Midland Review #5 Spring 1989 Letter, re The Fourth of July

Graduation Letter 1985, Rear Admiral J.S. Champlin, Great Uncle

Dear Forest,

It May have been Mark Twain who said to a reporter
"I don't care what you say about me
but please spell my name right!"

You also got our zip code wrong
and can blame that on Sis Dorothy,
I'll bet. We forgive you.

Congratulations of finishing the first lap
of the big rat race. Good luck from here on!

JS Champlin

5-25-87




His sister Ruth certainly was thinking of the Youngblood Hotel in Enid, not her great nephew

Forest L. Bloodgood!!!

round

to walk into portland's living room
and smell sage burning, drums
clearing, beautiful people
all around





6-5-20

preacher and the slave joe hagglund hill

the cave art covers everything public
like christo in sprayfeint

no smoking carcasses to speak of, other
than workers neglected

lest i lie we got to the 25 bricks
hearst orders  in deadwood but never

put his name on in pie o joe hill square
which more circular and indian

than martyr swede
does not negate

sol
i
dare
airity


"Joe Hill (October 7, 1879 – November 19, 1915), born Joel Emmanuel Hägglund and also known as Joseph Hillström, was a Swedish-American labor activist, songwriter, and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, familiarly called the "Wobblies").

 A native Swedish speaker, he learned English during the early 1900s, while working various jobs from New York to San Francisco.

 Hill, an immigrant worker frequently facing unemployment and underemployment, became a popular songwriter and cartoonist for the union.

 His most famous songs include "The Preacher and the Slave" (in which he coined the phrase "pie in the sky"),

"The Tramp", "There Is Power in a Union", "The Rebel Girl", and "Casey Jones—the Union Scab", which express the harsh and combative life of itinerant workers, and call for workers to organize their efforts to improve working conditions.:_