Buddy's Blog

My old friend Fred and I talk just about every week. We’ve been good friends since the 70’s. He lives in Tallahassee. Fred’s got to be about the smartest person I’ve ever known, and I’ve known lots of smart people. Besides being a PhD mathematician, any topic you could think of, he could talk about it for an hour easy. One great story  from years ago, there was this pompous Englishman we knew for awhile, and he was pontificating about something or other: “As Socrates once said etc etc…” When he finally shut up, Fred, in his slow Texas drawl, remarked “I believe that was Aeschylus”. Well Fred and I and the rest of our group of friends had another good friend, Jim Zarichny. Jim was a card carrying communist. And quite a character. I understand that his parents were also communists, and they had taken a free speech case to the Supreme Court which they either lost or it was declined. So did Jim when he was a student at Michigan State back in 1949 or thereabouts. Here’s what you’ll see if you google him:

James “Jim” Zarichny (frequently spelled Zarichny or Zarichney in historical references) was a lifelong  political activist who became a central figure in a high-profile anti-communist civil liberties case during the McCarthy era.

✊ Early Life and Activism

Zarichny was born into a labor-focused family. Both of his parents participated in the landmark 1937 General Motors sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan. Growing up immersed in the labor movement, he served as president of his Junior Union in the eighth grade and later as treasurer of the local CIO Youth Club. During World War II, he served overseas in the U.S. Army across North Africa, India, and Japan.

⚖️ The MSU Expulsion and National Spotlight

After returning from the war, Zarichny enrolled at Michigan State College (now Michigan State University).

• • The Incident: In 1948, he was put on probation for distributing political leaflets and was subsequently hauled before the Michigan Legislature during an investigation into communist activities.

  • The Fallout: Because of his membership in the Communist Party, MSU officially expelled him. His expulsion and the subsequent legal battle over academic freedom gained widespread national attention, prompting him to go on a national speaking tour to protest the university’s decision.

💻 Later Career

Zarichny later moved to New York, where he earned a mathematics degree from Columbia University. He eventually built a career as a computer programmer, working at Florida State University’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Institute before moving to Boulder, Colorado. In Boulder, he worked at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)—focusing on atmospheric nuclear explosion detection—and helped lead the local chapter of the New American Movement. He passed away in Boulder in 2013 at the age of 89.

Here is Jim at my house in Tallahassee in 1977:

In 1998 I was back in Tallahassee. For some reason FSU inducted me into an honor society. And Jim happened to be there as well. He had moved to Eastern Europe, but he came back because he needed some surgery. Here is in in the hospital before the operation.

That was the last time I saw him. Here is a picture I got off the internet that was taken not long before he passed on. He was still rattling the man’s cage:

Screenshot

As you know, Russian communism fell at the end of 1991.  In 1992 I drew this story:

BTW, without me looking for it, this just popped up in my browser

From 2010…

They sure know how to have fun in Dublin…

Last day in Dublin we went to the National Gallery. First we had lunch across the street.

The museum has some wonderful works.

The principal attraction to the gallery is this painting. It’s only on view for one hour on two different days of the week. That’s because it’s watercolor, and exposure to light will over time make it fade.

We also visited the Museum of Modern Art which is near Kilmainham Gaol, but I wasn’t impressed.

All the public museums in the Republic of Ireland are free.

We took a bus tour to Northern Ireland. The coastline, like most of Ireland, is lovely.

First stop was the ruins of Dunluce Castle on the cliff on the North Atlantic. The ruins as well as the Giant’s Causeway were featured in Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy. 

Here is a short video of the coastline.

The trail toward the Giant’s Causeway:

This is the Causeway. It wasn’t as spectacular as I had envisioned.

To see this next formation was another ten minute hike, and FrauG was tired, so we didn’t go. We took a shuttle back to our bus.

We stopped in Belfast on the way back to Dublin. We should have gone to see the Titanic museum. There’s not much to see in downtown Belfast. And the city doesn’t have the same wonderful ambience as Dublin.

The mural Belfast Spring was painted in 2023. It represents the importance of the flax industry to the city. Linen is made from flax flowers.

The next day in Dublin we went to the Jameson distillery.

It cost 30 euros per, and all it was was a tasting and an AV show of the history of, and how they make whiskey.

There was no distillery. That had moved to Cork. And the guy who did the presentation, asked for tips at the end. The all day trip to Northern Ireland only cost 60 euros. I thought the Jameson gig was a rip-off. We should have gone to the Guinness Storehouse instead, but Frau G was too tired.

Up the coast from Dublin 10 or 15 miles is the town of Malahide and the Malahide Castle.

The castle is about a ten minute walk from the town. Along the way are statues carved from trees.

I think this used to be a church.

The Talbot family still owns the castle. They still use the greater part as their residence. These were a few of the pictures that I took on the tour. This first is the entry hall.

That one over the fireplace is a Rubens.

He wasn’t the brightest of our seconds in command. I lost a few newspapers over that one.

From March 2014

On the way walking to St, Patrick’s Cathedral we passed the Christ Church Cathedral. It’s big. I had to take pictures of the two different parts. This is the right half.

This is the left half.

Then I found out where Effie went to work after I closed down my comic.

This is St. Patricks.

Johnathan Swift is the Elvis of Dublin. He’s buried in the church.