Once Upon A Time: Origins Blogfest

The brain child of DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude, the co-sponsors include Alex J Cavanaugh, Katie Mills aka Creepy Query Girl and Matthew MacNish at The QQQE.


On Monday, February 13th, post your own origin story. Tell us all where your writing dreams began. It could be anything from how you started making up stories as a child, or writing for the school newspaper, or even what prompted you to start a blog. How about stories about the first time somebody took an interest in your writing, or maybe the singular moment when you first started calling yourself a writer. It all started somewhere and we want you to tell us your own unique beginnings. 




           There were always stories when I was a kid and it seemed like we went to the movies every week.  I became enthralled with the art of the story.  It felt natural to write my first story in the third grade.


           After we had moved to San Diego in the summer of 1959, I started my school season at James Whitcomb Riley Elementary School in Mrs. Stork's class.  The Twilight Zone debuted on television that year and I was an immediate fan.  When Mrs. Stork gave us the assignment to write a short story I  was ready.


         My intent was to write a scary story in a Twilight Zone mode, but what I ended up with was probably a bit too gory to be a Twilight Zone kind of story. The story was about a cross-country truck driver  who is going from Pittsburgh to California.  I don't recall what exactly happened, but I do recall the driver disintegrated into a bloody mess..


        I liked my story and thought I was a pretty good writer.  From that point on I was hooked.  Never afraid to experiment with my writing, I tried my hand at writing poetry, songs, essays, and journalistic style articles.  The short stories were my favorites though.  I liked to let my imagination go wild.


          Third grade.  That's when I decided I wanted to be a writer.  I've often slowed down and taken many a break, but the writing dream has always been there.  And that's the once upon a time when it all began.

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My Life As A Televison Show

            Today I'm taking a break from music and movies, but I'm not straying far.   Jennee Thompson at Cheap Therapy has offered up a little blog challenge that makes an interesting proposal:

           ".... Compare your life to one of your favorite TV shows growing up. Is it anything like your life then or now? Are you a main character? If the show was still on would you watch it."

            I like this challenge.  As I child I did tend to watch a goodly amount of television.  I grew up in the 1950s and 60s so my television choices may be dated, but I think most people will be familiar with them since they have been in such wide syndication.

            Overall my favorite TV show when I was young was The Twilight Zone.  There may have been some times of my life when it seemed like I was in The Twilight Zone, but overall I guess my life wasn't that weird.  The great writing of Twilight Zone episodes probably had as much influence on my own aspirations as a writer as anything else.  Since its original run, The Twilight Zone has reappeared in other incarnations, but I've never really gotten interested in those.  Nothing has taken the place of those old black and white original installments.

           Another favorite program that I did identify with in many ways was Leave It To Beaver.  Part of the great popularity of this show in its day was the way it effectively captured the lifestyle of many typical American families.  I easily identified with Beaver Cleaver since I was about his age.  I didn't have an older brother, but when my father came home from work each evening he was wearing a suit and tie and my mother was always at home with me and my siblings.  The events depicted in the show were not rip-roaring ridiculous, but very real in a humorous way.  The parents were kindly and wise, and the kids were mostly obedient and faced the music when they weren't.  In the end a lesson was always learned.

          Leave It To Beaver still shows up in syndication and whenever I happen across it I usually watch it.  The show still holds its charm for me.  In the 90s the show was revived with Jerry Mathers, the original Beaver Cleaver, as a grown man with kids of his own.  I anxiously tuned in when it first came on and I still enjoyed the updated version.  The show still had some of the original characters and Jerry Mathers was still the Beaver except older.  However, not being much of a TV watcher I didn't keep up religiously with the program, but I watched and enjoyed it when I did turn it on.

           The favorite show that I would most compare my life to is The Ed Sullivan Show.   This was a variety show that came on every Sunday evening.  All sorts of entertainers were showcased in this one hour throwback to vaudeville.  Ed Sullivan's show showcased singers, comedians, and variety acts.  Through the show American audiences were introduced to Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and many other huge stars of the rock and pop era.  You can still see reruns of Ed Sullivan episodes on television and I'll always stop to watch when I run across one.  I even have some of the Ed Sullivan DVDs that have been put out.

           In the movie musical Bye Bye Birdie the family's dream is to be on the Ed Sullivan Show, which becomes the denouement of the story.  The Ed Sullivan Show was a cultural touchstone for the era.  Since my family did a professional juggling act, an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was one of my father's biggest dreams. It never happened.  Back then my role on the show would have been an appearance as a performer.

            Throughout my life the Ed Sullivan Show influence has been felt as I pursued my own show business career in the late 70s and 80s.  Now I feel like Ed Sullivan on my blog.  Every week I feel like I'm trying to present a blog version of Ed Sullivan's variety show as I present topics of a wide range.  I'm not content to stick to one single subject.  It's not over til the fat lady sings, and even then it's not really over.  Next week I might have puppets, circus acts, an up and coming comedian, or a scene from the latest Broadway musical. 

          Ed Sullivan used to say, "Tonight we have a really big shoe."   When he said "show" it sounded like "shoe".    That's what I try to envision on my blog--"a really big shoe".  If I'm trying to follow in Ed Sullivan's footsteps then I've got some really big shoes to fill.

           I have one more scheduled mini blog fest which will be happening next Monday July 5th.  I don't think I'll get much participation on this one since it has to do with music influenced by Spanish and Latin American culture.  But don't just dismiss it thinking you don't know enough about it.   Don't forget about artists like Santana, Shakira, Richie Valens, and Julio Iglesias.  The Spanish / Latin influence in music goes way back and covers many fads and styles.  There is the dance music like tango, cha cha, salsa, and rumba.  Cuban and Brazilian (okay Portuguese is okay) music have been staples to many of our ears.  This might be more fun than you think so I hope you'll join us.   Linky list should be going up tomorrow.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Dream Imagery: The Baby Skeleton

          On Friday December 18, 2009 I posted an article about dreams .  Dreams have alway held a great fascination for me since childhood and I sometimes have journaled them or at least thought about them. Rohini, who has a blog called MY WEIRDEST DREAMS ,  commented with a request that I post some dreams on my blog.  I have decided to do this on occasional Fridays since I try to post about mysteries and mysterious things.  Dreams certainly fall into the category of the mysterious.  I am hoping that my blog friend Dr. Harris Stern will be there to lend his very astute observations about dreams.  Dr. Stern has also posted some fine articles about dreams.

         As I had mentioned in my December article, dream symbolism is very personal and can vary from one person to the next or even in our own dreaming life from one dream to the next.  Sometimes the meanings can be very concrete and they are exactly what has been envisioned in the dream.  Other times what we see in our dreams symbolizes something else entirely.  I don't think we can read a dream account in most cases and completely understand it because we need to know a lot more background about the dreamer's past and current situations.  But we can dabble and play around with it.

        The dream I am going to present today is one that I call THE BABY SKELETON .  This is a dream that I had when I was between 9 and 12 years old.  It was so vivid that I remembered it to the extent that it became a favorite story that I used to tell my kids when they were growing up.  Now you can enjoy the story and perhaps even play psychoanalyst.

         To begin with I will provide some background information as I recall it.  During the time of this dream it would have been between 1959 and 1963.  My family was living in a sprawling new housing development on Clairmont Mesa in San Diego, CA.  Our home was a block away from the large undeveloped Tecolote Canyon.  As children my sister, my friends, and I would often spend much of our non-school time playing in and "exploring" the canyon.  Bear in mind that this was a time when kids had a much greater reign to roam without some of the fears we have today.  We would often wander the canyon imagining that we were discovering things.  A bird feather was a remnant of a past Indian tribe, an unusual stone was an artifact of some primitive culture, or a dirt road was a pioneer trail.  We were full of imagination and adventure.

        Life seemed pretty simple and unthreatening to us children despite the news reports about possible attack from the Russians and the duck-and-cover air-raid drills that we would sometimes practice at school.  My family led a pretty routine suburbia life, my parents were just normal good parents, my sister Joy was one of my best friends, and my twin brother and sister were still very young.  I enjoyed watching THE TWILIGHT ZONE and scary movies on television and my reading primarily consisted of The Hardy Boys and Tom Swift.  Stamp collecting was my main hobby.  Life was good.

        In my dream I am in the canyon with my sister and perhaps some other friends.  We are exploring like we normally would be doing.  We are in what I would presume to be the western part of the canyon not far from the school where we attend, James Whitcomb Riley Elementary School.  Our group is following a trail on the eastern slope of that part of the canyon.  We come upon some ancient ruins that are much like Greek or Roman ruins.  Stone buildings are crumbling and fluted columns that are broken in pieces lay on the ground.  I am very excited that we have found such an amazing place in the canyon.  As I explore the site looking for artifacts, I find something about 20 inches long that is wrapped in an old blanket.  Unwrapping the parcel I find that it contains the skeleton of a baby.  I am very excited and feel that I have found something that is very special and even powerful. 

        Keeping my find a secret from my companions, I wrap the skeleton back up in the blanket and hurry home where I place the skeleton in one of my dresser drawers.  At this time I awaken, feeling very excited.  The first thing I do after I wake up is jump out of bed and check all of my dresser drawers to find the skeleton.  It's existence is very real to me in my initial wakefulness, but then I come to the realization that I have only been dreaming.   I feel somewhat sad and disappointed.

       Now it's your turn.  What could this dream have meant?   Have you had dreams that you were convinced were real when you woke up?  If you remember your dreams, I'm sure you have had dreams that have had this effect upon you.  How do dreams of childhood compare with those we have as adults?  Are you or were you a fan of TWILIGHT ZONE , The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Tom Swift?  Do you think my sister and I should have been using those canyons as a playground and wandering the neighborhoods on our own (everybody did it back then and none of us ever felt unsafe)?