Tribute to Whiz-Bang

The horrors of war can sometimes produce oddly funny things that influence the culture. Things like “Kilroy was here” from WWII or the phrase “It don’t mean nothin’” from Vietnam. There of course is also the nickname Whiz-Bang from WWI. Now since you and I are not old enough to remember World War One, you might not know what a Whiz-Bang was.

The Doughboys who made it back, knew a Whiz -Bang was a type of German artillery shell you tried to avoid. It whizzed through the air and went bang when it hit. That’s not the one I want to give tribute to.

Incoming!

There is also the Readers Digest sized magazine, which was found everywhere in Texas throughout the 1920’s and 30’s known famously as Captain Billy’s Whiz Bang.

While oil patches went up everywhere, young Texas men read through the pages of Whiz-Bang with black stained hands. The publisher in 1921 posted a poem called “Shoo Fly, Oil Man” that was clearly targeted towards its oil field readers.

A horse-fly lit on the old cow’s skin,

Hung his tools and spudded in.

Bowed his back and jiggered his pole

And all the time he was making a hole.

The cow browsed on, in her usual way,

Till the horse-fly’s bit struck regular “pay.”

Then she swung her tail with a vicious dig

And deftly skidded the horse-fly’s rig.

Texas Tales writer Mike Cox says the same publisher went on to start True West Magazine and ended up making a mint. A far cry from Captain Billy’s Whiz-Bang.

Nicknames

Most everybody in my family has nicknames. Even the Brewer was not called by the common name of the ancient city duped by a wooden horse. Troy is my first name. I was simply called the horse or Hoss as my grandfather referred to me.

My poor little sister will never be called by her dignified name of Christen Appelgate. She will forever be known as Gertie Mae Soap Jack. That’s what we called her when she was little. Now approaching 40, even her husband calls her “Gert”. We tend to take nicknames seriously in our family.

So the Whiz-Bang I want to give tribute to is not an artillery shell or a folkish periodical.

Whiz-bang is the nickname of my oldest daughter Maegan.

Meagan Brewer is the tall, 22 year old beautiful blond you might see hanging out with me sometimes. I don’t get to see her near as a much as I would like to because she works full time and goes to school full time in pursuit of becoming a registered nurse.

The point of this week’s confession from a highly caffeinated Christian is to honor a little girl who has grown up faster than I can imagine. I can’t imagine how less rich my life would have been without my Whiz-Bang in it. Just yesterday she was a funny little girl who really loved her daddy. Somehow today she woke up to become a hard working, self-motivated, stunningly beautiful and brilliant Godly woman.

I think God for you Maegan and appreciate you not being mad for publicly calling you Whiz-bang. Thank you for loving the Lord and for loving me so much. Thank you for being the kind of person who can be blessed and for making it look easy to be such a blessing to so many others.

Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

Proverbs 31: 29-30

Contact the Brewer @ www.FreshFromTheBrewer.com