Liberal Mistakes

An odyssey through college, New York slums, domestic peace corps, welfare, running a home for mental patients, land lording, writing.

by Al Garner - the Marco Polo of social work.

30,000 words copyright 8/07





Introduction

Chapter I ‘Education’

How Useful Was School?
Vouchers
How Useful Was College?
The Far Left and Far Right
Beware of Idealism


Chapter II Oh, to save the world


A Baptism by fire

Living in Slums
Domestic Version of Peace Corps

B Reflections

Social Work in the Past
How Not to Study a Gang Banger
Liberal Psychobabble
Social Work Myths
Welfare Reform
The Homeless
Hazlitt on Poverty
Why Immigrants Pass the Poor
Advice to the Poor


D Independence

How to Kill a Care Home
A Suicidal Friend
Neighborhood Care Homes


Chapter III Land lording

A Bad Neighborhood
Living with Bums
Legal Nightmare over Rented Room


Chapter IV The light goes on


A Liberal pitfalls

Liberal Myths
The Liberal Media
Social Classes and Liberals
Liberal Spin on Riots


B Economics

Discovering Milton Friedman
Discovering Thomas Sowell
What the Free Market Wants
Minimum Wage
Privatization

C Values
The Decline
Self-pity


Appendix
Liberal and conservative positions
Traditional Values
People, places, publications, think tanks


= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Introduction
I grew up in the conservative 50s in one of the most conserva­tive areas (Orange County, Calif.), and went to college where it was said that as we got older, we would get more conservative (prophetic words). After four years of studying the ideal world, I was graduated and moved to the real world of the slums of the very liberal New York City. I daily read the liberal NEW YORK TIMES, and went from one bad job to another in liberal social work (much of it in the liberal late 60s). I thought the problem was me, but noticed no one was getting anything done.
I dabbled in teaching and politics, more social work, and then land lording, which allowed me to write. I happened on books by Milton Friedman and others, which explained conservative ideas. Slowly the light came on. It had taken years. Why hadn't this been covered in college? Because most colleges are liberal.
Liberals who’ve anointed themselves Robin Hood and Santa Claus have led us astray. They are bright and more educated than the masses, but mistaken about fundamentals. Moderates and conserva­tives (not the far right) are more realistic and realize the importance of­ traditional values. ­ Yet they are always tarred for not ‘caring’ enough, while paying farmers not to grow and welfare mothers­ not to work. This book shows their wisdom by drawing on the ideas of: Ronald Reagan, Milton Friedman, Edward Banfield, Jack Kemp, William F. Buckley, and Thomas Sowell.

Definitions
- ‘Liberal’ is portrayed (by the predominantly liberal media) as ‘progressive, modern, open‑minded, compassionate, enlightened, egalitarian, tolerant, and generous.’
- ‘Conservative’ is portrayed as ‘backward, stingy, mean, rigid,
heartless, selfish, narrow, angry, and fearful.’

From my experience, the liberal view is: an ideal world is
possible, old is bad, new is good, anti-establishment, anti-
capitalism,­ security, socialism, redistribute the wealth to level the classes, and pro-union. The conservative view is the opposite.

LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE

Colleges
News media Business
Entertainment
Social work Talk radio
Psychology
ACLU
Spokesmen for the poor
& minorities
l8 % of the public.... ..... 40%
Under age 30 ...... ..... over
(thus) New values ......... ..... traditional values
Rights .... ..... responsibilities
Socialism ...... ..... capitalism
Europe ... ..... U.S.



When one person gains,
another loses .............. ...... nonsense.

Those with more are greedy
and oppress those with less .. ...... nonsense.



Those with less: Those with more:
---------------- -----------------
Tenants ..................... landlords
Labor ....................... management
Consumers ................... ‘big business’
Minorities .................. whites
Criminals, bums ............. ‘society’
The 3rd world ............... the U.S.
Under age 30 ................ over


(More on the liberal outlook in chapter 4, section 'a', 1st
essay - ‘Liberal Myths’, and in the appendix.)


Chapter I ‘Education’
I grew up in Southern Calif. in the idyllic 50s. Though one idealizes one's youth, these were good times - a wholesome era of traditional values portrayed by OZZIE AND HARRIET and by HAPPY DAYS. (Good, but they could have been better.)


How Useful Was School?

In school (K-12) I ran around with the 'establishment’ crowd
many of whom were student leaders. School was more theoretical than practical.

Reading We weren't assigned authors we would have loved like
Jack London and Ernie Pyle.

Writing Spelling, vocabulary, and some grammar lessons were
good, but we didn't write enough.

Math Besides the basics, what was necessary? Not algebra,
geometry, trigonometry, and they didn't improve our thinking as
was claimed.

Social studies (not social ‘science’) History was
interesting for some, but left out most of the countries. We
didn't have enough geography, current affairs, or social
problems.

P.E. Overdone.

Other We took science and language, but didn't use them. Art, music, and speaking were not academic and could have been after-
school ac­tivities.

We were told little or nothing about: resume writing, job hunting, managing money, tradi­tional values, human nature, corrup­tion, politi­cs, media bias, religi­ous scandals, the gay world, preju­dice, and the pros and cons of joining the military.
We were not told about maturity in relation to: adolescence, friendship, courting, sex, parent­ing, vice, crime, religion, cults, politics, youthful idealism, and liberal and conservative thinking.
When it came to college, the prepara­tion wasn't serious. We were too busy having fun and becoming ‘well-rounded.’ The last day of school we tore up our notebooks and threw the pages around the halls in celebra­tion.
At graduation we were inspired and praised. People congratulated us. Why? We hadn't really been chal­lenged. Much of our schooling was busywork while we grew up.
How much was useful? - probably half - the three r's, some social studies, typing, driver's ed, first aid, shop, home economics. Though not academic, the clubs, student paper, student govern­ment, and talent shows were useful and great fun.
After-school sports were a superb outlet for those involved, providing conditioning, chal­lenge, competi­tion, recogni­tion, team­work, dis­cipline (and getting yelled at). For others they provided school spirit, band, drill team, and pep rallies. Could these drives be harnessed for academic or vocational decathlons (and be practical, which is not true of the national spelling bee)?
If I could change school, I would group students according to achievement, not age, use more lay teachers, and provide vouchers to give families a choice of schools. Schools would have to compete for students and teachers.
I would prepare students for the real world by requiring achievement in:
1) Traditional values (basic to maturity. Students could clean the schools, as in Japan, to learn some of these.)
2) Mental health (courses and counseling - to promote maturity).
3) Physical health (diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol, drugs,
pregnan­cy, first aid, longevity, etc.). Students maintaining good health wouldn't need P.E.
4) Career counseling (to find one's primary interests).
5) Apprenticeships (so students would graduate with marketable skills).
6) Practical academics (geared to the real world).

Many things­ con­tribute to these six categories - hobbies, clubs, scouts, sports, student government, TV, reading, travel, living in dif­ferent regions, a second lan­guage, summer camp, volunteer and paid work - the list is endless. Students could be tested on and given credit for their achievements in these areas. Everyone would gain - the school by tapping the outside world, the parents for their efforts, and the students by getting a practical education and a head start. A big step toward this would be


School Vouchers

Education in the U.S. below the l2th grade is virtually public and the results are generally bad. Education above the l2th grade is public AND private and the best in the world. If we want better below the l2th grade, we can increase private education. Vouchers would do this. Parents would shop for schools instead of moving to different school districts. Private schools would spring up according to demand and remain according to performance. They would hire more para-professionals and aides. Public schools would have to compete by cutting top-heavy bureaucracies, tenured union employees, etc.
Parents of private school students would not have to pay twice - once in taxes for public schools and again in tuition for private schools. Many of them are not rich (and many are teachers in public schools).
Schools would specialize for the talented, the disabled, the athletic, vocational, English-deficient - whatever.
Critics say new private schools wouldn't be regulated, but those regulations haven't helped public schools. At any rate, new private schools would be held to the standards of the older private schools. Those that didn't produce would lose students.
The church state issue shouldn't amount to much as most students in Catholic schools are Protestants. If their parents aren't worried, it's not much of an issue.
The public schools establishment and their unions have monopolized education for years with disastrous results; it's time for competition.

When I finished high school in '57, everyone (including Elvis) had to join the military or get drafted. I went into the Coast Guard for six months and then to summer camps and meetings for years. What a waste of time. We really didn’t do anything because it was a government run monopoly. How much better it would have been if it had been privatized.

On to college (for a 'liberal arts' education from 'liberal' professors). (The essay below drew a letter of agreement from Martin Anderson, author of IMPOSTORS IN THE TEMPLE.)


How Useful Was College?

In a nation that venerates education, college is seen as the ultimate goal. But is it? I've looked at what it did for me and my peers. We were ‘es­tablish­ment’ types who were graduated from private and public colleges in '63. Here are the results – (keep in mind the dif­ference good profes­sors and books can make):


Astronomy - waste. Biology - terrible. Economics - could have
been good. Education courses - infamous. English - essential
when taught in a practical way. Geography - delightful. Government - could have been good. History - good, but left out non-western cultures. International relations - good. Language - useless for most. Literature - could have been good if we'd had authors like Jack London and Ernie Pyle. Logic - waste. Philosophy – waste. Psychology - should have been practical. Sociology – laughable. Speech - no impact.


We had nothing on:
- Maturity in relation to: friendship, courting, sex, vice, crime, religion, cults, idealism, politics, parenting, liberal­ism, and conser­vatism.
- Resume writing, job hunting, managing money, tradi­tional values, human nature, corrup­tion, politi­cs, military life, religi­ous scandals, gays, prejudice, social classes, the fallibilities of professionals, and how to read the media.

Did college make me and my peers:
- Better citizens? Slightly.
- More cultured? Slightly.
- Aware of various fields? Too theoretically.
- More employable? Somewhat.
- Ready for graduate school? If one needs four years.
- Ready for the real world? No.
- More mature? Not like the real world would have.
- Aware of our creativity? Not enough.
Was college worth the cost to our parents and taxpayers? No. Was it worth all those hours of studying? No.

After college, we kept few textbooks and never reviewed our notes. We were verbose. Some took jobs requiring no degree. Some had to learn to type. Some went for career counseling as they had been in the wrong field.
Presently many are smart, but not intellec­tual, and are more subjec­tive and prejudiced than we'd like to think. All are reluctant to consider that half of what we studied we never used, nor heard of it since graduating. Many of the girls went to college to find a husband and never used their degrees.
We were conditioned to be liberal and had to learn the hard way things some conservative facts we should have been exposed to in college.
My degree didn't help much in teaching and writing. In social work, poli­tics, and mental health, it was often a hindra­nce, as its ‘liberal’ bent was off the mark. I'm glad I didn't go for graduate work in those fields.
My real education was: living in slums and New York City, the domestic version of the Peace Corps, career counseling, running a home for mental patients, renting rooms in my house, being indepen­dent, the fallible media, and life itself. As it turned out, I had to unlearn much of what college and the media had taught me. Hence my interest in noted author Ray Brad­bury's saying he was ‘one of the few lucky enough not to go to col­lege.’ (Famed Russian author Solz­hen­itsyn said his ‘education’ was being a prisoner in the gulag in Siberia.)
College consists of missing information, useful informa­tion, useless information, and misinfor­mation. Those who didn't go or didn't finish didn't miss as much as we're led to believe.
The useful parts were:
- Vocabulary and concepts. - Learning to think, speak and write objectively and critically. - Exploding myths. - Independent study. - Writing papers on favorite subjects. - Exchange student programs (tops). - Student government, Model United Nations, etc.
College should retain these, but (as in the essay on K-l2) require achievement in: 1) Traditional values, 2) Mental health, 3) Physical health, 4) Career counseling, 5) Internships, and 6) Practical academic courses. Students could be tested and given credit for achievements in outside activities that fulfilled these categories.
If this approach were used, more families would get their young people into such activities. Everyone would gain - the school in granting practical degrees, the parents for their efforts, and the student in getting a head start.

Regarding the second recommendation above - mental health: schools should require students mature for obvious reasons, but also so the political students don't end up on


The Far Left and Far Right

People believe what they want to believe; and they want to believe certain things because of how their minds work. The far left and far right go to extremes because they are immature.
It seems the far left (hippy types in the late 60s) grew up spoiled, irrespon­sible, unconditionally loved, and learned to get by on charm and rhetoric. They came of age idealistic and unprepared. They found reality too harsh and rebelled radically.
These are the people who tear down the establishment, yet expect it to cure society's problems the way an adoles­cent criticizes his folks, yet expects them to solve every problem. They don't hold the poor­ responsible because they (the far left) never learned respon­sibility. They don't understand how basic it is. They put it aside and look for a world that is secure, loving, socialistic, egalitarian, posi­tive, psycholo­gically oriented, well‑educated, and rational. They don't find it and become cynical.
The far right (John Birchers) are the other extreme. They are immature in a different way - repressed. They didn't develop emotionally, nor establish their identities, nor become fully in touch with their feelings. They never resolved many issues, and are angry, fearful. They feel under siege and don't know why. Their security is the past. They make fetishes of guns, the bible, the flag, and the constitu­tion - beacons in a threatening world of change. They plod through life doing their ‘duty.’ Talking about sex is taboo, homosex­uality is an abomination, and issues are black and white ‑ sometimes the work of God, the devil, or communists. Security is the biggest military, biggest police force, and biggest gun in the closet. They over identify with their leaders and want them to do their thinking, fight their battles, be macho (and ride a white horse). They don't find these and remain frustrated, threaten­ed, and angry.

Far left Moderate Far right


I.Q. & education ..... more ....... average ......... less
Maturity
Identity ...... groping .......... settled ......... stunted
Love is ....... everything ....... part of life .. to be earned
Sensitive ....... overly ........... somewhat ........ lacking
Outlook ......... idealistic ....... realistic ...... reactionary Believe in .... theories ......... practicalities .. dogmas
Orientation ... future ........... present ......... past
Attitude toward:
Social classes .... anti ......... accepting ....... regimented Superiors ..... too chummy ...... some distance .... obedient Traditional values ... anti ...... valued ........ venerated Discipline ... permissive ...... firm ............ repressive Responsibility ... pass the buck ... valued ...... burdensome Sex .......... permissive ...... restrained ....... repressed
Change ........ worship .......... accept ........... fear
Future ........ revolution .... evolution ... turn clock back
Leaders ....... anti ............. work with ........ venerate
Religion ...... anti ............. neutral ........ hung up on
Soc. problems .... guilt ......... empathy ....... intolerance
Psychology ..... worship ......... use ............ fear
See mankind as ... perfectible ..... good & bad ....... bad
See the poor as .... victims ....... limited .......... foolish
See hardened criminals as
‘ill’ ...... childish (by choice) ..... evil
Priorities ...... social programs ....... defense
Priorities ...... ‘compassion’ ....... order
Approach ....... sloppy ............ flexible ......... rigid
Approach ....... carrot .......... carrot & stick ..... stick
Lifestyle ... non‑conformist .... straight ..... too conventional Appearance ... ‘ ‘ ....... appropriate ..... unimaginative Humor ........ scoffing .......... natural .......... lacking
Results ........ jaded ............. mature ........ frustrated
Seen as ........ bleeding heart .... mature .......... hardnosed

The far right is uptight and often mixes church and state.
The far left is irresponsible, idealistic, patronizing, and too generous. A close look at each would probably show many in these groups have not found fulfillment in their personal lives; they seek it in their beliefs, which become their ‘family.’ They seek beliefs that provides all the answers and pervade and control most aspects of life. They want a world that doesn't and can't exist.
Both can be arrogant, smug, self‑righteous, and fanati­cal. One has only to look at what happens when either has come to power in a foreign country ‑ a left or right wing dictatorship as a ‘temporary’ measure - a Fidel Castro of the left or an Ayatollah of the right.

Another reason schools should require students mature is so they graduate realistic about life, not idealistic.


Beware of Idealism

When we are children we are idealistic in planning to be astronauts, cowboys, movie stars (at the same time) - and we grow out of it. When we are teenagers we are idealistic in dreaming of the perfect romance, best school, best job, non-stop success, and changing the world. These dreams should be tempered with realism from our elders, but often they are not.
In college, students are told they can create a ‘new man,’ elimi­nate poverty, level the classes, educate everyone, eliminate prejudice, stop war, ‘save’ the 3rd world, etc. Many liberal students believe this, and go into jour­nalism, teach­ing, or social work.
Some churches contribute to this by preaching: a sublime brother­hood, only positives, good intentions are enough, a cult of per­sonality, etc.
The more immature the young adult, the more susceptible he is to going off the deep end. Some join communes, cults, sects, or ill-founded protest movements. Some join the Peace Corps with stars in their eyes, and finish having accomplished little or nothing. (I saw this when in the domestic version of the peace corps - VISTA).
Some go to Wash. D.C. to ‘clean up’ politics. But Washington needs ‘cleans’ only temporarily at a high level after a scandal to quell controversy. Once the scandal fades, they are discarded as Washingt­on is more comfort­able with leakers, games­men, and backstabbers.
Idealis­tic young people get into the wrong work or marry the wrong person. Idealis­tic brokers lose money. Idealistic military officers risk their men in battle. Idealistic parents spoil their kids. Idealis­tic preachers lead their flocks to disaster (Jim and Tammy Bakker, Jim Jones).
On a much larger scale the greatest danger, of course, lies in revolutions. Idealistic intellectuals fan the flames to burn everything down so they can come to power. They are hostile to com­promise. They lack maturity and patience, and become more authorita­rian than the regimes they replace. In the past some have created communism and fascism, abolished money, and persecuted people wearing glasses. They've purged, com­mitted genocide, and started wars. Ot­her idealists have gone off to fight them, thinking the war would be over in a few weeks.
During the Spanish Civil War, idealists joined the International Brigade to fight for democra­cy. Later they found their side was autocratic and backed by communists.
In China the idealistic young were unleashed as the Red Guards from l966-76, bringing one of the worst periods in their history.
Idealism is the pitfall of youthful inexperience. Older people must­ expose the young to reality at every step of their development.
I graduated highly idealistic with a degree in Political Science and little understanding of capitalism and socialism. I hadn't heard of Milton Friedman, or the liberal misconceptions in Appendix A, or that college campuses and the media are mostly liberal, nor anything against unions or the minimum wage.
I hadn't read anything sensible (then nor since) about how to discipline youngsters. I had driven a school bus in college, and learned how to discipline (Appendix A). This was to turn out to be very important, as later in social work, my supervisors believed in everything but discipline. I was to go through great anguish and testing on this. If I hadn't driven a school bus, I'd have ended up in the nut house.


Chapter II Oh, to save the world
After graduat­ing wet behind the ears and verbose, I moved to the slums of liberal New York City.

A Baptism by fire

Living in Slums
I wanted to learn about ‘the downtrodden victims of society who lived in abject poverty.’ I lived in Spanish Harlem and the lower eastside of New York in the late 60s (and later behind the capitol in Wash. D.C. in the 70s)
Rather than ‘the pitiful and oppressed poor held down by the establishment,’ I found something different. Cars were benches ‑ people sat on them, which ground the grit into the paint. Some stood or walked on them. Occasionally a car found itself up on milk boxes in the morning with the back tires off. The next day the front tires and engine parts disappeared, and later kids used it as a jungle gym. Some were set afire.
So much trash and litter filled the gutters, the streets were almost level with the sidewalk, although cleaned every two days.
You knew you were in the slums when coming up the subway stairs. When your eyes came up to the level of the street, they saw broken glass, litter, and sidewalks darkened by gum and fuel oil. I got so used to it, when I came up the stairs in a clean neighborhood, it was a pleasant shock.
When furniture caught fire or was unwanted, it was thrown on the sidewalk. People ‘air mailed’ trash out the windows. Many phone booths didn't work, were used as urinals, and were vandalized for change.
I couldn't get insurance on my apartment. When I had people over, they had to come by cab. Kids didn't yell when playing; they screeched. You never knew when it was an emergency. The laundromat had plexiglas windows and ‘iron putty’ covering the bolts holding the washers down.
Once I stopped a 7th‑grade boy from beating a terrified girl. He couldn't understand what I was doing.
The local SAFEWAY was the only supermarket in the neighborhood. It had plexiglass windows. Kids ran in and out flirt­ing, chasing, and stealing. People double parked, left their shopping carts in the middle of the aisle, and coughed on you in the slow-motion line.
A nearby social agency sent around flyers saying, ‘Let's stop SAFEWAY from abusing the neighborhood,’ ‘Let's get SAFEWAY to lower prices and improve service.’ These came through the mail slot on a regular basis. Then a long interval. Finally one came through: ‘Since SAFEWAY closed, let's car pool to the nearest market.’ Incredible. Instead of bugging SAFEWAY, the social agency should have been trying to keep it open.
This social agency held dances. The decibels could have taken the paint off the walls. They blasted out of the building like a locomotive, practically shaking the windows across the street. Inside no one could even shout. These were put on with no notice to neighbors and lasted until 2:00 a.m.
The slums had dogs on three legs, blaring stereos and TV's, babies crying and dogs barking for hours, rock‑throwing, windows used as doors, baleful, sullen stares, graffiti, and horn blowing right outside your window in the middle of the night from cab drivers scared to leave their cabs.
The pets were vicious or spooked; and when you told a kid to stop doing something, he took it as a challenge to be smart-aleck.
Many of the poor didn't like themselves nor each other. Life was cheap. People spat, cursed, threatened, fought, drank, and took drugs. There must have been a higher percentage of accidents.
The mailboxes in some buildings had been broken into so often, people waited out front for their welfare checks. The apathy and the danger affected teachers, police, and other city workers. Some must have done only the minimum amount of work, burned out, or transferred. Chain stores, banks, and supermarkets avoided the area because of: bad checks, shoplifting, phony accidents and claims, shopping cart losses, crime against employees, vandalism to buildings and cars, and time lost in handling food stamps. (I read Ralph's in Calif. lost money in nine out of ten of its inner city markets.) That is why prices are higher.
The slums didn't need the peace corps; they needed the marine corps. Everything was down 40 notches. But this isn't what we hear. Somehow the media and academia are compelled to excuse those who live in the slums and blame everyone outside:
1 Blame ‘society’ False. Most of the problems are the fault of the poor. Where are ambition and responsibility? In sending to school kids who haven't bathed in days? In the TV on all night instead of homework? In the empty library, the lack of interest in schools, markets, parks, or voting? How long do you have to live in a slum before losing ‘understanding and compassion’ for people who abuse you, their pets, kids, property, and each other? How long do you believe it is ‘racial, economic, or political’?
2 Blame the police Some cities put their worst cops in the slums, but this doesn't account for all the nonsense.
3 Money is the answer False. Millions have been spent on social programs and we still have slums. In fact, many programs have done more harm than good by causing depen­dence and resentment.
4 No dignity in poverty Only partly true. Slum living and slum schooling are undignified, but being poor isn't. I have known many who were poor in money and rich in everything else. (Many of our parents and grandparents were poor and didn't feel they had less dignity [or that the government owed them a living.])
5 The poor are ambitious Many people, poor or not, are not ambitious.
6 Mix the slums with better areas This is idealistic, unfair, and enrages middle class people of all colors, some of whom have worked hard to escape the slums.

What's the answer?
a Look at history
- Poverty has been helped more by capitalism than by government programs (socialism).
- The defini­tion of poverty has been expanded over the years. The American poor have consistently been told they are bad off, when they live like kings compared the way most Americans lived 80 years ago. Our elderly can tell us about this (and how the poor then had more hope and pride).
b Be realistic
Approach the subject without rhetoric or emotion. Find the literature that de­scribes slums honestly and doesn't excuse the poor who mismanage their affairs. Learn about them from mer­chants, in­surance com­panies, creditors, realtors, city employees, bus and cab drivers, and the working and sensible poor. Acknowledge that higher prices in the slums are the result of the added costs. Study how the good elements there raise good kids despite enormous odds. Study how poor im­migrants pass our poor.
c Avoid liberals Most of those in the media, academia, social work, and the ACLU are liberals. Most have never lived in a slum, nor been poor. They are the ‘excuse industry’. Even after the facts about many of the poor mismanaging their affairs are glaring clear, liberals are still turning over every rock looking for ‘oppres­sion, cultural deprivation, inequity, exploita­tion, violation of rights,’ etc. d Plain Language No jargon, rhetoric, psychobabble, or slum jive.
e Fair share of services and competent city workers. This is dif­ficult as better workers gravitate to better neighbor­hoods, and some cities ‘dump’ their worst workers into the slums.
f Fix responsibility for noise, rundown property, abandoned cars, illegal dumping, crime, etc.
g Law enforcement The small matters of noise, litter, parking, panhandling, vagrancy, etc. add up. They are symbolic, they affect morale, and cleaning them up causes interest in going after bigger problems.
h Traditional values Whether the law enforcer is from the slums or not, he has to understand the slums on one hand, but BELIEVE in society's values on the other. He doesn't think noise, threats, screeching, drunken­ness, crime are normal. Such enfor­cers need maturi­ty, con­fidence, and convic­tion as their work is all uphill and totally thankless in today's permissive society. Such people are usually clean cut. The disheveled ones are often ineffective. They often have more problems than the poor.
i Privatize
Housing
Turn housing projects over to tenants. In part of Wash. D.C. this raised rent collec­tions l05%, cut vacancy rates l3%, and cut ad­ministrative costs 60%, crime 5% and teenage pregnan­cy and welfare dependency 50%. In other cities the same arrangement cut vacancy l8%, robbery 77%, and crime 66%. Next comes tenant owner­ship.
Phase out rent control; it creates inequities and a housing shortage. Allow cheaper housing, urban homes­tead­ing, and the sublett­ing of rooms.
Work
Allow ‘right to work’ and ‘work at home.’ Allow kids under l4 to work part time. Study phasing out the minimum wage. This would create thousands of jobs for drop­outs, delinquents, criminals, derelicts, addicts, the homeless, and others - many of whom need to develop work habits. They should be able to offer their services at a competitive wage.
Education
Allow parents to teach their kids at home and to have a choice of schools. Schools would have to compete for students and teachers.
Misc.
Privatize fire depts., parks, transportation, mail, education, justice, and charity. These have been successful. Welfare reform: see chap II, c, 4th essay

All of these would let the poor who are motivated get ahead, and not be held back by those who aren't. People could live with more dignity and hope - as they did in the past.
(Some of the above came from the N.Y. Times, G. Gilder, E. Banfield, H. Hazlitt, Wash. Post, the L.A. Times.)

Domestic version of the peace corps
After the slums and floundering in social work for two years, I got a telegram urging me to quickly volunteer for VISTA (the domestic version of the peace corps). It said my background would be good for working with migrant farm laborers. (It wasn't, but they were looking for people.) This was the start of the War on Poverty in l965.
We volunteers were flown to Oregon for ‘intensive’ training ‑ three weeks of classes (no tests), and three weeks of living in migrant camps (best part). There, some of us picked crops, played with and taught migrant kids a few things, dug dry wells, helped a tuberculin family, looked for Job Corps prospects, looked into migrant wages and living conditions, improved privies with lumber we solicited, and worked on a con­taminated water problem. Some volunteers got into a labor dispute and were kicked out.
Living with the poor and receiving volunteer wages were basic to VISTA. We were paid $l80/mo., which seemed more than what some poor families lived on.
We were asked by outsiders what we were doing and found it hard to answer. We asked our trainers what we were supposed to do when we got to our assignments and were told, ‘You'll find out when you get there.’ When we got ‘there’ and asked, our sponsors said, ‘We don't know; what were you trained to do?’ (while telling the papers we were receiving ‘in-service, on-going orientation.’ As it turned out, only a few volunteers were assigned to migrant farm labor.)
I was assigned to Pecos, a half hour outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. It had l200 people (and lots of gossip). Outside town there were bald peaks of l3,000 feet and alpine valleys, quiet but for the ring of a cowbell. Six miles away was a town of l3 families without electricity, and below was the Pecos River, from which farmers channeled water with 300 year old ‘ditches,’ governed by ‘ditch associations.’ On the horizon were silent storms of seemingly constant lightning.
The reddish, clay soil when dry was like cement and when wet, was sticky enough to pull your shoes off. During the rains it washed into the river, turning the falls a reddish color.
Some of the adobe homes had this coloring, which gave them a glow at sunset. When I first arrived, I drove past these enchanted. It seemed like a Shangri‑la. No travel log had shown such a place (nor captured the deep gazes of the Spanish beauties - a good beginning.)
The people were said to be descendants of the conquistadors; and the towns were suppose to be some of the oldest in the U.S. The people and ballot were bilingual.
When thinking about tearing down a house, they would say ‘We have to `throw' that house.’ When going to someone's house they'd pull up and honk for the person to come out ‑ even in freezing weather. When invited for lunch, I was told they'd start ‘feeding’ at 2:00. They thought nothing of eating a bowl of red chili - straight.
There were wedding celebra­tions that went on forever. At one, the bride and groom sat ex­hausted with dark circles under their eyes, while the revelers danced and drank and drank and danced.
On weekends there were dances with drinking and fighting. (The drinks cost; the fights were free.)
About half the homes used natural gas, the rest wood. I bought several cords (4 by 4 by l0 ft.) of piñon wood to warm the two room adobe I rented. I had to chainsaw it into l ft. lengths and chop those up. Dry wood for starting a stove or heater and green wood for overnight heating, during which the sap hissed gently. Cedar wood was ­for baking. The stoves and heaters had vents that could whip the flames into a roar or keep the coals glowing. Some were highly efficient, burning most of the ashes. Water jackets heated water and provided humidity.
Some people insisted food cooked on a wood stove tasted better. I tried it once, and ate out of the refrigerator the rest of the year. Too much trouble. I used an outhouse, drew water from a well, and showered at school.
My job was ‘community development,’ which was made to seem exotic, but was simply working on any feasible project to promote self‑help.
I moved into the less developed part of town and went around to merchants and whomever asking what the problems were (‘felt-needs’ in anti‑ poverty talk), saying the War on Poverty might have funds to help. I was directed to the leaders and their reaction was good. Then I went to public agencies to look for assistance.
Soon it was time to have a meeting. I made the preparations and, as the hour neared, there were a spectacular sunset, a rain, and a wedding. I didn't expect many, but 25 came, an organization was formed and officers elected. The next meeting only four showed up, and the chairman turned to me and said, ‘What was the purpose of this meeting?’ (Oh no.)
The meetings continued and an acceptable issue came up ‑ roads. We got ‘the county’ to help haul gravel donated by Greer Garson's ranch. She contributed $200 and $500 was collected locally. Soon the county trucks and grader came out, and local trucks were enlisted. A compressor was borrowed from the Fish and Game Dept. for drilling boulders to be blasted.
When people saw the work start, they cooperated with money or work. It lasted three weeks and brought great improvement. A water truck was rigged to settle the gravel, and later culverts and lumber for a bridge were obtained. People came from other towns to the meetings; and later a meeting with the governor was arranged where pavement was promised. Such luck after only two months made me heady; but as it turned out, very little happened the rest of the year.
In working on these projects, I visited the homes, and noticed in talking to the man and his wife; I was soon talking to the man. Also that only two women shyly showed up at one meeting and looked like they wanted to crawl out under the rug. On the outside, at least, it was a man's world. I got some female VISTA volunteers to organize the women and they began to meet. Whereas the men's meetings were formal with minutes and procedure, the women's meetings were informal, crazy, and fun.
They had a tamale sale that quickly raised over $l00, but didn't know what to do with it. I said the men's organization might use it on the road and asked one of the men. Long pause, then he said, ‘Well . . . the women can give it to us . . . but we don't want any damn female telling us what to do.’ (Hilarious, but I bit my tongue.)
‘Community development,’ as it turned out, was anything but ‘technical.’ It meant: ‑ making no promises, ‑ ‘planting’ ideas so other people would think they thought of them, ‑ a few people did most of the work, ‑ the ones that criticized the most, did the least, ‑ many wanted something for nothing, ‑ you could lead a horse to water, but you couldn't make him drink,
‑ sometimes the boat had to be rocked diplomatically, but firmly, ‑ 20% of those who said they would come to meetings showed up, half late, and occasionally one boozed, ‑ everything had to be kept strictly practi­cal as people got sick of meetings, - anti-poverty workers could be dream­ers, and ‑ exposure to the ‘outside world’ and an education enabled an outsider like myself to help with the reading, writing, math., thinking and coor­dinating with public agencies, (but could lead to taking oneself too seriously).
People believed everything was political (somewhat truer here), and the poor man had no chance. There was a lot of envy and jealousy. Some believed anyone who got ahead had to be cheating. He was resented and envied. Other obstacles were the spoils system and nepotism. Those and the ‘compadre’ system of each child having a godparent, caused problems with law enforcement. Also the district attorney was said to be lenient in order to gain votes.
On the other hand, the people had superior human values. They would raise their relatives' and other people's children. They were gregarious, human, genuine, warm, good natured, polite, and hospitable. When there were lulls in the conversation, they didn't feel they had to fill in; they enjoyed the quiet.
This was the War on Poverty to help the ‘poor,’ but ‘low income’ was a better term as these people were poor in money and rich in everything else ‑ family life, friendships, enviable mental health, and a healthy, robust, close to nature, lifestyle. This was especially true of one prison guard, his wife, and ll kids - a wonderful bunch ‑ like out of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Income aside, the rich would have traded places in a second.
Anti‑poverty work was frustrating and disillusioning. I worked hard and was lucky; however, I had thought I'd get more done. I wasn't surpri­sed to hear some volunteers accomplished nothing in their year.
We volunteers got a lot out of our experience - far more than we contributed. We didn't bring big changes, and sensible volunteers weren't ‘radicalized’ (as claimed by one article).
A few years later at a party in New York I ran into one of the ‘field support’ people who had visited me in Pecos. She was sitting on the floor. I tried to talk to her realistically about poverty work. She didn't want to hear it, made up excuses, and looked out the window with glazed-over eyes.
Later in the mid 80s I saw Sargent Shriver on TV explaining the War on Poverty and the Peace Corps (both of which he headed). I found his reasoning full of holes. These two were chasing dreams that could never be.
Later in the 90s President Clinton started Americorps - a version of the same. Did his staff contact former volunteers like me or respond to copies of this article? No. Would they have taken a balanced approach to these views? No. It goes on. Dreamers go into this work. Some learn; some don't.
(Note: One should also be skeptical of the claims of the Peace Corps that serves in foreign countries. Volunteers abroad have the additional obstacles of a foreign language and a different culture.)

B Reflections
I had accomplished some things in VISTA, so when I returned
to NY, I thought my career would take off. Not so. Here is
an article I wished I'd been shown before having such hopes.


Social Work In The Past

In the l9th century social workers saw some of the poor as
improvident and irresponsible. If a man came to a social agency
hungry, he had to chop wood to get a meal. If a woman came, she
had to sew. This sorted out those who wouldn't work, and made
others feel they had done something to earn their meal.
If a person needed further aid, his background was checked
and he was categorized as:
a Unwilling to work.
b Willing to work.
c Unable to work, through no fault of his own, and worthy of relief.

When giving short term relief, the charity gave: ‑ in small
quantities, ‑ the minimum, ‑ what was least susceptible to
abuse, ‑ less than what the person could get by working, and ‑
for the shortest period of time.
When the relief was long term, the charity would:
‑ Restore the ties between the person and his family and friends. - Get their assistance.
‑ Assign a volunteer to the person.
‑ Require the person to work. This helped those who were motivated. Nothing was more demoralizing than loafers or the criminal poor who got by or ahead without working.
‑ Meet the person only l/2 way. Handouts were seen to be as dangerous as drugs; dependency was ‘slavery with a smiling mask.’ Welfare was the worst as it came to be regarded as a right.
In those days, knowing when not to give assistance was seen
as important as when to give it. (This also helped fund-raising
efforts, as donors knew their money was used efficiently.)
These practices continued until the l890s when the ‘Social
Gospel’ emerged, claiming:
‑ None of the poor were improvident, intemperate, lazy, or irresponsible.
‑ Charity must be universal and unconditional.
‑ Requiring a person to work for a meal was cruel.
‑ A person would not change if challenged, but would change when put in a pleasant material environment where his benevolent nature could come out. Thus government was to provide agreeable housing.
‑ Compassion equaled money.
‑ Raising money through taxes forced compassion from the public.
‑ Professional social workers were best; volunteers got in the way.
‑ Private charities were bad as they made it easy for government to evade responsibility.
The l960s accelerated this trend. Welfare was given on the
basis of entitlement, not need, with the result that the poor are
worse off, with less hope, less pride, less reason to work, and
greater resentment over being dependent. Welfare has broken up
families, set fatherless boys on the streets, and polarized those
who work against those who don't. Bad charity (welfare) has
driven out good. The list goes on. We'd do well to study the
past.
I went through many jobs: welfare, child abuse, narcotics,
community centers, a detention center, a mental hospital . . .
each worst than the last. I blamed myself, but noticed no one
was getting anything done.
Government money for President Johnson's Great Society
program was pouring in and everyone was climbing on the band
wagon. (The disastrous results in New York are brilliantly
described in THE COST OF GOOD INTENTIONS by Charles Morris.)
Many of the social workers used everything but common sense:


How Not To Study A Gang Banger

To learn about gangs, a woman drove around a hardened l7 year old gang member named Faro, who had 60-year old ‘graveyard eyes.’ (She didn't think to set conditions about weapons or risks.)
During the ride they pulled up next to two other youths, and Faro said, ‘I'm gonna look crazy at 'em. You watch what they do.’ He did. The other driver glanced over, his eyes widened for an instant with fear. Then he looked away. Faro giggled. When the signal changed, the other driver sped off and turned the corner.
The author asked to see the look Faro gave and saw a nightmare face. She asked him what would have happened if the other driver answered the challenge. Faro said they would have gotten into it and he would have killed him. He had a gun in his shoe. A gun?!!!! She was shocked and didn't know why. (Does someone have to tell her?) She felt betrayed and was angry. He said if you come into this neigh­bor­hood, you can't get angry if it gets too real for you. (Nonsense, but she agreed.) He went on about how young people gangbang as they have nothing to live for. (Nonsense.) Gangbanging is a chance to get even with those who hurt your family. (Stretching it.) That, if the people you love most are dead, you might as well be dead. (Not really.) That after seeing so much death, you want to die so you don't have to see more. (Not necessarily.) She didn't challenge any of this. (Why not?) She accepted his reasoning, criminal behavior, and immaturity.
This is typical of many people who study crime or go into social work. In their rush to show compassion and understanding, they don't use common sense. Another example:


Liberal Psychobabble

One story on T.V. told of a housing project in Chicago.
The poor there received many benefits from the government. They wanted the best for their children, but one third of the girls got pregnant by l5. They vowed not to have another child, but did. Many didn't consider abortion because of an ‘appreciation for life.’ One had seven kids and left them with her mother to ‘self‑medicate’ on drugs. (‘medicate’?) She wouldn't change because ‘chemically dependent people aren't ready for help.’ (When would she be ‘ready’?)
Many of the students didn't have ‘classroom skills.’
‘It never occurs to these people to look in the paper for work because the habits of work aren't available to them.’ (strange logic)
They didn't look for work because of ‘psychological barriers’ ‑ like racism. (Racism didn't stop others.)
A bunch of young people looked for work. ‘One found a job; for the others, there were no jobs.’ (an assumption)
Many people reached their mid‑20's having never held a job. (Many immigrants reach their mid‑20's having never had a vacation.)
The people didn't have the ‘resources’ to visit other parts of the city. (No shoe leather, bicycles, bus fare?)
The young people had ‘nothing to do.’ (There are jobs if others can find them, and in this case, there was a nearby vocational school with a 75% place­ment rate. Despite recruitment drives, it had many openings.)
The housing projects appeared ‘hopeless.’ (No mention of how tenant management of projects in other cities has performed miracles.)
The people had no ‘daily management skills’ or ‘support systems.’ (What could these mean, but by now who cared? This babble was just excuses.)
Too many professionals use jargon, rhetoric, theories, and twisted logic to excuse the poor from responsibility. Until they use plain language and common sense, the condition of the poor will continue to appear hopeless.
After many articles, jobs, and programs like the above, I came up with a list of


Social Work Myths

The public would be shocked to learn how little is being done in social work. They'll probably never know, however, as results are hard to measure and because social workers don't believe in measuring.
One yardstick, though, is the failure of the War on Poverty of the 60s. We spent millions fighting poverty and poverty won. Social work fails because it postpones traditional values indefinitely. This is how:

Emotion
The poor are portrayed as downtrodden ‘victims’ of bad teache­rs, landlords, employers, merchants, police, clinics, whatever. They have ‘fallen through the cracks’, are ‘trapped’, ‘down on their luck’, etc.
(Whether they've drunk and gambled their money away, committed felonies, or never worked isn't brought up. Facts don't count, emotion does.)
Psychology
Each social problem has some deep ‘psychological’ origin..... (This is taken to great lengths which relieves the poor of responsibility.)
Relationships
Only through a very close relationship with the social worker can the poor be motivated to improve. .............. (This creates patronizing, unreal relationships which often backfire.)
Values are relative
This becomes ‘Who are you to impose your middle class values on people in the ghetto?’ ......... (Sounds reasonable, but middle class values are traditional values; they apply to everyone.)
‘Society’ is wrong
It is seen as hypocritical, oppressive, exploitive, and racist. ...... (This outlook, tolerated in college, is impractical in the real world.)
The poor are victims (if misguided).
They must be helped to come up with values without being prejudiced. ………………… (This extremely indulgent, blank slate, approach postpones tradi­tional values and doesn't hold the poor accountable for their behavior.)
No negatives
....... (Nonsense ‑ if there are posi­tives, there are negatives; if there is reward, there is punish­ment, joy/pain, pride/shame, love/hate, success/failure.)
No Authority nor discipline, and certainly no punishment. It's all carrot and no stick ... (This creates chaos.)
No ‘humiliation’ Even minor teasing is considered ‘humiliation.’
Lure the poor
Programs have to be so appealing the poor will want to join, where society's values might eventually rub off. This is far too indulgent.
‘Equality’
Everyone has to be included and everyone has to progress together. ..... (Naive. It allows the bad apple to ruin the bunch.)
An example of these myths is a picnic for poor youths from the inner city. Most of them don't have the interest nor skills for preparing the food and making the arrangements for the picnic, and they are not asked to. Some show up, some don't. Some expect everyth­ing to be done for them. Some com­plain. Some of the table manners are awful. If there is a baseball game, there is often profani­ty, cheat­ing, screaming, and bullying to win. There can be property damage, injury, verbal abuse, a fight, a great amount of annoyance for others nearby which can increase ethnic or class prejudice, the chance of getting kicked out of the park, and embarrassment for the staff (if they will to admit it). The next day, however, the staff laughs off everything and talks about all the ‘fun’, ‘growth’, ‘relationships’, and ‘colorful’ stories.

In my many jobs, social workers spoke psycho­babble and spent months developing ‘relationships’ with the youths in hopes some values would rub off. There was a lack of basic literature, and what there was, was unreadable or worthless. The poor were portrayed as miserable, when many were happy (some happier than their social workers). Programs lacked definition and management, and the poor stagnated. The window dressing kept changing, but the work stayed the same (babysitting), and social workers became disillusioned.
There were only a few good programs. They swam upstream against the nonsense above, doing thankless work, and producing results, but were constantly criticized by bleeding hearts in academia, the media, and the ACLU.

The views of one of our best known economists, [of the 50s?] Henry Hazlitt, support my experience. He complained that social workers: ‑ never defined ‘poverty.’ ‑ pitied the pauper, but not the worker nor the taxpayer. - talked as if anti‑poverty is a recent effort. ‑ never faced the dis­astrous results of social progra­ms. ‑ wanted no loss of dignity for a person when he got on welfare, but a gain when he got off. ‑ coddled the poor despite their agency's policies to the contrary. ‑ worked to make everyone equal by leveling down, never summoning up.
‑ preened themselves on compas­sion. ‑ systematically ignored the reasons for poverty. ‑ insisted on seeing the poor as ‘exploited victims of maldistribu­tions of wealth and heartless laissez faire.’ ‑ didn't learn from the past. ‑ didn't distinguish between poverty caused by misfortune and poverty caused by folly.
If social work wants to take its place, it should:
- Drop emotion, guilt, and love and be realistic.
- Use plain language and short, sensible titles.
- Rate the programs and literature.
- Find out how poor immigrants with limited English pass our poor who are fluent in English.
- Find out why non-professionals are effective.
- Instill traditional values.
- Gear its programs to the real world by starting with getting the poor jobs and then considering education, job training, counseling, etc.
In those days in New York City, if you worked for more than a year in the Welfare Dept., you were considered a martyr. After a year and a half, I left, concluding:


To Reform Welfare

- Turn it over to competing private agencies that are rewarded for getting people off welfare (like America Works).
- Require fathers be identified, pay child support, and help raise their children.
- Require the person work (in the private economy) at least part time for the welfare she receives (to ‘earn’ part of it. (Broken furniture, lost checks and winter coats and would mean more work.) Those with youngsters could work at places that provide child care.
- Require youngsters maintain certain levels in school or do volunteer or paid work.
- Allow parents and children, after fulfilling their obligations above, to get side jobs and save money up to a point of self-sufficiency. Then cut them off. Knowing when to stop assistance is as important as knowing when to start it.
These steps would cut down on resentment, abuse, fraud, additional births, stigma, and moving to another state to get higher benefits. Taxpayers would get a ‘return’ on their money, and welfare recipient's would gain pride, responsibility, and some independence.
I got tired of social work and took a job teaching English to foreigners. I got more done in the first three weeks than I had in five years of social work. If a student was troublesome, I put him out of class for a day. I'd have NEVER done that in social work.
Later I had the fortune of stumbling upon career counseling. A godsend. (Why didn't we have it in school? Why don't counselors in many fields mention it?)
It brought out my interests in politics. I didn't want to have ANYthing to do with New York City politics (too liberal, too crazy) and moved to Wash. D.C. With all the social work on my resume, interviewers said it looked like I should work for a flaming liberal. [One interviewer even suggested I take off being born in Berkeley.]
After doing volunteer work and working on ‘the hill’ for some congressmen during Watergate, I had gotten politics out of my system, and moved my vagabond self home. (Looking back I wished I'd applied for work at one of the think tanks.)
Back home in Calif. I managed a shelter for


The Homeless
They are portrayed as the ‘nation's failure’, the ‘disenfranchised,’ who were ‘abandoned’ by the economy, ‘never had a chance,’ and have ‘fallen out of the mainstream.’ They are ‘victims’ who are owed food, lodging, clothing, and services.
Some are shown on a food line with bizarre mountains of hair and dirty, matted beards. No one would hire them that way; yet they're never asked to get a haircut and shave in return for meals and lodging.
We are rarely given the views of those who deal directly with them ‑ bus depots, blood banks, merchants, neighbors, thrift stores, parks, libraries, burned-out relatives, and burned-out public servants. We rarely hear, ‘90% of them don't want help’ (from one shelter worker), or ‘one‑third are crazy, one‑third lazy, and one‑third drunk’ (from one who used to be homeless).
We're told nothing can be done about skid row. We were told the same about prostitution in Los Angeles before it was cleaned up. Free food is supposed to be temporary, yet one patron of a mission didn't miss a meal in 30 years. Shelters in New York were for temporary housing, yet the average stay was ll months. One skid row drifter won a huge jackpot, blew it, and returned to skid row. Another thought he would ‘go on welfare, when it began to rain.’
The subject needs cold‑blooded realists to cut through the rhetoric, emotion, and finger-pointing, to contact the neglected sources above, and to come up with recommendations like:
- Study what has worked in various cities and countries.
- Clarify rights: the homeless have a right to provide their own shelters [in some areas under certain conditions] when the city doesn't. The public has a right not to be panhandled and not to have derelicts sleeping about. - Find out why there were homeless during a labor shortage and why few im­migrants become homeless. - Find out why one homeless man said it's easier to be homeless than to work for low wages. - Consider returning to the past customs of dealing firmly with vag­rants, mental patient­s, runa­ways, alcoholics, and addicts. - Promote private solutions, realizing the government has done a poor job of running shelters and welfare hotels. - Encourage non-professionals to run shelters, by making it profitable. Let them use campgrounds, farm labor camps, abandoned buildings, parts of military bases, and fallout shelters. - Let businesses hire the homeless for sub-minimum wage plus room and board. - Require each community provide shelter, only for their share of the homeless. Require they be run strict­ly and fairly. - Study the shelters that are run by the homeless. - Study the ‘poorhouse’ in Sacramento, CA. in the 80s. ‑ Let the homeless homestead abandoned build­ings and vacant land. - Allow tents and shanties next to city dumps, where the homeless can use cast off material. ‑ Wave liability for impure food from restaurants, markets, and other outlets. This would give access to eatable, but unsalable food. - Permit powdered milk and donated or homemade food in shelters.
- Require work, haircuts, and development of resumes in exchange for food, clothing, shelter, etc.

A stricter approach in general with the homeless would:
‑ Show that some people prefer to live near destitution, ‑ Make the homeless accountable for their hygiene, grooming, clothing, manners and participa­tion in self‑help groups and volunteer work, - Make shelters safer and less infectious. - Bring responsibility, which would separate the motivated from the free‑loaders.
We shouldn't be misled by idealists and guilt‑mongers. They give the homeless reasons for self‑pity, and never look for nor credit the few good shelters. They blame society, yet tie it's hands.
If immigrants with little English can get ahead, the homeless can, when the responsibility is imaginatively and firmly put on them.
I gained further insight into the poor by discovering THE CONQUEST OF POVERTY by Henry Hazlitt at a book sale. (Where were books like this in college?)


Hazlitt On Poverty

After fruitless years in social work, it was with relief I read Henry Hazlitt's THE CONQUEST OF POVERTY. Published in '73, his insights are as pertinent as ever. They explode the following myths:
‑ The amount of wealth is limited. (False, there is a much as people want to create.
‑ The poor are trapped. (False).
‑ The rich get richer, the poor, poorer. (False, both progress proportionately.)
‑ The rich cause poverty. (False).
‑ The owners of a business get most of its income. (False, most goes for workers' wages.)
‑ Capitalism helps the rich the most. (False, it helps the masses the most.)
‑ Social programs * help the poor. (False, they hurt the poor and society.)

Hazlitt says to gain perspective we should be aware that:
‑ There had always been mass poverty until the mid‑l8th century, when it was eliminated in the advanced countries by capitalism.
‑ Individual poverty cannot be elimina­ted as some people prefer to live near destitution.
‑ Government handouts easily get out of control. This happened in ancient Rome; and it happened in l9th century England to such a degree, laws were passed to keep benefits beneath the lowest wage so the poor would every reason to look for work.

Hazlitt says in order in order for social programs (and I add foreign aid) to be effective:
‑ They have to be keyed to promoting work, saving, and skills, which is best done through capitalism.
‑ Capitalism depends on the enterprise of the few and the labor of many.
‑ The large salaries of the few are irrelevant when considering the many jobs and valuable products they create.
‑ Trying to redistribute the wealth of those few is pointless and suicidal.

He says we have been led astray by social workers who:
‑ Talk as if anti‑poverty is a recent effort. ‑ Never define poverty. ‑ Pity the pauper, but not the worker nor the taxpayer. ‑ Insist on seeing the poor as ‘exploited victims of maldistributions of wealth and heartless laissez faire,’
‑ Haven't faced the dis­astrous results of social programs.
‑ Want no loss of dignity for a person when he gets on welfare, but a gain when he gets off. ‑ Coddle the poor despite their agency's policies to the contrary. ‑ Work to make everyone equal by leveling down, never summoning up. ‑ Preen themselves on compas­sion. ‑ Systematically ignore the reasons for poverty.
‑ Don't learn from the past. ‑ Don't distin­guish between poverty caused by misfortune and that caused by folly.

After many jobs in social work, I couldn't agree more. Why haven't we heard more of such views? Let's take a break from liberal guilt and change the air with these ideas. #

* Guaranteed income, negative income tax, minimum wage, laws increasing union power, government spending, graduated income taxes, opposition to automation, ‘spread‑the‑work’ schemes, and punitive taxes on capital gains, inheritance, and corporations.

Another approach to poverty is one I’d never heard of – that of finding


Why Immigrants Pass The Poor

With the help of the spokesmen for the poor, we have come to believe our poor are ‘trapped’ in poverty. Yet we know that poor immigrants can get ahead. Our poor are fluent in English and are ‘left behind,’ yet poor immigrants with limited English get ahead. How did we develop these double standards? To find out, let's compare both groups:
Many immigrants come from countries where they've seen: squalor, illiteracy, disease, civil unrest, war, hundreds of homeless kids on the streets, low status for women, and corruption we could never imagine. Some have had relatives taken away. Some have left or escaped through great hardship, been preyed on by smugglers and pirates, and lived in miserable refugee camps.
The American poor, on the other hand, have never had such hardships; but are pictured as ‘victims of a post‑industrial, technical society,’ where they have ‘fallen through the cracks,’ and are ‘left behind,’ ‘caught in a cycle of poverty’.
Some immigrants here live in slums, garages, and converted chicken coops. When Americans live like that, it's ‘dehumanizing, substan­dard, and stigmatizing’.
Many immigrants come from countries where there is no minimum wage, welfare, medicare, poverty ‘line,’ etc. They had to work. Here they pick crops, wash dishes, work on assembly lines, collect newspapers from trash, get parts from junk yards, shop at thrift shops, save pennies, never eat out, etc.
Many American poor thumb their noses as such practices. They are told menial work is undignified and welfare reinforces this by making it impracti­cal. Their work habits deteriorate, and they fall out of the mainstream.
Many immigrants avoid gambling, alcohol, drugs, and crime and il­legitimacy. When the American poor get into these, it's blamed on ‘pover­ty, discrimination, peer pressure, boredom, lack of alternatives, stress,’ etc.
Immigrants pool their money and start small businesses in ghettos where it was thought impossible. Some work l6 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some of the American poor criticize them, their prices, their not hiring locals, and say these immigrant shopkeepers should give something back. Give back? ‑ they provide a service no one else will!
Some American poor harass immigrants, boycott their stores, beat them up, and worse. They're a scapegoat.
Many immigrant youth are taught respect, obedience, manners, chores, and hard work. They have to honor their folks and retain their culture ‑ often going to language schools on weekends. Since their parents sacrificed to come here and hack out a living, they are obligated to get an educa­tion they could never have dreamed of in their country.
Some are not allowed to date till their late teens or out of college. Some stand when the teacher enters the room. Some carry a text under one arm and a bilingual dictionary under the other. They crowd the libraries. Some have gone from arriving without English to graduating from high school five years later with top honors. (In their youthful idealism, they only hope to pay back their new country.)
Many American poor fight the schools. They have been told schools should lure them into education, which is supposed to mean social success, mental health, career, and maturity. When they don't study, drop out, get pregnant, commit crimes, and can't get a job, it was the fault of the school, ‘society,’ immigrants, or the economy.
Some cry ‘discrimination,’ yet the Jews and Japanese advanced most when discriminated against the most. Some cry ‘color,’ yet the Blacks here that came from the Caribbean are far ahead of American blacks.
Immigrants have different meanings for ‘poverty, family, work, saving, and education’. Little wonder they despair about what the American view of poverty is doing to some of their people.
American poor Immigrant poor
Live like kings compared to 3rd world ... have seen absolute squalor.
‘Street’ values ...................... traditional values.
Getting ahead means luck ............. means hard work.
Weak families ........................ strong.
Become homeless ...................... don't.
Won't take any job ................... will.
Panhandle ............................ don't.
Often poor work habits ............... superb ones.
Can't save money ............. do & send it abroad to relatives.
Retain poor English ............. try to improve their English.
Some harass teachers ................. most respect teachers.
Drop out ............................. study hard.
Reach mid‑20's without working ...... without a vacation.
Rarely start a small business ........ often start one.
‘Decent, living’ wages & benefits .... any wage.
Look to government ................... to selves.
Self‑pity, resentment, protest ....... gratitude.
Are ‘alienated’ ...................... are the real aliens.
Bored ................................ never enough time.
Disprove the Am. dream ............... prove it.


Poverty spokesmen Immigrant poor
Crowded living is subhuman ........... is nothing
More subsidies ....................... fewer.
Welfare is a right ................... a cancer.
The poor are ‘oppressed’ ............. have seen no freedom of speech, press, protest, business, etc.
Yell about rights ..................... much quieter.
Am. is discrimination, exploitation ... opportunity.
Schools ‘fail’ the poor ............... schools are a blessing.
Crime, drugs, alcohol, illegitimacy,
etc. are due to poverty ............ no excuse for these.


Advice to the Poor

Be aware that many social workers:
- Have never been poor nor lived in a slum.
- Think the government owes everyone a living.
- Put down unskilled work (flipping hamburgers, etc.)
- Feel sorry for bums and criminals and ignore decent, working people.
- Are sure poor Ameri­cans cannot get ahead, yet are sure poor immigrants will get ahead.
- Try to push the poor into college when they generally don't have the interest and often drop or flunk out.
- Promise to rebuild riot torn areas, but don't.
- Get too soapy and buddy-buddy.
- Have no business sense - no address on the building, no sense of time, bottom line, efficiency, management etc.
- Don't look for the dif­ference between poverty caused by bad luck and poverty caused by foolish­ness.
- Think they are Robin Hood, talk psycho-babble and talk forever. - Know more, but you often know better.
- Are ‘bohemians’ with more problems than those they are trying to help.
Look for a good social worker - one that is sensible, clean cut, uses plain language, is like an agent (not a buddy), has something practical to offer, meets you only l/2 way, understands your situation, but doesn't encourage you to feel sorry for yourself.

Beware of the poor who are ‘lowlife’.
They don’t plan ahead. They live for the moment, work only when they have to, are often violent, and neglect and abuse their kids. They have a short adolescence, little interest in school or public service, and little privacy. They are afraid of failure and rejec­tion, and they prefer to live in the slums. They could get ahead, but choose to remain spoiled, immature, and irrespon­sible.

Avoid vice: alcohol, drugs, prostitution, and gambling
The middle class has money to waste on these; the poor do not. The poor gamble more often and a bigger share of their paychecks than others. Many of them believe getting ahead is luck, and gambling reinforces this. Getting ahead comes from traditional values.

Misc
- Avoid living places (like New York City), where the poor are encouraged to feel sorry for themselves and to look to government. You're better off where people believe in self-reliance.
- Consider the benefits of being around your relatives, your ethnic group, and a good climate.
- Avoid welfare. The longer you're on, the harder it is to get off.
- Watch how poor im­migrants get ahead.
- If you have to put a relative in a social program, look for the strictest as most are too lenient.
- Learn about self-help groups. If you can't find one, perhaps you can start one.
- Give yourself credit for raising good kids in bad neighborhoods.
- Use humor
- ‘If it wasn't for my bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck.’
- ‘I got so low, I had to reach up to touch bottom.’
- ‘If poverty builds character, I must be a saint.’

Your rights
- To live in quiet, safe, clean neighborhoods.
- To have a choice of decent schools.
- To have less.
- To not be mislead or patronized by dreamers who think everyone should go to college and achieve a lot.
- To not be flattered or patronized by people looking for votes or trying to be Robin Hood.

D Independence
Next I worked in a couple of what California calls 'board and care homes’ for adults. These sound like they are supposed to be halfway houses, but they just 'warehouse' people. After a while I decided to run my own as I craved independence. I could have run an aged or retarded home, but the mental health field interested me as psychology is the backbone of social work. I started one for mental patients and soon clashed with liberal mental health workers.


How to Kill a Care Home
I started a home for men in their 20s and 30s with mental illness (not retarded). I rented a home, furnished it, and called county agencies to get it licensed. In the rush away from anything ‘institutional,’ social workers stressed making everything ‘homelike.’ Dishes had to match; dining room chairs had to match, etc. No mention was made of what patients would do once they got to the home.
The county sent mental patients with the barest details, though required to provide a full report. I had to go through hard times to learn what was common knowledge. What I learned was vital, yet ther­apists and others were not interested. I sent my notes to them and called. After talking a while, they began to see the value of the information. Did they follow up? No.
These frustrations outside the home made me determined to run things properly inside the home. I was gung‑ho and . . . naive. I insisted the patients handle their hygiene, chores, and manners, and go to some sort of day program. The patients met these with lip service, minimum cooperation, and resent­ment. Responsibility was the last thing they wanted.
I held meetings about who was making these matters as well as noise at night, botching the dish washing, missing appointments, tying up the bathroom, etc. Everything was resolved, everything fine; next day, same nonsense.
There was no purpose having a home without these meetings; but some patients didn't like them, rules, nor authority. They complained to their social workers, who believed whatever they said, and came right out to protest. They tore down meetings, rules, etc., but had no alternatives. They were good with theories, but had nothing for practical matters like chores, part time work, manners, getting people up after l2 hours in bed, etc.
Enter the one resident who would not complain to social workers, because he rarely talked to people. He would not cooperate on simple matters. I cut his cigarettes down ‑ no cooperation. I cut them further ‑ still the same. I cut them off. He collected bottles for money and later got his first job in l2 years. Everyone was amazed. He went on to get other jobs. Much later he told me in the nine years he had been in the system, I was the only one to crack the whip. (You live to hear such things.)
County social workers taught patients arts and crafts when patients didn't know household chores. They tried to recruit patients for college. Extremely naive. They took the side of the patients in all matters, including assault, cheating, and swindling. They gave classes on how to run a home (though none of them had). (The classes had nothing on paper.) They didn't get my patients the right pills l2% of the time, which caused serious problems, one of which was a patient putting himself and his mother in the hospital.
One patient had never gotten an artifi­cial leg replaced. I made a few calls and it was done ‑ one of the few good moments.
Another patient drove a stolen car without a license, landing in jail. The judge let him off because he was a mental case. His Dr. sought to put him on a more restric­tive status. A jury trial over this was narrowly averted, and he was on the new status. What did it mean? Nothing. So why was he entitled to a jury trial?!
Much later he assaulted me over money matters. The police said not to press charges as the judge wouldn't look at a mental case. A social worker twisted this, saying the patient ‘had to get the police to get his money.’
Matters were going downhill fast. I had accomplished a lot, but credit wasn't given. Instead social workers picked away at rules, meet­ings, turnover, and using powdered milk. Without a hint they stopped sending patients and my business died on the vine.
All this was similar to what social workers did to Roloff's Homes (seen three times on 60 Minutes). The homes didn't want a state license nor the meddling of social workers. The homes were some of the best in the country. They were doing the government's job, doing it far better than the government, and doing it without government money. Yet government bureaucrats fought the homes l3 years, jailing Brother Roloff twice.

It was easy to get into this type of work and run a home which only warehoused people. But if one believed in traditional values and wanted to help people, this was not the place. Incompetent and idealistic, social workers tied your hands, which allowed patients to abuse each other, you, and your staff. It was one of the worst ways to make a living. (Like the other jobs I had in social work, there was more dignity in pumping gas.)
I complained to a grand jury and there was an investigation, but it produced little or nothing.
About the patients: I had lived with them for two years. It took a lot of time, discussion, and soul‑searching to appreciate their characteris­tics. These were seen differently by liberal therapists (the ‘professionals’) and by the conservative non-professional live-in staff. (I'd seen this gap throughout social work.)

The therapists saw The live-in staff
patients as: saw the patients as:
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑ ‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
Immature Irresponsible

Self‑centered .............. .......... selfish
Past dependence on folks ... ........... cling to folks.
Low self‑esteem ............ ........... refuse to take pride.
Unmotivated ................ ........... lazy
Rigid ...............
Unassertive .........
Overly-sensitive
Resentful
Unhygienic
Spoiled
Mental

Identity problems, buried
emotions, isolated, private } little effort to logic (the ‘crazy’ part) resolve these.


I gathered a great many notes about these approaches and wrote an article. (Being new at writing, it probably took six months of full time work.) It was published in Dr. William Glasser's JOURNAL OF REALITY THERAPY, Spg '83. Amazing. I sent it to Dr. Garth Wood, author of THE MYTH OF NEUROSIS.) He wrote back saying it was ‘wonderfully perceptive.’ Incredible. After a spotty career, I'd been published in a professional journal by one well known figure and been commended by another - from rags to riches.
Such experience gave me insight. I now saw one of my friends much differently.

My Suicidal Friend

I had a friend off and on for 25 years, and he was always depressed. I believed his stories about his various mental ‘conditions’ and trying to improve. I was blind to his parasitical nature. He was always dumping his problems on me and on complete strangers. That's how he got attention. When I had problems, he didn't care.
This went on over the years as he moved around the country going through self-help groups, therapists, jobs, acquaintances, and infatuations. He never seemed to improve. (He didn't want to.)
He had a high IQ, an Ivy League education, and great talent for comedy, but was an en­cyclopedia of misery. He let everyone know how awful life was and made a career of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. He began to talk of suicide.
About then I ran the home for mental patients. They were l0% crazy and 90% spoiled, immature, and irresponsible. Ah ha - a light went on. I began to see why my friend didn't take care of his hygiene, wardrobe, car, apt. money etc. He didn't want responsibility. If he could blame everything on ‘life’, he wasn't responsible.
Once we made plans to go out as a foursome, but when he saw his ‘blind date,’ he wanted to cancel. He went, but was a brat and ruined the evening. Another time he was invited to a party. He made a play for a much younger woman, who didn't respond, and left without saying a word.
Later he dropped out of sight for four years, and then resumed the friendship with no explanation nor apology. In his 60s now, he chased women in their 30s and 20s. He drove with no license, nor insurance, and had his car repossessed. He got a mysterious inheritance of $2000, spent it on a TV, a VCR, and a bike, and gave the bike away.
By now his depressing stories were worse. I had no desire to see him, and soon didn't want him to call. All that was left were the great jokes by mail. They had a richness unequalled. But he didn't see this nor the worth of a mutual friend, the good times the three of us had had, nor women, work, life, relatives . . .. He resented everything and wanted his folks to take him in. He wrote I was all he had. I let slip something critical of him and he dropped me. Why, if I was ‘all he had.’ Another game.
His unwillingness to accept responsibility and his decline could have been charted on a graph. However ‘mental’ he was, his behavior was increasingly inexcusable. He might fool psychiatrists, but I knew better. All his life he had done everything to keep from growing up …… and paid the price.
(How does this relate to liberalism? Liberals put off responsibility forever and indulge in psychoanalysis forever. The mental health field is full of them.)
(I used the same lessons on another friend, who did want help. I kept after him about taking more responsibility for his life. Slowly he did, got better, and said he owed it all to me. You live to hear such things.)
My home for mental patients had been in a residential neighborhood. Liberals love this - putting such homes in regular neighborhoods. I had had blinders on and thought it was OK, but it didn't belong. Even though I ran a good home, I'd never do it again in a residential neighborhood.
(After a year and a half, two neighbors got wind of it, overeacted, and petitioned the city, which asked me to move. It made headlines.)


Neighborhood care homes

Many people believe in homes for the disadvantaged, but ‘not in my backyard’ (NIMBY); and after working in several and starting and running one of my own (for mental [not retarded] patients), I agree. Many of these homes are noisy, boring, dirty, with nonstop TV, no privacy, and mutual abuse among the disadvantaged residents of the home (the retarded, aged, mentally ill, alcoholic, poor, etc). There is a lot of this because of their ‘rights,’ and because it's easier for staff to go along with it. It's glorified baby sitting. The disadvantaged vegetate and staffs burn out.
Neighbors too. They chafe over parking, yelling, profanity, panhandling, poor grooming and attire, depressed behavior, traffic in and out of the house, etc. Homes are run permissively despite what is claimed ‑ especially smaller homes, as when a resident moves out, the drop in income is criti­cal.
If the staff of a home wants to do more than baby-sit, they are in for a difficult and thankless job. They have to fight the disadvantaged, the relatives, sometimes the neighbors, but most of all, permissive social workers, who (with the media) take the side of the disadvantaged.
- Obligation. The public is made to feel it is their obligation to accept the substandard behavior of the disadvantaged (and possibly lower property values). Not so. It is the obligation of the disadvantaged (with the help of their social workers) to learn how to live in society, find work, and then move into regular neighborhoods. In the meantime these homes can locate in industrial areas or on the outskirts of town.
- ‘Family like.’ A myth. No sensible family operates the way these homes do.
‑ Licensing. This supposedly cleaned up bad homes, but I heard (and believe) it drove out good homes.
‑ Size. Since large institutions are supposed to be bad, these small homes are supposed to be good. But small homes don't have a fraction of the resources and aren't any more successful. (The real reason the state wants these homes is that mental patients can be housed for l/5th of what it would cost in an institution.)
These homes should be: outside residential neighborhoods, unless they are an overwhelming asset. They should be run and monito­red by competing private agencies. They should require the disadvantaged hold part or full time work in sheltered workshops or regular employment; and they should use a no-nonsense approach to teaching tradi­tional values.



Chapter III Land lording - an education.

I moved my care home to county land for less harassment. I found a home in a neighborhood that wasn't too fancy, and had no neighbors on three sides. Perfect. I bought it. Here came another education:


A Run Down Neighborhood

There are liberals in universities and the media who believe bad neigh­bor­hoods are caused by prejudice, the economy, absentee landlords, neglect­ful city agencies, poor education, etc. Most of them don't live in a bad neighbor­hood. I do and this is what it's like:
Some people leave their trash barrels out for days. Some leave shopping carts around, sometimes taking sections off to use as barbecue grills. Some don't get rid of their gophers or weeds. Some don't water, cut, or edge their lawns; or when they do, don't sweep up for days. Some never trim their bushes or trees which block the sidewalk. Some fences tilt forever; junk cars and debris stay on front lawns. Some lawns have as many cars as will fit. Some have vehicles in the drive, a boat on the lawn, and an RV on the side of the house. One had six vehicles on the front lawn, though the street was empty. Another had nine vehicles in the driveway and two in the street.
Noise: TVs, stereos, yelling, horns, and tires squealing. One kid had a radio turned up OVER his lawn mover. Some people rev up the car or boat engine they're working on for long periods ‑ some without mufflers. Untrained dogs bark for hours, their owners home, but oblivio­us. Some ice cream trucks are merciless, coming around l2 times a day with their brainless music heard 7 blocks away. They can get away with more in unincorporated areas like this as the sheriff's deputies and county officials will do nothing.
Occasionally there will be a tremendously loud stereo or a live band in a backyard, heard l0 blocks away. Outrageous, yet people do not call the police. If I call, I do it anonymously. If I'm leaving the house, I do nothing. If neighbors don't want to call, they can suffer; and after they've suffered enough, maybe they will call. (Doubtful)
When I call, the deputies say the noise is disturbing my peace, not their peace. (Oh boy) They will ask the neighbor to turn it down; but beyond that I have to sign a complaint, which means the neighbor will find out who it was. Why can't the deputies park around the corner, hear the noise, and stop it? The last thing you can ever have is your neighbors finding out you turned them in - especially in a bad neighborhood. (When complaining about dogs, your neighbor WILL find out it's you.)
You can handle the young kids with problems on the street, but with those from jr. hi. on, you'd better know what you're doing as they can do things to your property or car. You wonder how they can be so bad until you see their homes or meet their folks. It's disappointing to know them when young and cute and see them grow up to become tough.
Many times I put out a HELP WANTED sign. It was knocked over a lot. Only one teen responded per month; and most weren't worth minimum wage. (Then I hired ‘undocumented workers’, who did l0 times the work for the same wage.)
Dogs run loose without collars. If you coax one into your yard to keep it from being hit and call the animal shelter, you'd best do it on the sly. It's ‘meddling.’
When you have helped a dog from being hit, don't expect to be thanked by the owner. The same with stopping a fight or helping at wrecks. The next day the kid who could have gotten hurt badly walks by. You ask if everything's OK. He says yes and maybe smiles, but doesn't think to thank you.
There are a lot of wrecks. People come out of their houses to watch with their hair in their face, their underwear and tattoos showing, and their dog loose. Some get in the way. Some say ‘Gee you're bleeding.’ Some joke and yell across the accident to their friends to get attention.
A lot of the wrecks are hit-and-runs. You learn to rush out to get license numbers.
People abandon cars, dump trash on public land, steal from construction sites, and harass Asian refugees. When they call you by mistake, they don't excuse themselves; they just hang up. Profanity, name calling, and letting property run down ‑ some seem to take pride in being a mess.
The school district here is the poorest in the county. For years a nearby school didn't keep up its grounds, wasted heat and tons of water, and threw out desks, lumber, books, and supplies. I called everyone, got few results, and no follow up.
‘Nobody cares’ as a cop said, and realtors agree.
You don't realize it pulls you down. When I visit a good neighborhood, it is a pleasant shock. When I come back to mine, it's with resignation.

Improving the neighborhood requires comparing these observations with those of realtors, creditors, police, insurance companies, merchants and others who know such neighborhoods and are never asked (not academic and media liberals who've read about them from idealistic books). This would point to law enforcement (preferably by a private group like a homeowners association) ‑ no theories, psychobabble, nor endless meetings ‑ just constant enforce­ment of all laws, big and small, to discipline and slowly shape up the neighborhood.

I began renting rooms in my house (in l978 and have since). I learned things I should have been told in social work.


Living With Bums

Most of the roomers were working-class guys. If there were problems, things could be worked out because they were self-respecting, mature, and responsible.
There were others, however (who slipped through my screening process), who were bums and problems could not be worked out because they were immature (by choice). They lacked empathy and wanted lots of favors ‑ stamps, en­velopes, change, jump starts, tools, etc. They wanted atten­tion and wanted to talk about themselves at their con­venience, not mine. They were overly sensi­tive, defen­sive, and wouldn't sit down and discuss matters when a problem arose. They got buddy‑bud­dy too fast, and expected their messes to be forgotten because we were ‘friends.’ They thought they could find a job and a woman far beyond their reach. They had com­panions, not friends. They were impulsive in eating, drinking, entertainment, and spending. They ignored the house rules or tested them; if you gave an inch, they took a mile.
Some ate highly greasy food, had terrible manners, needed haircuts, kept locking themselves out of the house, left shopping carts out front, stole food from others in the house, slammed doors or didn't close them, broke things and denied it, wasted my utilities, wasted their food, clothing, and tools, and seemed to yell or mumble. They got behind with their rent, which brought lots of stories, moving out in the middle of the night, and bouncing checks.
Some put off small repairs on their cars, costing them twice as much. Some told adult stories around youngsters. One hid a motorcycle in his room to work on.
They resented banks, bosses, cops, girls ‑ life owed them a living. They wouldn't manage their weight, diet, health, belongings, or money and drifted from job to job. They drove uninsured cars with no spare or jack, and they ate out ‑ always broke, but always ate out. Some stole, gambled, drank, and smoked pot.
Many counselors would say their problem was mental, educational, intelligence, alcohol, ‘deprivation’, etc. Total nonsense; it was immaturity.
Take Pete: he was 40, had nothing, and promised he would be a good tenant. He had a new job. Save his money and get ahead? No, he gambled and drank it away. His room smelled terrible, he had a bad attitude, and he made messes in the kitchen and bathroom. He loaned his uninsured car for months at a time. He got terribly drunk on a work night, and he fell behind on his rent. I asked him to leave, and he did ‑ sleeping in his car in front of the house! The police picked him up on outstanding warrants and put him in prison.
Enter Bob, a divorced 36 year old escapee from a communist country, father of two, with a high paying, skilled job. He was happy, fun, big‑hearted, and very likable. He had a strong body odor. He knew it, but did nothing about it. He even went on job interviews that way. He was in and out of love every other week with barmaids, one of whom took his money. He went through a number of jobs and ran out of money. He worked around the house for minimum wage, but still ate out.
Once, when totally out of money during an emergency, he worked for me four days, was paid each day, and at the end of the 4th day was broke! He needed a loan for a big date who stood him up to go to bed with someone for $50. The next day he was way down in the dumps. He called his kids, cried, and swore off his night life. Then what? He went out again that night! (You have to see such things to believe them.) Eventually he moved out, leaving a big mess and the police on his trail.
If these bums didn't respect their property, why should they respect mine? If they didn't respect themselves, why should they respect me? There were thefts, property damage and near fights. I had to ease them out gently, taking a loss so they wouldn't retaliate. They knew where I lived; I would never know where they lived and couldn't collect as they didn't have anything.
Someone else who had been in social work like me, learned the same after having 25 homeless families on her ranch for seven years. It wasn't until she was personally affected that she understood. You can read, hear, and discuss this, but you won't understand till it affects your property, your time, and your peace of mind.
These bums and criminals take an enormous toll on society. It can be assumed they were the kind of people who in one survey of St. Paul, Minn, were the 6% of the families that absorbed 77% of the welfare, 5l% of the health services, and 56% of the mental health and correctional services. These are the kind that loot during a riot or natural disaster.
Most middle class people are unaware of such people, but the working class and the police are, as they have more contact with them. They call them ‘riff‑raff, rabble, trash, deadbeats, animals, slobs, punks, wise guys, lowlife’ and worse. They know what they are talking about. Many counselors, however, are middle class, have gotten their ideas from books, and keep excusing bums and criminals.
Bums and common criminals have chosen to remain immature and irrespon­sible. Any rehabilitation should meet them only half way and involve lots of dis­cipline and hardnosed counsel­ing. They have the slow, painful job of growing up. Cold‑blooded realism is needed, not hearts and flowers. Strangely enough . . . most of them would agree.



Legal Nightmare Over Rented Room
I'd had some bad tenants, but eventually they would move out. Enter Sharon who would NOT. (She had a poverty lawyer.) I called my lawyer friends, paralegals, landlords, and the courthouse. Paralegals wanted $25 to fill out each form, so I tried it myself. I began the clerical ordeal of serving Sharon with different notices (on obsolete forms as it turned out), running from the post office to the courthouse to the copy place to home to read the LANDLORDS LAWBOOK. (All this over a rented room?) Each page of the book showed she had more rights and I had fewer. I learned the court had to ‘file’ some forms, ‘conform’ others, and ‘enter’ others, and all of them had to be typed in black ink. No one doing this the first time could avoid mistakes. I ran around filling out a ‘complaint’ and went through the tricky business of serving her with it. She didn't respond in time. Ah ha! I ran in to file a ‘default,’ which would win the case. I was elated. But wait; something was wrong with my paper work. Her lawyer filled a ‘demurrer’ later that day; and, I was not only back to square one, but liable for her lawyer's fees!
Now I had to get a lawyer. I did and he told me her lawyer was a zealot, this could go to a jury trial (over a rented room?!), I couldn't cut off Sharon's cable hookup, phone, etc., and, if I locked her out, I could get sued so bad I could lose my house! I also learned if I won my case and the Marshall came to put her out, she could declare bankruptcy. Then I would have to pay $600 for a ‘lift of stay’ to get her out. Every time I turned around she had more rights, I had more nightmares. (Who made up these laws?)
After three and a half months of this, she moved. Throughout she had a free lawyer, I didn't. She could sue me. (I couldn't sue her and get anything.) She gained about $l000; I lost $l400 (on a $200/mo. room). She and her lawyer made my life miserable; I couldn't touch them. It cost me great amounts of time and anguish; it costs them little.
What was the point? The poverty lawyer didn't benefit her by helping her cheat a landlord, earn a bad credit rating, and lose an inexpensive room. I lost my shirt and became embittered against tenant laws. Everyone lost.
The laws regarding rented rooms are elitist, senseless, petty, unfair, and far too technical, time-consuming, and expensive. They coddle cruel tenants and persecute and endanger landlords. (They're a joke. What if Sharon had been a criminal and I had a wife and kids in the house?)
Other states and countries are not drowning in legal nonsense and ridiculous rights. Our laws should be simple, sensible, and fair. When a landlord wants to evict someone from his home, the legal part should be handled in a few hours by a qualified, PRIVATE arbitrator, and not cost over a week's rent.

Chapter IV - the light goes on.

Through renting rooms, investments, frugality, and being single with no kids, I gained some degree of financial independence in the late 70s. (I had gone from often out of work, frustrated, social worker, poor man to retired [busy body]. What luck. Paradise. I was free to spend my time writing [as a hobby]).
I started with a typewriter (which spent most of its time in a repair shop), and later switched to a computer, which made my writing explode. I was happy to be reading and writing about everything I'd been in and thought about. A Christmas newsletter to friends describes this:


Creative life
Having been in several fields, I wanted to put my pen to paper. I went to writing clubs and learned writers are bright and different - some write standing, some in restaurants; some share everyth­ing, others nothing. Some say there are no rules; just write.
I learned you can say a lot in a few words, you write the way you talk, you write l0% of what you know (like other fields), and you reveal your­self. If you don't make money nor get much recogni­tion, you're writing for yourse­lf. Friends and family don't understand, but get used to it.
Such a life offers: no commute, no 9 to 5, no interrup­tions, meet­ings, dead­lines, explain­ing, com­promis­ing, office politics, or big wardrobe.
Ideas come out of the blue, so I keep one recorder on the night table and one in the glove compart­ment. I listen to cab drivers, check-out clerks, gas station attendants for the wisdom of the common people. I clip things from papers and watch documentaries.
Once a subject takes form, the ideas percolate. I take notes, organize them, and write the piece. Then comes revising. It never stops, which makes a computer indispensable. After I got one, my writing ex­ploded.
Each article is its own reward; and if it gets published, that's extra. If I know a particular field and criticize it, I don't send it to a publication in that field; they often don't want to hear it. I send it to a paper or magazine. The public can see what I'm saying; the field sees what it wants to see.
I send copies to people who feel the way I do and they love it! I've gotten notes from Milton Friedman, the president of Boston U., the principal in the movie LEAN ON ME, people running half-way houses on TV, Dr. William Gasser (REALITY THERAPY), and others.
You learn to tell good writing and TV programs from bad, and the importance of objectivity, 1st hand experience, and age.
I've written on values, immigrants, poverty, privatization, education, the media, religi­on, gambling, discipline, the home­less, and mental health. (The solutions are common sense.)
Creative work is self-absorbing, impractical, difficult, solitary, intui­tive, vindicating, engrossing, compell­ing, and a privilege. Harkin to the voice within.
In the past I'd taken the NEW YORK TIMES and the WASHINGTON POST when living in those cities, and by now I had been taking the LOS ANGELES TIMES for years. (These and the WALL STREET JOURNAL are considered the top four papers.) I watched most of the documentaries and programs like 60 MINUTES, and clipped a zillion articles. I could more clearly understand many errors by liberals and some by conservatives.


A Liberal pitfalls


LIBERAL MYTHS

Having received a liberal education (in conservative Orange County, Calif.) and spent years in liberal social work in liberal New York City, where I daily read the liberal N.Y. Times, I found ‘liberal’ is used as the good house­keep­ing seal of intellectual thought. One might think conservatives would have good ideas, but not so. ‘Liberal’ is seen as ‘progre­ssive, educated, compassionate, and generous.’
But many liberal programs have been disasters. How could that be if based on such good intentions? It's because they were based on the false assumptions of:

Ideal
The liberal believes a better world is just out ahead. We need only to be ‘freed’ from the repressive past to ‘express’ ourselves, our good intentions and new ideas, and we'll create a society of equality, peace, and security. While this sounds good in school, it is not the real world.

Guilt
As the world isn't ideal, the liberal is quick to point the finger. He blames the older generation, the establishment, the upper classes. They have more because of greed or capitalism and become mean ‘conservative’s to preserve it. Those with less are victims. This is why the [mostly liberal] media, are so negative.

Old is bad
The liberal thinks that since our problems came from the past, the past is at fault. An example is the l9th century. He consistently runs it down­ as one of exploitation of the masses by the robber barons of Wall St. who conned Main St., bled Mid-western farmers, and fleeced im­migrants. He's mistaken; the standard of life for the common man rose dramatically, the number of farmers rose, as did their property value, the flood of im­migrants per­sisted, charity and private education flowered, and libraries and cultural activities grew significantly.
[In disparaging the past he doesn't learn from it - a fatal mistake. The past contains the wisdom of traditional values gained at great cost, but he believes old is bad and]

New is good
New ideas from new fields are something he can sink his teeth into; psychology, socialism, ‘modern’ economics, and other social ‘sciences’ are ‘technologies’ which can ‘engineer’ a ‘new man’, New Deal, New Frontier, Great Society, etc. While he might claim to believe in traditional values, he postpones them indefinitely.

Equal
As Robin Hood he wants redistribute the wealth. He wants to push working class people through college, when many are not interested.
He is sure our poor are trapped, when immigrant poor, with limited English, pass them every day.
When it comes to bums and criminals, he has a thousand excuses.

Secure
He wants a world free of risk and want. The earlier days of heroism, tragedy, and the free market are to be leveled for predictability and safety. This can only be done through programs that promote:

Socialism
Where socialism [heavy government involvement] has been tried (India, China, and East Germany in the 50s & 60s), development has been hinder­ed. Where it has been held back, development has flourished (Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and West Germany). He doesn't see this; for most problems, he wants socialism. Thus he tends to be:

Anti-private
He’s not interested in understanding private schools, charity, prisons, nursing homes, fire depts., mail, transportation, utilities ...

Anti-business [capitalism, the free market … ]
He sees the high salaries of top executives as great inequities. Henry Ford the 1st put the country on wheels, but the liberal sees that Ford was rich while others were poor, and goes on to support the graduated income tax, capital gains taxes and other measures which penalize the Ford types.
He sees profit as exploitive. If nursing home A makes a profit and clearly does a better job than non-profit nursing home B, A is bad and B is good, because A makes a profit.

Caring
The liberal claims to have a corner on caring and ‘love.’ His is the soapy, coddling kind. It spoils those he’s trying to help. He can't imagine anything hardnosed or authoritarian as ‘car­ing.’ He needs to know that coach Vince Lombardi and General Patton were hard on their men because they cared about them.

Permissive
Seeing the past as repressive, believing in psychology, and seeing himself as a ‘caring’ person, he is tolerant of vice and seeks to ‘understand’ crime. He doesn't believe strongly in author­ity or dis­cipline, and considers punishment ‘medieval’. If ‘boot camp’ programs help delinquent youth, you won't hear much - it’s outside his frame of reference.

Overly-generous
He spoils children; spoils the poor by paying them not to work; and spoils 3rd poor countries with foreign aid. His programs pay farmers not to grow and the American Indian to be dependent.


The conservative disagrees. He is often older, more experienced and realistic. He venerates the establishment, capitalism, and traditional values; he sees social classes as overlapping, natural, and healthy; his ‘caring’ meets a person only half way; he holds bums and criminals responsible for their behavior; he shows­ how the private sector has taken over some government functions and done a better job.
Let's hear more from the conservative side without labeling it ‘ultra-conservative’. Let's promote it in academia and the media. Let's remind our youth, as people get older, they get more conser­vative because a lot of liberal ideas are idealistic and flawed. #


(As much damage as liberals have done, they deserve credit for:
- More rights for minorities, women, gays, the handicapped.
- More openness about battered spouses, the gay world, addiction, child abuse, incest, abortion, impotence, etc.
- More acceptance of ethnic diversity and intermarriage.
- More acceptance of separation & divorce.
- More use of psychology to get to the roots of one's problems instead of ‘keeping it all in’ and enduring ‘long suffering’.
- More openness about public figures instead of putting them on a
pedestal.
- More open-minded about premarital relations in long term, responsible relationships.
- More questioning of religion.
- Integrating newsrooms.

Liberals led the way with these because of their challenging old ideas, being open to new ones, and because of their interest in those with less.)




The Liberal Media

The importance of the news media cannot be underestimated as most issues are decided by public opinion. But are the media fair? We get an idea from a widely quoted survey taken in '82 of ‘the prestige media’ (NY Times, Wash. Post, Wall St. Journal, Time, Newsweek, the 3 major networks and PBS). It said the media have a liberal bias as:
- Three times as many of their newsmen considered themselves liberal as conser­vative.
- 80% favored affirma­tive action.
- 79% believed in the welfare state.
- 80% voted democratic from '64 to '76.

Why are the news media liberal (despite the fact most Americans are conserva­tive)? One reason is liberals tend to go into the media, and conserva­tives tend to go into business (according to David Brinkley).

What is the liberal bias? In my opinion it is: an ideal world is possible, old is bad - new is good, anti-establishment, anti-business, pro-union, less defense, more social pro­grams, and level the classes for ‘equality.’ (Conservatives take the opposite positions.)
The following showing the liberal tilt of the news media.
History
- Many in the media snicker at ‘status quo’ presidents like Harding, Coolidg­e, Hoover, and Eisen­hower. They prefer men of ‘action’ like Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and JFK.
- Many find the 50s sterile and glory in the protests of the late 60s.
- Many didn't like Reagan. John Chancellor called him and arch-conserva­tive; Walter Cronkite gave him a low rating; Harry Reasoner implied he was a cowboy; and Gloria Steinem said he was just lucky.
- When George H. Bush promised a ‘kinder, gentler’ day, the media jumped on it and milked it. Brokaw said Bush had started ‘the process of healing.’ Leslie Stall said Bush was a rejection of the Reagan values.
- John Chancellor said, ‘The 80s are over and Carter is more popular than Reagan.’ (March '90)
Anti-business
The media and business have been hostile for years. Each sees the other as dominant, and each would like to dominate.
- The media say capitalism caused the Depression and government got us out of it. But conservatives say the govern­ment caused it and made it worse.
- When the price of gas goes up, the media raise a fuss; when down, silence. When profits in business are big, the media complains; when losses are big, silence.
- If G.M. makes big profits and closes a plant, it's a con­spiracy.
- When Polish citizens drove long distances to sell goods in West Berlin in '89, a reporter said they were ‘greedy.’
- When more college freshmen than usual signed up for business, it was a rise in the ‘greed index’ (John Chancellor).
- When David Stockman left the Reagan govern­ment in the 80s to make more money, it was our ‘greedy’ system (said Chancellor, whose high salary comes from the ‘system’).
- When AT&T was broken up and banks deregu­lated, these ‘helped the rich and hurt the poor’ (Ray Brady, CBS).
- When capitalism brought great progress to parts of China, our media stress the problems. They said the economy there was ‘overheating’ and the govern­ment should restrain it. A reporter interviewing a new millionaire there, asked him if his success hadn't created ‘inequality.’
- When the free trade pact with Canada brought benefits, the media stressed the problems. The same in '91 when talking about free trade with Mexico.
- The media continually suggest the business community fill in for schools, family, and government with education, health care, child care, etc.
- Once there was a short report on 20/20 about how much better various businesses did when government got out of regulating them. Reporters Hugh Downs and Tom Jerrel were surprised.
- Reagan and Thatcher were never understood by the media, nor fully credited. Those two understood the free market; the media don't (and don't want to).
‘Equality’
- An article in TIME said Avril Harriman was ‘born almost embarrass­ingly rich . . ..’
- Mike Wallace asked Brook Aster if she felt guilty about being rich. Donald Trump said he did.
- The media blame the haves, and fawn over the have-nots:
Labor is right; management is wrong. Tenants are right; land-
lo­rds wrong. The poor are right; the rich are wrong. Minoriti­es are right; whites are wrong. Consumers are right; big business is wrong. Those over 30 are wrong; those under 30 are right.
Detention for illegal aliens is ‘dehu­manizing.’ Confronting a delin­quent about his crime is ‘brutal.’ Getting up at 6:00 am for recover­ing al­coholics is ‘tough.’ Spanking is ‘beating.’ Rules are ‘regimenta­tion.’ Teasing is ‘humilia­tion.’
- The media pity the poor without talking to those they hurt: mer­chants, insurance companies, employ­ers, credit bureaus, teachers, police, etc. They feature the poor who do not work, not the poor who do work.
- The media endlessly indulge criminals who excuse their crimes with asinine logic.
- The media support admitting under-qualified blacks and Hispanics to college, at the expense of better qualified whites and Asians.
- The media blame drug addiction on poverty and discrimination, and ignore the poor and minority people who do not take drugs. When treatment programs (only 25% successful) are not immediately available, it's society's fault that addicts continue to take drugs.
- During and after a riot, they feature mostly the rioters, not the locals who hate riots and have to live next to burned-out buildings. Years later the media warn society of the chance of riots over growing ten­sions. They don't warn the poor not to riot by pointing out the damage that will never be repaired, the flight of business, and the rise of insurance rates.
- The media think equal opportunity should bring equal results.

Poverty
- A noted author wrote of the 60s and 70s, ‘White liberals saw the . . . ghetto through a romantic haze and extolled its music, warmth, aliveness - missing the child abuse, brutality, abandon­ment, drunkenness, addiction, disease.’ (After years in social work, I agree.)
- When the gays, the rich, or immigrants improve a neighborhood, the media say the poor were ‘pushed out.’ When the poor ‘push’ the middle class out, we don't hear much.
- They assure us being black is hopeless, not mentioning that blacks from the Caribbean in the U.S. are far ahead of American blacks.
- The media run down menial work - the traditional route out of poverty.
- They talk of heat subsidies when the low at night is only 52.
- They are sure our poor are ‘trapped’, yet poor immigrants pass our poor every day.
- The media were indignant about Reagan's cutting back social programs. They don't ask if the programs worked or if they did more harm than good.
Crime
- Connie Chung did a program on a teenager whose crimes were so bad, he was labeled a ‘poster child for capital punishment.’ (Why ‘child’?) It was about how the system had ‘failed’ him, not how he failed the system.
- The FBI asked newspapers to publish posters of fugitives, but some papers said it would violate fugitives' rights.
- When an incorrigible in prison was put in a diaper and shackles, a reporter called it ‘draconian.’ When another was put in shackles by a guard, a reporter (Tom Jerrel of 20/20) asked if the guard was ‘paranoid.’
- Mr. Jerrel also did a one-sided report on a home for delinquents, portraying them as victims of a heartless staff.
Socialistic
- Bill Moyers called himself a son of the New Deal.
- Tom Brokaw said congress has to ‘face up’ to providing child care.
- Another time his program criticized our health system for several nights, then praised Canada's socialized medicine.
- Former Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill said on TV all he and his col­leagues ‘ever wanted was to provide a chance for the average guy to make a decent living for his family . . ..’ Sounded good, but what did it mean - Medicaid, unemployment insurance, job training, affor­dable housing, rent subsidies, heat subsidies, food stamps, counseling for substance abuse, gambling, mental illness - on and on.
- In l990 with the deficit looming ever larger, the media often quoted polls showing the public would pay higher taxes for more programs. The media didn't go into cutting spending.
- The media want economic ‘stability’ - through regulation.
- They favored Castro, when he first took over Cuba.
- They reported the breakup of communism in eastern Europe without explaining the reason - central planning (which liberals like). They say those countries are not ‘ready’ for capital­ism; they should try socialism. (J. Galbraith).
Education
- The media have put more respon­sibility on schools, while taking away the tools (authority, accountability, values, and standards). They helped bring open classroom, new math, no grading, pass/fail, dual admissions, and other disasters. Classes were supposed to be so interest­ing, discipline wouldn't be neces­sary. These caused many to graduate functionally illiterate.
- The media anguish over the failure of public schools, ignoring the success of private schools - because they think in terms of the public sector, not the private sector.
- They say some colleges (Columbia, Yale, Univ. of So. Calif.) are centers of privilege and inequality which ignore the ghettos around them. Let's see: The ghettos are not the responsibility of the colleges. The colleges provide work for many in the ghetto; and colleges have to spend a lot for security because they are surrounded by ghettos. This yet the colleges are somehow guilty. Hmmmmmm.
The examples go on in housing, health, legal aid, etc. It's time we become more aware of this bias and counter it with facts.
Now the forbidden subject of

Social Classes

American liberals resist the idea of ‘social classes,’ assuming:
- Classes mean ‘ine­quality,’ ‘strati­fication,’ and conflict.
- If the gap between rich and poor grows, something is wrong.
- Those with more exploit those with less.
- The working class is oppressed, and the ‘underclass’ is ‘trapped.’
- If capitalism isn't the cause, it must be close.
- Government should redistribute the wealth and power to level the classes.
(Conservatives disagree.)

To get a picture of classes, let's consider what noted conservative E. Banfield describes as the four classes: upper, middle, working, and lower, and how liberals view them.
Housing
The lower class of bums, common criminals and the improvident can afford only the worst housing (and they let it run down, as we'll see). The other classes can afford better, but they maintain it. They fight to keep the lower class out. (When this is middle class blacks keeping out lower class blacks, liberals are baffled as they assume blacks stick together.)
When the middle class ‘push’ the lower class out of a neighborhood, liberals complain; when the lower class ‘push’ the middle class out, liberals are quiet.
Education
Liberals consider private schools ‘elitist.’ They ignore them, and anguish over public schools. The latter are supposed to be the great equalizer, but, in fact they help the upper class; and, after the 9th grade, hurt the lower class.
The lower class doesn't value education. The working class Archie Bunkers value it somewhat, but not as much as liberals think. Many are ready to leave school after l4, get a job, and later start a family.
The middle and upper classes want to stay in school longer. The liberals, most of whom come from these classes, assume this is better and that others have or should have the same interests. Not so.
Liberals have wanted so badly to help the working and lower classes, they have dropped educational standards since the mid-60s. They wanted to include everyone and not have anyone feel bad by getting low marks. They have also taken responsibilities from the family and put them on the schools, but have taken away - authority, dis­cipline, punishment, and standards. The disastrous results are well-documented.
At the college level liberals support taxing all the classes to pay for public colleges. This is one of the great injus­tices in our system as those who benefit are primarily middle and upper class students, says Nobel winner Milton Fried­man.
Work
Liberals have appointed themselves champions of the ‘working man.’ They are sure he is being exploited by management, so they support unions whose policies: cost the country thousands of jobs, raise prices, monopolize, discriminate, and support raising the minimum wage.
Liberals have gotten many people to frown on menial work. They've decided it's boring and numbing, because that's what it is for them. But many working class people are content with it. They raise families on it and their kids often do the same (and don't need their jobs put down).
Liberals have made welfare so generous, people are paid not to take menial work. (But such work and working harder than the class above have been the traditional route out of poverty.)
Liberals keep raising the minimum wage; this costs thousands of entry-level jobs, and deprives many teenagers of a chance to develop work habits. Some feel life owes them something, and with no job, have a greater inclina­tion toward crime.
Business
Various businesses use demographic studies to determine what social classes exist in which neighborhoods and target their products accordingly. The military uses them when recruiting. Insurance companies use them to ‘redline.’ Liberals would like to inter­pret this as class or racial prejudi­ce, but it's econom­ics.
When businesses operate in a ghetto, they have to raise their prices as it costs more to operate (security, theft, van­dalism, staff turnover). Liberals call higher prices ‘ex­ploita­tion.’
They say businesses in ghettos are ‘taking money out of the neigh­bor­hood and giving nothing back.’ Nothing back? They are providing services no one else will!
Liberals continually want business to take on more social respon­sibility: child care, health insurance, comparable worth, family leave, 60 day plant closing notice, helping local schools etc.
Taxes
Liberals don't mind ‘soaking the rich’ through the graduated income tax, inheritance tax, and capital gains tax (highest in the modern world).
Social programs
According to noted conservative E. G. Banfield (and supported by my experience), the lower class is made up of people who choose not to become self-sufficient, self-respecting, and mature. Educa­tion can't prepare them for work and adulthood. In one city they absorbed 55% of its welfare, 5l% of its health services, and 56% of its mental health and correctional ser­vices. There is no chronic poverty outside this class.
You don't hear this from liberals. In '64 they created a ‘poverty line,’ which allows this class food stamps, Medicare, legal aid, school lunch, rent & heat sub­sidies, job train­ing and fewer taxes. They are paid not to work. This has caused polarization and resent­ment - especially from the working poor.
Liberal programs have caused more harm than good: rent control has created inequities and a housing shortag­e, and welfare has broken up fami­lies and created dependence.
Refugees
When early waves of refugees from communist Cuban and Vietnam come to the U.S. and become rich and later waves don't, liberals blame our system, missing the matter of class. First came the upper class, then the middle class, then the working class. The upper class does better because they arrive with more skills.
Conclusion
We all believe in equal opportunity, but starting in the 60s, liberals began to think this should produce equal outcome. It didn't: many education programs failed, many public housing projects became notori­ous, and welfare caused depen­dency, resent­ment, and polarization. Liberal permissiveness in­creased crime, and affirma­tive action was often reverse discrimina­tion.
It's time for realism. Broad overlapping social classes are a fact of life. They don't conflict; they complement each other. They are natural and healthy in an open society. People gravitate to their own level. They should be left alone to do so and not be manipulated by liber­als, whose programs have often left everyone worse off.

Liberal Spin On Riots

Reporters did a good job covering the riots in Los Angeles (Spring, 92), but afterwards most fell into their tendency to favor those with less. They featured the rioter's side and didn't challenge it with facts:

Riot rhetoric Facts

- It was a ‘rebellion, uprising, war’ ----- it was a riot.
- The looting was ‘payday’, the goods were ‘free,’
----- it was theft.
- Looters were ‘opportunists’ --------- were thieves.
- Their motives were ‘complex’ -------- were greed.
- Rioters were ‘protestors’ ------- were hooligans and thugs.
- Rioters had nothing to lose ------ but supermarkets, stores, a post office, a DMV office, a library, and electricity.
- Insurance would pay for the damage ------- and rates would skyrocket.
- It was the only way to get justice ---- by making businesses move out and property values go down?
- It sent a message ---- by attacking news teams and shooting at news copters?
- It was to get respect --- by attacking firemen, paramedics, and school busses?
- Rioters were tired of prejudice ---- and did everything to increase it.
- Riots don't make it right, but make it even ----- by burning one's neighborhood?
- The riot showed black rage, frustration, desperation, fatigue, hurt, frustration ---------- in the carnival atmosphere of smiling looters?
- They protested racism --- by pulling non-blacks out of their cars and beating them senseless?
- It protested the lack of jobs ----- and cost 5000 - 20,000 jobs.
- It showed nothing had been learned from the civil rights movement and the watts riot of '65 ------- that violence doesn't work.
- It protested hopelessness. ------- It's not hopeless for poor immigrants (of all colors).
- The riot protested discrimination, injustice, etc. ----- Other minorities experience these and don't riot periodically.
- Rioters were getting back at merchants with high prices. ---- Prices are higher in the inner city because of vandalism, theft, security, insurance, staff turnover.
- It paid back Koreans ------- jealous, moronic scapegoating.

We heard a lot about the rage of the rioters, and a little about the rage of those who were beaten by rioters or who lost their homes, jobs, and stores. We were told the riot was a matter of class, not race, implying the poor supported the riot. Fraid not. The majority of the poor are self-respecting. They hate riots as they who suffer the most from them.
Another item was rebuilding. Many people felt the government didn't owe the riot areas a dime to rebuild. (Why should government money go where private money won't.) But the media did. Garrick Utley of NBC spoke as if rebuilding should have started the day after the riot. Being an election year, the politicians, who had been proving how broke government was, tripped over themselves with promises to rebuild. If anyone believes this will restore the communities, they should look at Newark, Detroit, and Watts which rioted in the 60s.
Most of the media are doing what they did after the riots in the 60s - leading us down the liberal path of guilt, promises, idealism, some rebuilding, and ‘new’ social programs, which will fail, and increase dependency, self-pity, and a victim's mentality. This will increase the chance of future riots.
We need more attention to moderate journalists and leaders. They channel unrest into legitimate forms of protest: marches, lawsuits, picketing, boycotts, initiatives, referendums, and recalls. They seek progress through:
‑ Avoiding job quotas, charity, sub­sidies, and preferen­tial treatment.
‑ Supporting work skills, educa­tion, business experience, workfare, right to work, work at home, a sub-minimum wage, and traditional values.
B Economics
When in college I'd majored in Political Science and minored in History. Neither gave enough attention to the economic factors that shaped them, nor did they mention Milton Friedman, Henry Hazlitt, and a host of others. Luckily I now ran across their books.


Discovering Milton Friedman

It was refreshing to read Friedman's book, FREE TO CHOOSE. He pointed out a number of myths:
‑ Government must play a dominant role in a modern society.
(False, as proven by Hong Kong and by l9th century America.) ‑ The answer to problems is more government.
(False, the role of government in the U.S. has multiplied ten times in the last fifty years and we are worse off in many important ways.)
‑ Natural resources are crucial to a nation's economic success.
(False, as shown by l9th century Great Britain and Japan and by 20th century Hong Kong.)
‑ There is only so much wealth: when one person gains, it's at the expense of another. (False, a voluntary exchange between two parties won't take place unless both believe they will benefit.)
‑ Free enterprise means the rich exploit the poor. (False)
‑ Free enterprise is unstable. (False, government causes economic instability.)
‑ The l9th century was one of exploitation of the masses by the robber barons of Wall st. who conned Main st., bled midwestern farmers, and fleeced immigrants.
(False, the standard of life for the common man rose dramatically, the number of farmers rose, as did their property values, the flood of im­migrants persisted, charity and private education flowered, and libraries and cultural activities grew significantly.)
‑ The Depression was cause by free enterprise.
(False, it was caused by the government.)
‑ The Depression meant government intervention was necessary.
(False, price supports caused surpluses, price ceilings caused scar­cities, and the minimum wage caused unemployment.)
‑ Government regulations are needed to protect the consumer.
(False, regulations have brought shoddy postal service, poor elementary and secondary schooling, and poor long distance train service. Little or no government involvement brings better products, like appliances, shopping centers, and cars.)
‑ A centrally planned economy is best. (False, the socialist countries with this approach [India, China, and East Germany] have been far behind the capitalist countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and West Germany.)
‑ The energy crisis was caused by the oil industry, consumer waste, and OPEC. (False ‑ by government price controls.)
‑ Tariffs protect our industries from ‘unfair’ foreign competition. (False, they keep our industries from adjusting to world markets.)
‑ Improved working conditions over the past 200 years are due to unions. (False ‑ they are due to the free market)
‑ When unions have won higher wages, everyone has benefited.
(False, the number of jobs affected has dropped, the price of the product has gone up, and the wages of the rest of the workers have drop­ped.)
‑ Equal opportunity somehow means equal outcome. (Nonsense)
‑ Equal outcome is a worthy socialistic ideal.
(False, such efforts brought New York City to the brink of bank­ruptcy, brought less production and efficiency in the U.S., a 25% drop in the employment of senior males, and a rise in crime and welfare. In England, such efforts caused lower production and efficiency, and the emigration of some of its best trained citizens.)
‑ The high unemployment rate of black teenagers is due to discrimina­tion. (False ‑ it's due to minimum wage)
‑ Public education should be untouchable.
(False, it's a monopoly which needs to be opened to competition.)

Developments have borne out Friedman's views: deregulation has benefited consumers, the capitalistic U.S. had a far stronger recovery after the '82 recession than socialistic Europe, socialism is retreating, and communism is in decline.
Our liberal media might balance their coverage with conservative views like these.


Discovering Thomas Sowell

It was also a new experience to run across the ideas of Thomas Sowell, a noted black conservative. They are profound, but mostly surprising is that we rarely hear such things. I summarize them:

‑ The U.S. is being hindered by the growth of the two classes that brought about the decline of China in the l6th century - intellects and bureaucrats.
- Intellects are anti‑military, anti‑business, and anti‑establishment. They seek ‘social justice’ with no concern for cost effectiveness. They feel years of book learning make ‘experts’ whose modern, sophisticated methods are paramount. The layman's simple, traditional methods are portrayed as archaic and irrelevant.
‑ The methods intellects have supported for handling children since the mid 60s have brought unprecedented rises in delinquency, teen suicide, teen pregnancy, and a drastic drop in school performance. Parents have been blamed for delin­quent youth, when it was the intellects who, through the law and schools, took more and more decisions out of the hands of parents.
‑ We have been told poverty causes crime, but during the depres­sion, we never had the crime we have now.
‑ Minority problems have been described as matters of color, ignoring the element of ‘class.’ When new working class immigrants move into a neighborhood, the older middle class moves out. This happened when the old Anglo‑Saxons fled the new Irish, the old Germans fled the new Jews, and the old Blacks fled the new Poles and new Italians.
‑ I.Q. tests have been described as ‘racially biased.’ Not so. Test scores correlate with advancement. As of l930, any number of Europeans ethnic groups in the U.S. had low I.Q. scores. As those groups rose economically and socially, their scores rose.
‑ We've been told the condition of blacks is due to racism. We're not told West Indian blacks in the U.S. have an average income 44% higher than American blacks, twice as many professionals, and rates of unemploy­ment and fertility below the national average.
‑ Slavery has been credited with causing the disintegration of black families. However, these families throughout slavery and afterward were male‑headed and two‑parented. It has been welfare that has ravaged families by subsidizing male desertion.
‑ It is said the high rate of black teenage unemployment is due to racism and discrimination. Not so. Their unemployment rate was l/5th in the 50s what it was in the 70s. Its rise was due to the rise in the minimum wage.
‑ We've been told busing is a way to promote integration, yet it is opposed by every segment of the population.
‑ We are told quotas in hiring and college admissions is a way of improving the status of minorities, yet this is opposed by the Voting Rights Act and by every regional, educational, and income group studied by the Gallup Poll.
‑ We are told discrimination holds back minorities, yet the Japanese and Jews advanced most when most discriminated against.
‑ Previous to the mid‑60s, not one prison warden had a college degree. By the mid‑70s most had advanced degrees. Murders in prison tripled, gangs in prison gained more control of daily life and of the more frequent riots, and attacks on guards rose, as did their turnover.
‑ Trying to eliminate poverty has led to more dependency on welfare, while jobs have gone begging.
‑ Price supports have brought surpluses and price controls have brought scarcities.
‑ In education the cost per student went up while performance went down. The number of students went down; the number of administrators went up. Sex education was started to combat venereal disease and teen age pregnancy, yet both went up.
At the college level, learning was sacrificed in the rush to fill classrooms (to get federal money). Ill‑prepared minority students were recruited and eventually half flunked out. (One, recruited for his athletic ability, couldn't read a menu.)
We need to hear more such views.

Through Friedman, Sowell, Banfield, and others it became clear to me what the free market could do for the poor and society as a whole.


What The Free Market Wants

Those who believe in the free market claim, and can usually prove, that it provides the most benefits for the most people. Their advice is:
Education
- Privatize the management of public schools, through vouchers.
- Admit students on the basis of ability, not color, nor athletic ability.
- Group students according to achievement, not age.
- Hire teachers for ability, not creden­tials.
- Pay schools on the basis of how much they educate.
- Let parents choose which school to send their kids to. Let them teach their kids at home.
Foreign affairs
- ‘Trade, not aid’
- Show how capitalism intertwines the economies of countries and lessens the chance of war.
- Show that capitalism promotes political stability, which is basic to attracting investment. Capitalist countries progress more quickly than others. The people inside authoritarian coun­tries learn of this and press their govern­ments for more capitalism.
- Promote capitalism inside authorita­rian countries. This brings greater economic freedom, which makes citizens want more political freedom.
- Show how capitalism has helped Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan.
- Show the damage caused by socialism.
Health
- Let the market bring down the costs.
- Explore the usefulness of the unlicensed health clinics used by the poor.
- Allow nurses, when qualified, to treat patients. Allow dental hygienists, when qualified, to work on teeth.
Housing
- Phase out rent control.
- Allow urban homes­tead­ing and cheaper, basic housing.
- Privatize public housing.
Labor
- Allow right to work, work at home, and automation.
- Reduce or phase out the minimum wage. Then wages would seek their natural level. This would pull down union wages and save consumers great amounts of money.
- Allow many of the working class to leave school at l4 if they have jobs, as it is their orientation to go to work and start a family earlier than middle and upper classes youth. [Laws requiring the 11th and 12th grades were supported by unions to keep the young from competing for jobs].
- Hire competence, not credentials nor color.
- Let­ employers decide when to retire workers.
- Show how the decline of unions has helped the country.
Minorities
- Show how capitalism helps minorities who are underrepresented politically by giving them economic power and representation.
‑ Phase out the minimum wage to create thousands of jobs.
Privatization
- Show the success of private management of fire depart­ments, parks, transportation, mail, schools, hospitals, and chari­ties.
- Promote private justice through ‘rent-a-judge’, mediation, and arbitra­tion.
- Privatize regulation. Private inspectors would bring order to the chaos of local, state, and federal codes. A manufac­ture would choose among private inspectors [like Under­writers Laboratories which inspects electrical equipment]. The private inspector would be more honest as his company is liable for mistakes. To avoid penalties or loss of business, the company would have to do a good job. The public would get the benefits of high technology and life-saving drugs made safe by private inspectors; not what we have now ‑ high cost public regulation with no sense of safety, and in some areas, a lot of bribery.
Social programs
- Phase out the minimum wage to create thousands of jobs for mental patients, runaways, drop­outs, delin­quents, derelicts, addicts, minorities, refugees, students, and the retard­ed, aged, and handicapped. As former governor of Calif. Pete Wilson said, ‘The best social program is a job.’
- Consider setting welfare payments below the wage of the lowest worker. Then they would have reasons to look for work. (This was done in l9th century England.)
- Require those on welfare to work part or full time to ‘earn’ the money they receive.
These three steps would help the poor more than anything. by making them more respon­sible for themsel­ves. There would be fewer youths with free time and no work habits to fall into crime. Service would improve as people would have to be more con­scien­tious.
- Let social agencies make a profit. This would bring better management.
- Let the homeless settle next to dumps, where they could use cast-off mater­ial for building shan­ties.
- Find out why some prisons are almost self-sufficient.
- Find out how immigrants pass our poor.
- Show how capitalism makes the disadvantaged responsible, and how socialism does not.
U.S. economy
- Show how where less government involvement promotes better goods and services, like appliances, shopping centers, and cars. - Show where more government in­volvement causes poor goods and services: shoddy postal service, poor elementary and secon­dary schooling, and poor long distance train service.
- Phase out tariffs. This would lower prices and force in­dustries to face the realities of the international market.
- Reduce the capital gains tax in the U.S. [highest in the modern world].
Misc
- Show how the free market could probably alleviate the:
nursing shortage, water shortage, solid waste disposal problems, protec­tion of wildlife, cost of medical care, cost of in­surance, illegal immigration, lack of science and math teachers, drug abuse, ‘amateur’ sports in college, etc.
- Deregulate, lower taxes, cut back government.
- In farming, phase out government involvement, as price supports have brought surpluses and price controls have brought scarcities.
- Allow paralegals, where qualified, to do the work of lawyers.

Most government functions were handled by the private sector at the turn of the century. Returning to this would break up public monopolies. It would utilize people who are less credentialed but often more able (as is done in private schools).
All of this is opposed by bureaucrats and unions as it threatens their jobs and turf. It's also opposed by many liberals in the media and academia who are leery of profit and feel solutions should come from government.


A freer market would mean changes in the

Minimum Wage

(Earlier version in the SAN DIEGO UNION, 7/5/89)

We have been told that when the minimum wage was raised, it was done out of ‘decency, humanity, and compas­sion.’ But who wanted it raised?
- Unions, because the higher it is, the higher the wages they can bargain for.
- Politicians, as it gained them votes and
- Misguided liberals, who need to be reminded that­­:

- A person's first job is for learning work habits (following instructions, being prompt, dependable, alert, courteous, etc). There are many people who need these. They should have the right to offer their services at any wage whereve­r (as long as safe).
- A lot of people are not worth minimum wage (being unskilled and inexperienced). If a person isn't, he doesn't find work and the public doesn't get his services. With fewer such openings and less competition for them (due to welfare), service has declined. ‘You can't get help’ because the minimum wage priced it out of the market (and welfare made it pointless).
- Minimum wage is unfair. It isn't adjusted for tips, student and marital status, training, the cost of living, piecework, etc. The government can't make these adjustments; only the free market can.
- The higher the minimum, the less business has to spend for train­ing and fringe benefits, and thus the fewer jobs it can provide. Thus fewer deliverymen, parking lot atten­dants, laundry attendants, movie ushers, gas station attendants, caddies, fruit pickers, dish­washers, elevator operators, baby sitters, nannies, cowboys, and domestics. One raise of the minimum caused 70% of the res­taurants to cut their hours, 48% to cut workers, 28% to auto­mate, and 90% to raise prices. This is more critical in small businesses, as they are more marginal; and critical to the economy, as small business is where most of the new jobs and companies are created.
- For every l0% rise in the minimum, unemployment rises 3%, mostly among the handicapped, part time workers, minorities, and teens - especial­ly black teens. (Their unemploy­ment rate was below that of white teens before the minimum wage was significantly raised.) When a state raises its minimum, it's less attrac­tive to investors.
- When the minimum goes up, employers automate (which hurts the poor), other wages go up, prices go up (which hurts the poor), but produc­tion does not go up. This contributes to inflation, a less competitive posi­tion for the U.S., more companies moving abroad, and more support for the under­ground economy - like hiring illegal aliens off the books.
- We're told raising the minimum is to help the poor, but minimum wage workers that might be the heads of households are less than l% of the work force. Most people making minimum wage are not poor.
- The minimum wage puts out of work those that need it most: mental patients, runaways, drop­outs, delinquents, substance abusers, refugees, the aged, the retarded, and the thousands of idle youth. Most of these need the esteem and work habits that comes from a job, no matter what the wage.
Phasing out the minimum wage would cause training, benefits, service and the number of jobs and hours of work to go up; and it would cause prices, infla­tion, unemployment, and welfare to go down. It would get many of the young involved in the real world at an earlier age, teach them work habits and the link between effort and reward, and keep them busy. This might do more to reduce crime than any other measure.
Phasing out minimum wage would help thrift shops, junkyards, recyclers, and city dumps - low wage workers could fix much of what we throw out. Some immigrants and others are ingenious at this (and it would reduce our landfills.)

Let's not distort the issue with emotional talk about the minimum not supporting a family. That's not its purpose nor really the case. Let's not raise it. Let's talk about phasing it out, lowering welfare benefits, and increasing workfare so people would have every reason to work at any wage. If these were done, the free market would perform wonders at that level. It pays people what they are worth and gives them every reason to progress.


A free market means:

Privatization

With budget squeezes, government agencies have been turning work over to the private sector and the results have been remarkable as of the 90s.

Housing Tenant management of public housing in one location raised rent collections l05%, cut vacancy rates l3%, cut administrative costs 60%, crime 75% and teenage pregnancy and welfare dependency 50%. In other cities the same arrangement cut vacancy l8%, robbery 77%, and crime 66%.
Parks Some have become self‑sufficient.
Transit 300 transit systems contract their services saving
l0% ‑ 50%.
Fire One fifth of Arizona's cities contract with a private firm for about a third the national cost. This has brought better service and lower insurance rates.
Education Many private schools with l/5th to l/2 the budget of public schools consistently outperform public schools.
Health The growth of profit hospitals has caused non‑profit hospitals to be more efficient by limiting charity care, increasing collections, and reducing staff.
Justice There is a rent‑a‑judge arrangement in Calif. which is fast and takes some of the load off the courts.
There is ‘mediation’ in many states which handles cases in 2‑3 weeks instead of the usual 47 months. It's not as good as trial justice, but it's faster, cheaper, and offers greater access. Since it's voluntary, clients are usually more satisfied. Settling matters this way prevents major legal problems.
Mail Contracting rural mail to thousands of private carriers brought savings of up to 2/3rds. The success of UPS and Federal Express is well known.
Sports The '84 Olympics were handled by the private sector with excellent results and brought a great surplus of money.
Travel Lower rates and more ticket outlets.
Local gov. 73% savings on janitorial work and 42% on refuse collection.
Federal gov. Bidding saves 20%
Regulation The private sector regulate some electrical equipment (through Underwriters Laboratories). This could be extended. A manufacture would choose among private inspectors and have his work inspected at his convenience, which would save money. He would pay for the inspection and pass the cost on to the consumer.
The private inspector would be more honest as his company is liable. To avoid penalties or loss of business, the company would have to do a good job.
Private inspectors would bring order to the chaos of different local, state, and federal codes. The public would get safe products faster, like life‑saving drugs. It would get the benefits of high technology made safe by private inspectors, not what we have now ‑ high cost regulation with no sense of safety, and in some areas, a lot of bribery.

Other countries As of l993, 29 of Africa's poorest countries had sold 5% of their operations to the private sector. After England sold Jaguar, sales doubled, l000 jobs were added, and the company made a profit.

Most government functions were handled by the private sector at the turn of the century. Returning to this would break up public monopolies. It would utilize people who are less credentialed but more able (as private schools do).
It is opposed by bureaucrats and unions as it threatens their jobs and turf. It's also opposed by many liberals who are suspicious of profit and tend to think solutions should come from government.

Liberal ideas have contributed greatly to the decline of

C. Values

The Decline

As a former social worker, teacher and political aide, I think many of our problems can be traced to a decline of values since the mid‑60s. Before then people were quiet in theaters and libraries; people didn't disturb others as much with loud radios. There wasn't as much public profanity; movies didn't have to be rated, nor Halloween candy checked. Graffiti wasn't exhibited as art; and drunks, runaways, and bums were dealt with firmly. There wasn't neighborhood watch. There weren't live‑in guards nor metal detectors at schools, nor as much gam­bling, pornography, and drugs.
There weren't as many rock concerts getting out of hand, nor young kids involved with drugs, alcohol, and weapons. College kids didn't pull off girls bathing suits during Easter break. College professors didn't date nor sleep with their students, nor did cops with civilians. The suicide rate for those under l5 was a third less, as was the number of girls under l5 who had sex.
The number of kids in single-parent homes was less than half of what it is. People in institutions didn't have so many rights they abused themsel­ves, fellow patients, and staff. People had more respect for teachers and police who had more authority and less burn out.
People had less, but were happier and more hopeful. They led more wholesome lives like ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ and ‘Happy Days.’ Since then there has been a great slide in six areas.
1 Sex Too much titillation ‑ each year in the media, more bosoms, rears, ‘naughty’ poses, teases, suggestive movements and comments. On cable TV, our young people can hear all the profanity and sounds of hard core porn and catch glimpses of it through scrambled images.
2 Work We are told: menial work is undignified; assembly line work is unforgivable; the laboring man is abused; capitalism exploits people; every wage should support a family; there are no jobs for the poor (yet poor immigrants find them); job security is a right; something is wrong when both parents have to work; and something is terribly wrong if the present generation won't have more than the past one.
What's been the result this type of thinking? Unions for a long time were getting more wages for less work; jobs have gone begging while we deported illegal aliens eager to work; people don't take the pride in their work they used to; it's hard to get good help; service has declined; and some people in the ghetto laugh at the idea of regular work.
3 Crime The rise has to be traceable to less discipline, responsibility, punishment, and respect for authority, property, and people. Many young people haven't learned these.
They've been kept out of work by the minimum wage, welfare, unions, and child labor laws. Some in their mid-20s have never held a job.
They are spoiled and immature. They’ve been told life owes them thrills. Their crimes are more violent with less remorse; and this is excused by social workers, mouthing psychobabble. Crime is blamed on poverty, but even during the depression we didn't have this much crime. Criminals have more rights and police have less power. Police even have trouble stopping loud stereos.
4 Education
We have seen the feel-good permissiveness of open classroom, grading fads, snap courses, open enrollment, dumbed down texts, no dress codes, social promotion, and far less discipline. An issue was made of spanking a student with a ping pong paddle. A ‘no pass, no play’ case was taken to the supreme court. Little wonder 4l% of the teachers Los Angeles wouldn't chose teaching if starting over.
Some teachers fear for their safety. Students graduate functional­ly illiterate, and colleges and employers have to make up the difference.
5 Poverty It persists because many of the poor are paid not to work, the definition of poverty has been expanded, and social ‘scien­tists’ have hundreds of excuses for the poor. Great efforts and sums of money were spent on the War on Poverty in the 60s with few results; yet we are constantly told we didn't do enough.
6 Drugs We consume 60% of the world's drugs. This must have some connection to the decline of: restraint, prudence, foresight, thrift, moderation, deferred gratification, facing reality, resolving one's problems, and getting pleasure the natural way. It's fly now, pay later. Take a pill, be young forever, the fast lane, no one's responsible.

The decline of values is worst for the poor and minorities. They used to get ahead through hard work, family teamwork, and hope. Nowadays they are told the government owes them a living, slums are someone else's fault, they are victims of class, economi­cs, and race. This relieves them of respon­sibility. Many are of them are fatalistic to begin with; lower values are the last thing they need.

What can we do about the decline?
1 Sex We could drastically reduce the amount of titillation. Sex education should point out how sex has been cheapened by the media. It should stress restraint, modesty, wholesomeness, and responsibility.
Penalties for sexual harassment and misconduct should be increased.
2 Work We should talk less about a day's pay and more about a day's work. We should never disparage menial work. It's the way many people make a living.
We should work toward the freest economy as it provides the most jobs and rewards the best workers. This means reducing tariffs, capital gains tax, regulations, licensing, union power, and minimum wage. The latter would create thou­sands of first jobs for teens. This would teach work habits, build respon­sibility, and reduce crime. Young people under l8 should be allowed to work in the trades, and those under l4 should be allowed to work part time.
3 Crime We could start with quiet in libraries and theat­ers, no public profanity, boom boxes, verbal abuse, threats, nor panhan­dling. Runaways, alcoholics, and mental patients could be dealt with firmly. We could put less stock in psychology and hold people accountable for their behavior regardless of their poverty, alcoholism, addiction, or other ‘diseases’. Court backlogs could be cut through ‘private justice’.
4 Education School choice and privatization could bring better and more practical education through dress codes, discipline, parental involvement, tougher grading, career counseling for l/3rd the cost.
5 Poverty We could compare our poor to poor immigrants, who, with limited English, have been successful. We could get information from those abused by the poor: landlords, merchants, employers, creditors, etc. We could realize: ‑ the poor are not ‘oppressed’ or ‘trapped,’ ‑ discrimination hasn't held back blacks from the Caribbean, ‑ poverty doesn't excuse crime, alcohol, addiction, gambling, promiscuity, illegitimacy, and child and wife abuse, ‑ the poor have been hurt by some social programs (guaranteed income, negative income tax, minimum wage, welfare, graduated income taxes, and ‘spread‑the‑work’ schemes). We could consider England's policy in the l9th century of setting of welfare beneath the lowest wage. This would give the poor every reason to look for work. We could avoid job quotas, charity, subsidies, and preferential treatment; and instead promote, self‑reliance, work, education, business experience, and saving.
6 Drugs We could close ‘head shops’ and prohibit portraying drugs in a favorable light. We could promote drug testing, and penalize users.

What can we do in a general sense about these six areas? We can stop apologizing for being adults and for traditional values. We can stop relieving everyone of responsibility. We can stop claiming: problems are ‘diseases’, everyone is a ‘vic­tim’, everything is ‘complex’, and any firmness violates someone's ‘rights’. We can cut back on self‑pity, introspection, and psychology. We can cut down on cheat­ing, violence, and drugs in sports. We can show how success is due to traditional values.

Liberal thinking has contributed to


Our Growing Self‑pity

On one hand we draw inspiration from heroes; on the other, we look for reasons to give up. On talk shows and in advice columns, we are told: a job transfer brings ‘pain’, and moving to another country means ‘cultural shock.’ Being ‘thrown’ out of work is ‘traumatic’, and standing in an unemployment line brings ‘the stigma of a rape victim’.
The media wallow in doom. They tell us inflation is bad, then deflation is bad; the strong dollar is bad, then the weak dollar; higher oil prices are bad, then lower. Unemployment and inflation make up a ‘misery index’. (Why get out of bed?)
Budget cuts are an ‘assault’ on blacks and the poor, which will cause malnutrition. Canceling school breakfasts will ‘tear the fabric of family life’. The poor can't go a week without meat. Living in a garage stigmatizes a child, causing his grades to drop. Not having a phone is a tragedy. There are ‘few incentives for the poor to give up drugs’. (Throw in the towel.)
A raise in fees of $l00/yr at community colleges is a ‘threat to education’. ‘Withdrawal’ from heavy TV watching is ‘painful’; moving to another house is ‘traumatic’; and cloudy days send people to their therap­ists.
Even good times are bad: yuppies have to ‘cope with the stress of success’ and lottery winners suffer from ‘post‑jackpot depression syn­drome’.
People think that since things aren't as easy as before, the American dream is dead. We've never had it so bad. On any day of the week we're victims of the rich, the poor, government, labor, big business, or the media.
Doomsayers run down our economic system (which pays their high salaries). They run down the country (but are in no hurry to leave). No mention of the immigrants who sacrifice to get here and take ‘menial’ work, no mention of those among the poor who are happy, no mention of the well-adjusted majority.
We only think we have more stress today. Life is basically not more stressful or complex. Discontent, despair, and failure at times are normal and healthy. Being unhappy when the circumstances warrant it, is a mark of good health.
We don't need self‑pity. It's useless and it's an escape from respon­sibility. #


So end the essays I could group in some sort of chronological order. (They are negative, but they show what to avoid.) I continue to write and sometimes speak on these subjects - the journey continues.


Appendix -- - - - - - - - - -

LIBERAL CONSERVATIVE


Intellects are usually right ........................... false
The media and the colleges present balanced views ...... False,
they are predominantly liberal.
An ideal world is possible ................. naive.
Since it's not ideal, blame whatever's old ..... nonsense.
If old is bad, new is good .................. nonsense.
The old establishment is ‘guilty’ ............. is praiseworthy.
Blame or postpone traditional values ........... fatal.
People in olden days were simpletons ....... anything but.
The past is a burden .... It teaches wisdom, gained at great
sacrifice.
FDR and the ‘New Deal’ saved the country ...... false.
The 50s were dull and antiseptic ..... some of our best times.
The late 60s were a time of noble protest ... some of our worst
times.
The 80s were a time of greed ............. not really.
Venerate the young ................ they have their place.
Adults must understand youth ...... and visa versa.
These are new times ................ not necessarily.
People are different now .......... human nature doesn't change.
Generation gap ................. not among well‑adjusted people.
Individualism means greed .............. false.
The masses ........................ the individual.
Security ............................... rugged individualism.
Revolutionary reforms .................. evolutionary changes.
Change for the sake of itself .......... only when appropriate.
Liberals care more ........................ possibly.
Caring means emotion ................... not necessarily.
It means generous ..................... ‘ ‘
It means permissive .............. It often means strict. Matters are complex ....................... not necessarily.
People are not responsible for their behavior ... they are.
Life owes us a living ................. self‑reliance.
Good intentions are enough ............. naive.
Be positive ......................... be realistic.
School, work, & life should be fun, easy, and feel good ....
... partly.
Love is all you need ............ maturity is what you need.
Don't discuss negatives and they'll go away ... nonsense. Don't prohibit something or someone will try it .............
......... laws are a fact of life.
Never impose values ............... it depends on which.
Tolerate small stuff ....................... nip it in the bud.
More tolerant of panhandling, graffiti, profanity, sexual
titillation, gambling, prostitution, drugs, alcohol .................... less tolerant.
Authority is bad ..................... it's a fact of life.
Use a carrot .................... and a stick.
Punishment is vengeance .................... is justice.
Rehabilitate, don't punish ....... punishment is part of
rehabilitation.
Disciplining kids means you don't care about them ........
...... it means you do care.
Teachers, businessmen, cops, landlords should be semi‑social workers .................. should do their jobs lst.
Less emphasis on manners, honesty, good faith ........ more.
More rights for students, runaways, criminals, derelicts,
mental patients, the poor, etc. .......
......... the firmness of the past was better.
A day's pay ...................... a day's work.
Whites have a monopoly on prejudice ............ everyone has
prejudices about color, age, class, ethnicity, gender,
income, education, occupation, race, religion, accents,
lifestyles, etc.
Forced mixing (bussing, quotas) ............ voluntary mixing.
Don't judge people by their appearance ........ It tells a lot.

POLITICS
Government is good ..................... is a necessary evil.
Government is under taxed ............... is overspent.
Government must play a dominant role ............ False, as
proven by Hong Kong, and l9th century America.
The answer to problems is more government ........ The role of government in the U.S. has multiplied ten times in the last
fifty years, and we are worse off in many important ways.
Money solves problems .................. not necessarily.
More foreign aid ........ Aid promotes dependence, socialism, poverty, inefficiency, waste and resentment.
We shouldn't try to export democracy and capitalism ... we should

ECONOMICS
l9th century robber barons exploited the masses ... False, the
standard of living rose dramatically, charity and private education flowered, and libraries and cultural activities
grew significantly.
Capitalism is taking ...................... is giving.
Capitalism is a profit system ......... profit and loss.
Capitalism is best for the rich ........... is best for all.
It's inefficient ....... but far superior to other systems.
Capitalism caused the depression .......... The government did.
Thus government had to get more involved .......... false
The minimum wage is beneficial ................ harmful
Tax substantially .......................... the bare minimum
Graduated income tax .................. highly destructive
The trade deficit is bad ...................... false
Tariffs are beneficial ........................ false
Industrial policy .......................... free market
Price ceilings are beneficial ....... they cause scarcities Price supports are beneficial ....... they cause surpluses
Public utilities have to be monopolies ............... false
Automation means a loss of jobs ... and the creation of about as
many new jobs.
Licensing helps workers ........... False, it overpays some and
it lowers the number of jobs.
The government should create jobs ...... False, the private
sector is best at this.
Job security .............. your security is your skills etc.
Most jobs are created by big companies ............ by small.
Improved working conditions are due to unions ... to capitalism
When unions win higher wages, everyone benefits ..... False, the number of jobs drops, the price goes up, and the wages of
the rest of the workers drop.
A worker should be able to buy the product he makes ... no.
If new jobs don't pay much, something's wrong .. not necessarily.
Help labor .............. by deregulating.
Laws adding llth and l2th grades were passed to benefit teens.
... False, they were passed to protect union jobs from teens.
Since communism failed, Eastern Europe should try socialism .... ......... They should try capitalism.
Corporations have a social responsibility ... not to the extent we're led to believe.
Forgive student and foreign debts ...... that increases the burden on others.

CLASS
Social classes mean people are unequal ... equal but different.
Classes conflict ................... they complement each other.
Class lines are rigid .................... anything but.
Classes are determined by education, income and occupation ... ......... false, by interests, ability, and outlook.
Class means snobbery ..................... false.
Elites are bad ................... not when open to competition.
The upper class keeps out others ...... always room at the top.
It has more success and happiness ........ false.
If the rich get richer and the poor, poorer, something's wrong
........ not necessarily.
Everyone wants to get ahead .............. false.
The lower class is oppressed ............... is carried.
The lower class can be helped .............. false.
Equal opportunity will produce equal results ........... extremely naive.

The government should make everyone middle class .... nonsense.
Mixing classes and ethnic groups promotes ‘equality’ .... naive.

EDUCATION
Schools are the primary guides for kids .... families are.
Permissive .............. ....... firm.
Public education is a sacred cow ........ False, it's a monopoly
which should be opened to competition.
It's the cure for unemployment ........ False, most skills are
learned on the job.
It is the cure for poverty and slums ........... false
It can prepare the lower class for work and adulthood ......
...... false
Social promotion .................. nonsense.
Public education is the equalizer ........ False, it helps the upper class, and, after the 9th grade, hurts the lower class.
More money and staff help students ...... Both increased dramatically during the 60s and 70s and test scores fell.
Students are helped most by: experienced teachers, large budgets, small classes, compensatory education, desegregation, vocational education ....... False, they're helped most by
their attitude and their families.
A diploma should mean: social success, career, mental health. ...... False, it should prepare students for work or college.
College for all ................ for those interested.
Public colleges benefit everyone .............. False, they benefit the middle and upper classes who should pay for them.
You can never get too much education ....... false.
Education breeds compassion ................... False, it was highly educated people that caused both world wars,
eliminated 60 million people in Russia, and millions in
Cambodia and Vietnam.
Educating wardens was supposed to improve prisons ..... The opposite took place.


RACE
The U.S. is a melting pot .............. false, it's a salad bowl of ethnic groups and social classes.
Time erodes prejudice .................. false
Proximity breeds goodwill .............. false
Racial and religious tolerance in the U.S. was the realization of an ideal ........ False, it was acceptance of the fact no one group could suppress the others.
Discrimination is the main obstacle to minority advancement ........... False, the Japanese and the Jews progressed the
most when discriminated against the most.
Being black in the U.S. holds one back .. not blacks from the Caribbean.
Discrimination caused high black teenage unemployment ..... minimum wage caused it.
Job quotas, charity, subsidies, and preferential treatment help minorities ...... False, what helps them are: self‑reliance, work skills, education and business experience.

CRIME
Crime is due to poverty ............ False, even during the depression we didn't have the crime we have now.
Crime is due to lack of money, education, and opportunity ....... Then big cities should have less crime than rural
areas, but they have more.
Crime is the result of impulsiveness .......... False, criminals plan their crimes.
Black crime is a protest against whites ........ Not so; most
victims are blacks.
Riots are a legitimate form of protest .......... nonsense.
Knee-jerk forgiveness of crimes, debts ....... restitution.
Many criminals had bad childhoods ... as did their brothers who
did not choose crime.
Find the cause of crime ..... enforce the law.
A l7 yr. old criminal is a ‘child’ ....... is a teenager.

PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology is everything ................. is overrated.
Blame your folks ....................... you're responsible for
yourself.
Problems come from wrong thinking ........... nonsense.
Self‑expression whenever ..................... when appropriate.
Traditional values hamper relationships ...... they enhance them.
Getting fired is traumatic .................. not necessarily.
Flee stress and depression ............ they are part of life.
Avoid problems .................... confront them.
Instant gratification ............. nonsense.
It's hard to spoil a child ....... it's easy and disastrous.
Postpone maturity ................. nonsense.
Self‑pity when things go wrong ........... get on with life. Tough times can break you ......... or make you.
Mental patients are sick ..... many are l0% sick and 90% spoiled, immature, and irresponsible.
POVERTY
Anti‑poverty work is recent ..... It's existed for centuries.
There is a no dignity in being poor ... One's dignity doesn't
depend on one's income.
An income should be able to support a family ........ nonsense.
Wealth is money ... Wealth is morale, ingenuity, skills, and
capitalism.
The rich cause poverty ............. false
The rich exploit the poor .......... false
The rich get richer and the poor, poorer ....... False, both
progress proportionally.
The poor are isolated ........... less exposed, not ‘isolated’.
They are unhappy, trapped, and can't work. .... false.
They can't live without welfare and food stamps ..... half do.
The poor crave work ........... They're paid not to.
The poor can't find work ............. poor immigrants can.
Menial work is unacceptable ... False, it's the traditional route out of poverty, and it's vital to teenagers for
developing work habits.
Slums are hopeless for small business ........ not for
immigrants.
Slum conditions are the fault of ‘society’ ...... mostly of
slum dwellers.
Decent housing brings traditional values ........ the opposite.
Slums are hopeless ....................... not necessarily.
Banks & chain stores owe slums a branch ........ nonsense.
Have kids ............... wait till you can do it right.
Right to welfare ..... welfare benefits should be below the lowest wage so the poor would have every reason to look for work.
Help the needy .............. the deserving.
Be generous ................. meet them l/2 way.
The poor can leapfrog menial work with education and credentials
.......... Bad advice as every group that got ahead in the U.S. did so by taking menial work and working harder than the class above.
All social programs help .......... False: rent control creates
inequities and a housing shortage, guaranteed income hasn't worked, and welfare polarizes and breaks up families.
The poor shouldn't pay income taxes ........ nonsense.
Redistribute the wealth ............. create more to help all.
To redistribute it, soak the rich ..... suicide as they are the
manufactures and investors, and are the most productive.
Working with the poor radicalizes volunteers .... false.
Money will cure the slums ............. false.
Mix the slums with better areas ....... false.
A social agency should not make a profit ...... nonsense.
Outsiders have no right to impose middle class values on the slums ..... False. Such values are universal.


Traditional Values
Values are critical to any dis­cussion of poverty, crime, illegitimacy, drug abuse, riots, mental illness, or radicalism. People fall into these because they haven't developed solid values and maturity.

CONTEMPORARY VALUES TRADITIONAL VALUES

Psychology

- Blame your folks .................... responsible for yourself. - Traditional values caused today's problems ...... nonsense.
- Permissive ................................... firm.
- Self‑expression & assertion whenever ...... when appropriate.
- ‘Relationships’ are basic to progress .............. nonsense.
- Fires, floods, etc. require mental health teams .... nonsense.
- ‘Recovery’ from these is slow and painful ......... not necessarily.
- Getting fired is traumatic .............. not necessarily.
- Flee stress and depression ............ they are part of life.
- Problems are the result of wrong thinking ........... nonsense. - Feeling good comes lst .............................. nonsense.
- We're all victims ................................... nonsense


Education
- Teachers' lst concern is those at the bottom of the class ..
..... nonsense.
- Education is the cure‑all ......................... nonsense.
- Schools are the primary influence on kids ...... families are.
- School should mean: social success, guidance, mental health ........... should prepare one for work.
- Society owes everyone a college education ......... nonsense.


Poverty

- Society is wrong; the underdog is right ....... hardly.
- Poverty is unbearable .................. nonsense.
- Poverty is undignified ..... only in slum living and slum schooling.
- Entitled to minimum standards .......... to what one earns.
- Menial work is undignified .............. nonsense.
- Help all of the poor .............. help the deserving poor.
- Provide for them ....................... meet them l/2 way.


Misc.
- Generation gap .............. not among the well‑adjusted.
- Venerate the young .......... they have their place.
- Adults must understand youth, not visa versa .... nonsense.
- New ways and ideas are better .......... occasionally.
- Avoid problems .............. confront them.
- Self‑pity ................... get on with life.
- The fast lane ......... moderation, wholesomeness, prudence.
- Instant gratification ....... thrift, save, planning.
- Me first .................... the golden rule.
- Equal opportunity means equal results ................ absurd.
- Life owes one a living ................. self‑reliance.
- The government owes one a living ....... self-reliance.
- Security ............................... self‑reliance.
- Problems are ‘diseases’ ................ nonsense.
- People are not responsible for their behavior ... absolute nonsense.
- Rights ...................... responsibilities.
- More rights for students, runaways, criminals, derelicts, mental patients, the poor, etc. ........ fewer.
- Everything is complex ..... the principles involved are simple. - A day's pay ...................... a day's work.
- Business should provide more benefits .... fewer.
- Only positives ........................... nonsense.
Winning is everything .................. nonsense.
Everyone wins .......................... nonsense.
School, work, etc. have to be fun ...... nonsense.
Love is all you need ................... nonsense.
Don't forbid something or someone will try it .............
......... laws are a fact of life.
- More tolerant of gambling, pornography ....... less tolerant.
- Tolerance of sexual explicitness is a sign of maturity ... of poor taste.
- Titillation, lust .................... taste, modesty.
- Never impose values ......................... nonsense.
- Lower standards for the disadvantaged ..... that hurts them.
- Responsibility starts on top (the pol, soc, econ systems) ...... at the bottom (the person, family, community).
- Authority, discipline, and punishment are bad ............ nonsense.

Traditional values
Capitalism.
Less government - more privatization.
Responsibility (the most important).
Foresight (thrift, saving, planning).
Self-reliance (rather than a welfare state).
The golden rule (relia­bility, honesty, good faith, fairness, manners, respect for property, authority, elders, and ethnic groups).
Law and order, authority, discipline, punishment.
Family teamwork, hard work, diligence, modera­tion, restraint, whole­some­ness, modesty, self-respect, one's appearance, practical educa­tion, some censorship and conformity.

These became traditional because they worked. Respon­sibility is the most important and the one so much of our culture has been tried to duck since the mid 60s. Scratch a criminal, derelict, or addict and you'll find irresponsibility. Scratch those wallowing in self-pity on daytime talk shows and you find irresponsibility. Scratch a socialist and you'll find an idealistic ‘liberal’ taking respon­sibility from the in­dividual and the family and putting it on the government.
(A footnote: as much damage as liberals have done to traditional values, they must be given credit for changing some of them like:

- More openness about public figures instead of putting them on a pedestal.
- More openness about battered spouses, the gay world, addiction, child abuse, incest, abortion, euthanasia, impotence, single parenting, alternate lifestyles, birth control, intermarriage.
- More open-mindedness about premarital relations in long term, responsible relationships.
- More acceptance of ethnic diversity.
- More acceptance of separation & divorce.
- More rights for minorities, women, homosexuals, youth, the handicapped.
- More questioning of religion.
- Getting to the root of one's problem instead of ‘keeping it all in.’ #

Incomplete and dated lists
People

The far left
Jane Fonda & Tom Hayden in the 60s.
Jessie Jackson
Julian Bond

Liberals
ed asner
hodding carter
john chancellor
ramsey clark
barry commoner
alan cranston
mario cuomo
phil donahue
barney frank
j.k. galbraith
ellen goodman
mark green
michael harrington
gary hart
the kennedys
the clintons
michael kingsley
john lindsay
mcgovern
howard metzenbaum, senator
fritz mondale
daniel monihan
bill moyers
tip o'neil
robert reich
arthur schelsinger
pat schroeder
martin sheen
donna shalala
sargent shriver
paul simon, senator
dr. spock
dennis weaver
tom wicker
ray brady
walter cronkite
brian gumble
tom jerrel
bill moyers


Conservatives
george will
william f. buckley
William Safire
spiro agnew
pat buchanan
martin feldstein, economist
milton friedman - nobel laureate
gingrich - congressman
goldwater - former senator
jessie helms - senator
jack kemp
charlton heston - actor
sidney hook - writer
jeanne kirkpatrick - former ambassador to the un
arthur laffer - economist
richard nixon
robert novak - columnist
ronald reagan
richard perle - former assist? sec. of defense
senator phil graham
thomas sowell - economist
margaret thatcher
gasper weinberger - former secretary of defense
george will - columnist
walter williams - economist

The far right
phil crane - former congressman
howard phillips of the conservative caucus.
paul weyrich - of the free congress assoc?
richard viguiere – mass mailer
john schmitz - former congressman
Pat Buchanan
Phylis Schlafly
Bruce hershen­son
Rush Limbaugh

The religious right - Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell


Places ================================================

Liberal
New York City
Brookline, Mass.
Cambridge, Mass.
Georgetown section of Wash. D.C.
Univ. of Berkeley
Univ. of Michigan
San Francisco
Hollywood

Conservative
The South
Orange County, CA
Hillsdale College, MI




Publications =================================================

Liberal publications
Mother Jones
The Nation
New York Times
New republic
Village Voice
Wash Post
Los Angeles Times


Conservative or far right publications
American Spectator
American Opinion
Cato Journal
Commentary
Conservative Register
Conservative Digest
Freeman
Human Events
Inquiry
Insight
Liberty
Manchester Union Leader
Nat. interest
Nat. Review
New Leader
New Guard
Policy review
Public interest
Reason
Orange County Register’s editorial page
San Diego Union
The American Enterprise
The Washington Times
The Economist
Wall St. Journal’s editorial page
Weekly Standard

Conservative books with my comments
The Unheavenly City Revisited, by edward g. banfield - profound.
Free to Choose, by Milton friedman - tops.
Bright Promises, Dismal Performance, by Milton friedman.
Tyranny of the Majority, by Milton friedman.
Conscience of a Conservative, by barry goldwater.
Race and Economics, Pink and Brown People, by Thomas Sowell
Wealth and Poverty by george gilder
The Conquest of Poverty, by Henry Hazlitt




Think tanks =============================================

Liberal
Brookings Institute
Ford Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Council on Foreign Relations

Conservative
Am. Enterprise Institute
Bradley in Milwaukee
Cato Institute
Claremont Institute
Heritage Foundation
Hoover Institute
Hudson Inst.
Milbank ………………
Mt. States Legal Foundation
Olin Foundation
Reason Foundation
Smith Richardson Foundation


END


================================================== = = = = =

Al Garner garner@comline.com Lived in NY slums during SERPICO …… worked in welfare (in Har­lem), child neglect, drug abuse, juvenile detention …… domestic version of the peace corps (VISTA) …… taught Eng. …… worked on Capitol Hill during Watergate …… started home for mental patients (living with them for two years) …… landlord since ‘78 … … retired … … write (as a hobby) on social issues.

Credits
A Bad Neighborhood ORG. COUNTY NEWS l0/9/87
A Close Look at Mental Patients JOURNAL OF REALITY THERAPY Spg '83
Downward Mobility ORG. COUNTY REGISTER 8/23/87
How to Kill a Care Home ORG. COUNTY REGISTER l2/9/86
Job Hunting Tips PROFILE Fall '80
" " " ORG. NETWORK '92
Liberal Myths CRITIQUE Oct '87
"Low-life" THE FREEMAN 7/90 and 8 newspapers
Minimum Wage SAN DIEGO UNION 7/5/89
My Year in the Domestic Peace Corps SANTA FE REPORTER 2/l0/88
Our Growing Self-pity ORG. COUNTY REGISTER l2/l4/88
Parents of Mental Patients AM. MEDICAL NEWS 4/ll/86
Slums and the Solution POLICE TIMES Sep '86
" " " " (revised) ORG. COUNTY REGISTER 4/l2/87
Substitute Teaching ‑ the Pits. ORG. COUNTY REGISTER 2/3/88
Advice to the Poor THE BLACK ORANGE 7/94


© Copyright 2005 A. Garner - former social worker, teacher, political aide, landlord. All Rights Reserved.







Misc Essays

by Al Garner

14,000 words - wrong

1 Education

College Credit For THIS? 3 units for no effort. ll0
Substitute Teaching - the Pits ORG. COUNTY REGISTER 2/88 700
School in Poorest District Wasted Money 360
Published twice as letter to the editor, O.C. Register


2 Human nature

Downward Mobility ORG. COUNTY REGISTER 780
An Awful Traffic School 250
Add: americorps, both nimbys, religious scandals, hyper , japan, media?, car auction?, pro?,
But mh an val are also human nature

3 Mental health

Living With Mental Patients JOURNAL OF REALITY THERAPY
Parents of Mental Patients AM. MEDICAL NEWS, 4/ll/86
Let’s Shrink Mental Health from the bottom up.

4 Values
American Characteristics 835
Gambling as a Cancer 470
Pyramid games - they lure the greedy. 400
Premarital Sex and Maturity 320

5 Other

‘Profes­sionals’ - their failings 1140
Advice to immigrants 870
Americorps - idealistic 770
Beware of the hyper hostess 620
Expand the U.N. 250
In praise of homeowners associations 300
Japan bashing in ‘92 400
Media pitfalls 600
Not in my neighborhood 245
Religious scandals of ‘87 let to ed, L.A. Times 4/5/87 400
Terrible car auction 500
Why not rate social programs 380
Bungling Iraq 350


1 Education --------------------------



College Credit for This?
l35 words

From what I read, community colleges today are like they were in the early 80s when I took a writing class. Then the instructor suggested we buy two books, but few students did and no assignments were given from them. Some writing was assigned and almost anything could have used. It was gone over gently in class. If anyone had done a poor job, it was never brought up.
The classes were mostly discussion; there were few notes taken and no tests. I missed many classes and assignments and easily earned 3 units of credit. (I had worked harder in junior high school.)
A feel-good survey from the administration was taken; it was designed to elicit positive pabulum.
Compared to when I was in college in the early 60s, this course was a joke.



Substitute teaching

Org. County Register 2/3/88 760 words


I had taught two years in private schools and decided to substitute in public schools in 1974. I went through the paperwork hassle and then to the interview. I was told not to expect school to be the way it was when I was young (prophetic words).
My first job was at Dunbar in Washing­ton D.C., which years ago had an excellent reputation. The head office had an apathetic atmosphere, with the staff going through the motions. The bell rang for the first class and students traipsed in. Others stuck their heads in to make loud comments. I took roll with some difficulty and started a lesson getting minor cooperation. The lesson worked into liberal and conservative comparisons which they found interesting and said they wanted me back. The bell rang. There was a lot of jostling and fooling around between classes. Some students looked strung out on drugs.
In the next class there were hats on, eating, refusals to put out or stop snapping gum. I called the vice principal about some slouchers in back who wouldn't come up front. They were taken out and I went on with the same lesson as before with the same good results. However, their manners were so bad, I had to strain to get anything across.
The next class had bad actors ‑ loud and uncooperative. Only eight students, but seven wouldn't control themselves. The eighth would put her head down ‘asleep’ when it got loud. Things had been building up and I had had it. I began telling them how school used to be run. They hooted and hollered ‑ the gauntlet was down. We began a hot discussion. They wouldn't stop interrupting each other and me in this room of bad acoustics. We set some ground rules ‑ they would raise their hands. It didn't work. I would walk away or hold my hand up to show I wanted equal time, but they kept it up. Then it got racial, and, of course, whites were to blame.
Lunchtime in the loud and unsupervised cafeteria: we teachers had to almost yell to hear each other. Some looked as though they had been through the mill. (Slowly I began to feel the immense hopelessness I had felt in social work.)
The next time I was called to teach, it was at a Jr. Hi. in a run down neigh­borhood. The front doors had a prison look - metal with glass slits. The teacher in the next room told me to have the students write or it would be ‘over with’.
Two classes went tolerably well, then I had some problems and called the principal. She got so furious at the troublemakers, the veins on her neck stood out. (What job is worth that?)
During the lunch hour the teachers spoke of how male teachers had to physically handle some of the kids, how this generation was growing up without responsibility, and how everything was reduced to the lowest common denominator.
Final class: the students wouldn't do a thing ‑ big game. I called the vice principal as I was getting hot under the collar. He ejected five students, and he and I began a frank discussion with the students about discipline. They kept interrupting ‑ no self‑control. Eventually they brought up race; I said that could only account for 5‑10% of the problem. They talked of a different value system. I said the Black Muslims didn't put up with this, nor would any middle class blacks. They said such blacks were brainwashed. The day ended with some throwing rocks at me. I had to get two teachers to go with me to my car.

I taught another day in a wealthy white suburb ‑ much the same. Another time I started to substitute in another state. After l5 minutes of trying to take the roll, I quit. (There were teachers to take my place.)
All the years to become a teacher, all the taxes for a bankrupt system, all the kids losing valuable years, but most of all - all the panels, commissions, surveys, and court decisions ingeniously missing the point ‑ traditional values:

Responsibility (the granddaddy).
Foresight (thrift, saving, planning).
The golden rule (relia­bility, honesty, good faith, fairness, manners, respect for property, authority, elders, and ethnic groups).
Law and order, authority, discipline, punishment.
Self-reliance, family teamwork, hard work, diligence, modera­tion, restraint, whole­some­ness, modesty, self-respect, one's appearance, practical educa­tion, some censorship, some conformity.





School in Poorest District Wasted Money
340 words

I lived across from Midway City School in Westminster for l5 years. It closed in '93, but it's useful to note how it was mismanaged. It threw out desk/chair combinations, workbooks, a pull-down map, toys, bird houses, bulletin boards, games, dolls, records, teaching mat­erials, lumber, firewood, expensive door closers (which adorned my house), a file cabinet, and, on one occasion, hundreds of good textbooks. Lots of yard waste was thrown out, though this could have been used for compost which the school ground desperately needed. The heaters in two classrooms went on during the middle of the night, weekends, and holidays. The automatic lawn sprinklers weren't turned off during the wet seasons.
One Spring during a drought, the sprinklers were on every night for months. I made many calls, and it seemed to stop. But later the water was on twice a night, most of the week. I made more calls and it finally stopped. The school wasted money in these ways, yet sent its students door to door selling candy to raise money.
Often the sprinklers stuck, flooding some areas. Once l000 square feet were under water. Usually some sprinklers were partly blocked by grass, which wasted a lot of water. The grounds were a mix of soggy, dry, yellow, green, brown, barren, and sand. The parking strips were never watered. Parks and other schools maintained good lawns; the school never did.
Other matters were: broken glass on the grounds for months, litter, kids playing tackle football without padding after school, trash in front of a dumpster half the time, unswept sidewalks and driveway for months, expensive improvements when talking of selling the school, and no lights in the early a.m. almost every night - despite cases of arson next door and at a nearby jr. high.
I called and wrote school officials, school board members, politicians, the PTA, water officials, and the media, and got bureaucratic excuses, good inten­tions, patronizing, LONG-winded assurances, few results, and NO follow-up. (Private schools wouldn't dream of this. Vote for school vouchers.)
#









3 Human nature ---------------------

Downward Mobility

700 words

We have become used to thinking of the ‘disadvantaged’ as ‘victims;’ however, some of them have done everything to get where they are. I give you Betty:
This mother of 3, ages 7‑l2, has 4 years of college, claims to speak 5 languages, and has traveled the world. Her father was a high government official and most of her brothers and sisters are professionals. She has a number of good qualities, and there the fun stops.
She was investigated for child neglect, but beat it. She was evicted from one house. One visits her home and there might be a beat‑up car parked the wrong way or one abandoned in the drive. The front and back yards are usually a mess. A faucet drips making a puddle near the entrance. A smoke detector bleeps for months, needing a battery.
The inside looks like a cyclone hit. It's crowded with expen­sive furniture that was shipped at more than it was worth. Everything is stacked and strewn about. There is no place to put anything. The food is left out and spoils. The toothbrushes are in the same glass touching each other.
She asks people to work on things when there aren't the space, tools, light, manuals, or peace and quiet. When being told simple alternatives to repairs, she doesn't listen.
Once she had two families living there plus an illegal alien. Usually it's her family, a nephew or two, a roomer, and some down‑and‑outer referred from a church.
Since her place is a disaster, the only people who stay there are ner‑do‑wells. She cooks and cleans up after them. Some sponge off her, break things, get into the mail, don't take messages, run up the phone bill, take drugs, steal things, and move out, owing her rent. She finds another who causes trouble for a while, moves out, and then she finds another as bad. She doesn't learn.
She is always late, overwhelmed, and unable to find things. She got a ticket, went to pay it, got lost, arrived late, and found out it was the wrong day. When a free washer and dryer were offered, she turned them down as they include installation.
The kids and the roomers run her ragged. Her health and morale break down periodically, and she looks old for her years.
She has no health nor car insurance, yet spent $250 for an answering machine, $400 to bail out a relative (not her responsibility), $l800 for a computer, sent her kids to private schools, and took them across the country. When the family got back, they didn't have a ride from the airport; when they got home, they had to break a window to get in.
Her messy car breaks down a lot. Her phone and table manners are bad, she uses profanity and ethnic slurs around neighborhood kids, and she dumps refuse illegally.
She yells at her kids all day, lets them stay up late, and can't get them up in the morning. Her adult video tapes are out where they can see the labels. Apparently the teenage nephews have seen some and stolen others. One of them, l6, had her l2 yr. old boy out till 2:00 AM. The latter calls her ‘mommie’, won't study nor lift a finger to help, yet she ‘waits’ on him at meal time.
For all of the above, she has a thousand excuses: she is the victim, not the cause, the mess is temporary, the neighbors are low class - not her, others don't know how to handle roomers - she does, other homes are depressing - not hers, people abuse her - not visa versa [even though they do a lot for her], they are ‘cheapskates’, and she thinks she excels at everything,. She has it all backwards.
The list goes on: impulsive, nervous, irresponsible, unreliable, dumps her troubles on complete strangers - life owes her a living. You feel sorry for her relatives, neighbors, and especially her kids, but not for her.
The public needs to know there are people like this. If they are helped, it should be under the strictest conditions. #



Traffic School

230 words


Long ago I went to traffic school in an affluent part of my county and it was all right. However, more recently I went in a less affluent part and it was dreadful. The lst session was marked by nail-bitters, knuckle-crack­ers, pickers, figiters, scofflaws, and smart-alecks. Many had to ‘test’ the instructor to see if he drank, bent the law, was hypocriti­cal, etc. There was a lot of joking about booze, drugs, and sex. I thought I was in junior high.
At the second session I moved to the other side of the room. Same thing: scratchers, change-jinglers, ballpoint clickers, and one jiggling his leg so much 6 chairs down, I could feel it. Two talked loudly of going l30 on a motorcycle. Cool, man. Others in the front had their feet up on the paneling. The instructor from the Hiway Patrol did nothing about it or the talking during his lecturing. He tried too hard to be a good guy and to entertain us. He was loud, slammed the table, yelled, ribbed someone continually, put on a lot of acts, and took forever to get to the point. He turned the volume up too high on the video. At the end, when we were dying to leave, he had to get cute about the names his couldn't read or pronounce.
I don't want another ticket because I never want to spend eight hours with such awful people.




4 Mental health ---------------



Living With Mental Patients

l830 words

Most people would be surprised to learn what mental (not retarded) patients are like. I started and ran a home for them (men in their 20s and 30s). I lived with them for two years. It took a lot of time, discussion, and soul‑searching to appreciate their characteris­tics. I concluded they were l0% ‘crazy’ and 90% spoiled, immature, and irresponsible.



I Normal pleasant, aware, non‑criminal.


‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑ ‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
II Immature V Irresponsible

Self‑centered .......................... selfish
Past dependence on folks ................ cling to folks.
Low self‑esteem ......................... refuse to take pride.
Unmotivated ............................. lazy
Rigid ...............
Unassertive .........
Overly sensitive
Resentful
Unhygienic

III Mental

Identity problems, buried
emotions, isolated, private } little effort to logic (the ‘crazy’ part) resolve these.


IV Spoiled

^ ^


(view of professionals) (view of non‑professionals)


I Normal

They had little interest in criminal activity; and were basically nonviolent. Their use of soft drugs and alcohol was minor; and, while they abused property, they didn't steal it.
They were more normal than you'd think. Although they seemed unaware of things, they were. When it looked as if there was going to be a fight in the house or when a historic event appeared on TV, they emerged from the woodwork to watch and later drift off as if nothing had happened.
Many were nice, gentle, even ingratiating people, who could have gone far on personality alone.

II Immature

They didn't think they had much to offer, and thus looked for things to come to them. Thus they thought too much of the staff and not enough of themselves. They would take up the staff's time with matters they could have solved among themselves. They could be easily dominated and manipulated by the staff; they wouldn't stick up for themselves.
Some of them and their parents were far too close; you couldn't get them apart with a crowbar.

III Mental

Most had one or more emotion deeply buried and eating away. Many didn't know where they fit with their families or society. As they lived in their private worlds, they were the world's loneliest people ‑ their own Robinson Crusoes. One got so lonely at home, he called wrong numbers just to talk to someone.
One believed the TV could read his mind, another believed everyone was trying to run him off the road, and others thought they were in touch with spirits. These mental factors are the stuff of Hollywood; but, while often touching and important in some ways, they were a minor part of their behavior. This is important to keep this in mind as too often mental illness is viewed as total craziness. It's not; after you get to know them and their subtleties, their behavior is fairly understandable. The craziness is minor; most of their behavior is depressed and withdrawn.

IV Spoiled

It was amazing how spoiled they were. Many didn't know how to hang laundry, mow lawns, mop floors, wash dishes, or other chores, and ... were not about to learn! If they wouldn't do these, they wouldn't do all the other ‘normal’ things [hygiene, grooming, manners, exercise, laundry, money management, hobbies, etc.]. No wonder they were depressed.
I see this as the first major clue. It is probably not found in psychology books because of the field's aversion to ‘judge.’ It's impor­tant as it takes some of the mystery out of the work.
Patients felt life was supposed to come to them. When it didn't, they resented it and spent time twisting their ideas to fill the void. They had far too much time for this. If they had been required to be busy, it would have helped. Work of any kind would have been a godsend; but amazingly, their counselors told them they weren't ‘ready.’



V Irresponsible

To speak negatively about patients is to stick one's neck out in the mental health field; but most of their behavior was extremely irresponsible. When this came up, social workers had a thousand excuses:
- If a patient didn't want to get out of bed, he had a ‘problem’ with this.
- If he didn't wash or bathe, there was a ‘mental’ factor.
- If he didn't want to do chores ‑ ‘authority problem.’
- He wouldn't go to his day program ‑ ‘withdrawal.’
- Nor take his pills ‑ ‘rebellion.’
- He was bored ‑ ‘lack of stimulating environment.’
- He fidgeted constantly ‑ ‘agitated’ (or 20 cups of coffee?).
- He was un­cooperative ‑ because we hadn't ‘under­stood,’ been ‘compas­sionate,’ or been a ‘friend.’
- He wouldn't cooperate with his parents ‑ ‘delusional system.’
(It got so you couldn't look at him sideways without setting off another ‘neurosis.’)
Once you got past the excuses, you could see patients were ir­respon­sible: One damaged a lawn mower. Was he sorry for his part? No. Was he sorry it happened? No. Another wrecked a hammer. Was it his fault? No, it was the hammer's fault.
Other examples: reading in the front room on Halloween with the house lit and not answering the door when kids knocked; sneezing into the refrigerator; coughing on clean dishes; revolting table manners; never using ‘please, thank you, or excuse me’; and one patient's dumping a pot of pudding down the drain in front of the rest of us because he needed the pot. In these ways they ‘walked on’ each other and everything the home stood for. They did these things and wondered why they didn't have friends. There was no excuse for such behavior if they had pride; but pride or shame meant responsibility.

They fled responsibility with their ‘games’:
‑ I can drive a car (but not make a bed).
‑ You're treating me like a kid (though I'm acting like one).
‑ I'm sorry (but not enough to make up for what I did).
‑ The hospital, my folks, or my pills caused my troubles. (hardly).
‑ My Dr. doesn't want to hear from you. (nonsense).
‑ I'm 80% disabled. (absurd).
‑ No one has had it as rough as I. (hardly).
‑ I am paying to stay here. (The government was paying).
‑ Too many confrontational house meetings (too much reality).
‑ I'm moving (cause I'm out of games).


Their irresponsibility showed in extreme laziness: they sat indoors in perfect weather, turned down rides to the beach, never made anything in the kitchen that took effort, and would open doors, but not close them. Trying to get them to do a half hour of chores was the worst part of the day.
The average person does more in a day than they did in a month. They were ‘nervous, but had no energy.’ They had big plans, but did nothing. None read a book, few watched TV, most had no hobbies, few looked for work, and most never exercised. They spoiled themselves with coffee, cigarettes, food, sweets, self‑analysis, pleasure, entertainment, and favors. They spent l0‑l6 hours a day in bed as an escape. None had an alarm clock. They didn't own or use a deodorant, nor shower daily. Some didn't change their underwear or socks and slept in their clothes. They would have lived in filth, if permitted. Fresh air had to be let in continual­ly, which ran up the utiliti­es. Allowing smoking inside would have been the kiss of death. They talked of becoming independent of their folks, but went home at the slightest excuse. Some even moved back home where everything was done for them and they slept all day.
Another part of this irresponsibility was extreme self‑centeredness. Many acted like the only person on earth, the only one to have problems, or the one whose problems came before anyyone else's. Their conversation always came back to themselves. ‘I, me, mine, and my’ were sacred pronouns. Two people would be talking and from out of the blue, a patient would interrupt with something about himself.
There were house meetings to discuss these problems. Such meetings gave them some of the attention they craved by spending time on their problems, but also showed they had to sit through someone else's problems.
They resented this. They resented things that didn't go their way, efforts to help them, or suggestions they observe basic courtesy or table manners. (Sometime you wondered if they resented the sun coming up.)

On a deeper level, some seemed to unconsciously induce craziness when it suited them. One went into a state of agitation when social workers were present, threatening a brain seizure if he didn't get his way. I had never seen him like this. Another time, according to an operator of another home, ‘out of control’ patients ‘regained’ control when the police arrived.
These are reasons for keeping good records and collaborating, but at this level neither existed - ridiculous. At higher levels professionals didn't read records because they didn't want to be ‘prejudiced.’
Each day of nothingness was excruciatingly boring for patients, but it was easy ‑ exactly what they wanted, no matter the price. One, who recovered and started her own home, would tell patients, ‘It's easy to be crazy, stop playing the 'sick' game.’
They weren't devious, they just didn't want to grow up. One on TV said he was as afraid of getting well as staying sick. Another said ‘Being this way lets me do the things I want.’
The public assumes they want to get well. Most didn't, and the in­credible games (religious and other­wise) their minds came up with was testimony to the power of the mind. In their ways, each had moved a mountain.
They didn't want to hear most of their behavior was spoiled, immature and irresponsible. Their relatives didn't want to hear it, and profes­sionals certainly didn't want to hear it. It was too simple an explana­tion for something they had had so much training for. Everyone wanted mental illness to be technical, chemical, biological, or hereditary, which it wasn't, and which only perpetuated the mysteriousness and hope­lessness of it all.
Others who ran homes for patients agreed with this, and even patients themselves agreed. This should be researched, starting with patients and nonprofessionals. Such a bottom-up approach would offer more hope (and put a few holes in the insanity plea).
It would show patients are dying to be stood up to. But no one would; inexcusable behavior was continually excused with theories. Round and round it went ‑ a buck passer's paradise for profes­sionals, a snake pit for the rest. (Who was crazier, patients or staff?) Add to this the empty existence of patients, and a suicide should surprise no one.
The field needs to get down to basics: traditional values (accoun­tability, hygiene, manners, chores, etc.), confrontation, sheltered workshops, and competitive employment. It doesn't make sense to counsel patients on big respon­sibilities while ignoring small ones.

My observations fit Dr. William Glasser's (author of REALITY THERAPY): If there is no organic cause of a patient's problem, his condi­tion comes from trying to fill his needs irresponsibly. He can only get better by becoming more responsible. He is not to be treated as ‘ill,’ but confronted with reality through group therapy and taught better behavior. He is also to work (which most programs virtually ignore). #


l830 words so far.


=============================================================


The following could be developed. (It hasn't been tested.)

Rating patients

l‑2 poor 3‑4 adequate 5‑6 very good

POSITIVE

mental ___short term memory ___long term memory ___atten. span
___good judgment ___common sense ___alert ___aware ___manages $ well ___in touch w/ feelings;

maturity ___assertive ___realistic ___flexible ___responsible
___confident ___moderate ___active ___positive ___open‑minded ___pride ___empathy ___humor ___foresight ___contributes.

motivation ___work habits ___self‑discipline ___honesty ___hygiene ___dress ___grooming ___general manners ___table manners ___takes care of room and belongings.
misc ___knows chores.

Total A __________


NEGATIVE

mental ___deluded ___hostile ___compulsive ___confused ___with-drawn ___preoccupied ___tense ___hyper ___frustrated ___adverse to physical contact ___sexual problems ___gets lost.

immaturity ___childish ___spoiled ___selfish ___stubborn ___craves atten. ___wants magical relationships ___clings to folks ___expresses feelings inappropriately.

motivation ___lazy ___bored ___spoils self ___plays head games ___post­pones.

misc ___defensive ___resentful ___uses others.
Total B __________

Total A minus total B = _____________rating



Parents of Mental Patients

AM. MEDICAL NEWS 4/ll/86
l000 words


When discussing mental (not retarded) patients, many people are not aware of what the parents are like. I had a some contact with them when running a home for male patients in their 20s and 30s.
Usually one parent called about visiting the home. (Why didn't the son call?) The parents and son would arrive (one father in a Rolls Royce with black eyes the son had given him). They would tour the house, sit down, whip out a cigarette, and discuss arrangements.
Usually the mother did the talking. When the conversation was directed to the son, he sometimes bungled it. The parents would fill in; the son would interrupt and bungle it again. There would be smiles and laughs, but underneath smoldered resentment.
One mother said she would be taking her son home on weekends ‑ just like that ‑ his opinion meant nothing.
When some parents read the rules, I saw them smirk. Here was what they had been trying to get their son to do for years. I thought they would support me, but this was naive.
After one patient had been in the house a while, I complained to his mother about his not cleaning his room. She said, ‘Oh, Tom never cleans his ROOO—OOOOM!’ as if someone had forgotten to tell me.
During the week I would get the patients out of bed, have them take care of their cooking, laundry, chores, and get them off to catch the bus for their therapy. On weekends some parents let them come home, sleep the whole weekend, and did everything for them.
One couple said they would be ‘ever so grateful’ if I could get their son on his feet. But they wouldn't go to family therapy, they had him home weekends, and eventually let him move home. Nothing was worse. He spent most of the next three years in bed. He wasn't ‘sick;’ he did it to escape.

While it was easy to fault the mental health system, patients and their parents seemed out to prove the system bankrupt so the son could move home:
‘We've had him in hospitals, care homes, and all sorts of programs; no one cares nor can help him.’ (No one could help the patient if he didn't want help.)
‘It's been terrible, but he's home now.’ (what they had wanted all along). Then too, once home the parents got part of the son's check.

The parents love had smothered their sons over the years, giving and giving, never confronting, nor taking a stand. Once the sons were seen as ‘sick,’ parents felt they had to give even more. The sons could make their parents jump through hoops for cigarettes, spending money, long distance calls, attention, favors ‑ whatever. They weren't devious, just immature. A lot of their behavior was testing. They wanted someone to set limits, but their parents wouldn't, nor would the mental health system.
The parents ignored the fact their sons wouldn't handle hygiene, proper attire, chores, manners, work habits, etc. If they couldn't handle these small responsibilities, they couldn't handle the big ones involved in getting well. That must be why
patients went in and out of hospitals, homes, and programs over the years, costing some parents all their insurance and savings.
When parents found a hospital or doctor they liked, some went overboard describing it or him as ‘so wonderful, caring, warm, dedicated, or fantastic.’ They were looking for magic. One couple talked about their son ‘snapping out of it’. Nothing was further from the truth; progress is slow and painful. One mother held hands with her son during therapy. Another in a documentary brought her son candy and fawned over him,
‘Oh, he's so wonderful; just look at him. Oh, I love him so
much ...’ The son got the candy, turned his back on her, and went back to his ward. He cared less.
Parents and sons were mutually dependent and resentful - sometimes to the point of great anger. Little wonder there was the conspicuous absence of one parent who had washed his hands of the problem. Hence the comments of the remaining parent:
‘He doesn't have anyone but me. He has no friends; no one cares.’ (There was no point in caring; the parent had made the son a baby, and the system had reinforced it.)
Parents and sons couldn't be separated with a crowbar. One operator of one of these homes put it in an interesting way. ‘If some patients got well, the parents would divorce, as their son's problems were the only thing keeping them together.’

Much later I joined a parents group. It seemed to hold promise, but their main interest was more and more ‘care, treatment, services, therapy and programs’ (each word meaning the next). When I said their sons weren't going to get well without learning responsibility, they didn't want to hear it. When a former patient said she began to get well only after realizing it was her respon­sibility as her folks had moved out of the country, they missed the point. They would work for improvement at the higher levels of the system, but wouldn't look at the nuts and bolts.
Some guidelines are in order:

Parent duties
‑ Prohibition of adult patients from living with or close to their parents. ‑ Lengthy outlines on matters which might have contributed to the patient's condition. ‑ Parents to do nothing for their son he can do for himself. ‑ Only one call per week and one day visit per month. ‑ Withdraw from major respon­sibilities in his life. ‑ Mandatory family therapy.

Parent rights
‑ To be dealt with in plain English. ‑ To periodically rate all agencies, programs, and staffs. ‑ To assure records are completed, used, and trans­ferred on time. ‑ Some way of assuring that those involved with their son collaborate regular­ly. ‑ Access to the family therapy part of the record. ‑ Access to a descrip­tions and ratings of all agencies, medications, programs, relevant litera­ture, and key staff. #






Let's Shrink Mental Health

570 words


Mental health departments complain they can't do their job without more money, but are they doing much to begin with? After running a home for mental patients, I'd say not.

Think of the mental health system as five levels:

Non-professionals
(l) Patients ‑ many don't want to get well, and the mental health system gives them little reason to.
(2) Their relatives - many can be difficult.
(3) Non‑profes­sionals [aides, live in staff].

Professionals
(4) Social workers ‑ bright and cordial, but often idealistic.
(5) Doctors ‑ their theories sound good but are ineffective.

The lst three levels have a wealth of untapped information about patients, much of it at odds with the 4th and 5th levels.
The doctors have the power. They set what is ‘normal,’ and they can confine people; but one wonders how competent they are. They used to consider homosexuality a mental problem; now they don't. * They used to believe smoking and gambling were not mental prob­lems; now they do. * They have not been able to detect fake patients planted on wards, nor been more than 50% successful in predicting violence. * They have been routinely conned by criminals. * Many of their studies are irrelevant, obvious, or innocuous (such as whether long commutes on the freeway lead to irrita­tion. *) (And 5% end up in bed with their patients. *)
I and other operators of homes for patients deplored the permissiveness of profes­sionals. They virtually entertained patients to lure them into therapy. Patients weren't confronted nor held account­able. They got room and board, medication, counseling, ac­tivities, and spending money, yet weren't required to work or to make a sustained effort to get well. (Some that got well said they did so in spite of the system.)

- Honesty is needed about the boredom and lack of incentives, mysterious­ness, overindul­gence, and lack of defini­tion and produc­tivity of the mental health field.
- Plain English, brevity, strict accountability, and tradi­tion­al values are needed. These would diminish the ‘snake pit’ conditions of some institutions and homes.
- The field should be studied from the bottom up, starting with patients, relatives, and non­‑professionals outside the system, then inside. If done realistically, this should show that much of the mental illness in care homes is l0% craziness and 90% behavior that is spoiled, immature and ir­respon­sible. As unpopular as this is, it offers more hope than present ap­proaches.
- There should be litera­ture for patients and relatives, so they don't have to learn through expensive therapy what can be easily learned by studying.
- The five levels should rate the literature and the programs. This would aid consumers and funding organizations, and probably confirm what many studies have claimed - that non-professionals are often as effective as profes­sionals.
- Advocacy groups for the lst three levels should seek a parity of power with profes­sionals.
- Everyone's role should be clearly defined and posted.
- The system should be turned over to compet­ing, private agencies, which should be paid according to how much patients improve.
- Family therapy should be mandatory.
- Adult patients should not be allowed to live with their parents, nor see them often.
- Leading psychologists and clergymen should clarify where their fields agree and conflict and what their positions are on encounter groups and cults.
- Patients who are not motivated should not be allowed to hold others back.
============= = = = = =


4 Values

American Characteristics
950 words

Being separated by two oceans from most of the world, we Americans are somewhat isolated. We tend to see things through our eyes. As the world grows smaller, the competition stiffer, our position less dominant, and we absorb more immigrants, it time to review our traits­­.


POSITIVE ================================================

Fair
No one is above the law (basically).
Police and government officials can generally be trusted.
Minorities and women have gained rights.
More rights are being gained by­ homosex­uals, the handicapped, and undocumented workers.
No spoils system nor nepotism in politics generally.
Due process through the courts (though slow).

Equal
No monarchy, nobility, titles, nor castes.
One person, one vote.
Jury of peers.
First, among modern countries, in feeling youth should be able to attend college.
Opportunity despite social rank.

Free (more important to Americans than equality).
Free to speak, print, assemble, protest, organize, picket, strike, worship, and use initiative, referendum, and recall.

Open
Open to ideas, talent, sharing info, & frank discussion.
Open to immigrants vs. the narrow nationalism or racism of most European and Asian countries.
Open about public figures instead of putting them on a pedestal.
Open about battered spouses, the gay world, addiction, child abuse, incest, abortion, euthanasia, impotence, single parenting, alternate lifestyles, etc.
Open about separation & divorce.
Open to questioning religion.
Open to getting to the root of one's problem instead of ‘keeping it all in.’
More open-minded about premarital relations in long term, responsible relationships than we used to be.


Limited government (though not as limited as before)
Founded on this.
Least supportive of the welfare state (of the modern countries).


Separation of church and state
Freedom of religion and from religion.

The private sector
A greater share of taxpayer money stays in private hands than in most modern countries.

Pro-business (though our liberals are often anti).
The entrepreneur is the hero.

Opportunity
Education.
Always 2nd chances.
More opportunity to make money, for the amount of effort than anywhere else. *
Can move into a higher socio-economic class (though it takes a long time).

Results
First choice for immigrants.
More ethnic groups than any other country.
More refugees taken in than in all other countries combined.
A ‘can do’ confidence.
Success is admired. (In Europe, it's resented.)
The most Nobel prizes in recent years.
80% of Ams. are confident of their institutions. In Europe 52% are.
7l% of Ams. would fight for their country vs. 43% of Europeans & 22% of Japanese.
America created jobs for 90% of its new workers since '65, whereas Europe created only 40% for its new workers. (as of '94)

Misc
Pragmatic, innovative, energetic, straightforward, uncomplicated, creative, and lst in competitiveness (in '95).
Individuality is prized.
Americans, as individuals, give the most to charity.



NEGATIVE ===================================================

Spoiled
Have to have the most and always be getting more.
First in amount of trash per person. No other country is close.
Immature
Have to be first in everything.
Think our ways are best.
Think the world revolves around us.
Want to be liked by everyone.
Too concerned with justifying ourselves.

Shallow - somewhat
Hollywood, rock, glitz, glamour, popularity, sex, fun, trends, fads, forced smiles, positives.
Judged by your income.
Old is bad, new is good.

Idealistic
Naive belief everyone should be middle class.
Naive belief equal opportunity should brings equal results.
Tar the upper class with guilt, and try to push the working class and poor through college when most aren't interested.
Lowered educational standards for ‘social justice’ since the mid '60s with terrible results.
Exaggerated rights for bums, criminals, mental patients, students, runaways, etc.

Prejudiced (more than we'll admit, but less than other countries).
Bash Arabs.
Bashed Japanese in early 90s.
Discrimination.

Self-righteous
Savior complex - only we can save the world.
Our ways are best (though our culture is one of the youngest).
Most everyone should be Christian and fluent in English.

Double standards
When Russia shot down a passenger jet from Korea by mistake it was heinous. When we shot down one from Iran, it was a mistake.
Foreign countries have peasants, we don't.
Their soldiers torture, ours don't.
Other countries shouldn't be aggressive, yet we can bully into Greneda and Panama.

Misc
Consume 60% of the world's drugs.
Increase in sexual titillation in the media.
Wallow in psychology, sociology, introspection, self-pity.
Worship Israel.
Worship youth.
See everything through OUR eyes. Virtually ignore how other nations handle crime, poverty, education, etc.
Encourage other countries to fight, then abandon them.
(Virtually) first in energy consumption per person.
First in contributing to the greenhouse effect.
First in deaths by handguns.
First in illegitimate births (in the modern world).
Poor losers - blame others (immigrants, Japan) for our decline in international business.
Creeping socialism (but less than other countries).
Complacent, overcon­fident, less diplomatic, less subtle.

Some countries are poor, think poor, and work hard - (China).
Some are rich, think poor, and work hard - (Taiwan & Hong Kong).
Americans are rich, think rich, and slough off. #


GAMBLING AS A CANCER
470 words


Many states have turned to lotteries. They are appealing and they can be sold as ‘money for education’; but is this the way to raise money?
Catholics do not see gambling as a vice until excessive. Protestants do, saying it promotes the idea of something for nothing: ‘Lotteries are ‘... symptoms of ... selfishness... (they promote) vic­timization of the poor (and) ... give sanction to (a) ... wasteful lifes­tyle ...’ said the Ohio Council of Churches.
Noted conserva­tive George Gilder says the urge to risk is natural and healthy when channeled into planning and work, as in starting a small business or prudent investing. But when this urge goes into games of pure chance, the results are destructive. Those who favor legalized gambling say it reduces illegal gambling, but the opposite is the case. * The odds in illegal gambling are better and many people find it more exciting. As more forms of gambling are legalized, gambling becomes more acceptable and illegal gambling spreads. This is worst for the poor who gamble more often and a larger share of their income. They believe getting ahead is due more to luck than to hard work, thrift, and foresight, and gambling reinforces this.
Those favoring gambling say Las Vegas pours great sums of money into the Nevada treasury. But there could be a price: Las Vegas has the highest alcoholism rate, one of the highest prostitution rate, and a suicide rate double the national average.
Another consideration in the spread of gambling is the affect it has on the 4% who become compulsive gamblers:
‑ Ron P.: ‘I degraded myself in every way possible. I embezzled from my own company; I conned my six‑year‑old out of his allowance.’
‑ Archie K. ‘After I woke up from an appendectomy, I sneaked out of the hospital, cashed a bogus check, and headed for my bookie. I was still bleeding from the operation.’
‑ Irvin J.: ‘I'll never forget coming home from work at night, looking through the window at my family waiting for me, and leaving to place a couple more bets. I was crying the whole time . . ..’
‑ Phil K.: ‘Even when you win you still lose because you always want to parlay the money into a bigger win ‑ then you lose it all.’
We might consider England's example. There one must give written notice 48 hours before placing a bet (to reduce impulsiveness). There are no free drinks at gambling tables, there is no extending credit, and casinos can't advertise or list their numbers.
We might publicize how losing has affected the many instead praising the luck of the few.
The 20th Century Fund put it well, ‘Gambling's get‑rich‑quick appeal appears to mock capitalism's core values: discipline, education, work habits, thrift, prudence, adherence to routine, and the relation between effort and reward.’

Pyramids ‑ for the Greedy

A story on TV featured an overweight woman on a jerry‑rigged bench in a meeting room explaining why she bought into a pyramid game. She ‘really needed’ the money. Perhaps she was one of those who cashed in her life insurance and drove long distances nightly to be in a pyramid.
I went to two pyramid meetings. The secrecy and security measures gave them an uneasy air. The crowd was a mixture of average people with a sprinkling of hard types.
The first meeting started with apprehension; they weren't finding enough people to join. The mood got better with testimonials and exhorta­tions of how people had made $l5,000. This was appealing, but something was missing.
On to the next meeting ‑ a newer pyramid with more people. It buzzed with excitement. The pyramid was explained, many new people bought in and others paid off. They were deceiving themselves as pyramids eventually collapse with 3% winning, 45% breaking even, and 51% losing ALL their money.
These went on five nights a week with a constant need for more people. They were a good way to waste time, lose friends, risk arrest, and, in a few of cases, be robbed by criminals waiting outside.
Who goes to these? The greedy, who have no qualms about profiting at the expense and heartbreak of friends and acquaintances. The others are those P.T. Barnum said are born every minute ‑ suckers.
The games got warnings and action from the police and coverage from the media until they collapsed. They must have left a trail of expensive lessons and damaged friendships. Sometime in the future, they'll surface again in a different and more ‘foolproof’ form, and the same types will go. You have to see it to believe it. # #


Premarital Sex and Maturity

360 words

Toward the end of high school I became hyper‑moralistic. I wouldn't swear, drink, laugh at dirty jokes, or consider anything sexual. I was influenced by Gandhi and religion, but most was my doing. Some people tried to get through, but I was blind - my main pillar being that premari­tal relations were wrong.
Years later, a therapist told me I needed a girl friend, and much later I found one. We were in our mid‑20s, inexperienced, and planning to remain so until we found someone to marry.
As we slowly became more involved, things that had seemed ‘dirty’ were special. We made many discoveries, as is the way of young lovers. After dating for eight months we ended up in bed, and it was as natural and wholesome as everything that had preceded. We continued this way for a year and parted.
Though not love, the relationship was one of the best things that could have happened. It loosened me up. My black and white mentality mellowed. I could enjoy profanity, ribald humor, and alcohol in the right time and place­. I saw responsible sex between mature young adults in a long term relationship is natural and benefi­cial. I learned virginity wasn't the issue, but caring and expressing it naturally and responsibly. (Why hadn't it been explained this way?)
Responsible relations didn't hurt me, they saved me. I don't know what kind of crank I would have become had I not met her. I hope others out there as narrow as I was and influenced by unnatural beliefs will benefit from this and mature earlier than I did.
Young people are pulled between our sex‑drenched culture and the narrow beliefs I held. There is a responsible, middle ground that is fulfilling, natural, broadening, and vital. ­ Therein lies the key ‑ respon­sibility - a deep, abiding, caring for the other ... being tender, vul­nerable, selfless, considerate, giving, restrai­ned, careful ... things that spell maturi­ty. # #





5 Other


‘PROFESSIONALS’

ll20 words

(James Fallows of ATLANTIC MONTHLY agreed with ‘just about everything.’)


Having seen amazing incompetence in my years in social work, I've wondered if other fields are as bad. A look back gives us an idea: professionals used to tell us men were superior to women, whites to nonwhites, the Depression was permanent, movies would replace radio, TV would replace movies, and we would control the weather.
During each world war they discovered women could do heavy work. Before World War II, they told us the war could be avoided; and a year after it started, they told us the allies were defeated. Later they told us: the 50s were the ‘end of ideology’; the early 60s was the end of economic growth and the start of excess leisure; the late 60s were a time of noble dissent; and by now we'd be on the metric system.

A look at certain professions in isn't much better:

Education
Open classroom, new math, open enrollment, and grading fads during the 60s & 70s. The number of students went down, but the number of ad­ministrators went up. Spending went up sixfold, but test scores went down. Sex education was begun to combat V.D. and illegitimacy, and both went up. Schools had to hire outsiders to show teachers how to discipline. Stu­dents classified as retarded in public schools, excelled in a private school. Students were graduated functionally illiterate. Sixty percent of college age youth couldn't find the Pacific Ocean on an unmarked map. There was anguish over public schools, and successful private schools were ignored.

Social work
Poverty programs were begun in the 60s, yet welfare rose fivefold. Prisons with problems of rape showed X‑rated movies. There were programs to ‘cure’ prisoners, yet crime rose. Cocaine was not considered addictive. Workfare was called ‘genocide,’ ‘slavery,’ and ‘cruel and unusual punishment.’ Social programs hurt the poor more than they helped. *
One agency wanted to teach ‘the work ethic’ to Asian refugees ‑ people who work circles around many Americans. A child molester was referred to work with retarded kids (and molested them). Sociology courses on TV were laughable. Runaways, mental patients, derelicts, and prisoners gained exaggerated rights. Prisoners (like the Son of Sam), faked being crazy, and got checks for being ‘mentally ill.’ Reams were written on poverty by people who were never poor nor had lived in a slum. Professionals ‘dis­covered’ pets, plants, and humor were good for mental patients, the aged, and criminals.

My experience in social work was similar: ‘Society’ was wrong; the poor were right and unaccountable. ‘Equality’ dropped everything to the lowest common denominator. There was no discipline, authority, nor negatives. Punishment was ‘medieval.’ Social workers spoke psycho­babble and spent months developing ‘relationships’ with the poor in hopes some values would rub off. It was babysitting. There was an amazing lack of basic literature, and what there was, was unreadable or worthless. The poor were portrayed as miserable, when many (I knew) were happier than their social workers.
Often nonprofessionals were more effective in social work than professionals. There was even an example of the people needing help being more effective with each other than professionals were. It was a self‑help program run by prisoners. It was tough and successful. When professionals meddled, it lost its teeth and failed.

Psychology
Homosexuality used to be considered a mental problem, now it's not; smoking and gambling were not, now they are. Predicting violent behavior has been only 50% successful. Therapists have been routinely conned by criminals. They end up in bed with 5% of their patients (which an agency had to study to learn was harmful). When one psychiatrist was caught, he claimed he was mentally ill.
Therapists excuse all kinds of behavior and release killers, molesters, and rapists who repeat their crimes. Mental patients leave expensive hospitals not knowing simple housekeep­ing. Advanced training of therapists counts for little or nothing. * Mental health aides are called ‘psychiatric technicians.’

In living with mental patients for two years, I learned the patients were l0% crazy and 90% spoiled, immature, and irresponsible. Profes­sionals didn't want to hear this.

Religion
Some clergymen sleep with their parishioners. Some priests have molested kids and some of their superiors have covered it up. The U.S. Bishops have denied welfare bred dependence, have been anti‑workfare, and have said the U.S. should forgive the debts of many countries.
The World Council of Churches has favored socialism.


Politics
‘The best and the brightest’ gave us the Vietnam War.
Highly educated people created disastrous communistic and social­istic schemes around the world. Yet with the retreat of communism in Eastern Europe, many politicians and economists are sure those countries aren't ‘ready’ for capitalism and should try socialism.



The media
Journalists are often negative, incon­sis­tent, irrespon­sible, polarizing, myopic, and liberal. They often distort, over dramatize, and lack taste and perspective.

Professionals like to call problems ‘diseases.’ Violence, earthquakes, and inflation are somehow ‘diseases.’
Many professionals won't use plain English; and many become elitist and disdain ‘amateurs.’ (The best history is written by amateurs. *) After years of studying, they don't want to come up with something amateurs can arrive at; they think it should be ‘complex,’ ‘new,’ and better. They favor solutions that make them and their field look good.
The biggest danger is when they are allowed to monopolize for privile­ge, exclusivity, and protection from competition. This is seen when the Am. Medical Assoc. prevents nurses from giving independent care to patients. It's cheaper, but it means less business for doctors. The same with para­legals ‑ they can serve the public inexpen­sively, but the Am. Bar Assoc. doesn't want the loss of business. The same with dentists; they don't want dental hygienists to be allowed to clean teeth.

Our sense of professionals is skewed. They are as human, fallible, selfish, and political as anyone. Many are verbose, arrogant, irresponsible, overedu­cated, and miseducated. Many posture with gob­bledygook and complication. Many have lost touch with the masses.

To put them in perspective we should take certain steps. Instead of using a deductive approach of starting at the top with the theories of professionals, we should start at the bottom (inductively) and observe how the people who need help, help each other, as in AA. Then we should look at how nonprofessionals help them, and then move up to any other levels that exist beneath the professional level. We should use an overview, traditional values, sensible definitions, brevity, conciseness, plain language, short titles, strict accountability, ratings, and graphs and charts. These would give us an idea of what
is practical - on-the-job training, certain courses and certain books, and what is useless, irrelevant, idealistic, and destructive - jargon, theoretical books and courses, and interference with the free market in providing services. #



Advice to Immigrants

Many immigrants courageously come to the U.S. knowing little of the language and customs. It takes them a long time to adapt. When I was their English teacher, social worker, roommate and friend, I used to advise them:

- If you have a choice, live between a big city where the jobs are and the country where you're more of an individual. Try to live near your relatives, your ethnic group, and a good climate (where life is much easier).
- Learn about self-help groups. 2l2 840 l259 - U.S. l 800 222 5465 - Calif. If you can't find one, start one.
- For inexpensive legal help, call a paralegal - l 800 542 0034
- Avoid welfare - the longer you're on, the harder to get off.
- Some people have more ability than others for learning a language. Progress comes in levels. You're on one level for a while, seeming to make no progre­ss. Then you suddenly make progress to a higher level, stay there for a long time, and later move up to another level.
- The lst generation of immigrants works hard, the 2nd generation gets educated, the 3rd prospers and sloughs off.
- Immigrants who have been here for a long time sometimes resent recent immigrants from their country as ‘fresh off the boat.’
- Older immigrants want to preserve the customs, partly to retain some of the control and status they've lost. Sometimes they y put too much pressure on their kids.
- To keep in touch with friends and relatives in your country, get a tape recorder and send 90 minute tapes.
- There are differences among cultures - take the best from each. A lot of immigrant values are superior to American values.

Be realistic about the media (TV, magazines, newspapers)
They perform invaluable services, but they often distort and exaggerate, and they are often:
- Inconsistent, arrogant, tasteless, and lacking perspective.
‑ Polarizing - setting one group against another.
‑ Irresponsible in using so much sexual titillation.
- Unbalanced - shortsighted, liberal.
- Negative.





They promote the following myths:


Myths Reality
‑ The U.S. is a melting pot ....... (false, it's a salad bowl).
‑ Time brings less prejudice .................. (somewhat).
‑ Being near another ethnic group brings goodwill .... (only some).
‑ Discrimination is the main obstacle to minority advancement ........... (False, the Japanese and the Jews progressed the most when most discriminated against.)
‑ Being Black holds one back ........... (not West Indians).
‑ Vocational education helps ... (False, students in it change jobs, are out of work as much as anyone, and don't earn more than those not in it.)
- Whites are prejudiced ............ (Everyone has prejudices about color, age, class, ethnicity, gender, income, educa­ tion, occupation, race, religion, accents, lifestyles, etc.)
- The poor can avoid menial work with education and credentials ........... (Terrible advice as every group that got ahead in the U.S. did so by taking menial work and working harder than the class above.)
‑ All social programs help ...................... (false. Rent control is unfair and creates a housing shortage; guaranteed income hasn't worked; welfare breaks up families and causes them to be resented by the working poor.)
- There is no dignity in being poor .......... nonsense.

Social workers
- Some get too emotional - with their talk about ‘compas­sion, caring, reaching out, dedica­tion, love, etc.’.
- Some get too friendly. Keep a distance.
- Some have no business sense - no address on the building, no sense of time, efficiency, cost, etc.
- Some are dreamers or rebels and have more problems than those they are trying to help.
- Many use doubletalk and talk forever.
- Most don't believe in traditional values.

A good one is sensible, clean cut, mature, uses plain English, is an agent (not a friend), is empathetic (not sympathetic), has something practical to offer, but meets you only l/2 way.

Many American poor Immigrant poor
Live like kings compared to 3rd world ... have seen real poverty. Become homeless ...................... most don't.
Won't take any job ................... will.
Panhandle ............................ don't.
Often poor work habits ............... superb ones.
‘Can't’ save money ............ do & send it abroad to relatives. Drop out ............................. study hard.
Rarely start a small business ........ often start one.
Look to government ................... to selves.
Self‑pity, resentment ................ gratitude.
Bored ................................ never enough time.
Disprove the American dream .......... prove it (despite limited English).



The leaders of Am. poor say Immigrants say
Crowded living is subhuman ........... is nothing.
More handouts ........................ fewer in the long run.
Welfare is a right ................... a cancer.
‘Decent, living’ wages & benefits .... any wage.
The poor are ‘oppressed’ ............. look at other countries for real oppression - no freedom of speech, press, protest, business, etc.
Am. is discrimination, exploitation ....... opportunity.
Schools ‘fail’ the poor ................... they are a blessing.
Crime, drugs, alcohol, illegitimacy,
etc. are due to poverty ............ no excuse for these.



AmeriCorps - idealistic

470 words


The siren's call has beckoned another ‘corps’ to ‘serve’ the country. Young people are to do community work in exchange for help with their education.

An earlier version of this was started in the mid-60s. It was called VISTA [the domestic counterpart of the Peace Corps]. I was a volunteer in one of the first groups. It was quite an experience, but we volunteers didn't accomplish much - probably not enough to make it worth the cost. Here's what it was like for me:

VISTA urged me to join in '65, saying my background would be good for working with migrant farm laborers. (It wasn't, but they were looking for people.) Volunteers in those days were flown across the country for ‘intensive’ training. Some of them were immature, snide, and anti-establishment. They played their stereos loud when nuns in the dorm (where we stayed) were trying to rest. One named a dog ‘migrant’. Others earned us a bad reputation downtown. (If they didn't fit in their own culture, how would they fit in another?)

We were asked by outsiders what our training was about and found it hard to answer. We asked our trainers what we were to do when we got to our assignments, we were told, ‘You'll find out when you get there.’ When we got ‘there’ and asked our sponsors, they said, ‘We don't know; what were you trained to do?’ (while telling the papers we were receiving ‘in-service, on-going orientation’.)

Only a few volunteers were assigned to migrant farm labor. I heard that some partied all night and got kicked out of town.

My job was ‘community development’, which was made to seem exotic, but was simply working on any feasible project to promote self‑help. One early project was very successful and the rest of the year was unimpressive.

College degrees meant little or nothing, and the work was anything but ‘technical’. It was the old saw: ‑ people wanted something for nothing, ‑ a few of them did all of the work,
‑ the ones that criticized the most, did the least, ‑ you could lead a horse to water, but you couldn't make him drink.

It was frustrating and disillusioning. I wasn't surpri­sed to hear that some volunteers accomplished nothing in their year.
I can't imagine any sensible volunteer becoming ‘radicalized,’ as claimed by one article.

We worked with ‘the poor’, but many were poor in money and rich in everything else ‑ family life, friendships, mental health, and a robust, close to nature, lifestyle.

The whole thing was idealistic. If it and the 75 similar programs that exist were studied by realists, it would probably be clear these ‘corps’ are impractical and expensive, and that people who want to ‘serve’ would be better off working for established social agencies with proven track records.

#





Beware of the Hyper Hostess
620 words

We've all been to homes for pleasant meals, but once in a while we've been to a house that worships food. Food equals love: to give love is to force feed, and to receive love is to gain l0 lbs. ‑ like this:
A dinner is scheduled and a great fuss is made over who is to bring what. The telephone lines hum like it's a summit conference. Everyone arrives fashionably famished. A big fuss is made over getting the food out of the car and into the kitchen. It is l0 times the amount ne­eded, but there might be a flood and we could be stranded. Guests help with ‘the work’. (Why relax?) The food is prepared with great fanfare and put on the table. The guests are seated at cute name plates. They carry on about these, the table setting, and how good the food LOOKS. This could take a day, but the food might get cold.
Someone says grace over the loud music (the only calm moment). Then it's time to start passing of the food (‘LET THE GAMES BEGIN !!!’). Pass this and that ‘and this over there and here ... he didn't get enough and oh, I'd rather not, but oh, you must, Aunt Hattie made it... well, I don't have room on my plate ... well it's special’. The hostess jumps up and down from the table, getting this and that ‑ anything less is an ‘insult’. Everyone eats, talks, and passes and passes faster and faster (to the sounds of the WILLIAM TELL OVERTURE).
Everyone's plate is heaped. In most homes it would be quiet now with people eating, but the hostess, with her mouth full, insists everyone talk, talk, talk. They talk, but no sentence gets started before someone inter­rupts to serve food, rave about it, or remind someone to eat some dish while it's still hot.
This makes people nervous and they eat more. They fill up while joking about eating too much ‑ ‘ho, ho ... how good it is’ ... and how they ‘really shouldn't be eating so much, heh, heh, heh ... ho, ho.’ They're stuffed, but wait ... this is the moment the hostess was born for. On hand and knee she begs and pleads for the guests to have 2nds and 3rds.
‘Please, we have to finish this ... it's a special dish; it's so tasty; Aunt Florence made it ... but you didn't get any of this ... just a little more ‑ here you are’ ... flop ... it's on your plate.
By now the guests are straining to find room. They are very uncomfortable and need to leave table ... but ... wait ... ‘special desert’ is rolled out. It's rich (and rich food equals rich love).
Finally it's over. The young guests are so full, they lie on the floor. The hostess finds this amusing, and serves 2nds on desert, whether you want it or not, which has to be eaten before it melts. Then it's a fuss over coffee (to bring us back to life). People stagger out of the dinning room, but the hostess begins cleaning up! And since she has been so ‘magnificent’, people have to help her.
Later when it's time to leave. Extra food is portioned out in doggie bags with more raving about it, and promises to trade recipes. People waddle to their cars assuring the hostess they can't thank her enough - their diets ruined, their first stop the hospital.
How much nicer to go to a house where the atmosphere is relaxed. You get to enjoy the people; the food is fine, as a part of the evening.
Fellow guests, let us march forth with shields to fend off these compulsive, controlling hostesses armed with serving ladles. We have nothing to lose but our weight.


Expand the U.N.

It is said that if the League of Nations had done its job, we might have avoided World War II, the subjugation of eastern Europe, and the start of the cold war; and if the U.N. had done its job, we might have avoided many conflicts. These are good reasons for making the U.N. democratic, expanding it, and giving it teeth. This would force all the countries of the world to accept their shares of responsibility for resolving common problems like the arms trade, terrorism, hostages, ethnic disputes, foreign aid, border disputes, human rights, sanctions, refugees, Swiss bank accounts, and chemical, biological, and nuclear warfare. The list goes on.

A more democratic U.N. would reduce the development of blocs [the common market, the Arabs, the west, the 3rd world, NATO, SEATO, OAS, etc.].
When it came to an army, each country could drastically reduce its forces. These would be maintained as our states maintain national guard units. A larger U.N. force would be made up of what each country had to contribute: men, money, technology, or elite forces such as the Gurkas and legionnaires. Such a force would harness the in­evitable rise of Germany, Japan and China.
The countries of the world have every selfish, practical, and noble reason for democratizing and expanding the U.N. With the end of the cold war, we have a golden opportunity to do this. #





In Praise of Homeowners Associations

300 words


People who complain about homeowners associations don't know how well off they are. In my part of Midway City (on the border of Westminster), people leave their trash barrels out for days, and leave shopping carts around, sometimes taking sections off to use as barbecue grills. Some don't get rid of gophers or weeds. Some don't water, cut, nor edge their lawns. Some never trim their bushes or trees blocking the sidewalk. Some fences tilt 30 degrees forever. Junk cars and debris stay on front lawns. One house had six vehicles on the front lawn and the street was empty. Another had nine vehicles in the driveway and two in front. Some have vehicles in the drive, a boat on the lawn, and an RV on the side.
There is noise from TVs, stereos, yelling, horns, ‘thumper boxes’ in cars, and tires squealing. One kid had a radio turned up OVER his lawn mover. Some people rev up a car or boat engine they're working on for long periods ‑ some without mufflers. Untrained dogs bark for hours, their owners home, but oblivio­us. Some ice cream trucks come by l2 times a day with brainless music heard 7 blocks away. They get away with more in unincorporated areas like this as the sheriff's deputies and county officials do nothing. Occasionally there will be a live band in a backyard, heard l0 blocks away.
People abandon cars, dump trash on public land, take your morning paper, and steal from construction sites. When they call you by mistake, they just hang up. There is profanity, name calling, dogs running loose without collars, and run down property. A lot of the wrecks are hit-n-runs. You learn to rush out to get license numbers. ‘Nobody cares’ as a cop said, and realtors agree.
When I visit a good neighborhood with a homeowners association, it's a pleasant shock. #

Japan Bashing in '92 400 words


In the early 90s we were told the Japanese had caused our trade deficit, were ‘buying’ America, were getting ahead at our expense, and we shouldn't take it. But were we in a position to criticize them?
Their high school students studied so much they slept less than 6 hours a day. 20% of ours averaged that for TV. Their dropout rate was 1%; ours was 30%. Their students graduated with 3 more years of school­ing than ours; l/3 of ours graduated functional­ly il­literate. Japanese adults worked 6 weeks more/yr. than us. They saved; we spent. They produced; we consumed. They had a surplus; we had a deficit. They had little crime; we had a lot.
They studied our language; we didn't study theirs. We condemned their trade surplus, but not ours with other countries. They had the best manners. They bought our failing companies, saved them, and provided jobs for us. Their cars had caused a big rise in the quality of ours. Their competi­tion had caused us to make better products and become more effi­cient. They were lst in foreign aid, lst in technol­ogy, and chief creditor. All this, yet our problems were their fault. Hmmmmm.
When the English bought Holiday Inn, no one cared; but when the Japanese invested here, we resented it. We hadn't resented lobbyists from other countries, but we resented those from Japan. Other countries had conducted hostile takeovers; the Japanese had not. The Dutch owned about as much of the American assets as the Japanese; no one com­plained about them. The British owned twice as many and no one complained.
Any foreigner could buy here, and they had to conform to our laws. When the Japanese bought our real estate and companies, they were helping us. They couldn't walk off with real estate, and no one was forced to sell to them at a loss. As it happened, we owned seven times as many foreign assets as foreig­ners owned of ours.
Some of the Japanese students studied here and returned to produce there. Some of us called in '91 for Japan to ‘compensate’ by giving us $l00 million.
Our bashing was sour grapes, envy, scapegoating, self-delusion, ar­rogance, pettiness, xenophob­ia, hypocrisy, double stan­dards, and prejudice.
The Japanese resented this more than we realized or cared. They and other Asians remember it, as we move toward the century of the pacific rim. Not our best chapter. #


Joining a gym as a senior
1510 words
I’d played sports in high school, so I knew something about getting into shape. I’d graduated at 5’ l0” and l65. Then I didn’t do much for l2 years till a friend started me jogging. I probably did that l6 years, then walked daily for years. In ’97 my weight was l85. I started taking Slim-Fast, which brought it to l75.
Over the years I noticed some classmates at reunions had let themselves go. So did public figures on TV. I noticed how gluttonous our culture is, how I was slouching at my computer, and how people that worked out looked healthy, had a good attitude and were calm. I began to call various gyms. Most were rag-in-the-mouth, hi-pressure types. Terrible. Eventually I found an upscale one with no pressure and joined. My plan was to workout for some months, learn which equipment I needed, and buy it. Naïve - too expensive
I wanted to approach this realistically so I wouldn’t start then quit – like a yo-yo diet – lose weight, gain it back. The gym tested me: my blood pressure, body fat, and cholesterol were good; my cardiovascular, strength and flexibility were fair. They showed me how to use the exercise apparatuses. Then I was on my own. Uh-oh - all up to me? I was self-conscious and wobbly on the machines, but felt my way along for an hour, 3 times a week.
I knew it was going to take a month or more to get used to the machines; and I knew that, rather than and do what I SHOULD do, I would last longer if I did what I WANTED to do and what felt good. I also knew progress is slow at any age, slower and more subtle for a senior, and that one’s mind plays tricks, so I kept notes:

2nd workout. Was surprised at my interest. Came home tired, but felt better. Chest and back felt swollen in a good way. Slept heavily 8 hours, up, back to bed, up, felt as if new muscles had been awakened. Nothing prepared me for this. More complex than I imagined. They know a lot more now than 40 years ago. Marvelous apparatuses.

3rd Feeling all kinds of muscles I never knew I had. [Where were they? Welcome back.] I found a lower back machine that I could use to massage myself with. It felt great. Up and down, one vertebrae at a time; ohhh, felt good, angled this way and that, couldn’t get off. It was like my back had never had this. Everyone loves a massage; I could massage mine the way I wanted and as long as I wanted.

4th Woke up feeling bigger and fuller. Talked to muscular guy who said he weighs the same as a much larger chubby guy he knows. [Muscle weighs more than fat.] Talked to another who has equipment at home, but doesn’t use it.

6th Felt ‘a good tired’ - even the next morning.
Hanging over the ‘roman bench’ lets the blood go to my head. I read this makes the blood vessels there more elastic which reduces the chance of stroke [which we just had in the family].

7th In the middle of the night - only one there. It’s all exploration, education, a challenge, the ultimate way to beat the game, one of the best investments.

8th Jack LaLane was right: ‘Use it or lose it.’
Found a 45 degree angle bench for body bends. Got to keep it interesting and creative. Slowly getting used to all this. One roomer in my house and I think I look healthier. Feeling bit younger, more fit, agile. Face seems more filled out, skin tighter at temples, healthier color.

9th Went home, got excited about something in front of a roommate; I skipped across the room, rolled on the kitchen table, stopping with my feet up. He said, ‘The gym is doing its work, you’re acting like a teenager.’

10th Found 2 more ab machines. Intimidating and lonely to think it’s all up to me; getting tips from others helps.

16th Not looking forward to it, but enjoyed it. Learned that the glutes help keep pelvis straight when sitting.

17th Things I see and read about health mean more. Bit springier, easier to crouch, bend over, straighten up, get out of bed. This gym has arrangements with other gyms around the world so members won’t miss their workouts. Imagine that. Some who get bored on one treadmill switch to a different type of treadmill every five minutes.
After seeing my health go downhill over the years and now start to go uphill, I feel more in control and hopeful. Some women smaller than me work with weights I have a hard time with. They’re not muscle-bound, just strong. This is the lst time I’ve worked with weights. Easier to carry groceries, haul trash out front, shovel dirt …. Heavy chores were a bonus workout and brought variety [though I went to bed afterwards]. All shapes and sizes at the gym: two partially blind people, 2 in wheelchairs, some refreshing teens, some natural athletes with grace, power, and quiet reserves. Different world – a room of people working on their health. Contagious. Stomach harder. When shaving I look in the mirror and see my Rip Van Winkle muscles coming back. Bought 5 lb weights and a stretch cord. As I get into better condition I WANT to exercise more, enjoy it more – mentally and physically. I don’t wheeze when bending over. Momentary thots of quitting and trying to do it at home. Reminds you of your sports days 40 years ago. Complexion bit better. Actually jogged slowly for awhile, then slept like a rock. Like pieces of a puzzle. Getting in condition is one thing, staying is another. Will have to do this rest of my life, but getting to where I want to. Arthritis is much better. Heart better. Added a new ab machine and found a way to massage my back on a bench. Soooo relaxing. Closer to touching my toes.
Two days without workout and missed it. Feel bit more optimistic and hopeful. Feeling more in tune with my body – aches, pains, needs. Tripped over cord, regained my balance much quicker than normally and heartbeat didn’t go up. Bit more agile and limber.
Cross arms and feel more muscles. I used to breath more when overeating. Have only lost a few lbs, posture not better, and still linger before falling asleep. I don’t get stiff muscles when doing a heavy chores around the house. [Even THEY were a treat at this age]. Proceeding with ‘extreme moderation’
Makes me more curious about things related to health. Best time to work out is the lst thing in morning when stomach is empty.

Into 4th month If I met these gym people elsewhere, I could assume they were born with good health; but I see how much they work out.
One needs to exercise 3 times a week to maintain adequate levels of cardiovascular condition, strength, and flexibility. It’s totally individual, finding what you can live with, feeling your way along slowly, finding ways to make it as interesting and enjoyable as possible, knowing you’ll have bad days. Games like tennis would be more fun, but tie me to a schedule.
The motivating parts have been comparing ideas with others in the gym – especially those who look young for their age, discovering techniques, and seeing slow progress. I seem to have a better attitude, but can’t put my finger on why.
Exercise takes time, but I assume it saves time in getting sick and injured less, healing faster, living longer and better, going to the dr. less, less medication, [looking at younger women …… uh-oh], [might even make me easier to live with].
I didn’t want exercise to bore me; it hasn’t. It’s been ‘What is the next step, technique or improvement will I hear about, stumble upon, think up – just how much can I improve my health?’ It’s an adventure; I want to tell people about it.

5th month. I began to think with transportation etc. this was takes 5 hours a week. That’s time I could be getting exercise by working on my house. I quit and now work around the house with a whole new attitude. I try to make my chores more of a workout by stretching, bending, twisting more, lifting heavier loads, holding ‘positions’ longer, keeping my heartbeat up, etc. There has been very little written about this. It has to be the most interesting, easiest, and one of the most rewarding ways to get exercise.
I miss a couple of the machines at the gym. I use a stretch band now and then. I even stopped walking. It’s been two years and seems to be working. My health is good and a treadmill test showed my heart to be in good condition.
It’s a slow education; each person has to develop his own routine. It’s easiest to begin with what you enjoy: dancing, golf, walking, gardening, handywork …


MEDIA PITFALLS

570 words
The news media serve us well in many ways, but in other ways, their shortcomings are predictable:

Negative
First inflation is bad, then deflation is bad. The weak dollar is bad, then the strong dollar is bad. Higher oil prices are bad, then lower. Automation eliminates jobs (but creates about as many). Americans are unhappy (when polls show them happy).
The reporter at a disaster is doom and gloom, while the victims behind are calm and col­lected. At one house they are joking while cleaning up, but the camera zooms in on another where a woman is sobbing.
The media report a problem as hopeless in one region, not how it's been solved in another.


Lacking perspective
They discuss education in terms of public schools, virtually ignoring private schools.

Inconsistent
Now we have too many schools and teachers, now we don't; college drinking is up, now it's down ‑ the same with education, fitness, family, etc.

Polarizing
Haves vs. have-nots, tenants vs. landlords, labor vs. management, poor vs. rich, young and old, east and west, blacks and whites, students and teachers, business and consumers.

Tasteless
Playing rock music while showing sorrow at the Vietnam Memorial, the legendary rudeness of some report­ers, the inap­propriate handling of delicate subjects on daytime talk shows.

Irresponsible about sex
Too much titillation during daytime and early evening. Everyone's in bed and no one gets pregnant, has their education cut short, or has to raise a child by oneself.

Myopic
Our problems are somehow unique. Our values and methods come first. Every country is compared to ours.

Unbalanced
Cities get more coverage than towns. - The New York press determines what is national news. ‑ England was favored in the Falklands War. ‑ Whites who oppress blacks (So. Africa) are somehow worse than blacks who starve blacks (Ethiopia). ‑ A lot about V‑E Day, almost nothing about V‑J Day, on their 40th anniver­saries.
Other stories haven't gotten their share: l0 million Ukrainians were starved by Stalin in l932; l/6th of the Tibetans were killed by the Red Guards; slavery is prac­ticed in Sudan and Mauritania; thousands have starved in African countries other than Ethiop­ia. Little about these, yet Israel is covered almost daily.

Liberal
When AT&T was broken up and banks deregulated, these were reported as helping the rich and hurting the poor.
When the poor are forced out of a neighbor­hood, it's a tragedy; when the middle class or a business are forced out, it's not.
When a youth is spanked, he is ‘beat­en’.
Bill Moyers interviewed single parents in Newark which had child after child on welfare despite their vows not to. Was there a suggestion welfare subsidized this? No.
Many young adults in the ghetto have never held and job and don't plan to. Any ‘judgments’ here? No, because liberals don't ‘judge’ people, especial­ly ‘underdogs’.
Reporters pity bums and criminals without talking to those they vic­timize: merchants, insurance companies, employers, credit bureaus, teachers, police, etc.
Reporters focus on the poor who don't work, not the working poor. They focus on the rioters, not the locals who deplore riots.


The media are made up of fallible, political humans.

On the positive side they are bright, articulate, and good at com­municat­ing. They try to be accurate and objective. Their exposés have often been invaluable in bringing reform.

On the negative side they are often negative, incon­sis­tent, ­polarizing, myopic, and liberal. They often distort, over-dramatize, and lack taste and perspective. #



Not in my backyard 245

Care Homes


People believe in homes for the disadvantaged, but "not in
my backyard" (NIMBY), and after running one, I'd have to agree. Many of the homes are noisy, boring, dirty, with nonstop TV, no privacy, and mutual abuse among the residents of the home (the retarded, aged, mentally ill, alcoholic, etc). There is a lot of this because of their "rights," and because it's easier for staff to go along with it. It's glorified baby sitting. The residents vegetate and staffs burn out.
Neighbors too. They chafe over parking, yelling, profanity, panhandling, poor grooming and attire, depressed behavior, traffic in and out of the house, etc. Homes are run permissively despite what is claimed ‑ especially smaller homes, as when a resident moves out, the drop in income makes a bigger difference.
If the staff of a home wants to do more than be caretakers, they to fight the residents, their relatives, sometimes the neighbors, but most of all, permissive social workers, who take the side of residents.

These homes should be located OUTside residential neighborhoods [unless an obvious asset such as in a slum] and be run and monito­red by competing private agencies. They should use a boot camp approach to instilling tradi­tional values - difficult to the point that the residents who are able to improve and move, have every reason to. The others should work part or full time in sheltered workshops or regular employment. #






Religious Scandals 400 words

Earlier version was the lead letter of 11 to the editor on Sun. L.A. TIMES 4/5/87


The uproar among television preachers (Bakker, Swaggert) in '87 (Pear­ly-gate) exposed their human stumblings ‑ alcoholism, nervous breakdowns, sexual misconduct, hush money, cover ups, deceitful fundraising and accounting, lavish lifestyles, addiction to prescription drugs, mudslinging (among ‘dear brothers who love each other’) and hiding behind biblical language.
Mainstream society is turned off forced happi­ness, sanctimony, and emotionalism, which get some of the audience so worked up, they cry, jump, and dance about.
These churches want a simplistic world of: a literal bible, answers for everyth­ing, black and white choices, a safe catharsis, fantasy, a perfect future life (to compensate for this life?), and to live through their leaders who tell them what and how to think and feel, and who fight their battles for them - ‘Devil, we're going to give you a licken tonight.’
The followers deny their feelings, go to extremes (not one drop of alcohol, not once glance at pornography), twist history (everything is the 11th), are anti‑intellectual (evolution), are narrow (premarital relations, abortion, divorce, homosexuals), are simplistic (school prayer, knee-jerk forgiveness without restitution [even before the facts are in]), are backward (women's lib, civil rights, censorship), and are lonely.
When their leaders stumble over sex, money, or power, some followers continue to follow them blindly (showing a big fact of life: people believe what they want to be­lieve). Other followers, however, become disillusioned. There is more hope for them because such disappointment and deep thought can lead to realizing: we are all human, issues are not black and white, life can proceed without all the answers, the world is pluralistic, not singular (one way, one truth, one course of study, one career, one mate for life), compromise doesn't have to mean­ selling one's soul, each coincidence is not the work of God, there will always be problems, and one should believe in oneself and not put one's leader on a pedestal.
They can observe what rarely comes up ‑ that many adults are not very religious and are quite well-adjusted and happy. The religious can be too ‑ by slowly maturing. Not what they want to hear; but the disasters above suggest they need to hear it and to face matters (through sensible therapy or whatever). Then they can gradually grow into more effective­ and happy people. #



Terrible Car Auction

500 words

I've been to a number of car auctions without problems, but one in Garden Grove was miserable. You can get easy credit [at high interest rates?]. You can look over the cars and start them, but not drive, them. They are very appealing. You take notes. Then you enter the auction room, take a seat, and can't use your brain till it's over. One guy in dark glasses mumbles a lot of information into the mike. [The thunderous volume in this room of terrible acoustics hurts your ears. One helper and one security guard wear ear plugs.] He introduces the helpers and then the auctioneer who we are supposed to clap for. [Are these new friends?] He mumbles more info and the 1st car is driven in. The helpers slap the fender, kick the tires, jump up on the bumper. Oh boy. The bidding starts, but what is the starting price? Is it real or is there a 'plant' in the audience. The auctioneer frantically rattles off his auction mumble and praises the car. [Super hype]. He mentions one price [what is it?] and another. The helpers are jumping all over, hurting your ears by shouting and blowing their whistles and the car horn, making signals that are suppose to be the price, and getting too close to you. You can't hear normally, you can't think, everything is happening at once. You can't understand what they are saying. A car that sold last week is here again this week, cars are sold? at some final? price [what was it?] and driven off. Next car comes in, same ordeal, carefully crafted to separate you from your money. It goes against everything you've learned about reasoning, clear expression, calm deliberation, manners, dignity - a terrible experience.
I left the lst and 2nd times as quick as i could. I only returned the 2nd and 3rd times [with ear plugs] as this auction was the closest [and I was naive]. I bought a car. [I think I was tricked on the price.] When you pay for the car, you go into another room of bad acoustics, and face reflector glass you can barely see thru. I talked to a foreigner I could sort of hear and sort of understand as she pushed form after form out for me to sign. 'Only l5 minutes' became an hour and I got the car.
Why isn't Ralph Nader having a fit over this type of auction? It cries out for investigative reporting with hidden cams. Then reforms such as: - a large flow chart showing each step and the options. - a maximum level of decibels. - no 'plants' in the audience. - no misrepresentation. - obvious declaration as to which cars have been turned down by dealers. - safeguards against artificially high prices. - a large electronic sign that indicates the first [sensible] price, each rise [with intervals between each rise]. - helpers keeping 20 feet from the audience. In this time of consumer rights, the public is not being protected.
#


Why Not Rate Social Programs
385 words
During my years in social work and since, I've seen a crying need for some kind of ratings. No one has an idea of what are the best programs for addiction, crime, mental illness, or whatever. There is hardly even a direc­tory of them. Many programs sound good, but are disappoint­ing. No one seems to know what works nor why because:

(l) Social work floats on emotion.
We are asked to contribute to some charity because there is a ‘need’ for a ‘disad­vantaged’ person and the charity ‘cares’. Whether there are greater ‘needs’, just how ‘disadvantaged’ the person is, or whether ‘caring’ makes a difference, is never gone into.
Millions of dollars have gone into poverty programs without defining poverty or considering cost-effectiveness. Emotion counts; facts don't.
(2) Social workers won't ‘judge’.
They are trained not to see the poor person, criminal, or whomever as lazy, greedy, improvi­dent, selfish, spoiled, imma­ture, or irrespon­sible; that would be ‘judgmen­tal’. Likewise it is ‘judgmental’ to rate a poor person's progress or a social program's effectiveness.
Other social subjects have been rated ‑ charities, politicians, professors, cities, countries, repressive governments, and schools. Social programs can and should be rated also.

There is also a need to rate the literature. What are the best articles and books on poverty, discrimination, addiction, adoption, truancy, workfare, etc? Such material is basic, yet when I was in social work, there was none. In agencies dealing with delin­quents, there was nothing on discipline. When I started a home for mental patients, there was no manual available.
Then too most of the literature is obfuscated, circuitous, erudite, theoretical, and full of psychobabble.
Rating both programs and literature would show what is available, what is worth considering, how non‑professionals are often the more effective than professionals, how private programs compare to public. They would show: the effectiveness of workfare, which charities are the most effective, the money that can be saved by going to a good self‑­help group, how discrimination has not held back blacks from the West Indies, how it took two years to get people off welfare in one project, and that one state lock ups more people than another state the same size, yet has a higher crime rate.
Ratings are needed for accountability, definition, a yardstick, a bottom line. #
Such material is basic, yet when I was in social work, there was none. In agencies dealing with delin­quents, there was nothing on discipline. When I started a home for mental patients, there was no manual for this. Then too most of the literature is obfuscated, circuitous, erudite, theoretical, and full of psychobabble.


Rating social programs

l point for each if applicable



Negative ‑ A Positive ‑ A
-------------- ----------------
Agency
___public.................___ private
___need business..........___ waiting list

Staff
___ young ...................___ older
___ cynical or idealistic ...___ realistic
___ ‘bohemian’ ..............___ straight
___ overly ‘professional’ ....___ down to earth
___ use ‘psychobabble’ ..... ___ plain English
___ emotional .............. ___ objective
___ manipulative ........
___ passes the buck......... ___ highly responsible
___ doesn't collaborate with those who know client.
___ hired more for education than experience
Goals
___ abstract ............... ___ practical
___ glowing ................ ___ unglamorous and with a price ___ psychological values (awareness, assertion, self‑expression, relationships, resolving problems, etc.).......
...... ___ traditional values (responsibility, work, discipline, manners, thrift, foresight, self‑reliance, moderation, cleanliness, public service, some censorship, conformity, and tradition)

Approach
___’new’.................... ___ traditional.
___ theory ................. ___ common sense.
___ complex ................ ___ simple.
___ patronizing............. ___ limited concern.
___ client's friend......... ___ client's agent.
___ sympathy ............... ___ empathy.
___ permissive ............. ___ firm.
___ roundabout ............ ___ straightforward, confrontive. ___ encourage & hope........ ___ bargain and get.
___ progress is fun, exciting, expressive, warm........... ___ it's slow, unglamorous, hard work. ___ records are ‘around’.... ___ are vital.
___ clients move together... ___ slackers not allowed to hold others back.
___ clients run the show ... ___ staff runs it.

Atmosphere
___ too loud
___ lack of privacy
___ overmedication
___ overly sheltering

Results
___ lots of time ........... ___ never enough time.
___ clients' affection ..... ___ appreciation.
___ good intentions, meetings,
surveys, etc. ........ ___ measurable progress.
___ dependence ............. ___ self‑sufficiency.
___ disillusionment ........ ___ satisfaction.
___ review, reorg..., etc... ___ steady production.

_____ neg. total A ________ pos. total A

Positives ‑ B

Has behavior modification system which is:
___ simple, clear, fair, consistent.
___ based on traditional values.
___ uses peer ratings.
The system rewards appropriate:
___ hygiene
___ manners
___ motivation
___ chores
___ employment
It penalizes:
___ time wasting
___ sponging
___ verbal abuse
___ threats

The management:
___ imaginative
___ itemized bills
___ open financial records
___ everyone's role is defined
___ entire program and current list of local opportunities is simple, in plain language, and posted
___ clients are referred and followed up
___ has list of helpful literature for clients and relatives

Physical plant
___ accessible to transportation and employment
___ clean, ventilated
___ provisions for valuables
___ suggestion box
___ good staff/ client repoire
___ neighborhood is conducive to programs goals
___ positive attire and morale of clients

________ pos. total b
________ pos. total a
________ total

less ________ neg. total


________ grand total


=================================================================
Rating the less advantaged


(This was designed for mental patients, but never tested. It could be developed for others.)

l‑2 poor 3‑4 adequate 5‑6 very good
POSITIVE

Mental ___short term memory ___long term memory ___atten. span ___good judgement ___common sense ___alert ___aware
___manages $ well ___in touch w/ feelings;
Maturity ___assertive ___realistic ___flexible ___responsible ___confident ___moderate ___active ___positive ___open‑minded ___pride ___empathy ___humor ___foresight ___contributes.
Motivation ___work habits ___self‑discipline ___honesty ___hygiene ___dress ___grooming ___general manners ___table manners ___takes care of room and belongings.
Misc ___knows chores.
Total A __________


NEGATIVE

Mental ___deluded ___hostile ___compulsive ___confused ___with-drawn ___preoccupied ___tense ___hyper ___frustrated ___adverse to physical contact ___sexual problems ___gets lost. Immaturity ___childish ___spoiled ___selfish ___stubborn ___craves atten. ___wants magical relationships ___clings to folks ___expresses feelings inappropriately.
Motivation ___lazy ___bored ___spoils self ___plays head games ___post­pones.
Misc ___defensive ___resentful ___uses others.
Total B __________

Total A minus total B = _____________rating


Bungling Iraq

After starting one war in Afghanistan, Bush and the far right started another in Iraq, which they were told could turn into a quagmire like Vietnam. After a brilliant victory, we didn’t have enough troops to stop five weeks of looting, but enough to protect the oil. We didn’t use the Iraqi army when we needed them most. We said we wouldn’t occupy the country. We never expected so many insurgents to fights us. We didn’t find out why they were so motivated - like Vietnam. We kept training the Iraqi military which never did the job [like Vietnam]. [They did it before we got there. The insurgents probably haven’t gotten a fraction of the training.] The Iraqi military should have been fighting the insurgents. We’ve tried to do their job – like Vietnam. We pushed democratic reforms, like Vietnam; and the resulting the government hasn’t worked, like Vietnam. We’re rebuilding Iraq, like Vietnam, though it’s going up in smoke.
We periodically count our deaths in Iraq and rarely guess at the number of deaths of Iraqis who’ve fought with us, coalition deaths, or civilian deaths. Message: Americans matter, others don’t.
We pour over all this with American reporters and officials, like in Vietnam, and rarely with those from other countries - which says our thinking counts, theirs doesn’t.
It’s been said there are 24-100 groups that make up the insurgents. Do we know their names and why they are fighting? Do they fight each other? Do they combine to fight us? How many in the Iraqi army have defected to these? [One American sergeant said half.] Which make up the beginnings of a civil war? Outside countries help which? Why do 78% of the Iraqis want us out? What is the role of oil? Why do we rarely hear the views of the UN, of refugees, the coalition, the Kurds or those who predicted civil war. What do they predict now – that our leaving too soon will set off a chain reaction bringing a colossal regional war?
Until we answer these we’re going in circles [and inviting another 9 -11].



# #


Al Garner garner@comline.com Lived in NY slums during SERPICO …… worked in welfare (in Har­lem), child neglect, drug abuse, juvenile detention …… domestic version of the peace corps (VISTA) …… taught Eng. …… worked on Capitol Hill during Watergate …… started home for mental patients (living with them for two years) …… landlord since ‘78 … … retired … … write (as a hobby) on social issues.
copyright ‘05


/do I need to take out any individ credits below titles? Like s.d. union below min wage
================================== = == = =
ga from each? Issues past?
Class:
Downward Mobility ORG. COUNTY REGISTER 780
An Awful Traffic School 250
Car auction
Human nature
americorps, both nimbys, religious scandals, hyper , japan, media?,, pro?,
But mh an val are also human nature

3 Mental health
Living With Mental Patients JOURNAL OF REALITY THERAPY
Parents of Mental Patients AM. MEDICAL NEWS, 4/ll/86
Let’s Shrink Mental Health from the bottom up.

4 Values
American Characteristics 835
Gambling as a Cancer 470
Pyramid games - they lure the greedy. 400
Premarital Sex and Maturity 320

5 Other
‘Profes­sionals’ - their failings 1140
why not rate soc ….
Advice to immigrants 870
Americorps - idealistic 770
Beware of the hyper hostess 620
Expand the U.N. 250
In praise of homeowners associations 300
Japan bashing in ‘92 400
Media pitfalls 600
Not in my neighborhood 245
Religious scandals of ‘87 let to ed, L.A. Times 4/5/87 400
Terrible car auction 500
Why not rate social programs 380


The lighter side

13,000 words 38 pages 2/05

Early years grammar school thru high school
[40s, family folklore, 50s, jr. hi, happy daze]
Mt. Whitney
European trip l7,000 miles by car
Wheelchair to the Philippines
Vista – the light part
To be young in New York
Loser party
A real homecoming
Living next to Little Saigon
I am ‘the tree’
Joining a gym as a senior
Facelift in Thailand



Early years


1940 dryers barely existed
‘Movie palaces’ in Los Angeles had pretension of a canny sort: statues, fountains, bas-reliefs, finials, murals, urns, sconces, lamp stands, medallions, carpets, grilles, column, balusters, balconies, bays, etc. the mighty Wurlitzer organs, suspended starry ceilings, all-around architectural embellishment. it was impure, profuse, exotic, eclectic, kitschy, skilled, ooo and ahh architecture.
1940 only a minority of homes had wringer‑washers.
4l radar; lst modern detergent
43 zippers scarce during wwII and you couldn’t get metal toys 45 only 8000 homes had TV’s
After WW II ‑ air cond (which made living in the sun belt easier) supermarkets,, frozen foods, 33 rpm records, penicillin

Family Folklore
[hap and jeff are my bros]
(In the 20s our neighborhood was at the outskirts of Santa Ana, Calif., a citrus town of 30,000. The homes sold for $3k-$6k. Ours was built in l930 for $6K. We moved in in l940.)
l940s ===============================
Hap got his name from being a happy baby; the only way you could get a picture of him crying was to take his bottle away.
Our phone number was Santa Ana 0205-J.
Jeff and I rode a bike that had no tires on the rims.
Keith remembered stars on the ceiling that glowed in the dark, peanut butter & honey on whole wheat, and sliding on the wet driveway.
The folks used to listen to Fred Allen, Charlie McCarthy, and Jack Benny. Our toaster was not automatic. We burned the toast often, then scraped it.
June Bright remembers mother making apricot sandwiches.
Mother baked a lot of cookies - some of persimmon. She made so many that cookies from the store were a treat.
As a kid I ate a lot of cereal, and while eating, I’d stare at the back of the cereal box. It seemed each one came from Battle Creek, Michigan.
When I heard of Radio City. I thot it was a city made of radios.
We always asked our folks, ‘What’s there to DOOOOO ? ‘
Wee Willie Winkie. Three Billy Goats Gruff. Sparkle Plenty. In the movies the stagecoach wheels went backwards.
We dug foxholes. Jeff had a half shovel. He used to skip on one foot. We made ‘forts,’ making the inside as dark as possible.
I used to listen to the radio before falling asleep. The glow of the radio dial drew my eye like a campfire, as I heard ‘The Adventures of the Lone Ranger, The Cisco Kid, Shon‑Du The Magician, and Straight Arrow who each time rode out of a cave yelling ‘kamewa fueri.’ That still send chills up my spine. I sent in box tops for a trick that made pennies turn into dimes, figuring I’d become rich. I visited this house, 2l09 flower, in the 80s. Behind the house number was a small squirrelly bulb, trying to do its job. It had been on since at least l970, as there was no switch!
The old street lamps are still used; the city keeps extras.
In l948 the taxes on our house were $l92/yr. We sold it for around $20,000 and moved ‘out in the country’ to Baker st. with its walnut and orange groves, dry river bed, and dog pound. There was no sewer line beyond a few houses north of ours.

47-50 tv spreads [it is a status symbol and central piece of furniture in living room]
5l lst modern credit card
52 My parents rented a TV for a company party ‑ couldn’t get the kids away from it.

50s =========================================================
We had to ask the operator to dial the number [ki 3-2507].
Jeff got his picture in the paper crossing l7th st. Hap and I were just off camera in case the photographer needed someone else.
When our hollow front door was being worked on, I put a letter inside it. I put another in a globe. A friend’s mother later found it.
Root beer floats, radio flyer wagon, making breadcrumbs, smoking pencil shavings in bamboo pipes, getting into a jam and saying ‘kings x’, getting out electric trains on rainy days.
Someone put a horseshoe over a branch while mowing the front lawn. It was forgotten and the branch eventually grew around it.
Osceola summer camp - a week for $l7.
Early dips in water so cold, it made your skin tight. Crafts, campfires with skits, hikes. Mom sent us clothes with candy and gum hidden in the pockets.
Once I put a small disk in a lamp socket that made the light blink and then went off on a camping trip. The light kept blinking, putting the folks in a stew. They were all over the room trying to figure it out.
When fireworks made my ears ring, I went to the piano to see what key they were ringing in -‘G’ (they still do).
Christmas Decorating the tree with popcorn and cranberries. Xmas cookies. Saving the wrapping paper. ‘Come find me’s’ presents. Best present I bought was a boat for one brother for $l.25. You filled it with water and put a candle under a diaphragm. It putt-putted around the bathtub. Absolutely couldn’t wait for him to open it.
After opening things, we’d leave them out for a day or two so wer could appreciate them.
65 cent haircuts near bristol and 4th.
Five summers at El Moro. We’d wake up hearing the surf.
Good days coming home after school and making a peanut butter and jam ‘samrich.’
Bike hikes for a merit badge.
Laurel and Hardy. Charlie Chase.
In 6th Grade I and 3 friends formed a club. Once a year we’d shave and smoke - calling ourselves The Wee Weeders and Little Shavers.
Boy scout jamboree: bullwhips, catsup hamburgers, trading patches … .
In jr. hi. when walking the girls home, we had to pedal our bikes as slow as possible or push ourselves along the curb with one foot.
Before a party on the patio, I spent hours adjusting the colored lights for romance. This still tickles mom.
We showed girls how to crack the bull whip.
Pomade, Wild Root. Crusader Rabbit.
Nicknames
rookey reinstein, tricky stevens, billy boston beans, scallywag, alphenstien, alfredo Beans, alphenheimer, phonse de gardinero, fleadermouse, freak ltd, freak on the halfshell, freak fisticuffs, who-itz, sister-woman, barracuda, lizard, bonzo, screech-owl, stroker magurk, spanky.
Teenage expressions, etc.
Out in the skreet, who dat say dat, snit, hey now, gone to pot, scarfed it down, you’re a card, cut to beach, rack eye, rays, ratty, I waxed him, all stoked up, drizzly, to grease a date, cut a trail, a blow out or function (party), suds, make points with, birdog, buzz over to, make time with, take a girl to the pit, clue in, a tuff pair of socks, shag to beach, shot out of the saddle, bugged out, snake in the grass. What’s the skinney, the haps, the good word, shaken, tuff as a cob, mangy, raunchy, cold as all get out, come stag or drag, phone-o-call. Lovelies, chaquitas, lookers, surfettes. Record funny, the all time flic, gad-zooks, swelligant, splendific, don’t flush the falcon, tuff banana, dragon-wagon, cooties, gadgets (sweet rolls), threads, togs, togged to the teeth, putting on the dog, take gas.
I addressed letters to the folks with
Billy the kid, biff baker - usa, folks village, santa’s help-haus, sonny and cheer, los patrons, hayseeds, vonder­volk, sponsors of freak, zhivago & co, elwood p. suggins, caseload, folk city, garb, suburbans, garb haus, the old gang minus 3, christmas elfs, mutt and jeff, old dad village, until the postman told them, it would be easier if I used the family name.
Jeff liked and was typified by: the frog character, thaddeus j. toad, in the movie THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS, the music of scott joplin (the sting), the old fashioned bike with the huge front wheel - the velociped, and the lollipop boys (in THE WIZARD OF OZ).
He would turn off his old car, get out, run, and ... BAM ... fall over dead, when it backfired. One Xmas I gave him Sassparilla.
Pets animolecules: boots, elmer fudd, jasper, gus, fritz. Mother used leftover medicine on them.
We got our dogs from the pound. We picked them for personality. When choosing one and leading him out, the others barked up a storm, knowing he was getting his freedom.
Most hated baths, but then went nuts - tearing around the yard at a 45‑degree angle. We took them on deliveries. We’d try to get them to see themselves in the mirror or to watch TV.
One tried to bite the sparks of the fireworks.
Once we put a glass bowl over the dog’s food and watched him try to get it. Another time we heated his food.
Sometimes we’d eat a sandwich in front of him as he sat waiting for a bite. When we gave him one, he’d inhale it in a gulp - not even taste it - and look sadly for another. Inside the house Dad would hear us say, ‘Now NO!’ and later say how those two words told a story.
One called Jasper waited out front for the putt-putt of my motorcycle. I’d bring home a number l0 can from Norman’s restaurant with steaks, etc. The next morning his stomach bulged.
One entry in my diary reads, ‘Jasper bit a foreign student; we might have to pay for a few shots.’
Once mother took him to her class to show the students how he sang. He wouldn’t.
Once mother and I went to the pound for a dog and spied Gus. He was jumping to great heights. I said, ‘What about this one?’, and Mother said dubiously, ‘Well, he sure does jump . . .’ (He later scaled a 5‑foot fence.)
The neighborhood loved him. He’d sleep in bed with the Alexanders. He’d sit at the corner and monitor everyone. He wouldn’t let the fireman in the backyard when the Coffin’s had a fire. (Little Robert put his fireman’s hat on.)
He and his mother once brought over an Xmas stocking full of stuff for Gus.
Years later Dad wrote ‘Hap drove out to Chloride, leaned out the window, and spoke casually to Gus, who began dancing around the truck. Hap got out and put his arms out. Gus took a running jump and landed in them, to the amazement of locals. Later he took a nip out of Bruno - to show he still had it.
‘Good old Gus - to us he will always be a very fine guy - much more than a dog.’
Years later when I saw movies of Jeff swinging him into a bush, I remember the fun we had with him, but realized how much fun he had with US!

Trips with burma shave signs and el rancho motels. We went to Hawaii when I was l6. As our ship pulled in, two gals were waving at me. I met one and stayed in touch for years.
On one family trip all the tourists were a large lodge watching KING OF KINGS. Mother thot to leave. She tripped over the cord, RIGHT during the crucifixion, bringing it to a halt.
Dad loved telling this.
When dad taught me how to drive in a pickup, I didn’t give it enough gas. The truck lurched ‑ jerk, jerk, jerk ‑ bouncing him on the seat. He got tired, but remained patient.
Cars power glide, overdrive, cruise-a-matic, dynaflow.
Hap’s old truck from Mr. Hup, the jeep, and the 39 Ford, passed from one brother to the next. Many a honnie sat in it.
3-D movies. Proms. Slides. Sea scouts. Life guarding.



49 - TV’s more common. They were the main piece of furniture in the living room; some had doors on the front. We watched Time for Beany, Space Patrol, Your Hit Parade. TV hurt the movie industry badly.
5l - flip comics, shredded ralston (Wheat Chez), Spike Jones. Smudge pots in orange groves. Cereal used to come in small 3 by 5 boxes. You’d lay it on the back side, cut open the front, pour in the milk, and eat out of the box.
52 - let’s ‘mess off’. ‘Hey now’. Mad magazine. The boys used pomade and Butch Wax. When getting ready for a dance, we’d comb our hair for hours and try to think up conversa­tion.
53 - pink & black ¾ length shirts. blue suede shoes, peggers?, starched blue denims. the boys rolled their sleeves up twice? argyle socks with angora wool. parties on driveways or in garages with the new 45 rpm’s record players. jr. promenade. the lindy.

Willard jr. hi [Marlon Brando went to Lathrop for a year]
dance classes upstairs at Carla Wonger’s. One girl went because ‘it was a chance to touch a boy’. mel-arn donuts. floral village. the snack shop.
I’ll see you in my dreams. Goodnight sweetheart.
Students hung out under the huge tree in the patio.
54 - - italian boy shirts, cry me a river - by johnny ray. the bop, flying saucers [this is john Camron Camron. please turn off the bubble machine ...]. girls used to wear hair in a brushup? also a poodle cut. saddle shoes, white bucks. the fuller brush man.
55 - elvis. Stan Freeberg. When the boys voices changed they couldn’t make the sound of tires skidding. the edinger dip. braces. We’d study ‘like all get out’. We’d ‘rank out’ somebody. Disneyland opened. We’d go ‘downtown’ to rankins, vandermasts, harris and frank, for clothes and to the blue-note or gracie’s for records. Disneyland opened.
/when did pizza come in
56 sha boom, day-o, the great pretend­er, root beer floats, cherry cokes,
the palladium with Ray Anthony or Harry James. 3-d (which ‘faked us out’), cinerama, cinemascope, panavis­ion, todd a-o. We used to ‘eat up that stuff’. Hi-fidelity came in. We’d cruise by girls’ houses (not knowing what to do if they’d come out).
57 - Lunch in the sch. cafeteria was 35 cents. They served apple crisp.
Car washes, the drive-in, hayrides, cash­meres, flatops, crew cuts, so rare, april in paris, the platters singing ‘my prayer.’ passed notes in study hall. surfing stories. nash ramblers. cooties. learner’s permit. pony tails. moonlight in vermont. a street dance. putting soap in the org fountain. slumber parties. rebel without a cause. raunchy.
The guys’ ideal was to cruise in a shackled or hung car with a 48 merc. engine, bored and stroked, with a three quarter house cam, dual carbs, cut outs, high winding gears, fender skirts, and tijuana tuck and roll upholstery. 2nd gear rubber. asked friends for a quarter for gas. (all out of American Graffiti or Grease). ‘quaaaaa­ck’.
58 - S.A. freeway completed. Later one friend who had been the Spaceman at Disneyland married the gal who had been Alice in Wonderland.

In looking back, high school in the 50s, it seemed idyllic and carefree like the TV program HAPPY DAYS, so I wrote:
Happy Daze
If you’re a middle ager who saw your friends in American Graffiti, dust off your pink and black shirts, your saddles, white bucks or blue suedes -lend an ear to yesteryear. Did you pass notes in study hall, sing in the glee club, sweat for the coach, come back form the beach with surfing tales? Did you join on and off campus clubs, make mischief, go out for sports, or hassle your folks? What were you trying to do ... grow up?
Let’s find out by looking at a typical day in the 50s through eyes of big Sammy Senior the lst day of school. He’s watching Franny Freshman in braces and poodle cut. She’s dizzily walking in and saying,
‘Wow, how big everything is. I’m lost. where is everything?’
‘Right here honey, write down your phone number, I’ve got a car.’
‘What kind?’
‘A Nash Rambler.’
‘Ugh.’
‘Well it’s my dad’s but its got whitewalls.’
‘Oh I don’t know; I’ll tell you later.’ She traipses off and along come Freddy the Frosh wearing a beanie cap over a freshly pomaded ducktail. He says,
‘Hi sir, where is P.E.?’ Big sammy senior says,
‘Oh knock it off punk; sign up for football. But lst, did you know that girl in jr. hi?’
‘Yeah, but she won’t talk to me now; she acts like I have cooties.’
‘Tough break son, but you’ll have to get a learner’s permit.’ Freddy leaves and along comes sara senior. Big Sam says,
‘Hi toots, how bout a date?’ Sara:
‘Sorry loser, I go out with college men.’ She floats away and big Sam murmurs, ‘Nuts, another dateless weekend. Anyhow, all the shackled and hung cars are parked which means it’s time for my lst nap .. ah er .. class. Ho hum Geo. Washington crossed the Delaware to .. fetch a pail of water.. no that’s not right. Who cares, when I get out I’m going to work or join the army. The coach says it’ll make a man out of me. But I already shave; what does he mean?’
Ring. Time for lunch.
‘Just how cool do I look walking down the hall greeting my buddies with ‘quuuuuaaaaack! Now my locker. Let’s see - the old combination: 36-24-36. It won’t open.’ [kick, stomp, bang] ‘Oh hi, Mr. vice principal, must be a gorilla in my locker - they don’t respect property.’
Ring? ‘ah ha .. I’ll use a quarter for just enough gas to cruise lunch hour. I hope I see HER again. It’s tough being a teenager in love. Let’s see a little 2nd gear rubber, slow down by the place she hangs out, and pretend not to notice. Yep, that’s her pony tail. Man would she look good at the prom, dancing to Moonlight in Vermont. I can’t stand it.
She’s great except for a speck under her toe. My mom says the perfect girl doesn’t exist, but I know she does and probably goes to school across town. I think I saw her go by in a car full of girls, and I think she looked at me.
Ring. Time for practice.
Hut 2, hut 3, hut 4. Hey what does the coach think I am? This is work, and with helmets on, how are the chicks going to SEE me. I know, I’ll snake a touchdown in the game Friday and pretend the strap broke and my helmet will come off. That way they’ll really know who it is and my folks can get a shot with their brownie as I trot back to the bench. [The kid’s always a step ahead - quaaaaack]
Ring
Well, the weekend is coming. Last Friday we cruised Main st. until we ran into the jarheads. This Friday it’s a street dance, putting soap in the fountain, crashing a slumber party, or laying rubber in front of a chick’s house - but their dad’s don’t like that. How come?
Last year I didn’t know anything. This year I know it all. Why don’t my folks know anything? Imagine, dad never cruised in a 48 merc, bored and stroked, with a three quarter house cam, dual carbs, cut outs, high winding gears, and Tijuana tuck and roll. No wonder he’s weird.
They say these are the best years of our lives, but I don’t know; my allowance isn’t keeping up with my growing pains, I guess though, when you add up all the car washes, dates to the drive in, hayrides, cashmeres, and rama rama ding ding, shoe bop-shoe bob, it beats last year - last year I was a square.
--- --- --- ---
In my senior year in high school I and a buddy wanted to leave our mark. We were student government types, but wanted to stray off the straight and narrow. We were going to paint the year of our class on the town water tower. One day we parked in front of it to make our plans. No one was around except a man crossing the parking lot toward us. We were terribly nonchalant ‑ no one could have guessed our purpose. The man passed us with a bemused look and with one word blew our cool. ‘Tonigh­t?’

mt whitney

After high school I and my friend, jerry, decided to be heroes. We left southern calif. at 6:00 am. and took turns driving and playing bongos for the hot 5 and a half hours to reach Lone Pine. We filled up the air mattresses before starting up the grade. As we went up the air pres­sure became less and less, and the mattresses began to puff up and groan. We let air out to keep them from bursting. As we went con­tinued, the car got hot and began to develop vapor lock. At Whitney Portal we un­packed, cooked lunch [our only successful meal]. We started the 4 mile hike to Mirror Lake. It began to rain and we wondered if we should continue. After a while it let up. There were many switch backs. We met people who told us what to expect. Everywh­ere there was beautiful scenery, sheer rock wall faces rising thousands of feet, gushing streams and brooks that gurgled underground and emerged from nowhere, lakes that were completely frozen over [in July], and weird ice formations that looked like flowers.
My pack gave me trouble and we had to fix it often. We arrived at the lake at 6:00 pm. There were a lot of mosquitoes there so we moved up the hill. We cooked dinner. Jerry’s bread was good, the rest was fair. It was getting dark, so we washed our dishes and laid out our bedroll, by digging up the ground and lying our bedroll on top of the soft dirt. [mistake] The wind began to blow. It was very cold, coming right off the snow. We had no tent and so buttoned our sleeping bags up to the top. This didn’t keep the wind out, and whenever we shifted positions we touched a colt spot. All night it seemed we were on the verge of shivering. Every time we dozed off, we’d shift a little, touch a cold spot, and begin shivering. Also the ground was draining the heat from us. We didn’t sleep well.
We crawled out at 5:00 am the next morning. I put my clothes on over my pajamas. We decided to skip break­fast and take extra food to get an early start. We didn’t need water as there were streams along the way. We passed Consultation Lake which was almost frozen over. It was above the timber line. From here on it seemed as if the whole mountain was made of rocks. As we hiked higher, slopes that towered above us when we camped were now far below us.
We reached the pass, which is the half way point at l:20. A sign said if you haven’t gotten here by l:00, turn back.
From here one could see both sides of the sierra nevadas. It was spec­tacular. I you walked 20 feet to the right, you would tumble for
thousa­nds of feet as the whole range had been lifted from the left. To the left the mountain sloped off bottoming out in a green valley which then rose to smaller mountain ranges.
We had to walk through snow occasionally that covered the trail in July. We had to stop and rest more often now at l0, ll, l2,000 feet.
Jerry had been life guarding all summer and hadn’t used his legs. They began to give him a lot of trouble. I had a headache from the altitude which got worse. I felt I was getting altitude sickness. Our progress became slower and slower. The last mile was very bad and we began to wonder if we were going to make it. After going through more snow and walking along the top of the ridge, we finally made the summit - l4,380 feet. There is hut there made of stones. with a book for your signature. The view was tremendous, but we just laid down. I became very dizzy and lost my break­fast. I felt better then, and had lunch. We took a lot of pictures - unfortunately in black and white. Then we picked up a couple of rocks and started down. We made it back in 3 l/2 hours compared to the 6 up. At Mirror Lake we rested, packed and started the rest of the way down. As soon as got down to the timber line and other lakes, the mosquitoes welcomed us. We crossed and recrossed the stream many times, and again the slopes and cliffs that had been way below us, were far above us. We were glad to be back at the car, as we had hiked 22 miles. We ate a small dinner as it was getting dark fast.
We slept there and the next day treated ourselves to a decent breakfast on the way home. On returning my mother snuck down to the local paper and soon an article proclaimed our achievement. [What else are parents for?]


European Trip ‘58

Parts are from diaries - hence the teenage expressions.
After graduation from high school, I was in the Coast Guard for six months. There I met a Steve, who wanted to go to Europe. We turned out to be ideal traveling companions.
To save money I wanted to fly to NY on military flights. I put on my coast guard uniform and sat around bases for a flight. This took 3 days in Long Beach. The lst flight landed in a high security base in Texas. I was unable to find my ID card. (Later in Europe, it showed up in a secret part of my wallet!) I got a real chewing out for no card and flying as a reservist, and was unceremoniously escorted off the base. After this bad experience I crossed town to another base and asked for a flight, explaining I was a reservist. The guy said the magic words, ‘So are we.’
We flew to Mobile, Alabama and stayed over. On a local bus there I thot the girls up front were putting on an act, their accents were so thick.
Then we flew to NY. I had to wear parachute.
Crossing the country this way cost 50 cents.
NY I met Steve in NY and we boarded a freighter to spend l0 days crossing the Atlantic. During the voyage we revised our itinerary with such detail, the crew, we had gotten to know, said all we needed was a stop watch.
At Rotterdam we bade them fond farewell and picked up a Volkswagen bug my dad had arranged. Great excitement as we began a four and a half month trip of l7,000 miles thru holland, belgium, france, spain, portugal, gibraltar, spain, italy, austria, switzerland, germany, scandinavia, and england.
The lst day we couldn’t understand the traffic and got honked at.
Perfect countryside, little hamlets, horse-drawn plows - like a fairytale - unreal. We got lost and asked,
‘Which way to ‘Paris.’
‘Paris? Paris? What’s that?,’ they asked in some language. ‘Right here on the map - Paris, P-a-r-i-s.’
‘Oh Pahh-reeeee !!!!!’ they exclaimed. Then it was, ‘a toit, a goush, to do wah’ which were right, left, and straight ahead.
All the houses, cobblestones, bricks, and countryside present a never ending thrill. the local color is fascinating. I eat this up no end. We are always looking here and there at amazing sites. Like a dreamland, something you always read about in books. Much different from what you’d expect. At hostels we meet hearty people.
France ------------
mont san micelle. dusk. the town was nestled on a hillside. from our walk we looked at an open window and saw a family in colorful clothes eating and laughing around a dinner table. smoke curled upward. just like a movie. silhouetted at sunset. every stone and room perfect. idyllic, dreamlike. This at the start of the trip. Could anything compare? (Nothing did.) l50 people live there.
We go to sleep immediately after hitting the sack. This camping is it. They have little coupons and admission tickets on cheap paper.
On the subway we got used to comparing notes about the women with no one understanding. did this once discussing a girl 6 ft away. then got worried and asked her. are you american, did you hear us. her answer ‘no, british. yes’.
Very moving to be in a candlelight procession and sing the ave maria at lourdes. lucky to get a time exposure of it.
We were stared at as we drove thru small towns. People did double takes on our dutch license plate, german car, and american faces. They came up and talked in dutch or german. They got bang out of our sign language and pronunciation. They would say something ‘.................... English?’, and we’d say, ‘americans.’
‘ahhhhh americannnns!’ they replied, thinking that was terrific. then another question in their language, meaning ‘where in America?’
We said, ‘California.’ and they exclaimed,
‘AHHHHHH ! CAHLEEFORNIA !!!’ as if we had come from heaven.
Spain
Ate meals for 50 cents with guides who ‘weren’t hungry’. figured out later they were saving money. gypsy dancing was exciting. parks, trees, fountains of madrid. crowd gathered after our wreck in Rhonda. everyone wanted to try their English. the people you meet - sooooo nice and helpful. The countryside and towns were quaint, picturesque - like a fairlytale.

The women promenade evenings till l0 pm. After that they’re gone. We came into Toledo tired and hungry and asked directions from a gorgeous gina lollabrigida look-a-like. We went to our hotel, ate, went back to look for her. It was after l0. Not a girl on the streets. Kicked ourselves.
Belly-slid at cadiz, which floored the natives. surfed with air mattresses.
We saw Avila where THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION was filmed. Walls 2l feet thick. 86 turrets.
lst shower in madrid - cold water.
Some of the locals were hams and loved having their pictures taken.
Couldn’t believe how much Spanish I learned in 3 weeks (after two years in hi sch.).
Portugal
Balancing loads on heads seems to give the women good posture and a graceful walk. climbed to top of castle and proclaimed it conquered by the coast guard. guy in windmill took great pride in showing us how all the mechanical parts made of wood worked on a gentle breeze.
Monuments all over. At a nightclub they sang the haunting, stirring ‘fado’. wonderful gardens, formal and informal. kids swarm over our car.
A ‘lake’ and an ‘island’ turned out to be the Mediterranean and Morocco. A lot of security at Gibraltar. 24 miles of caves in it. to the top & declared it conquered by the coast guard. how do covered Arab women recognize each other? dirty in Morocco. biblical xechaun paved with rocks so long ago the rocks have been worn slippery.
Italy
along the amalfi drive, ravello was like a lost civilization among the mts. terraces covered the hills. You’ve never been in a cemetery till Genoa or Milan. Such statues, such feeeeeeeling.
At youth hostel after dinner, a bunch of us sat outside in the moonlight, played guitars and sand. The girls leaned back and looked up. Reeeeaaaal romantic.
Had real hamburges and apple pie - made you almost homesick.
Outside Rome we drove on parts of the original apian way.
We bounced our car out of a tight parking spot which amazed the locals.
On top of Vesuvius we could have used firecrackers as the echoes were like lightning.
After sitting thru 3 operas at the suggestion of Steve, I wasn’t a big fan, but decided to give it another try at La Scala. We had always bought standing room tickets, but on the way in, a man had an extra ticket in the orchestra section. He treated me. The opera, THE MAGIC POTION, was pure delight. What an evening.
In Italian cathedrals they use marble the way we use wood.
We followed a tour bus at night to get to Villa d’Est outside Rome. Here were the phenomenal Tivoli Fountains were illuminated among the cypress tress. like a dream.
Steve had read it was best to enter Venice at night. We did, and it was another world. Violin music in St Mark’s Sq. as two tall guards in their Napoleonic uniforms walked thru - enchantment.
Austria
a change. lush green, people cutting the fodder.
admont: A little old man from the hotel wanted to help us find the guide. He wouldn’t use the phone for fear of waking up people, so he went from house to house waking up the whole town. hilarious. slept in a barn. celebrated the 4th of July by blowing up a can of vegetables. people happier, healthier. friendly, and more colorfully dressed.
Concert at the ancient and majestic town hall with banners. one by one the lights went out as a member of the orchestra stopped playing - till there was one violin and one light at the top. This held for some moments and then stopped. Total quiet. What a touch!
Nice to wake up in the Vienna woods - tailor made for fairy tales with the sun shining through the leaves and the birds singing; all we needed was a little elf to pop out. The people are the 1st since Portugal to wave as we go by. slept in the rain. slept in attic under 7 blankets and still cold. woke to an avalanche. we gave our 6 boxes of powdered milk to our guide, leo - too much trouble to mix it with distilled water.
Switzerland
montreaux at dusk. everything about it had fallen into place just right. gal in st. moritz decided she liked me. (found her address 30 yrs later.) Switzerland was one big chocolate, big clock, big alpine village with mts. bot a wrist alarm for $23. after of 4 yrs of specialized schooling, watchmakers make $l.l5/hr.
mail sure is important. best hostel so far at bern. hot water for an hr. lst hot shower. south Africans thot we had a drawl. i said in amazement ‘a drawl?’ I guess it sounded like ‘drawwwwwlllllll.’
Germany
The castle Neuschwanstein at Fussen near Munich had a throne room which had to be perfect. warm showers at baden baden.
We thot we’d seen it all, but since fielding raved about the Moselle river, we thot we’d drive up it a short distance. It was magic. long winding green paradise. vineyards, twisting streams, trees, rolling hills, a few castles, quaint towns nestled against the hillsides, kids rollicking on the grassy knolls. sun was going down so we had to drive fast. enchanting.
On to the illuminations of Luxembourg city. fairy tale - untouched by war? We drove around some park with our headlights not realizing we were rousing couples from the bushes.
This was before the wall divided Berlin. went over to east Berlin. shabby. left over from wwii. a man nervously looked around before allowing us on the subway. Russian customs were the worst. This city gets lots of aid from the u.s. if you fall asleep on the s-bahn you can arrive in eastern zone and not get out. east and west Berliners more helpful than anyone. I got a ride out of the western sector with a loser who went the wrong way. He was headed toward Poland. His car blew up. I started to flag another car for a ride, but he stopped me. It was the police. No telling what could have happened.
To the Zillertel on the rapierbond with guys we met. We all rocked and sang as we stood on the tables. Too much.
Scandinavia
closed on Sundays. taller people. Seemed like the u.s.
Belgium
the world’s fair: dancers from the Congo, with drums - incredible performance.
A church with Christ’s blood which liquefied once a week for years.
England
Took us 3 days to get used to speaking English again. What a treat! Exhibit of recordings of accents, dialects. slept in a farmer’s barn with chickens. he had us in for tea.
Eton: boys must be enrolled between ages of 3 and l2 mos. so their ma’s have to time their births.
the British ‘wear’ umbrellas. the thinnest possible was the goal. Steve claimed some never unfurl them. [?????]
We had met a guy named Ashok in Saltsburg and planned to look him up in Cambridge. When we got on campus, we looked down a hall, and there he was!
We saw some English out on the beach in bathing suits at some resort in drizzly weather determined to have a vacation.
**
Coming home
Steve had a shipboard romance with Stan Kenton’s daughter.
Up at five to see the sunrise and the lights of NY. splendid view of the statue of liberty and southern manhattan - especially thrilling to the europeans. the queen mary came in right behind us. Sure glad to get back to the good ol’ U.S.A.
I took military flights to get home. great to fly again and see america beneath me. it is so big after europe. big, wide streets, plenty of nice houses with lawns etc. there is nothing in europe like it. Flew from NY to Ohio to montgomery, ala. to denver. nothing but checkerboard farmlands for miles. flight to salt lake, then oakland. trying to get these flights gets to be hectic. begin to wonder just when I will get home. to burbank. saw many pools. good to see all the tract homes. bus to santa ana. more of a thrill as I approached. great being home again. good old America. good to leave the car unlocked, the windows open, and lounge around in cut-offs. take shower, eat, do what i want all day, develop my slides.

Musts -----------
Venice, vienna.
Montfort L’Amory - outside paris.
The castle Neuschwanstein at Fussen near Munich. It is the disneyland-like castle that graces so many calendars.
St. Paul de Vence, Rhonda, Lourdes, Xechan in Morocco
Mont san michelle
highly recommended
Carcasonne, the fountains of trevi, Saltzburg, the moselle river.
hi points
illuminations at trevi, mt san michelle at dusk, the moselle at dusk.

60s =======================================================
One Xmas, when in college, I rode through the Xmas parade as Frankenstein on the Preston’s crazy bike. The announcer described each float and band until I came along. Silence. I wasn’t on the schedule.
=======================

Wheelchair

While in college, about l960, I read of a young man in the Phillipines, David, who worked for a merchant so he could listen to the Voice of America. I said to my folks, ‘Why don’t we sent him a radio?’ Fine, we sent one. He was very glad to get it. After four days it broke, so we sent another.
Then he told us his cousin?, Andres, needed a wheelchair? I wrote saying if they could send us something from the phillipines, we’d work on a chair. We received two beautiful handbags. I found an old wheelchair and was ready to ship it, when I got a chance to go to ny to look for work. The project fell into the hands of my noble parents. The old chair was inadequate so they found a new one and sent it.
It didn’t arrive. details
Then followed a great many letters among my parents, andres, and the co. that shipped it. Things work diff in the 3rd world. skip
Finally the chair arrived: quotes and pics and gratitude.
There were some other requests, but my folks felt they had done their share. skip
Recently I came across the old file they had kept on this. I wrote Andress to learn the wheelchair has had many repairs, serves him still, and has ‘helped a lot in my everyday life.’
Later I went into


The domestic version of the peace corps – VISTA.

I was assigned to Pecos, a half hour outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. It had l200 people (and lots of gossip). Outside town there were bald peaks of l3,000 feet and alpine valleys, quiet but for the ring of a cowbell. Six miles away was a town of l3 families without electricity, and below was the Pecos River, from which farmers channeled water with 300 year old ‘ditches,’ governed by ‘ditch associations.’ On the horizon were silent storms of seemingly constant lightning.
The reddish, clay soil when dry was like cement and when wet, was sticky enough to pull your shoes off. During the rains it washed into the river, turning the falls a reddish color.
Some of the adobe homes had this coloring, which gave them a glow at sunset. When I first arrived, I drove past these enchanted. It seemed like a Shangri‑la. No travel log had shown such a place (nor captured the deep gazes of the Spanish beauties - a good beginning.)
The people were said to be descendants of the conquistadors; and the towns were suppose to be some of the oldest in the U.S. The people and ballot were bilingual.
When thinking about tearing down a house, they would say ‘We have to `throw' that house.’ When going to someone's house they'd pull up and honk for the person to come out ‑ even in freezing weather. When invited for lunch, I was told they'd start ‘feeding’ at 2:00. They thought nothing of eating a bowl of red chili - straight.
There were wedding celebra­tions that went on forever. At one, the bride and groom sat ex­hausted with dark circles under their eyes, while the revelers danced and drank and drank and danced.
On weekends there were dances with drinking and fighting. (The drinks cost; the fights were free.)
About half the homes used natural gas, the rest wood. I bought several cords (4 by 4 by l0 ft.) of piñon wood to warm the two room adobe I rented. I had to chainsaw it into l ft. lengths and chop those up. Dry wood was for starting a stove or heater and green wood was for overnight heating, during which the sap hissed gently. Cedar wood was prefer­red for baking. The stoves and heaters had vents that could whip the flames into a roar or keep the coals glowing. Some were highly efficient, burning most of the ashes. Water jackets heated water and provided humidity.
Some people insisted food cooked on a wood stove tasted better. I tried it once, but it was so much trouble, I ate out of the refrigerator the rest of the year. I used an outhouse, drew water from a well, and showered at school. , the people had superior human values. They would raise their relatives' and other people's children. They were gregarious, human, genuine, warm, good natured, polite, and hospitable. When there were lulls in the conversation, they didn't feel they had to fill in; they enjoyed the quiet.
This was the War on Poverty to help the ‘poor,’ but ‘low income’ was a better term as these people were poor in money and rich in everything else ‑ family life, friendships, enviable mental health, and a healthy, robust, close to nature, lifestyle. This was especially true of one prison guard, his wife, and ll kids - a wonderful bunch ‑ like out of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Income aside, the rich would have traded places in a second.
My job was ‘community development,’ - the subject of another article.

- - - - - - -

When in college I notice most of the orgs I was interested in were headquartered in NY. A chance to go there came up. it was chaperoning a bus of foreign students. I was in the shower and thot, ‘heck, do it’. I told people I’d probably be back, but underneath I knew it wasn’t going to be soon. I went for two years, then into VISTA above, then back to NY for 6 years.


TO BE YOUNG IN NEW YORK

l600 words


What possessed me, in my early 20s, to give up Southern California and live in New York City (from '63 - '72)? Looking back it was because New York was and is a ‘great city.’ There are five such places (according to an essay in TIME): Tokyo, Hong Kong, Paris, London, and N.Y. They are ‘great’ because of:

‑ A great diversity.
‑ An unregimented, effervescent vitality by day and night.
‑ Being the headquarters of major activities.
‑ A large leisure class to pay for the cultural life.
‑ A great tolerance and permissiveness.
‑ An impressive physical setting ‑ which isn't necessarily attractive.
‑ Being loved and hated to extremes by inhabitants and outsiders.
‑ Characteristics that make their citizens different from the rest of the country.


In Manhattan (the main part), I found:

‑ The Columbia area
Colleges, hospitals, headquarters many Protestant agen­cies, Riverside Church, St. John the Divine. Once exclusive, this neighborhood was surrounded by slums.





‑ Greenwich Village
A bohemian quarter of foreign movie houses, off-Broadway theatre, older, quaint, streets … nonconformity, agnosticism, searching, expounding … coats doubled as sleeping bags … off beat bookstores, coffee houses, ideas and … hair ‑ lots of it - matted, unkempt, defiant, careless. The outlook was different. The people laughed at different parts of a movie than mainstream people laughed at.

‑ The lower east side
Traditional area for immigrants. Colorful, often depressing . . . old tenements, new housing projects . . . graffiti, bongo drums, old typewriters with foreign characters, sweet potato pie, cuchifritos, vegetable markets on the street, and a flea market.

‑ The upper east side (‘silk stocking district’)
Chauffeurs, limousines, private schools, doormen, - clean, elegant buildings with impressive stonework. One area near 5th Ave. was said to be the richest square mile in the world.

- Other areas are: Wall st., Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho, the garment district, the theater district, Harlem ….

Construction was constant. A huge pit was blasted and dug down five or more stories. Pilings were driven - clang, clang, clang. Men on their lunch hours lined the edges to watch (as sidewalk superintendents). Day by day, sometimes in terrible weather, cranes hoisted material up 40, 60, 80 stories. This went on for months, using only one parking lane.

Space was at such a premium that rents were astronomical, couches and chairs converted into beds, and dogs were miniatures. A garden apartment was a luxury, as was a terrace. A window with sunlight was a plus ‑ so was a view or a street with trees. Some playgrounds and pools were on top of build­ings.

N.Y. was: buildings without l3th floors . . . many locks on the doors [look for them on TV] . . . dents in your car and broken taillights as natives park by ‘touch and go’ . . . newspapers in five languages in one subway car . . . dazzling views from night spots atop 50 story buildings . . . storybook views of southern Manhattan looming out of the fog from the ferry . . . famous churches and preachers . . . museums, plays, operas, ballets, concerts, film festivals . . . overcrowded lunch rooms with people eating standing up, passing the catsup in front of your face . . . the waitress banging down dishes, and yelling across 50 heads, ‘B.L.T. DOWN, HOLD THE MAYO!’ . . . a bank teller counting money so fast, his hands were a blur . . . and horns on fire trucks that lifted you off the sidewalk. The Russian Mission was across from one fire station. Many a night the Russians were levitated by those horns (from N.Y. with love).

When I arrived, I was free for the first time of school, debt, matrimony, military, conformity, and provincialism. I was free in the anonymity. If I lost a job or whatever, I didn't have to explain.

I met: ‘road rats’ who hitchhiked around the country, singles out of college, and cultured foreigners on exchange programs. I lived in Germantown, the poor lower eastside, next to Columbia university, and with Cubans to practice Spanish. I ended up in the rich upper east side in a rent-controlled apt. (3.5 rooms for $l50/mo.).
I met adventurers, travelers, young executives, and starving, creative types. We'd sit up at night comparing trips, parts of the country, job leads, and our naive solutions to world problems - young and idealistic in the capitol of the world!
I had three big romances - Japanese, Cuban, and American; I spent glittering evenings at Lincoln Center watching Nureyev and other greats dance; and I heard Norman Vincent Peale preach many times.
These were the days of The Beatles, hippies, Joe Namath, Saturday Night Fever, Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Nureyev and Fontaine, Mayor Lindsay, Malcom X, Serpico, Muhammad Ali ...


There were ticker tape parades, big sporting and cultural
events, and giant exhibitions. Natives would say, ‘If it's going to happen, it'll happen here first.’ (bragging or complaining?).

There was everything to explore: jobs, neighborhoods, ethnic groups, foreign friends, leading weekend trips, teaching English to foreigners, and finding foreign roommates for practicing Spanish (but speaking English).

Since you had to walk, you discovered more ‑ clothes at half price, out of the way antique stores, unusual eating spots, a public park that was virtually private, and standing room for cultural events.
The first few years there were more enriching than my previous 23. If there was a place to be young with a million interests, this was it.


The five major ethnic groups were the Italians, Jews, Irish, Blacks and Puerto Ricans (handled wisely in BEYOND THE MELTING POT). Only l7% of the city was WASP (white anglo saxon protestant).

New Yorkers
‘Noo Yawkers’ [rhymes with hawkers] were a breed their own - snide, surly, nasty, mean - the whole city got up on the wrong side of bed and ate nails for breakfast. Talking was yelling; arguing was a blood feud, living was surviving. You got your feelings hurt till realizing they didn't mean it the way ‘outsiders’ took it. From the first rude remark at the Lincoln tunnel to the personality change crossing the Triboro bridge, it was dog eat dog. Add the strikes, riots, demonstrations, bombings, and blackouts, and you were sure New Yorkers made the best infantry. [By contrast, tourists were easy to spot. They were slower, looked at everything, and appeared wholesome and innocent.]


=================================================================

In his book THE WEB AND THE ROCK, Thomas Wolfe described New York in the 20s (wonderfully capturing what it was like for me in the 60s, as a young man):

In a hurricane of sound, a train in New Jersey approached New York. On it was a youth in his early 20s. On his face were hope, fear, expectancy - the conflicting emotions so many youths feel when first coming to ‘the big apple’.
The train swept into the dark tunnel beneath the Hudson River, passed under it, emerged on the other side, and began to slow. Gray twilight filtered through the windows. On both sides were old storied buildings. The boy looked up at the unending tiers and cells of life. He saw people leaning on the sills, looking down through hanging laundry.
The train entered the station. Long tongues of cement appeared with people waiting. There was a grinding screech of brakes, a light jolt and, for a moment, utter silence. There was an explosion - it was New York!
There is no truer legend than that of the country boy, the provincial, proverbial innocent at his first contact with the city. Hackneyed by repetition, burlesqued in cheap fiction, it is nevertheless tremendous.
What does he see there? What is it that drives even the most nondescript youth from a peaceful home to the cruel uncertainties of a giant metropolis?
Life in a big city is lonely, barren, drab, impersonal, and more so in NY - an ugly place of everlasting hunger - loneliness in subways, rebreathed air, cheap, rented rooms, the gigantic desolation of the library, a seat in the balcony, the Metropolitan Museum, or the gray depression of a musical Sunday in a theater with arrogant looking, little musicians.

Nevertheless, nowhere else can a young person feel so apart, yet sense the potential for great hope, love, wealth, fame, or joy. These are accentuated during the first tender days of spring when women burst forth like flowers, and in the early autumn, when the city takes on a magnificent flash and sparkle. There is the smell of frost and harvest; the air is charged with an electric vitality.
New York exults. It lays its hand upon a freshly arrived youth and makes him feel he can do and be anything - he feels power and immortality. He reaches, aspires, craves, hungers - with the intensity and passion of a youth finally being free of school, military, matrimony, debt, and small town life. Never again will it be like this! #
-- -- --
Movies and TV programs which typified NY during certain eras.
The dates are wild guesses.
l910s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
20s
30s The George M. Cohen Story.
40s The Godfather, Somebody up there likes me, On the Town, The Eastside Kids.
50s West Side Story, On the Waterfront, The Lords of Flatbush, The Wanderers, Raging Bull.
60s All in the Family, Welcome Back Cotter, Serpico, French Connection, Midnight Cowboy, Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, Death Wish, Up the Down Staircase.
70s Fort Apache - The Bronx.

Movies that could be added (if well known):
Needle Park, The Pawnbroker, Klute, On the Town, April Fools, The Out of Towners, Manhattan, Stage Door, Next Stop Greenwich Village, Prisoner of 2nd ave, My Favorite Year, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, 42nd St., Chorus Line, Stage Door, All About Eve, The Goodby Girl, Bronx Tale, My favorite year, Mean streets, All about eve, The goodby girl, Plaza Suite, Home alone II, When harry met sally, Sunday in NY, The secret world of henry orient, Mr vany? builds his dream house, The big street, Morning glory, Little miss market, Broadway danny rose, Miss minieva, Morning glory. Harry and Tonto, supercops, Roaring Twenties.

NYers
tony danza, dom deluise, lainie kazan, martin landau, barbara mcnair, rita moreno, tony orlando, neil sedaka, connie stevens, elliot gould, John Voight, Lou Gosset jr.

NY types
Robert de Niro, Mickey Rourke, Telly Savalis, The Fonz, George Raft, Muggs McGinnis.

‘Newyorkese’
awf = off. bauwl = ball. bauws = boss. bean = being. boat = both. catlick = catholic. cawfee = coffee. cawna = corner.
a chauwklit mauwlted = a chocolate malt. cupala = couple of.
dahlink = darling. denn-tist = dentist. eggzauwsted = exhausted. fahgedit = forget it. hizzonuh the may-uh = his honor the mayor [who has a way wit woids]. huh = her. huz = hers. huzbin = husband. inlores = in-laws. jewla = jewler. joisy = [new] jersey. lieberry = library. llawn-guylant = long island.
looza = loser. new yawk [like hawk] = new york
toidy toid and toid avenue = 33rd (st.) and 3rd avenue.
da udder one = the other one. yous guys = you guys.

NY names Chauncey, Carmine, Vinnie, Adelle, Pauli, Roz. Louie, Rocko, Maria, Joey, 'Victah', Gino.

Something of interest in understanding NY was a list of differences:
[from an article in the New York Times Magazine ('68)]

‘Out West’ ‘back East’
Provincial .............................. cosmopolitan
Begins at less than 20' rainfall &
less than 29 people/sq.mi.........
Typical states:
Calif. ............................ Pennsylvania
Settled by Americans .................... by Europeans
Experience counts ....................... the establishment knows
Rely on self ............ can fall back on the establishment (the ruling oligarchies in politics, academia, society, media, finance)
Pragmatic ............................... intellectual
Vigorous, exuberant ..................... patient, contemplative
Cocky, Hopeful .......................... fearful
Starts fads (and crackpot ideas) ........ starts trends
Mobil society ........................... sedentary
Houses more temporary .................. permanent w/ basements & attics
Less stable families and marriages ...... more stable, but greater mental problems ‑ espec. Main and N.Y.
Free service and good service ........... neither
Friendlier and less status conscious ....
Don't lock cars and houses ...... do and auto thefts are still higher.
Natural shrines ......................... cultural shrines.
Higher per capita income, but more bankruptcies ....
Higher interest on savings .....
Greater use of initiative, referendum, and recall ..........
Better mass transit ....
......... more horn honking and jaywalking,
Calif. wines ......................... imported wines


Both the West and the East tend to overate the East.

‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
My additions

Settled by the car, thus better sts. ............ settled before the car.
Freeways .......... turnpikes, thruways, beltways, parkways ‑ with tolls.
Raised lane markers .............................. none due to snowplows.
......... potholes

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
the Bronx

Queens

Harlem
Spanish Harlem


Columbia
Univ.
Germantown


Upper eastside

Central
Park
West side
Lincoln
Center

Theater U.N.
district
Midtown

garment
district


Greenwich
Village
Lower east side

the Bowery

N.J.

Little Italy

Chinatown

Hudson River

Wall st.



Brooklyn

Statue of Liberty

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I stayed in a number of rooming houses and got to know the guys. On some dull weekends, we’d sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. We made up this invitation.

Loser Party

8:30 Uptight and melodramatic introductions.
9:00 Phoney conversation, gossip, tension and anxiety.
l0:00 Painful silences, resentment, withdrawal, passivity, defeatism.
ll:00 Deep melancholy, accompanied by soft cello music.

Quiet Time for those who hate their jobs and themselves.
l2:00 Tragedy workshops:
· How to grow old and peculiar gracefully.
· How to be used and abused discretely.
· Self-pity self-taught.
· Single neurosis and career psychosis.
· Why your shrink hates my shrink.

l:00 Referrals to computer dates and new groups on the single circuit.
Take a break from your four-wall weekend for some class commiseration.
· Free sedatives
· Quality rejections
· New hangups to replace old ones
· Snacks from vending machines
Bring a fellow toad.

A Real Homecoming
I had loved being in New York and Wash. D.C. for ll years, but had used up my reasons for being back east and wanted to return to Southern California’s climate, friends, and family.
I had flown home before, but never driven. I left in May on one of those solitary trips in which you are a free spirit, going wherever and whenever. You put your foot on the floor and rip off miles of scenery, towns, cities, sunsets, and bits of Americana.
I traveled route 40 [the old 66]. The lst half was through lush, green, rolling hills. The gas stations had signs on l00-foot poles. so you could see them in time to turn off.
Some of the signs and towns were: 55 mph - no tolerance, Climbing Lane, Elvis Presley Parkway, LBJ Freeway, Cochese Ave. Mechanics­ville, Scag­gsville, Town of Geronimo, Okalona, Taxarkana, Arkadelphia, and a ‘Hep Ur Sef’ gas station.
I saw snakes, mice, vultures, lizards, fire flies so large their glow lit the weeds, and a calf that charged my car. I liked the accents and naturalness of the people - especially Texans, who don’t let you go without, ‘Ya come back and see us.’
About there the ‘West’ begins as the rainfall drops below 20’/yr. Things began to look familiar: less greenery, dry soil, yucca, cactus, an sand dune here and there, and vast expanses where there little to do except honk at cows.
To an easterner, the desert probably holds little appeal, but if you’ve grown up near it, it’s part of you. I saw wildflowers, Indian reserva­tions, and mountains [not the hills back east they call ‘moun­tains’]. These were stirring memories of scout and family trips I had forgot­ten.
Every day the scenery looked, felt and even smelled more familiar. It was a slow, hesitant unveiling of buried im­pressions. Here were signs that were the other end of the world to me as a kid: Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, Kingman, Boulder Dam.
California was approaching. I felt like a G.I. coming home from the war. I crossed the Colorado River with a war whoop; anything could happen now, I was back in my state. The fields had been watered and a familiar odor welled up. I knew that smell. What a greeting!
The next part, from Blythe to Indio, was less thrilling - a forbidding desert like out of Lawrence of Arabia. I drank the water which had a strong taste of sulphur. What an desolate place - must be terrible in summer.
Once in Indio I knew I was getting close - oleander bushes, eucalyptus trees which have a gracefulness I had forgotten, a trailer park in a date grove! and finally ... an orange tree. It was at a traffic island where I stopped. I stared incredulous. It looked unreal. I wanted to touch it and yell, ‘Hey Everyone, an orange tree - right here.’
Now came more signs you don’t see back east: Alpha beta, Market Basket, Standard, Sunkist - each with a memory.
I swopped down through Jack Rabbit Pass where as a teenager my Volkswa­gen was buffeted by the wind. Now a sign to Redlands; another to Clare­mont, then the Riverside Freeway, and the mere thought of surfing. The sun had gone down. The memories were coming faster and faster with each **mile. The effect was multiplying and I was in awe. Down the Newport Freeway, off at l7th st. in Santa Ana - the street of my life - a few more turns and I was back in the old neighborhood at my folk’s house. With no one home I let myself in with the key from the hiding place and walked around in a daze as if in some ephemeral museum out of my uncon­scious. Here were the antiques, family pictures, book collections, and objects that spelled ‘home’.
I walked outside, smelled the honeysuckle, and understood what the Russian defectors meant by saying they missed the air, trees and grass of their homeland - the climate and vegetation of one’s youth is stamped indelibly.
After being away so long and driving those miles, I had discovered the past in the small things. They sprang at me from the signs, schools, street corners and trees. I was home now - where I had grown up - where my youth had been built on hundred of sub­tleties. Who could have dreamt of such a return!


Living Next to Little Saigon ’83

How the Vietnamese came to settle in Westminster, Calif. was a fluke. The lst wave to arrive in the U.S. came to nearby Camp Pendleton in ‘75, and most were dispersed through­out the country. But 20 families were left with no sponsors. What to do. Finally a man spoke up. He had some buildings in West­minst­er, where they could stay; and a nearby church would sponsor them.
The families set up a food store, then another store and another. That was ‘75, and in ‘77 I bought a house about 2 signals away. Little by little you’d see more Vietnamese. A few of their poor kids wore ill- fitting clothing, and some of the poor adults drove junky cars. At the grammar school across from me, there were gradually more little heads with black hair.
Asian kids seem uniquely cute - slender frames, bobbed, shinny hair, roundish, cute faces with almond eyes. They are very reserve. When you’re genuinly friendly and warm toward them, they look with a kid’s curiosity, but are very quiet.
I felt sorry for many kids and adults. They are smaller and some Americans resent them. but it’s gotten better. They are more accepted and more comfortable.
More have arrived from abroad and from different parts of the U.S.
There are l00,000 now; they have about l000 businesses in the area.
Little Saigon is often:
· no English among elders, but teens speaking English with no accent.
· take out food in a plastic bag with the top tied. When opened, it has ... chopsticks ... [made in ... Korea].
· being served with chopsticks and no fork.
· seemingly most Vietnamese driving new cars.
· a new shopping center every few months.
· seeing property values go up in those areas.
· 50,000 shoppers on weekends
· Asian reserve & trimness
· seeing the library crowded with asian students.
· hearing some of the lst students at college used to carry a textbook under one arm and a dictionary under the other.
· hearing teachers love such diligence.
· reading the local grade point average has gone up.
· asian trinkets hanging from rear view mirrors
· seeing more Vietnamese working in fast food, auto parts, hardwar­e, banks, department stores, the library, and others.
· more asian food in supermarkets
· small incense-burning buddhist shrines to different gods in their stores. At night the stores will be pitch black except for the red glow from electric ‘candles’ on the shrine.
· being the only caucasian in one of their shopping centers.
· tri-lingual menus.

Little Saigon is sometimes:
· women shading themselves with umbrellas.
· asians sitting on their haunches.
· someone carrying two loads on a pole across the shoulders.
· coming upon two paper saucers on a curb in the middle of the night - one of cookies and candies, the other of fruit with 3 sticks of incense
burning - a Buddhist offering.
• asian tikes being let out of school before Thanksgiving dressed as pilgrims and Indians.
· meeting a 2 year old and his mother asking him to bow to me.

success stories
· Some kids arrived in their early teens with no English and 5 years later, got into top col­leges.
· One woman in real estate made a million dollars in commissions in ‘88.
· One 58 yr. old has been on an assembly line for some years. She can’t read blueprints, and she can speak only 2 senten­ces: ‘You do it, I copy you’. She keeps up with the changes, is one of their best workers, started at $2.75/hr and by ‘88 was making $9.50. When everyone else was laid off, she was kept.
· Another woman worked as a manacurist in a shop. After 3 years she bought the shop.
· One boat person came here in ‘79 without speaking a word of English. Nine years later he earned his 7th degree from M.I.T.
· In one community, Vietnamese students were 20% of the high school and 50% of the validvictorians.

reasons
· the Confucian ethic of education, hard work, and family teamwork. [‘Family’ means family plus relatives.]
· having endured war, escape, pirates, refugee camp, and a new language and culture. fix]
· being political refugees, which means a higher % of profes­sionals.
· Families arrive, live ‘crowded’ [by anglo standards], sometimes with very little furni­ture?, work several jobs, never eat out, never go to the movies, make their own clothes, buy a car, pool their money, & buy a house or start a business. The whole family works on it.
· They make their kids obey and study hard. They are to make their parents proud and to take care of them in later years.
· Working 40 hours a week is nothing. Kids and relatives work in their family’s store giving no thought to minimum wage, overtime, benefits, vacations, etc.
Other reasons [according to Dr. Vo]:
The Vietnamese had no welfare in Vietnam. They are starting from scratch. There is no national health insurance as their was back home. They are not sure their kids will take care of them, and they don’t understand social security.
They are patient, quick learners, and good with their hands.
They enrich us.

There was a school across from me. I used to jog on the playground past a tree the kids played around. One morning I saw it in the mist and got an the idea for writing:

I AM ‘THE TREE’ [fiction]

Long ago I was a small seed being blown across the prairie with many other seeds. Some of us came to rest in a low spot and were covered by dust and sand - end of the trail. The rains came, we took root, and slowly I became a tree, as did some of my friends. Others became bushes, flowers and grass.
Much later settlers came and cut down some of us to lay out streets and raise buildings. Around me they built a school, and, when summer ended, it filled with small fry. I liked that, as I was on the playground. They were my friends, though they didn’t know it. They would scamper around me playing games. They climbed through me looking for bird nests and swung from my branches so much they wore away my bark. My other tree friends gave me the Indian name ‘Worn Smooth by Little Hands.’
Sometimes the teachers cut switches from me to use on the kids. I wasn’t sure about that until one was switched for trying to burn one of my branches. (I’m glad he got it.)
Kids ate their lunches around me, and teachers held classes beneath me. Of the trees for miles around, I was luckiest.
Each night while the village slept, we trees laughed and swayed at the things that had happened. The stories were so funny and life so good, we didn’t notice the years go by.
Before I could drop a leaf, the kids were teenagers arranging in secret to meet under me. These romances bloomed and thrived, sometimes interrupted by war, college, or distant jobs. Some of the young never came back; others did - to embrace under me, as I gave my blessing.
I was known at ‘the tree.’ Out-of-towners were told to look for ‘the tree.’ Families picnicked under ‘the tree.’ I showed my colors in the sweet, sad season of Fall, played possum in Winter, burst forth in Spring, and gave shade in Summer.
As time passed, the school was no longer needed; but it was so sturdy and elegant, they made it a courthouse. Some of my tree and bush friends were cut down, but I was left because I was tall and ‘part of the town.’ The playground was made into a village square with gas lamps, and stone walkways. Barbershop quartets sang there.
Now my job is to shade the old‑timers on the wood and iron benches. They tell the stories I know, but which have become such ‘whop­pers,’ I have to listen closely to recognize them. We grow old together. The doctors visit them; the tree surgeon me. He recently muttered, ‘It won’t be long now,’ but what does he know? He’s young and just out of school. Anyhow, I have some good lumber left. Some of me may end up in another school or courthouse here. I’d like that . . . for as much as the people loved me . . . I loved them even more. #


Joining a gym as a senior
1510 words
I’d played sports in high school, so I knew something about getting into shape. I’d graduated at 5’ l0’ and l65. Then I didn’t do much for l2 years till a friend started me jogging. I probably did that l6 years, then walked daily for years. In ’97 my weight was l85. I started taking Slim-Fast, which brought it to l75.
Over the years I noticed some classmates at reunions had let themselves go. So did public figures on TV. I noticed how gluttonous our culture is, how I was slouching at my computer, and how people that worked out looked healthy, had a good attitude and were calm. I began to call various gyms. Most were rag-in-the-mouth, hi-pressure types. Terrible. Eventually I found an upscale one with no pressure and joined. My plan was to workout for some months, learn which equipment I needed, and buy it. Naïve - too expensive
I wanted to approach this realistically so that I wouldn’t start then quit – like a yo-yo diet – lose weight, gain it back. The gym tested me: my blood pressure, body fat, and cholesterol were good; my cardiovascular, strength and flexibility were fair. They showed me how to use the exercise machines. Then I was on my own. Uh-oh ………… up to me? I was self-conscious and wobbly on the machines, but felt my way along for an hour, 3 times a week.
I knew it was going to take a month or more to get used to the machines; and I knew that, rather than and do what I should do, I would last longer if I did what I WANTED to do and what felt good. I also knew progress is slow at any age, slower and more subtle for a senior, and that one’s mind plays tricks, so I kept notes:

2nd workout. Was surprised at my interest. Came home tired, but felt better. Chest and back felt swollen in a good way. Slept heavily 8 hours, up, back to bed, up, felt as if new muscles had been awakened. Nothing prepared me for this. Mmore complex than I imagined. They know a lot more now than 40 years ago. Marvelous machines.

3rd Feeling all kinds of muscles I never knew I had. [Where were they? Welcome back.] I found a lower back machine that I could use to massage myself with. It felt great. Up and down, one vertebrae at a time; ohhh, felt good, angled this way and that, couldn’t get off. It was like my back had never had this. Everyone loves a massage; I could massage mine the way I wanted and as long as I wanted.

4th Woke up feeling bigger and fuller. Talked to muscular guy who said he weighs the same as a much larger chubby guy he knows. [Muscle weighs more than fat.] Talked to another who has equipment at home, but doesn’t use it.

6th Felt ‘a good tired’ - even the next morning.
Hanging over the ‘roman bench’ lets the blood go to my head. I read this makes the blood vessels there more elastic which reduces the chance of stroke [which just had in the family].

7th In the middle of the night - only one there. It’s all exploration, education, a challenge, the ultimate way to beat the game, one of the best investments.

8th Jack LaLane was right: ‘Use it or lose it.’
Found a 45 degree angle bench for body bends. Got to keep it interesting and creative. Slowly getting used to all this. One roomer in my house and I think I look healthier. Feeling bit younger, more fit, agile. Face seems more filled out, skin tighter at temples, healthier color.

9th Went home, got excited about something in front of a roomate; I skipped across the room, rolled on the kitchen table, stopping with my feet up. He said, ‘The gym is doing its work, you’re acting like a teenager.’

10th Found 2 more ab machines. Intimidating and lonely to think it’s all up to me, so getting tips from others helps.

16th Not looking forward to it, but enjoyed it. Learned that the glutes help keep pelvis straight when sitting.

17th Things I see and read about health mean more. Bit springier, easier to crouch, bend over, straighten up, get out of bed. This gym has arrangements with other gyms around the world so members won’t miss their workouts. Imagine that. Some who get bored on one treadmill switch to a different type of treadmill every five minutes.
After seeing my health go downhill over the years and now start to go uphill, I feel more in control and hopeful. Some women smaller than me work with weights I have a hard time with. They’re not muscle-bound, just strong. This is the lst time I’ve worked with weights. Easier to carry groceries, haul trash out front, shovel dirt …. Heavy chores were a bonus workout and brought variety [though I went to bed afterwards]. All shapes and sizes at the gym: two partially blind people, 2 in wheelchairs, some refreshing teens, some natural athletes with grace, power, and quiet reserves. Different world – a room of people working on their health. Contagious. Stomach harder. When shaving I look in the mirror and see my Rip Van Winkle muscles coming back. Bought 5 lb weights and a stretch cord. As I get into better condition I WANT to exercise more, enjoy it more – mentally and physically. I don’t wheeze when bending over. Momentary thots of quitting and trying to do it at home. Reminds you of your sports days 40 years ago. Complexion bit better. Actually jogged slowly for awhile, then slept like a rock. Like pieces of a puzzle. Getting in condition is one thing, staying is another. Will have to do this rest of my life, but getting to where I want to. Arthritis is much better. Heart better. Added a new ab machine and found a way to massage my back on a bench. Soooo relaxing. Closer to touching my toes.
Two days without workout and missed it. Feel bit more optimistic and hopeful. Feeling more in tune with my body – aches, pains, needs. Tripped over cord, regained my balance much quicker than normally and heartbeat didn’t go up. Bit more agile and limber.
Cross arms and feel more muscles. I used to breath more when overeating. Have only lost a few lbs, posture not better, and still linger before falling asleep. I don’t get stiff muscles when doing a heavy chores around the house. [Even THEY were a treat at this age]. Proceeding with ‘extreme moderation’
Makes me more curious about things related to health. Best time to work out is the lst thing in morning when stomach is empty.

Into 4th month If I met these gym people elsewhere, I could assume they were born with good health; but I see how much they work out.
One needs to exercise 3 times a week to maintain adequate levels of cardiovascular condition, strength, and flexibility. It’s totally individual, finding what you can live with, feeling your way along slowly, finding ways to make it as interesting and enjoyable as possible, knowing you’ll have bad days. Games like tennis would be more fun, but tie me to a schedule.
The motivating parts have been comparing ideas with others in the gym – especially those who look young for their age, discovering techniques, and seeing slow progress. I seem to have a better attitude, but can’t put my finger on why.
Exercise takes time, but I assume it saves time in getting sick and injured less, healing faster, living longer and better, going to the dr. less, less medication, [looking at younger women …… uh-oh], [might even make me easier to live with].
I didn’t want exercise to bore me; it hasn’t. It’s been ‘What is the next step, technique or improvement will I hear about, stumble upon, think up – just how much can I improve my health?’ It’s an adventure; I want to tell people about it.

5th month. I began to think with transportation etc. this was taking 5 hours a week. That’s time I could be getting exercise by working on my house. I quit and now work around the house with a whole new attitude. I try to make my chores more of a workout by stretching, bending, twisting more, lifting heavier loads, holding ‘positions’ longer, keeping my heartbeat up, etc. There has been very little written about this. It has to be the most interesting, easiest, and one of the most rewarding ways to get exercise.
I miss a couple of the machines at the gym. I use a stretch band now and then. I even stopped walking. It’s been two years and seems to be working. My health is good and a treadmill test showed my heart to be in good condition.
It’s a slow education. It’s easiest to begin with what you enjoy: dancing, golf, walking, gardening, housework, home repairs … .


Facelift in Thailand


Plastic surgery is becoming more popular but is expensive in the U.S. By luck, I happened to see a report on 60 Minutes of where it is much less at a world-class hospital in Thailand – www.bumrungrad.com /. That was for me. I made extensive plans and went to the airport for my first flight in 30 yrs. Couldn’t believe how well they process masses of people, how good looking the Asian flight attendants were [and how scruffy some passengers were]. Because of the dateline I left one day and arrived 3 days later. [Coming back I left one day and got home the same day!] Because of the excitement, I needed less food and sleep.
I got a hotel for $25 a night [jan. ‘06] next to the hospital [the only way] and began going to appointments I’d made long ago with a doctor I’d read about on the net - www.drpoomee.yourmd.com . The hospital was a wonder. The staff at all levels was clean-cut, well-tailored, professional, and exceedingly polite and helpful [the Thai culture]. There were apartments for patients, secretarial services, and translators. People can often walk in off the street and see a dr. in l0 minutes. The huge lobby was filled with shops and a flow of patients from many countries in their native dress. It had eateries including Starbucks and a Macdonald’s which served a ‘samurai burger.’
It handles the most international patients - 350,000 a year. It issues you a card and from then on your dealings come up on a computer screen. Patients’ rooms have TV channels in 9 languages - one in French, 2 in Japanese, 3 Bengali, 3 Hindi, 3 Korean, 4 Arabic, 4 Chinese, l2 Thai, and l3 English. Most of the 500 doctors are American trained. Whereas doctors in California told me what I did need, those at this hospital told me what I did not need, saving me time, trouble and money, and boosting my confidence in them.

I had:
- a neck lift, mid-face lift, all four eyelids lifted - $6k. 2 nights in the hospital.
- liposuction of stomach and love handles - $3700 – one night in hospital.
I was told that if you gain weight after liposuction, you gain all over, not just where it was
taken off.
- 6 veneers, two crowns, one root canal - $2500.
I had pain killers for all the above but didn’t need them

This was my first trip to Asia. The vegetation, climate, birds, fruit, food, sights, aromas and sounds were exotic. The Bridge on the River Kwai was half a day’s journey. There were many Buddhist shrines and pictures of the king.
The Thais were genuinely good-natured and cordial - they enjoyed life. Like other Asians, they were smart, shrewd, subtle, and easy to underestimate.
If the young had ego problems it didn’t show. They didn’t have tattoos, piercings, baggy pants, torn jeans, odd hair and grubby clothes. The men didn’t wear undershirts as a shirt, three day stubbles, have their hair in their face, or gawk at women.
The adorable kids were the cutest - they melt your heart.
The young women were cute, sweet, charming, exotic, feline, pristine, impossibly slender, svelte and sleek with an inward, beguiling femininity, grace and dignity. They’d dress for work, pull their shiny hair back from their porcelain complexions, put it in a bun or something, and go about in groups, having fun and looking like models.
When they worked on my teeth with their slender fingers and prepped me for operations they spoke gently to each other in their higher-pitched voices. It was like being cared for by little birds.

My pot belly is gone, my teeth look far better, and I see a younger guy in the mirror. Makes you feel you can do anything.



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End of book

Al Garner garner@comline.com Lived in NY slums during SERPICO …… worked in welfare (in Har­lem), child neglect, drug abuse, juvenile detention …… domestic version of the peace corps (VISTA) …… taught Eng. …… worked on Capitol Hill during Watergate …… started home for mental patients (living with them for two years) …… landlord since ‘78 … … retired … … write (as a hobby) on social issues.