In 1943, the USA was smack dab in the middle of WWII, and graduating college students were faced with the inevitable: enlistment. A cartoon in the Jayhawker magazine shows the four steps awaiting them: graduation and swearing in…
…securing fatigues and heading into combat.
How frustrating it must have been to finally achieve graduation, to fill your head with knowledge, only to enter a war where it may be blown off.
John Conard, Editor-In-Chief, shared these words:
Penny postcards reveal fall semester grades. Somebody’s taking it a little hard.
“My mum always used to buy a record every Friday.”– Elton John
“I’m half Puerto Rican, and every Friday we have rice and beans and chicken in my house – so that’s like a very Latin staple. It’s just so comforting. I look forward to every single Friday because I just can’t wait for my rice and beans and chicken.”–Victoria Justice
“I understand what’s it like to work all week and on Friday night just want to go and leave your brain at the door, buy some popcorn and be thrilled by something.”–Don Cheadle
“Happy Days, which we did for 11 years, we did with three cameras in front of a live audience. Very special. We had a party every Friday night. The boys, Ron, Henry, they grew up on that show.”– Marion Ross
“That smell of freshly cut grass makes me think of Friday night football in high school. The smell of popcorn and cigar smoke reminds me of the stadium. The cutting of the grass reminds me of the August practice.”– Garth Brooks
In the fall of 1945, WWII had just ended, and colleges anticipated increased enrollment from students on the G.I. Bill. Soldiers had received free cigarettes while enlisted, so it’s not surprising that the habit remained when they returned home. Tobacco companies had initially targeted the military during WWI through the distribution of cigarettes to servicemen, and by WWII, they were included in rations. The Red Cross even distributed free cigarettes to the troops.
Despite mounting evidence in the 1950s of the adverse health effects of smoking and tobacco use, the military continued to include cigarettes in rations until 1975 (wikipedia). Old habits died hard. This image from the fall of 1945 shows a student lighting up before class.
Swollen enrollment meant swollen ashtrays.
Pipes were popular, as evidenced by students, as well as advertising.
I admit it; I enjoy the smell of pipe smoke. 
Even student protesters paused for a smoke break.
And as we know, sex sells. Hence, the cigarette girl. She was the Coyote Ugly of cigarettes.
In the event that some students may have forgotten their ABCs, this strikingly colorful ad on the back cover of this Jayhawker reminded them. Chesterfield=home runs!
As we’ve seen in prior posts like Steve McQueen, universities back in the day would ask celebrity males to objectify judge the female beauties on campus for fun and entertainment. In this 1943 Jayhawker commencement issue, pin-up artist Alberto Varga did the honors.
Chris from the muscleheaded blog should appreciate this. A copy of the letter is included:
And the winner was…Grace McCandless!
Sometimes I look through old yearbooks and wonder, “What in all that is holy?”
My best guess here is that these fellas are wearing Groucho Marx glasses. Except that there aren’t any glasses at all. And Groucho was neither blond nor ginger. In fact, Hirschfeld drew Groucho with facial hair as black as night.
So I’m terribly vexed.
Last night’s view near twilight was a sight to behold. I could hear Eddie Rabbit rise from the dead, singing, “Well, I love a rainy night, it’s such a beautiful sight…” Of course, folks around here have learned not to get our hopes up. We’ve been (literally) burned too many times to count, hopeful at the sight of darkening clouds and ominous thunder, only to watch it pass us by. While Al Roker chats gloats about rainstorms across the country, central Texas is essentially Penny from The Rescuers, constantly passed over by would-be adoptive parents. For years.
We’ve been in drought conditions for so long, it’s nearly time for Penny’s quinceañera (were she Hispanic, which would technically make her Centavo, and that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it).
But it DID rain last night, and I even went out and danced in it, prompted by fellow blogger, Liz, if only for a few seconds. P.S. rain is cold.
So what if the lightning and thunder kept me up all night long? I’ll sacrifice my slumber for the good of our state.
Award-winning weatherman Jim Spencer keeps us abreast of local changes on his “First Warning Weather,” deciphering the Doppler Weather Radar and making predictions, but (to quote the Aussies), it’s as dry as a dead dingo’s donger.
All of our lakes are hitting record lows. The Lake Travis restaurants like The Oasis and Carlos ‘n’ Charlie’s, so popular for water fun and frolic in the 1990s, now overlook a low-lying lake covered with dune-like islands. When I visited Volente Beach on Lake Travis fourteen years ago, I could see the dry islands popping up even then.
But now it’s much, much worse.
At this point, I don’t know how we’ll ever recoup enough water to get things where they need to be. Our water bills are always in the hundreds each month; that’s par for the course to live in this area. Cattle are dropping dead right and left, reservoirs are drying up. But we won’t give up hope.
Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” 1 Kings 18:41
More rain may be just around the bend.
I Don't Get It 