Index 
Student Years
Biography: Science, my calling. Sputnik, 1957, 11 years old, social and family emphasis on importance of “science”. Of course Physics was (is) the crown jewel of science, so I decided then to become a “physicist” (I think I have, 20200517). Strengthened in resolve by Alan King’s 8th grade science class, but much more with Miss Orr’s 10th grade geometry class, where I discovered “truth” as many before and since have done. I struggled with Trig in 7th grade, crying on my bed in frustration as my dad tried unsuccessfully to console me, unsuccessful in part because he had given me the hope of genius. Algebra came easy, both in 9th and 11th grades. No math my senior year. Calculus not was offered at New Castle in 1964, because as a member of Group A, the top students, I would have taken it. Chemistry as a junior and physics as a senior. But I remember not getting excited about either, physics in particular. Ayn Rand and Larry Hornie’s English class seemed far more interesting. Then Davidson College and, of course, Physics 101 to start my career. WHAM! Introductory 3D vectors in analytic geometry stopped me cold. I didn’t get it at all. I never thought about it geometrically because the problems were “analytical”. Crushed, I dropped out of Physics 101 and soon thereafter I quit the basketball team for the second time, running away from a paternity suit and my inability to “cut-it” academically at Davidson. Me! the valedictorian, unable to grasp basic concepts of introductory classes. Stumbling and fumbling for a while, I found LSD and marijuana along the way as my favorite drugs, replacing alcohol. I consumed a lot of alcohol at Davidson, perhaps that’s why I didn’t “get it”. I prefer “exhilarant” to “intoxicant” for illegal or non-prescription drugs that affect states of mind. Then back to the local “Junior” college, IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis). I tried psychology for a while, liked it, but often said and perhaps believed, “I didn’t want join a profession and be forced to take sides on issues of the mind, hence my mind.” One semester while still searching for a “home”, I signed up for Geology 101 and a Comparative Religions 101. In their combination, I found my new home. In geology I found science that did not require calculus like psychology, but also didn’t deal with things that really matter, like my mind. So I found a major, i.e. career. In comparative religions I found my first exposure to the “east”: Hindus, Buddhists, Confusiusists, and Taoists, all who had a strong appeal to me, especially Taoism. In reviewing some of my earlier writings, I note I have been at “home” ever since, and marijuana is still my exhilarant. |