If this is the first time you have landed on my autobiographical site, then I need to tell you that it is essentially a rough draft of my life. I am now 64, heading toward the last part of my life far too quickly. Fridays seem to come around so suddenly each week, and the weeks are eating away at all that I am and all that I could be. The United States is in a worm hole and in my opinion, it will never come out of it. Most of my money has been sucked away in the stock market collapse of 2007-08, and I am now living with a man who has made himself my fiance. He and I are surviving by bits and pieces; I am helping him to negotiate as good a settlement as possible for his work injuries, and he is providing me with a safe place to be now that I am in financial ruin. We both hope and dream day by day, in expectation of landing at least enough capital to build a stable life with some comforts. Personally, if I were to be able to scrape together a hundred thousand dollars, I would be on the first plane out of this miserable nation. My plan is to find a small town on another continent, live in a small house, paint and write every day, sell my paintings and make new friends.
With all that said, please feel welcome to browse through the pages of my writing efforts, to read my recollections of all that has happened in my life. The stories I have here are true. Some need more of the details which I have still to add, and there are many posts titled but not yet written. Photos and perhaps even video posts will be added as time goes by, and eventually maybe this project will be published. My best to you on this New Years Day: may you have health, happiness, true love, prosperity, travel and adventures in your life.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Journal: Nov. 9, 2000, Thursday
This is the end of the school week, for Friday is Veterans Day, a holiday. I will go to Charles Schwab tomorrow to reinvest my stocks into an index mutual fund. It is time to reevaluate my investments. the entire past year most of my stocks were down dramatically, especially Union Carbide and Caterpillar. In both of those, I had lost around a thousand each. Now they are going up so the loss is not as great, but there has been no gain. The presidential election has supposedly had an effect on the stockmarket in the past two days. Thee is a question about the returns in Florida, where the votes are being recounted. The entire voting system is terrible. Principally, the electoral college needs to be dispensed with, because it negates the popular vote. The popular vote should be the only one. Aside from that, the people are not fiven all the facts and are not given enough choices. There are only two candidates from two parties that are given the chance to debate on the public airways --- hte other candidates omitted -- so what are we allowed to hear? Only a limited choice of viewpoints. It is wrong to exclude the other candidates. All candidates should be heard. I voted rfor Ralph Nader, as the only one I feel has has integrity. He is a man who does not seem to seek personal aggrandizement or acclaim, and he has worked continually for the American consumer.
Journal: Nov. 8, 2000, Wednesday
On Saturday or Sunday, I am going to Costco to shop, courtesy of Baum. He wants me to come to Long Beach. It has been three months that we have been dating. Day before yesterday, he booked the trip to London and Paris for us at Christmas. My half of the cost was $1273, and I gave him my credit card information so he could charge my half on my account. I am assuming that he will cover miscellaneous costs such as food. He said that he wanted to take a side trip to Brussels to visit an aunt there. He has family in France as well. What an interesting man he is. I checked with my credit card company to see if the charge had been made, and it had. I am not yet certain if he can be trusted. Perhaps I made a mistake giving him that information. At any rate, he has yet to say that he loves me. I wonder if he ever will. I want to hear it.
I am sure that we will have a wonderful time in Europe. One thing I would like to do is to find a sculpture of Napoleon and perhaps of Marie Antoinette. I want to visit the Left Bank of course, and perhaps the Crazy Horse saloon. Despite the fact that I studied French in college, it was quite a few years ago and I have not used it. So I am afraid I can not count on using it too much this trip. During the time in Paris, we will go up the Eiffel Tower and perhaps I will be able to free some of Pete's ashes there. It would be nice to leave part of him everywhere I go. In that way, he will be with me. And I will be slowly parting with the past. God bless you, Pete. I love you.
I am sure that we will have a wonderful time in Europe. One thing I would like to do is to find a sculpture of Napoleon and perhaps of Marie Antoinette. I want to visit the Left Bank of course, and perhaps the Crazy Horse saloon. Despite the fact that I studied French in college, it was quite a few years ago and I have not used it. So I am afraid I can not count on using it too much this trip. During the time in Paris, we will go up the Eiffel Tower and perhaps I will be able to free some of Pete's ashes there. It would be nice to leave part of him everywhere I go. In that way, he will be with me. And I will be slowly parting with the past. God bless you, Pete. I love you.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Journal: Nov. 7, 2000, Tuesday
The days go by. This ten minutes of writing is so important. Little slices of life recorded. I had a new inverter installed on the mountain, to upgrade the power system there. And a few days later I also had a new charge controller put in as well, to prevent the batteries overcharging. I keep thinking that I will go back to living there, but I have not been able to do so. It is too hurtful to me, there are too many memories that haunt me. When Pete died, he took the life out of the house he had built. My life was drained a great deal as well with the loss of his laughter, his strength, his determination and love of life. The house was so infused with him, that it was impossible for me to be there without overwhelming grief. I do not know what to do. If I sell it now, the real value of it will not be realized, and the experts say that a widow should wait as many years as possible before taking any actions. Many widows lose because in their grief, they make bad financial choices. Yet I need to be free to go on with a new life.
In the meantime, I fill my days with the quiet contentment of the Sun City home. Planting a garden and improving the house inside and out gives me tremendous mental relief and satisfaction. Right now the garage door no longer operates, the garbage disposal does not work, the fluorescent lights in the bath and kitchen need replacing, and the screen doors also need to be repaired. I think that Baum has it in mind to buy me a new dishwasher for Christmas. He mentioned it once and then a second time he said that he "knew what he wanted to buy you for Christmas, but it is not a personal gift". That would be nice; I have never had a dishwasher. It is a convenience to have a clothes washer and dryer, as I have never had those before either. My gratitude for the Sun City home is certain, and I thank Pete for that. He left me with some property assets, bless his heart.
In the meantime, I fill my days with the quiet contentment of the Sun City home. Planting a garden and improving the house inside and out gives me tremendous mental relief and satisfaction. Right now the garage door no longer operates, the garbage disposal does not work, the fluorescent lights in the bath and kitchen need replacing, and the screen doors also need to be repaired. I think that Baum has it in mind to buy me a new dishwasher for Christmas. He mentioned it once and then a second time he said that he "knew what he wanted to buy you for Christmas, but it is not a personal gift". That would be nice; I have never had a dishwasher. It is a convenience to have a clothes washer and dryer, as I have never had those before either. My gratitude for the Sun City home is certain, and I thank Pete for that. He left me with some property assets, bless his heart.
From Journal: November 6, 2000
I am so grateful to have another day of life. I love you, Pete, and I always will. I will do my best to be successful for you, in your memory. Thank you for showing me such a true love; it made me a better person. I only hope that someday soon there is a cure for that dreadful cancer that took you away in such a horrific way.
The election is only a day away. I voted two weeks ago, by absentee ballot, and gave my vote to Ralph Nader. Like so many Americans, I am tired of having no real choice. All we can do is choose from who is selected to run, and only from two parties at that. What kind of freedom of choice is that? From the world of capable people, only two are offered as our choices? It is disgusting. At least Nader has integrity and honesty. He cannot be bought, and he earnestly acts for the welfare of the citizen and consumers.
It is only ten minutes from 6 a.m., now, and still dark. This daylight savings time is awful, because you go to work in darkness and it is almost dark when you arrive home from work, so you literally work from dark to dark. I wish they would do away with it. It makes a person depressed because there is little time off work while it is still light. Health experts say that a person needs some sunlight each day, to have enough vitamin D in their bodies. The weather report says there is the chance of rain today, which is a blessing. I have longed for rain all year. I am content with the state of things on the mountain so far, but I think that I will contact local colleges to see if they would like to put a branch campus there. The deal would involve my home remaining there for my lifetime and a department of the college to be named after Norris John Peters Jr. That would be a nice way to remember Pete. He would like that. I must get a list of colleges to write the proposal to. At least it is worth a try.
November and December are the best months of the year as far as I am concerned. I am teaching, so that provides me with something interesting to do each day. Yet there are plenty of days off during those months and the weather is so beautiful. Most people, no matter what beliefs they hold, are filled with the holiday spirit and are friendlier and more cheerful. It is great to be alive. Today I must call Carlson's Solar to see if he wants to put in the charge controller today. I will have to meet him at 4 on the mountain if so. In the meantime, I am assembling the outdoor landscaping lights for the Sun City home. It seems I will be able to install them within the week. Well, time is up now.. must get ready for work !
The election is only a day away. I voted two weeks ago, by absentee ballot, and gave my vote to Ralph Nader. Like so many Americans, I am tired of having no real choice. All we can do is choose from who is selected to run, and only from two parties at that. What kind of freedom of choice is that? From the world of capable people, only two are offered as our choices? It is disgusting. At least Nader has integrity and honesty. He cannot be bought, and he earnestly acts for the welfare of the citizen and consumers.
It is only ten minutes from 6 a.m., now, and still dark. This daylight savings time is awful, because you go to work in darkness and it is almost dark when you arrive home from work, so you literally work from dark to dark. I wish they would do away with it. It makes a person depressed because there is little time off work while it is still light. Health experts say that a person needs some sunlight each day, to have enough vitamin D in their bodies. The weather report says there is the chance of rain today, which is a blessing. I have longed for rain all year. I am content with the state of things on the mountain so far, but I think that I will contact local colleges to see if they would like to put a branch campus there. The deal would involve my home remaining there for my lifetime and a department of the college to be named after Norris John Peters Jr. That would be a nice way to remember Pete. He would like that. I must get a list of colleges to write the proposal to. At least it is worth a try.
November and December are the best months of the year as far as I am concerned. I am teaching, so that provides me with something interesting to do each day. Yet there are plenty of days off during those months and the weather is so beautiful. Most people, no matter what beliefs they hold, are filled with the holiday spirit and are friendlier and more cheerful. It is great to be alive. Today I must call Carlson's Solar to see if he wants to put in the charge controller today. I will have to meet him at 4 on the mountain if so. In the meantime, I am assembling the outdoor landscaping lights for the Sun City home. It seems I will be able to install them within the week. Well, time is up now.. must get ready for work !
Monday, November 22, 2010
November 5, 2000, Sunday
I spent too much money yesterday. There was the expense of the new accessories for my new Trek 1000 bicycle: the mileage gauge, the tote bag, the battery powered light, the gloves, cleaning tools, and chain oil. I bought potting soil for the plants, a set of screwdrivers, food for the week, and ten more blank videotapes. There was little time to clean the house before Baum arrived at 6 p.m. He was very tired, as I ws, and we both took a nap which lasted till midnight. I woke then to find him already up, wearing my new green and purple plaid house robe, snuggled in the arm chair by the television. We had scrambled eggs and watched a bit of Bram Stokers Dracula film until he said it was stupid (I love that film) and at three in the morning, we both decided to go back to bed for more sleep.We later got up, got dressed and took a bike ride. First we followed Ridgemoor street to Murrieta street, down a mile to the intersection of Newport street. There on both corners were shopping centers. The center on the right had two drives opening off Murrietta: one led directly to the bike shop and the other led into the Chevron gas station. The morning air had a chill to it and the sky was autumn clear. It was a most remarkable day. We rode up the hill, further up Murrietta street, where there wer rolling fields on both sides, with natural grasses gently blown by the soft winds of fall. There were a few for sale signs, on bare acreage and also on a ranch of about 8 acres, called "Walking Horse Ranch". It looked enchanting. the ride was easier on the way back of course. It was downhill all the way and our speed went to 27 miles per hour without even pedalling. We rode back to the Albertson's market, which had wooden tables under the outside portico. I stayed with the bikes while Baum went inside to get us both a Starbucks coffee and the Sunday newspaper. WE sipped and read for some twenty minutes and then went off again to ride to the other end of Sun City, where the primary center was. That center contained the library, the post office, restaurants, coffee shops, real estate offices, travel agencies, a hardware store, drug stores, supermarkets, video rental stores, and other small offices. I enjoyed having this center so close to my home: it was just minutes away by car or bike, and about half an hour walking time. Our ride that morning was about 12.6 miles by the time we returned to my house. We then decided to plant the flower bulbs I had bought. After that, we showered and dressed. Baum turned on the grill and heated it, then cooked the steaks and vegetables. We had diet cola and ate the delicious late lunch. We wanted to leave in time to drive to Temecula to see the movie, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Once we arrived at the Promenade Mall, to the theater there, Baum spotted the Roda Vida Brazilian restaurant, which specializes in meat dishes. He said he wanted to try it next time. The movie was great, adn we got back home around 4 p.m. Baum had to return home very soon, so we put his paintings (that I had put onto stretcher bars for him) into his car and he took off for home after checking online for info about the trip to London and Paris planned for Christmas. It appeared the trip would cost about $1700 each, would include a ride through the Chunnel from London to Paris, a trop from Stonehenge from London and two plays (Cats and Chicago). I wanted a day or two to think about it before booking the trip. It was a great weekend in all, and when he got home he called to thank me. Around 9 pm I called him only to wake him up; he had fallen asleep in his chair.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
From Journal, Nov. 4, 2000, Saturday
People get too angry at each other. They do not allow other people to be themselves. They want to bend and shape each other to their way of living and doing things. Tolerance is a lost virtue. Patience has been forsaken too. It does not take that much to just wait, to listen, to give way. Staying calm and thinking of the contributions the other person makes in our life can keep a person from demanding too much, and from being ungrateful. So many good relationships have gone bad just because both people have not learned to have gratitude for the things the other person does. Instead, they are ruined by a focus on the perceived shortcomings. I am working hard to improve in this respect as well. I often feel hurt and angry when Baum arrives so late on Saturday due to playing bridge all day, and forget to focus on the fact that he is coming to see me, bringing me flowers, taking me to nice places, wanting to be with me each weekend. He was more affectionate this weekend, despite arriving late (after 6 pm) Saturday. He came close behind me and kissed me on the back of my neck, and hugged me in bed, and patted my bottom tenderly as we lay in bed together. WE sat up late during the night watching television and talking. We went bicycling, for thirteen miles, and had coffee mid point in the ride. We planted the many tulip, iris, anenome, and hyacinth bulbs I had bought. I placed them where I wanted them and he dug the holes, and covered them. Then we watered them all and heated the barbecue grill. He cooked delicious steaks while I set my hair inpreparation to go to a movie. The rollers are those kind that have velcro type grip, and stay in withut pins. My hair dries very fast, and was ready by the time the steak was done. We also had grilled corn on the cob and bell peppers and tomatoes. It was wonderful. We took on on a fast drive to the moview to see The Legend of Bagger Vance, which was a good film. It was inspiring.
From Journal, Nov. 3, 2000
It is fall, the best time of year so far as I am concerned. There is a crisp wnd blowing today, and the chill mkes one glad to be alive. I wish Pete was here with me. But I know it could not have lasted forever. I am content that my life with him is over, though I regret that he died in such a sad and painful way. I wish I had known what to do and that we had found out about his cancer in time to save him. He was such a wonderful loving kind man. He loved me completely and I loved him with my heart, my soul, and every cell in my body. He could not have gone on as he was ghough; it was probably inevitable that it end this way. He pushed himself too far. I held myself accountable for that until recently I began to realize that it was what he wanted. He wanted it for himself, as much as wanting it for me. At least when he died he knew that he had made it. He had built the business to the sucdess point. There was no way I could continue it by myself. It is for the best that I sold and let go of it. Now I can build a new life. I hope with all my heart that he would give me his blessing, from the cosmos where he now is. I need to know that he would want me to go on.
From Journal, Nov. 2, 2000
Thursday ... I love Thursdays .. so close to the end of the week yet there is still time to get some work done too. When I think of life in general, I see it as a haphazard collection of lucky and unlucky incidents. Fame and fortune, no matter how much you might chase it, will never be yours unless circumstances smile on you. Those who say it is only ability and effort that makes for success are so wrong. All the ceaseless struggles yu might carry on will not make any difference it accident denies wealth and happiness to you.
So those who boast that they "made it" and "why can't you" are ridiculous. They do not acknowledge the power of serendipity in their lives. Instead they prefer to believe that what they have is by their own efforts. That is as ridiculous as taking credit for your natural appearance or mental ability or any untrained talents you may have. I prefer to stay from people who hold this kind of a blind view, because they are denying the humanity in all of us. No matter what wonderful accomplishments one might make, the hand of fate that intervenes to make some prosperous and some impoverished.
So those who boast that they "made it" and "why can't you" are ridiculous. They do not acknowledge the power of serendipity in their lives. Instead they prefer to believe that what they have is by their own efforts. That is as ridiculous as taking credit for your natural appearance or mental ability or any untrained talents you may have. I prefer to stay from people who hold this kind of a blind view, because they are denying the humanity in all of us. No matter what wonderful accomplishments one might make, the hand of fate that intervenes to make some prosperous and some impoverished.
Day 17: An Agreement with Pete to start a business and no more teaching
The stress and depression I had sunk into while going through the abuse at the school district was profound. Pete wanted to give me something to help me get over it, to make me smile again. I had lost even the desire for intimacy and no longer had my sense of humor. I was dead inside, numb, a zombie going through the motions of daily life. He said he wanted to take me to a place I would never have imagined visiting. He said we were going to China. He booked the flight and the hotel. We went to Hong Kong International Airport and from there to Beijing and Guongdong. My passport now was stamped with an Asian destination. I felt I had entered a new level of living; being an international traveler once again, but to a part of the world so different from the caucasian world.
At the airport, crowds bustled everywhere, and the sound of the language was exciting. We had a five star hotel on the Hong Kong peninsula, a hotel that had a tremendously high ceiling in the first floor entrance area, with glass prisms hanging in clusters from above, creating a light show over the entire area. It was luxury to the limit, with marble floors and columns, and the Triangles five star restaurant on one of the upper floors. There were visitors from any countries in the hotel, having breakfast together were Russian businessmen, and staying for an Indian wedding were over two hundred guests. The bride was said to be scheduled to ride a pure white stallion down the main street near the hotel on her way to the wedding ceremony. There were Hindus everywhere on the streets and in the shops. Parked in front of the hotel entrance was a collection of a dozen or so Jaguars and Mercedes limousines for driving guests to wherever they wished to go.
At the airport, crowds bustled everywhere, and the sound of the language was exciting. We had a five star hotel on the Hong Kong peninsula, a hotel that had a tremendously high ceiling in the first floor entrance area, with glass prisms hanging in clusters from above, creating a light show over the entire area. It was luxury to the limit, with marble floors and columns, and the Triangles five star restaurant on one of the upper floors. There were visitors from any countries in the hotel, having breakfast together were Russian businessmen, and staying for an Indian wedding were over two hundred guests. The bride was said to be scheduled to ride a pure white stallion down the main street near the hotel on her way to the wedding ceremony. There were Hindus everywhere on the streets and in the shops. Parked in front of the hotel entrance was a collection of a dozen or so Jaguars and Mercedes limousines for driving guests to wherever they wished to go.
Day 16: Resignation from Moreno Valley Schools, end of Ph.D. program at UCR; Life saving surgery (hysterectomy / ovarectomy) ; Blackballed for 4 year; starting the import business
The end of my teaching years at Moreno Valley district came in a most distressing way. For the first three years I was in the teacher in charge of the Independent Studies Program. In the first year, it grew from about 80 students to about 150. In the second year it was about 260 by the end of the school year, and the third year saw the student load reach about 390. As it grew, the increasing need for study materials drove me to the university curriculum library, where I found lessons for all high school subjects, from Algebra to Spanish. I made copies of these lessons, then packaged them in individual packets with cover sheets describing the lesson, and the time period to complete it. By the end of the third year, I had filled a storage room with big boxes filled with lessons filed by subject and they lined the room, on shelves that reached to the ceiling. I had to have a ladder to reach some of them. I had been given two teacher aides, working four hours each day, to help with the materials processing and student tutoring. One of these, Mrs.Van Goor, turned out to be a keyplayer in my fall from grace with the district.I had met Mrs. Van Goor at a fabric department in a local store. She seemed very friendly and smiled a lot. We talked and laughed, and she told me she would love a job working with the high school kids, and she asked me to give her a recommendation. I did, thinking it would not hurt me at all to give her a boost from a store clerks job to a school job. She was hired and assigned to work with me in the program. I did not know that in time she would betray me, in fact undermine me. The program grew to almost 400 students and the load was phenomenal for one teacher with just Mrs. Van Goor as a three hour aide for help. The copied materials were issued and every day of the week, with students coming in daily for the transaction. Katherine Van Goor came in the morning, from 8 til 11 am, and was there to sign students in and help to re-file the lesson materials. She looked them over and checked them for completion. Then, in the spring, I learned that she had made some criticisms of me to the administration. Of course it was a ridiculous and false criticism, but nevertheless it marred my teacher image. So now in addition to the continuation school principal taking credit for the development of the program, now a subordinate was undermining me. By the semester's end, the school district hired three additional teachers to teach in the program, so that instead of me handling it all, the work load now was divided among the now four teachers. That was how much work I had been doing: the equivalent of four teachers. It was a testiment to my organizational abilities, my energy, and my ability to handle large numbers of people with diverse needs. It was the following year that I was transferred to a middle school, teaching social science to 7th and 8th graders.
Middle school can be hellacious. The age group is known for its behavior extremes, as they are adolescents going through major physiological changes. They get emotional, angry and just downright wacky at times for even the slightest of reasons. At the particular school I was assigned to, they had developed a habit of all running en masse spontaneously in the same direction, sweeping across the concrete center area of the school and around the curve to front of the school. It was an odd behavior. The teacher who had the classroom next to mine, on the other side of a portable fabric covered padded folding wall, had an unruly class and he seemed to not be able to control them. Each day the wall, closed but not rigid like a wood wall, would be pushed by the other students in his classroom. In our room, we watched as the wall moved in waves as they pushed on it from the other side. It was like watching ocean waves. You could hear the shouting and the chaos on the other side. The poor teacher was clearly having a tough time with them. The principal, a woman from Peru, came to me and other teachers to ask that we write statements against this teacher. Some of them agreed to do so; I refused. It did not seem proper or just for me to make any statements against a fellow teacher. If the school district was not happy with him, they could use the performance evaluation process to terminate him. That was their job, not mine.
Things grew worse after I refused to write any negative statement against my fellow teacher. One day a girl in my class took an orange out of her book bag, and peeled it, dropping the peelings onto the floor and eating the orange. The juice dripped on her desk. I reminded her of the "no eating in class" rule and write a referral, sending her to the office for making such a mess eating in class. Later at lunch, the principal, the Peruvian woman, encountered me in the teacher lounge and asked me : "Dr. Peters, why do you allow students to eat in class?" God. Of all the ridiculous things to ask. Clearly I did not allow it, as evidenced by the referral I had sent the student with to the office for such behavior. Apparently the student had lied to cover her ass and told the principal that I always let them eat in class. Any student would try to protect themselves from admonishment by saying such a thing. Any idiot adult would realize that. At any rate, it revealed the principal's stupidity and her bias against me. I simply explained that in fact no eating is allowed in class. It was a hopeless situation, and I knew that ultimately I was being pushed down and in the end would be pushed completely out of any chance of promotion to administration.
In early October that year, Pete became paralyzed. He could not get out of bed; his legs would not respond. The doctors at Kaiser where he had not long before had surgery for a hernia said that he had bifocal neuroplagia. This meant that the nerves leading down from his trunk to his legs had been damaged during the surgery and he was now paralyzed.
Middle school can be hellacious. The age group is known for its behavior extremes, as they are adolescents going through major physiological changes. They get emotional, angry and just downright wacky at times for even the slightest of reasons. At the particular school I was assigned to, they had developed a habit of all running en masse spontaneously in the same direction, sweeping across the concrete center area of the school and around the curve to front of the school. It was an odd behavior. The teacher who had the classroom next to mine, on the other side of a portable fabric covered padded folding wall, had an unruly class and he seemed to not be able to control them. Each day the wall, closed but not rigid like a wood wall, would be pushed by the other students in his classroom. In our room, we watched as the wall moved in waves as they pushed on it from the other side. It was like watching ocean waves. You could hear the shouting and the chaos on the other side. The poor teacher was clearly having a tough time with them. The principal, a woman from Peru, came to me and other teachers to ask that we write statements against this teacher. Some of them agreed to do so; I refused. It did not seem proper or just for me to make any statements against a fellow teacher. If the school district was not happy with him, they could use the performance evaluation process to terminate him. That was their job, not mine.
Things grew worse after I refused to write any negative statement against my fellow teacher. One day a girl in my class took an orange out of her book bag, and peeled it, dropping the peelings onto the floor and eating the orange. The juice dripped on her desk. I reminded her of the "no eating in class" rule and write a referral, sending her to the office for making such a mess eating in class. Later at lunch, the principal, the Peruvian woman, encountered me in the teacher lounge and asked me : "Dr. Peters, why do you allow students to eat in class?" God. Of all the ridiculous things to ask. Clearly I did not allow it, as evidenced by the referral I had sent the student with to the office for such behavior. Apparently the student had lied to cover her ass and told the principal that I always let them eat in class. Any student would try to protect themselves from admonishment by saying such a thing. Any idiot adult would realize that. At any rate, it revealed the principal's stupidity and her bias against me. I simply explained that in fact no eating is allowed in class. It was a hopeless situation, and I knew that ultimately I was being pushed down and in the end would be pushed completely out of any chance of promotion to administration.
In early October that year, Pete became paralyzed. He could not get out of bed; his legs would not respond. The doctors at Kaiser where he had not long before had surgery for a hernia said that he had bifocal neuroplagia. This meant that the nerves leading down from his trunk to his legs had been damaged during the surgery and he was now paralyzed.
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