Biography

Whom is my concern.
Biologic umpteentuiousness
I am the product incarnate of the American experiment

Yep.
they left Virginia and Ohio,
crossing into the new lands before 1849,
and at the turn of the century.
The Great 20th century San Francisco
was the cauldron that tempered my parents,
And in turn my youth.

The fifties was a unique Petri dish of culture.
I was born the same year as television 1948.
My father was raised catholic Irish
My mom was from a Christian science protestant bent
My dad went to serve in the navy
My mom went back to college in 1960

The educators in my public school life were an
Obtuse mix of bay area liberals
Day jobs for idealists ,liberals,
beat influenced intellectuals
every one.

Precepts stuck to me .
Like Pollock from the coffee table
Klee from the MOMA at civic center
Like riding the bus through north beach
Past city lights and the purple onion and the hungry I
The radio played progressive jazz in the morning
Dave Brubeck was revolutionary to the world
And earthquake theme music
For my youth
Influences were non stop.

I was accused of being a sponge
By my beat gen biology teacher.
He was right.

That story about
“the only thing a student of a master
owes his teacher
is to advance the craft one more……

I didn’t fit well into assigned
Cirriculum my formal education ended early
Relocating out of harms way
Took me to Hawaii nei

The young outer island community college system
Was my jumping off point to cultural transition

Ok now get this
I am a western American
Never went east of Carson city
till I was mabe fourty something

I was introduced to the
Hawaiian sensibilities as a babe
I cut my teeth on Arthur Godfrey
And Harry Owens Hawaii calls

The Cuban missle crisis
relocated my sponge attitude
and morphed this competitive swim kid
along with my family
following my fathers navy assignation
to pearl harbor 1962
where I was put face to face with the
military industrial complex
I was the #1 voyuer
Into a foreign culture
Within a forign culture.

The San Francisco
Island in space was far away

Mom said

(Aint it great to remember what mom said
Like it’s instant credibility…
Like the lyric to the saint louis blues
Starts out “My momma done tole me”)

Remember who you are
No matter what you do
or where you go
You Are From San Francisco

The guy that picked me up hitch hiking
On the way home from SF city college
To the beach in pacifica
Asked me what I was studying
I told ‘im I was an art major
He said,after telling me
He was driving home to big sur
How he had he just returned
From living in france
Then he dropped the bomb
“The French believed,in his words,
the highest art is the art of living your life.