Something to Sneeze at

Too Young to be Needled !!!!

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 ...