All the devastation happening around the country this year has a direct parallel to the weather events of 1957 when an unusually high number of tornadoes and floods caused a significant death toll and property loss. Everyone in this area knows about the F5 Ruskin Heights tornado that destroyed a neighborhood in Kansas City  but it was only one of the 57 tornadoes registered during the 3 day period in May of 1957 which killed 59 people.

These pictures taken for the Life Magazine article “New Terror in a Savage Spring, A Record Rampage of Tornadoes and Sudden Floods” are not that different from what we see on the news from Joplin, MO, Reading, KS and Oklahoma. In 54 years the science and technology didn’t significantly improve our safety, and although we have better storm warning and detection systems and instant channels of communicating the information to the affected areas, this article could have been written today – from devastation and tragedy to looters – not much have changed.

Missourians groping their way, stunned and bleeding, from homes just shattered by a tornado, were the latest terrified victims of a terrifying season for the Southwest and Midwest……In the battered area all this seemed to confirm a widespread belief that the weather patterns in the region were changing and producing more tornadoes than ever…

On October 4, 1957 the first artificial satellite Sputnik-1 acted as the starter pistol for the space race.

I think I know a thing or two about the circus. When I was growing up© my parents took me to the circus 4-5 times a year and it wasn’t a traveling circus or a tent. My city had a permanent circus building and every few months a new program would come to town to perform for sell-out crowds.

I was there during the golden age of the Soviet circus – world famous magicians, clowns, exotic animals, ground-breaking acts, daring performances.

No wonder that many performers in the Cirque Du Soleil shows are from the Russian/Soviet school of circus. I attended three Cirque Du Soleil shows so far and they turned out to be some of the best shows of any kind I’ve seen in my life. Everything from costumes and specially composed music to the highest quality acts is perfectly matched to create a magical show. This song from the show Alegria is probably my favorite. Something about the dramatic music and raspy tragic voice of the singer; sometimes I keep playing it over and over….

httpvh://youtu.be/jhWQLV-S3js

This photo attracted my attention with a sign in the window “Whiskey Sold By Case”:

Then, upon closer examination, I noticed a poster in the window promoting V-Mail.

V-mail stands for Victory Mail. It was based on the similar British “Airgraph” system for delivering mail between those at home in the United States and troops serving abroad during World War II. V-mail correspondence worked by photographing large amounts of censored mail reduced to thumb-nail size onto reels of microfilm, which weighed much less than the original would have. The film reels were shipped by priority air freight (when possible) to the US, sent to prescribed destinations for enlarging at a receiving station near the recipient, and printed out on lightweight photo paper. These facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mail was delivered to the addressee.
I didn’t find the exact same poster, so here are few other ones.

Visit Smithsonian online exhibition about V-Mail.

Russians pickle everything that grows:cucumbers,tomatoes,apples, watermelons, cabbage,eggplants and whatever else can fit in a jar, can, bucket, barrel and taste good 6 months later. There is nothing more simple and delicious than pickled tomatoes.

Cold shot of vodka, pickled tomato,
Inhale through the nose, repeat.
Life makes sense.