I realized I’m an odd duck
At
breakfast this AM I realized something that I knew for a long time. I AM an ODD DUCK!!! My favorite musicians in 1968 were James
Brown (that’s normal) but, Bert Bacharach, Sergio Mendez, and Herb Alpert not
so much. I was only 13 years old, (what’s up with that.) I listened to
the Temptations, The Four Tops, and the
like, but that was just to fit in. I was already an outcast because I liked no
LOVED to read and lived a major part of my middle school time in the library,
as I had a crush on the librarian. (I’ll write on this one later I need the
writing practice)
Why
was I the odd duck? Well it was Los
Angeles California in the 60s to the 80’s I lived in South Central LA, and it
was swimming upstream or across stream from 90% of my cohorts. Thinking back
that was the same time that I joined the L.A.P.D Jr band. It was a great experience
I
played Trombone I found friends that I have to this day, unfortunately I haven’t
seen in 30+ years, To tell the truth I did
not know who I was as my internal voice was telling me different things then my
survival voice. I was once taken into the Boys restroom of my Jr Hi School
(as
it was called in those days) and took a beating for acing a History test. (I
made the brothers look bad I suppose) while I was taking my 1st
Major ass whipping I was told that I was acting white, and thought of myself
better than my peers. I was an Odd Duck indeed. 2
things happened at that
point.
The 1st was I went from an A average
to a C average that carried on throughout High School, and my 1st attempt at college (thats another good story) The 2nd was I
made a vow to myself to leave there South Central LA never to return. That part
happened in 1981 when I left to join the military
I had no mentor in the more academic pursuits.
I had a superb life mentor in my dad Eugene Crawford. He however, did not
finish elementary school and my mom did not finish middle school. Remember
those friends of over 30 years a lot of us no most of us were in band together
1st
Bishops Band, then LAPD Jr Band then The Velvet Knights Drum and Bugle corps. It
just happened that way. I have a person that still is a hero of mine George who never met a challenge that he was afraid to challenge. Went from
ZERO to running the Los Angeles
Marathon
.He would never quit if I beat him at something he would not stop until he was
at least as good as I am then left me in the dust. His brother Ronald was my
best friend of the period, and we had several adventures that were at times
funny and at others scary as hell.
I met people during the period of 1979 to 1981
that I Consider family (I have 2 that I will write about later) that caused me
to change my beliefs about what it is like to be Black or White in
America. In the military is was not one
of the Homeboys that came to get me when my car was
broken
down in Norfolk Va in the winter of
81-82 It was a Good ole boy from Tennessee. Talk about paradigms shifting. It seems that since that time I have drifted
from being a Democrat (because my mom was) Republican after I watched Lester Maddox
do his thing and learned who
was on the other end of the “rope” then Independent to date, as I tired of the BS.
I
am still an odd duck. I have made lots of mistakes (trust me on that). Now that
I am practicing for my 3rd career (writing) I am trying to get my
proverbial fecal material compacted in one place.
I have a Grandson that’s an
Odd Duck Just like me. There is a present for him in the mail
I have not picked up yet (a Chess set). My
goal is to be the “full service” mentor that my father could not, as stated
before. As a Life mentor My Dad was without peer but did not have the educational background to help me in other areas. 7 year old grandson asked me “what
is Magnetism” I knew something was afoot when I heard the question, I was excited to tell him what I knew
about it, and show him where more information could be found.
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