September Blues
My blogs are a way for me to chronicle my life. Whether that’s going to college in Wisconsin, Canada or trying to make it in show business here in L.A.. Through more than 400 jobs and two ex-wives. The rejection, humiliation and failure. And that's just the first marriage!
I graduated from Chilton High School way back before personal computers and palm pilots. Back when you didn’t have to take out another mortgage to gas up your SUV. You didn’t have to sell a kidney to pay for a movie ticket and popcorn. Growing up in Chilton was very much like working as an extra on "Happy Days" without Food Service. It was a world free of drugs and violence. Okay, we did have this bully who pretty much terrorized anyone under 140 lbs. which, unfortunately, included me right through my last year of high school. I am trying to remember his name now but if I have any problems I’m sure Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections can help me.
My high school diploma had only three weeks of dust on it when I took off cross country hitchhiking. Chicago was my first stop where I spent a month working as an elevator operator at the YMCA hotel in The Loop. For a small town Wisconsin kid who had never seen a gay or transvestite that job was quite an eye-opener. My goal was to eventually end up in California. While growing up I envied the kids in California because they had both the beaches and Disneyland. It wasn’t until years later that I learned the California kids envied me because I could go rabbit hunting or fishing after school. The grass really is greener, isn’t it?
I was hitchhiking somewhere around Oklahoma in the summer of 1969 when I stepped into a van of hippies and fellow cross-country hitchhikers. They invited me to an outdoor rock concert in New York. I laughed at the notion of actually heading east when even I knew everything cool was happening in California. I left them somewhere on an interstate highway eager to see the beaches of California while the rest of the van headed east towards Woodstock. I couldn’t help but laugh at their folly as the van faded into the horizon.
Sometimes we meet people who change our lives dramatically. Even now I can look back and remember those pivotal moments when someone else influenced the direction of my life. Right up until my second year at Chilton High School I wanted to be a biologist. Then I walked into my second year English class for the first time and met Mrs. Rybicke. To people my age I would say she looked like Joey Heatherton in her prime. Not only a gorgeous blond but the finest teacher I would ever know. The day she entered my life biology left it just as quickly. Now I was to be a writer. After all these years I still keep in touch with Mrs. Rybicke.
They say the President of the United States is the powerful person in the world. He’s not. They say doctors are the most important people around. They’re not. Teachers are by far the most powerful and influential people on Earth. Without overstating it, they’re simply vital to the future of any civilization. They are our future. Yet how many times do we cut school spending and pay them less than the average apprentice plumber? Look back at your own lives. Who really did more for you than your teachers? Yet in L.A. an usher at a movie theater gets paid more than a teacher. It’s crazy. Somehow I’ve got to believe Canada treats their teachers better. Everyone here knows your schools are better. Your teachers appreciated.
Tom Neuhoff
World Humour
"Funnier Than You"
World Humour
"Funnier Than You"
posted by Tom @ 11:43 AM
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