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Show Page A10 Thursday, January 12, 1988 Park Record Mr - mBm a "WL V IwN'I't m BY RICK BROUGII Cut those taxes- but only on ski slopes! In a week, we won't have Ronald Reagan to kick around anymore. On January 20 George Bush takes the oath as the new president. Critics will say it just means the end of office for Ronald Wilson Reagan, a man with a lousy monogram. (Not FDR or JFK, but RWR-which sounds like "ruh-wurr!") He will be replaced by George Herbert Walker Bush, who has an even worse monogram (GHWB, which sounds like "guh-wub" . ) ' But even Reagan-haters have to admit that he endured. For the first time since Eisenhower, a president has completed eight years in office, and left with a reasonable amount of popularity. Even better, he is turning over the office to his own vice-president, vice-president, which no one has done since Andy Jackson. Ronald Reagan an even more impressive accomplishment. ac-complishment. Nope. It's not Grenada, or the INF treaty, or surviving Sam Donaldson. Reagan has almost certianly beaten the Presidential Curse. The Curse is an extraordinary pattern in American history. For one hundred and twenty years, every president elected in a year ending with Zero has died in office! The Curse began with William Henry Harrison, elected in 1840. Old Tippecanoe suffered the silliest demise of any national leader in recent centries. After taking the oath of office, Harrison insisted on delivering a long-winded speech in chilly Washington weather. He caught pneumonia and passed away within the month, thus becoming the only President to die from his own Inaugural Address. (The Curse, some think, began with an old medicine man who fought Harrison in the Indian In-dian wars.) Since then, the Curse has struck many presidents, good and bad. Abraham Lincoln and John Kennedy (elected 1860 and 1960) were legendary, legen-dary, admired figures who died tragically. On the other hand, Warren Harding (elected 1920) is remembered for dying of natural causes-and for having the moral awareness of a cuff link. Presidents afflicted by the Curse have been obscure. James Garfield (elected 1880) is only remembered today because many people think he inspired the "GarfTeklil comicwip. (During his administration, a popular novelty item was the "President Garfield doll" with little suction feet for sticking to the sides of carriages and to office windows.) , The Curse did not even confine itself to Presidents in their first term. William McKinle1 (elected second term, 1800) and Franklin Roosevelt (elected third term, 1940) were examples ex-amples in this regard. wHow did Reagan defeat the Curse? Some think the old medicine man's spell was stymied by Reagan's own magic spell, known to most of us as The Teflon Factor. Others think he came close to death many times, but was saved by amazing restorative powers acquired after prolonged exposure ex-posure to Twenty-Mule-Team Boraxo. One school of thought argues the actual Curse says the President elected in a zero year "shall suffer brain death in office." Under that definition, defini-tion, they say, the Curse continues under Reagan. One possibility, they say, is that the president has fallen into a coma and been impersonated in recent re-cent years by Rich Little. Finally, a fringe element contends that the old Curse actually said "Any President who is elected shall die." This theory is discredited, because it sounds like any medicine man could bring that off without a great deal of Technical Training. Thus, another great American superstition passes. Of course, we hear reports that after the first Libyan bombing, an Arabian holy man proclaimed pro-claimed "Hence forth in every election year ending en-ding with "8" held by the Great Satan, a boob shall be elected to serve one heartbeat away from the seat of power." t 1 1 i by TERI ORR We are what we have made I think even if it had been "store-bought" I would have loved the Laura Ashley fabric quilt my daughter gave me for Christmas, but the fact she made it for me, secretly, makes it my favorite gift of the season. At nearly 16, Jenny is an emerging adult who senses, when she chooses, there is comfort com-fort in at least some traditional values. I was all snuggled under my new blue-flowered patchwork quilt with the deep white lace the other night, watching television in my antique wood bed with my tea upon my great-grandmother's library table and I thought about the old and the new life I try to mix for my family. A lot of who we have become seems to revolve around what we have made. We are what we have inherited as well. When I was little the most special stuffed animal I could sleep with was a ratty, dirty embroidered em-broidered horse. I had no idea the creature was ratty and dirty mind you, and I only got to sleep with it if I was very sick or very needy. But the important im-portant part was the creature had been made by my grandmother during The Depression for my mother. Like the classic children's story of the Velveteen Rabbit, the horse has long since lost its glamorous appearance. It's mane and tail, made of yarn, had been pulled away by my mother and older sister and time. But it did not matter. Hortie, as my mother had named him, was treated by her with such reverence he became beautiful. Eighteen years ago for my son Randy's first Christmas, I decided he needed a toy that was handmade, by me. Oh sure, there were trucks and balls and books but it was important to me I make something just for him. So I stitched up what became known in later years as Raggedy Randy, complete with embroidered eyes and yarn hair and a red and white gingham shirt. He returns each Christmas now to sit on the rocking horse by the tree as a reminder of the little boy who held the toy close in his arms for so many long ago nights. In Jenny's room is a fabric doll. I made it for her third birthday (all right, second children do get treated differently). Sewn from muslin, the little girl has long blonde curls and a blue flowered dress and bonnet and she is holding a basket of kittens. kit-tens. It seemed that I spent forever stitching that doll and I remember Jenny dancing around the living room when she opened the present. When I look at the doll, now grubby and losing its stuffing, I still see the toddler with her real ringlets who loved carrying her kittens around by their necks. (They survived.) I have always told the children the gifts I like best are those they have made themselves and to this day that's still true. Up in my room are two of my favorites. One Valentine's Day, maybe 10 years ago, Jenny decided to create a picture made of rainbow hearts. Blue and green and yellow and pink and red there are construction paper hearts upon hearts all over the page. And it says, in that childhood scrawl mothers hold so dear, I love you. I had it framed in a bright red frame and I hung up in my room to enjoy. Jenny pointed out recently the hearts have faded into almost indistinguishable in-distinguishable colors, and while that may be true the I love you still seems to make it a bright happy picture when I look at it. In my glass secretary where special books are kept, is one that is fabric-covered in red and white flannel. It is book of poems, written and illustrated by my son when he was about 10. "Enchanted sky, silver and fluffy drifting by," is written next to the picture of clouds. I don't take out that book of poems very often but it whenever I walk past the secretary and see the red and white covered volume a little smile comes over my face. This year, especially, we've been awfully busy with our separate lives. We eat a lot of microwave meals, not always together, and on a rare night when we are all at home we're apt to throw a vide-j in the VCR and make a fire and shut out the world. At Thanksgiving our tablecloth was one my grandmother had cross-stitched and at Christmas instead of a tree skirt we used a patchwork quilt my great-grandmother made. We went shopping for jeans last Saturday and both kids found suitable pants which admittedly look like every other kid's jeans. Which is why I was pleased when Jenny bought some embroidery thread at the market to decorate her pants. Now her's sport a rose on the rear pocket and zig-zags around the front. When she wore them to school the other day a classmate who likes to tease her asked where she got her jeans. She was wearing them with an old-fashioned white lace collared blouse and she had her hair tied back in a french braid. "You know," he said "I never see anybody with clothes like yours." Jenny turned and instead of letting the kid get to her said simply, "thanks." And it struck a vein with me when she told me the story, who she is becoming is due in part to what has been embroidered not only by her but perhaps in her. I worry a lot that our lives move too fast and the kid's music is stupid and loud and they are growing up without a civil rights movement move-ment or an unjust war or anything real and I wonder how they will ever find solid values in such a seemingly shallow time. And then, I pull the quilt made up of tiny squares close to me and I remember my grandmother always called all quilts, comforters. No wonder... C'';"'"!:5'''i"! ffo-fc QA iff ClwJ& riur CRITERIA FOR BETTER SKIING V$ -open your eyes to a warm delicious breakfast at Cassidy's Restaurant. Open daily 7:00 am to 11 am. -pound the bumps, ski the powder and reach for the sky. $$store your skis with our bellman, unbuckle vour boots in the Park City Club Bar and relax to daily Apres Ski Live Entertainment with special social hour prices on your favorite concoctions. Don't forget to join us for the Super Bowl on our Big Screen TV's shoosh down the hall and melt into a booth at Cassidy s Restaurant. Indulge yourself to any of our delicious salads, appetizers, and fresh seafood, veal, chicken, steak and pasta entrees. vv" settle back to the Park City Club Bar and enjoy an entertaining evening of your favorite libations and superb entertainment. 13th & 14th 17th 20th & 21st 24th Pat Sheedy Kent Thompson Jake N Space Kent Thompson All of this is located in the Shadow Ridge Hotel at the base of the Park City Ski Area. 'Complimentary valet covered parking. 'Dinner reservations 649-5869 Major credit cards accepted For the benefit of members & their guests temporary Memberships Available snflJ SEMte fFfr for? raifor XD (ME GEE QxEtCfl) (MD (50 Gk GREAT NEW FAMILY HOME Great new family home in Silver Springs. Four bedrooms, formal dining room for those special occasions, separate family dining room for everyday family use. Comfortable living room with fireplace. Separate den study for family use. Oversize two car garage; lots of storage room. 489 1 N. East Meadows Drive. Dean Berrett 649-3497 1 r . ..... $1 m, , t?5s.iWS BE KING OF THE HILL Retail or office. The Hill Building has both! Located at Park City's busiest intersection with abundant parking. 1 ,200 plus square feet of retail or office space. Building has a new roof, new paint-in great shape to help create the professional image for your business. Competitive rates. less Reid Owner Agent 649-9037 DEER VALLEY CONDO FOR $1 18,500! Walk to lifts from this sweetheart. This like new. attractively furnished I bedroom. I.S bath cutie is one of the lowest priced units in Deer Valley and still offers quality, convenience and bright appeal. $1 18,500. Furnished including all the do-dads. lerry Obert Home: 649-6684 Day or evening showings JESS REID 'REAL ESTATE Park City, UT. 84060 1910 Prospector Avenue 649-3000 Or at our office location at The Resort Center |