I'm getting ready to take a short bicycle ride on my $20 no-gears, no-frills Target cruiser with the fat tires.
By the way, that's fat, not flat.
But before I go, I want to write something about Grant Wood.
Not so much about the Iowa-born artist, but one of his paintings.
The one from 1931 that was titled "Young Corn," which is pictured.
The reason I want to say something about "Young Corn" is because it once was at Wilson Junior High School in Cedar Rapids. Wilson is where I attended junior high and high school.
The Cedar Ropids Gazette had a story the other day, written by Meredith Hines-Dochterman, that said "Young Corn" is among nearly 500 works of art in the Cedar Rapids school district's collection.
The story went on to say that the Cedar Rapids school district’s total art collection was recently appraised at about $16 million.
“'I’m not sure there are other districts with an art collection like this,' said Marcia Hughes, district spokeswoman.
"The collection began almost 100 years ago, when it became tradition for people to commission or donate art as memorials to district staff or students. The most valuable gift was given by Wilson Junior High students, who launched a penny drive to commission a painting by Wood in memory of a beloved teacher. Wood produced 'Young Corn' for $300 in 1931. It is currently appraised at $8 million.
I didn't attend seventh grade at Wilson until 1947, long after the penny drive to commission the painting by Wood. But I had at least one aunt and one uncle who may have attended Wilson in 1931.
For all I know, they participated in the penny drive.
However, I'm pretty certain "Young Corn" was at Wilson when I went to school there. And I'm glad it's worth $8 million now.
Meanwhile, some people are upset because another Grant Wood painting that hung on the wall across from the office has been removed from Wilson. It had been presented to Jenny Post, who was the principal before Pierre Tracy [who was the principal when I was at Wilson]. It's probably at the art museum, but that was her personal property.
That's a column for another day.
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I noticed that the St. Louis Cardinals paid a $3.1 million bonus to a 16-year-old kid from the Dominican Republic this week. That's interesting because the Cardinals have the reputation of being tight. I mean, really tight. They might spend $3.1 million on a 16-year-old outfielder, but they try to bring in 25-year-old pitchers with many years of experience at a bargain-basement price. I've going to have to ask Rev. Kendall Meyer about that.
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Meanwhile, I see the Los Angeles Times has promoted its sports editor [a guy named Randy Harvey] to associate editor of the paper. And the obituaries editor [Jon Thurber] is the new managing editor. Making the obits editor the managing editor might be a sign of the times in the newspaper business. He's used to dealing with a lot of dead things -- especially dead people.
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I didn't get to Missouri this year to get any firecrackers.
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I'll see you on my bike. By the way, it might have fat tires, but the sidewalls are white.
