Part 4

I was able to escape from high school (and summer school) with a desire to go to university.  When I was rejected from York U my father wanted to try and change its position.  He contacted the Dean and was able to get us an interview.

I had been exempt in all courses except math and with the summer school mark I actually had a decent average over 70%.  I took my transcript with me to the interview.  The Dean had my application and wanted to discuss grades.  He asked me how I did in History  --  I told him I didn't take History.  He asked how I did in French - I told him I didn't take French.   I told him my marks in chemistry, physics, english, geography and math.  He made no attempt to hide his confusion.  He looked at my transcript and indicated that he had the grades of another applicant by the same name.  Another example of my travelling through the "twilight zone".

He asked me the question that - if I was admitted to first year at York would I be a student who would make York proud.  What a stupid question.  I lied and said yes.  I was admitted to first year, one day after the commencement of the academic year.

It took about 6 weeks before my true nature showed its face.  The entire first year class was required to take "Modes of Reasoning", being a course in logic, as in "if a equals b and b equals c then a equals c."  Very logical.

Students were present in Stedman Hall for the lecture in person and many more students had to view the lecture by tv in other rooms.  The professor was British and not very dynamic.  No one asked any questions, and he merely read for the 50 minute lecture period.

No questions, that is, until I decided to ask a question which took everyone including the professor by surprise.  The question was "why do we have to take this class".  His answer was a curt "because it is a required course".  My not being satisfied to then just sit back and take it - I put my hand up for a second question.  When asked what my question was, I brazenly asked:  "then why does it have to be so boring".   All hell broke loose with students yelling at each -- the professor trying to get control and finally the class being dismissed.

I had to walk from the Stedman Hall to Vanier College for my philosophy class in the Don's room with ten or so other students.  When we all got there the only topic of discussion was what had happened in the previous class, and even the Don enquired as to what was being referred to as a riot by the first year class.  I did not offer any opinion and kept my identity a secret.

After everyone else left, I confessed that I had been the perpetrator of the discourse and I actually felt bad about how I had acted.  It was suggested that I apologize to the Professor which I did almost immediately.

It was ironic that of all the courses that I took in my undergraduate studies, the only course that had any relevance to my law studies was "Modes of Reasoning".  If I had only known, maybe I would have done better than a C in the course.

 

PART 3 - 1968

 

In Part 2 I ended the story with the end of 1969.   However, I had not included all of the adventures that basically arose from 1968 and beyond.  I would remiss not to account the adventures during that time.  While the “Victorian Club” was one of my most favourite experiences, it was not the only escapade in which I was involved.

 At the end of Grade 13, I had finally smartened up (at least a little).  I realized that I would have to attend university, if for no other reason to prove my parents wrong and to become the recipient of a promise that my parents made to me when I succeeded in going to summer school most years – that being, if I was to get into university they would acquire a car on my behalf.  It was a promise that they never expected to have to fulfil.

 So after getting the lowest grade in Ontario in a physics exam in grade 11 and the lowest grade in chemistry in grade 12 (they were provincial exams and I received an interim grade of 5 and 26 respectively.  I passed each course at the end with a mark of 50) I took physics and chemistry in grade 13 and received marks in the 70s.  It really aggravated the teacher who thought that I had gone crazy by taking his courses.  The only course that I had to write a final exam in was math since I was exempted in all the other courses.

 I had arranged with my friend Jeff to enter into a business arrangement for the summer.  He had the idea that we could rent a repossessed ice cream truck from Neptune Finance – they had a grave yard of ice cream trucks that they repossessed.  They agreed to rent it to us for the cost of $100.00 per week.  We next decided that driving around in an ice cream truck would not be the best way to earn revenue, so we made an appointment to meet with Victor Campeau who owned most of the property at the waterfront, particularly the parking lot adjacent to the entrance to the Toronto Ferry Terminal.

 We were able to get an appointment and the two of us showed up at his office at Yonge and Dundas, in an office that seemed humungous.  We told Mr. Campeau of our request to park the truck at the entrance of the pathway to the Ferry Terminal.   He thought it was a great idea wished that he had thought of it himself.  Anyway, he told us to get back to him when we had $1500.00. 

 That amount of money was way outside of our resources.  So, not being smart enough to know better, we asked Mr. Campeau if we could park two trucks for the same price.  I recall him needing a glass of water to collect himself after his laughing episode.  He agreed.

 Jeff met up with someone he knew who actually had an ice cream truck and they were happy to take the second spot.  We made sure to get the first spot at the entrance of the walkway.

 Now all that we had to do was each come up with $375.00.  I don’t know where Jeff got his funds, but in my case, I begged and borrowed from all my relatives who were happy to loan me the money secretly hoping that I would fall flat on my face.

 The next order of business was to obtain a tuberculosis test from the Gage Institute whose xray machine was almost as big as the screen at the Rogers Centre (previously SkyDome).  I took the xray and waited for the results.

 We then had to have the truck serviced so that it would have running water to comply with health department requirements.  Coincidence provided that my next door neighbour owned or worked for Lambert Plumbing.  He spent two days overhauling the plumbing which ultimately had water flowing from its taps – at a drop a second.

 The truck was then taken to the dairy at Spadina and College where a health inspector went over the truck in detail.  He turned on the tap and water flowed.  I recall it was the last time the plumbing actually worked!   We were given a permit and we were in business.

Back to the examinations.  On the Friday before I had to take the Math exam, I received a mimeograph letter (that was way, way before photocopying) from the Gage Institute which basically indicated that I had markings on my lung and I showed see a doctor immediately.  As change would have it, the mail was delivered at 4 o’clock and my doctor was nowhere to be found.

 My mother forced me into the car and we drove to Branson Hospital.  The letter was shown to an intern or resident who proceeded to tell my mother that it might not be tuberculosis.  It could be lung cancer at which my mother required medical attention.  Further xrays were taken.

 I spent the weekend doing anything but studying and bombed the final exam which led to another summer mornings at summer school.  This did not interfere with the ice cream business whose busy hours generally started in the afternoon. 

 Anyway, it turned out that the xrays showed some scars from bronchitis and I received a 90 in math at summer school.

 The first weekend that the ice cream business was in operation both Jeff and I were able to pay back our lenders in total much to their absolute amazement.

 We spent the summer entertaining visitors to the Chin Picnic and Caribana.  It was a gold mine.  And the truck did not need to move particularly since it was guarded by police patrols paid for by ice cream.

 I did get into University but that is another crazy story……

 

Part 2 – the next ten years

 In 1959 my parents moved us to the northern part of Toronto, in what was referred to as Bathurst Manor.  It was a culture shock in that the subdivision was made up mostly 3 bedroom houses on streets with no curbs and just built schools.  I went to Wilmington Public School just around the corner from our house, and then Dufferin Heights School down the street and finally Mackenzie Collegiate about a mile away.

 I think I was in grade four when I started at Wilmington Public School.  It was for the most part filled with kids just like us.  It was almost a parochial school since the entire neighbourhood was filled with Jewish individuals.  There would be the odd individual who would be classified as Italian, Greek or Black.  But for the most part we were all Jewish and expected to become doctors, lawyers or accountants.

 I wasn’t quite the genius that I had been at my previous school.  I was coming into my own by exercising my skill at getting into trouble.  In grade 5 I made the unforgiveable error of throwing a snowball.  It hit someone and I then experienced the dreadful strap.  One hit on my right hand.  I don’t recall crying and I definitely didn’t tell my parent.

 Over sixty years later, I had the opportunity to relating the story.  My wife thinks that I am great at exaggerating, but my recollection is always reality at least to me.  The story is that we were at a dinner party involving 8 people.  During a conversation I mentioned that I had once been “principled” (we were discussing chiropractic – you have to be a chiropractor to understand the irony).  I mentioned the incident.  A woman asked me which school I went to, how old I was and in what grade it happened.  She then proceeded to show everyone the small scar over her eye where I had hit her!!  Scary.

Through my first ten years I had some interesting experiences which sometimes led to either me or my brother having to be taken to a hospital.  It wasn’t as if I wasn’t going to catch him when he let go of the swing bar while hanging upside down.  It was just that something else must have caught my attention.   Or I didn’t mean for a nail to go right through my foot when jumping off the synagogue building while they were building it.   I also didn’t mean to knock out a front tooth when playing in the back yard or falling off the veranda but likely stopping the fall with my head!

 And when I wasn’t getting into physical adventures, I found time to partially blow up the light in the dining room.  But honestly it wasn’t my fault when I continue to wonder why my father would buy his delinquent son a chemistry set.   I had put in a number of chemicals into a vial and put a stopper on the vial.  Once I heated the vial and it blew up I knew my future was not in chemistry or bomb disposal.

 Another of my misadventures involved testing the warning never to barbeque in a garage.  It turned out to be a two alarm fire – but only one fire truck was necessary.

 While at Mackenzie I was not exactly an exemplary student.  I visited summer school a few times.  I would receive 40 in one or two subjects, go to summer school, and end up with an 80 or higher grade just to satisfy my parents.  When I finished law school and stood on the dean’s list my mother wanted to know why I had to go to summer school while in high school.  I told her it was because I didn’t have to get a summer job.  The answer was understood but not appreciated.

 I ended up being suspended only twice in high school.  Once for swearing in the hall.  The vice-principal said that he was suspending me for “habitual swearing”.  He did not appreciate my defence that he had only caught me once.

 The second time involved a trip to the vice-principal’s office who asked me why I had missed a number of days at school.  I told him it was for religious reasons.  He told me that almost the entire school was Jewish and he knew what holidays involved a day away from school.  I defended myself by indicating that I took off “all” religious holidays even the most rare religious holidays that might involve a dozen or so people.  He said he was giving me another 3 religious days away from school.

 My last high school adventure involved my being somewhat jealous of the individuals who were the head of any “club” or the student council and could as a result provide an announcement over the PA system of Fridays.  Partly because of that I along with two other individuals started the Victorian Club.  I made the announcement every Friday that the club was meeting at 7 pm. at its usual location and guests were welcome to attend. 

 It was only in the following October that the school learned that the Victorian Club was actually a group of guys going to the Victory Theatre at Spadina and College.  The Victory Theatre was a burlesque theatre before it became more explicit in its productions.  Needless to say we were all under age and even more so, the school did not find a way to revoke our graduation.

 And subject to better recall those were some of my adventures from 1959 to 1969.  Some not all.

 

 Part Two to the post is coming soon and is crazier than Part One.

 

NEW ADVENTURE

Today I am going to set sail on a new adventure.  Many years ago, Dr. Doug Brown produced an unauthorized biography which was published in the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association.  While the contents are true, it may be somewhat wanting in  all of the juicy and untold stories that run throughout the dissertation concerning my life.  As such, I thought it would be interesting to put pen to paper (or whatever they call computer production) and use the process for confessional purposes.

Anyway, here I go!

Born in May of 1949 I have the privilege of indicating I was born in the 40's which sometimes comes in handy.  It may be an exaggeration, but like most exaggerations it hopefully has a light touch to it.

For the first ten years of my life, I was raised in a different part of Toronto than where most of my racialized ancestors were living.  Most were around Spadina and College while I was at Broadview and Dundas.  Not a very welcoming place for Jews, Catholics or persons of any colour other than white.  But I survived and actually did quite well in school - which was amazing considering what was to come.

At the very young age, I recall and have a picture of myself on a pony wearing a cowboy outfit with a Daniel Boone raccoon hat.  Very cool.   I also recall being tethered to a fire hydrant to make sure that I didn't run into the street.  Again very cool.

One of my favourite memories involved going to the YMCA right across the street from where I lived.  It was interesting that it had separate entrances for boys and girls  -- just like the Dundas Pub down the street with the separate entrances for men and women.  I learned how to swim at the Y in a very short time.  My recollection or memory is that the swim class of 5 or 6 year olds (all boys) were told to take off our swim trunks and jump in the water.  As soon as we could swim we could put our bathing suits back on.  I was quick to learn.  Try that now and it would lead to serious jail time.

I went to day camp for what seemed like a long day.  I hated it because I was always thirsty.  The experience may have lasted one or two days.  After that I entertained myself with going to Riverdale Park before the Don Valley Parkway was built, going to Riverdale Park before the Toronto Zoo was built and going to the show to see two movies and a cartoon besides getting a comic book and box of popcorn all for 25 cents.  If I didn't have the money, I spent time collecting pop bottles and returning them to stores for 2 cents a bottle.  Life seemed good.

From my bedroom window I could see towards the west and one summer I spent a few nights watching a major fire of a tire factory burn at what must have been Eastern Avenue.   It was quite entertaining.

And then there was the CNE.  Just a day of delight, riding the rides, eating all the free food and thinking that it was the best day of the year.

Our family spent religious holidays together.  My mother had four sisters and I had lot of cousins.  When we had meals at my mother's parents it would become a veritable feast and among the children an out and out fun fair.  My grandparent's house, at that time, seemed like a castle in the Spadina and College area across from a park on Kendal Avenue.  It was also quite spooky for a child.  

I recall the Passover Seders where every word of the Haggadah was read by my Grandfather, every part of the event took place and we would get to eat the meal at about 10 pm..  If I was born with any "patience" in my DNA, I lost all if during those events.  It was just an ordeal to which I became accustomed to for many, many years.

And during this first ten years of my life, I would walk to the barber on Queen Street and with I am sure unrealistic memories have a bowl put on my head and receive the customary haircut.  I am told that I very quickly found a dislike of dentists and actually caused injury to one of the first of many dentists that I was required to visit.

At age 6 or 7 while walking to school I was at Dundas and Broadview crossing the road (on a green light) when a truck made an improper turn.  The story is told that I purchased a young girl out of the way and I was struck by the truck that carried me through the air until I hit a curb.  I badly broke my leg and had sever concussion and large bump on my forehead.   The cast went from my toes to my crotch and lasted three months.  I ended up with a home tutor but stayed in a wheelchair during that entire time.  I expect that my long lasting back problems and initial left eye problems resulted from that event.

The next trip to the hospital involved appendicitis.  Since the hospitals didn't like removing that useless portion of the human body until absolutely required, I had to visit the hospital a few times before the final run to the emergency ward and immediate surgery.  The hospital stay lasted a few days.  Except for having my tonsils removed at a doctor's office my parents were able to avoid future trips to the emergency department while we lived downtown.   My mother wasn't so lucky once we moved to the northern part of Toronto.

 June 1, 2021

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and nothing is as it should be.  Oh well, the sun is shining and the birds are signing.

I finished May surviving all of the turmoil and another birthday.  I have completed a presentation for CMCC for the virtual homecoming.  It should be an interesting adventure.  The Toronto Maple Leafs are back on the golf course practicing social distancing  -- between them and the Stanley Cup.   I suppose they will now have to cancel the parade.

 May 21st.  

Just enjoying the sun from the window in my office.  Everyday like a Wednesday  -- I can't remember what I did last weekend and can't decide what I will do this weekend.

For my 72nd birthday my doctor gave me a present -- another prescription.   This one involves the fact that any food that looks good, smells good, or tastes good is not good for me.  I will stick to smoking cigars and drinking lite beer.

I did my 90 minute video presentation for CMCC homecoming  --  selling, retiring, valuating or purchasing a chiropractic practice.  World wide presentation coming in two weeks at the CMCC 75th anniversary homecoming.  It looks like a wild event even if done virtually.  Actually I prefer all meetings being done virtually  -- no travelling and I can do three things at once without getting the usual dirty looks.  

This will all be even better in decades to come when the meetings are all done with holograms.

In the meantime, I will just plod along with getting work done and trying to restrain my sense of humor and sarcasm.

Be well and be safe.