My Pryor Year

A 333 Soul Anthology

Introduction

Like Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology, My Pryor Year draws it’s substance from the names, personalities, activities, and events of the Central Illinois region now known as the Heart of Illinois. In contrast with Masters’ collection of fictional post-mortem autobiographical epitaphs, the souls in this anthology are very much alive.

From Willie Smith, who grew up on a Mississippi plantation, to Willie York who lives in the streets of Peoria…from Joe Hott, a mortician that works both sides of the fence, to Joe Slyman, a sandwich-maker that won’t treat you like just another turkey sandwich…My Pryor Year is a living collection of voices from the Heart of Illinois.

 

In the beginning of 2005, I decided to follow a similar path an uncle of mine traveled many years ago. Lennis Broadfoot was an artist who sketched people with charcoal, and as he sketched them, they would tell him about their lives in Dent County, Missouri. He was a very “down to earth” man who swapped tales with friends. The short stories that fell from their lips were written down and published in their own native dialect. He was able to “capture their souls” and provide a true snapshot of the hill people of Missouri.

 

Sixty years later, my own path took me through Central Illinois and my hometown of Peoria. Having no charcoal or artistic talent, I made a decision to go out and simply have conversations with 333 people, not really knowing who I would talk to or what they would say. My intention was to speak with people who lived in the area, but soon realized that Central Illinois is an integral part of a much larger world, and many of the people would be from other places…just passing through.

 

I had no idea that I would have conversations with a man who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, a couple of Woodstock musicians, the son of a famous lyricist, a porn queen, the president of a major civil rights organization, a White House correspondent, the mother of a white supremacist, the son of a Peoria-born actor and comedian, and the son of a United States President. I had no idea I would listen to stories from a former ambassador and civil rights activist, two men whose lives were depicted in recent movies, comedians, authors, and a woman who won an Academy Award. I also had no idea of what I would learn from the people that were kind enough to speak with me.

 

In the year of Hurricane Katrina, the passing of Rosa Parks, the papal transition, the war in Iraq, the death of Richard Pryor, the sentencing of Matt Hale, the White Sox victory, the “Deep Throat” revelation, and many more news stories…people spoke to me about their lives, what they thought about current events, religion, history, family…and they recalled stories from prior years.

 

I hope I have captured their souls.

1. Willie Smith

“Name is Willie Smith…I'm…uhhh…over sixteen. I grew up on a plantation…one of the largest plantations in the world at the time…in Mississippi. It was called Delta and Pineland Company…and it was owned by people in England…and you can find it in the old encyclopedia. I did farm work, you know, picked cotton, chopped cotton…you know, bale hay…just typical farm work. I was 25 when I left Mississippi. My parents did the same thing of course…it was our means of survival.”

 

“The main thing was my parents…the amazing parents I was blessed with. They never showed me anything, or my sisters and brother…anything but positive. I just lost my mother in March of this year, and I’m amazed at how she worked…her work ethic. My father…and I’m almost astonished with, as lazy as I was as a kid…it hit home later on in life. I have the same work ethic as my father and my mother. Thank God I married a woman who has the same work ethic.”

 

“But, my mom…you know, we had to be in the field choppin’ cotton at 6 o’clock…not on your way there…we had to be there choppin’… at 6 o’clock. That means that my ma had gotten up and fixed us breakfast, and no matter how far you was away from the field, which was sometimes a half a mile, or a mile…you had to be back after you get off of lunch at 11 o’clock. And…I mean, you stopped choppin’ at lunch…and you gotta go home, and be back in the field at 1 o’clock…choppin’. My mom had to fix us lunch and go right back to choppin’…and work with us. We also had to stop at 6 o’clock…and she would come back and fix our dinner. It amazes me that, you know…anybody would do that…and could stand and do that…you know what I mean?”

 

“Now, I attribute everything that has happened in my life…a lot of positive things, and I meet a lot of positive people now…and things are well for my family and me now…I thank God for my parents.”

 

“I been with my wife 32 years…and she took belief in my dream. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but I didn’t know…where I was headed…what I was going to do. I always felt I wanted to own my own business. When we met, I sold her on the idea…and I seen her, in the beginning…break down in tears…’cuz we didn’t have anything in the house to eat…and everybody thought we was doing well. I was never discouraged in any way, that I wasn’t going to succeed…not saying that I have succeeded, but I’m doing well and have been very blessed. I don’t think that I could have done it without her. Like I say, when she break down, I was never discouraged in any way…I always felt a person can achieve anything they want in life, if they dedicated themselves to it…to that dream. I attribute it, again…all leading back to my parents, and meeting my wife that I met.”

 

“I worked at Caterpillar…came here…how I got here…didn’t have any relatives here, but as a child, a friend…his mom left, and left him with his grandparents, which…we all lived in Delta Pineland…and ‘bout two or three years later, she came back and got him. He was about ten years old at the time…so we parted then. In 1974, he came down…latter part of ‘74. He came back to Mississippi to see his grandfather, and you know…people who knew him. Of course we saw each other…and I might be a smart aleck for saying this, but I always thought I was smarter than him…and he had this job, and a Cadillac, and this and that. I didn’t have anything at all. So, he told me he worked at Caterpillar…and so I came here looking for a job at Caterpillar. I got the job at Caterpillar…and then wasn’t happy with myself. I got the feeling I was…confined…like in prison or something. That was just my…my...my personal feelings.”

 

“As a kid in Mississippi, I always hung around old men. When I say old, they was in their 40’s and 50’s and 60’s at the time…and I always enjoyed their company. I used to hang around an old man selling hot tamales…and so, when I came here, I noticed they didn’t have the type of tamales that they had down there. So…I went back home and asked the man to sell me the recipe. He told me that he wouldn’t sell it to me…he would give it to me…and whenever I got on my feet, just bring him back two hundred dollars.”

 

“It took me awhile to get on my feet…he wrote the recipe on paper, and it didn’t work out for me. I never could get my sales going…I didn’t feel like I had the product right. So, what I did…after two years of it not happenin’ the way I thought it should…I called him and asked him, could I come and watch him do it. I went down and watched him, and found out what I was doing wrong. I come back, and the next couple years…I got on my feet a little bit…so, I made a special trip down to pay him his money. That’s how I got into the tamale business…and everything else came from there.”

 

“I think what’s going on in New Orleans…Mississippi is a very tragic situation...the hurricane and all. But, we’re the United States, man…things are gonna be all right. That’s just how I feel. We’re the most blessed people in the world…you know, and everyday I thank God for it, personally. Now, you may not believe it, but as I cook chops every day…I look at the people that’s patronizing my business…and supporting my family…and I thank God for that. I don’t take it for granted. Again…I attribute everything in my life to my mother.”

 

“You know, we were friends. I think now...what she thought…because we were friends. I could talk to her about anything, just straight above the table, you know? The most important thing I admire about talking to her…no matter what I talked to her about…she would say, “I’m not saying you are wrong…but it could be this way…and it could be that way.” So, I learned…inside…not to prejudge any situation.”

 

“My mother was 79 in March when she died. She told me that you can never give anybody too much…and so, when I see a person that needs something…not saying that I have it all…but, I’m willing to share with them. I want to see people do good.”

 

“Just to let you know, I live by three laws that my dad left with me. I can’t let you leave without you knowing these three. He always told me…he said, quote, “Willie, if you don’t learn how to think for yourself, people will make a plumb ass out of you.” End of quote. He also told me…said, “Willie, if you can’t help a fella, don’t have nothin’ to do with him.” And the third one, he said, “Willie, always live your life where you can speak up for yourself…because when you’re wrong, you don’t have no voice.”

 

“I live my life by those laws.”

2. Ernie Harburg

“My father was Yip Harburg. Among many, many songs …he wrote all of the lyrics in "The Wizard of Oz". He was also the final script editor and wrote the scene where they give out the heart and the brain and the nerve. Years ago, I co-wrote a book about his life called, “Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz?”

 

“My father was a socialist back in World War I…and he disapproved of the war…so he went to Uruguay for a few years, and then came home. He was smitten with a woman named Alice, who was quite beautiful and artistic, and came from Boston. They got married quickly and had two children…and it was the “roaring twenties”, you know, when there were a lot of things going on. Each of them was pursuing their own careers. Yip was in an electrical appliance factory…and she was in…ummm…art…singing and dancing. They started having a lot of squabbles…not getting on…and so the two children were put in different places. I lived with my uncle…and I remember being five months in a school with girls…that’s where they put me when I was five years old.”

 

“Then…the depression hit…he lost his…it was 1929, and my father lost his factory. His partner went bankrupt…but Yip chose to pay the debt. But then, his friend Ira Gershwin…and he had been a friend of his for years…persuaded him to become a lyricist. At that point my mother decided that she didn’t want to continue that life, because he was never home. He had three shows on Broadway in 1932…and uh…so she got up and left.”

 

“I remember my father being dismayed, and taking us over to Greenpoint, to his sister’s house…who already had five children. And…that’s where I was brought up…in Greenpoint. It was a low-income working family…but a wonderful family. My uncle, who became my surrogate father, really…was a tailor. He owned his own shop. So…that’s how my life consciously began.”

 

“After I got out of the Army, I got married and went to City College for four years. I got a degree in history…and then I went to Wisconsin…and got a degree in cultural anthropology, in Madison, Wisconsin. Then, finally, I went to Ann Arbor and took a degree…a PhD in social psychology. I became an epidemiologist…well, it’s called a psycho-social epidemiologist…a social epidemiologist with the School of Public Health.”

 

“I became very much involved in the whole civil rights movement…the history of African-Americans and Anglo-Americans in the United States, and I did some deep heavy research, and developed a proposal for a large scale research project in Detroit…dealing with how the lives of the…the African-Americans, in their conflict with whites… how it affected their blood pressure. I had an idea that it was a situation that provoked anger on the part of each group. So, the question was, “How does one handle that anger, and how is it related to blood pressure?” Blood pressure was directly related to stroke and heart disease…so my study was about the handling of anger by blacks and whites in high and low income areas…males and females…in Detroit.”

 

“Six years later when we came out of the field…when the whole Detroit rebellion came out…in the 12^th Street area, which we had picked to survey as one of our four areas… after six years…we finally got the data, and we published. Indeed, it turned out that the major findings were that black working people in low-income or high-stress areas had the highest proportion of hypertension…elevated blood pressure. They were higher than the black middle-class group. The black middle-class blood pressure did not differ from the white middle-class group…and there was some evidence that suppressing one’s anger was associated with higher blood pressure. So…there were a lot of things that came out of that study.”

 

“While my father wanted me to become a lyricist…I was very much attracted to scientific research of a social nature. But…he was in reverence of me becoming a scientist. To me…we were both equals in carrying out our own desires. I don’t think I was…and I don’t know how to explain this…when I was a child…you know, we’re always in the shadow of our parents. Once I became liberated, I never felt that I was living in my father’s shadow. He was doing something totally different…and I was very good at what I was doing.”

 

“Tory Petersen Harper, my first wife died of cancer. During that time, I bought a bar restaurant…my wife and I…during the 70’s. I am just now writing up…it’s called “The Del Rio Bar- a Counterculture Experiment.” We ran a collective management in the bar. Tory and I and a friend of mine, started that. I am just now writing about that. She smoked, and both her parents smoked…and when I met her at Antioch College during the war, she was smoking. There was no question about it…that it led to the cancer in her lungs…then it went to her brain.”

 

“First I went to Antioch…and then I enlisted in the Army Air Force. By doing that…I wasn’t drafted when I was eighteen…so I just missed the Battle of the Bulge. By enlisting…I actually saved my life, I think. Two of my boyhood friends were killed on that occasion. So, I was in the Army for two years…I was in for one year and re-enlisted for a year and went to Okinawa after the war…and the Philippines.”

 

“When I came home…we got married, and she had twins…twin boys. Then, we had a third child…also a boy. We had three sons…and we raised them in Madison for about four years, and then we went to Ann Arbor where they spent the rest of their childhood lives. The twins went to the University of Michigan and the third son went to Evergreen State College out in Oregon.”

 

“What happened after my first wife died…and she was a reporter and a social activist, and a writer…I came to New York and took over the Yip Harburg Foundation. Yip had introduced me to a young woman, Deena Rosenberg…and she and I got married, and now we have another son. She…Deena…is a brilliant kind of woman, and was the Founding Chair of the only musical theater writing program in…I guess…the world. At NYU, she created a whole new field and program to train lyricists, composers, and book writers…to collaborate and create a musical play…which is astounding when you realize the number of people involved in a play. To teach it…to train people to do that is a wondrous thing. To create that field is even more wondrous.”

 

“The Freedom from Religion Foundation…I just became involved in that the last two years. I have lived out my life…sold my bar last summer…I had three restaurants and sold all of them…and moved to New York. We now have a condo on Tenth Street and First Avenue…four blocks from where my father was raised a hundred years ago. I then began doing research and running the Yip Harburg Foundation…and it was only last year that I became aware of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. For years, I had just kept my own beliefs inside…to myself. My son…I have four sons now…my son is a non-believer as I am, and as my father was. He’s a physician. My other son who is a psychologist…he became Catholic. A third son…I don’t know what you would call him…a new wave spiritualist or something like that. I don’t think he believes in a supernatural force. My fourth son has a language disorder which saves him from all of the difficulty in deciding about such things.”

“I have four sons…I love them all…and they are all different parts of me. They resemble…each one of them resembles me in a different way. I couldn’t tell you which one I loved the best…and it’s the same way with my research…I couldn’t tell you which study I loved the most. Similarly, with Yip’s songs…his lyrics…there are some that are just plain great. And now…my fourth son is singing them in a wonderful, wonderful mode. But…I couldn’t pick one…there are just a cluster of them…”Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”…”Paper Moon”…”Over the Rainbow”…which, that is obviously the most globally received poetry.”

 

“In my book that I did about Yip…I started it out…he gave a talk at the “Y”…the 92^nd Street “Y” in 1970. He thought very deeply about that talk…because it was the beginning of a lyrics and lyricists series…and he was being asked, as an honor, to be the first lyricist. He did a lot of thinking about that…and I remember talking with him…and he developed the idea that…a song is of course composed of lyrics…words, and music. Words make you think thoughts…and music makes you feel feelings…but putting them together, merging them…creates a song, which is a new entity…a song makes you feel thoughts. That is the artistic process…and he first delivered that at that time, in 1970.”

 

“I have conveyed that to various audiences since then. I always loved that formulation because it’s very difficult to have an example…and I always use H20. If you have oxygen gas and hydrogen gas…and if you combine them with the proper pressure and temperature, you create water. Water has its own being…entity…and properties that is different from the hydrogen and oxygen separately. It is the same as a song…it is bigger than the sum of its parts. A lyric is one thing…like poetry, and music is another. Without the two being together, you couldn’t have a song. I always objected to using the composers name to say that they wrote the song. It is not true. The two people merging their crafts wrote the song. But…that was before the Beatles came over.”

 

“Most of the money from the foundation has been given to political documentaries… movies. Also…equally, money has been given to…quote…scholarships for minorities…although I don’t like that word. African-Americans, Chinese…American Indian…low-income recipients. The scholarships and documentary films is where we have put our money. Some of the documentaries have become quite well known. We take much pleasure in the kids going onto college and doing good works. Of course some money is spent supporting Yip’s reputation. My wife, Deena…helps to produce some of the small shows we put on as a tribute to Yip.”

 

“In the beginning, my father and me…we had quite the rebellion, you know…and it lasted for quite a long time. I was very stubborn, and he was also. Finally…oh… and I would say…when I got my PhD…I was 35…and he was being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee…he became a little more soft…and I became his “confidant”. We began then to have a deeper friendship then we had ever had before…and so on to the end of his life.”

 

“When I was a kid, I read a poem in which the last lines were…footsteps in the sands of time…and I became struck by how…how huge the human effort on this planet is…and how many things have gone on, and how each of us contributes in different ways…some in small ways, and some in larger ways. But no matter how large you contribute…it’s still pretty small. It will, too…disappear in the sands of time. Even knowing all that…I still think my study in Detroit was one of the trailblazers in that area…and also our efforts to have a collective democratic bar in Ann Arbor. Of course, the four sons which I have helped father, have also made me very proud.”

 

“I always thought at the end of my father’s lyrics,”Over the Rainbow”…the phrase, “Why oh why can’t I?”…I always thought, well of course…you can…you know?”

3. Sally Stone

“My husband and I happened to be…he had…he was on an internship for the summer. We were living in Scotland…and did some traveling down into England. He had a migraine headache…and so, I went exploring through this little town. I think it was the town of Rye & Winchell. Well, they were two towns that I think were together. I don’t remember exactly.”

 

“I walked into this little church, and the afternoon sunlight was just streaming through the windows…through the stained glass windows, where much of them had been destroyed in the Second World War. There was a small group of musicians playing there. The sound of that music…in that setting…was just…it was just…exquisite. It was that afternoon light…you know how the light will just filter in late afternoon and create that long shadow? It cast patterns on the musicians…and it was just one of those moments that’s hard to capture again. Beautiful. It was very special.”

4. Michael Arthur Weinstein

“I am Michael Arthur Weinstein…I’m sixty years old…wanna see my I.D.? I’m serious.”

 

“I was paroled here…Illinois River Correction Center. Which…I was here before…paroled here. I’m livin’ in the streets…just watin’ for my social security check to kick in, and they’re givin’ me a hard time right now. I’ve had a lot of physical problems…had cirrhosis of the liver, chronic arthritis…do you wanna hear all this? I have chronic rheumatoid arthritis, which has spread to my bones. I had a massive stroke, which you can see…I’ve had brain surgery…right here. That was in 1988. I’ve been on social security since then. This last time I got arrested, they stopped my check. I’m in the process of getting it back. I’ve been waitin’ six months, and stayin’ at the Peoria Rescue Mission, which is a good place, in a way. But, after you’ve been locked up for six years, you’ve got no privacy. You can’t take a bath…everybody is always around…same thing as prison.”

 

“So now…I’m out in the streets now…which…I shouldn’t be out tonight. I’m on parole, and I could get violated and go back…but I been there seven months waitin’ for my social security check, and I really don’t give a damn anymore. But now, I’ve got a lawyer that’s gonna take my case…they been making me wait six months…and I’ll get a lot of money, but hafta spend six months livin’ in a mission with no privacy. I’m on the streets every night here…and uh…nobody will help me…which I don’t really blame ‘em. I’m eating out of the garbage…got a whole bag of sandwiches here. They’re still good…you want one?”

 

“There aren’t very many lawyers at the…but this guy on this card is rich and he will do it…he’s a good lawyer. I hope so…he said he would be. I’ve got $3000 coming so far, and he said I don’t have to pay him…which is good. I would, but I don’t hafta.”

 

“Now, the government has been messing me around…’cuz, I had a stroke in 1988. I had a massive aneurysm. A vein exploded in my nose and paralyzed…for a long time I was walkin’ the streets, got thrown out of a hospice…didn’t have any insurance. But, they operated on me, which I’m grateful for. I can move around, but can’t work. But, I’ve been goin’ to prison ‘cuz I’m stupid…been roaming the streets. I been doin’ drugs until the… what I call the “misery hour”. I don’t know if you understand how it is. But…you have to…you’re out here every day, you have no food, you have no money…and I won’t beg people…and stuff like that.”

 

“I only get a $564 social security check anyhow, and that would pay my rent of $130 and I…I get the food stamps. Here’s the lawyer that’s gonna help me…his card…and I believe he will. Prairie State is, excuse me…full of shit. This guy is a big time lawyer. He’s over here in the Commerce Bank Building…Robert Strodel…I don’t know if you know him or not. He’s a nice guy. He’s away two weeks and didn’t get in touch with me. But the thing is…I been sendin’ my medical records…I got cirrhosis of the liver…I’m supposed to be dying…there’s no cure for that. Now, I’m in the streets…I can’t get a damn job. I can’t even get a medical card from welfare…and I need medical attention…pills…stuff for cirrhosis of the liver. Chronic arthritis…it hurts. I never understood it would hurt this bad. It doesn’t stay in one spot…it moves around. Wanna see my feet? They are so bad…they swell, and I got blisters.”

 

“I’m a criminal. I been locked up half my life. I’ve never been arrested for drugs, but now I’m sixty years old and I’m arrested on drugs. I’m walkin’…it was stupid…I don’t even do crack cocaine, but I had one in my pocket…they pulled me over and I got busted. I smoke pot, and I admit….I’m a hippie. Shit…in the 60’s and 70’s…I’m sixty…I was there when the world was nice and everything, you know? Never had to worry, but it ain’t like that no more. Now, everybody wants to kill you. It’s back to the gangster killers. When you’re on the streets now, and you got money in your pocket…they’ll kill you.”

 

“I ain’t been inside my own place in seven years. Before I got busted, I had a nice little place…nice place. But what you have to realize is, I’m a criminal. From the time I was seventeen…on my 17th birthday, I was in the penitentiary. I been in the joint seven times…before that, reform school. I’ve had mental problems…but now the mental people won’t help me no more. I’m not crazy mental, where I hurt people…I just hurt myself. I don’t commit suicide…I just don’t think straight. Somebody says go rob a bank, and I’ll do it…stupid shit.”

 

“But now, Peoria…three years ago, it was better than it is now. I was on parole here three years ago and Human Services took me in. They were real nice to me and everything… and now they won’t help. But look, there are so many crazy people livin’ on the streets that need to be…really need to be taken care of. Half of them, they…they cut their checks off. They’re really crazy, and Human Services used to find them a place to live. They’d ration their checks out to ‘em, but they did it for their own good. You’d have a place to live; a place to go…you’d have privacy. You got food to eat. You got a LINK card. I got one right now…you wanna buy it?”

 

“I’m from Chicago. I had a bad childhood. I learned to grow up quick…when I was eight years old, my parents locked me out. When everybody said it was time to go in, I’d go to my door, and it would be locked. They made me sleep outside. I was a kid…a fuckin’ kid. I would say, “Why don’t you let me in? Let me in…please…please. The lights are on…I know you’re home.” But, you see, I was not ever really wanted. My parents were nuts…Dad was an alcoholic. He spent the welfare check and never came home with the food. I know, you don’t want to hear a hard luck story…but I was walkin’ the streets of Chicago, and you know how the perverts get you? You learn how to survive really quick…or you die. Some perverts will kill you. There are some here in this town. Some of them are homosexuals…and I’m not against that…but…I did all that…and I’m not ashamed of it. I’m not a homosexual, but I did what I did to survive. That’s a fact…I had to…I have to.”

 

“You know, the minute you get out of jail, you want a woman…and even if they make you quit smoking, you want a cigarette. I’m not a heavy drug addict…I smoke weed. But the women…there are so many on the streets. They live at the YWCA…and they’re really good looking…and they hustle. But, they’re not hustling because they want money…they’re hustling because they have nowhere to go, and they’re hoping they’ll find a guy who will take them home and keep ‘em. That’s the way the world works. Just like me…I’ll hustle…and if you’re rich, take me home and keep me. Do whatever you want. I’ll tell you, I’m not a homo, but I’ll sell my body…I’ll sell anything to survive. I’ll sell my body, but I won’t beg…I won’t beg”

 

“I’m sixty years old…I’m too weak to stick anybody up anymore…but I didn’t do that anyway…I’m a safecracker. That was back in the old days…in Chicago. I would never go into a person’s house and steal their TV, ‘cuz I’m not that kind of burglar…I’m a professional. That’s the kind of person I am. I’ll steal from a company, ‘cuz they can afford it, but I will not…I will not go into a person’s house and steal, because I know they worked their ass off to get their own stuff. I’m a professional.”

5. Betty Gerber

“This was the time before “ladies”. I made exactly what men did. I sat between two men, and I worked twice as hard. I had to prove myself every day. I became the first woman bank officer at Peoria Savings…the first woman at a bank or savings & loan.”

 

“I always said that I was lucky to be a lady and did what I did…but I was never into the woman’s movement. I like to have doors opened for me, and so forth. Betty Freidan, who started the National Organization for Women…from Peoria…she was a Goldstein. The Goldstein’s had the best jewelry shop in Peoria, until the 50’s…then they went out of business. She was definitely an individual. She grew up just around the corner from Bradley.”

 

“When I went to Bradley...my last test that I ever took in my life was at Bradley University… and it was in history. It was at 8 o’clock. My girlfriend and I had studied all night long…and we didn’t have the radio on that morning. We were lucky to have a piece of toast in us, because we had to take the test. The first question…I will never forget…my last, first question on a test. The question was, “Who of prominence died this morning?” I didn’t know that answer because we didn’t have the radio on. Do you know who it was? Mahatma Ghandi. He was assassinated that morning.”

6. Karen Slate

“I’m Karen Slate…and I’m 46. Born in Midland Texas…but, from six months on, lived in Dallas. I lived there until a year ago…and moved here for a relationship. That relationship quickly went south.”

 

“I was a project manager for Lucent Technologies…or Tyco at the time. He was an installer, working in Guam…that I was the project manager over. He and I developed a friendship…a relationship. Six months after coming back, we started seeing each other long-distance. We’d meet halfway, or he would go there…or I would come here. It turned out that there was nothing there between us…as far as a long-term relationship… yet, that’s what I wanted. I don’t know why, because we really didn’t click when we were together…it was basically a physical relationship. I just thought… well, anyway… I lost my job at AT&T…after 24 years…I got laid off. And so, at that point, we decided we would try the relationship full-term, in the same town…you know, living together. So, I sold my house and moved up here.”

 

“Then...two months later, he met a girl…and put me on the street. I mean…within five minutes, put me on the street… locked me out. He lied to the judge, got a court order, and had me removed. So, for fifteen days, I was 800 miles from home…had nowhere to go…knew nobody else in the whole state.”

 

“I drove to Dallas to get the few things left before my house closed…it was closing within a week. I drove back up here not knowing what to do…sleeping in different hotels or truck-stops. Then I drove to Seattle, Washington…and back. I put 8000 miles on my car that week. I had a friend that lives in Seattle, and I told him that I had to find a place to live…and in order to do that, you pretty much have to have a job.”

 

“They don’t want to lease to somebody that doesn’t have a job…and I’m currently unemployed. “Can you put me on your payroll?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Okay, I’m…I’m coming up.” And…not realizing he didn’t need me to come up…all he had to do was tell his secretary…if anyone calls, I was on his payroll…I went. I had the money; I just didn’t have the means for more money. I drove up there…got there about three in the afternoon, and the court order required that I be in a hearing fifteen days after the order. This was three days away…and I figured I don’t need to be there, that they would just extend the order of protection, which didn’t serve a purpose anyway. I just wanted my stuff…so I didn’t see any need to be there. After getting to Seattle, and thinking all the way up…I thought that maybe I did need to be there. So, I drove 3100 miles straight back…straight through…to be here for the hearing. I rented a place the next day, after the hearing.”

 

“The key thing that came out of this was “forgiveness”, and that didn’t happen until four weeks ago. I spent a year, in my mind…just wanting revenge. I wanted to right the wrong somehow...I mean, I was angry. Without this experience…I mean everything that he did…the horrible, horrible things that he did…it took that for me to know, what forgiveness is. Maybe that was his role…maybe on a soul level, we had an agreement that I needed to learn forgiveness…and that was to be his role…in his life…to teach me that.”

 

“Four weeks ago, when I had this release from all this anger, and hate and rage that was driving me, was one of the better moments in my life. Isn’t that weird? I’ve had a great life…I’ve been to Cozumel over thirty times. I have two older sisters, and Mom and Dad…a very normal family. I grew up in a neighborhood in a nice house…lower middle-class maybe. I rode unicycles.”

 

“All three of us in the neighborhood…all three of us girls rode unicycles. There was a new girl that moved into the neighborhood…Karen…Karen T…Karen Thompson. We called her Karen T because I was Karen S. We were like twelve years old. “Well. What do you want to do?” “Well, we can go to my house and ride a unicycle.” “What’s a unicycle?” So, we went over there…and within a week, we all had one. And, even at sixteen, seventeen, at the local park…White Rock Lake…I rode a unicycle. They had musicians come out…a place where people come out…throw Frisbee…and there would be another guy with a unicycle, a six-foot unicycle. I’d ride out there, and then I’d listen to the musicians. The music…the music was my passion.”

 

“I’m from Texas…and they’ve got the greatest singer-songwriters. They’ve got Guy Clark…I mean, I could name a billion of them…Stevie Ray Vaughn…lots of them. The people I would go see live, it started out…I was just real shy. I would never go or do anything by myself, and I was always very self-conscious…still am. But, I got lost one day looking for a place called “David Frames Dallas”…just looking for a picture frame. So, I pulled into this little place called “Lilly Langtry’s” and asked if I could use the phone. It’s just a saloon…a little, skinny, dark hallway…and I go back and use the phone…come back…there’s a girl sitting at the bar…the only one there. She said, “Well, sit down and have a drink with me.” So, I did a shot of tequila with her…and basically, that became my “Cheers”…my home away from home.”

 

“From that point forward, I did everything by myself. I had friends everywhere I went…but, I would go to the movies by myself…fancy dinners on Valentine’s Day by myself…and I was very comfortable with that, because you always meet people that way. People would see me and say, “Buy her a drink, bless her heart…tell her to come join us.” But, that’s where I learned about music. That’s where I met some of the really great singer-songwriters. John DeFore, David Lutken…who is coming Monday to stay with me for two days on his way to…he now does what they call “guitar theater” in New York, off-Broadway. He wrote and directed “The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie”… and starred in it. On his way through, he’s going to stay. He’s got three CD’s…which is great…well, albums…vinyl…it was way before the time of CD’s.”

 

“Why am I staying here? I don’t know. I have plenty of friends and family…mother and sister saying, “Stay with me…stay with me. You can stay at the farm…fourteen dollars a month…electricity is all.” And they got a hundred fifty acre farm. But, I don’t want to stay with anybody…mainly because of my cats. There’s something that’s telling me to stay.”

 

“I worked for Caterpillar for four months. The day that I got kicked out…the next morning I had a job interview with Caterpillar. The following day, I was supposed to start school at New Horizons…paid for by the government through NAFTA. So, every day working at Caterpillar, I was almost having an emotional breakdown going to work… crying…didn’t know why…I was just losing it. I called my sister and said, “I’ve got to get the blank out of here. I’m coming home.” She said, “Come on girl.” So, I started packing. Then, the next day, I got something in the mail saying that they had moved the TTA program…to call them. I thought I had forfeited that option to go to school when I started at Caterpillar. I thought…I blew that. But they said, “No, that’s always available, as long as the funds are there.” So, that’s one reason why I stuck around…because New Horizons had already accepted me when I got the job at CAT. I loved the job at CAT…but I…I just…wasn’t right.”

 

“Everybody that I know…my family and everything is in Dallas. I still, to that point hadn’t made any friends. But now…I have a couple now…people that I met at Caterpillar, and a few others.”

 

“Instead of studying to get my certifications, I’ve been reading books to kind of get some…peace of mind. I’ve been reading Buddhism, and this “Course in Miracles”. I’m only four weeks into it. It’s the ultimate in…God being the creator…and Jesus being the son of God…and so are we…we are all sons of God….the Christ, which is the highest form you can achieve. We have different incarnations… and we keep coming back to…learn lessons. We are spirits, souls on a path…and until we reach the highest, which is the realization that we are all “one”, we keep coming back. The book is broken into text…just reading material…and then there is a workbook…and then you live that for the day, and there are 365 lessons. Basically, in the course…we are all teachers, and we are all students…and the teacher generally learns more than the student.”

 

“I knew before I ever moved here with this guy…that we weren’t meant to be together… but something was driving me to come live with him, for whatever reason...so much so that I would sell my house and uproot myself. I believe that through this…and twenty years ago going to Unity and always having this belief…possibly I met him prior to this incarnation, and said, “Hey man, I’m fixing to go back…and I really need to learn forgiveness this time, can you set me up…can you hook me up?” So, he took time in his lifetime to come and set me up for the biggest opportunity to learn forgiveness. He did a good job…if you want to look at it that way. Then, when I see him in the afterlife…I’ll just give him a high five and say, “Sorry you had to be such a horrible scumbag on this earth…must have been painful for you, but you did a good job.” He waited until I had everything…everything that could be taken away…and he took it away. He knows…he knows that he did wrong…on the soul level.”

7. Cory Cooper

“I found God. I had these dreams of burning in oil…a lot of oil…and it brought me back to Christianity, and how I should live. It opened up my life to being more spiritual…on a more spiritual level…a more personal level than based on how most Americans think they should live. It has made me more…peaceful.”

In order of appearance...

 

1. Willie Smith

2. Ernie Harburg

3. Sally Stone

4. Michael Arthur Weinstein

5. Betty Gerber

6. Karen Slate

7. Cory Cooper

8. Staff Sergeant Minter

9-12. The Margarita Sisters

13. Amber Padillo

14. Fred Sturgis

15. Dorothy Berkel

16. Harold Quinn

17. Kunjali Padahya

18. Earl Flatt

19-20. Kailey and Robin Lemons

21. Mary Ann Shea

22. Ralph Edmunds

23. Mike Hammes

24. Rhonda Foster

25. Dennis Ronk

26. Kelly Billington

27. Noriko Yasui Fenald

28. Gene Muehrig

29. Richard Pryor Jr.

30. Steve Kiesewetter

31. Adam Kessler

32. Elaine Lindsey

33. George Manias

34. Jack Brogan

35. Theresa Shane

36. Louis Naseem

37. Robert Jackson

38. Darren Mobry

39. Greg Williams

40. Sara Zielke

41. Latonya McClain

42. Megan Davis

43. Wendy Blickenstaff

44. Joshua Seldeck

45. Lane Knouse

46. Lorna Smith

47. Dan Martino

48. Michael Reagan

49. Colin Boland

50. Marc Zoschke

51. Pat Lingon

52. Harold Petersen

53. Joe Hott

54. Richard Greene

55. Larry Melaik

56. Rhonda Stephens

57. Gary Perkins

58-59. Rich Waschek and Katy Rose Gabriel

60. Johnathon Wells

61. Daniel Lane

62-63. Marie-Jo Schneider and Lois Becker

64. Omar Terrie

65-66. John Wateler and Bill Snyder

67. Marilyn Chambers

68. Lydia Wraight

69. Conrad Stewart

70. Heather Carter

71. Raymond Spicer

72. Mary Ann Watkins

73-74. Anne Siberling and Christa Stucky

75. Ralph Higgs

76. Ken Smith

77. Linda Labbee Howell

78. Patty Armstrong

79. Steve Wallace

80. M.K. Riddel

81. David Morgan

82. Valerie Louck

83. Evelyn Hutcheson

84. Han Zhang

85. Angela Ashburn

86. Natalie Haurberg

87. Tom Nauman

88. Louie Dalton

89. Adonis Porch

90. Lynn Niemeier

91. Nicholas Frain

92. Ron Stalter

93. Don Zessin

94. Randy McCallister

95. Don Gonyea

96. Frank Pignataro

97. Raj Mohan

98. Paul McLaughlin

99. Fred Dirkse

100. W.L. Yarosz

101. Pastor Dan

102. April Rose Steffeck

103. Sebastian Fuksa

104. Joe Slyman

105. Bill Kellerstrass

106. Bob Long

107-108. Ryan Graham and Julie Habstritt

109. Perry Rice

110. Frank Abagnale

111. Patty McMullen

112. Paul Stevens

113. Eric Roland

114. Elaine Mendez

115. Sophia Salazar

116. Bob Hewiit

117. Paul Baker

118. Ed Kiesewetter

119. Anne Morris

120. Drew Hastings

121. Al Poling

122. Mike Hidden

123. Father Mike Driscoll

124. Steve Bilbrey

125. Jay Wright

126. Peggy Wilson

127. Bill Greene

128. Melissa Rives

129. Daniel Hartmann

130. Carrol Van Velkinburgh

131. Wayne F. McDaniels

132. Sara Schwarzentraub

133. Edgar Winter

134. Chris Sollenberger

135. Donna Robinson

136. M.J. Dunn

137. Charles Ash

138. Taru Sharma

139. Elsie Hallman

140. Michael K. Medlen

141. Leslie Emery

142. Steve Cigolle

143. Don Shoemaker

144. Sue Parrott

145. Teri Huss

146. Matt Jones

147. Anna Jacobson

148. Janette Smith

149. Heywood Banks

150. David Flites

151. Mike White

152. Sam Wright

153-154. Mallory Williams and Amanda Douglas

155. J.T.

156. Ken Ferino

157-158. Sean and Amanda Fitts

159-160. Tom and Shawn Armbruster

161. Nancy Richards

162. Marlene Allen

163-164. Jane and Tim Johnson

165. Cecil Brown

166. Paul Steffeck

167. Fay Opper

168. Dan Uphof

169-170. Arlo and Annie Guthrie

171-172. Tracy Hillyer and Khloe

173. Luke Curtis

174. Michael White

175. Frankie See

176. Robert Branan

177. Adeletraud Smith

178. Kay Price

179. Lori Hadley

180. Sue Hughes

181. Lisa Neal

182. Ellen Johnson

183. Mary Koonce

184. Charlie Kear

185. Pat Crouch

186. Susan Lawson

187. Daniel Bronski

188. Sandy French

189. Jeremiah Schaub

190. Dave Stovall

191. Bryan Thomas

192. Roxy Whitmore

193. Lori Fleming

194. Laura Picker

195. Bill Staines

196. Ruth Mitchell

197. Candy Werneburg

198-199. Pam and Michael Parks

200. Cynthia Bond

201. Latisha Jackson

202. Amy Sielaff

203. Deb Johnston

204. Christine Engel

205. Tony Johnson

206. Pam Witzig

207. Ed “Too Tall” Freeman

208. Anetta Strawn

209. Dawn Stewart

210. Rizzo

211. Laura Kosko

212. Greg Funk

213. Jerry Bratcher

214. Mary Knobloch

215. Matt Coker

216. Jill Grube

217. Ngoc Minh

218. Jay Navin

219. Kelly White

220. Connie Schwarzentraub

221. Jared Brown

222-223. Jeannie and Ken Hupp

224. Jerry Thomas

225. Earl Vittitoe

226. Elaine Lucas

227. Juana Lucio

228. Joe Lowry

229. Harriet Sue Glidewell Stiles

230. Joyce Mitchell

231. Shelly Hines

232. Andrew Young

233. Stella Cieslinski

234. Christina Cherry

235-236. Mary and Dick Van Norman

237. Jan Stoia

238. Ken Baxter

239. Melinda Feger

240. Juanita Kurtz

241. Tim Popp

242. Joseph Khouri

243. Jim Klaus

244. Doug Smith

245. Philip Jose Farmer

246. Kris Hoak

247. John Bennington

248. Jim Fyke

249. Mildred Snyder

250. Taylor Johnston

251. Rachael Allen

252. Sarah Foster

253. Chris Cara

254. Ron Davis

255. Aldeine Witzig

256. James Dillon

257. Jerry Martis

258. Joyce Mercer

259. Whoopi Goldberg

260. Jesus Castillo

261. Charles Martin

262. Jim Rainey

263-264. Dan and Kim Philips

265. Nancy Roggy

266. Jim D’Orazio

267. Ian Zelinski

268. William Marion

269. Theresa Thomason

270. Nick Dykstra

271. Katherine Miller

272. Greg Wessel

273. Carol Patton

274. Gabriel Johnson

275. Ken Hamm

276. Perry French

277. Sonny Moore

278. Bob Bishop

279. Bill Henness

280. Santa Claus

281. Crystal Potter

282. K. Morris

283. Duane Collins

284. Ken Jennings

285. Bill Jaynes

286. Sue Troxall

287. Gary Sandberg

288. Saleen Mateen-El

289. Simone Morgan

290. Tony Nishimura

291. Darryl Simmons

292. Beth Green

293. Paul Eschelman

294. Mark Hagen

295. Jane Curry

296. Chris Carr

297. Louis Patterson

298. John Simison

299. B.J. Ponder

300. Pam Putney

301. Stan Harris

302. Bob Hutchens

303. Edward Bailey

304. Barb Leslie

305. Ray Williams

306-307. Barbara McGee Pryor and Sharon Wilson Pryor

308. Carla Mellins

309. Mike Fitzgerald

310. Monica Poncinie

311. Riley Robinson

312. Brian Sagko

313. Angela Britmeyer

314. Thomas Bolger

315. Rocky Simpson

316. Venkatesh Anandasayanam

317. Michael Isenberg

318. Carol Miller

319. Chris Waters

320-321. Cara Bale and Brandon Green

322. Jessica Christianson

323. Graham England

324. Johnathon Frericks

325. Andy Driscoll

326. Rashonda Hunt

327. Wade Brown

328-Nate Butler

329-330. Walter and Empress Freeman

331. Barbra Espey

332. Willie York

333. Suzette Boulais