Saturday, July 4, 2009 3:44pm EST
Make this your Home Page | RSS 
A true story about Rod Blagojevich
Robin Washington | Posted December 16, 2008 9:00 AMIt was spring 1972, and Rod Blagojevich and I were swimming naked in the Lane Tech High School pool when --
All right, a clarification: The Illinois governor accused of attempting to auction off President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat was in my Chicago high school class, though he transferred after two years. And he indeed would have been in the required boys nude swimming class (a practice since thankfully abandoned and the subject of a previous column).
I can't say, however, if we skinny dipped at the same time; avoiding eye-contact, let alone any other contact, was key in that class, and I know we didn't share any others. But other class of '75 members also drew a blank.
"Rod was in our class? You're kidding me!" Cheryl Mangano (nee Struwe) said Friday when I called her office in downtown Chicago, not far from where Blagojevich was running business as usual after having been released on bail.
If our memories are vague, it's not surprising. Lane had more than 5,000 students and 1,500 in our class alone. Still, Blagojevich was in her division (homeroom).
"They sat us alphabetically. I talked to the people I sat next to," Mangano said, noting B's didn't sit next to S's. Of the present-day Blagojevich, she asked: "Why is his hair still in the '70s?"
A lot of people are wondering that, though to be fair, as classmate Cheryl Kreiman -- who didn't remember him either -- wrote me: "Thankfully, indictments aren't handed out based on the nerdiness of our high school yearbook pictures."
As someone who embodied geek before it was chic, I can appreciate that. But it was more than the hair that set Mazurka Wojciechowska off. "I'm not just embarrassed for Illinois and Chicago, I'm embarrassed for the Serbians! I love Serbs and I hope folks won't hold his transgressions against them," she wrote on the Classmates.com site.
"As a Chicagoan, I have to say it's like seeing your mother drunk," she continued. "On the other hand, Chicago also has Obama ... Too bad HE didn't go to Lane!"
No, but one of his top campaign aides, Ertharin Cousin, did, and was also in our class. A true success story, she served in the Clinton administration and in various high-level private-sector jobs. Though we've spoken over the past few years, she didn't immediately return my e-mail asking what she recalled of Blagojevich; exhibiting, perhaps, the Obama camp's now-famous discipline when dealing with media.
And before anyone completely sells our big-haired classmate down the Chicago River, remember he's innocent until confirmation of the voices on the tape discussing $500,000 from (expletive) Senate Candidate 5 proves him guilty. After all, since when has it been un-American to deal for Senate seats? Didn't Alaska's Frank Murkowski do that when he left the Senate to become governor, then appointed his daughter (before he was ousted by Sarah Palin)? And how about Minnesota's own Wendell Anderson, who resigned his governor's job allowing Lt. Gov. Rudy Perpich to appoint Anderson to the Senate?
All of which brings us back to the Northland where, it turns out, another Lane '75 alum has settled. Janet Rowney of Stone Lake, Wis., said she actually did know Blago back when.
"I don't remember a specific class, but he was somebody I could identify," she said, adding identifying him was as far as it got.
"My basic memory of him was, like, he's not somebody I'm going to date."
And the present-day Blagojevich?
"His hair is sooo bad!"
Robin Washington is news director of the Duluth News Tribune and a commentator on public radio stations nationwide.
Today's news
More News Headlines
-
PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA
- Obama Transition Site
- Obama Inauguration
- Presidential Inaugural Cmte.
- Obama Video Page
- Obama Photo Page
Popular Topics
- MICHAEL JACKSON (1958-2009) (49 comments)
- Black Connecticut church focus of gay teen "exorcism" video (31 comments)
- Should Revs. Sharpton and Jackson be involved in the Michael Jackson story? (27 comments)
- Rev. Al Sharpton praises Michael Jackson as 'historic figure' (24 comments)
- First Lady called "ghetto girl" by Martha Vineyard's black elite (23 comments)
Recent Comments
-
K. Salako commented on Al Sharpton defends role in Michael Jackson case:
This poorly-written and researched article is beyond silly. The writer is mad that someone ...
-
Stephen Hall commented on First Lady called "ghetto girl" by Martha Vineyard's black elite:
The nerve of these people to speak in this manner about the "First Lady". I'm appalled that the peo...
-
P.Brown commented on Al Sharpton defends role in Michael Jackson case:
Once again, as usual whenever a black person supports his own, the media who has become the spokesm...
-
ladyjax commented on Black Connecticut church focus of gay teen "exorcism" video:
In talking with a friend who is a Episcopal priest several years back about exorcism (yes, mainstre...
-
Stephen Hall commented on Al Sharpton defends role in Michael Jackson case:
I do not see what the problem is with the Rev. being there. It's not like he is pushing his own age...
COMMUNITIES
CONTRIBUTORS
Sil Lai Abrams
Mark Allen
John Amaechi
Maya Angelou
Crystal McCrary Anthony
Patricia Arnold
Algernon Austin
Randall Bailey
Rick Blalock
Kola Boof
Keith Boykin
Mario Brossard
Michael Brown
Theresa Caldwell
Clay Cane
Jasmyne Cannick
Charisse Carney-Nunes
Audrey Chapman
Gordon Chambers
Staceyann Chin
Mark Corece
Gilda Daniels
Yvonne R. Davis
Terrance Dean
Marcia Dyson
Damon Evans
M. Franklin
Lenora Fulani
Ron Glover
Keli Goff
Peter Gomes
Deondray Gossett
Kia Gregory
Zulema Griffin
Malcolm Harris
Marc Lamont Hill
Alicia Hines
Dennis R. Holmes, M.D
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Jessica Ingram-Bellamy
Jacqueline Jackson
Avis Jones-DeWeever
Mark Allen
John Amaechi
Maya Angelou
Crystal McCrary Anthony
Patricia Arnold
Algernon Austin
Randall Bailey
Rick Blalock
Kola Boof
Keith Boykin
Mario Brossard
Michael Brown
Theresa Caldwell
Clay Cane
Jasmyne Cannick
Charisse Carney-Nunes
Audrey Chapman
Gordon Chambers
Staceyann Chin
Mark Corece
Gilda Daniels
Yvonne R. Davis
Terrance Dean
Marcia Dyson
Damon Evans
M. Franklin
Lenora Fulani
Ron Glover
Keli Goff
Peter Gomes
Deondray Gossett
Kia Gregory
Zulema Griffin
Malcolm Harris
Marc Lamont Hill
Alicia Hines
Dennis R. Holmes, M.D
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Jessica Ingram-Bellamy
Jacqueline Jackson
Avis Jones-DeWeever
Helen Elaine Lee
Quincy Lenear
Carl Lewis
Rae Lewis-Thornton
Shannon J. Love
Rod McCullom
Terry McMillan
M.W. Moore
Alphonso Morgan
Nicholas Nelson
Clarence Nero
Charles Ogletree
Spencer Overton
Shirley Parker
Deval Patrick
Charles Pugh
Anwar Robinson
Eugene S. Robinson
Rashad Robinson
Mark Sawyer
Tara Setmayer
Rev. William Sinkford
Alexander Smalls
Basil Smikle
Nadine Smith
Doug Spearman
John Stanley
Jamal Story
Ronald Sullivan
David Dante Troutt
Omar Tyree
Linda Villarosa
Dorian Warren
Isaiah Washington
Robin Washington
Diane Weathers
Reg Weaver
Marcia J. Williams
Nathan Hale Williams
Jeff Winbush
Kai Wright
Quincy Lenear
Carl Lewis
Rae Lewis-Thornton
Shannon J. Love
Rod McCullom
Terry McMillan
M.W. Moore
Alphonso Morgan
Nicholas Nelson
Clarence Nero
Charles Ogletree
Spencer Overton
Shirley Parker
Deval Patrick
Charles Pugh
Anwar Robinson
Eugene S. Robinson
Rashad Robinson
Mark Sawyer
Tara Setmayer
Rev. William Sinkford
Alexander Smalls
Basil Smikle
Nadine Smith
Doug Spearman
John Stanley
Jamal Story
Ronald Sullivan
David Dante Troutt
Omar Tyree
Linda Villarosa
Dorian Warren
Isaiah Washington
Robin Washington
Diane Weathers
Reg Weaver
Marcia J. Williams
Nathan Hale Williams
Jeff Winbush
Kai Wright




MySpace
flickr
YouTube

2008-12-16 17:29:05
2008-12-16 18:28:51
2008-12-19 14:35:52
2008-12-20 19:30:29
To see your comment, wait approximately two minutes, then simply refresh the page.
Report issues/abuses to suggestions@thedailyvoice.com