Many of my younger readers may not be aware that Ian Fleming wrote the James Bond series completely as a satire on the Intelligence Community and on espionage in general. Bond was right about one thing however, and that was the amount of intelligence that could be "gleaned" through "pillow talk". The book and the movie From Russia With Love was set in Istanbul, and was filmed just prior to my arrival. Whenever I get nostalgic, I watch the movie and it takes me back all those years to a very exciting period in my life. All of the sights, sounds and smells of Turkey come rushing back.
If you remember one of the early sequences in the movie, Bond was taken to a Gypsy Camp and met a beautiful Gypsy girl. The Gypsy's were Armenians who settled in Turkey and were persecuted on a regular basis. As late as the early Twentieth Century, there was some "ethnic cleansing" involving the Armenians.
Sometime in the first month that I was in Istanbul, I met Zeckiya...a beautiful seventeen year old belly dancer. We lived together for most of my tour of duty in Turkey. You have to remember that I wasn't the grizzled old wolf that I have become, but still a pup in many ways. There are many stories to share about this wild Armenian girl, who preferred to call herself Gilda, a name she had chosen to use as a dancer...I always called her Zeckiya and sometimes she called me Yahootie (Turkish for Jew). She thought that I didn't spend much money on her...I told her that I provided the roof she and her brother lived under, the food they ate and bought her clothes, and an occasional trinket. But, she was right...I didn't spend a lot of money on her because that would have made our situation "dirty" and it would have tarnished it enough that I wouldn't have enjoyed it.
Zeckiya was a lot of fun, a lot of trouble, and at times a very valuable resource. By virtue of her profession, she met a lot of men and they told her things, and in turn she told me things. She provided me with information I could never have gotten on my own, and never realised what she was doing.
Our routine was to have an early dinner and I would catch her first show and then go back to the apartment and sleep. Most of the time she worked until two or three in the morning. She would come back to the apartment and be all excited and want to talk about all the things that had happened over the course of the evening. There was one time I remember that I didn't wake up fast enough and she started "tatooing my head" with the spiked heel of her shoe. She was not dressed, so I wrapped her in a sheet...threw her into the hall and locked the door, and went back to sleep.
Another time we were sitting at a bar having drinks when the bartender made an obscene remark to her and she spit in his face...I thought the whole situation was very comical, but the bartender didn't grasp the humor and came across the bar with a knife in his hand. He got me once before I could disarm him, and turn him over to the tender mercies of a few of my Turkish police friends. I ended up spending the rest of the evening getting "stitched up" by an Armenian Doctor that Zechiya knew.
I will probably return to this era from time to time as there are a lot more stories that happened in Istanbul, but I will close this log out for now.
Until next time!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Flacker Days
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...I was a "Flacker" (that's what the other Armed Services personnel called Air Force personnel).
I already touched on this in my earlier logs...but here is a little more. The ex-Marine Training Instructors were MSGT Taylor, TSGT Biles, and a SSGT we called "Hollywood" (behind his back). Sergeant Biles was the one who singled me out for "special care". Because we were in an experimental program, our basic training was compressed and shortened. If you think about it, this really invalidates the experiment because there was no real control group...and the personnel for this "Flight" (a group of 50 men) were "hand-picked" because the scored high on all the entrance test and most had some college...maybe that's why they dropped it, or maybe they dropped it because it was a "dumb idea" to start with.
Of the fifty in the Flight, I think 35 ended up in Military Intelligence. Some went to Biloxi, Mississippi for training, some went to Monterrey, California, some went to Bloomington, Indiana, some went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and I and about four others went to San Angelo, Texas. Those of us from my Flight were added to other flights...there were about 250 of us who went through training at the same time. We all had very elite Top Secret clearances...so you will forgive me if I don't go into any details about what we did (yes, even after all these years). Suffice it to say we were analysts!! The training was very intense and was broken into four hour blocks. We had an early breakfast (6 AM) and began the first block at Seven O'clock...we broke at Eleven for lunch...began the second block at Noon...broke at Four for dinner...and started the final block at Five. After we finished at Nine, we still had about two hours of homework each evening. There wasn't a lot of time to "fool around" because the curriculum was set up on a six day training week. We really enjoyed Sundays...because after a mandatory Seven AM chapel...the rest of the day was ours (except for the four hours required to complete homework assignments). The program ran for six months culminating in Graduation (complete with a big party). There was an incentive for finishing "Number One" in the class of 250...you got to pick the country you were going to serve in for the next two years. The choices were: England, Germany, Italy, Crete, Japan, Turkey, and Pakistan. I "busted my hump" to finish number one and I was positive that I was going to England, but I didn't get the choice because they needed someone with my skills and abilities in Istanbul...the military never did have a good track record for keeping promises.
After completing training I got a 10-day leave to visit my family...and then set off for Istanbul.
That's the next post!!
I already touched on this in my earlier logs...but here is a little more. The ex-Marine Training Instructors were MSGT Taylor, TSGT Biles, and a SSGT we called "Hollywood" (behind his back). Sergeant Biles was the one who singled me out for "special care". Because we were in an experimental program, our basic training was compressed and shortened. If you think about it, this really invalidates the experiment because there was no real control group...and the personnel for this "Flight" (a group of 50 men) were "hand-picked" because the scored high on all the entrance test and most had some college...maybe that's why they dropped it, or maybe they dropped it because it was a "dumb idea" to start with.
Of the fifty in the Flight, I think 35 ended up in Military Intelligence. Some went to Biloxi, Mississippi for training, some went to Monterrey, California, some went to Bloomington, Indiana, some went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and I and about four others went to San Angelo, Texas. Those of us from my Flight were added to other flights...there were about 250 of us who went through training at the same time. We all had very elite Top Secret clearances...so you will forgive me if I don't go into any details about what we did (yes, even after all these years). Suffice it to say we were analysts!! The training was very intense and was broken into four hour blocks. We had an early breakfast (6 AM) and began the first block at Seven O'clock...we broke at Eleven for lunch...began the second block at Noon...broke at Four for dinner...and started the final block at Five. After we finished at Nine, we still had about two hours of homework each evening. There wasn't a lot of time to "fool around" because the curriculum was set up on a six day training week. We really enjoyed Sundays...because after a mandatory Seven AM chapel...the rest of the day was ours (except for the four hours required to complete homework assignments). The program ran for six months culminating in Graduation (complete with a big party). There was an incentive for finishing "Number One" in the class of 250...you got to pick the country you were going to serve in for the next two years. The choices were: England, Germany, Italy, Crete, Japan, Turkey, and Pakistan. I "busted my hump" to finish number one and I was positive that I was going to England, but I didn't get the choice because they needed someone with my skills and abilities in Istanbul...the military never did have a good track record for keeping promises.
After completing training I got a 10-day leave to visit my family...and then set off for Istanbul.
That's the next post!!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
What a Long Strange Trip It's Been
The title to the greatest hits of the Grateful Dead seems to be a perfect description of my life.
In March of 1982 (I was 39) I had a massive coronary which destroyed the bottom third of my heart. The cardiologists gave me five years "at the outside".
Fooled them!!
Right now I am the most content I have been in years, my new bride can take most of the credit for that and some goes to my Little Girls (who can always make me smile)! I have new energy, new directions, and better health than I have had in about five years.
It is really hard for me to believe that next summer is the fiftieth year Reunion of the Class of 1960 of Johnson High School, or that it has been 41 years since I was discharged from the Air Force, or that it has been 35 years since I have been in a classroom.
I hope to take a class or two this Fall, but they will be entirely online...it still should be interesting. I'm hoping to finish another couple of degrees...not for any reason than self-actualization, to keep the "brain farts" to a minimum, and to give me a purpose for the next few years.
But enough of that, it's time to go back to recounting my adventures and misadventures...
When I enlisted in the Air Force it was to be in Military Intelligence (I know, I know, that's and oxymoron). I took the equivalent of three years of Russian in a period of about six months and spent another six months learning intelligence skills and techniques. I was then assigned to Istanbul, Turkey for a little over two years. Much more on this period in later web logs, I then returned to the "States" and was assigned to Westover AFB in Springfield, Massachusetts...but really it was just a jumping off point for TDY (temporary duty assignments) all over the East Coast. More about that in later web logs too.
When I got out of the Air Force I went back to college on the GI Bill and finished a two year Associates Degree in less than a year...and qualified for a "Free Ride" toward a BA in American Studies at Hamline University. I was all set-up for a three year PHD Program at the University of Minnesota...but my wife got pregnant with my son and I needed to find a job.
I refer you back to the assessment experiment in the last log.
I went to work for Northwestern Bell and worked for them for about five years, worked for a company out of Northern Ireland for about three years, went back to Bell and ended up at AT&T. I was the top salesman in the country for them for about two years in a row...but they wouldn't allow me to manage my own "crew". So I went to work for CONTEL and had a really great time...they gave me all the freedom that I wanted, but they got swallowed up by GTE and I was odd man out. I went to work for the German company SEIMENS, which was not a match for my personality and skills, so I went to work as a General Manager for VICOM (one of their Gold Seal Dealers). I fit into this company really well and had a lot of fun until I started having more heart issues and had to retire from the telephone industry.
The next phase of my life was pretty depressing...but I made it through everything and was able to keep my "Polyanna outlook" for the most part.
We will take some more side trips in future logs but right now I will leave you with this quote from Jerry Garcia "And for me there's still more material than 20 lifetimes could use up."
My feelings exactly!!
In March of 1982 (I was 39) I had a massive coronary which destroyed the bottom third of my heart. The cardiologists gave me five years "at the outside".
Fooled them!!
Right now I am the most content I have been in years, my new bride can take most of the credit for that and some goes to my Little Girls (who can always make me smile)! I have new energy, new directions, and better health than I have had in about five years.
It is really hard for me to believe that next summer is the fiftieth year Reunion of the Class of 1960 of Johnson High School, or that it has been 41 years since I was discharged from the Air Force, or that it has been 35 years since I have been in a classroom.
I hope to take a class or two this Fall, but they will be entirely online...it still should be interesting. I'm hoping to finish another couple of degrees...not for any reason than self-actualization, to keep the "brain farts" to a minimum, and to give me a purpose for the next few years.
But enough of that, it's time to go back to recounting my adventures and misadventures...
When I enlisted in the Air Force it was to be in Military Intelligence (I know, I know, that's and oxymoron). I took the equivalent of three years of Russian in a period of about six months and spent another six months learning intelligence skills and techniques. I was then assigned to Istanbul, Turkey for a little over two years. Much more on this period in later web logs, I then returned to the "States" and was assigned to Westover AFB in Springfield, Massachusetts...but really it was just a jumping off point for TDY (temporary duty assignments) all over the East Coast. More about that in later web logs too.
When I got out of the Air Force I went back to college on the GI Bill and finished a two year Associates Degree in less than a year...and qualified for a "Free Ride" toward a BA in American Studies at Hamline University. I was all set-up for a three year PHD Program at the University of Minnesota...but my wife got pregnant with my son and I needed to find a job.
I refer you back to the assessment experiment in the last log.
I went to work for Northwestern Bell and worked for them for about five years, worked for a company out of Northern Ireland for about three years, went back to Bell and ended up at AT&T. I was the top salesman in the country for them for about two years in a row...but they wouldn't allow me to manage my own "crew". So I went to work for CONTEL and had a really great time...they gave me all the freedom that I wanted, but they got swallowed up by GTE and I was odd man out. I went to work for the German company SEIMENS, which was not a match for my personality and skills, so I went to work as a General Manager for VICOM (one of their Gold Seal Dealers). I fit into this company really well and had a lot of fun until I started having more heart issues and had to retire from the telephone industry.
The next phase of my life was pretty depressing...but I made it through everything and was able to keep my "Polyanna outlook" for the most part.
We will take some more side trips in future logs but right now I will leave you with this quote from Jerry Garcia "And for me there's still more material than 20 lifetimes could use up."
My feelings exactly!!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Life in a Petri Dish
As I look back into my distant past, I get the impression that I was always part of an experiment.
A few examples occur to me immediately:
When I had rheumatic fever I went to school one year via the telephone. A dedicated line was provided for intercom service at Cleveland Junior High School in Saint Paul...this was provided as a free service by Bell (their motivation was not all humanitarian since they were looking for a new application for a service that they had designed years earlier). The only real disadvantage to the system was that it used and Executone Intercom which was "push to talk" and while you were listening to what as going on in class, you could not really interact because as you pushed the bar down to talk it cut out any communication which was occurring on the other end. This was the first system of it's kind in the country and an article was done on me by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press (complete with pictures that included me, my Cocker Spaniel, my sister's parakeet, and a remote control fire engine). It was really a pretty good human interest story and being the "pack rat" that I am, I have it stored somewhere in a manila envelope labeled miscellaneous - 1956.
The next year I was able to attend school in the normal fashion and was promptly identified as an extremely viable candidate for a few new and innovative programs. The first was called "team teaching" and used the auditorium for a class of about 150 students in a social sciences programs that rotated between World History, American History, American Government & Civics. It worked like this: on Monday & Tuesday one of the team lectured on World History (complete with testing every two weeks), on Wednesday and Thursday another team member lectured on American History, and on Friday the third team member lectured on American Government and Civics. These were one hour lecture sessions, except for Friday which was an hour lecture followed by and hour discussion group. As you can see the program was patterned after a three credit college program which I recognized immediately when I attended the University of Minnesota. Then I was chosen to participate in a special science program designed by MIT. We were given these softbound physics texts each week covering a different aspect in physics and tested on the materials at the end of the week...the tests were 100 points and I seem to remember that our median score was about 11. Our brightest science student got a 29 on one of the tests and he actually became a PHD in nuclear physics...however, I learned very quickly that my career would not lie in that direction.
The next example occurred when I enlisted in the Air Force and was being assigned a Squadron...most of the squadrons were in number sequence 357, 358, 359...and mine was X360. Yes, the X signified experimental and was the "brainchild" of some staff officer who had way too much time on his hands. While I never totally understood the purpose, it used Marine non-commissioned officers (sergeants) as training instructors (TI's). It was suppposed to see if the Air Force could use Marine training techniques with Air Force Personnel...well of course being my usual SMARTASS self...my first comment was "If I wanted to be a f****** Jarhead, I'd have joined the f****** Marines"...you have no idea how that endeared me to these TI's (but I believe I still have a few boot marks on my chest). Remember this was an era when they were allowed to beat the hell out of you, and you didn't have the recourse of writing your congressman to complain. I survived and I have to admit that I liked the Marine cadence they taught us to use marching (we won all the drill competitions at parades).
The final example I will use in this log occurred when I was interviewing for a management development position at Bell. They had just developed a new program to select candidates and you can guess who was selected to test it out. The first day started with a battery of tests in the morning and was followed by what they called "assessment" in the afternoon. You were given a huge notebook containing materials about a fictitious company who had hired you as a management consultant...it was your job to determine a course of action and argue it to their "management team". There were two different cases, each of the next two days and when I was done I had no idea as to whether or not I would be hired. As it turned out I finished first of four hundred candidates.
"No Forrest, life is not a box of chocolates...life is being able to survive in a Petri dish!"
A few examples occur to me immediately:
When I had rheumatic fever I went to school one year via the telephone. A dedicated line was provided for intercom service at Cleveland Junior High School in Saint Paul...this was provided as a free service by Bell (their motivation was not all humanitarian since they were looking for a new application for a service that they had designed years earlier). The only real disadvantage to the system was that it used and Executone Intercom which was "push to talk" and while you were listening to what as going on in class, you could not really interact because as you pushed the bar down to talk it cut out any communication which was occurring on the other end. This was the first system of it's kind in the country and an article was done on me by the Saint Paul Pioneer Press (complete with pictures that included me, my Cocker Spaniel, my sister's parakeet, and a remote control fire engine). It was really a pretty good human interest story and being the "pack rat" that I am, I have it stored somewhere in a manila envelope labeled miscellaneous - 1956.
The next year I was able to attend school in the normal fashion and was promptly identified as an extremely viable candidate for a few new and innovative programs. The first was called "team teaching" and used the auditorium for a class of about 150 students in a social sciences programs that rotated between World History, American History, American Government & Civics. It worked like this: on Monday & Tuesday one of the team lectured on World History (complete with testing every two weeks), on Wednesday and Thursday another team member lectured on American History, and on Friday the third team member lectured on American Government and Civics. These were one hour lecture sessions, except for Friday which was an hour lecture followed by and hour discussion group. As you can see the program was patterned after a three credit college program which I recognized immediately when I attended the University of Minnesota. Then I was chosen to participate in a special science program designed by MIT. We were given these softbound physics texts each week covering a different aspect in physics and tested on the materials at the end of the week...the tests were 100 points and I seem to remember that our median score was about 11. Our brightest science student got a 29 on one of the tests and he actually became a PHD in nuclear physics...however, I learned very quickly that my career would not lie in that direction.
The next example occurred when I enlisted in the Air Force and was being assigned a Squadron...most of the squadrons were in number sequence 357, 358, 359...and mine was X360. Yes, the X signified experimental and was the "brainchild" of some staff officer who had way too much time on his hands. While I never totally understood the purpose, it used Marine non-commissioned officers (sergeants) as training instructors (TI's). It was suppposed to see if the Air Force could use Marine training techniques with Air Force Personnel...well of course being my usual SMARTASS self...my first comment was "If I wanted to be a f****** Jarhead, I'd have joined the f****** Marines"...you have no idea how that endeared me to these TI's (but I believe I still have a few boot marks on my chest). Remember this was an era when they were allowed to beat the hell out of you, and you didn't have the recourse of writing your congressman to complain. I survived and I have to admit that I liked the Marine cadence they taught us to use marching (we won all the drill competitions at parades).
The final example I will use in this log occurred when I was interviewing for a management development position at Bell. They had just developed a new program to select candidates and you can guess who was selected to test it out. The first day started with a battery of tests in the morning and was followed by what they called "assessment" in the afternoon. You were given a huge notebook containing materials about a fictitious company who had hired you as a management consultant...it was your job to determine a course of action and argue it to their "management team". There were two different cases, each of the next two days and when I was done I had no idea as to whether or not I would be hired. As it turned out I finished first of four hundred candidates.
"No Forrest, life is not a box of chocolates...life is being able to survive in a Petri dish!"
Monday, August 10, 2009
Some Fill-ins And More Fodder For Thought...
When you become my age, you are not sure what are memories, reminisces, or things that have been told to you so many times that you think that you remember them!!
Case in point, do I have an early memory of my Great Grandfather Kinley teaching me to read in Indiana when I was three (we are rocking in rocking chairs, side by side) and him bringing me sweet potatoes over in his pockets every morning...or is this something that has been retold so many times that I think I remember it.
I know that I remember my folks and I living with my Grandmother (Nonnie) on the fifth floor of the Macy Apartments...which were demolished for the Capitol Approach. I remember a creepy self-service elevator that went down to an even creepier boiler room that my younger sister and I used to explore.
I remember living in the Cedar-Riverside area in Minneapolis and becoming my sister's hero by stepping in when some older kids threatened her with a hatchet...this was either before I started kindergarten at Clay School or that year. I remember the school play for kindergarten that year was Little Black Sambo (I had the lead with cork-blackened face ala Ted Dansen) and I remember the Tigers all yelling "Little Black Sambo, your pants are falling down!" This got the biggest laugh...parents were laughing so hard they had tears running down their faces...an event like that stays in your mind!
I remember a trip to Kentucky that summer and proudly showing my mother a mushroom that I round (never really noticed that it was growing in a horse turd)...I remember starting First Grade in a one-room school house and having vienna sausage sandwiches for lunch...I know that I remember what a huge man my grandfather Harve Strunk was...lifting me onto his shoulders with his only arm, and walking the tobacco fields...I remember how little my grandmother Mary Strunk was (about four feet tall)and her ability to kill chickens for Sunday dinner by wringing their necks...and them running all around the yard headless.
I remember the permanent move back to Saint Paul and starting Ericsson School that same year...and playing soldiers in the dirt with my friend Dave Corbo...but some of the other "memories" I am sure are really part of that "Neverland Fog" that could be re-tellings or imagination or whatever!
I am sure that I will have more to say about this in future postings!
Case in point, do I have an early memory of my Great Grandfather Kinley teaching me to read in Indiana when I was three (we are rocking in rocking chairs, side by side) and him bringing me sweet potatoes over in his pockets every morning...or is this something that has been retold so many times that I think I remember it.
I know that I remember my folks and I living with my Grandmother (Nonnie) on the fifth floor of the Macy Apartments...which were demolished for the Capitol Approach. I remember a creepy self-service elevator that went down to an even creepier boiler room that my younger sister and I used to explore.
I remember living in the Cedar-Riverside area in Minneapolis and becoming my sister's hero by stepping in when some older kids threatened her with a hatchet...this was either before I started kindergarten at Clay School or that year. I remember the school play for kindergarten that year was Little Black Sambo (I had the lead with cork-blackened face ala Ted Dansen) and I remember the Tigers all yelling "Little Black Sambo, your pants are falling down!" This got the biggest laugh...parents were laughing so hard they had tears running down their faces...an event like that stays in your mind!
I remember a trip to Kentucky that summer and proudly showing my mother a mushroom that I round (never really noticed that it was growing in a horse turd)...I remember starting First Grade in a one-room school house and having vienna sausage sandwiches for lunch...I know that I remember what a huge man my grandfather Harve Strunk was...lifting me onto his shoulders with his only arm, and walking the tobacco fields...I remember how little my grandmother Mary Strunk was (about four feet tall)and her ability to kill chickens for Sunday dinner by wringing their necks...and them running all around the yard headless.
I remember the permanent move back to Saint Paul and starting Ericsson School that same year...and playing soldiers in the dirt with my friend Dave Corbo...but some of the other "memories" I am sure are really part of that "Neverland Fog" that could be re-tellings or imagination or whatever!
I am sure that I will have more to say about this in future postings!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
A Clarification and Some More Thoughts
In my earlier post, I referred to a baseball game and I didn't mention that this was an exhibition game...at that point in time the Brooklyn Dodgers had a farm team based in Saint Paul and the New York Giants had the Minneapolis Millers as a farm team, and about once in a blue moon the real teams played exhibition games in both cities...the game I saw was at the old Lexington ballpark in Saint Paul.
While I experienced a great deal of innocent activity...like playing kick the can and Red Rover in the alley, which had so little traffic as to almost becoming our constant playground. And going to the playground to baseball with friends and no adult interference or supervision...we were quite capable of playing by the rules and elected our own umpires to call balls and strikes...these games were not competitive like Little League games, but were more about everyone playing and improving their skills.
At this same time of innocence in other areas the Racial tensions were growing and Blacks (who were called Colored People, or Negroes) were beginning to organize the early stages of the NAACP and other Civil Rights organizations, and there were lynchings, and police beatings, a incarcerations for being at the wrong place and being Black.
All of these things and events were occurring against a backdrop of the Cold War with Air Raid practice and hiding under your desks and chemical and biological test conducted on unknowing neighborhoods that would have repercussions for generations to come.
More in my next posting...
While I experienced a great deal of innocent activity...like playing kick the can and Red Rover in the alley, which had so little traffic as to almost becoming our constant playground. And going to the playground to baseball with friends and no adult interference or supervision...we were quite capable of playing by the rules and elected our own umpires to call balls and strikes...these games were not competitive like Little League games, but were more about everyone playing and improving their skills.
At this same time of innocence in other areas the Racial tensions were growing and Blacks (who were called Colored People, or Negroes) were beginning to organize the early stages of the NAACP and other Civil Rights organizations, and there were lynchings, and police beatings, a incarcerations for being at the wrong place and being Black.
All of these things and events were occurring against a backdrop of the Cold War with Air Raid practice and hiding under your desks and chemical and biological test conducted on unknowing neighborhoods that would have repercussions for generations to come.
More in my next posting...
Another Era
I was born a small Black child in Mississippi...no that was a movie, leave the gun, take the canoli...nope another movie, life is like a box of chocolates...not me either!!
I was born in Bethesda Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota on November 18, 1942...it was a different era then...I remember living on the lower East-side of Saint Paul where there were not police working as teams in cruisers but a neighborhood "beat cop" Larry. You didn't have to worry about him shooting you or "tasing" you, he knew you by your first name, knew where you lived and knew your parents...you had to worry about him telling your dad about any mischief that you had gotten into and the wrath that would follow. It was a time where when you did all of your chores for a week you got a quarter...this got you into the Saturday Matinee, which usually was a double feature with an episode of a thirteen chapter serial, and sometimes as many as 25 cartoons! It also left you with enough cash for a bag of popcorn, a soda and a 2 cent candy bar.
I remember going to grade school and "daydreaming" and listening to the buzzing of insects in the weeks just before summer vacation...I remember watching the Brooklyn Dodgers play the New York Giants on a summer afternoon for the huge price of fifty cents...I was thrilled to get my program (which was free) signed by all my Dodger heros...Duke Snyder, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and of course Jackie Robinson. For me this was a time of innocence that allowed hero worship without even recognising skin color. This was enhanced by the wonderful circumstance that allowed me to have my favorite teacher, Dr. James Phillips. I had rheumatic fever and was schooled by a "homebound program" and then attended class via the telephone and he was the ONLY teacher that took an interest in my welfare. It was only years later when I realised that my father was always absent during these visits. Dr. Phillips recounted to me that he was originally from Mississippi and that his parents (who were also both PhD's) couldn't pass the Mississippi literacy test and therefore couldn't vote...this seemed to violate everything we were being taught in school. Incidentally he had a brilliant career and late became Superintendent of Schools for Saint Paul. So while for many this time of innocence was a time of strife and trial. It was the very beginning of the Civil Rights struggle. I will continue these ramblings a little later!!
I was born in Bethesda Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota on November 18, 1942...it was a different era then...I remember living on the lower East-side of Saint Paul where there were not police working as teams in cruisers but a neighborhood "beat cop" Larry. You didn't have to worry about him shooting you or "tasing" you, he knew you by your first name, knew where you lived and knew your parents...you had to worry about him telling your dad about any mischief that you had gotten into and the wrath that would follow. It was a time where when you did all of your chores for a week you got a quarter...this got you into the Saturday Matinee, which usually was a double feature with an episode of a thirteen chapter serial, and sometimes as many as 25 cartoons! It also left you with enough cash for a bag of popcorn, a soda and a 2 cent candy bar.
I remember going to grade school and "daydreaming" and listening to the buzzing of insects in the weeks just before summer vacation...I remember watching the Brooklyn Dodgers play the New York Giants on a summer afternoon for the huge price of fifty cents...I was thrilled to get my program (which was free) signed by all my Dodger heros...Duke Snyder, Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and of course Jackie Robinson. For me this was a time of innocence that allowed hero worship without even recognising skin color. This was enhanced by the wonderful circumstance that allowed me to have my favorite teacher, Dr. James Phillips. I had rheumatic fever and was schooled by a "homebound program" and then attended class via the telephone and he was the ONLY teacher that took an interest in my welfare. It was only years later when I realised that my father was always absent during these visits. Dr. Phillips recounted to me that he was originally from Mississippi and that his parents (who were also both PhD's) couldn't pass the Mississippi literacy test and therefore couldn't vote...this seemed to violate everything we were being taught in school. Incidentally he had a brilliant career and late became Superintendent of Schools for Saint Paul. So while for many this time of innocence was a time of strife and trial. It was the very beginning of the Civil Rights struggle. I will continue these ramblings a little later!!
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