Best Laid Plans

I'm continually fascinated by the accounts of those whose lives have grown in ways seemingly contrary to the environment in which they were "nurtured". A favorite example of mine is that of John Lennon, who survived a banal, disaffected and repressed mid-fifties English proletariat upbringing to emerge as the ultimate iconclast, innovating a shift in not only pop music but western culture itself.

In a different way, there's Marjoe Gortner. Old film buffs may know him as the crazed National Guardsman in the 1970s movie "Earthquake". Years ago, while working for a film research company in Hollywood, I had come across a synopsis on "Marjoe", a small documentary about the life of a boy-evangelist. I read up some on his story, which I found interesting, but never got a chance to see it.

In a nutshell, the story is that of a boy named Marjoe (viz."Mary" and "Joseph"), born to zealous, evangelical Christian parents. He was taught--or, rather, indoctrinated--from a very early age to preach the Gospel; coached in all the gesturing, mannerisms and vocal style of a revivalist. By his account, he wasn't allow to play as a child, but was subjected to various forms of decidedly un-Christian physical torture in order to compel him to conform.

As for the rest of his story, one might'nt be surprised to learn that he went on to live some sort of maligned life, perhaps as a preacher with some veiled disdain for believers; or else a murderer. What actually happened, as documented in Marjoe, I find even more interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKln1sQXvmo&feature=related

Met and Mangia

1/14/2009

There was always that one place that I swore I'd never go, and that was NYC--my constitution favoring quiet, relaxed and simplistic modes of living. Well, things do change, and recently I've been inexplicably curious enough about that city to entertain the idea of a visit, during which I might take in the many landmarks and sample as much of the storied culture as I can.

I've done some initial research on such a trip, and I can say that at this point it seems a bit like how I would imagine a vacation to the moon might be. I'm learning fast how incredibly different everyday things are there, and how the culture is shaped by these differences that I once considered more superficial. Most people already know that you don't drive in Manhattan, but are forced to navigate the network of trains and sidewalks, and that eating is a Big Deal, which likely comes with Big Queues and even Bigger Checks, but still it's interesting to discover just how much life there revolves around the concepts of "neighborhoods", "eating" and social movements:

http://curbed.com/

http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/

My initial image of how it would go was full of sepia-toned streetscapes, quiet old ladies buying fresh-baked breads from kindly coppola'd proprietors, and maybe bumping into a couple guys who call each other "Max" in friendly arguments. It won't be that, but it will be just as fun discovering the real thing...