A Love of History -- A Father's Gift to his Son

This is an essay about the education of an Outlaw Word Bully by an arm-chair Revolutionary......Rest In Peace Laurence R. Farrens

On this gray, dreary day of mist, I feel like reading about and watching conspiracy theory craziness, especially after reading the new Stephen King book "11-22-63", which still did not answer the question about whether or not Oswald acted alone. (I do not believe it was Mr. King's desire to do so. The man is addicted to writing a great story and not even the money matters to him anymore. Or at least that is what I WANT to believe.....for purely aesthetic reasons; if my words were saleable, I would be making money, certainly NOT in debt and able to support my mother instead of the other way around.) Then I turn on M.S.N.B.C. and they have an interesting documentary about Patty Hearst and The Symbionese Liberation Army (S.L.A.).

            I am already very knowledgeable on the S.L.A., as it was required learning in my household when I was growing up. I am the son of two radicals and I am proud to be so. At the age of seven, my father and I sat on the old, sagging yellow couch in the living room of our house on Lomita Ave, in what was then central Stockton. He opened a huge atlas that I had never seen before. With his right index finger, he pointed to Vietnam and then to the Gulf of Tonkin.

 

"Andrew, this was one of the worst lies ever perpetuated on the American People, because as a direct result of the so-called 'Gulf of Tonkin' incident, thousands of Americans lost their lives fighting an illegal war that dealt with only economics. Remember that ALL WARS are fought over economics." said my father, Laurence R. Farrens.

            I never forgot that lesson but the leaders of The United Stated of America certainly did. The truth of this is evident in the fact that we fight in the Middle East over what some consider the most important commodity ever: OIL!! Americans die every-day in a foreign land so that a faceless businessman C.E.O. can pay his cronies and himself millions of dollars generated by death, all the while financially strangling the American People through cheap rip-off scams brushed with a veneer of respectability. Sadly, the propaganda machine is run so efficiently and effectively that most Americans do not understand what is going on. The only people that really know what is happening on the Global Stage are the Evil Men that create terrorists and cause havoc for the simple fact that it is economically pleasing to do so. I am scared of the future after learning the World's true history.

            My father betrayed his family in the last years of his life but before the prescription narcotics destroyed his already tumor infested brain, the man had a passion for History and he managed to instill in me the same love. Growing up, I read not only about the Symbionese Liberation Army but also about the many different "movements" of the 1960's. In fourth grade, at my father's insistence, I read about the Students for a Democratic Society (S.D.S.) and also about their violent, terrorist off-shoot organization, "The Weatherman". A famous line of poetry by Bob Dylan resulted in their name: "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

            The reason I take the time to write this seemingly random essay is that some days, all the pieces of an intellectual puzzle fit easily and that is how I feel today. I feel that I can conquer the World through my Words and all the History my father taught me to cherish and love has turned out to be a treasure that cannot be described, even with the mastery of words I have thus far achieved. For with knowledge of History, you can predict the Future.

            Though my Father has been dead almost half a decade, I miss him terribly when I think of the times we spoke about History; we would be up late in the night, bouncing from subject to subject and while some folks may not think the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, The Great Depression, 1960's radical stuff, Billie Holiday, Tarot Cards, The Wild West, The Vietnam War, George H.W. Bush, Aleister Crowley and Prohibition connect together, those folks are very wrong.........

                                    Everything is everything..........

            What I mean is that on this gray, dreary day, when the Central Valley Tule fog will not burn off at 3:00 p.m., memories of my father teaching me to love History has brightened up my day considerably. What is crazy is that I had no idea this essay would become a tribute to my dead father when I started it five minutes ago. I just wanted to explain why there are so many odd You-Tube videos on my Face Book, such as the S.L.A., Waco, and other bad craziness.

 

            "Boardwalk Empire" starts in less than three hours and I wish my father was still alive to watch this mostly historically accurate H.B.O. drama with me. My mother also enjoys it and it is not too far from the stretch of my imagination to see the three of us as a real family again, crowded around our television like the happy memories from my child-hood. Before the illnesses and sickness of both my parents. Before the madness of "The War on the Wongs".  Before my father's addiction to heavy duty prescription drugs and his subsequent abuse of those legal but very dangerous narcotics. Before my father lost his mind, which resulted in my mother living within her head on the computer the last years we were a "family". Before my father's cousin Stephanie, who manipulated his addiction and mental problems (over long distance phone-calls) so that he would think ill of the ones who truly loved him, ultimately betraying them. This is all wishful thinking but I KNOW, at least for today, what it would have felt like to  have been a real family again. All because of a television show and a love of History.

ANF

West Stockton, Ca

November 27, 2011

Rest In Peace

Laurence R. Farrens

(1952-2007)

On the left of this photo is my father, Larry, and on the right is an ex-Hell's Angel (although I am sure he was active in this picture) where, coincidentally, after almost thirty-five years, it was on his property where my father died at......Photo is circa sometime in the seventies, taken at a funeral somewhere. If you look closely at the pants legs of my Dad, you can notice a faint out-line of a concealed pistol. Enough said.....RIP

Author's Note

I wrote this last year on a grey, dreary day and since today is the same, I felt I would share it.....As to "The Boardwalk Empire" reference, it made me sad for I cannot watch it anymore due to no longer having HBO but I will patiently until it is done, then I will steal it from piratebay.org.......

Reviews

[quinfinn]

impressive write. i am 58 years old, a hippie to the death and i can assure you in no uncertain terms that the information your beloved father gave you on jfk, the vietnam war and the gulf wars and the other subsequent political actions are undeniably true! if you haven't yet seen the oliver stone movie, "jfk" see it. it is so close to the real truth it's frightening'... the warren report sold that single gunman "magic bullet" theory to the trusting american public and our politicians (most of them anyway) continue to bullshit us about anything we would question. we don't even have the political clout to force romney to admit he is hiding millions of dollars in offshore accounts to evade paying taxes and call him out as a bold faced liar and corporate raider who got filthy rich on the destruction of livlihoods
using bain capitol as his armor. it is shameful. your father would probably have a thing or two to say about that...thanks for requesting i read this...thoroughly entertaining

[Andrew N. Farrens]

Thank-you, my friend. My father would have indeed had something to say about Romeny/Ryan and although he'd hate the so-called "private family business" I share about him, I think he'd be proud of it all the same. At least I like to think so. He was a mixed up man in many ways but I will never forget after he heard a rap/hip-hop song I wrote/recorded titled "The Mind of an Addict" (he detested rap absolutely because he was deaf and could not understand the slurring of their words but he always said I spoke with clarity. Oddly, the song became dedicated to him after his death.), he turned to me and said: "I do not know where the hell you learned to that but it is good. I wish I could write like you." It stunned me, as it would any son. Another time, after reading something I had written, he said: "damn, I do not know where you got this gift to write because neither your mother nor I can write like this." Though I have learned since, my mom can write well when she chooses to but after decades in medical bureaucratic systems, she's a technical, clinical writer and is a perfect editor, whenever I request it.
Yes, I know quite a bit about the government sponsored assassination of JFK, along with RFK, MLK, etc etc, whose deaths prevented real change in the World. Malcolm X was killed by his own people, The Nation of Islam, but it was definitely instigated by the agents of the Federal Government. Some folks hate him and call him a racist, which he was in the early years (but maybe he had a good, if not correct, reason to do so, neh??), but it is evident the man changed before his death and I am proud to say he is in the top five of my personal heroes.
I digress....
I consider myself very well read but of course one cannot KNOW and READ everything worthwhile that is published but since you are a direct result of an era I respect, i wonder if there are any sort of books or web-sites, etc etc you might recommend to hel further my education. I normally do not ask people for such things, unless I know them quite well, but you're review struck a chord with me........
Thank-you for the kind words. Please take care and be well.

[Andrew N. Farrens]

In case you would like to hear my song, "The Mind of an Addict", I include the you-tube link to it, along with another you might find interesting. Selah! ANF

"The Mind of an Addict"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2xjMKXOCf0&list=PL80E81498E82995A8&index=1&feature=plpp_video

The Shock Doctrine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSF0e6oO_tw

[Coyote Poetry]

Thank you for sharing this story. Our father's had a different life. I believe they were braver and saw more opportunity. My father's story was mainly killing in wars and violence. I hope you had talks with your father. He had a wild life. Take guts to stand against the system.
Coyote

[Ees]

That's the third time in relatively recent history that Patty Hearst has been brought up. Weird...

I like the way that you wrote this: "At the age of seven, my father and I sat on the old, sagging yellow couch in the living room of our house on Lomita Ave, in what was then central Stockton."- strong sentence or a reminiscing sort that makes us really feel the couch.

Hasn't much of this ALWAYS been the worlds true history? I don't think you give the American people enough credit by saying that most don't understand what is happening. I think that most do understand, they just feel powerless. The government is too big. The companies are too big. People are too afraid to make moves. They don't think enough people will stand with them against the almighty powers that be that have the power to crush us. crush us all. You think they care about the laws they try to enforce. They don't think the laws apply to them and they can make us look anyway they want. Maybe I'm crazy, but my dad worked for the government for many years. The stuff he did, well it wasn't legal... he readily admits that. I mean affecting the outcomes of foreign elections? Yeahhh, that's been done.

" The reason I take the time to write this seemingly random essay is that some days, all the pieces of an intellectual puzzle fit easily and that is how I feel today. "-
I know the feeling. Too often it is fleeting.

I like the photo at the end. Remembering him is a part of loving your own history.

Though this was scattered at the beginning you brought it together in the middle and drew it down to a deeply personal level toward the end. I like reading these sorts of essays or anecdotes and this one was well executed.
Good job

[de_maruf]

nice

[lee von cleef]

If the world, hard to even come up with a comment,I want a solution,but am pretty down on conflict to day.I like your dad.

[MOON]

A fine tribute to your Dad and the insight he gave you to the manipulation of history. Greedy politics and politicians lead the world to the slaughter.

[Dayran]

I'll have to say Andrew that your writing, the way that comes from the mind of an individual whose mother supports him and he loves his father .... brings a quality of the authentic of a kid who has no other motive other than to be heard and to understand himself.

The history of the world was made by people such as yourself.

[Andrew N. Farrens]

yes and this is why the World is so messed up, what with folks like me in it....lol......thanks, man.

[Dayran]

I have always loved a good sense of humor no matter where I found it. However with age and the imperatives of a civil order, I find that I cannot induce such a quality in myself. I am pleased to say I found it again in your writings .... the breezy .... casual .... and the panache. I would content myself with that. Thank you.

[gombeggar]

hmm...a lot of thought there...good to hear some folks still read and think

[Andrew N. Farrens]

yeah, it does seem like not many people read or write anymore but I must say that this web-site, Writer's Cafe, has jangled that view a bit......good readers/writers on here, indeed.
ANF

[gombeggar]

agreed...an oasis in the world of glitter vamp novels

[Pratik]

This is a stupendous write! I am so glad I read this ( i usually don't read stories). This not only talks about the love of a son for his father but it explores the dynamics of the relationship and by doing that gives an insight into the sociopolitical economics of America... ( I identify with this because in the present times crony-capitalism is a big issue back here in India.) it amazes me how you packaged all of this into this brief essay... the way you start off with a specific activities of a day and gradually introduce the readers to a larger picture is something that calls for great appreciation.. This is a very well constructed piece .. insightful, emotional and endearing.... Loved it :)

[Andrew N. Farrens]

Thank-you

[Mark]

Nice write. Wars are fought for the money I think. The public is whipped into a fervor and we send our young men and women to die in the name of 'Freedom'. Been going on for a very long time now and as one war winds down, another waits in the wings. (look at Iran, how coincidental that they start rattling swords just as we are pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan.