Guessing , I would say I began to develop a
neighbourhood conscience and a tentative world view when I was about 7 years old
. We had a TV set , and a radio and I was aware of news not only from our area
of the worlds but also from the world . As is the case with all of us things
were happening around me that would in latter years shape me , but I was unaware
of them as were most of the people living at that time as well .
1954 was
the year of that Segregation was declared unconstitutional in the Brown Vs Board
of education decision at the Supreme Court . There was an un going witch Hunt
for Communists , Homes had just topped an average of $10,000 ...Gas was $.29
cents a gallon .
Across the world the French were waging ware in an
obscure place called Viet Nam ... On the waterfront was the years Big Academy
winner , but as a Family we went to the Drive in and saw the Long Long Trailor
with Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball.
On TV I was watching Howdy Doody and a
local show called Mr Moon . For the most part TV was only used if it was really
rainy outside , ( we were required to play in the rain unless it reached full
monsoon status .). Bedtime was 9 o'clock ..more or less .
MY first
friend in our block was rex Riley , rex and His mother had moved to Oregon from
Missouri. Rex Lived with His mother who in turn lived with Her Sister and Her
Sisters Husband and their son . Rex 's house was a small one on the corner of
miles and 33rd street ...He and His mother shared a room ..Looking back it seems
somewhat crowed and cramped ...but at the time I thought nothing of it , nor did
it ever occur to me to ask Rex where his father was ... we remaned Neighbors
through High School , but after grade school I rarely saw Him . I believe the
last time I saw rex was in 1990 when I ran into him in Sisters Oregon. He had
gained some weight , was married ...and older.
During our glory years Rex
and I explored the woods together , rode our bikes for miles in the southwest
hills , slept out under the stars , and in our tree fort , we went swimming
together , picked blackberries , Strawberries, and Beans together . It puzzles
me I never took he time to know Him better . but perhaps I knew him as I
supposed to , a child hood friend , a sojourner on a childhood journey that
began in a very small corner of the world called the neighborhood , and ended as
a foggy morning , evaporates into the brilliant stab of sunlight on a grassy
meadow .
Most of our play was adversarial , cops and robbers , Cowboys
and Indians , Americans and others . We played mumbly peg once and I
accidentally stuck a knife in his leg . I was somewhat angry and bemused when he
insisted that we tell his mother , and subsequently was taken to the doctor for
a tetnus shot . Telling his mother of course meant telling my parents and they
were not as bemused as I was about the incident.
I really don't know
what the deal was about tetanus shots was in those days ..I had heard rumours of
Lock Jaw , but had never seen an visible evidence of it actually ever happening
, likewise I had never seen a chigger , boogyman , or a full fledged communist
either. Life in the Southwest Hills was somewhat isolated . By the time we were
in fifth grade we were allowed almost full range over several miles of roads .
lanes and islands of undeveloped woods and forests , we watch these areas slowly
disappear , ans more and more houses were built . The movement of people into
the Hills became so popular that a free way was needed to transport them , our
Grade school was enlarged , and in the area a new one was built ...
It
was also during this time that my parents noticed I was having some difficulty
breathing , and I was frequently sneezing and coughing especially during the
spring...Soon I was visiting a battery of doctors who were all eagerly waiting to
poke ,prod and prick me ...This I believe was the beginning of my bad altitude
about the Medical profession . After a period that I referred to as the
"Exquisite Time of Torture and Humiliation" ..I was diagnosed with Asthma and Hay
fever . it turned out i was allergic to the planet Earth ..space travel was
still a fantasy then so there was little I could do about it , except take as
series of shots ..Rather than easing into it by taking say one shot every decade
, I was immediately put on a schedule that included two shots in each arm twice
a week . To add indignity to pain , I actually had to walk to the doctors office
often by myself ..a distance of over a mile and a half , past three vicious dogs
, the Butte brothers , and at least one well manicured lawn that begged me to
ignore the do not walk on the grass sign . I would enter the Lobby of the clinic
, announce my presence sit , down and thumb through a field and stream magazine
or a National Geographic ...soon a plucky nurse with rubber gloves up to her arm
pit and scowl on her face like she had just bit into a sour lemon would call my
name..she would lead me gently by dragging both feet through the door ..into
another room where i would be locked inside ..until a bespectacled doctor would
enter make some vague comments about my improvement , and then remove himself as
the sour faced nurse would enter with a tray on which were four needles attached
to syringes ..the needles were easily the size of a small Javelin andthe
syringes about the size of a small firecracker , an incongruity that never
ceased to amaze me . The nurse would then apply alcohol to the skin ...and with
a effort worthy of a veteran Harpooner for a Nova Scotia whaler , plunge the
needle into me ..this procedure was repeated three more times ..and I was left
dazed and wounded in the room for a period of 30 minutes ..this was to see if
the injection was to have any serious side affects , other than the obvious pain
, bruising , numbness and frequent need to urinate in a hurry that i experienced
on a usual basis. Then if the lumps on my arm were less than a good sized
cantaloupe I was allowed to walk myself home , past the ( now four ) visious
dogs the sneers of the Butte Brothers , and the glare of the elderly lady whose
Lawn I had transgressed in. All the while I was walking home I kept thinking
maybe Lock Jaw was a better way to go .
Yet as I said it was during this time
that my world view started to expand , and I can thank National Geographic for
that !
Achoo !!!
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I love Theater ..and the part I Love so much about Theater is being able
to explore the genesis of peoples intentions...Good plays are
written in such a way that you see the frequent parade of intention ,
obstacle and resolution in a Characters life . Like a Photograph a play
will " freeze " the important moments in a life . It is then up to the
actor playing the part to find these moments , we called them beats ,
and use them to propel the play forward. Intentions my change ,
obstacles may change , and the resolution may change ...
I am
hoping that when we enter Heaven we will get an opportunity to see our
Lifes play ...I have lived it , but in the living I did a pretty poor
job of studying ..I know I I had my fair share of intentions , and I
know likewise I had a significant number of obstacles ...but I can't
remember all the resolutions I employed to navigate the Obstacles.
If
I was to point to a " unifying " intention , it would be the intention
to be considerate Significant . Frequently my obstacle to this was my
own behavior ...and as ironic as it may seem my solution to this
obstacle was to lean on my own bad behavior as a solution for itself.
That
is why one day as I was driving down a long and lonely Highway with
nothing more than a Christian Radio Station for comfort , I heard the
voice on the other end of the speaker say ..." the good I know I should
do I do , and the bad I know I should not do I do " I pulled over to
the side of the road and just sat there ...knowing these words were
spoken directly to me ...
Thinking about my trips to the doctors
office , I kinda suspect that it was those National Geographic's and
those Field And stream magazines that first kindled in me some choices
in my behaviour ...Sitting in the Lobby preparing for the needles I was
left hanging in the balance between choosing to be a professional
fisherman , or a intrepid Adventurer. I found the photos and stories
about distant civilazions to be compelling and addictive ...but I
Knew where i could go to catch fish and it wasn't that far way ...for a
long time I balance these two desires , always giving into the one i
could satisfy ...
I remember those days where I was unable to go
outside and play , I would surround myself with piles of books and
magazines , I read voraciously , Fiction , and Non fiction ..I read
just about everything I could get my hands on . I remember in third
grade we had a contest to see how many books we could read in a month
and when I submitted over 60 book reports my Teacher Mrs Hanna got
really skeptical. I was tested for reading speed and comprehension I
don't remember the exact results ..but if memory serves me right it was
over 2000 WPM with better than 80 % Comprehension .
I also
think I learned at a pretty early age just how to do well on those sorts
of tests. But the reality was that my parents encouraged me to read ,
and I took a lot of pleasure out of reading far above my grade school
level .
If my intention in life had been to be considered
significant , the obstacle became , at what ? Like most young boys I
wanted to be significant in Sports ...but the asthma and hay fever put a
damper on that ...it became apparent at a pretty early age I was not
going to be a large kid ...I was fast but skinny . I was in Little
leauge baseball , and I did pretty well there , my favorite position was
catcher or Third base ..I wasn't a power hitter , but I got on base a
lot ... My father coached the team I was on ...we were the Verdemon OIl
team , named for the Gas Station and fuel Oil company at the bottom
of the Hill we lived on.
Later in High School I would play some
football and my dad even convinced me to try out for the wrestling team
but I never had much passion for either as Organized sports .
Because
of my reading ...I found my significance in being the smart kid in the
school , and later the smart Aleck ...I could dazzle my peers and my
teachers with my vast knowledge of all things ..but I had no pasion for
that either ....mostly I just wanted to make them laugh ...I felt
uncomfortable being the smart kid ..and for the most part tried to keep
that part of me hidden ...with very little success. When I was in Third
Grade I was " signed " up for a trial special language program and
started Learning to speak German ...
My Parents who thought that
meeting our neighbors who had actually escaped from Germany when Russia
defeated Germany during World war 2 would help me learn to speak German
better ...it didn't but what it did do is send me off to the library
reading every book I could find on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust
...Then at some point I became fascinated by Science and German
inventiveness ...and started reading every book I could find on Science
....when I was in the fifth grade I was invited into the Seventh and
Eight grade special Science class ... with in a relatively few years I
was developing an interesting Habit ...I would persue knowledge and
education on just about any subject and then just as As I was dully
immersed in ot I would find something to distract me and I would be off
on another learning adventure ...This to say I never finished anything
..but I sure had a lot of projects started ....
I wish I had the
benefit of a " script " to look at just to see all these " beats " in
my life ...but I don't I Guess in part that is why I am working on this
project ...and praying fervently that I will not let this one slip by
the wayside ...