The Ferenghi Part 2 Justice is observed

The class began just like any other class , I was borrowing a new erasure from a friend , I had tossed my third sheet of drafting paper in the waste paper basket , missing only once . The clock hit 2:10 and our teacher excused himself . As soon as the door shut My friend BV sprung into action . BV was everything I was not ..His exploits were legendary at Benson , He was easily the best in all the shop classes ....it is rumored that the character of McGyver was actually based on him . Using only a spoon taken from the cafeteria , a paper clip a used piece of bubble gum and a Cotton swab within Minutes BV had completely removed the entire door knob assembly from the door . He then raced downstairs and buried the hardware behind the large Rhody bush in front of the School . Racing back to his seat he was there for just a few minutes catching his breath as the Ferenghi returned to the room . All of us tried as hard as possible to ignore the look of frustration and anger on the teachers face , as He stormed around the room looking in all the obvious hiding places . He then ordered all of us to empty our desks ....but the Door Knob assembly was not to be found . The 3 o'clock bell rang and we all escaped under the Ferenghis steely gaze ...Careful not to give BV away we simply melted away.

The next day ...we entered class ...Our teacher made one last plea for the door knob to be returned ..then each of us was sent to the Principals office . We went in groups of 5 ...but were greeted by the Principle individually . We were encouraged to tell all , to break the code of silence that had developed between us students and the Student responsible for the caper . My questioning was Similar to the others . It began with Mr R telling me He knew I knew who did it and it would be in my best interests to tell him . I responded quickly that I had no idea who had taken the door knob , that in fact I had forgot to remove my welding googles and they were covered by smudge from my most recent welding shop explosion . Mr R said He heard about the Explosion , but he doubted I was still wearing the googles . I was trapped , and yetI fell back to the usual position of deny , deny, deny,

Eventually he let me slink away ...I had been true to the code .

As it turned out none of us gave up BV . It was also rumored that the entire class was wearing welding googles they had forgot to remove , with the exception of JB who had forgot to wear his glasses ,,,,no one had seen who took the Door knob .

For several days the Door remained knobless . It was as if the School Administration was saying " we will out last your feeble and immature efforts to protect the guilty" .

Then a week later it reappeared ,,,,the door knob was back ,,,,a little . dirty , stained by the red clay , and strangled by new roots ...but it was back .

BV was not there . each of us looked accusingly at each other ...someone had betrayed the code of silence ! But who ?

Once again we were summoned to the Principles office . I watched , as each grim faced student emerged from the Office , paper work in hand ...All of us had been caught in a lie and each of us was being punished .

It was my turn. Mr R told me to sit down , fixed me with an almost joyful look . He explained to me that he knew for sure that all of us in the class had lied to him , that each of us had been untruthful to him , He barely skipped a beat when I Mentioned that he was being redundant . He went on to explain that BV had come to his office and out of guilt confessed to the Crime , and had also told MR that everyone in the class knew it was him who removed the Door Knob , then BV accompanied by Mr R went outside and dug up the hidden Door Knob.

All of us who had Lied to protect our friend ..were being suspended . In my case since I had already been suspended 3 other times for fighting ,,,, my suspension meant I was being expelled from Benson . I owuld have to go to Wilson High School beginning my Junior year .

Mr R asked me how I felt about that ? But He had a very hard tome hearing my answer above the my muted screams of delight that echoed through the halls.

In retrospect this all seemed a little Ironic ....BV who alone removed the Door Knob was not suspended , instead He was commended for his coming forth in honesty . He was also commended for his expertise in removing the door knob , and in subsequent years used as a consultant for tricky Class room repairs . In time a Trophy with his name on it would be laced in the school trophy case . The trophy was awarded each year to the most imaginative shop student of the year . Of course the Door Knob Caper became the source of Legend .

Those of us who kept our silence , are long gone . No mention of our sacrifice , no trophies for us , no Legends .

I do not know what ever happened to our Drafting teacher . I Hope in time He became more loving , more graceful ..or that he was deported back to Germany to face various war crimes ,or perhaps beamed up to the Ferenghi Mother ship and debriefed about us crazy earthlings .

My parents while genuinely upset that I had failed Benson were oddly pleased that I had not betrayed my friend ...Nothing I could have done would have had the same results ..I Left Benson not in disgrace but as a Martyr to the code of silence .... Two years at Wilson was a well deserved sentence

The Ferenghi

 

I started really piling up money working at Cromwell tailors .I would rush to work from Benson , and stay as late as I could . I would also work on Saturday . My Paychecks were getting bigger and bigger. My Demolay life was really occupying a lot of my time as well . The problem was Benson. By now I had begun to really think I had made a mistake . I was ready to embrace a Coed High School education , more specifically I was ready to embrace a Coed . My Sophomore year was drawing to a close , I had yet to successfully complete a Industrial Arts project . I had given up on my wrestling and football career , I was starting to notice girls , but Benson was a guy only school , and the cafeteria workers were all married already. My Parents were unwilling for me to transfer to Wilson High School , they thought I was just going through a phase in shop classes and once my acne clear up I would be able to handle a sprocket wrench with the best of them .

Despite my best plans and my best failures A junior year at Benson seemed inevitable ...Then came the Miracle .

My deliverance did not at first look like a miracle ..it looked more like Drafting Class. Drafting was a required class for Sophomores . We had to take three Semesters of Drafting ...At first I though Drafting would be fun ..first of all It wasn't really a shop class, I wouldn't have to make anything ..I would simply draw what I wanted to make , My mind could become an extension of my hands . In fact for most of the Summer leading up to the Drafting Class I was excited . I thought this may very well be How I make my mark . My enthusiasm continued until the day I got my Drafting supplies . To be honest I was overwhelmed ...the supplies for Drafting exceeded the combined supplies for all of my other classes . The Drafting bok itself needed a small hand cart to transport it . Then there was the bundle of drafting paper , the T square , the calipers , ( several sizes ) drafting pencils , erasers , Protractors , retractors, detractors ..even a slide rule ..And every single item of Drafting supplies had lots of witting ,indicators , and complicated wording and indention's on it !. Somehow I had come to believe that Drafting was a free hand exercise ..it was beginning to look more complicated .

The first day of class only confirmed my fears . The Drafting Room was directly across the street from the Franz Bakery . Franz was one of the largest bakeries in Portland . It operated non stop and the entire room was permeated with the smell of fresh baked bread . The room had about twenty stations for Students ...I selected one close to the door . About middle of the room . It took several minutes to unpack the Drafting gear. And then in He came . Our drafting teacher was very interesting ...my suspicion for many months was that He had slipped in under the radar and had been a high ranking member of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany . He was mean and ill tempered ..he was also very short , and had huge ears ( all to better to hear us with ) .His forehead was permanently marked with huge creases that seemed to circle his entire head . Much later I would realize that He was a Ferenghi , but I was totally unfamiliar with that Alien life form when I was in High School .

The Ferenghi had unusually high standards for us . He expected , demanded that we be able to draw a straight line with our T squares , He insisted that we Spell our names correctly and that we print them in a precise and legible way . It only took me a few minutes to understand this man was against every principle I had ever come to believe as good and true . His idea of perfection was perfection my idea of  perfection was abstraction .

We began our Drafting career by witting our names on our Drafting paper . Sounds easy ..but it had to be very precise . Each letter had to fit the lines both top and bottom . Hand lettered in block print ..all uniform , no mixing Tahoma with Comic San's . This was Times Roman country . It didn't take me long to wish my name was IIIII or LLLL , my name Ken Stilger mocked me . E's were a real hurdle , and the S was insurmountable . While other students were soon doing perspective drawings of a nuclear reactor , I was still trying to develop an artist S on my last name .

To be fair I did develop a pretty good overhand lob toward the wastepaper basket . I asked the Ferhengie if I could get credit for that and He glared at me .

He actually glared at me a lot ...The sound of my rubber erasure was particularly annoying to him as was the small mound of pink refuse around my desk and under it .

As the School year came to a close , most of us in the class were ready for the Ferenghi to be transported back to the Mother ship. Several students had realized He was a regular guy ..by regular we mean Regular ..every after noon at 2:10 He would excuse himself for a 10 minute bathroom break. It was on once such particular day that Fate intervened and the wheels would be set in motion that would end up bringing me to Wilson High School ...It happened like this .

Financing Demolay

 

 

When I started going to High School I had a part time Job at the Oregon State Department of geology . l did odd jobs around the office , including making the Oregon Gemstone and Mineral sample kits the Department sold to the public. The Kits came in two sizes Regular and Large ..I believe the regular size contained 24 sections each with a different Oregon Mineral or Gemstone , and the large with 36 . Each sample ahd its place and in each place was a brief description of the Sample . ON the inside lid of the box was a map of Oregon showing where the samples could be found. The Geology Department offices were on the top floor of a ten story building in downtown Portland . From our vantage point we could see the Willamette river the Ross Island Bridge , Mt Hood , Mt Adams and Mt St Helens . The view was breathtaking . In the foreground I could make out part of Benson High School and the Portland general electric Complex where my Dad worked .

There was a large storage room in the office that held a significant amount of rock samples ..and I would go into the storage area and select a sample then with the aid of a hydraulic rock crusher break it into sample size fragments suitable for the sample kits . I had my own little Laboratory and work area , for this service I earned $1.00 an hour . Occasionally I would be allowed to go into the " field " with some of our Geologists who were mapping and searching for Mineral and Oil deposits . I worked weekdays after school , the bus from Benson would leave me off just a block from the office . Even in those days Portland had an excellent transportation system . Usually I would be picked up by my father on his way home from work . I believe it was on the Bus from Benson that I met a young man whose name I have forgotten who told me about a better paying job at a place called Cromwell Tailors . Cromwell Tailors still did some tailoring , but their largest revenue source was in Men's Formal wear rental . Proms , Weddings were the biggest markets .

I was hired at Cromwell Tailors the beginning of my Sophomore year . The pay was more than three times that which I received at the Oregon State Department .

 I began in the Shoe department .  

 I polished shoes ..lots and lots of shoes . Sorting shoes , cleaning shoes , sorting again , polishing shoes , applying shoe black to the soles , sorting them , setting them into the proper bags for the weekend orders. Appropriately the "shoe department " was in the basement . of the business ...there were about 3 or four of us working in that area . Two of us went to Benson the other two went to Wilson High . We would sit downstairs polish shoes and discuss , homework , girls , more home work and more girls . It was in the basement of Cromwell Tailors that I first heard of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings , and where i began to realize what I was missing at Benson High School . You see Benson did not have any girls ....it must have taken me 2 years to figure that out. But in that first year at Cromwell I realized something important was missing from School. And then my initiation into Demolay confirmed it . I was earning money but no girlfriends to spend it on . A change was a coming ...but I did not see it coming .....the course of the stars had been mapped out and I a pawn in the great confluence of the cosmos was about to be sent in orbit around a different High School .

Demolay Basics

 

 

 

 

I was really Impressed with the whole thing especially the memorization and drama parts . I also

liked the idea that there were a few Adults who while staying in the background obviously had the respect of the Young men in the group .

Our meetings were conducted by Roberts rules of Order and we really followed them and respected the rules as well . Our discussions might get lively but they were formally civilized we were like Ambassadors only we didn't bomb each other .

It was in DeMolay I began to understand how to work in groups , and the importance of " paying your dues " The leading officers of the group were elected officers ...We elected a Scribe/ Treasurer . the Junior Councillor , the Senior Councillor and the Master Councillor. Once elected to the position of Junior Councillor you would usually run through the chairs and end up as Master Councillor . Besides those offices there were several others which were appointed by the Master Councillor . The route to be Master Councillor began with being appointed as a officer. I found that if they didn't know you wouldn't get appointed . And the way to get known was to participate in the work of the Chapter . and we did a lot of work . We held Car washes , and breakfasts , we volunteered for several things . And as one of the most popular Chapters in the State we were also invited to a lot of Outside events mostly involving girls . The girls involved were either Members of the Jobs Daughters / Bethel or Rainbow Girls . Bethel seemed more popular in the City and Rainbow was more popular in the Smaller cities surrounding Portland .

These groups also were connected to the Masonic Order . and they were set up similar to Demolay in organization. Three times a year they would change officers , and three times a year they would have a Installation of Officers . Demolay chapters were chosen by the various Girls groups to participate in the installation we would act as escorts and also provide an Arch of Swords for the duly elected Queen to walk under while escorted by our Master Councillor . The installation would end with a Dance and party and an opportunity to mingle . Its important to note that Mingling meant different things to different people , but all of this was done with the watchful eyes of well trained Chaperones . Many of the Demolay guys I know ended up marrying a young lady they met in Bethel or Rainbow . As a chapter we had a lot of events , events cost money . So we were constantly raising money . We had two go to Money raisers ...One was the Car wash . We did particularly well one year when Jerry Kirk dressed up in His Lime green short shorts with a tied died Tee Shirt and matching Socks was our front man . We also had a Yearly event the Demolay Pancake Breakfast which attracted crowds from as far away as Tigard and Hillsdale . This event was Huge with a line usually stretching around the block . Dad Woody was our go to Short order cook , but just about every active Member pitched in to help out , from cooking to delivering the goods and clean up . we had other money raising events I know once i tried to sell my brother , but he had gotten too old to be graceful about my efforts to market him .

I have reached out to several of my former Demolay friends and continue to urge them to contact me with their Memories ..about these events and obviously countless others i have forgotton . IN future chapters we will explore the Demolay work ethinc , Why Demolay worked , Dating and other miracles , also subtitled " why Basements ? " .

This to my Demolay friends from the past : Our cars : I remember Doug Atterbury's Pick up truck , Fred Mimms Dodge GT , John earls pristine 55 Chevy  and Jerry Kirk's Mustang ..what other cars were pulling up on Wednesday nights ? ...More later ...

DeMolay part one of ???

 

IT was during my freshman year at Benson High School I joined a Group called DeMolay . My father had been very involved with the local Masonic Lodge ( Orenomah 177 ) The Masons sponsored a Young mans Group and Young woman's group . The boys group was the Demolay it was opened to young boys between the ages of 12 and 21 . IN order to be a member of Demolay you had to be vouched for by a Mason ( Not a relative ) then go through an initiation process and be voted on by members of the chapter . I remained active in Demolay until my 21 st Birthday and during that entire time I never saw a person who was not voted in to be a member .

Demolay was along with the Dance lessons the single most important character building factor in my life .

To be concise I thrived in the Demolay Culture .

DeMolay is open for membership to young men between the ages of 12 to 21 of good character who acknowledge a higher power. The group model is of mentoring; adult men and women called advisors, often past DeMolay members or parents of DeMolays, mentor the active DeMolay members. An advisor is referred to as "Dad Smith" instead of "Mr. Smith". Appropriate ways for the young men to address their adult guides were discussed by the members and advisors early on, and "Dad" was adopted as the best way to convey both friendliness and respect. Advisor mentoring focuses on the development of civic awareness, leadership skills, and personal responsibility.
DeMolay has seven Virtues , which constitute the basic ideals and essential teachings of the organization. They are: Filial love (love between a parent and child), Reverence for the sacred things , courtesy , , comradship , fidelity , cleanness , and Patriotism .
There was a dress code for our formal meetings and school casual for all others . We met once a week at Orenomah Masonic Lodge .
New Members went through two Initiation Meetings in the first Initiation meeting we were blindfolded and led into a room where all the Members were assembled , the officers of the organization were in robes and had assigned positions . We were led in prayer and promised ot not to divulge the " secrets " of the organization . Blind folds were removed and as a group we moved from officer to officer who then " Instructed " us on a part of the Demolay Culture . This was very formal and scripted , all Members who participated in the degree were required to have their individual portions memorized .
Before being fully accepted as Members we had one more Degree or Initiation to go through . This was more like a Drama . The New Members were seated so as to best view the pageant tht was to unfold . The Drama was the reenactment of the persecution and eventual death of Jaques Demolay the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar . The Knights Templar has always been a very mystical organization rising to power during the crusades they were pledged to give all their possessions ot the Organization and then they were trained and mustered to protect the Pilgrims in the Holy land from Bandits and organized warriors . In later years the Knights Templar became a target for King Phillip the Fair of France who moved secretly against the powerful Order and who decimated it almost overnight . His main purpose was to confiscate its wealth but He was unable to ever locate , neither has anyone else ..one of Histories Mysteries . IN this Process The Grand Master Jaques Demolay was tortured offered clemency if he would hand over the money and give up the names of those who had escaped the round up ..He refused as was burned at the stake .
His death served as a Lesson for all of the virtues that Demolay stood for . After watching this Degree ..there was one more it of business ...one fo the Members would give to us an Oration refereed to as the " flower talk " which was a eloquent and moving testimony in praise of women in general and our mothers in particular ...For this moment parents were allowed into the Assembly including the mothers ..after hearing this we were confirmed as members .
All of this had a tremendous impact on me ....

The Art of Brawling

Machine shop was just the beginning : I may have been the only person in the History of Benson High School to Fail all 6 Shop Classes and still have " passing " grades " . In welding class I blew out a portion of the wall by turning off the wrong combination of Acetylene and Oxygen. IN sheet Metal I spent more time in the nurses office having my wounds cared for than working on my projects . I shocked myself silly in electrical class . In automotive class I lost three of six pistons , and finally I almost made it through Aeronautics class but in a fit of fury and rage I Broke my assignment ( a section of airplane wing scale size ) over the Shop Bully's head .

When I was in School I had an anger problem ..it started probably in the seventh grade , maybe earlier . As I grew older I began to realize that some of my peers would often resort to bullying and intimidation to get what they wanted ...and as a smaller more bulliable person it bothered me . Usually I could disarm them with my Head assets . But starting in the those late grades I began to use my head in a much different way . Usually as a target for a well aimed uppercut . The usual scenario would be for me to take a stand usually after one of my friends had been pushed around and call the bully out , the bully would then tell me to mind my own business , I would say something brilliant and witty and he would then knock me down . I would then grab him by the ankles and drive him to the ground where we would both end up punching each other , to the sounds of the cheers and jeers of the onlooking school . If I was lucky there was a teacher within a few feet who promptly broke things up and both of us were then sent to the principals office where we would leer at each other , be interrogated by Mrs Carney . and then forced to shake hands and apologize to each other . The bully would apologize to me for hitting me and i would apologize to him for letting Him hit me . MY Caustic wit would usually give me some extra time in detention , while the bully could back out on the play ground and bully some more .

By the time I had entered High School I had perfected this whole routine . I learned for experience to time my move so as to be in close proximity to a Teacher . IN High School I also went out for wresting to improve my take down move and when I practiced in the wrestling room I always wrestled against boys bigger than me , not too difficult as I weighed in around 110 . At Benson I also tried out for the Football team . I was very fast ..but instead of using my speed to elude the defence I ran right at them enjoying the collision . By the end of the Freshmen football season I decided it would be better for the PIL ( Portland interscholastic League ) to abandon a football career . And to put all my efforts into trying to keep my grades high enough to stay in Benson .

Iron sharpens Iron but you have to have a clue

 

I do not have a very good Idea how it came to pass that I would go to Benson High School. Benson Polytechnic High School was what would now be called a Magnet School . It drew on students from all over the Portland Metropolitan area . Its focus was on an Industrial Arts and Science curriculum .

The School was located in SE Portland, near a newly opened Mall ( the Lloyd Center ) which was billed as the largest Mall in the Northwest . The Lloyd Center was opened August 1st and I entered Benson High School the day after Labor day in September 1960.

Looking back through my life I can easily see the reason and the good that came out of almost all of my life experiences ..Benson is the exception . If I could relive any part of my life it would have been the two years I spent at the school .

I suspect my parents encouraged me to go to Benson because of my interest in Science , and knowing my own personality I must have at least been neutral about the idea . In other words I am not going to lay the blame on Benson years on my parents . But I would have still liked to have those years back .

You had to apply to go to Benson so there was some prestige in being accepted . But that did not last long . I am guessing that in 1960 about 500 of us entered as Freshmen . At least half of the students at Benson were black . This was my first experience with people of color and the first thing I noticed is that they weren't really black I also noticed they were as complex and diverse as those of us who had been inappropriately call white kids .

Classes were hard . Writting ( english ) , Social studies , Math , Science ( we could choose which discipline ) , PE / Health , And Shop ( Shop was Two periods ) . English , Social Studies , and Science were fairly good to me ..PE was indifferent , and Math and Shop were where I failed the most spectacularly . MY Math teachers insisted I not only get the math Problems right , but tht I showed them how I got the problems right ...I insisted that the only thing important was the right answer ...in a struggle for class domination between my Teachers and myself ..the Teachers seemed to have the upper hand . Shop was ...Horrid . During the two years I was at Benson I was enrolled i 6 different Shop classes ; They were : Machine Shop , Auto Shop , Electrical Shop , Areonautics Shop , Sheet Metal and Welding . Each shop class was basically the same , you given an assignment to complete by the end of the Term . Each assignment was a series of tasks bringing you to the competed task .

 

  For instance in Machine shop we were to turn a Piece of steel that was 2 inchs in diameter and 8 inchs long into an impressive work of art . IN order to do that we first needed to build our own tool to make the changes in the Metal Cylinder ...To demonstrate how easy this was our instructor would grab a piece of tool steel , put his goggles over his eyes approach a Grinder and then in just a few minutes would grind the tip of the steel into an impressive looking point . He would then take the tools steel with its point , place it in a vise and with the Cylinder attached to a Lathe then in a matter of a few more moments turn the steel rod into a beautiful shinny expertly crafted something . All this was demonstrated to us in a matter of a few minutes. I was impressed with my Instructors skill and I also found myself wondering OK ? what will we do for the rest of the term ?

Before we began we went to the Student Supply Depot where we were given: 1: An Apron 2: Gloves 3: Goggles 4: Four little bars of tool steel 5: One large Steel Cylinder 6: a Padlock .

We were given A locker and were told that if we needed to replace any of the items we were given we could but there was a cost involved .

At first I thought the 4 bars of tool steel were really generous ....but