Roots In Boston And The Reality Of Labor
I was born in Boston Mass in 1939 to Lillian Bachner Handel and Philip Handel. I do not know if my parents finished high school although I guess Lillian did and Philip did not. This is based on my understanding of Lillian’s inclinations and Philip’s psychopathology which did not permit him to successfully complete anything meaningful in life, or for that matter anything regardless of meaning. His occupation was noted on my birth certificate as a laborer. This described his occupation to a great degree whether he was janitoring, employed in a dye works, running a beer joint/ice ice/grocery, gas station or heating and air conditioning.
A Childhood Of Brawn And Hard Work
He earned his keep with brawn, not brains. As I grew up, I did whatever my father did in the way of work. I labored with him before and after school, weekends and summer days washing and waxing floors, washing storefront and windows during my preteen years in a small New York city on the Hudson River. As a teenager I worked in his gas station washing cars, pumping gas and changing flat tires. Then later as a do-it-all in his grocery store/icehouse/beer joint. My three siblings and our parents were the cheap labor that made our living on the out-skirts of Houston.
The Value of Education And Hard Lessons
Philip appreciated education perhaps because he saw educated people doing much better than he did and two stints in prison may have enforced that understanding. Hence into college in Houston where I worked in the grocery store until it went belly up. After that I did stints as an encyclopedia salesman, polling for businesses, bill collecting and an abortive effort as a Fuller Brush salesman. In my college experience I graded papers for my profs, was a biology lab TA. After graduation, I was a biology and chemistry teacher in a Catholic girl, high school in Houston. One year sufficed and an acceptance into medical school was the start of my 55-year medical career.
While in high school I began writing poetry and over the years have continued to write in multiple genres.
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