Arts and Artists (Number 1)

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The man who I thought was my father was a very accomplished marine painter and had his own studio at one time. I knew about the ship paintings but lately I have found that he was also gifted at both religious and humorous subjects.. and he worked in all kinds of media. Even though he wasn't really my father, I wish that I had gotten to know him. We could have talked "art".

As far back as I can remember I was interested in "the arts." It wasn't until I went into the Air Force that my interest blossomed. I was stationed on top of a mountain in Germany for 18 months with a group of guys who were mainly college graduates who were serving their Air Force commitment after graduation. They had received draft deferments while they finished school and now it was "pay back time." The duty wasn't too tough on them.. most were radar operators and technicians.

In the group were a number of Liberal Arts majors. One of them was planning to go for a PhD and had made himself an expert on James Joyce. He introduced me to: A Protrait of the Artist as a Young Man; Dubliners; Ulysses (banned in the US, but available in Paris); Finnegan's Wake. I did well with all these books except the last. If you don't know about the work but like literature and languages, you are in for a treat.. or a nervous breakdown. (It is a bit frustrating to study a long section of the Wake and later find in a review that some of the words had been misspelled by the printer.) But I thought it was great fun trying to translate mile-long sentences into something intelligible.

But I digress (as usual). These college grads were happy to share their knowledge with this high school grad. They let me go with them on trips to Paris, London and Amsterdamm, where we would visit the famous museums. As has always been usual with my life, I lived in a number of groups. The cultural group with these guys; the beer-drinking group with some of my other co-workers; the "pretend to be European" group with some of the other guys. Thank you, Uncle Sam, for letting me have these experiences. (You need to know that I also spent 8 to 12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week working in a freezing 8 x 10 radio operators van, so I don't feel too guilty for having fun in my off hours.

My point telling you all this? No point.. I just like to write and I'm so glad that I survived my recent procedure that I must express myself in some way. Please remember that even if you feel that your are a "captive audience", you can shut me off.. click on "remove".