#Staging homes in northwest Ohio | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

itswallstreetpr · 3 years ago

Text

For Solar Investors, the Future is Now (FSLR, GSFI, RUN, TAN, SPWR, CSIQ)

The solar industry remains one of the fastest-growing secular trends in play for long-term investors as well as swing traders looking for high-beta areas of the market for well-timed speculation. Recent data from Our World in Data and BP shows that total global solar installations have soared over the past two decades, growing from 0.65 gigawatts in 2000 to 708 gigawatts in 2020, which is enough to power the majority of homes in the US. In other words, the industry has arrived at a point where it is already viable as a prime competitor with carbon-based energy sources. The future is now. This has major implications for investment plans looking out over coming years. We take a look at a few of the more interesting plays in the solar space below, with a focus on recent catalysts. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) engages in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of photovoltaic solar power systems and solar modules. It operates through the Modules and Systems segments. The Modules segment involves in the design, manufacture, and sale of cadmium telluride solar modules, which convert sunlight into electricity. The Systems segment offers development, construction, operation, and maintenance of photovoltaic solar power systems. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) recently announced that it just broke ground on its third manufacturing facility in Ohio at a ceremony that was attended by United States Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh, the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, Jon Husted, and US Representatives Bob Latta (OH-05) and Marcy Kaptur (OH-09). The new 3.3-gigawatt (GW) DC facility, which is scheduled to commence operations in the first half of 2023, represents a $680 million investment. When fully operational, the facility is expected to scale the company’s Northwest Ohio footprint to a total annual capacity of 6 GWDC, which is believed to make it the largest fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing complex outside China. “First Solar’s new factory in Ohio is a model of President Biden’s vision for keeping America competitive by investing in clean energy and creating good jobs,” said Secretary Walsh. “Not only does this facility advance innovative manufacturing for a sustainable future, First Solar is also investing in its workers through skills training, competitive pay, and robust benefits. Empowering all of America’s workers is how we’ll build back a better economy and win the future.” And the stock has been acting well over recent days, up something like 11% in that time. First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR) managed to rope in revenues totaling $629.2M in overall sales during the company's most recently reported quarterly financial data – a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of -2.1%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms. In addition, the company has a strong balance sheet, with cash levels exceeding current liabilities ($1.8B against $660.9M). Green Stream Holdings Inc (OTC US:GSFI) is a smaller name that’s just starting to get traction with a growing list of potentially major projects in the community solar space. The stock has been left behind in the solar growth trend because the company got behind in its financial filings during the pandemic, which is not unheard of for smaller companies. However, the company has recently gotten current and continues to push out very interesting announcements as it makes strides toward building its vision. Green Stream Holdings Inc (OTC US:GSFI) most recently announced that it has engaged KMB Design Group, a nationally known full service engineering solutions provider, to assist with installations of ground-mount solar farms in the State of New York. The interconnection applications are for Cornish Hill Road, Cooperstown, NY and Hadley, S Shore Road, Corinth, NY. CEO James DiPrima said: “An Interconnection Agreement is a contract with a utility for distributed generated systems, including solar photovoltaics. The agreement is a written notice to a utility company of plans to construct, install and operate any system which will be connected to the grid and must be submitted prior to the start of construction. After the utility receives the required documentation, the application is reviewed for approval. Management is excited to enter this stage of operations, as it can be an important step in our efforts to continue to increase shareholder value.” According to the company’s release, the Cornish Photovoltaic system will consist of approximately 15,600 panels anticipated to produce 7.4kW of direct current to sequential inverters for participation/partnership with a registered New York State Community Solar provider at 312 Cornish Hill Road, Cooperstown, NY 13326. The Hadley project shall consist of the installation of 4,980 kWdc / 7,020 kWac of Photovoltaic modules installed on a ground mount racking system at Hadley - PV Installations, S Shore Road, Corinth, NY 12822. Green Stream Holdings Inc (OTC US:GSFI) also noted that the projects will be interconnected directly with the utility at one point of interconnection with a new service feeder from the utility substation. The scope of work will include Interconnection Drawings, electrical permit/construction drawings, and support through the construction phase. Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ:RUN) is an interesting player in the solar space that has been consolidating along support in the $40 level after a stunning run higher during the second of last year. The company engages in the design, development, installation, sale, ownership, and maintenance of residential solar energy systems. It sells solar service offerings and install solar energy systems for homeowners through its direct-to-consumer channel. The firm also offers plans such as monthly lease, full amount lease, purchase system, and monthly loan. Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ:RUN) recently announced, along with GRID Alternatives, a national nonprofit that provides access to clean, affordable renewable energy, transportation, and jobs to economic and environmental justice communities, that the two companies are celebrating the ten year anniversary of their partnership this week. Together, Sunrun and GRID have expanded access to clean energy, reducing energy bills for families and facilitating job training for individuals seeking solar careers. Since 2011, Sunrun has served as GRID's primary third-party owner on rooftop solar projects and has hired more GRID trainees than any other organization besides GRID Alternatives itself. In addition, Sunrun employees have volunteered thousands of hours at GRID solar installations. “We are pleased to celebrate a decade-long partnership with GRID that has expanded access to resilient and affordable energy options, while bringing in new talent and strengthening our industry’s workforce,” said Lynn Jurich, co-founder and Co-Executive Chair of Sunrun. “This partnership is a vital part of our shared work to build the clean, resilient and democratic energy future we need.” Even in light of this news, RUN has had a rough past week of trading action, with shares sinking something like -3% in that time. That said, chart support is nearby, and we may be in the process of constructing a nice setup for some movement back the other way. Sunrun Inc (NASDAQ:RUN) managed to rope in revenues totaling $401.2M in overall sales during the company's most recently reported quarterly financial data – a figure that represents a rate of top line growth of 121.3%, as compared to year-ago data in comparable terms. In addition, the company is battling some balance sheet hurdles, with cash levels struggling to keep up with current liabilities ($857.5M against $1.1B, respectively). Other interesting solar tickers to watch include Invesco Solar ETF (NYSEARCA:TAN), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), and Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ). Read the full article

0 notes

xtruss · 4 years ago

Text

MAY 12, 2021 | US History

The ‘Chinese-Born Engineer’ Who ‘Helped Launch US Commercial Aviation’

Wong Tsu’s 10 months at Boeing in 1916-17 led to the fledgling airplane manufacturer's first military plane, first airmail plane and eventually, its first passenger plane.

— Ratha Tep

Wong Tsu, Boeing's first aeronautical engineer, graduated from MIT in 1916. He is pictured here the following year.

In 1904, anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. rose to a fever pitch as Congress passed an indefinite extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act, almost entirely closing the gates on Chinese immigration. Yet just over a decade later, Beijing-born Wong Tsu came to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through a loophole in the law that made an exception for students. Shortly after graduating from MIT’s new aeronautical program in June 1916, Wong was hired as Boeing’s first aeronautical engineer, cementing his place in aviation history.

The turn of the 20th century was an era of remarkable growth for flight, and Wong played a crucial role: He was integral in designing Boeing’s first successful plane, the Boeing Model C. That became the company’s first military plane, its first used to carry mail and the catalyst to the development of the Model 40A, the first Boeing aircraft to carry passengers.

“The Model C was not only Boeing’s first production order, it was the first Boeing aircraft to be produced in large numbers and sold,” says Tom Crouch, curator emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, and author of several books, including Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Space Age. “Wong Tsu put the company on the map,” he says.

From Bicycle Mechanics to Stuntmen

While Wong was still a child in China, Wilbur and Orville Wright, two bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, made history in 1903 with the first powered, sustained and controlled airplane flight over the dunes of Kitty Hawk. The Wright brothers envisioned a future where planes carried mail and passengers, but aviation in the pre-World War I period was initially met with skepticism.

The first aircraft were extremely frail with few instruments, relegating flight to the realm of sensational spectacle as stunt pilots flew to curious onlookers at carnivals and county fairs. Heavy winds were particularly troublesome, and anxious pilots preferred to fly only in the early morning or late afternoon, when the air was at its calmest.

Wong Comes to MIT

At the age of 12, Wong was selected for the Manchu government’s Yang-Tai naval academy, and at 16, he became one of the first Chinese naval cadets sent to England to study naval engineering. The Chinese government then sent him to study the fledgling science of aviation at MIT.

At MIT, Wong used the university’s new four-foot-square wind tunnel—one of the first in the country of its kind—to conduct controlled experiments and gain rare insight into aerodynamic stability. With a thesis on Air Resistance of Cylinder Combinations, Wong in 1916 became one of the few degreed aeronautical engineers in the country.

Boeing's First Plane: The B & W

In the final assembly stage in May, 1916, closeup of the student's cockpit on the Boeing and Westervelt Sport Trainer Model 1. Museum of Flight/Corbis/Getty Images

On July 4, 1914, William Edward Boeing, a successful lumber company owner in Seattle, convinced early aviator Terah Maroney to take him on his Curtiss seaplane. Boeing’s maiden flight reinforced what he already believed: The future was in aviation.

Boeing also felt he could build a better plane—he just needed the right aeronautical engineer. He turned to a friend, Naval Lieutenant George Conrad Westervelt, who had spent time at MIT and was stationed at the naval shipyards in nearby Bremerton. Together, they created Pacific Aero Products Co., and named their first aircraft the B & W, after their respective initials. Unfortunately, the B & W showed a tendency to tilt while airborne during tests for the Navy in 1916. While the issue was rectified, the damage had been done, and not a single B & W plane was ever sold in the U.S.

After Westervelt was assigned by the Navy back East, he consulted with Jerome C. Hunsaker, the aeronautics program founder at MIT, on a replacement engineer. Hunsaker recommended Wong. Boeing, upon learning of Wong’s vast wind tunnel expertise, responded by telegram: “Engage Chinaman.”

Anti-Chinese Sentiment in the Pacific Northwest

During Wong’s time at MIT, students from China made up the largest percentage of foreigners. They participated not only in research, but in the essential fabric of student life, taking part in everything from athletics to theater. But on the West Coast, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, people of Asian descent had a very different experience. In 1885, a giant mob in Tacoma, Washington forcefully expelled hundreds of Chinese residents, herding them to a nearby railway station. In 1886, nearly 400 more in Seattle were dragged from their homes, and led to a steamer bound for San Francisco.

It was a perilous time to be Chinese in Seattle. To lure Wong, Boeing personally gave assurances for his safety, according to Key Donn, a former president of the Boeing Asian American Professional Association. That promise paid off in spades.

Boeing's Model C

The Dope Room at the Boeing aircraft factory, shown here in 1917, is where airplane wings like this Model C wing structure were designed and constructed. Museum of Flight/Corbis/Getty Images

Wong played an integral role in developing the Model C training seaplane, which incorporated several mold-breaking innovations: tThe wings tilted slightly upwards, with the upper wing sitting forward of the lower wing rather than being stacked for greater stability. Crucially, Wong was also able to test a model in a newly built wind tunnel at the University of Washington, and apply his data analytical skills honed at MIT.

Boeing was so proud of the seaplane, that he referred to it as the first “all-Boeing” design. The Model C first flew on Nov. 5, 1916, and an improved Model C, with a bigger rudder, made its first flight on April 9, 1917. Two weeks later, Boeing changed the name of Pacific Aero Products Co. to Boeing Airplane Co.

After test flights at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida in the summer of 1917, Navy officials were also impressed. Despite 35-m.p.h. winds, the Model C proved better than anything they had seen. They ordered 50 Model Cs for a price of $575,000. Considering the total value of all aircraft orders in the U.S. in 1914 totaled just under $800,000, it was a substantial order by any measure and launched Boeing as a successful airplane manufacturer.

From Naval Contracts to Airmail and Passengers

On March 3, 1919, William Boeing (right) and pilot Eddie Hubbard performed the first U.S. international airmail flight in this Boeing Model C, a modified World War I trainer they flew from Vancouver, Canada, to Seattle.

After World War I, the Model C made history again. On March 3, 1919, Boeing and his lead test pilot, Eddie Hubbard, flew the C-700, the final Model C ever built, with a bag of 60 letters from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Seattle, in North America’s first international airmail flight.

That momentous airmail flight opened the doors to another route: the country’s longest, San Francisco to Chicago, which Hubbard lobbied Boeing to successfully bid on in 1927. The plane used for the route, the Model 40A, not only had cargo space for mail, but also a tiny cabin with room for two passengers. By the end of the first year, writes Alain Pelletier, in Boeing: The Complete Story, the Model 40A planes had transported 379 tons of mail and 1,863 passengers, paving the way for Boeing’s remarkable success in commercial aviation.

Wong Heads Back to China 🇨🇳

In Seattle, Wong’s contributions are memorialized at the Museum of Flight with a permanent exhibit acknowledging his work as Boeing’s first engineer. Despite the extraordinary ripple effects of Wong’s contributions at Boeing, he only spent 10 months at the company, leaving for China shortly before the Model C’s test flights for the Navy. Wong would go on to create a legacy that ranged from starting his home country’s first airplane factory in Fuzhou in 1917 to becoming head of the Aviation Research Academy in 1945, earning his place as one of the founding fathers of Chinese aviation.

0 notes

losbella · 4 years ago

Text

0 notes

news-ase · 4 years ago

Text

0 notes

lovittbydesign · 3 months ago

Text

Staging homes in northwest Ohio-Lovittbydesign

Staging homes in Northwest Ohio involves preparing properties for sale or rent to maximize their appeal to potential buyers or tenants in the region. Staging homes in Northwest Ohio helps reduce time on the market, and potentially increase sale or rental prices. By creating an inviting and well-presented space, staging enhances the overall marketability of the home and makes it stand out in this competitive market of real estate. For more information you can visit our website : https://lovittbydesign.com.

More contact information : Email id - [email protected]

call us : (734) 807-9896

#Staging homes in northwest Ohio

0 notes

lovittbydesignhomestagingdesign · 4 months ago

Text

Staging homes in Southeast Michigan Professionals - Lovitt by Design

As one of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan’s leading home staging companies, we have proven methods to stage your property professionally. We collaborate closely with your realtor to prepare the home for market. We have over twenty years of experience and a proven performance history that results in faster home sales at the highest return on investment for the homeowner.

Are you looking to upgrade your home’s look or prepare it for sale? Our professional Staging homes in southeast Michigan can help with decorating trends, furniture placement, color choices, and more.

#Staging homes in southeast Michigan #Staging homes #design staging

0 notes

mtairyartgarage-blog · 5 years ago

Photo

“Weaving Equality — Exploring Gender & The Arts”… An International Women’s Day Celebration

Sunday, March 8, International Women’s Day, 3-5 pm

It’s our third year of celebrating International Women’s Day! What better way to dialogue with fellow artists and art lovers than under the umbrella of the Gender Weave Exhibition. We are delighted to mix it up with an unfolding list of participants including Lascivious Jane (Liberty City Kings), Van Nguyen (performance artist), Arleen Olshan (painter), Kathryn Pannepacker (fiber artist), E. Simon Ruchti (Asst. Prof. Women’s and Gender Studies, Westchester U.), Jennifer Turnbull (Spiral Q), Chea Villanueva (writer), and others.

Artists will examine the intersection of sexuality, gender identity, women’s equality and “social norms” within their work and lives. It’s an interactive and empowering afternoon celebrating International Women’s Day and the Gender Weave Project. Build community, be part of the conversation. Join us. $10 donation.

Panelists Include:

Lascivious Jane

Lascivious Jane is a full time producer and performer. She has been performing and producing burlesque for more than 8 years and is the founding member and Artistic Director & proud Glitter Mama of Philadelphia’s multi award-winning Liberty City Kings Drag & Burlesque AKA LiCK, Philly’s largest and most diverse performance troupe. She is a Canadian transplant to Philly who moved here 13 years ago for grad school and never wants to leave. When she is not working on her Ph.D in Human Sexuality or working out new numbers for the stage, she can be found covered in dirt on her organic mini urban farm or standing over a hot canning pot in the kitchen preserving the harvest. She is the producer of LiCK’s monthly Vixens & Vagabonds Queer & Kinky Cabaret, the longest running drag (and burlesque) show at her home bar Tabu, every 1st Saturday and recently won the title of Ms. Philadelphia Leather 2015.

Van Nguyen

Van is a genderqueer Vietnamese-American educator, activist, and performing artist raised and rooted in Philadelphia. She is a board member of the Leeway Foundation, a performer and web coordinator of the Liberty City Kings Drag and Burlesque troupe, steering committee member of Hotpot!, Philadelphia’s queer Asian/Pacific Islander women and trans folk gathering, and a former Philadelphia Trans Health Conference Kids Camp program director.

Arleen Olshan

The Mt. Airy Art Garage was Arleen’s brain child. Initially her goal was create a space where artists could collaborate—have studios, a gallery, classroom and performance space to build community. With the tremendous partnership of her wife Linda Slodki and the support of the Northwest Community, this dream, launched in 2009, has come to fruition.

Arleen is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with a BFA in Painting from the University of Arts (then the Philadelphia College of Art). She is also a master in handcrafted leather accessories, which she has worked in for over 50 years.

Kathryn Pannepacker

Kathryn Pannepacker is a textile/visual artist living in Philadelphia, PA. She graduated from Penn State University with a major in English and a minor in art. Afterwards, she apprenticed with 3rd generation French tapestry weaver, Jean Pierre Larochette and his partner, Yael Lurie, a painter and designer for tapestry. Kathryn then went to Aubusson, France to continue weaving as an artist-in-resident. She also had the opportunity to be an artist-in-resident in Hachioji, Japan, through the Japan Foundation.

Though still weaving pictorial tapestry, she also weaves with unusual materials. Through the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia, Kathryn painted a 7′ x 500 ft. wide mural called Wall of Rugs: the global language of textiles at Girard and Belmont Avenues featuring the textiles of 42 countries. Part 2 was completed at Broad and Lehigh Streets. Her most recent painted-to-look-like-knitting & crochet-mural, Nana Blankets, can be seen in North Philly.

Kathryn exhibits locally, nationally and internationally, and has work in private and public collections. In the summers of 2010 & 2013, she was in Canada doing an outdoor textile installation for the international textile arts event at Moon Rain Center. She is committed to the transformative power of art in people’s lives and the sustainability of such transformation by involving the community.

See her featured on the cover/Spring 2009 issue of AMERICAN CRAFT.

E. Simon Ruchti, Ph.D.

Simon is an assistant professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Philosophy at West Chester University. After completing a Bachelors in Theatre and Dramatic Literature at Mount Holyoke College, Simon went on to earn her Masters in Performance Studies at New York University and her doctorate in Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University. Both her master’s thesis and dissertation examined the relationship between gender and performance. Simon has also worked as a director and dramaturge for theatrical productions, spent five years in the film industry, and even had the opportunity to direct a baroque opera. Her areas of expertise include queer theory, feminist theory, performance theory, and masculinity studies. Currently, however, Simon’s scholarship focuses on her work with fraternity men to fight rape culture.

Jennifer Turnbull

Jennifer Turnbull uses art, the most powerful tool of communication, to transcend man-made boundaries. Inspired by the everyday, Jennifer Turnbull illuminates stories with the strongest themes and sometimes most difficult experiences relevant to all audiences. Over 30 years ago Jennifer began formal training in Ballet and expanded to Jazz, Contemporary, Hip-Hop & West African dance. Almost 20 years ago, choreography became an integral part of her expression, earning her awards for Excellence in Choreography from Deerfield Academy and Tufts University.

Turnbull seeks to redefine the terms of art-education, believing in the power it harnesses, to revolutionize our formal education systems. Jennifer teaches Dance and Visual Arts in Philadelphia with Spiral Q Puppet Theater and the Barnes Foundation. Collaboratively she works with visionaries making music, dance and site-specific performance with SWARM and BARETEETH.

Chea Villanueva

Chea Villanueva’s fiction and poetry has been published in numerous anthologies throughout the U.S., Asia, and Europe and is the author of two books of short fiction—Bulletproof Butches and Jessie’s Song. Villanueva identifies as a male or male identified Stone Butch and was featured in the late Christopher Lee’s film, Trappings of Transhood, a documentary about gender identity.

#2015

0 notes

thebrewstorian · 5 years ago

Text

This is the [incomplete] story of Oregon beer, part 1

This talk is based on an Oregon Encyclopedia article I wrote.

Last February I gave a talk at the Oregon Brewers Guild dinner. None of us knew what was ahead for public health, the economy, and social change. I love giving talks and will certainly repurpose this one, but for now, here are the slides and script with a few additions to reflect the pandemic shut down and updated screenshots from the beer guides.

https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/beer_research

https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/brewingarchives

I started the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives in August 2013 to document the history of these industries in our state. Over the past 7 years I have acquired terrific collections, most recently the Widmer Brothers company records, and I’ve conducted 115 oral history interviews and since being home 15 interviews with beer scholars.

The OSU History department its first beer history class winter term, two sections – remotely – spring term, and will offer another sprint class starting next week. To help support this I created an EPIC beer research guide to give students and the general guidance on researching times, places, people, recipes, events, etc.

I’ve been pretty obsessed with the census and historic newspapers for the past year-ish and have been spending a lot of time in the 19th century and before.

My family has been in Oregon a really long time. My great+ grandma Euphemia Shrum, shown here on the right, came to Oregon in 1846, and her husband John H. Edmunson came in 1850. And in my direct line, my daughter Ella, shown on the left, is the first to have been born outside of Oregon since Euphemia. The Edmunsons grew many things, including hops in the late 19th and early 20th centuries – but while I come from a line of farmers the closest I get is growing hops in my backyard.

I share this because I am one of those Oregonians who can trace deep roots, but also because I am really committed to the story of this state. I feel lucky every single day that I have the opportunity to document, preserve, and share the story of brewing here.

Fur traders distilled and traded the "Blue Ruin" beverage with local Native Americans in the 1830s, and early records from Oregon’s white settlers show that hard liquor was popular in the West. At the same time, settlers engaged in small-scale brewing and beer consumption. Men living at Fort Vancouver imported beer and missionary Hiram Bingham wrote in 1829 they also cultivated and malted barley for beer and anticipated “exporting in small quantity.” However, it wasn’t until the 1850s that commercial beer production in Oregon began in earnest. Early commercial operations were small, but high-quality water and ideal conditions for growing hops set the stage for Oregon’s vibrant beer industry.

While some brewers were from England, France, and Switzerland, by and large most early brewers and owners were German. That heritage was integral to the styles they made and most sold variations of traditional German-style lager or steam beer, which uses a lager yeast but is fermented at ale temperatures to compensate for the lack of refrigeration. Brewers also produced porters, including Flat, Philadelphia XXX Ale, XX Cream, and XXX Ale.

In Gold Rush towns, mountainous logging communities, and busy urban areas many breweries were short-lived and name changes were regular occurrences. This makes it difficult to accurately calculate the dates of operation or number of breweries operating before national Prohibition in 1920. Additionally, statistics from the 19th century are REALLY sketchy, and I still haven’t gotten a good answer about where to find anything reliable. I feel relatively confident in saying that between 1854 and 1916, when Oregon enacted Prohibition, there were between 92 and 125 licensed breweries. Sometimes an advertisement in a newspaper was the only business record. For example, the first verifiable record of a brewery in Oregon is this advertisement in the Oregonian.

English-born Charles Barrett’s Portland Brewery and General Grocery Establishment, opened on Front Street in 1854 and sold merchandise (sperm candles, salt ham, matches, stone jugs) and alcohol. His shop operated for a few years and though business details aren’t provided, he sold spirits and wine, and also ale in casks and bottles.

Was he brewing? I’m not entirely sure, but his obituary identified him as a brewer. By 1860, his ads reflected the transition in the goods he sold: fruits, stationary, newspapers, and novels. In the years that followed, he became a successful and wealthy bookshop owner; however, he had a tumultuous personal life. According to court records and newspaper articles, he had an acrimonious divorce during which he claimed two of his children weren't actually his, and then later his daughter murdered her husband in San Francisco after he left Portland with his mistress and her money.

Many sources credit Swiss-born Henry Saxer as being Oregon’s first commercial brewer; however, the first verifiable record of a brewery in Oregon is an advertisement in the August 5, 1854 issue of The Weekly Oregonian. English-born Charles Barrett, later a well-known bookstore owner, operated the Portland Brewery and General Grocery Establishment on Front Street and sold merchandise (sperm candles, salt ham, matches, stone jugs) as well as alcohol (spirits, wine, beer in casks and bottles). Historian Tim Hills estimated Barrett brewed from 1852 to 1855, and it is notable that Barrett’s November 3, 1873 obituary in the Oregonian identified him as a brewer and bookseller (Kopp, Hoptopia, 34-35).

Henry Saxer came to America in 1850 and the Illinois census that year noted Saxer’s occupation was “brewer.” The ambiguity surrounding the date Saxer opened Liberty Brewing is largely due to a lack of records in the years before statehood; unfortunately, many print and online sources have repeated an incorrect date of establishment for the brewery as 1852. The main sources are biographies such as Harvey Scott’s History of Portland, Oregon, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers, which mentions Saxer’s as the first brewery without a date of establishment. Another is Saxer’s own obituary from December 11, 1895 in the Oregonian, which read “Mr. Saxer came from Highland, Ill., a Swiss settlement, to Oregon in 1852. He was engaged in the brewing business, and, on reaching Portland, he established what was then known as the Liberty brewing.” Though this can be read as “Saxer opened a brewery in Portland in 1852,” it could also be read as “Saxer moved to Oregon in 1852, and when he moved to Portland at a later date, he opened a brewery.” There is additional evidence that suggests that he, in fact, opened the brewery in 1856. The first published advertisement for Liberty Brewing was in the July 26, 1856 issue of The Weekly Oregonian; it listed Saxer and Louis (Lewis) Behrens as proprietors of a lager beer brewery at present-day Naito Parkway and Davis Street. This is in line with a Portland land sale document referenced in the 1963 Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Bancroft Library, which records George Flanders selling land to Saxer and Behrens in 1856. Eleven months later, a June 20, 1857 advertisement in The Weekly Oregonian listed Saxer as a sole proprietor. According to Brewed in the Pacific Northwest, Behrens opened a brewery in Oregon City in 1858 and ran it until 1862; he later opened a brewery in Eugene in 1867. Saxer moved to Lewiston, Idaho, but when he returned to Portland in 1862, he sold the brewery to Henry Weinhard.

By 1866, he owned the California Wine Depot, and in his obituary, he was credited as being the man who brought California wines to Portland.

Most breweries were not large facilities: for example, Charles Kiefer’s brewery in Albany and A.J. Stevenson’s brewery in Heppner both produced 500 barrels in 1885. There were other breweries with a higher production: but their range was still between 3,000 and 12,000 barrels.

Depending on their size, breweries had brewing equipment, as well as grain storage, a malt kiln, icehouse, and beer cellar or other storage spaces. Some had horsepower machinery, and some maps show horse stables nearby.

Breweries of all sizes made a wide range of styles, though most advertised selling traditional German-style lager or steam beer. In 1879, the Gambrinus Brewery advertised a “mild, healthful beverage [that] refreshes, nourishes … [and] is recommended by all doctors.”

Brewers sold variations of thsee two styles, there were ads for both Splendid and Bohemian lager, as well as local “Extra Fine Steam Beer” and “steam beer shipped from San Francisco.” Customers could also find XXX Ale, Philadelphia XXX Ale, XX Cream, Flat, and Porter.

In Astoria, John Kopp and his North Pacific Brewery diversified: he made a “Extra Fine Bohemian Lager Beer,” XX Porter, and his Extra Fine Steam Beer was “as good a steam beer as is made on the Pacific Coast.” Legend also has it that the mortar in his brewery building was mixed with beer, not water.

In 1908, as the suggestions of a ban on alcohol became louder, the North Pacific Brewery marketed an early version of “near beer,” a non-alcoholic beer called “Maltona.”

Henry Weinhard’s City Brewery was in a class of its own in terms of size, distribution, and reputation. Weinhard immigrated to American in 1852; according to sources, he spent time in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, and California before he settled in the Pacific Northwest in 1856. Initially, he worked with John Muench (spelled "Meany," "Maney," "Menig," and "Minnich") at his Vancouver Brewery for 6 months, selling primarily to soldiers from Fort Vancouver. He moved to PDX for a year and opened the Bottler Brewery with George Bottler. Weinhard returned to Vancouver to work with Muench, and he purchased the brewery from him in 1859. That year, he married Louisa Wagenblast.

Louisa was born in Germany in 1832, came to Missouri in 1847 and then Oregon in 1855. She had 5 kids, only 2 survived to adulthood, and was generous both in her community involvement and with her money.

I’ve written an article about her for the fall 2020 suffrage issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly and was delighted to find this picture of her. It is on both my home and work desk – "mind your P's & Q's" is what she's saying.

Weinhard once again moved to Portland in 1862, securing the city’s first liquor license and buying Saxer’s brewery. That year he opened the City Brewery with Bottler and converted the Bottler Brewery into a saloon. Weinhard bought Bottler’s interest in 1865 and from 1865 to approximately 1871, partnered with William Dellinger to run the West Burnside Street facility.

When Weinhard died in 1904, Paul Wessinger, his son-in-law, inherited the business, which produced 35,000 barrels in 1905, more than any other brewery in the state. The company merged with the Portland Brewing Company in 1928, becoming the Blitz–Weinhard Company, and the Wessinger family was involved until the Miller Brewing Company bought the business and closed the facility in 1999.

Oregon City, Portland, and other cities along the Columbia River benefited from being near the confluence of two rivers, and with the development of railroads and growth of agriculture in the Willamette Valley they grew quickly.

In 1859, The Oregon Argus newspaper in Oregon City reported “a brewery is now in operation. Ale, porter, lager beer, and yeast will be plenty and their effects manifest. In town whisky makes occasional displays. All in all, the Dalles is a flourishing city, and will soon throw Portland ‘into the shade.’” In 1863 and 1864, local ads claimed the Columbia Brewery was the largest and most complete brewing establishment in the state and sold “superior lager beer.” Owner Henry Ludwig also remarked on its proximity to the railroad, noting that it passed “immediately in front of the Brewery,” and facilities, which included a “handsomely fitted up saloon” and a “neatly furnished room for the accommodation of private parties.”

While brewers all over the state benefited from these well-established transportation networks, brewers themselves moved between towns. In 1861, John Gottlieb Mehl opened the Roseburg Brewery, the first in the town; he partnered with the Swiss-born John Rast in 1866 and sold his shares to Rast in 1871 after the brewery burned down. Rast died in 1898 and his widow closed the brewery. John moved his family to Oakland, Coquille City, and Bandon, opening breweries in each town. When he died in 1893 constructing the Bandon Brewery, his wife Mary took over and ran the business until selling in 1896.

Like many local businesses, breweries were often family businesses. In the case of the City Brewery in Heppner, John Natter ran the brewery and his son Frank ran the saloon. In 1904, Frank was shot and killed by T.C. Creswell, a former friend who had supported Prohibition in a previous election.

Beyond true crime details about murder and saloon mayhem, I often talk about women’s involvement in brewing.

Yes, there were women in Oregon, but for the most they weren’t brewers. Their roles seemed to be more in business.

For married couples, the brewery was owned and operated by the man, and wives took on the businesses accounting or other household management tasks. Women were more directly involved if they took over after their husband died.

The O’Brien and Humbel story is another example. Henry Humbel was a brewer in Oregon City and Portland. He was married to Theresa Humbel until an acrimonious split in 1868, after which he posted a public notice in the Oregon City Enterprise that said, “Notice is hereby given, warning all persons against harboring or trusting Theresa Humbel on my account, as I will not be responsible.” She moved to Portland and ran a hotel, and then to Astoria where she married John O’Brien and opened O’Brien’s Hotel. In 1883, she was one of three co-owners of the Pacific Brewing Company, located in back of the hotel, with Earnest Papmahl and Henry Humbel (her son). It closed in 1893. Theresa’s sons struggled with alcohol, opium, and violent behavior. She died in 1902 and within ten years three of her four children were also dead.

Two examples of breweries in southern Oregon are illustrations of women’s actual management of breweries. You see Frederica Wetterer and Marie Keinlin here.

JJ Holman opened the Eagle Brewery in Jacksonville in 1856, three years later he sold it to Joseph Wetterer, a German brewer who added a saloon and a residence. Within a couple of years, the brewery was known for making lager, but also distilling whiskey and brandy. While the brewery was successful, personally Joseph and his wife Frederica struggled: they lost two daughters, and in 1879 Joseph Wetterer died, leaving significant debts. The business was known as the “Mrs. Frederica Wetterer Brewery” from 1879 to 1884, though Ernst Luvinowsky was the brewer. Her father paid off mortgage and transferred the property to her. In 1883, she married William Heeley, a former brewery employee, and business was renamed the William and Frederica Heeley Brewery. It closed in 1890. Fun side fact: Frederica’s sister Louisa Sage, married Charles Kiefer, a brewer in Albany.

Another brewery run by a couple was the Grants Pass Brewery. William Neurath sold it to Eugene and Marie Kienlen in 1891. Eugene Kienlen transferred all his property to Marie in 1901 when he was ill, but after he died, in order to retain ownership of the brewery and other properties Marie had to pay $7,000 to Philomena Kienlen, the legal wife he’d left in Minnesota with their three children. A Table Rock Sentinel article claims Marie had a brewing degree from the New York Brewers’ Association, which I have not been able to verify, but regardless she ran the brewery. In 1908, she married Eugene’s nephew, Sam Kienlen, who was 19 years her junior. The brewery was closed in 1912 after Sam was repeatedly fined for selling beer on Sundays.

Though saloons featured prominently in Prohibition and Temperance propaganda, it was wasn’t a given that 19th century breweries had their saloon onsite or that brewers owned saloons in town.

Regardless of location, there was no shortage of saloons in Oregon and it was common practice for brewers to offer discounts or gratuities to saloonkeepers as incentives to sell their products. However, unpaid bills kept profits low for the smaller brewer. Lyndsay Danielle Smith notes in her 2018 MA thesis that “To counteract such issues, brewers began investing in saloons by financing fixtures such as bars, mirrors, or sideboards to saloonkeepers. Commonly, brewers added a clause in the fixture mortgages limiting the brands of beer that saloonkeepers could sell.”

While German saloons were marketed as “family-oriented,” or at least “well-lighted,” there were others, like Swedish immigrant August Erickson’s establishment in Portland, that were anything but. Erickson’s Saloon was located down the street from Weinhard’s brewery, and it occupied a block-long building with five entrances, five bars, a drunk tank, and a ban on women in certain sections. Of course, “respectable women” wouldn’t have visited and rumors of prostitution ran rampant.

Moral hygienists claimed that any saloon that employed or welcomed women as customers was essentially a “combination house,” where the ground floor sold liquor and upstairs sold sex. To be sure, many properties were devoted to vice (liquor, gambling, prostitution) but there were other Oregonians who had a more flexible attitude. Portland lawyer Charles Wood, said Oregon was “where we think that it is the right of every American to go to hell and be damned if he wants.” Further, the people who settled here created a “civilization founded on the mine and the camp,” and they believed “the saloon and the theater has as good a right to be open on a Sunday as the church and the school.”

Early Oregon breweries sold beer in barrels, rather than bottles. If they did bottle their beer, most did so off-site or added a bottling works as part of an expansion. Before and during Prohibition, many breweries also supplemented their income by selling ice. In Marshfield in addition to beer bottling and ice storage, the brewer business also had coolers for cream and butter.

Though not called out by early Oregon brewers, the proximity of the nascent hop industry was a benefit. The first commercial yard referenced in newspapers is in 1866 in Buena Vista; and it had five acres of hops for two years. The next year, William Wells, planted his yard in Marion County. He started with two dozen hills and by the next year had seven to eight acres. Though hardly a major contributor to the global marketplace, Wells inspired others to invest, including my great-great grandpa and his family. By 1895, Oregon surpassed production in both California and Washington, making it second to New York. Oregon maintained that position until 1915, when California took the lead for several years.

Planting decreased significantly overall in the first years of Prohibition because there was a lower demand for hops. But, at the same time, despite Prohibition and the Great Depression, Oregon’s hop production made steady gains after World War I due to increased acreage and an impact of war on European agriculture. From 1922-1943, Oregon was the nation's largest producer, and by the 1930s (following the repeal of Prohibition), the area around Independence was called the “Hop Center of the World.” And, of course, scientists at OSU did research, worked with farmers, and hosted field days.

In Oregon prohibition came early – 1914 – with local options in counties and cities. True confession, this is actually an ad for the Capital Brewery in Salem – 1903 – and it was run by a woman at the time.

Prohibition features prominently into the story of beer in Oregon, but also into the story of statehood. Conversations about banning alcohol pre-dated statehood, but when the Oregon's Woman's Christian Temperance Union held its first meeting in 1883 at a Methodist church a few blocks from Weinhard's brewery, the so-called "Bonnet Brigade" became an unstoppable political force.

This photo is from 1915 and is of prominent temperance workers from around the country on a stopover in Portland. The one looking at the juice is Mrs. Jennie Kemp, Oregon’s Temperance League President.

There were local options throughout the state, which allowed a city or country to ban alcohol sales and consumption, but Gov. Oswald West signed an executive order in 1914 announcing statewide alcohol prohibition in 1916. Four years before the national ban on the sale and production of alcohol, Oregon went dry.

Alcohol consumption and home production certainly occurred during Prohibition; growing hops and buying malt syrups wasn't illegal. But for larger facilities and well-established businesses, they needed to pivot. Stockholders in Roseburg considered building a cannery to replace the Roseburg Brewing and Ice Company, and breweries in La Grande and Klamath Falls investigated converting those facilities to denatured alcohol plants. Articles in local papers shared stories of sour kraut made in kegs, candy stores replacing saloons, a beautiful clothing dye made from yeast found in a Japanese brewery, and the promise of growing mushrooms in breweries under disused equipment.

The Salem Brewers Association is an excellent example of how breweries survived without growing mushrooms or dying clothing. Samuel Adolph founded the Pacific Brewery in 1866 and sold kegs for $1. In 1885, Maurice Klinger and Seraphin Beck bought the business and renamed it the Capital Brewery. Beck died in 1900, and his wife, Marguerite Beck, took over management in 1901 when Klinger retied. In 1903, she sold to Leopold Schmidt, who owned the Olympia Brewing Company, and the brewery was renamed Salem Brewery Association. In 1910, they reported using one million pounds of hops per year to produce “Salem Beer.”

With Prohibition, the Salem Brewers Association pivoted and to juice. Leopold Schmidt owned breweries in Olympia, Salem, and Bellingham, and he partnered with Northwest Fruit Products in Salem to bottle Loju, a loganberry juice.

They became the Phez Company in 1919 and sold many unfermented fruit juices.

During this same time, the Henry Weinhard Brewery “unbranded” as a brewery to a company that sold vinegar and ice, as well as soda supplies and soft drinks (Appo, Luxo, Tako) under the label Weinhard's Puritan Brand Sodas.

The only brewery businesses left after Prohibition were the Blitz-Weinhard Company, Sicks’ Brewing Company in Salem, and Julius Roesch’s City Brewery in Pendleton. When it came to post-Prohibition beer, the public gravitated to lighter lagers and there wasn’t much “local” adventure to be found in the supermarket. In Oregon, Lucky, Olympia and Rainier were the closest thing drinkers could get to local.

After buy outs and a consolidation of the industry, the 1970s and 80s were decades of positive change and renewed growth. In October 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed H.R. 1337 and homebrewing was finally “legal.”

Stay tuned for part 2 of this series, which gives lots of deets on the post-Prohibition and craft era!

#beer in oregon #oregon beer history #beer history

0 notes

omgstupendousbouquetbasement · 6 years ago

Text

Severe Storms Spawn Tornadoes Near Kansas City

Tornadoes damaged homes and knocked down trees and power lines Tuesday in the U.S. state of Kansas in the latest round of severe weather that has repeatedly battered the central part of the country since last week. The tornado activity just west of Kansas City injured at least 12 people, while severe storms sparked warnings as far east as New York. Residents of the Midwestern states of Ohio and Indiana spent Tuesday sifting through the ravages of a series of powerful tornadoes that killed at least one person, injured more than 130 others and destroyed homes, schools and business. Two of the devastating twisters struck the Dayton, Ohio, suburbs of Beavercreek and Trotwood, while a third touched down 128 kilometers northwest in Celina, Ohio. The National Weather Service classified all three as EF3s on the Enhanced Fujita scale, meaning they packed estimated wind speeds of between 218–266 kilometers per hour and were capable of severe damage. At least a dozen communities suffered damage late Monday and early Tuesday as storms raced through the area. The National Weather Service (NWS) said as many as 55 tornadoes may have touched down late Monday into Tuesday across eight states stretching eastward from Idaho and Colorado. Storm reports posted online by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center said 14 suspected tornadoes touched down in Indiana, 12 in Colorado and nine in Ohio. Seven were reported in Iowa, five in Nebraska, four in Illinois, three in Minnesota, and one in Idaho. The storms tore roofs off homes, toppled trees, downed power lines and created so much debris that cleanup crews had to use a snowplow to clear one highway in Ohio. According to NWS, Tuesday was the 12th consecutive day where multiple tornadoes were reported in the United States. While the high number of twisters is not unusual, they are usually not as widespread. As the stormy weather plagued the central U.S., several cities in the South experienced record-shattering high temperatures. Over the weekend, Augusta, Georgia, tied a 141-year-old record high, as the temperature soared to 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Savannah, Georgia, tied the record for the earliest occurrence of triple-digit heat in the city, and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington, North Carolina, reached 100 for the first time ever in May. Meteorologists predict the scorching trend will continue, and high temperature records will be set in cities from Louisiana to Virginia. Also breaking records was flooding along the Mississippi River in eight states. NWS said the flooding is the longest-lasting since the "Great Flood" of 1927. The river has remained above flood stage since February 17, while in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, it has remained there since early January. By contrast, instead of sunshine and warmth, California has been hit by a rare late May snowstorm, bringing record low temperatures. In the mountains of Northern and Southern California, surprise snowfalls have extended the ski season. Mammoth Mountain Ski Resort announced plans to stay open into August. from Blogger http://bit.ly/2Qx6J4e via IFTTT

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes

fitnesshealthyoga-blog · 6 years ago

Photo

New Post has been published on https://fitnesshealthyoga.com/unvaccinated-teens-are-fact-checking-their-parents-and-trying-to-get-shots-on-their-own/

Unvaccinated teens are fact-checking their parents and trying to get shots on their own

The World Health Organisation has said the number of people contracting measles in 2018 across Europe was the highest number for a decade, despite more children being vaccinated against it than ever before.

Photo: Owen Humphreys, AP

Unvaccinated teens are fact-checking their parents and trying to get shots on their own

Ethan Lindenberger, frustrated by years of arguments about his mother’s anti-vaccination stance, staged a quiet defection via Reddit.

The Norwalk, Ohio, teenager needed advice, he said, on how to inoculate himself against infectious disease and his family’s dogma. At 18, he was old enough, Lindenberger explained. He wanted to get vaccinated. But he didn’t know how.

“My parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme,” Lindenberger wrote days before Thanksgiving. “But, because of their beliefs I’ve never been vaccinated for anything, god knows how I’m still alive.”

As anti-vaccination movements metastasize amid outbreaks of dangerous disease, internet-savvy teenagers are fact-checking their parents’ decisions in a digital health reawakening – and seeking their own treatments in bouts of family defiance.

In three states, at least three self-described teenagers told Reddit they have a common problem: Their parents are staunchly opposed to vaccination, and they fear for their health if they do not take action. Different state laws affect how old minors need to be to make their own medical decisions.

Lindenberger’s post drew more than 1,000 comments, including detailed information on navigating the health care system in one post from someone who identified as a nurse.

The tension over vaccines started years ago, the teen told The Washington Post on Sunday, after he began to notice his mother posting anti-vaccination videos on social media. His friends were getting vaccinated. So what was happening in his house?

Lindenberger read scientific papers and journals. He pulled up Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies on his phone at the dinner table, hoping his mother would relent and get him and his four younger siblings – now ages 16, 14, 5 and 2 – vaccinated.

“I looked into it, it was clear there was way more evidence in defense of vaccines,” he said. His mother resisted and claimed there were autism risks from vaccines, a common argument used by anti-vaccination groups that has been widely debunked.

His mother, Jill Wheeler, was angered by his pursuit, she told Undark, an online science magazine. “It was like him spitting on me,” she told the site, “saying ‘You don’t know anything, I don’t trust you with anything. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You did make a bad decision and I’m gonna go fix it.’ “

Wheeler did not respond to a request for comment.

In Ohio and 16 other states, parents can opt out of required vaccines for philosophical reasons. All but three states allow the exemption on religious grounds. All 50 allow it for medical reasons.

Late last year, Lindenberger, now a high school senior, confided in a pastor, who suggested he was legally free to make decisions.

On Dec. 17, he walked into an Ohio Department of Heath office in Norwalk and received vaccines for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and HPV, according to a shot record viewed by The Post.

He has shots listed for tetanus and hepatitis B, administered when he was 2 years old, but Wheeler told Undark he received the tetanus shot after he accidentally cut himself. The other must be a paperwork mistake, she said.

Lindenberger said he has seen a growing discussion online about teenagers emboldened to make their own health decisions and pursue vaccinations.

In Washington, a self-described underage teen wrote in January that his or her mother would not allow vaccines.

“I, as well as my siblings, hold the ideology that vaccines are a public health issue, and a personal responsibility to the benefit of the population, not a right you can revoke from your children,” the teenager wrote.

Washington state has become a battleground between anti-vaccine groups pushing for relaxed regulations and concerned parents watching a measles outbreak strike the Pacific Northwest, a well-documented anti-vaccination refuge.

At least 56 people in Washington and Oregon have contracted measles – a potentially deadly disease for children – in an outbreak near Portland, Oregon, triggering a public health emergency in neighboring Clark County, Washington.

“Measles is exquisitely contagious. If you have an undervaccinated population and you introduce a measles case into that population, it will take off like a wildfire,” Clark County Public Health Director Alan Melnick said.

Another teenager, who in September identified himself as a 15-year old from Minnesota, asked Reddit for help to parse state laws in an effort to gain immunization himself. Minnesota is a state where guardians can opt out of required vaccinations if they philosophically object to them.

Lindenberger suggested that to empower teenagers and get more people immunized, states should lower the age of consent required for vaccinations instead of pushing for stricter immunization laws and dropping exemptions.

The tension has complicated his home life. He says he regrets insulting the intelligence of his parents in the original Reddit post and urges other teenagers to be transparent and positive with parents when seeking permission to immunize.

The stakes are high for his four younger siblings. His mother has already indicated that she will not allow his 16-year old brother to be immunized, although he wants it, Lindenberger said.

He also has a 2-year-old sister, whose age exposes her to numerous infectious health risks.

“It breaks my heart that she could get measles and she’d be done,” Lindenberger said.

Source link

#health insurance news usa #health news united states #us public health news #Health News

0 notes

dumbass-bisexual · 8 years ago

Text

Look At Us Now: A Gravity Falls One-Shot

here ya go kiddies, prepare urselves for some major stangst. this will also be posted on my AO3

Stan’s stomach rumbled, reminding him of the money he could’ve spent on food.

Instead, he was holed up in this dingy old motel for the next two nights. While it wasn’t much, it was better than his car, especially in this weather. He’d figure something out for food. But at least for now he was warm.

He was somewhere in Ohio, currently living under the alias Sammy Pineland, a simple man and seller of “gold plated” tobacco pipes. (The “gold” was cheap spray paint.) To keep the cops off his back, he’d stopped cutting his hair, letting it grow out. He’d even started wearing his glasses again, just for good measure. They were old ugly coke-bottle looking things (Stan didn’t even know how they’d ended up in his gym bag), but he’d forgotten what it was like to be able to read billboards or make out the leaves on the trees. It was a nice change, even if he did look like a huge nerd.

Just like Ford.

Shaking his head, Stan stood began to inspect the room for bedbugs and other guests. Aside from some mothballs, the room seemed at least halfway decent.

Settled in (he only had his briefcase) Stan decided to turn on the old TV, compliments of the innkeep.

Quickly discovering that there were three channels, he left it on the nightly newscast, which was nearing the end.

“The cold front should be out of the area by Thursday,” the weatherman was saying, gesturing wildly to the map behind him. “We’ll be seeing some more spring-like weather through the end of this week and next weekend. Back to you, Hannah.”

“Thanks, Jim,” the blonde anchor said, smile big and fake.

Imagine having a job like that, Stan thought to himself. Just waving your hands around all day looking good and you’re set for life.

“Next up, we have a new segment I like to call Innovators of Tomorrow, where we talk with up and coming members of the scientific community about their work.”

Stan rolled his eyes. Never did like science much, he thought, and stood up to change the channel.

But he stopped short as the camera panned to a hauntingly familiar face sitting next to the news anchor.

“Here with us tonight is Dr. Stanford Pines, who works with naturally occurring anomalies.” She turned to face none other than Stan’s twin. “Thanks for being here with us, Stanford.”

“Please, call me Ford,” he replied, voice sending chills down Stan’s spine.

“So, Ford,” the anchor began, “tell us a little bit about your work.”

“Well,” Ford began, “I’ve always been interested in things that were strange or odd.” He held up his six fingered hand, the one that Stan knew so well. “This might have had something to do with it,” he added, chuckling.

Stan sat down heavily on the bed, staring, transfixed at the TV screen. He didn’t really hear the rest of the broadcast.

He hadn’t see his brother in seven? Eight years? Stan had lost count. But Ford looked good. His suit was pressed and fancy-looking, his glasses were new and stylish, and his hair was neatly groomed. Aside from the wardrobe upgrade, Ford just looked different. It was in the way he held himself-- he looked confident and sure of himself, everything that the nervous, shy brainiac version of Ford that Stan had left back in Glass Shard Beach was not.

Catching a glance of his own reflection in the dirty mirror on the wall, he let out a short, humorless laugh. Mom and dad could never tell us apart as kids. Heh, look at us now, he thought ruefully.

On the screen, the news broadcast had reached an end, and the anchor was thanking Ford for his time. As she signed off, Ford looked right into the camera. Stan couldn’t help but stare back; it felt like he was making eye contact with his brother for the first time since he’d been thrown out of the house almost ten years ago.

His eye contact was broken as the image on the screen shifted to a used car sales commercial, but the image of his brother still lingered behind his eyes.

Oh Sixer, he thought to himself. What happened to us?

“Alright, Science Guy, you’re on next,” came the obnoxious voice of the newscast director, making Ford, who had been reading in a chair backstage, jump.

Nervously fixing his glasses, he shoved his hands in his pockets to hide the fact that they were shaking.

Why did I think this was a good idea? He thought to himself, smoothing down his hair. Some professor he’d worked with in his doctorate program had recommended him for this segment, and Ford didn’t want to be rude. You could never know who would be a helpful resource later in your career.

But now, here in the moment, Ford wished he’d just called it all off. While college had helped with his social anxiety, he still struggled to suppress the nervousness that threatened to claw its way up his throat every time he had to speak in class, let alone on a live news broadcast.

Just channel your inner Stanley, came a voice from the back of his mind. Ford had always admired his brother’s ability to talk his way out of any situation. But he hadn’t seen Stanley in years…

“You’re on,” announced the director from right behind Ford, startling him once again.

Ford nodded, took a deep breath, and sat down in the wheeled chair next to the blonde news anchor (Haley? Hazelle? No- it was Hannah.) where he sat just out of the view of the camera.

Okay, three minute segment before the end of the broadcast, Ford thought. You can do this, Sixer. Smile.

“Thanks for being here with us, Stanford,” Hannah was saying, smile almost painfully big.

“Please, call me Ford,” he replied, unable to help himself.

The anchor nodded, name noted, and continued. “So, Ford, tell us a little bit about your work.”

Ford took a second to collect his thoughts before answering her question.

“Well,” he began, “I’ve always been interested in things that were strange or odd.” Give them some background, good introduction. He held up his six fingered hand, trying very hard to hide the tremors radiating up his arm. “This might have had something to do with it,” he added with a small laugh.

When the anchor kept giving him that unsettling smile, Ford felt his heart rate increase. Keep it moving Stanford.

“As you mentioned, I work with naturally occurring anomalies, such as my polydactyly, or extra digits, for those of you at home. I’ve worked with animals that have conditions such as mine: snakes with two heads, mice with several eyes, and the like. What I want to know is what causes these anomalies, and how they can be traced through genetics. Many of them are mutations, but I’ve found higher quantities of anomalies in different areas of the country, most abundant in the pacific northwest.”

The anchor’s eyes had appeared to have glazed over, and it took her a split second to realize that Ford was done speaking. Am I that boring?

“Well, that seems to be all the time we have for tonight,” Hannah said, effectively ending the conversation. Ford was relieved, even though he knew for a fact that he did not speak for three minutes.

“Thanks so much for being here Ford.” She turned back to face the camera. “I’m Hannah Simmons, with CWF News in Springfield, signing off. Good night!”

Hannah sat still for a moment, smiling that weird smile, before the director stepped onto the stage. “And we’re clear.”

Ford turned to face Hannah, whose smile had almost immediately dropped from her face. “Thank God,” she intoned, pulling a pack of cigarettes out from the pocket of her blazer.

“So, am I okay to leave?” Ford asked cautiously.

“The hell if I care,” Hannah replied. “I’m done for the night, so I’d assume so. Go play with your snakes or whatever.” And with that, she got up and left the stage, muttering, “Jesus, I need a drink.”

Ford slowly stood up and made his way back to the dressing room, where he had left his coat and his book. He was stopped once again by the voice of the stage director.

“Hey, buddy, we cut you short. You talk too much about stuff no one cares about.”

Ford was taken aback. “I-- excuse me?”

“Yeah,” the director replied. “People don’t care about your freaky shit. Tell us about how you’re saving the environment next time.”

And with that, he left Ford to collect his things.

Should’ve been more like Stan, came that voice again.

And as Ford made his way out into the cold, he was left to wonder what had ever happened to his brother.

#personal #college #fanfic #mine #text #long post #gravity falls #stan pines #grunkle stan #ford pines #stanford pines #pre-gravity falls #stangst #gf

15 notes · View notes