Mule Skinning

I did not watch the last Presidential debate because I long ago accumulated enough information to make a decision. Instead, I watched a game between two losing football teams. Another losing team in their division lost their name this year because they could no longer survive the controversy swirling around the racially charged term “Redskins.” So they are just the Washington Football Team for now. The divisions around this issue became so entrenched that no new name had even been considered in the event this day came. My college long ago replaced their less offensive Chieftain mascot with a Redhawk. The change was not universally welcomed but was an easy call because defending the old name was not worth collateral damage to the essential mission of the University. Besides they changed to Chieftains only because they were tired of being mocked as “Morons” when their original name was Maroons. Anyway, apparently the word “Red” is not the problem, so theoretically “skins” could be used in a compromise designation of Washington Muleskinners. It would reflect the stubbornness of the owner and those resisting the change. I also listen to a Classic Country music channel to avoid politics. Before falling into the mascot rabbit hole, this Blog was going to be about music. I remember Dad singing along with the car radio when he was in his early thirties to Blueberry Hill (Fats Domino), Mack the Knife (Bobby Darin), and Alley Oop (Hollywood Argyles). As a preteen, I was horrified that Dad seemed hip listening to an early version of a pop music station. His mother was a Country Western fan so I rebelled and became interested in my grandmother’s music like Muleskinner Blues (Jimmie Rodgers 1930). Hey, the rabbit hole went in a big circle.