Tag Archives: BUBBLE WRAP

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 27

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The Bubble Wrap story is (probably) going to be on this Sunday’s (7/30) episode of “The Mega-Brands That Built America.”

Mr. DeMille, about that close-up …

The history of Bubble Wrap is scheduled to be part of the “The World Delivered” episode of The Mega-Brands That Built America this Sunday, July 30, at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific time. It streams the next day on History.com. Here’s a link to the episodes.

The stories that will be featured are Jim Casey of UPS; Al Fielding and Marc Chavannes of Bubble Wrap; and Frederick Smith of FedEx.

Here’s the official blurb:

100 years ago, shipping packages was slow, and shipping overnight was impossible, until two Seattle
brothers risk everything to reinvent shipping packages for all. And a tenacious Yale graduate creates a
world-famous express delivery service that transforms shipping into the essential global industry we rely
on today.

Two Seattle brothers are cool. Tenacious Yale graduates are sexy. An old white man (me) talking about two other, older, white men (my father and Mr. Chavannes, as I always knew him) — that’s neither cool nor sexy.

I’m the only “expert” they interviewed for the Bubble Wrap segment. Last week’s episode rounded up the usual suspects of expert commentators — professors of marketing, retail historians, the resident funny guy with the eye-roll and one-liners. All have talked about their subjects many times before on other “That Built America” series.

This wasn’t exactly my first time on TV, but it was the first for a major production. During the pandemic I was interviewed via Zoom for a German show about accidental inventions. (You can only see that if you’re in Germany.) In the fall of 2021, Discovery Plus interviewed me for their “Inventions That Changed History” series but never used it.

And once, about 30 years ago, I appeared on a minor Connecticut TV station for an interview about the state economy. My daughters have seen a videotape of this show and said I did a good job. If so, that’s because the other guest did all the talking.

I’ve already told you that I thought the studio session was a disaster. If they are able to salvage anything, I’m guessing it will be one or more of these:

Introducing myself.
Describing how Bubble Wrap is made.
Describing the personalities of Al and Marc.
Talking about a web press.
Summing up how Marc’s search for the perfect raincoat and Al’s creativity to make it happen created the protective packaging industry we know today.

If you see it, I’d love to answer questions or hear what you think. Contact me in the comments below or through the form on the Meet Your Host page.

Meanwhile …

I spent most of my writing time this week working behind the scenes on the Bubble Wrap book project. I’m up to page 80 of what I expect will be about 120 pages of manuscript (plus illustrations and sources).

In the coming week, I wrap up posting about the journal entries from my first year as a freelance writer. After that, the journal takes a month off before resuming in September. Then it tells a very different story of a young writer becoming a local newsman. It includes less about freelance/fiction writing simply because I was so busy as a reporter and editor, which I continued doing for most of the rest of my career.

Is that something you’d like to read? Let me know in the comments below and I’ll see where it goes from here.

And if you’ve enjoyed this if-I-knew-then-what-I-know-now series and think I should turn it into a book, let me know that too, and tell me why.

Thanks for stopping by!

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 26

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The big news of the week: I have confirmation that Bubble Wrap will be featured in the July 30 episode of History’s new series, “The Mega-Brands That Built America.”

When the producers interviewed me in May about the invention of Bubble Wrap, they hinted that the segment will appear with the stories of major shipping companies like Fedex. That will be the second episode, “The World Delivered.” It features Jim Casey and UPS; Al Fielding and Marc Chavannes of Bubble Wrap; and Frederick Smith of FedEx. It will air July 30.

The series premiere, July 23 at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, is called “Battle of the Superstores.” It will feature Sol Price of Fed Mart and Price Club; Jim Sinegal of Costco; and Sam Walton of Walmart and Sam’s Club.

The other two episodes this season are about sports and hygiene. “A Whole New Ballgame” on August 6 will feature baseball’s Albert Goodwill Spalding and the Rawlings Brothers; basketball’s Dr. James Naismith; and Thomas Wilson of the Wilson football. On August 13, “Dirty Work” will feature Harley Procter and James Gamble’s Ivory Soap and Jacob Schick and King C. Gillette’s razors.

Check your local listings, but it looks like new episodes show Sundays at 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. The previous week’s episodes show again Sundays at 9. They stream the next day on History.com, its app, and video on demand platforms.

Here’s a sneak preview (although sadly, I’m not sexy enough to be in it):

“The Mega-Brands That Built America” launches Sunday. My interview about Bubble Wrap shows up next week, July 30.

As you can imagine, I’m focused this week on finishing off the draft of my history of the invention of Bubble Wrap. I have some uninterrupted blocks of time to concentrate on that project.

Meanwhile, though, I’m wrapping up the series of blog posts about my 1979 launch as a freelance writer. Those wind down in August, and I’ll have a breather before I move forward with another project or series.

I’ll keep you posted!

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 25

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The afterglow of sunset lingers over the highway after yet another thunderstorm in Websterville, Vermont, July 13, 2023. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

This will be a short post after a long and dramatic week. Drama is good for a writer. All stories need some elements of conflict, of the unexpected, of chaos. All need contrast.

Conflict, chaos, and contrast in our own lives can contribute inspiration and experience for our writing. But together, they can suck time away from our work.

This week we experienced, or at least witnessed, some of the classic conflicts that can become fodder for great stories:

Man vs. Nature. After a rainy spring and early summer, a torrential rainstorm swept through Vermont. Our place isn’t near any of the river valleys, which were hit worst. The photo above is of the calm after the storm — one that added to the floods of earlier in the week.

Our daughter lives in Barre, where the main streets were passable only by boat. The state capital in Montpelier was badly hit; a friend’s church there may never reopen. When I worked at the Journal Opinion in Bradford, its office was on the riverbank by the dam. It would have been washed away if the building hadn’t been razed long ago.
Man vs. Time. A friend from our own church, Dr. Kristaps Keggi, the author of My Century, died unexpectedly last week. The memorial service was this week, and our church scrambled to prepare our venue.

Dr. Keggi had an international circle of friends and colleagues in the medical community and we wanted to honor him by hosting them appropriately. Thanks to a team effort, the service went from stressful to successful.
Control vs. Chaos. No, not KAOS, the international network of evil from Get Smart. It’s the eternal struggle of order vs. disorder. In our case, we returned to our Vermont place after two months away only to find the driveway overgrown with weeds, the exterior paint peeling, and, soon, the first floor a pile of rubble as renovations get underway.

Conflict and chaos take time and effort to control in real life, let alone the writing life. As an old-school journalist, I deal with them by setting deadlines. From there, it’s a matter of triage. What must be done now, and why? What must I do now so someone else in the process can do their job?

Often, anything without a deadline will be set aside while the others take priority. In juggling life and work, often this means a setback for the work. Blogging like this keeps me on track with regular deadlines, which sometimes cuts into longer-term projects.

This week I hope to move ahead with more on the Bubble Wrap book. The History Channel launches “The Mega-Brands That Built America” next week, but there’s no telling when or if they’ll use my interview. I hope to have a draft of my project wrapped up in time to promote it with the show. Time will tell.

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 24

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Fireworks over Lake Waramaug from Lake Waramaug State Park, Kent, Connecticut, July 1, 2023. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Revolutions, Mr. Dickinson, come into this world like bastard children… half improvised and half compromised. Our side has provided the compromise. Judge Wilson is now supplying the rest.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin, “1776”

The film 1776, a musical treatment of the wheelings and dealings that led to the Declaration of Independence, is a July 4th tradition in our family.

True to the spirit of the times, it draws from the letters and writings of John and Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin, and others for its dialogue.

In the quote above, the vote on independence has come down to the Pennsylvania delegation: John Dickinson, Franklin, and Judge James Wilson. The casting was simplified for the stage and dramatic effect.

In the script, Franklin calls for the delegation to be polled. Dickinson, who opposed separation, votes no. Franklin votes yes. Wilson breaks from Dickinson for the first time and votes in favor, lest he go down in history as the man who prevented independence.

Much of life is improvisation and compromise. This week we prepared for an Independence Day family reunion that involved complex logistics to happen perfectly. Plans A and B were scrapped when planes A and B were cancelled. Our plans for dining venues changed, then changed again, with the number of guests and, literally, the weather. By good fortune rather than good planning, one of our guests proved to be a much better grill chef than any of us are.

Today, the last of our flock is heading to a new home 600 miles away. The last few weeks of all-hands-on-deck preparations are over, and my work schedule can resume somewhat. I’ll have fresh 1979 posts for the blog.

I’ll also press on with on the Bubble Wrap project. I hope to tie it in to the episode of The Mega-Brands That Built America on the History Channel. So far, Bubble Wrap is not among the brands they’ve teased in their promos. It does not appear in their program schedule yet, either. But this does give me the opportunity and a deadline of August to complete my draft and start moving toward publication. I’ll keep you posted.

* Pennsylvania’s signers also included George Clymer, Robert Morris, John Morton, George Ross, Benjamin Rush, James Smith, and George Taylor, as well as Franklin and Wilson. None appear in the play.

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 23

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Fireworks at Knight Point State Park, Vermont, July 3, 2021.
By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

It’s Independence Day weekend — longer than usual, because the 4th is on Tuesday. This is a time for fireworks and family get-togethers. Preparations for both have preoccupied me for most of the past week.

Fortunately, most of my work these days is in the form of blog posts that I can do in short sessions. Working my way through my journals during my breakout year as a freelancer has given me regular material for posts. It has also helped me focus on many projects, started but often never completed, and friendships, neglected but never forgotten.

It is beginning to give me insights into how I work, even today: procrastination, distraction, focus, frustration, anxiety, depression. If nothing else, writing this journal and reading it again has given me insights into myself as a writer. I hope it has been of value to you, the reader, as well.

Reading ahead in the journal, a natural breaking point is coming at the end of July. I started the journal August 1, 1978, at the end of my first year of law school, to help me understand where I was going. On August 1, 1979, I wrapped it all up in an end-of-the-year retrospective on how I did.

But if there’s reader interest — that means I’m looking for comments here or on Facebook — I can continue. September, 1979 was a start of a new chapter in my life as a writer and journalist, with a full-time job at the paper and a bit of newsroom drama. Should I go on?

Over the past week, we made a visit to Edward Tufte‘s Hogpen Hill Farms, an outdoor sculpture garden in Woodbury, Connecticut. Tufte is a polymath, an academic in many different fields. He studied statistics as Stanford and earned his doctorate in political science from Yale. He taught data analysis and public policy there and at Princeton for three decades. He is one of the world’s leading authorities in visual communications.

He’s also an artist and an author. We met him briefly in his studio, where he explained some of his works. We bought his latest book, Seeing With Fresh Eyes: Meaning Space Data Truth. I also snagged a copy of Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style by his late mother, Virginia Tufte. Both will be of interest to writers. The first will have special meaning to journalists and bloggers. I’ll post about our tour — and the books — at the end of August. Hogpen Hill Farms reopens after Labor Day.

In the coming week, I’ll have more posts about struggling as an emerging writer and how my fraternity friends helped me. I also have an essay about the four most important words in the Declaration of Independence and what they mean for us today.

Meanwhile, History.com has announced its new “The Mega-Brands That Built America” series, which launches at the end of the month. The producers for this series interviewed me about the invention of Bubble Wrap, although I have no idea if/when it will appear. The producers casually said “sometime in August” but after my experience with Discovery Channel, I’m not holding my breath.

And for most of July and August, I’ll have time to work in my office on bigger projects. I’ll tell you all about them as they develop. Stay tuned!

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 22

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The sun sets over Woodbury, Connecticut, on the first day of summer, June 21, 2023. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

“It’s all down hill from here.”

You can take that expression two ways — three, if you’re a downhill skier. One is that you’ve reached the peak and the trail will be easier as you head back down. The other is that you’ve passed the prime and everything is in decline.

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? When it comes to solstices and human lifespans, I think about the latter.

The summer solstice, which occurs around June 21, is the longest day of the year. The days now are getting shorter, the nights longer, until the situation reverses around December 21.

Human lives don’t get that chance, unless you believe in reincarnation. If you do, I’d like to hear more about it. In my experience one life is all you get.

In terms of a human life — childhood, young adult, middle age, older adult, seniors — the United States is getting older. Birth rates are down and people are living longer. The median age — half are older, half younger — is 38.9 years. That means if you’re over 40, you’re over the hill. It’s all down hill from here.

When I was 40, I was already over the hill. The median age then was 35. When I was 35 it was about 33. In fact, I haven’t been younger than most other Americans since around 1980, when the median was 30. So for me, things have been going downhill for most of my life. Such is the fate of a Boomer.

In 1980, I wasn’t even married yet. As you’ve seen in my series from my early journals as a writer, I was still exploring newspaper journalism, dabbling in fiction, and looking for a full-time job. Then I became a husband, then a father, and a full-time job became more important.

My recent series of posts from 1979 comes from that era, when I was still a “young” writer. It started with my attempt to read through my journals to find when I resumed work on my “Margery” play, which I know I continued with a two-act version in 1981. I’m enjoying the 20-20 hindsight from a distance of 45 years. I hope you are too.

This week and next are a busy time as we prepare for a family reunion. I continue to work on the Bubble Wrap project when I can, along with these posts. We have a few more scheduled between now and July 4th. After that, we’ll see what happens as the days get shorter.

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 21

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A young white-tail deer makes its way up a hillside in Southbury, Connecticut, June 17, 2023. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

This was going to be the week when I’d have time to dig into that red box of clip files and notes. I’d have time to figure out the answer the big mystery behind my first investigative reporting. I’d have …

What I didn’t have was the box. I left that in Connecticut when I headed to Vermont. Such is the problem with multiple projects and multiple offices. We’ll have to wait until next week — or perhaps later — for the great unveiling.

I did have time, but not the large uninterrupted blocks I was hoping for, at least for the first couple of days. Routine responsibilities took over. Instead, I used the short blocks of time to post — and pre-post — more journal entries from my breakout year as a freelancer. By the time you read this, we should have filled out the remainder of the month.

I’m experimenting with the formula. Instead of separate posts for each day, I’m excerpting several days together to work on a theme. That way you and I don’t have to deal with daily posts of incremental progress, and can follow a scene over several days in one essay.

Meanwhile, I did have some time Thursday to dedicate to the Bubble Wrap book. More on that as it develops, although that and the box of clips may have to wait a few weeks. We have a family reunion of sorts coming up over the next couple of weeks that will cut into work time. One must set priorities (and limits).

Finally, neither of the newspapers I submitted “Red, White, and Blue” to this month had the space to publish it on Flag Day. Unfortunately, this is a problem that will get worse before it gets better as advertising continues to decline, squeezing the news hole.

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 20

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From my beginning days as a journalist, I kept clippings and notebooks for future reference. Later I used scrapbooks. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Look what I found!

I’ve been wondering for weeks about my first big news story, trying to find archives or records to help put it into perspective. From time to time the journal entries will mention the Low-Pritchard Foundation and stories we were pursuing. But they never said exactly what it was all about.

A web search proved fruitless. An editor friend who lives in the area had never heard of it. The current publisher of the Journal Opinion, Michelle Arnosky Sherburne, started working there about five years after I left. She didn’t know about it, either. She referred me to the town or state library for their archives and to the local historical society.

(She also invited me to stop by their offices next time I’m in town, which I’ll certainly do.)

My break came this week when I opened the box where I found my first tear sheets a few weeks ago. It was in a smaller box that I thought contained only old notebooks that I was ready to throw out. There’s another case of serendipity.

What’s in the box? Stay tuned. It will take me a little while to put everything in order and make sense of the articles, notebooks, and typewritten notes.

Another milestone this week: By keeping up the pace of a post a day, I’ve synced my posts to my journal entries. Now that I’ve caught up, I can catch a breather and slip in some contemporary content. Thanks for bearing with me while I marched double-time. Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t.

In the coming week, the pace slacks off a bit. I took the journal on a week by the Jersey shore with my mother, where I dwelt on personal matters, beach babies, and annoying seniors. No need for that here.

The journal returns to writing about writing on the 18th. Until then, I have one freedom-of-the-press moment on the 13th. On Flag Day, the 14th, I will republish “Red, White, and Blue” from last July 4th to coincide with an op-ed I submitted to my old newspaper.

Coincidentally, over the next week I expect to have some longer blocks of time to work on the Bubble Wrap project, my clip books, and perhaps other longer works. I’ll tell you all about it in Episode 21!

Taking a breather at the end of a busy week, my wife and I attended another concert Saturday at the Leroy Anderson House in Woodbury, Connecticut. The Westfarms Quartet performed Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 in Bb Major, Op. 130. As an encore, they performed Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride” as arranged for string quartet, which was new to us.

The quartet, the longest of Beethoven’s chamber works, comprises six movements. This posed a question of etiquette for the audience, many of whom were more accustomed to light pops concerts of shorter pieces. Should they applaud between movements?

My wife and I were taught by our classical-music loving family members to save our applause for the end of the piece. (I confess I still occasionally slip up, and did again Saturday.) Why? Some say it’s to appreciate the work as a whole and the flow of the music. Others say it’s out of respect for the performers.

Jean Inaba, classical music host at Colorado Public Radio, begs to differ. She says that in their own time, classical composers and performers loved to hear applause between the movements and expected it. The expectation of silence is only a recent development, since the early 20th century. As a musician herself, she likes to know when she’s connecting with her audience.

What do you think? To clap or not to clap, that is the question. Share your thoughts in the poll or in the comments below!

The Westfarms Quartet warms up before performing Beethoven ‘sString Quartet No. 13 in Bb Major, Op. 130, on June 10, 2023 at the Leroy Anderson House in Woodbury, Connecticut. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

In Other Words … Season 2, Episode 19

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A gray catbird visits a feeder in Southbury, Connecticut, May 21, 2023. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

This week was another one of frequent travel. We fought Memorial Day weekend traffic on a trip to New Jersey. We made frequent excursions to Westchester County on business. This morning, I’m in Vermont, headed back to Connecticut tonight.

When the demands of real life cut into my creative time, I put the major projects on hold. These require large blocks of time and concentration, a combination that is hard to find these days. At the encouragement of my wife, I did find a few hours Saturday afternoon to continue my work on the Bubble Wrap book before heading home today.

Many readers don’t even have the time or focus to read an entire book, let alone write one. The culture of short videos, messages, and podcasts has taken over, to our detriment.

That is, in part, why you’ve seen so many of my journal entries from 1979 recently. Another reason: I’m trying to catch up. Previously I published these on the anniversaries of when I wrote them, to give a more contemporary feel.

But I fell about a month behind posting when I took time off to prepare for my History Channel interview. Since then I’ve tried to catch up. Unfortunately, I’m getting into a part of the journal where I had something to say about my career, or about writing, just about every day. At the rate of a post a day, I’m slowly catching up to the current date.

Posting every day is a hectic pace. I would prefer the three-times-a-week schedule of Archon’s Den, who I’ve been following since the early days of this blog. This week we had a Comments chat about the estimated reading times that show on my posts. (Another result of the short-attention-span culture.)

Dartmouth contemporary Frank Batten’s name pops up in the Award-winning coverage? post. I reached out to him through the alumni network, a useful tool that came about 40 years too late for me.

During the past week I also grabbed photos for the blog and began working on new essays that will come up in the next month, so stay tuned!

In Other Words: Season 2, Episode 18

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A flag flies in North Hero, Vermont, June 2, 2021. By Howard Fielding. Offered under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Here in the United States, it’s Memorial Day weekend — a time that has always perplexed and frustrated me.

By becoming the first Monday holiday of summer, the weekend stole the show from Independence Day as the “unofficial start of summer.” In so doing, it lost much of its significance. I’ve spent more than a quarter century as an advocate to bring back its respect and dignity.

I explained that in Friday’s post, one of three this week that are contemporary rather than prompted by my memoir/journal entries. The month’s absence from the journal was a blessing and a curse. It took me off the anniversary dates, but in doing so it also made the blog less tied to the anniversary.

Now the journal entries can appear whenever they fit into the schedule, which is an easier pace for me to maintain. This also allows me to schedule date-appropriate entries, such as responses to community events and posts appropriate to a particular date or holiday.

In coming weeks, I’ll continue this mix of blog entries because they’re relatively quick to turn around and I can write them in chunks. Meanwhile, in background, I continue to work on larger projects that require longer blocks of time.

Sometimes, it’s a combination. These journal entries have entered a phase now there I’ll need to do some research, and that will bring me more into contact with my past. I’ll be networking with contemporary resources while I continue to work on the Bubble Wrap and Houdini projects.

Things are starting to come together. Thanks for being here with me as they do.

Meanwhile …

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