#amvets

Jacksonville, IL. April 2026.

View of Amvets Post 8 located at the corner of Chene and Forest. Handwritten on mount: "Corner Chene & Forest." 1979-09

What even is this mug?

Goodbye to the Gateway Shoes

To commemorate these awesome vintage 70′s fruit platforms, I put together this outfit. I didn’t wear it anywhere else except for the backyard, for these photos. I’ve never done that before because I want my blog to document what I actually wear out in the world everyday, but the release of these platforms back into the thrifting wild warranted an exception.

It was 1978, the summer after sixth grade and I was in Indianapolis with my mom and my brothers Peter and Andy.  At some point we went to an AmVets Thrift Store, and one of those brothers came across these shoes that seemed so outrageous and they insisted on getting them for me and called them a birthday present.

We were on this trip because Andy was starting college at Herron Art school. This is significant because he’s the first brother who went away to college. I think it was probably my first time in the big city of Indianapolis, and these shoes seemed like something you could only find once you ventured out of Evansville.

I love that this is what my family did together when we were in a new town: Hey! Let’s go to a thrift store! That my two brothers saw these shoes and couldn’t pass them up--let’s see if they fit Jane! That my mom had no concerns and in fact thought they were a great gift. They were like permission for the rest of my life, to get the weird impractical but totally compelling and mesmerizing thing and not worry about “but when will I wear it?” This was the best birthday gift ever.

I had many plans to incorporate them into outfits or base costumes around them over the years.  But I actually never wore them, not once, other than around the house every once in while when I was bored. Sometimes, in various places where I lived, I’d put them on display. Over the years, the little pieces of plastic fruit started falling off. I went as far as buying replacement fruit at a craft store, but never made the repair. And at some point I realized that my feet had grown and the shoes didn’t actually fit anymore.

I love wearing them in this picture, in my grown-up body, with my tattoos that represent these milestones in my life--marriage and two children, and the articulation of what adornment means to me (the shoe tattoo). 

So now they’re back out there for someone else to discover.

Disabled Veterans Student Debt Cancelled – White House

While speaking at an AmVets convention in Kentucky on August 21, President Trump signed an Executive Order effectively cancelling disabled veterans student debt. It also clears them from having to pay income tax on the student loans.

“Veterans who have made such enormous sacrifices for our country should not be asked to pay any more, rather it is America who owes our heroes a supreme debt of…

https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/52152/attending-hearts-souls-families-veterans-view-inside-pentagon/

Retired Navy Public Affairs Officer David Gai shares his experience with the tragedy on 9/11/2001 at the Pentagon and his roll.

“On Sept. 11, 2001, at 9:40 a.m., American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, in an attack on the heart of our nation’s military command that shattered lives, broke spirits and devastated families in its wake. Thick smoke billowed from the black hole left by the impact on the west side of the building as firemen frantically worked to control the flames. Inside, we scrambled to assist the wounded and evacuate our fellow Pentagon employees.

As local hospitals treated the wounded, the Pentagon rapidly responded to the call for emotional and administrative support. Within hours, staff and volunteers of the Pentagon’s Family Assistance Center (PFAC) began attending to the hearts and souls of the nearly 200 victims’ families in need of support.

The PFAC was set up as a one-stop center to meet the needs of these families even before they actually needed it. We sought to provide everything from their emotional needs, like counseling and social workers, to navigating the administrative maze of insurance companies, Veteran’s Affairs, The Red Cross, FBI and even American Airlines.

The day after the attack we began working with the families of the victims and assisting with the coordination of media coverage from the Pentagon. The PFAC was rapidly set up at a nearby hotel for convenience. Families were briefed at the center twice daily in meetings closed to the media and the general public. It was a sanctuary provided especially for them.

The information we provided to them was the straight facts... no rhetoric or spin... just the facts which the families came to heavily rely on to get a real picture of what was happening. Some of the sessions were extremely challenging, highly emotional and highly sensitive to the needs and wishes of involved families. The answers they needed were not to be found as the remains recovery and identification process stretched from days into weeks. In fact, the families’ wishes became the final deciding factor within the Pentagon on media coverage and interview policies.

We walked a fine line as we buffered the families from the media and public. We passed media requests to the families and facilitated media contact for the few interested families. Ultimately, we adhered to their wishes — and what was best for the families — to remain out of the public eye and scrutiny.

We gained credibility and trust with the families by allowing them to feel safe and assuring them that we would protect them from media intrusion and unwanted public exposure.

Hundreds of ‘requests’ to volunteer or offer support were received from the public, celebrities, politicians, religious leaders and others. Most were declined as not being in the best interest of the families. The exceptions were those viewed as fitting the ‘Lynda Carter’ model.

Lynda Carter, former Miss World USA, singer, soccer mom and actor best known for winning our hearts as Wonder Woman, approached us at the PFAC offering to assist in any way she could. She wanted to be there with the strict stipulation that there be NO PRESS, and no open recognition, notoriety or public awareness of her being there. She volunteered at the PFAC day after day for the better part of three weeks, meeting with the family members of the victims, consoling, hugging, crying, and often just listening to them. In Lynda’s eye, she was doing it because it needed to be done. She was a true bedrock for the families as they faced the unimaginable.

As a public affairs officer my work at the PFAC was extremely challenging and extremely rewarding because it reinforced the mantra of doing public affairs, crisis response and humanitarian support the right way.

The families going through that emotional roller coaster really deserve the recognition and respect for what they endured as a result of this tragedy. For all of us at the PFAC, our experience was rewarding emotionally. It was something that until we personally experienced it, we never really understood what the human spirit is capable of enduring and what was meant by ‘taking care of our own.’”