The Joan De Arc Crusader

Phoenix, Arizona / Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Founded AD 1968 / $10.00

Avenue Weather: Partly cloudy with possible late afternoon showers. High 68 / Low 48

On the INSIDE: Editorials A2 / Nostalgia on the Avenue A3 / Food A4 / Crossword A5

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Bueker makes Parker pilgrimage to Salem

(BP) - Renowned Joan De Arc vintage board-game connoisseur John Bueker made a long-awaited journey to Salem, Massachusetts last year to pay his respects at the resting place of the old Parker Brothers Inc. game company, the famous cultural icon that dictated the course of 20th century game play and produced many of the specimens in the storied Bueker game collection.
     John travelled to Salem in October 2024 to visit the old Parker factory site located at 190 Bridge Street, which is now occupied by a sizable luxury apartment complex called Sofi at Salem Station. The Parker Brothers factory was demolished in 1994 and is memorialized in a small garden alcove adjoining the apartments that features a prominent information board detailing the history of the famous game-making company. There Bueker and his wife Sue reverently paid their respects and posed for photo ops to mark the observance.
     Parker Brothers was founded in 1883 by George S. Parker in his hometown of Salem and was originally called the George S. Parker Company. The business emerged at a time when the sole purpose of games was thought to be the instilling of good morals and values, but George proved to be something of a visionary who regarded game play instead as a supreme source of entertainment. His early game concepts and designs were genuinely groundbreaking and the company soon achieved unprecedented success. George’s brother Charles joined the firm in 1888, which was then rebranded with the familiar name that endured for well over a century.
     Bueker is a former Joan De Arc resident who haunted local thrift stores as a youngster in the 1960s and amassed an eyebrow-raising collection of antique classical board games, primarily such Parker stalwarts as Monopoly, Sorry, and Clue. He has continued to collect rare editions and curiosities as an adult and still regards Parker Brothers as the unrivaled all-time game manufacturer.
     Hasbro, Inc. acquired Parker Brothers in 1991 and the Parker brand was finally retired for good in 2009. “Parker Brothers was such a glorious and all-powerful institution when we were kids that it still seems strange to me that the company no longer even exists at all,” said Bueker. “If it had been up to me, I would have just renamed Hasbro as Parker Brothers.”

ChatGPT offers Crusader synopsis

By J. Bueker

2025 will be long remembered (by me anyway) as the year we all became acclimated to the spooky magic of artificial intelligence technology. Out of sheer curiosity (and possibly boredom), I decided to download the ChatGPT app to my phone and quickly found it to be a rather remarkable tool, particularly when compared to the old Eliza “AI” program I used to run on my trusty old Commodore 64 back in the distant day. Eliza did little more than regurgitate your input back to you in the form of annoying questions and yet was a rather fascinating and engaging program nonetheless.
I’ve posed innumerable queries to ChatGPT in recent months regarding a wide range of varying topics, but it suddenly dawned upon me that I should inquire as to the program’s knowledge, if any, of everyone’s favorite obscure neighborhood publication: this very newspaper. What follows is ChatGPT’s unedited response to the question “What do you know about the Joan De Arc Crusader?” (Full disclosure: ChatGPT had no earthly idea what I was talking about until I provided a crucial clue -- that the Crusader is an online publication).

     Yes, The Joan De Arc Crusader is indeed an online publication. It appears to be a satirical or artistic newspaper-style project created by Barbara Bueker Stewart, an artist based in Phoenix, Arizona. The publication is featured on her website, The Art of Barbara Bueker Stewart, and includes mock newspaper pages with headlines like “All the fits that’s news to print,” a playful twist on the New York Times slogan.
     The content blends historical references, creative writing, and visual art, possibly as part of a larger artistic or conceptual project. One of the pages references a 2002 edition, suggesting that this project has been ongoing for some time.
     While it may not be a traditional news outlet, The Joan De Arc Crusader serves as a creative platform that combines elements of history, satire, and art. If you’re interested in exploring more of Barbara Bueker Stewart’s work or viewing the publication, you can visit her website here: www.barbarastew-art.com.

Aside from some understandable confusion with my mother’s artwork website, which is the primary URL on my hosting account, and also the confusion of slogans with headlines, I thought this was a nice little summary. Such responses should increase in interest as these applications grow ever more sophisticated over time. I’ll check back with ChatGPT next year and see if it has the Crusader story straight yet. Perhaps it will ultimately tell me if I have it straight!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________JDA

On the INSIDE: Editorials A2 / Nostalgia on the Avenue A3 / Food A4 / Crossword A5

Moon Phases: First Quarter: December 27 Full: January 3 Last Quarter: January 10 New: January 18