Fixing Up One of My Favorite Recent Finds-A WW2 Era Navy Peacoat

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I was stoked when I found this peacoat at a local Goodwill outlet! I rarely ever pass up a vintage peacoat (as long as it’s a legit US. Navy peacoat and not a knock-off) unless it’s moth-eaten or has damage that I can’t personally fix. This one was just REALLY dusty, had a missing button, a small torn spot in the lining, one small loose lining seam, and one armpit with the lining loose around 1/2 of the seam…. nothing that an hour-ish of hand stitching and a serious lint brush session couldn’t fix 🙂

Thankfully, I had a period-correct button from another damaged WW2 peacoat made by the very same Naval Clothing Factory. Serendipity strikes again!

Last night, I got around to cleaning and stitching the peacoat up while sipping some tasty Hamm’s beer (not a paid advertising, but it should be). It took me a little over an hour start-to-finish. Then, I listed it on ebay this afternoon. See the link if you’re interested: WW2 Peacoat listing on Brother Luke’s Treasures Ebay Store

Also, there is a fantastic peacoat dating/history page on the Fedora Lounge if you want to do any of your own peacoat research. See link: Peacoat Dating on the Fedora Lounge

Below, there are a few of the pics from this project. As always, thank you for reading and sharing my blog! I am an independent poet, author, and singer/songwriter and I have my own ebay business to keep me as flexible as possible. But, writing takes time and if you appreciate what I do, if you have been moved or made to think by my writing, OR have just enjoyed something on my blog, please throw a buck or two in my tip jar!:) Your kind contribution may buy me a cup of coffee out at my next writing session. Click my easy paypal “tip jar” link that follows and THANKS! -Luke

LAD Online Tip Jar!

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Luke Austin Daugherty repairing a vintage WW2 peacoat

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Hand-stitched lining repairs on a vintage WW2 Naval Clothing Factory peacoat and the original tag.

Don’t You Know, Viggo? In America, 3rd Party Votes are Black Magic (A Satire Poem)

Mr. Mortensen, I read that you’re endorsing Jill Stein

You may have friends, but now you’re no friend of mine

I’m the de facto American 2-Party System

And if you’re a REAL patriot, then you’ll only vote within them

I mean, there are a hundred arguments for why voting 3rd party is dumb

Just for whiny-baby ethics voters, sucking on their thumbs

But, aren’t you from upstate New York? Hell, that’s like being half-Canadian

And you’re voting like your Canadian half, not the half that’s ‘Murican

 

You must think that you’re smart, Viggo… reading Camus— speaking Italian and French

But in this Country’s political dialogue, your intellect doesn’t gain you an inch

Don’t you realize that your Stein vote is only a throw-away

And the right time for a protest vote DEFINITELY isn’t on Election Day

I read your published letter that endorses Jill Stein

But, “Speaking truth to power,” won’t earn your candidate Big Bank dimes

 

Viggo, don’t you understand the facts

And how a citizen in the voting booth should act

Trump supporters assert that 3rd Party votin’

Is basically just an indirect vote for old “pay-to-play” Clinton

And Hillary lovers say voting 3rd party only gives a bump

To their sworn enemy— the “racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, pussy-grabbing” Trump

So, basically, if you cast a vote for Stein or Johnson

You’re paradoxically, at the same time, casting a vote for both Trump and Clinton

Though you only vote for one, you’re somehow also voting for the other two

Making your vote, according to the pundits, only work against you

Mr. Mortensen, you better own up to the sad truth, though it’s tragic

Don’t you know, Viggo? In America, 3rd Party votes are black magic


 

My fellow Americans, tomorrow is the big day. Vote your conscience after considering all of your options in due diligence.  Also, if you choose not to vote for some ethical position, that is fine too. This election has done so much to divide us. Never have I witnessed a more fractured USA in my lifetime. Let’s do our best to be kind to one another, even when our political opinions differ.

To Mr. Mortensen, thank you for taking an unpopular stand for your chosen candidate and presenting your reasons in a well-written, and dare I say, truly patriotic fashion.

To read the mentioned endorsement letter, click this link:

Viggo’s Jill Stein endorsement letter

If you are not familiar with Viggo Mortensen, check out the following link as well:

Viggo Mortensen Wiki

As always, thank you to anyone who reads and/or shares my blog. -Luke

 

A Prayer to My Countrymen in Ugly Times

My friends in the USA, there is so much ugliness being shoved in our faces on a national level at the moment… the ugliness of injustice, murders, racism, etc. (not to mention the social polarity brought on by the current election cycle). Unfortunately, that ugliness is real. It seems overwhelming. Still, it MUST, in its varied forms, be addressed and hopefully corrected, systemically from the top down and from the ground up.
 
BUT, there is still so much beautiful going on around us. You won’t much see it on the news, you won’t much hear about it on the radio. In this present America, you have to tune your attention to it as an act of will. Just walking around in Indianapolis with my kids yesterday, I saw the beautiful at work in my fellow humans, ordinary humans, on the streets, and we were able to be a part of it. It wasn’t in everyone, but it was in most people. My kids and I also got to be part of an amazing moment between several of us. It wasn’t a planned “event.” Just humans being humans to one another. Friends were made of strangers, and those strangers were not even the same color. Personal stories, help, and hopes were exchanged. No hashtags or clickbait articles were necessary to make it happen. Only beating human hearts and willing minds. It gave me some real hope for humanity in the day to day, at ground level.
 
That said, this is my admonition, first to myself and then to my friends. Hell, even as I secular person I don’t mind calling it a “prayer”… a prayer that WE will have to answer ourselves: Please don’t let the ugliness that dwells in some places and in some people around you turn YOU ugly in spirit. Yes, stand for the right and against the wrong. Speak and act (peacefully) against it. Yet, never forget that there is more light shining through we who are good than darkness manifesting through those who are bad. Don’t let the darkness of “them” dim the light of “us.” The “us” who are found among all colors, creeds, and countries. If ever we needed to be, we need to be countrymen, fellow citizens, friends, and most of all, lovers of one another in this present day. In the words of my mom to me as a young boy, “Be careful that you do not become what you hate in this world.” One of the hardest things in this life is to have your heart broken, but not let it then turn into fractured stone.
 
There are some in this country who have the desire to fracture us all like broken glass along the contrived lines of their own selfish agendas. They hope to set us against one another via racial, political, gender, and ideological lines. That makes us weak and them strong. But, we must be countrymen and we must care for one another. We must care about our real flesh and blood fellow citizens above our own subjective ideologies. Please, tune your ears to the frequency of the common humans around you. Their hearts are beating a beautiful song. Let your own heart sing along.   -Luke
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Thank you for reading and sharing! I am an independent poet, author, and singer/songwriter and I have my own ebay business to keep me as flexible as possible. But, writing takes time and if you appreciate what I do, if you have been moved or made to think by my writing, OR have just enjoyed something on my blog, please throw a buck or two in my tip jar!:) Your kind contribution may buy me a cup of coffee out at my next writing session. Click my easy paypal “tip jar” link that follows and THANKS! -Luke

“The Little Black Girl in the Booth Behind Me” – A Poem

“The Little Black Girl in the Booth Behind Me” page 1, by Luke Austin Daugherty. Words and photograph copyright 2015: Luke Austin Daugherty

“The Little Black Girl in the Booth Behind Me” page 2, by Luke Austin Daugherty. Words and photograph copyright 2015: Luke Austin Daugherty

The US Embargo Against Cuba is Ending- Better Late Than Never

I am looking forward to smoking my first Cuban cigar! Today, President Obama spoke about the changing of the United States’ official approach and policy toward Cuba. For the full speech, see the video above. The U.S. will end the decades-long embargo and be immediately working to re-establish diplomatic relations which have been severed for over fifty years.

For some more relevant information and a good laugh, check out this recent segment about the Cuban Embargo from, “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Obama and U.S. Drone Policy

As usual, the “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” team is on point. I don’t have much to add to what John Oliver covered other than a hearty, “Amen!”

“Let Slip the Dogs of Peace” – An Anti-war Poem by Luke Austin Daugherty

"Let Slip the Dogs of Peace" - An Anti-war Poem by Luke Austin Daugherty

“Let Slip the Dogs of Peace” – An Anti-war Poem by Luke Austin Daugherty copyright 2014

 

This poem is dedicated to all those suffering in the wars of the day and the hope for peaceful resolution. It is a play off the line by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, “Cry, ‘Havoc!’ and let slip the dogs of war.” PLEASE share this poem peace loving friends! Perhaps the flutter of a butterfly’s wings here can have a great impact somewhere else in the world… Thanks, Luke