Your Mom and I did the Christmas “thing” last night at the local Performing Arts Center. The musical was about the oversized “cotton-headed ninny muggin”. Off course I’m talking about “Elf”. If I’m lucky, the play won’t return for years, and years and years.
I grew up in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Wonder Bread was very popular and it was advertised to “build bodies” twelve ways. Nutritious and mmm-mmm good. Wonder Bread always had a very soft texture. In fact, if it got wet from a sandwich (ingredients like tomato, pickles and mayonaisse), the bread would literally fall apart. The kids in our family loved the soft texture (I don’t know why). Wonder Bread was also affordable (cheap). The parent company of Wonder Bread is Hostess Brands.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that Ho-Ho’s, Ding-Dongs, and Twinkies were all part of the same company as Wonder Bread. Every lunch my mother packed for school or summer jobs had Hostess products.
Hostess went under Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection 11 months ago. The company has been managed by a court appointed judge until it can present a viable plan to emerge from bankruptcy. Part of the process meant negotiating new union contracts that allowed the company to be viable. The unions ignored the court order to continue to work and they imposed a company wide strike. As of today, Hostess is shutting the doors and the company as we’ve known it will be dissolved. I’m sure the union wasn’t the total cause of collapse and there reaches a point were the pay scale is so low that it doesn’t make economic sense. The closing of Hostess will put 18,300 more people on the street. I’m sure the consumer demand for nutritious foods had a major role. But hey, no more Ding-Dongs, Ho-Ho’s or Twinkies. No more soft Wonder Bread. Sad, sad, sad! My childhood is disappearing. Ah, but not the “Wonder”-ful memories.
This weekend has unbeaten Ohio State visiting Camp Randall and the Badger football team. Ohio State is unbeaten at 10-0. Maybe “upset city”?
The wonder of it all!
Love,
Dad