Katra

My first exposure to censorship...

... was in 7th grade at Bethel Christian School in Erie, PA when Miss Emerson (long since Mrs Blystone) disallowed some books for ordering from Scholastic Book Services, which at that time was a monthly 4-page printed catalog and Harry Potter just a glimmer in JK Rowling's eye.

Among those not allowed were most ghost stories and Dynamite! magazine. One ghost story that was allowed involved a ghost that ate too many donut holes and got a stomach ache.

(That was before donut shops started frying up the dough cut out from traditional round donuts and selling them as "donut holes." You have to know that to understand why getting a stomach ache on donut holes would be especially fitting for a ghost; a donut hole back then was just a hole.)

I am not judging Miss Emerson. Although we had our differences, her intentions were good. If I had been teaching me in 7th grade I probably would have had disciplinary problems with me too.

[2012-12-07]

c0

My first emotion at the loss of another human being...

... was Spock's death in Star Trek II, the Wrath of Khan.

I had a lump in my throat the size of a grapefruit. I saw that film in the theater while sitting next to my best friend, Rich Nickel. I suppressed the tears in typical Vulcan fashion so as not to appear too human.

That scene still chokes me up. I'm not kidding.

[2012-12-07]

c0

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