OPERATION TIE A YELLOW RIBBON

Saturday June 27th I participated in Operation Tie a Yellow Ribbon in support of our troops. There were something like 160 silent auction items, and at least 25 raffle goodies, including three signed copies of "East Garrison," plus many more donations of much needed stuff for the troops. I’d never been to a “silent auction,” which is quite different from the many livestock auctions I’ve been to, and a lot less smelly. If you've never been to a livestock auction, GO. Bring your kids. It'll be an experience they'll never forget.

I enjoyed the patriotism at Operation Tie a Yellow Ribbon, and appreciate all the men and women who have and are putting themselves in harm's way.

La-Fi-Regret part III

Tracy Dade, Jack’s daughter, struggles with her feelings about her father. Her worst fear is that she is like him or that she will become like him. The sad truth is that she is already like him and doesn’t know it. And even if she did know, she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Children are molded collectively by their genetics and experiences. Some would say, that’s where free will comes in, but I know there are other things too, like hormones, that can take over one’s will, especially under stress. That’s what happens to Tracy in East Garrison. Already emotionally handicapped, she becomes a walking time bomb during the last trimester of pregnancy.
When I was about to give birth to my first child, it felt as if I would die if the baby’s room wasn’t perfect. OMG. I’m not just talking feelings here either; I’m talking tears and yelling. Emotions out of control.

Jack would say people should have to be screened before having children. Take a test. Like getting a license to drive. It’s a privilege, not a right.
Tracy’s reply would be that then HE would not have passed the test, and therefore, she would not have been born…Tracy has still not forgiven her father, even after he saved her life.

La-Fi-Regret part II

Yes, children are the most vulnerable to attacks of any sort, not just mountain lions. Probably human beings are the biggest threat to little kids in a variety of ways. In “East Garrison” Officer Will Dade of the POM Police drives by a memorial to a murdered little girl. Sad truth--This is based on a real story. The offenders of the horrific crime (to date) have never been identified. And it is only one of many throughout the world. Jack would say, “At least cats do it out of physical survival.” Jack didn’t care much for humans. He lived in a world inside his mind. In Layfayette (La-Fi-Regret), we’d say, “he’s a legend in his own mind.” Completely egocentric. And thus, later in life, having had this role-modeled for her, Jack’s daughter, Tracy, starts down the same path.
To be continued…

JACK'S BOOK

I've located copies of Jack's book. Most are yellowing on the cover from age because of the paper stock he chose to use when having them originally printed. This happened to be his final brilliant idea and is literally where he sunk his last penny, so it is the one and only edition.

The entire book is black and white with many rare photos of pre-Nazi swastikas, like on the belt buckles of American Boy Scouts, if you can believe it, and a picture of Jackie O. wearing a Native American costume with a swastika on it. There are also many postcards he collected with messages of Good Luck! because that is, after all, the true meaning of the symbol.

Drop me a line if interested in getting a copy: gmweger@gmweger.com. I'll only charge for the postage and mailer to send it. I think they may even be signed. I'll have to take a closer look.

Next, part II of LA-Fi-REGRET.

LA-FI-REGRET, Part I

I am listening to World War 2 Music & Variety when “If our will is strong enough, then nothing can fail. Germany, Sieg Heil!” is spoken by Adolph Hitler in his native German tongue. I am unwillingly yanked back to strange memories from over four decades ago, memories of my father and his world of Nazi war memorabilia and eccentric friends. As you can imagine, Nazi stuff attracts war nuts. This combination creates an assortment of scenarios, kind of like a Fellini movie. This one takes place in middle class white America in the 1970s, in a town named Lafayette. We came to call it La-Fi-Regret. I have no idea who started calling it that, but it has stuck all these years.
One of dad’s friends owned a leopard which he kept in a cage in his garage. I called this friend crazy Ken. He used to get in the cage with the leopard and wrestle it. One of Ken’s hands had just a few intact fingers amongst stubs from a fire cracker explosion. He liked to dress up in full Nazi regalia, go into bars, and start fights. I remember Ken’s high voice and his daughters, and the way that the leopard’s eyes followed my every move…
From research I did to write East Garrison’s cat scenes as accurately as possible, I now know that big cats have a fascination with little children. Invariably children are most vulnerable to attack.
End Part I

Jack Attack

Jack Erslager, one of the main characters in East Garrison, and somewhat the antihero, has captured the attention of a few members of my writers' group. Jack's a homeless wandering messiah in search of the truth, and a rubber tramp, or one who lives in his vehicle driving from place to place. He believes he's found "the truth" in the mystical swastika symbol, numerology, and hieroglyphs. He discovered magical properties in the number nine (9 points in the cross). He lives in his van with his German shepherd, Blondie, and sees ghosts in the form of, amongst other things, his prior U.S. Major Army General Fritzsche, who is a Nazi. Fritzsche barks orders at Jack in German as he pops Benzedrine inhalers. Jack smokes pot and hand-rolled cigarettes. He doesn't eat much. And he's growing marijuana in an unexploded ordnance range area of Fort Ord. His daughter's married to a federal cop who finds his plants. I don't want to tell much more about the plot for those who haven't read the book yet, but Jack is a character who doesn't want to die, metaphorically speaking. This is so much the case that in another book, a continuation of East Garrison, I've developed a new character named Randy who is a former buddy of Jack's. Randy also has a dog and is somewhat homeless, but his dog is a white Samoyed named Garfish. One writer in my group thinks Randy is too much like Jack, but he's not, at all. He'll give me the opportunity to get into Jack's background more, vicariously, through Randy, who in many ways is the opposite of Jack. So, for your pleasure, I've put up a picture of "Jack," the antihero of East Garrison.