This Magazine

Progressive politics, ideas & culture

Menu

Operation Dismantle

May-June 2011

This45: Mel Watkins on Straight Goods founder Ish Thielheimer

Mel Watkins

Once upon a time, there was born in Brooklyn a boy named Fred Theilheimer. When he started high school, asked his name by some young women in the schoolyard—and fearing that “Fred” would not sufficiently impress—in an act of spontaneous imagination, and with Moby Dick in his American DNA, he said, “Call me Ish.” And […] More »