The 'calm wolf'

Personally, I saw nothing particularly insensitive in the Okemos Chiefs. The mascot for Okemos Public Schools was, after all, derived from an Ojibwe (Chippewa) chief.

And the school logo, unlike the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo, was dignified.

But, not knowing what it feels like to be logoed or mascotized, I guess I'm not the best judge of that.

Anyway, after decades of back-and-forth, the erstwhile Okemos Chiefs are now the Okemos Wolves.

It so happens that I'm intimately acquainted with three products of the Okemos School system. I surveyed them on their reaction to the new name and logo. The result:

Justin: "Yeah ... They had to do something ... The wolf is sufficiently ferocious."

Benjamin: "I personally would have gone with a more unique mascot. 'Wolves' is kinda generic. I always thought 'Oaks' or 'Mighty Oaks' could be a pretty good mascot. But I guess trees aren't very intimidating ..."

Caitlin: "I like that it's a calm wolf."

Five Seconds (2/8)

As I mentioned, this is the sequel to Of The Eight Winds. I will be posting the first two chapters today and then one chapter a day until next Monday. You can also read it on AO3 here. 

Chapter Two

It was decided the best place to go would be the Midwest -- far from family on the coasts. They’d avoid the biggest cities -- Chicago, Detroit -- but still stick to denser populations; mid-sized cities on the edge of farmland -- it would give them the ability to lose tails in the chaos of town or hit the road quickly and disappear into the woods. A college town where no one would think anything of a new family moving in at the beginning of a semester. It was early May and the summer semester would begin soon at many universities. Frohike said he had a trustworthy contact nearby, so they settled on Lansing, Michigan.

The inheritance from Mulder’s father’s estate would keep them afloat for as long as they needed. Now they just needed to tell the kids.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Frohike handed him a shoebox. Mulder opened it to find new IDs for the whole family. They were now the McDonald family of Okemos, Michigan. The driver’s licenses looked real, as did the passports. Mulder thumbed through everything slowly.

“How’d you get these so fast?” he asked, looking up.

Frohike shrugged. “Best not to ask.”

Mulder leveled a look at the older man.

“If either of my kids ever come to you for a fake ID, I’m hiring a plane and skywriting your location,” he said.

Langly snorted from his chair.

“This is your new address,” Frohike said, handing Mulder a piece of paper that he threw in the box. “Subleased a furnished house from a professor traveling on sabbatical. Darlene will meet you there at noon on Friday. Don’t be late, she gets cranky.”

“Darlene?” Mulder asked.

“Darlene Frohike,” Byers piped in. “Melvin’s sister.”

“You have a sister?” Mulder said, surprised. He pictured Frohike with breasts and long hair and felt one eye start to twitch.

“Go to her if you need help,” Frohike said, “she lives nearby.”

“You have a sister?” Mulder said again.

Frohike glared at him.

“They used to run pacifists over the border into Windsor, Canada during ‘Nam,” Langly helpfully piped up. “She can roll.”

“She can roll?” Mulder asked.

“Her kung-fu’s the best,” Frohike said seriously.

Mulder held up the box of fake documents.

“Family affair, huh?” he said, and Frohike shrugged.

Mulder thumbed through everything one more time before departing the bunker. They’d been generous with Scully’s height and his weight. He could picture his wife’s smirk already.

“Hey, Mulder?” Frohike called out just as he opened the door. Mulder glanced back at the three men. “Be careful.”

XxXxXxXxXxX

Mulder called a family meeting as soon as the kids walked in the door that evening. After the news they’d received the last time their parents had sat down with them like this, they both looked at them with trepidation.

“God, you’re not about to tell us Mom’s having twins, are you?” Lily said, plopping down on the couch in the living room. Will lowered himself down next to her, his eyes darting back and forth between his parents. When neither Mulder nor Scully laughed, Lily’s face fell. “What’s going on?” she asked seriously.

Mulder had debated with Scully how honest to be with them. While he thought they were old enough to handle the full truth, neither wanted to scare them. And yet they needed to know the severity of the situation. A parent’s eternal dilemma.

“Our family is in some trouble,” he started, sharing a look with Scully. “And we’re going to need to leave town for a while.”

“When?” Lily asked, “For how long?”

“What kind of trouble?” Will asked.

“There are some people that are after your mom-” Mulder started, and both kids interrupted him quickly.

“What kind of people?” Lily asked, at the same time, Will, whose voice rose almost an octave, said:

“After her for what?”

Mulder rubbed a hand over his face. He was perched on the arm of the chair Scully occupied, and she reached out and took his hand.

“I think we need to start from the beginning,” she said. “The very beginning.”

She gave his hand a squeeze and began talking. Starting with the abduction of Samantha Mulder, Scully gave a thorough, yet succinct account of the ins and outs of their current predicament, making the whole outlandish tale sound coherent and almost reasonable. Both kids listened to her raptly and remained calm, and Mulder once again thanked his lucky stars for the woman next to him. For all the tumult they’d experienced through the years, there was no one he’d rather have by his side.

“I have a friend -- some friends -- that have set us up with a new life-” Mulder said, when Scully was finally done talking.

He was interrupted by Lily.

“The friends who you visit at Arlington Cemetery? The ones we’re not supposed to know about? Those friends?”

Mulder looked to Scully who wore a surprised smile.

“I haven’t said a thing, Mulder,” she said, looking to him.

“Lily hid in the trunk of your car once,” said Will.

“Will!” Lily shouted at her brother.

“Lil, is that true?” Scully asked her daughter, concerned. Lily wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“I’m not sure whether to be terrified or impressed,” Mulder said. Then shook his head. Back to the topic at hand. He would worry about that later.  “Anyway, those friends have set us up with a life in the Midwest for a year, probably less. Until the heat is off. Until we’re sure we’re all safe.”

“Where in the Midwest?” Lily said with trepidation.

“Michigan,” Scully said.

“They’ve got good hockey in Michigan,” Will offered, and Mulder wanted to hug the kid for his optimism.

Lily looked pained. “What about school?” she said. “What about UVA?” She was supposed to start college there in the fall.

“Lil, these people are not above using you to get to us. The only safe thing is for you and Will to come with us. It’s not even for a year. You can defer. Just the fall semester,” Mulder said.

Lily fell back against the cushions on the couch. Scully and Mulder shared a look.

“And we have to leave soon,” Scully said, “before graduation.”

Will reached out and put his hand on his sister’s knee, his face all sympathy. To her credit, Lily looked at her little brother and gave him a thankful look, a small uptick of the lips. Will turned back to his parents.

“When do we have to start packing?” he asked.

“Tonight,” Mulder said.

XxX

A day later found Mulder in the attic with Lily and William, going through boxes, taking the few things that they had in storage that they thought they might need. Mulder had grabbed a tent, a few sleeping bags, a kit knife, various useful odds and ends.

Will was over in the corner and had unearthed a box of old pictures and held one up for Mulder’s perusal.

“What’s this one from?” his son asked.

Mulder came over to take a look. It was a glossy 8x10 of him and Scully facing each other, framed in profile, hovering on the edge of a crime scene. He remembered it, now. It had been taken by a federal crime scene tech who’d finished documenting a scene and had needed to finish off the roll of film. Mulder had seen him snapping and had handed the guy a fiver. Two weeks later it arrived in an interoffice envelope, accompanied by three dollars and a post-it that said “keep the change.”

In the photo, Scully was looking up at him, the sun at her back slanting on her autumn hair so that it shone like a halo of spun gold. She was wearing a dark suit, as was her wont, the bulge of her service weapon at her back, one arm out and gesturing at something out of frame. He was struck, as he always seemed to be, by her exquisite beauty; her face was a composition. A work of art. A call to prayer.

“God,” he said, a little awestruck, “look how young we were.”

“Mom used to be really pretty,” Will said, and though he said it kindly, Mulder turned to him slowly.

“I’m sorry, ‘Used to be?’” he said.

Will looked nervously between his father and Lily.

“She’s still pretty?” Will said, more as a question than a statement.

“God damn right,” he said, “Every day I thank my lucky stars that she still deigns to share my bed.”

“Dad, don’t be gross,” from Lily, who at 18 didn’t mind her parent’s displays of affection so long as they weren’t public.

“Gross?” Mulder said, pointing at each of them.  “Gross? You were born of the loins of an ethereal creature of heaven, the both of you. Don’t blaspheme.”

“Says the guy who just said ‘God damn,’” said Lily, cheekily.

Mulder grinned and turned back to the photo.

“To me, fair friend, you never can be old, for as you were when first your eye I ey’d, such seems your beauty still,” Mulder said, looking at it.

“Which sonnet?” Lily asked.

“104,” he said, and they shared a smile. Another silent moment of admiring the photo and he set it down, turned to his children. “All right,” he said, “pack what you need. Let’s get a move on.”

He added the picture to his own cache.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Something caught Lily’s eye as her father was folding up the old box of photos. The corner of a glossy 5x7 was sticking up from the edge of the box -- in it, she saw her father’s face, smiling, looking extremely young.

She helped him shove it back into the corner of the attic with a scrape of cardboard on plywood and he stood, head still bent down in the cramped space so as not to crack his skull on the slanted beams.

William was already heading back down the rickety ladder onto the landing below them, the hollow sound of his steps on the aluminum like the beat of a drum.

“You okay, Lil?” her father asked, his eyes squinted at her in concern. She was still kneeling by the box.

“Yeah,” she said, smiling at him, and glanced around the attic, at the memories their family had built up over the years. She hoped they’d be able to revisit them one day. Deep down she was afraid this might be the last time she saw some of these things -- an old box of her brother’s LEGOs, her Raggedy Ann, the doll’s black button eyes fixed and sightless, a wispy cobweb hanging limply off her yarn hair.

“Let’s get out of here, then,” he said, and reached down to help her up.

Before she took it, she reached out and pulled at the glossy photo, sliding it easily out of the box and slipping it surreptitiously into her back pocket as she stood. It crinkled in her jeans as she walked toward the attic ladder with her father behind her, as she moved on toward she knew not what.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Scully sat in her car with her keys in her hand, staring at the woman’s house, debating whether or not to get out.

She had faith in her husband and all her things in a suitcase, but there was still a small part of her that didn’t quite believe the tale Olivia Kurtzweil had told them. In all their years working together on the X-Files, Mulder had always been the engine, and she had always been the brake -- and the impulse to tap the pedal when faced with the fantastic had never left her, even after more than a decade out of the basement office.

She drummed her nails on the steering wheel once and then made a decision, shoving the keys into the pocket of her coat, double checking that her service weapon was in order, and sliding out of her car and onto the sidewalk. She wanted one last talk with the woman before committing to this drastic course of action.

It hadn’t been easy to find Kurtzweil’s address -- even with the Bureau’s resources at her fingertips. She’d had to call in a favor to a friend with ties to the State Department to get it.

The street Kurtzweil lived on was quiet, just outside of Pentagon City. Parking on the street was by permit only, and there were hardly any cars. The house was a one-story ranch with a long porch, big enough for two rocking chairs, which were tilted at an angle toward each other just-so. The landscaping was impeccable and there weren’t any bugs in the porch lights. Olivia ran a tidy ship that Scully could appreciate.

She hesitated one last time at the door before reaching for the doorbell. She’d debated the merits of coming unannounced and had settled on the element of surprise -- hoping if the woman were lying about anything, unprepped and unrehearsed, Scully might be able to suss out lie from truth.

She heard the bell ring inside the house and waited for muffled footsteps or perhaps the bark of a dog. She was met with silence. She gave it about another ten seconds before ringing the bell again. When there was still no answer, she walked over to the garage and stood on tiptoes to peer through the window. There was a BMW parked inside. Scully made her way back to the door, and reached up to give it a knock. When her knuckles hit the wood the door gave an inch and suddenly feeling unsettled, Scully pushed it slowly the rest of the way open.

Just inside the door there was a purse laying on its side and a cascade of unopened mail fanned out on the floor. A chill ran up Scully’s spine and she reached for her sidearm, suddenly glad she’d brought it.

“Olivia?” she called tentatively, before taking a step inside, the gun held out in front of her, listening sharply for any hint of sound. None came.

She swept the perimeter of the entryway, all her senses on high alert. Hearing nothing, she called out Olivia’s name again. Still silence.

She turned the corner into the main part of the living area -- an open concept living room, dining room, kitchen, and nothing looked out of place. She edged her way slowly into the kitchen, and that’s when she saw it; two feet sticking out behind a large island in the kitchen.

Scully darted forward and slid to her knees next to the woman, quickly taking in what she saw before her: Olivia Kurtzweil had been shot, a double-tap to the head and one to the heart--a professional kill. Knowing she wouldn’t find it, Scully reached out to feel for a pulse in the woman’s neck. Her body was still warm.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Mulder stood in the elevator, his finger hovering over the ‘12.’ It was one of the newer office buildings outside the district, a high rise of dark glass and steel. He thought maybe he should have called first, but hadn’t wanted to risk it. Finally, he depressed the button and the elevator lurched to life.

On the twelfth floor, the doors opened to a brightly lit lobby, the walls and floor all stark white granite. There was a sleek reception desk ahead, manned by an even sleeker looking young blond woman, who looked at him expectantly as he approached.

“Hello,” she smiled, not showing teeth, “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to see Lauren Williams,” he hedged, and the woman’s eyebrows shot up.

“Do you have an appointment?” the woman asked.

“No,” he said, and started to wonder if he should have come at all.

“Okay,” the woman said slowly, narrowing her eyes, “I can call her assistant and ask if she can see you. Your name?”

Mulder felt like a bug under a microscope.

“Tell her it’s Fox,” he said.

She nodded.

“One moment.”

Mulder glanced at his watch. They were supposed to be on the road in four hours. This was a last minute stop for him, a barely thought-out ‘what if’ plan C in case the whole thing went to shit.

When he glanced back up, the receptionist was looking at him expectantly.

“She’ll be out in a moment,” she said, and Mulder smiled his thanks and took a few awkward steps back.

There was a small waiting area to the left of reception, but the seats looked more modern than comfortable, and the entire space had a disinfected don’t-sit-here vibe to it. Set dressing.

After a moment he heard the efficient clicks of approaching heels, and turned to see his ex-wife coming out of a metal door that he’d thought was a wall.

“Fox?” she said, her face one of pleased surprise.

“Lauren,” he said, as she leaned in and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, “I’m sorry to drop in on you like this. You look well.”

She did. She was in a crisp grey suit that was likely Chanel or Hermes, and trim as ever. Her face looked sculpted and her skin clear and bright. Not a wrinkle to be found. A mild cloud of the same perfume she always wore clung to her, lending her an air of sophistication where it may have made other women seem like they were trying too hard. She leaned back, holding onto one of his forearms and gave him an assessing look.

“You look… worried,” she finally said, her eyes narrowing a bit in concern.

He didn’t reply, and she turned to the receptionist.

“Thank you, Amanda,” she said smartly and inclined her head toward the metal door/wall which clicked open as they approached it.

She led him down a long hallway, with glass conference rooms lining one side and open concept work stations along the other. At the far end, she opened a floor-to-ceiling glass door and led him into a large and immaculate corner office.

Mulder raised his eyebrows, impressed.

“You’ve done well for yourself,” he said, “it’s been a while.” She shut the door behind them and gestured to a small sitting area off to the side of the office. It was more welcoming than the lobby seating had been, and he slid into one of the chairs gratefully.

“Executive Vice President,” she said proudly, and took the chair opposite him. She settled into the leather of the seat and leveled a look at him. “You okay, Fox?”

Mulder glanced at the door, at the bustle of the office beyond it. No one seemed to pay them any mind.

“I’m…” he started, “we’re in some trouble.”

“You and Scully?” Lauren asked kindly, “Is she okay?”

“Yes,” Mulder smiled, “she’s good, she’s…”

He fumbled a bit. Not quite sure where to start.

“Is it money?” Lauren asked. “Do you need-”

Mulder cut her off, laughing uncomfortably. He and Scully both made a very good living, and his father’s estate would have kept them more than afloat even if they didn’t. He huffed a deep sigh, and she sat quiet and patient, looking at him in concern.

“Our family is in danger, Lauren,” he finally said, “and we need to disappear for a little while.”

Her brow furrowed.

“Is it Scully’s work at the FBI?” she started, “Is it-”

He once again cut her off.

“Listen, I don’t want to tell you much for your own protection. The less you know, the better.”

She nodded, her brow furrowed with concern.

“The reason I’m here is… we’re going away for a while. Headed to the Midwest.” She remained silent, waiting for him to continue. “Do you… does your aunt still have that hunting camp up in Michigan?”

He saw a small smile crack through her unease. Lauren’s Aunt Clio was half Williams Family Secret, half Williams Family Legend. A bright, effusive personality, she was blustery and smart, and unpretentious to the point of embarrassment, as far as Lauren and her upper-crust-endeavoring parents were concerned. She lived in Ohio, where she and Lauren’s father had been raised, ten years the man’s senior. She kept a hunting camp in the eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan called Camp Hi Early. She hunted deer throughout the state’s archery season and had told a story at Mulder and Lauren’s wedding reception about running at a bear with an axe from the outhouse. The story had mortified Lauren at the time -- Mulder had just been delighted. Aunt Clio had been drinking straight whiskey at the party, and had just been about to tell Mulder a story of running ‘shine when Lauren had pulled him away and to the dance floor. Mulder had never forgotten it, or her.

“Aunt Cli died last year,” she said with a begrudging smile. Mulder marveled. The woman must have been close to a hundred years old. Lauren’s eyes met his. “But she left me the camp.”

“You still have it?” Mulder asked, amazed, “it doesn’t seem like your kind of… scene.”

Lauren laughed.

“That it’s not. But there’s a mining company that has its eyes on the northern 100 acres, and if they get their hands on it whether from me or from someone I might sell to, Clio Williams will haunt me from the grave.”

Mulder laughed, felt something loosen in his chest.

“If you need it, it’s yours, Fox,” Lauren said, the humor dissipating from her voice.

He leaned back in the chair.

“We probably won’t need it,” he said, “it’s just something I thought of as a distant Plan C. But if we need to get out fast -- if we need to go somewhere we can’t be found…”

Lauren nodded and stood, moved over to her desk.

“It’s rustic, Fox,” she said, and sat down in the chair, pulling open a desk drawer. “And not charming-rustic. It’s rustic-rustic. And likely in disrepair. I sent a local handyman out there this past spring. He assured me that the roof doesn’t leak and the windows aren’t broken, but that’s about it.” She was rifling distractedly though the drawer. “I’m not sure how well outfitted it is, and It’s probably overrun with mice and squirrels. He said it looked like a moose had been gnawing on the siding…”

“It’ll be a last resort,” he said seriously.

Lauren paused and looked at him.

“Bad?” she asked.

“Pretty bad,” he nodded.

She winced and stood, an envelope in her hand. She made her way over to him and raised it.

“This is the key to the padlock on the cabin door,” she said, “and a map to the camp. The handyman I hired drew it up for me, not the other way around, mind you. I haven’t been out there since I was a kid and Aunt Cli took me up there to teach me to shoot. There’s the boondocks and there’s this. I’m talking county highway to a dirt road to a two-track. A seasonal road that the county doesn’t plow. I don’t even know if an SUV can get in there. The road to Camp may be impassable...” she handed him the envelope.

“That’s what I’m counting on,” he said.

Lauren reached out and squeezed his shoulder, the concern on her face cutting rare lines into her perfect skin.

“I want you to check in with me, let me know you’re okay,” she said, “do you feel safe doing that?”

Mulder nodded, put his hand over hers where it rested on her shoulder, squeezed.

“Yeah,” he said.

“I’m serious, Fox,” she said, “if I call, you answer your fucking phone. I’m scared for you. For the kids and Dana.”

“I promise,” he said, giving her hand one last squeeze before he rose to leave. “I’ll send you a number when I’ve got one.”

His phone rang then, like a premonition. He answered.

“Mulder?” Scully said into his ear, her voice shaky with panic. He heard the slam of a car door. “We have to leave. Now.”

TTT 10.14.2020 Zoomed out? Join us as we shape alternatives at Youth Voices and NowComment

Here are 10 or 11 reasons for joining us on Teachers Teaching Teachers https://teachersteachingteachers.org on Wednesday evening, October 14th at 9E/8C/7M/6P.

Kiran Chaudhuri, Harvest Collegiate High School, New York, New York

Paul Hankins, Silver Spring High School, Sellersburg, Indiana

Jessica Hernandez-Speer, P.U.L.S.E. High School, Bronx, New York

Janet Ilko, Health Sciences High School and Middle College, San Diego, California

Anna Maine, Berkeley High School, Berkeley, California

Natalia Navarro, Orange Cove High School, Orange Cove, California

Dawn Reed, Okemos High School, Okemos, Michigan

Sam Reed, The U School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chris Sloan and Bryan Jeffreys, Judge Memorial Catholic High School, Salt Lake City, Utah

Caleb Wohlust, Endeavor Academy High School, Centennial, Colorado

We are building what danah boyd describes as "networked publics" with our students on Youth Voices https://youthvoices.live/books and NowComment https://nowcomment.com/groups/literature

Networked publics are publics that are restructured by networked technologies. As such, they are simultaneously (1) the space constructed through networked technologies and (2) the imagined collective that emerges as a result of the intersection of people, technology, and practice. Networked publics serve many of the same functions as other types of publics – they allow people to gather for social, cultural, and civic purposes and they help people connect with a world beyond their close friends and family. While networked publics share much in common with other types of publics, the ways in which technology structures them introduces distinct affordances that shape how people engage with these environments. The properties of bits – as distinct from atoms – introduce new possibilities for interaction. As a result, new dynamics emerge that shape participation.  

Later in the same article, boyd describes the affordances of digital discourse. Is this what is happening in our video-conferenced classrooms? We have the tools, experience, and commitment to build more powerful environments for learning on Youth Voices and NowComment:

The content of networked publics is made out of bits. Both self-expressions and interactions between people produce bit-based content in networked publics. Because of properties of bits, bits are easier to store, distribute, and search than atoms. Four affordances that emerge out of the properties of bits play a significant role in configuring networked publics: 

• Persistence: online expressions are automatically recorded and archived. • Replicability: content made out of bits can be duplicated. • Scalability: the potential visibility of content in networked publics is great. • Searchability: content in networked publics can be accessed through search. 

danah boyd. (2010). "Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances,Dynamics, and Implications." In Networked Self: Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites (ed. Zizi Papacharissi), pp. 39-58.

It's amazing to see the different pieces of work happening in our network. We will share what our students are doing and what we are beginning to imagine they can do together on Youth Voices and NowComment.

Please plan to join us at https://teachersteachingteachers.org on Wednesday evening, October 14 at 9E/8C/7M6P.

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Project W-31: A Hands-On Lesson in Drag Racing for a Group of Michigan State University Engineering Students

Americans love to wax poetic about 1969—Woodstock, the moon landing, cool cars—but it also was a tumultuous time to be a young male. Postwar prosperity and optimism gave way to assassinations, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and general cultural confusion. But for a revolving door of Michigan State University (MSU) engineering students, 1969-1973 was a seminal period. Through an interesting sequence of events, they managed to convince Oldsmobile, MSU and its chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and a host of suppliers to support the preparation of a race car on a shoestring budget.

Paul Aurand, Rick Dolan, Bob Sedlak, and Jim Minneker (later to become a Corvette Hall-of-Famer) knew one another from MSU’s engineering school, but they truly didn’t get together until they joined the student chapter of the SAE. The club met once a month, often spilling over afterward to Monte’s, a watering hole in nearby Okemos.

At Milan in 1972, Project W-31 prepares to go against another W-Machine.

In the fall of 1969, Jim Miller, an Oldsmobile engineer and technical advisor to the SAE chapter, playfully derided the students for not doing more as a group. Rick Dolan responded, “Why don’t you have Oldsmobile give us a car to build?”

Miller’s response surprised them: “If you guys find a place to work on it, I will find you a car.”

Dolan says, “We weren’t sure if it was Jim or the beer talking, but we took him seriously!” Within a week, he secured space in the blacksmith shop with the assistance of thermodynamics professor Frank Roop.

Project W-31 at Tri-City in 1970. Bob Dennis handled the first iteration of the lettering via contact paper. “Everybody agreed that those little 2-inch letters were too small.” He also painted the custom license plate and Dr. Olds trunk lid.

“Now it was getting serious,” says Bob Dennis, who joined the team soon after its inception. “We began looking at national records and what Oldsmobile offered. We decided against a 4-4-2 because they were not competitive, but folks were winning with W-31s. We spec’d out the engine, transmission, and rear axle.”

Several weeks later, Paul Aurand received an evening phone call from Jim Miller. “Be outside in 15 minutes, and be alone.”

They drove to the Oldsmobile Engineering offices, entered a locked facility, and parked next to a red vehicle. Miller handed Aurand the keys and warned, “The title has been sent to Lansing. The VIN has been removed. There’s no registration or insurance, and it has no plates. This car doesn’t exist. Kid, don’t get caught!”

On its first outing, Project W-31 ran G/SS due to wider-than-stock rear tires. Note the air induction system under the bumper.

Aurand continues, “I took the back streets on my way to campus. Several team members who had previously been alerted met me at our ‘garage.’ Nobody saw us come in.”

Hands-on Training What the team received was a 1969 4-4-2 hardtop that had been an Oldsmobile durability test vehicle set to be scrapped. Although the team had determined that the 4-4-2’s 400 was not competitive at the drags, Oldsmobile had followed through by including everything they requested: fresh W-31, four-speed, and 5.00:1 rear.

“Unfortunately it was heavier than it needed to be for the class, but beggars can’t be choosers,” says Fred Bowen.

At Project W-31’s second outing in 1970, the four-speed broke.

The team had varying amounts of automotive experience, but all had a lot to learn. “We studied magazine articles, including one featuring a team connected to Labadie Olds,” says Bob Dennis.

Adds Jim Minneker, “We wanted to race on the G/S national record (12.46). We raced in regional NHRA events, but it never got more competitive than that.”

Thanks to $1,000 in treasury dues that the SAE had collected over the previous 20 years, the team had the funds to buy equipment to make the Olds race-worthy. Yet it was the kindness of sponsors that really made it happen.

The legendary Trailer of Doom, spring 1970.

“We went on a letter-writing campaign,” says Minneker. “We were wholesome college kids racing cars asking, ‘Would you like a place on our car? A donation could give us a whole load of engineering experience!’”

Joe Guzek, engineer at Lansing-based Motor Wheel Corporation and another SAE technical advisor, was able to score Spyder wheels plus Goodyear 7-inch cheater slicks and Frontrunner lightweights.

“It was surprising how many were willing to donate equipment to us,” says Fred Bowen. “ACCEL gave us points, caps, and rotors. Once we were at US-131 and were approached by Calvin DeBruin, a 1950s-era MSU engineering grad and employee of Sealed Power. He provided us the company’s then-new ‘head land’ piston rings.”

Jim Minneker and Rick Dolan show off a trophy in 1970.

“The services we had to pay for were getting the heads cc’d and a three-angle valve job,” says Paul Aurand. “That cost us a couple hundred bucks, but everything else was donated.”

The team tore into preparing the Olds. Removing the sound deadener, melt pads, and undercoating was tedious. Aurand says, “We installed OHC-6 Tempest front springs to improve front-end lift and weight transfer at the starting line. Air Lift airbags were installed in the coils. We also installed the Tempest’s drum brakes, which were marginal.”

Rick Dolan was enthused by the machine shop and made steel bushings for the control arms. The team also modified the transmission into a “slick shift” (with no synchronizers), which enabled faster shifts.

Under no circumstances was Project W-31 to be driven in public.

Initial testing revealed serious rear-wheel hop upon starts, so a pinion snubber was built and installed to control this problem.

Off to the Races The team had a car, but how to get to the dragstrip? Initially the guys borrowed what was soon deemed the Trailer of Doom. Bob Sedlak explains, “I was towing with my 1963 Dodge wagon, and poor Bob Dennis was sitting in the Olds. I was simply trying to find the right speed, but there was no right speed. If you went 20 miles an hour it was marginal, and if you went a little faster or a slower it was wildly out of control.”

The group ended up borrowing a tow bar and using Al Wilson’s 1964 Plymouth for the rest of the year until Cliff Grupke bought his 1969 Cutlass. The pair presented nicely as tow and drag cars.

The W-31 team members, 1971. Back row, left to right: Cliff Grupke, Fred Bowen, Bob Senk, Al Wilson. Front row, left to right: Doug Arden, Jim Grum, Bob Dennis, Curt Dressler.

Project W-31’s first outing was at Onondaga in the spring of 1970. To their dismay, instead of G/S, they were obliged to compete in Super Stock due to wider-than-stock tires (the Goodyear “stockers” had yet to arrive). Jim Minneker and Paul Aurand piloted the Olds at the track. It performed admirably, but at Tri-City (its second outing), the transmission broke.

“We flat-towed the car with the driveshaft in place,” says Fred Bowen. “This caused internal damage to the tranny due to insufficient lubrication. After replacing the tranny, we always removed the driveshaft before towing.”

Few had previous track experience. Cliff Grupke, who joined in 1970, developed his own style. He says, “I usually stabbed the clutch. Thanks to the gearbox mods we made, it shifted nicely. I recall one time we were running well and went up against this Chevelle. I got to the line and used our rule of thumb: activate the Hurst Line Lock, bring yourself up to 6,000 rpm and, when you see the last yellow, go. We never red-lighted! When I saw that yellow, I let go of everything and got a good holeshot, but the Chevy also got out of the hole nicely. I reached for Second gear and missed, then jammed it in and got it going again. I still was ahead because he too missed the shift, but I recovered faster.”

On May 16, 1971, Project W-31 ran H/S instead of G/S at Tri-City. They won their class with an elapsed time of 13.14.

There also were obstacles beyond their control. Bob Dennis explains, “When we raced at Brohman M-37 Dragway, their so-called tech guys made us remove the air induction system, which was regular production equipment for the W-31. We said it’s factory, but they were adamant. They were afraid we were going beat the local guys, I think.”

Throughout the embryonic team’s existence, they also raced at Martin, Milan, and Detroit Dragway.

Uh-Oh To test their handiwork, the team would tow the Olds across campus to the commuter lot, sometimes arousing complaints from the married housing complex a half-mile away. “The first time I did a test burnout was a disaster,” relates Bob Dennis. “It was a late spring night in 1971. I brought up the rpm’s, popped the clutch, and I’m flying along this parking lot.”

After blowing the engine during testing in the summer of 1971, Project W-31 received a new engine.

Dennis Kline continues, “I was in the car and remember the exhilaration of the open-header launch was suddenly replaced by absolute panic when I saw a flash of light in front of us, which was a chain reflecting our headlights.”

Bob hit the brakes, but it was too late. The chain went up over the hood, broke the windshield, and continued over the car.

In a later test run in the summer, there was an enormous explosion, followed by silence. Cliff Grupke tells us, “I remember pulling the spark plugs there in the dark so we could look down into the chambers. John Shook had this little 12-volt light bulb rig that he could clip onto the battery terminals and lower through the spark plug hole. As he was peering down number 7, he uttered, ‘I wonder where the piston went?’ Jim Miller later diagnosed the problem as an over-torqued rod bolt, which I never believed because I know how careful and precise we were in building the engine. Jim was able to secure another engine, which we promptly fitted with our racing bits that had survived.”

Uh-Oh, Part II Aside from wide-open throttle tests in the commuter parking lot, the team never drove the Olds in public. Nonetheless, bringing a tow vehicle and rigging a tow bar were laborious, so Bob Dennis had the idea to obtain a provisionary pass to drive to the lot. “So, dumb me, I called Oldsmobile Public Relations.”

Project W-31 warms up its slicks as it prepares to race a Yenko Deuce Nova in 1972.

The call went nowhere, but eventually Jim Miller caught wind and said, “What in the hell are you doing? You’re getting people in trouble at Oldsmobile!”

Dale Smith, Oldsmobile’s manager of vehicle testing and racing support, wrote about the episode (albeit incorrectly) in his book Racing to the Past: “I did get a car for engineering students at Michigan State. Since they could not afford a trailer, they called Olds Public Relations to attempt to get the car registered so they could drive the car to drag racing events. I then received a call from a dumb $#!+ informing me that I had violated the General Motors racing ban, and that I had better get that car back before I got into deep trouble … I told him the bottom line on why you, me, or anyone else here exists is to sell cars. In my job, I’m trying to improve Olds’ youth image and cultivate new customers.”

The Second Season and Beyond In the spring of 1971, with MSU repurposing its facilities, Project W-31 lost its space in the blacksmith shop. Fred Bowen enlisted the help of Dr. Charles St. Clair, chairman of the mechanical engineering department. “We drove around the area looking for a suitable place to keep the Olds. We had little luck, so he said, ‘For now, you can keep it temporarily in my backyard.’”

MSU’s SAE club recruited new members with the line, “Drag racing is bigger than you think it is, Leroy! Get caught up in it this fall at MSU!”

From there, the Olds ended up in the driveway of Professor Roop. “I think we swapped upper and lower ball joints in his garage one time,” says Cliff Grupke. “We had absolutely no place to work on it, having to beg and borrow everything. I can remember writing letters to our sponsors asking them to renew their enthusiasm for our club.”

In the fall of 1971, Cliff Grupke became president of MSU SAE. “I tried to get everybody else to drive, but nobody seemed interested. I even threatened Al to drive it because he had worked so hard on that car, but I ended up driving quite a bit in 1972.”

Thanks to new member Bob Senk, the team was able to finish rebuilding the engine and putting everything back together at his family’s farm. “We pushed the car under a shade tree, took the hood off, and dropped the engine in with a block and tackle, just like you read about,” says Grupke. “After the summer, we stashed it at my mom’s in Southgate. In the fall of 1972, a local teammate named Jim Mauer had an empty garage at his mom’s.”

The Project W-31 team not only learned how to build a car, but the members also learned how to race. Current evidence of the team’s best shows 13.09 at 108.04 mph.

Where Did Project W-31 Go? All members went on to successful careers in engineering, and none forgot this early experience. They were reunited for the first time in 45-plus years because there’s a story to be told, but the million-dollar question is: What happened to Project W-31?

The trail seems to disappear in 1973. Rick Dolan recalls seeing the Olds at the trailer park next to Tom’s Party Store in Okemos. The car was sitting high in the front, as if the engine had been removed. Paul Aurand says that Doug Arden, a later member, claims the Olds was raced by George Cornell, who may have had a Lunati connection. Arden even thinks he has seen the Olds in more recent years—with lettering intact—in a Lansing lot.

Project W-31 was much more than a cool car story from back in the day. It’s about this great grassroots adventure by a group of engineering students who gained real-world experience through hard work, ingenuity, and initiative. Reminisces Bob Senk, “Absolutely thrilling! I’d go back right now and be glad to do it. As fun as can be. Way better than a rollercoaster!”

“We learned a ton of things in that short time. We also learned to build confidence in ourselves,” adds Bob Dennis. “Everyone was very lucky because we had something on our resumes when we graduated. The hands-on experience allowed us to stand tall and say, ‘This is what we’ve been doing while we were studying engineering.’”

Al Wilson agrees. “I was into it for a learning experience because I’d never done automotive work before. I learned everything I know from those years.”

Editor’s note: Members of MSU’s Project W-31 team will attend the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationas, November 17-18, in conjunction with this year’s W-31 Invitational. Plans include a presentation by the team. Visit mcacn.com for more show info.

The W-31 350 The W-31 Force-Air Induction system had its genesis in 1968 for F-85/Cutlass S/Cutlass Supreme coupes, which included the 325hp Ram Rod 350, special 2-inch intake/1-5¤8-inch exhaust valves, and special high-performance camshaft that Oldsmobile claimed “has very rough idle characteristics that would be objectionable to some owners.” A floor-shifted three-speed manual with 3.91 gears and Anti-Spin axle were standard, but most featured wide- or close-ratio four-speeds. W-31s were easily identified by two scoops under the bumper with tubes to the air cleaner. There were few changes for 1969, but Olds began marketing the ultrahigh-performance models under the W-Machine banner with Dr. Oldsmobile leading the charge.

The Good Guys List Project W-31 Benefactors: AC, ACCEL, Air-Lift, Demmer Corp., Denny’s Sunoco (for alignments and reworking the distributor), GE Silicones, Johnson’s Speed Shop, Kendall racing oil, Kustom Headers, Lakewood Industries, Lowell Automotive, Sealed Power piston rings, Stewart-Warner instruments, and Thrush Performance Products.

A Question of Grilles Project W-31 was a 4-4-2 masquerading as a W-31 Cutlass S. Each model used different grilles. By a stroke of luck, the team was able to score a correct pair. “I was living off campus and didn’t have a car,” says Cliff Grupke. “I used to borrow my buddy’s old Galaxie with rusted-through floorboards to get home to Detroit. During one visit, my mom said, ‘I’m going to get you a car. I don’t want you riding in this deathtrap.’ A mechanic friend who worked at a Dearborn Oldsmobile dealership mentioned there was a nice ’69 Cutlass with low mileage, and when it became mine, we swapped the grilles with the MSU car.”

Other Project W-31 Members Doug Arden, Curt Dressler, Jerry Feikema, Paul Gentilozzi, Jim Grum, Mike Miller, Roland Osborne (later of Chrysler Power fame), Dick Parnell, Rick Sunamoto, Ron Wingara, and several others lost to time.

The post Project W-31: A Hands-On Lesson in Drag Racing for a Group of Michigan State University Engineering Students appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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America’s best places to live, buy and retire

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Results from Niche.com’s 2018 Best Places to Live in America rankings are in, and the charming Carmel, Indiana, came in at no. 1 with its median home value of $306, 500 and median rent of $1,1,32. A+ ratings for public schools, housing, health and fitness, family friendliness and jobs also make the city desirable, as do its high marks for safety, diversity, nightlife, commuting and cost of living.

Chesterbrook, a suburb of Philadelphia, ranked strong at no. 2 with a median home value of $312,600, median rent of $1,991 and an A+ “Overall Niche Grade,” which is calculated by Niche.com data scientists and researchers who analyze user opinions and data to determine rankings.

Three St. Louis, Missouri suburbs — Richmond Heights, Clayton and Brentwood — came in at no. 4, no. 7 and no. 8, respectively, while Clarendon Hills and Buffalo Grove in Chicago took the no. 3 and no. 6 spots, respectively.

Carmel, Indiana, Arts and Design District (Credit: Douglas Sacha/Getty Images)

St. Louis suburb Richmond Heights (no. 4) and Okemos, Michigan (n0. 5) rounded out the top five with A+ Overall Niche Grades.

Residents of Birmingham (no. 9), a suburb of Detroit, will be pleased to hear their area beat out Columbus, Ohio, suburb Dublin (no. 10) and Ann Arbor (no. 11).

What’s stopping you from putting in the effort?

Tom Ferry: How to get out of your coma and supercharge your production READ MORE

When looking at best places to purchase a home, Niche.com placed Wilshire Heights in Dallas at the top spot. The median home value in this Texas city is $420,546, and the median rent is $1,495.

Pennsylvania also did well in this category, with two areas — the small town of Lemont near State College (no.2, with a median home value of $229,00), and Bradford Woods (no. 5, with a median home value of $288,300) — in Pittsburgh ranking high. Dunlap, Illinois, came in at no.3, and Chackbay, Louisiana ranked fourth.

Despite hurricanes and rising sea levels, Florida remained at the top of the list for folks looking to retire. Whiskey Creek, Florida was no. 1 (median home value: $203,300), followed by Hillsborough Beach in Miami ($359,700) and South Sarasota ($293,500). Windy Hills in Louisville, Kentucky, and Cypress Lake, Florida rounded out the top five.

San Francisco scored high for millennial living, with Showplace Square and South Beach taking the no. 1 and no. 2 spot, respectively. New York remains a popular place for the young and upwardly mobile — Hell’s Kitchen came in at no. 3 and the Theater District at no. 4.  The more affordable Juneau Town in Milwaukee, Wisconsin came in at no. 5.

For more, including best places ranked by public schools, diversity, economy and cost of living, view the complete list here.

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An academic website in reproductive medicine.

Abstract This article describes how the author created an academic website in reproductive medicine, and presents data on visitor profiles. The website provides access to interactive lectures, computer-generated tests, quizzes, searchable databases, and a bulletin board for approved users. The website is international in scope, collaborative, asynchronous in delivery, flexible, and responsive to learner needs. Visitors from industrialized countries accessed the lessons on polycystic ovary syndrome, amenorrhea, and infertility. In 2004, the total number of unique visitors was 21,269. Introduction In recent years, increasing numbers of medical institutions in the United States and abroad have incorporated innovative methods of teaching and research using the Internet technologies (Barzansky et al. 2000; Jenkins, 2002; Zondervan et al. 2002). The Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO) website reveals several medical centers in the United States and Canada have also established departmental websites (APGO, 2005). The links provide information on what other institutions are doing with regard to medical education programs, residencies and fellowships, departments and faculty, patient care and research. Besides healthcare professionals, many infertile couples are actively http://www.id-ss.com/job-category/medical-writer-jobs/ using the Internet for their fertility problems (Weissman et al. 2000; Epstein et al. 2002; Haagen et al. 2003). However, posting of information on the Internet does not always undergo peer reviews or need some standard for publication. The use of standardized curriculum and innovative techniques for providing education are important steps for graduate training of future doctors in reproductive medicine (Soules, 1994; Davis et al. 1995; Jenkins, 1999; Alvero et al. 2004). The World Wide Web provides a delivery system for transferring information to many users without the barriers of time and geography (Chu & Chan, 1998). Developing web-based learning represents an evolution that needs experienced website designers, surveys of the targeted audience, focus groups, and analysis of server data or a combination of these methods (Letterie et al. 1994, 1996; Jenkins et al. 2001). Web-based learning may be suitable setting for women's health issues because of the multidisciplinary nature and need for vertical integration throughout medical school curriculums. According to a recent study, the web-based instruction resolved barriers associated with limited curriculum time and faculty availability, provided an accessible and standard curriculum, and met the needs of adult learners in a medicine clerkship (Zebrack et al. 2005). More studies in defined clinical settings are needed to realize the full potentials of web-based learning for women's health education. Websites designed at academic institutions and departments must present authentic content, be consistent in navigation, use simple graphics, and highlight ease of maintenance (Singh, 2002). Towards this end, the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Louisiana State Health Sciences Center in Shreveport launched the first academic website in September 1997. This article describes how the author created an academic website in reproductive medicine, and presents data on visitor profiles to show how they used the website in recent years. Methods The departmental server (PowerEdge 2300, Dell Computer Corporation, Round Rock, TX) runs under Windows 2000 operating system (Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA). Ancillary units installed were an automated tape backup, uninterruptible power supply, an antivirus software program, and a redundant array of independent disks to provide safety measures against unexpected system failures. The design for the website followed guidelines proposed by the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) core standards for publications (Silberg et al. 1997). The individual pages were created using a software that creates web pages with hypertext markup language (NetObjects Fusion, Website Pros, Inc., Jacksonville, FL). The departmental faculty and guests provided teaching materials that were tested by this author for content, consistency, and style before posting. The topics in reproductive medicine were designed in modules according to the guidelines previously described (Davis et al. 1995). Slide shows were produced using Microsoft PowerPoint and the training modules were created using Trainersoft software (San Diego, CA). Multiple-choice questions were written using Questionmark software (Stamford, CT). The laparoscopy training videos were produced in collaboration with another institution, and edited with Camtasia Studio software (Okemos, MI). CodeCharge software (Utica, MI) was used to create backend databases for case studies on the intranet using Microsoft Access program. A bulletin board was also created to encourage private discussions among the participants. Data on the website visits from January through December 2004 were analyzed using a commercial log analysis program (WebTrends Log Analyzer, Version 6.5; NetIQ Corporation, San Jose, CA). The study features included the number of successful hits, page views, most popular pages viewed, number of visits and the duration of each visit, number of visitors, and country. Results were interpreted using the terminology described in the software manual. When tracking the traffic on the website, the term unique visitor refers to a person who visits the website more than once within a mentioned period. Results As of December 2004, the main departmental site includes 238 pages with 3,771 links, including 467 found on 99 external servers providing women's healthcare education. The department website provides links to various sections that include administrative and teaching materials. The Lessons and the Visiting Professors sections contain modular topics in reproductive medicine such as menstrual disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, infertility, and laparoscopy. The Library section is an online source for teaching materials and learning materials in reproductive medicine. In 2004, the website had received 657,195 successful hits in 172,444 page views during 61,309 visits. The total number of unique visitors, those who visited the site more than once, was 21,269. The average duration of the visit lasted about 14 minutes. The top five countries that accounted for the majority (71.5%) of visits were the United States (41,317 visits), the Netherlands (968 visits), Canada (694 visits), United Kingdom (423 visits), and Japan (416 visits). Visitors from Africa and Central America had the lowest total scores. The visitors mainly accessed the site from the home page, which accounts for 7,063 visits. Other common pages accessed for the endocrinology and infertility modules were the polycystic ovary syndrome page with 1,665 visits, amenorrhea page (1,348 visits) and infertility page (1,118 visits). Discussion This article describes how the author created an academic websites using standard methods, and shows the feasibility of providing online education in reproductive medicine. The website provides access to interactive lectures, computer-generated tests, quizzes, searchable databases, and a bulletin board for approved users. Streaming videos for laparoscopy training are the most recent addition currently undergoing usability testing. The author created this website using the JAMA core standards for publication. The site was tailored to meet the needs of medical students and residents in the department. This study extends our previous experience, which shows a consistent growth of the department website since inception eight years earlier (Singh, 2002). Collaborative learning is an important learning principle, yet online programs are mostly completed in a one-on-one relationship between the computer and the learner. This model limits opportunities for reflective learning, and does not access the rich learning available from interacting with peers. The website described in this article presents web-based education. Using the browser alone, students and residents can review the educational content, send electronic mails to the faculty, provide feedback, and participate in bulletin boards for information exchange. They can also view and download lecture materials on their computers for future reference. The website provides links to textbooks in reproductive medicine, online journals, and teaching files for further education. Academic institutions, government agencies, professional organizations, and commercial enterprises today provide enormous amount of information on women's healthcare (Feingold et al. 1977; Cole, 1999). Previous studies using the Internet technologies have shown promising results about resident education in women's health care for endocrinology and infertility (Letterie et al. 1994, 1996; Jenkins, 1999; Jenkins et al. 2001). However, providing high quality online education in distant locations creates special challenges. Advances in information technology have important implications for medical education. Such advances bring new opportunities and challenges to medical education. The plethora of information available on the web is overwhelming, and both students and staff need to be taught how to manage it effectively (Ward et al. 2001). Although online teaching is increasingly used in medical education, few studies have reported on the value of online learning in postgraduate training. In a recent study, web-based education proved effective, well accepted, and efficient for internal medicine residents. It facilitated effective and satisfying learning experience without requiring faculty involvement (Cook & Dupras 2004; Cook et al. 2005). By consistently employing principles of effective learning, educators will soon unlock the full potential of the web to provide online medical education. Conclusion Academic websites designed in-house can provide online education in reproductive medicine to a global audience. The use of standardized curriculum and innovative techniques for providing online education are important steps for graduate training of future doctors in reproductive medicine. More studies are needed on its effectiveness in changing the clinical practices of the participants. References Alvero R, Lund K, Armstrong A, Vontver L, Schlaff W (2004). The development of a computer-assisted curriculum in reproductive endocrinology and infertility for residents. 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