Land of Superman

     I went to Kindergarten in LA which is quite a stretch for anyone to understand. I was the only kid in that class to get paddled for sticking my head through the wall of the fort I just built. I was preparing to pick up the blocks.

        I immediately threw out the thought of Creator and Destroyer.  The teacher was furious at me.  She hauled me over her knee for the absolute worst abuse I had by a licensed teacher that I ever suffered. The paddle was big and scary.  My parents never hit us for any reason so it was a new and painful experience. 

        This is the time I painted my best art lol.   It was superman flying over buildings with one eye bigger than the other.  This only shows how disproportionate a child's world is when doing art on the fly.       

      The child is already surrounded by giants. Even after overcoming the fear of adults the child also must overcome the fear of other children which is equally intimidating. It is a lot to ask of a boy or girl to trust people.

     Even at this tender age, I had girlfriends I would play with.  I remember playing records while my girlfriend danced naked in front of me.  I also remember seeing a long haired Indian man. I later found out it was Paramahansa Yogananda strolling in the LA sunlight. This was 1954. 

      We would jump up on Saturdays to watch Howdy Doody Time and the Micky Mouse Club with Annette Funecello. The girl with the big tits.  We knew what tits were for.
        Inglewood was the place to be. We had one of the very first TVs since the old man was selling them.   I remember the drive out to L.A. clearly. We had a water cooled window mounted air conditioner in the old Indian Pontiac.  We would stop in the desert somewhere so that the old man and my brother could pull out the shotgun and go hunting for jack rabbits. We started calling my brother Mike Rab after this. We were too young in the eyes of our parents to go hunting.

     Duke and I started a game of playing Elmer Fudd and that wacky cartoon as a way to process this reality. We were all nearly blind and wore glasses except for me.

    Spin and Marty was a Saturday morning western about a dude ranch and all the things young men are doing when growing up.   It was my favorite.
     I continued to return to Southern California many times over the years. Four times when I was seeing Sheila all by thumb during the Vietnam War era still clinging to the dream of becoming a famous musician. Then multiple times when living with DLM people.                

       Finally, when I left the Mayo Clinic, I drove my SAAB 95 all the way to San Diego from Minnesota.

I signed on with Scripps Memorial Hospital staying employed for nearly two years.  They forced me to float to other units.  I eventually resigned because of the mean patients they put me in 1:1.

    Bored and dumb I started driving South until I got to Panama.