesting facts. First, it turns out barbers don’t like us very much, and they haven’t for centuries. Those crummy haircuts they dish out all too often are their way of saying so.

Barbers were never really happy just cutting hair, but they did like having their fingers on the pulse and nerve endings of the public. So, by 1500 AD everyone believed them to be doctors and dentists, as well as barbers—maybe not as well as barbers.

Still, it was a time when they owned all the markets in the personal health care industry from haircuts or shaves, to amputations, bloodletting and even tooth extractions. They had it made back then—power, money, social status, and probably groupies. The very things no barber has had since.

During this same period, the art of bloodletting was perfected to such a degree barbers were elevated to their highest level ever in the scientific community. But in 1520, the blood finally hit the fan. The intelligentsia began noticing large numbers of very well-groomed dead people propped up on public benches in numerous major cities. Apparently, barbers were becoming more versed in pathology accidently than biology on purpose.

It wasn’t long before the University of Paris turned on the switch to the Period of Enlightenment and began licensing qualified surgeons. No longer was the ability to make someone bleed profusely considered the right stuff for becoming a medical practitioner.

In 1540 during the rule of Henry VIII, an organization was formed called the “Company of Barber Surgeons of London”. This attempt to add credibility to the newly emerging medical profession stipulated barbers could no longer perform surgery. They were now limited to bloodletting, dental work and you guessed it…haircuts and shaves. At the same time Henry Vlll coined the most memorable phrase in all barberdom when he told his wife’s executioner to just take a little off the top.

Now that the door to medicine had been slammed in their smartly shaven faces, barbers everywhere turned to the open-wide field of dentistry. Their most painful procedure was a root-canal—a little something they invented to remind everyone how angry they were losing the doctoring business to a bunch of bookworms who couldn’t cut three hairs to the same length.

Fortunately, by the 20th century life had become far more precious and the profession of dentistry slipped through the unskilled fingers of barbers like the blood of yesteryear’s customers. With the dental account officially lost, it proved once and for all barbers had finally attained their level of competence.

It was that very moment in history when they took a solemn vow to dispense bad haircuts at every opportunity. Eventually, this commitment became the cornerstone of the barbering industry’s long-

range marketing strategy—planned obsolescence. It was rooted in the theory a customer wouldn’t live with a bad haircut nearly as long as a good one. So, he will be back all the sooner for another clip job.

After World War II, barbers began to soften on their attitudes towards customers. It was easy for them considering the tremendous increase in business promised by returning GIs and the post-war baby boom. There was an optimism in the barbering community that hadn’t been seen since the days of the Bubonic Plague. Visions of huge profits and high-profile lifestyles danced in every barber’s head. But right when they were licking their lips the most, rock music raised it unkempt head and promoted an entire generation of long hairs.

Nothing displays the contempt barbers have for their customers more than the traditional red and white striped barber’s pole. It may be the oldest industry icon still in use. If you thought it represented shaving crème and blood being rinsed down a transparent drainpipe you would not be far off the mark. It actually depicts the image of white bandages around the bleeding limbs of bloodletting patients. Talk about a dubious welcome mat.

Except for surgeons and muggers, barbers were the only other professionals in society allowed to put razor-sharp instruments right next to your jugular vein in order to receive money—no doubt a negotiated perk from their settlement with Henry VIII.

When dealing with today’s barbers remember they come in all shapes and personal histories as the following case studies illustrate.

Johnny cut hair in a northern steel mill town and had his glass eye since his early career when he bent over to tie his shoe with a pair of scissors still in the breast pocket of his smock. After cutting a customer’s hair for several minutes he would step back, close his good eye and squint with the glass one to check his work.

Old man Jones could see and speak but most customers assumed that was all. He had been cutting hair for over a half century and could not remember hearing anyone ever complain about his work. The hearing aid he wore in his right ear had been broken since the day it arrived in the mail and operated more like a plug than an aid. As a result, any cutting instructions you gave him barely made it in one ear.

The only thing worse than some scrawny punk coming at you with a straight razor is an insane looking, rock-hard 180 pounder coming at you with one. Magoo (he pronounced his name with a long “a”) first became interested in barbering while at college majoring in physics with a minor in intimidation. That’s when he realized he could force fellow students to pay him for haircuts and no one would ever complain about the quality or the price.

To stack the odds in your favor of getting a decent haircut, here are three simple tips designed to keep your tip off the worst cut list. Never wear a hat into any shop because the barber will assume one of two things; you are expecting a bad haircut, so you brought a cover for it, or you didn’t think your hair was relevant to your appearance. Either way, you’ll be glad to have a hat when you leave.

Every barber knows how nice it is to sit there for a haircut without having to listen to his or her mindless stream of chatter. That’s why they won’t let you do it. This issue can often be resolved by walking in with a Japanese to Latin dictionary along with hair cutting directions written out in long hand in both languages.

Finally, never tell a barber how you need an extra good hair cut because of a big business deal, or a major social affair where you simply must look your best. They will reflect on all those special events they were never invited to, since they were no longer doctors and dentists with any real professional or social status. So, the next time you walk out of a barbershop, you can rest assured you'll be wearing the precise haircut that particular barber thinks you deserve. If that's a problem, he or she will insist you take it up with their company’s Public Relations department. Just ask for a guy named Māgoo.

You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry and the Pacemakers

Karen Fine's Tribute to Diet Coke

55th Reunion Pictures

Welcome Boardman High School Class of 1963!

Click here to read Welcome Message from Sharyn Vale Braunstein,
50th Reunion Committee Chairman

Click here for BoardmanAlumni.org

The History of Idora Park (1899—1984)

by Rick Shale

In the mid-1890s  streetcar companies across America looked for ways to increase ridership in the evenings and on the weekends when the regular commuter traffic slacked off.  Their solution was to tap into the thirst for popular amusements that had swept America following the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago by building amusement parks at the distant ends of their trolley lines. (Read more...)

Class of 1963
50th Year Reunion
August 9, 10 and 11, 2013

Click Here For Pictures and Videos

Read open letter to the Class of '63 from Keith Dyer

 

Click here for Past Reunion Photos

MOTTO:

Start where you are with what you have;

make something of it, and never be satisfied.

COLORS:

Emerald Green and Silver

FLOWER:

White Rose
 

50th Class Reunion Committee:
	Sharyn Vale Braunstein Chairman
	Kathy Bartolec Morelli
	Ada Davis Wilneff
	Carolyn Decker Deardurff
	Chris Erickson Williams
	Karen Fine Rubin
	Marti Huggins Thomas
	Linda Osborne Hathhorn
	Marilyn Pipoly Brenner
	David Brenner
	Rich LaRocca
	Roger Malamisura
	Mark Rappaport
	Robert "Timmy" Timms