Vietnam Veteran Musician

I received a call from Rick Alpers and he has spoken with his friend. It looks like he wants to support our project with an interview. I'll call him tonight. Rick said he lives in Santa Barbara and that he plays in a jazz band with his brother.

Mona called last night and we haven't hooked up for weeks. She's very busy with her two teaching gigs. One at CSUN and the other at SMCC. She said we should meet next week, even if it's just for an hour.

I need to call her too.

I had lunch with two friends of mine today. They were telling me of a musician who was in the US Army and went to Vietnam to fight. He ended up being in a band that played for the troops near the frontline.

I asked if they thought he'd be open to being interviewed. They said that they would ask him for us but that he was a very open person and would probably allow us to do that.

Torture, Part I

Do most of us kill on some level?

Do many of us torture on some level?

Not necessarily kill or torture other humans but say, animals, insects, etc.

During the summer when those of us who have cats and/or dogs, fleas infest our lives and the war is on once again. There's an industry based on this relationship.

How to build a better mouse trap?

Growing up, we tortured snails with salt, burned ants with magnifying glasses and doused roaches with Raid. Beyond that was ingenuity and entertainment leading to the killing or torturing living things we felt we had rights over or importants over, were violating our domain or just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

How many of us have a sibling(s) where torture was part of the culture of control?

It's about intimidation, power, and control. In it's worse state, "Winning" where the ultimate resolution is killing or severly damaging another living thing.

At the very least, a small percentage of us enjoy having that finite power.