Highlights from "An Unusual Life" Part 4 "The Writer/Performer"

  

 I turned to Mitch as we saw people pouring into the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis Minnesota

"Mitch..I think we're going to jail tonight"

For weeks we had plotted an escape route should the cops show up. We spent as much time exploring and plotting that segment out as much as rehearsals for the roles we were about to play. We were not counting upon a near capacity crowd thus making our plans null and void.

If someone had told me I'd be writing a play that was about to be staged even 2 years previously I would have laughed. My only previous encounter with theater had been some years ago during my time at Alaska Methodist University. Professor Frank Brink drama professor at AMU said he had role for me in an upcoming play he was staging called "Song of the Great Land" I read the script of the role he had in mind for me and although I had never been onstage before I felt I could learn the lines and Professor Brink was confident in his abilities to direct me in the things I needed to do stagewise. There was one problem: The character I was supposed to play was to kiss a woman. At this stage of my life I had never kissed a woman before. Adding to it was the fact with AMU being a small college I knew the woman I was supposed to kiss. She was attractive! The thought of kissing her (what if she doesnt like it? kissing in front of an audience?) seemed to me to be too scary so I asked Professor Brink if he could change the scene to a hug or nothing like the scene he envisioned. He said no and I said no to participating.

"Song of the Great Land" won awards and got to tour the country. I learned important lessons about missed opportunities and the willingness to be daring through that experience

I had written articles in AMU's college paper and once got an opinion column published in a Denver magazine. None of it could be termed as creative. Later I shared essay pieces I wrote after leaving GO with Jane Brakhage (former wife of filmmaker Stan Brakhage known later as Jane Wodening) Jane was a published writer and encouraged me in my writing. There was a period however following a divorce where I could write nothing. It took a move to Minneapolis and an immersion in the rich cultural scene of the Twin Cities for not only a revival of my writing but something I would have never imagined myself years beforehand to come from my pen

The first piece that arose was my play "Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh" This fantasy meeting was first developed at a writers workshop run by the Playwright's Center in Minneapolis. I almost threw the script away. As part of this workshop we were to read the scripts we had developed at the Playwright's Center and this was going to be followed by staged readings of the works in progress at the internationally known Walker Art Center. I knew there would be notable playwrights at this reading and I didn't want to embarrass myself .

I asked Mitch Olson to read it. I trusted Mitch to tell me if the script was terrible. I met Mitch while working at the New Riverside Cafe,the worker owned worker run vegetarian restaurant located in Minneapolis's West Bank neighborhood. It was known as the "Biomagnetic Center of the Universe" One thing was for certain the West Bank was certainly a magnet for hippies,artists and folks living in alternative ways. There was live music of all types almost every night of the week. Mitch's response? "You must bring it."

The piece was well received at the Playwrights Center and I was looking forward to the staged reading at the Walker Art Center when days before the event was to occur it was abruptly cancelled. The reason given?  None of the pieces to be read were of "standard theatrical fare" Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh wasnt meant to be of standard theatrical fare.That seemed strange as the Walker was noted for its avant garde programming. I was calling this piece "Reggae Theater"while it had characters and theatrical dialogue it was to be performed thematically stylistically and with a pace more akin to a reggae music concert. Reggae music is included.  I didn't take too well to its cancellation. I was done with the workshop and I quit. The facilitator at the time I quit was noted Twin Cities writer and playwright Dwight Hobbes. It was then decided that Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh would be staged at the Cedar Cultural Center as part of a Tribute to Malcolm X also featuring the other writers who had been bounced from the Walker presentation.

The script as scheduled for the Walker leaned heavily on its reggae stylings with a deep dose of the commonalities of the two main characters with each reading being scheduled for 15 minutes. For the Cedar presentation  we had total creative control thus rewrites were called for 

I met Terry Bellamy through the Playwrights Center workshop. He was a nationally respected theater actor noted for his roles in August Wilson's plays  Terry took an interest in what I was trying to do in presenting reggae themed theater and we began to meet. Terry acknowledged that he didnt know much about reggae but after reading the script his primary recommendations was to bring conflict into the piece and to creative a type of "bridge" to bring those not familiar with reggae into what you are doing.

Though Rasta and reggae themes promote "One Love" and while that theme remained as the overall spirit of the piece, it wasnt going to be hard to create a conflict. In the original script there were only references to marijuana. .Now the play was being rewritten around the differing views on marijuana between the Muslim Malcolm X and the Rasta Peter Tosh. We also knew from research that Peter Tosh wasn't afraid to light a joint up anywhere and everywhere. I played Peter Tosh at the Cedar. The rewritten script called for the Tosh character to smoke 5 spliffs. Every joint smoked at the Cedar was 100 percent marijuana 

The "bridge" became the character known as "The Man on the Couch" This character was portrayed by Mitch Olson and in Denver by Thomas Behler known today as "DJ Bloodpreshah" This character literally brought the audience in by beginning his act in the audience .Once he reached the stage he would turn on this "Magic Radio" where this meeting between Malcolm X and Peter Tosh was taking place inside his head

The bridge also became the live music in the play which often got audiences dancing in the aisles.. At the Cedar's initial staging Van Nixon Markiss and Brian Alexis from the popular Twin Cities reggae band The Maroons provided the music. In Denver during its first year run at the Mercury Cafe the band JAH Creation provided music. In later productions Van Nixon and the award winning 8750 Reggae Band from Telluride Colorado contributed original music for the play.

The script received its blessing from Andrew Tosh son of Peter at a meeting  arranged by First Avenue DJ and Program Director of the popular alternative radio station REV 105 Kevin Cole. Kevin was a regular at the New Riverside Cafe

Mitch and I didnt go to jail that night and in subsequent performances no member of the cast went to jail despite police appearances at performances at Colorado State University and at the Bug Theater in Denver where police surrounded the theater, closed off the street, blocked the alleyway and arrested 4 people in the audience

I truly expected that the first performance at the Cedar Cultural Center would be the last. Little did I anticipate that it would lead to what amounted to a 2 year run of the play in Denver at the Mercury and the Bug Theater thus opening the doors for a second reggae theater play I Edgar Hoover. The third reggae theater play, the one man Kolorada...a western tale not only played to a packed First Avenue house opening for Bob Marley archivist Roger Steffens but also saw the stage at the famed NYC venue Nuyorican Poets Cafe

I never anticipated receiving the Playwrights Center Many Voices award

I never expected to be sharing my work as far away as Freiberg Germany.

Little did I know that from the Cedar Cultural Center another creative front as a spoken word artist and storyteller would emerge leading to the release of 2 CD's Talkin' Roots and the 4:20 Report, a concept CD with my group the Talkin' Roots Crew. Little did I know the spoken word poetry with music would lead to opening for dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson, the Wailers and at music festivals

A chance meeting with the late monologuist actor Spalding Grey pushed the development of the piece Black Hippie Chronicles.

A joint appearance on an internet radio show was the start of an enduring friendship and creative collaboration with Charlie Parr, the Austin Minnesota singer/songwriter on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Our Adventures in Music and Storytelling show was my first following a bout with cancer and the baseball themed Annie Jones story features Charlie's backing guitar.

Little did I expect such richness to emerge when just a few years earlier life seemed like a complete shipwreck..

I guess that's what makes an unusual life..

 

Highlights from "An Unusual Life" Part 3 "The Run For Denver Mayor"

      

                                     

 "How many signatures does it take to get on the ballot?'

"300"

"If we're lucky maybe we can get someone to make flyers"

"I hope to at least get into 1 or 2 debates"This was the gist of the conversation over beer and pizza between Doug Anderson and myself at a Colfax Avenue restaurant. Actually it was only me drinking the beer. Doug though he was a bartender at the time stayed away from the stuff. I'm certain as a bartender Doug had listened to crazier talk than one of a politically unknown, call center worker struggling to get by with a small child to support bringing up the idea of running for Mayor of Denver in the upcoming 1987 race but either the idea intrigued him or amused him so he continued to listen.

The year was 1986

3 important events occurred for me in 1986

1. My daughter Rose was born

2. I became a campaign manager for a candidate running for the State House of Representatives .It was the first campaign I had actively been involved with since college and after the years of relative isolation as a part of GO it felt good reactivating talents that had been dormant during those years.

3. The New York Mets became World Champions

The election for Mayor of Denver was to occur in May of 1987. The incumbent was Federico Pena, Denver's first Hispanic Mayor who later on became Secretary of Transportation under Bill Clinton. There were however several candidates jumping into the ring or making it clear that they intended to jump in soon. All of them certainly had more name recognition with a longer history in Denver and sure to have more money going into their campaigns. Those advantages be damned the decision was made I was to run for Mayor of Denver and Doug was to run for Election Commissioner. The time to enter the race was NOW!

Both major newspapers the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News did cover the press announcement sent to them. Kinda thought at the time that would be the highlight of media coverage I'd get.

Something happened when the alternative weekly paper Westword ran its first article on the Mayor's race. It mentioned my name as being one of the "fringe" candidates expected to run . I wrote back thanking him for putting me in the category of fringe and began to name off ideas that initially were considered as fringe that became mainstream. The writer seemed to like that response and from then on out he tended to include something I said in every article he wrote about the campaign afterwards

Something happened with the 1 or 2 debates I thought I'd be invited to. It didn't happen that way. In total I was invited to 110 debates and attended 101.  I had writers from both the Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post assigned to specifically cover my campaign along with a reporter from Channel 7.

I did the radio talk show circuit. Denver in the 80's was considered as the pioneer city for talk radio and I did every talk station from the 50,000 watt clear channel KOA to one's whose signals would barely reach out of Denver. On a fairly regular basis something I said either at a debate or in response to a question was covered on local TV newscasts. I think given the shape of corporatization of the media nowadays independent and third party candidates would be green with envy with the amount of media coverage I received.

When American Indian Movement leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks came to Denver in support of my candidacy it became the lead story on one of the local news TV shows and was covered by the Rocky Mountain News

The issues I stood for were in contrast to the other candidates I opposed a city subsidized new airport and convention center. I supported drug legalization with an emphasis on marijuana. This caused Robert Kowalski, a writer for the Denver Post to write as a preface on whatever else I may have stated "David Daniels the candidate who would legalize drugs said..." when he missed out of coverage of Russell Means's endorsement of my candidacy he was reassigned from the Mayor's race

I was noted for saying such things as "One of the biggest gang problems in Denver is the police department itself" said at forum sponsored by the Police Union or opposing a taxpayer subsidized baseball stadium at a time when Denver was pursuing a major league franchise. I even said I would remain a Mets fan even if Denver obtained a franchise

What seemed to be the case whether one agreed with my issues or not there was this sense that if you attended one of the many forums I participated in or read or heard about me through mainstream or alternative sources I was being heard

I was part of the 9 News televised debate featuring all 7 candidates and my response to the question regarding my qualifications for the office "I'm not a Lawyer" had the moderator admonishing the audience for breaking the rules regarding cheering for a candidate

On Election Night TV cameras showed up at my house to air my concession speech. I didnt win but the party location switched from my house to Shotgun Willie's an infamous stripper bar located on the outskirts of Denver where Doug was tending bar. Doug Anderson was elected Election Commissioner. Doug's first words when informed of his election: "You're shitting me" Doug's boss thought initially that we were orchestrating an elaborate hoax to get Doug off work. When he realized this was no hoax and his bar was gaining free publicity from Doug's election our election party received drinks on the house 

Because no candidate received over 50% in the original election there was to be a runoff between the top two finishers. While the Denver Mayoral race was technically a non partisan election incumbent Federico Pena was a Democrat who beat out other Democratic challengers and an Independent for one of the positions. His major challenger was businessman Don Bain who had been endorsed by the Republican Party. Both candidates sought my endorsement. Pena called me the day after the election hoping to obtain an endorsement. Don Bain's people led by Neil Bush son of George HW Bush and brother of George W Bush wined and dined me at a fancy Denver restaurant hoping I'd endorse Bain. My campaign had been endorsed by the Libertarian Party and I ended up endorsing neither candidate

That race turned out not to be the last campaign where I was a candidate. In 1988 former Minnesota Senator Eugene McCarthy learned about my Mayoral campaign and asked me to be his Vice Presidential candidate on the Consumer Party ticket despite the fact that I was constitutionally too young to hold the office  It was participation in that campaign that played a major role in my move to Minnesota that same year. In 2000 I was the Minnesota Grassroots (Marijuana Legalization) Party's candidate for US Senate and in 2014 was the Grassroots Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor.

I wonder what Robert Kowalski thinks now with Denver and Colorado becoming the first state to legalize recreational marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms?

The Westword writer who called my campaign a fringe campaign? His name was Alan Dumas. Alan later became an Arts and Entertainment writer for the Rocky Mountain News. Alan then ended up writing a feature article on me in the Rocky Mountain News when I brought my play Malcolm X meet Peter Tosh back to Denver.

Crazy how those things work out..

Highlights from "An Unusual Life" Part 2 "The Gospel Outreach Years"

            

   

" Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" -Matthew 28:19

Richard Twiss was a Lakota Sioux from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Rosebud South Dakota. On a January afternoon in Anchorage Alaska, Richard Twiss picked me up hitchhiking. He picked me up while he was on his delivery route delivering bread to various Anchorage stores.  Richard wasn't driving some shiny company delivery truck but an old rather beat up looking one. The labels on the bread looked homemade. He told me the name of the bakery was The Bread of Life and it was located in Wasilla Alaska, about 40 miles from Anchorage..  

We hit it off with his stories of his involvement with the American Indian Movement ,spiritual journeys and trips on LSD . He then told me he met Jesus while on an acid trip and the bread we were delivering was helping to support a community of people in Wasilla that were similar to us but who had also turned their lives to Jesus. He then invited me to visit.

I had nothing to lose by visiting. By this point I had dropped out of college as for the first time since I set out as my goal to run for President I was questioning my direction in life. I became less optimistic about politics being a vehicle for change after witnessing Watergate and the release of the Pentagon Papers. The release of those papers involved Alaska Senator Mike Gravel who I served as a liaison for student issues during my time at AMU. Saw how the Federal Government can be in the case of a classmate who was a Vietnam War draft resister and I didn't like what I was seeing.. Besides at this point I had become quite the pothead and I felt that alone once word of that got out would block my road to the White House  In addition just days before a roommate going through a hard time had pointed a gun to my head. Cabin Fever is real

The Farm or the Lord's Land as some called it was located miles away from anything remotely resembling a city . The setup at the farm was part stuff that would have made any 'Back to the Land Hippie" proud. In addition to the bakery they had a small storefront where those that did drop by could buy its products. There was acres of land for gardening in the summer. I had a conversation with a resident over a piece of grilled moose steak as Fish and Game would call the farm whenever there was a moose kill on the road. They had chickens and pigs in a barn. It was very self sufficient and in doing so it was very such back to the land like and very independent Alaskan at the same time.

The worship services of this group was a contrast to the staid Methodist church services I grew up in. There were no suits and ties here rather long haired men in flannel shirts and blue jeans and women in long granny dresses. No solemn hymn singing led by an organ either. Instead there was acoustic guitars and tambourines. The emotions expressed leaned closer to the Black Church experiences of my grandparents.. Throughout the services there were pleas for me to "Come to Jesus" not only telling me about the riches in heaven, the warnings of hell and such but the necessity to forsake all and become a "disciple" 

2 days later Richard was driving me back to my apartment in Anchorage to pick up my stuff. I was forsaking it all and becoming a disciple.

I remained at the Farm for 2 years. There were aspects of "forsaking it all" that were difficult, losing old friends, limited contact with parents, the banning of all secular books and music however there were elements I enjoyed. There was a strong sense of community, I had a roof over my head staying in the "single brothers"cabin, There was food to eat. Clothes were provided for and I had jobs both in the bakery and as the only male assigned with the nursery and pre school kids. I liked that jobs were assigned based on a person's gifts and abilities. We received a $3 weekly allowance which hardly got spent because there wasnt much on the outside we were allowed to do., Many of our meals were "Alaskan"..moose bear and salmon At the same time homesickness was beginning to creep in and there was still a tiny bit of doubt in my mind as to whether I was doing the right thing.My primary purpose in going to Alaska was gone now. The Farm was part of a larger group called Gospel Outreach which had affiliate churches around the country. One of the churches was located in Brooklyn New York. Because it was close to home I figured could visit and even return home if I deemed it necessary . I told the "elders" I felt called to go to New York. Soon "elders" and other members of the Farm laid hands on me in prayer and I was off to New York.

The Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn now is a very upscale and gentrified neighborhood . It was far from being gentrified in the mid 70's and the contrasts between life on an Alaskan farm and the "hood" couldn't be more extreme. . My first week in New York I left the door to the car I was given stewardship to unlocked. It was stolen. I also left the door to the "Shepherds House" unlocked. It was ransacked. Luckily there wasn't much of anything worth stealing as no one had much more than old clothing. Allowance in New York went up from $3 to $5 and even though the New York affiliate "allowed" us to do more than at the Farm,$5 dollars wasn't going to go very far in New York. I would save my allowances to attend New York Mets baseball games.

It was one thing not being of "this world' living in the isolation of Alaska. Everything about the world living in New York was loud and in your face. The Gospel Outreach (or G.O. as we called it) run Shepherds House and Sterling Place communal homes were brownstones next to and across the streets from neighbors..Women worked at a church run housecleaning business and I with the rest of the men worked at the church run New Life Vinyl Repair Company where we'd go to various car dealerships repairing torn vinyl and leather car seats. The corner store where we'd buy snacks was also a front for illegal gambling activities. I had never heard of disco before landing in New York only to discover I had landed in the epicenter of the disco world. Disco tunes were heard everywhere from stereo speakers our neighbors would place outside their windows to the car dealerships we worked at. In a world of polyester short hair and fancy dress, the mostly white hippie like members of G.O. looked highly out of place in this predominately Black and Puerto Rican Park Slope neighborhood.

This was an interesting time in the history of New York to be living in the city. During the time I lived in New York I experienced the city going bankrupt, garbage strikes, an OPEC oil embargo leaving NYC drivers with long lines at gas stations and gas rationing, Son of Sam and a blackout plunging New York into 2 days of darkness and mayhem 

It was in New York where serious questioning about my involvement with G.O. began. I was terrible at my job at New Life Vinyl Repair. Almost daily I'd be yelled at by some boisterous New York car salesman for poor work. I ruined cars, once ruining the Mercedes Benz of New York Yankees star Reggie Jackson. I seldom reached the daily quotas set for me. At most other jobs I would have been fired within a week of starting but working this GO run job was seen as another way being in but not of this world.  I saw the constant failure as a sign that perhaps God wanted me to do something else. I befriended a man who lived across the street from our house and would attend our services. I learned he did not know how to read and though he was my age he had never as much as taken the subway outside of Brooklyn. I thought perhaps I'd be of better service by finishing my degree and becoming a teacher or social worker. I once made a proposal to the church elders to where I'd attend an Evangelical college to accomplish that end.. In G.O. however ,the belief was because Jesus was a carpenter the job of a disciple one was to work with one's hands. To use one's mind was highly suspicious at best. One elder told me once that "God is using this vinyl repair experience to humble you otherwise I could see you reciting poetry in some Bohemian coffee shop"

At least working that job meant I was driving from one dealership to another during that time if someone wasnt assigned to work with me I'd turn on the radio. Some days it would be the news stations like WINS . I'd listen to the talk station WMCA and yes I'd bounce around the dial to the various music stations on the AM and FM dials. On Saturdays when I wasn't working I'd go to the Prospect Park Library to read "forbidden books"and chat with various people outside of the library who were promoting various causes and ideas. I'd tear out postcards from various college so that information would be sent to my mother's house. She was happy to see I was willing to entertain the thought of leaving the group. I was giving thought..at the same time I saw and heard of several disasters occurring with people who did leave. If one left  1. One had better hope that you had other skills besides vinyl repair because New Life had a monopoly on car dealerships throughout NYC and Long Island and 2. One had to have a place to go where money wasnt expected right away. You didn't have bank accounts at GO and you'd leave with whatever allowance you may have saved. The stories however correlated with many of the teachings that spoke of woe when straying from God's path.

I knew I needed to get out of New York before I knew I needed to leave GO and the opportunity arose when it was announced that GO would be establishing a church in Denver Colorado. I had been to Denver previously. I have relatives living in Denver. I also knew Denver and Colorado to still have some of that Western spirit I'd read about and watch movies about as a kid. One could see the Rocky Mountains from Denver. In many ways Denver seemed like the happy medium between what I lived and prepared for with life in Alaska and the more urban. I also knew in the back of my mind that while I would be moving away from close proximity to my mom that she was close with my relatives in Denver and should I decide to leave GO my relatives there were the best next refuge to my mother.

It took a few years still but the end of my time with G.O. did come in Denver. By the time the church arrived in Denver things within the church felt vastly different even from the time I met Richard Twiss in Alaska but I was also realizing I was different.   My time in GO allowed me to open up to a life in the Spirit but for me it was becoming increasingly difficult to confine spirit to the narrow confines I was living under. I was giving greater appreciation to the mind God had given me and I was enjoying exercising it in the books I was continuing to read, the people I was encountering now that we were freed from having to work at GO owned businesses.as well as the experiences I was allowing myself to experience. Where I was going in life and where GO was a clash was inevitable. When the end happened the title to the car I had been given stewardship of by G.O. was transferred to me.

I spent 8 years in Gospel Outreach. There were ramifications from those years Within those 8 years my mom passed away. With her death any chance of starting over with virtually nothing also passed. After throwing away scholarships and a promising political career for living with a bunch of Jesus Freaks there was no way my Dad was going to trust my judgement. With applying for work it was difficult to explain my past 8 years.. What? 3 dollars a week?? vinyl repair?? a single male babysitter? It was just as difficult making personal connections now that I was estranged from a community. "Jesus?? Get away from me!" "You lived in a commune? Did you have orgies?" "You mean you NEVER saw John Belushi on Saturday Night Live?" I knew I had entered a whole new world viewing a music video on a community TV network. It was Devo's "Whip It" There was a movie out during that time called "Brother From Another Planet" I felt I was the Brother from Another Planet.

The first person who didnt run away from my weirdness and alienation was a woman named Myrenna Brakhage daughter of the avant garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage. Soon after meeting we had a child. Her name is Rose

Richard Twiss  https://www.oregonlive.com/clark-county/2013/03/life_story_richard_twiss_pasto.html

Gospel Outreach https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_Outreach_(Humboldt)

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Highlights from "An Unusual Life" Part 1 "Beginnings"

 As some of you know I've been working on a memoir I call  "An Unusual Life" When I started that project over 10 years ago I thought I'd be done with it by now. It's not done but as I approach my 70th birthday I thought I'd share some of the events that have shaped this life and whenever An Unusual Life is completed you'll hear more about them

1963

I was 8 years old in 1963, a third grade student at CA Barbour School in Hartford Connecticut. I have a grandson older than that now and a granddaughter at that age now. Their lives seem very different from the life I had at that age but because I experienced what I experienced then I am aware events can occur that make an impact for the rest of one's life.

I wasn't very good at math. For the first time in my young school life I had experienced failure. .D's in math. Failure didn't go over well in the Daniels household. I remember an incident where I wanted a hug and got pushed away till I got my multiplication tables correct. The worst incident however came on a Thursday. Thursday was the day my Dad would visit my house. I couldnt tell you when my parents got divorced, I just remember sometime after my youngest brother was born Dad stopped spending the night at the house. One Thursday Dad wanted to help me with my math. I didnt want to deal with math. The conflict escalated. Next thing I know Dad is hitting me. Mom hears the battle and runs upstairs to get Dad to stop only to be met with Dad shutting the door and continuing with the beating.. I received a black eye and was told to tell people at school that I fell down the stairs. Mom took Dad to court afterwards and there was a possibility that his visitation rights would be stripped. They werent but it took me weeks afterwards before I was willing to be in a room with him or talk to him. This incident remained as a cloud over our relationship till a "clear the air' conversation we had shortly before his death.

We were studying math in Miss Amato's 3rd grade classroom on Friday November 22,1963. I was hoping not to be called upon and potentially embarrassing myself when the Principal Mr Jurcyck came into the classroom to inform Miss Amato that President Kennedy had been shot. A short time later Mr Jurcyck returned to inform Miss Amato that President Kennedy had died. We were dismissed from school early. I ran home expecting to break the news of the President's death to my mom and grandmother. Of course they had been watching the soap opera As The World Turns. For the next four days I was glued to the television from the time I woke up till the time I had to go to bed. The incident with my Dad compounded the fact that I wasnt very well liked at school. I was constantly teased and harassed by classmates for being ugly being a poor athlete and as one who would bring books outside to read at recess time. I felt like I knew what it was like to be hated. Someone I thought must have hated Kennedy enough to send a bullet through his head. At the same time judging from the reaction to his death from not only mom and grandma but with leaders from around the world.I got the very strong sense that he was a person deeply loved and one working towards a better world. I decided from that point on I wanted to be loved like that and made it my goal to when I grew up to become President of the United States. It was a goal I actively pursued up until my college days.

   The Adirondacks

I had been accused of smoking marijuana long before I actually did. The first time was while watching a CBS News report on Haight-Asbury with my mom. When it highlighted the marijuana usage taking place I made the comment to the effect that if marijuana was making these people peaceful maybe it's a good thing. "Woe be unto you if I EVER catch you using marijuana" My mom shot back. Whenever she used the term "Woe" that meant she was serious about her intent.

The second accusation occurred as a 7th grader when I became a weekend volunteer for the 1968 Presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy. McCarthy's primary issue was opposition to the War in Vietnam thus his campaign became a magnet for many draft age young people including many "hippies" who cut their hair and became "Clean for Gene" Rumors of marijuana smoking at McCarthy headquarters began to sprout. As a result my mom (who happened to be working for McCarthy's rival Hubert Humphrey) would quiz me about possible marijuana usage anytime I returned from McCarthy headquarters. The fear of the "Woe be unto you" repercussions kept me in check through most of my time in high school. At the same time I knew if I ever did smoke it I was already a suspected marijuana user thus there was nothing to lose if I decided to try it.

The time finally came on a school sponsored high school senior class camping trip to Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York. Being in nature for the first time in my life was life changing in itself. One night over a campfire while other students and teachers were getting drunk,two classmates Roberta Markowicz and Lori Redfield invited me to return to their tent to smoke marijuana with them. I told them I had never smoked before. Roberta asked if I'd like to try. I said "Yes" Lori responded "I think you are a secret hippie!" We smoked 2 joints that night. I didnt necessarily feel anything that night but I knew life was going to be different from here on out. I returned from the Adirondacks with an increased interest in the writings of Thoreau Emerson and Richard Brautigan. Years later the issue of marijuana legalization drove my 1987 campaign for Mayor of Denver and my 2000 Minnesota US Senate Campaign Marijuana was the pathway to my Rasta spirituality.  Smoking marijuana onstage is what fueled interest in my first play and led to the formation of the Reggae Theatre Ensemble

     Alaska

In the beginning there was a fascination with Jack London stories. There were also the National Geographic TV specials that captured my imagination. By the time I reached 5th grade I felt it was time to begin putting my road to the White House plan together. From what I could gather Alaska had its share of independent and frontier minded folks. For me, as one already casted as an "oddball" and "outsider" Alaska seemed to be the perfect fit to begin my political ambitions. Beginning then I used my allowance money to buy subscriptions to the Anchorage Daily News . From my studies of everything Alaska I learned Alaskans had a jaundiced eye towards anyone viewed as "outsiders" I  then made it my goal to learn everything I could about Alaska,its history culture and politics so that by the time I arrived there'd be no question about my Alaskan credentials. My goal was to get elected Governor of Alaska and to use that as a springboard for a Presidential run

I didn't necessarily plan on attending college in Alaska but when it was time to look at and applying for colleges for the hell of it I decided to explore colleges in Alaska. There were 2 colleges to look at.  One was Alaska Methodist University, a small liberal arts college located in Anchorage,the other was the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. AMU with a student population of 400 students seemed to be the better fit for me as I was graduating from a small college prep school with little over 100 students. At the beginning of my senior year I applied at AMU. Before Christmas vacation I had been accepted at AMU and shortly afterwards was offered nearly a full scholarship to attend. My mind was made up I was going to attend!

Alaska truly was a different world. I was now in a land where moose roamed freely in the city. TV was on a two week delay basis. As I learned from my years of reading the Anchorage Daily News, dogsled race results often took precedence over news taking place nationally or internationally. Long days of mosquito filled summers followed by long dark and cold winters.Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Cabin Fever is real

The various adventures that took place during my time in Alaska to this day have been the source of many stories that I have brought to the performance,spoken word and storytelling stages. Two  Alaska based stories are subjects on my first CD "Talkin' Roots"