So what’s college (depends how you define WHATs). For a bunch of people’s, college is a stepping stone to success. That is what they think, and how they think; Mom&Dad always thought so (Mom went to Univ. of Minneapolis and UCLA, Dad got his Bachelor’s at UC Berkeley and his MA from San Francisco’s Theological Seminary in San Anselmo..where I was born; so you see, it’s in my blood). How it works, you pay a lot of money, you go there, get stepped on by the prof’s and don’t squeal (it’s easy to succeed that way I found). Dad learned a valuable lesson about ‘A’ vs. ‘B’ at UC Berkeley, when he was going there on the G.I. bill (he had just got out of the navy after single-handedly defeating the Imperial Japanese Fleet and its forces, –pacifically, in the South Pacific); and the lesson? If you want the A instead of a B all you have to do is kiss their A. (A friend of his who got all A’s had to explain it for him.) I had a friend that went there, too, when I was going to Frisco’s college, ranked as a state college at the time, which made it a lot easier to get in, now they’re calling it The University, the University at S. Frisco..real prestige, right?? (SOS) Carlos’s prof over in the East Bay pushing philosophy’s at UC Berkeley above Oakland and all the low-life’s, there, held him up after class on that last day of the semester to tell him about his term-paper: “Oh! it was so wonderfully refreshing to read it because, Carlos, you are my most brilliant student! Your thoughts are so lofty, et cetera, etc., yeah, you get it! Why can’t all my students be more like you!!” Stuff like that. Carlos explained to me all he did was stop getting drunk for the weekend long enough to start chugging down coffee, read the assigned books and go over the lecture notes and type up a paper that sounded like what the prof had been saying all semester, only just put in a few different words into the phrases that said the same thing so he will get flattered his thinking had rubbed off and give you the A, –you know, the standard formula, ‘A’?; and then he gets this. “I wanted to throw up.” Carlos said. “All I wanted was the damn A, not all that crap!” That was Dad’s experience too, to a T..’A’. I guess Dad didn’t remember the lesson well, because, well, very many years later, after he had pastored churches all over California, from ‘Weed’ to El Centro..and written sermons every week, he fancied he would go for the Ph.D, and increase academic prestige – just for the flock – so he went back to do that and they rejected his thesis because it wasn’t the right stuff they were looking for, Thank you very much! and there he was, stuck again..WTF (what the flock). He had forgot about the necessity to kiss the feckless ring. All through school I got that, too, but I didn’t give a ____! (a rat’s A, ‘A’) it was more important to me to piss off the stupid teacher and make them know I’m smarter than them, than get a leg up in the college community..hopefully, rattle them enough so they wouldn’t sleep good for a couple of weeks at least. In Kindergarten my teacher Mrs. Rose gave me sh** about my class work ‘concerning’ something that I drew that afternoon and I didn’t buckle. I passed K., but just barely. In fact when I went to Kinsergarten the first time they said (to Mom&Dad) I better wait a year because I wasn’t ready, –eff them. Same thing happened in college but they kept me because they liked the money they were getting for putting up with me; however, I think if they could have, they would gladly have given the cash back at least at my first junior college in my exceptional case, rather than have me to have to be dealing with, and the necessity, on that occasion, to have to file a report on me with the Fbi over some stupid, or ill-advised letter I had written to the dean of students that gave them the idea I was a terrorist, way before anybody thought fashionably about that sort of malfunction, because I got pissed off over something he did that made me feel he was overstepping his authority. Anyway, that was my legal opinion about it. But what do I know! Everything! that’s what and they don’t know sh**, that’s what I learned in ciollege. And they knew it, too, and that’s why they give you a sh**y grade, because they know you know they are b.s. and you know they know it! and that it’s true. And they don’t like that fact, you can check me on that. Another time in college, this time at USC I had to go to the dean’s office of the art department to tell him my Dad was going to come up and kick his a** for messing with the opening date of my senior art show (he wasn’t really, I made it all up); because Dean Rasmussen was afraid something bad might happen to get a lot of bad attention for the school on his watch because of a conflict over scheduling (a lot of nice people were expected to show up the same night for the art show of a respected faculty member..and wine and crackers). I sat down inthe chair across from him at his desk and cheerfully toild him that, the threat about my dad. I was a little bit buzzed, too, and he didn’t get ruffeled oranything, but I guess that gave the guys at Fbi some more useful material to deal with keeping up my active file that had been operned all those college years back there at the desert. There was a few times I had to straighten out the people at USC/SOFA (School of Fine Art) about the line that separates students from the faculty, as far as The US Constitution and what it says (about the line), well..you know, the 1st Amendment and all that stuff; actually it was a constant process thinking back on it, and I kept after them constantly, with challenging them on this and that until finally I successfully didn’t graduate..from there; but I came that close! I don’t recall ever having the nausea like you get when you’re going to vomit because of kissing the ring for thee A..A; but certainly from drinking like a pig, sometimes, I got it..Carlos came to my L.A. aprtment for my latest going-away-from-college party (I wound up going back to Frisco after it, for one last escapade, there..during the AIDs ‘crisis’), for the free beer and chance to have long discussions with others getting beer for free,too..and argue his points; I actually thought I graduated that time (but later discovered otherwise). Having gotten his Master’s from UC Berkeley, he was back at UCLA going for his Doctorate..I said Hey Carlos! when you get your doctorate, what are you going to do, then? (about getting free government money for being in college..to avoid getting a job; plus perk’s for being a minority) and he goes, “Well, you know, there’s always Post-doctoral studies, A..”) To be continued..