a movie script about one of the greatest Samurai in Japan in 940 CE
by Dr. Pelham Mead
The flag logo of the Japanese Taira clan of 900’s
I just finished my 24th movie script called, “Kozaisho.”She was the concubine of Samurai Taira No Masakado 900-940 CE in Northern Japan. Based on his true story I told his story through the eyes of his concubine. Japanese wives in those days lived with their fathers even after getting married as a tradition. Especially when the father was richer than the husband. Masakado’s father died when he was 13 and his Taira clan Uncle Kunika took over Masakado’s father’s ranches and homes and sent Masakado to serve under the Minister of the Right in the capital city of Koyoto. Fourteen years later Masakado returns as a trained warrior to claim his father’s estate only to be ambushed in 935 CE by his Cousins, sons of Uncle Kunika. Masakado and his small group of body guards managed to fight off the assassins killing all of the cousins attacking him. With that victor behind him he set out to kill Uncle Kunika, whom he found hiding in a farm house. He burnt the farm house down with Uncle Kunika inside.Upon returning to his home compound in Hitachi the other Uncles from the Taira clan began to plot against him and organized an army to kill Masakado. Masakado appealed to the Emperor and was forgiven for killing his cousins. The Taira clan sought out Masakado regardless and for several years attacks and counter attacks occurred. Masakado defeated all of the Governors in the Northern provinces and returned tax forffeited land to the farmers that the Governors had taken away. This made Masakado very popular with the farmers. Eventually, the Emperor was afraid Masakado would march on Koyoto and kill the Emperor so he hired two Samurai, one was a cousin Sadamori and the other a Samurai for hire. They track down Masakado with an Army of five thousand and did battle agains Masakado’s small army of five hundred. Masakado was killed with an arrow to his eye and Sadamori beheaded the dead corpse and took Masakado’s head back to the Emperor. When the head was hung from an Apple tree in the Koyoto market place for many weeks it shouter out for it’s body. The eyes of the head remained open and the people were afraid that the head was cursed. Eventualy, the head disappeared and reappeared in a small fishing village called Edo which is now the modern day Tokoyo. He head was buried there in a sacred mound. Ten years later his daughter and son tried to raise a revolution against the Emperor and failed. They did succeed in expanding and building a large Shinto shrine to their father in Edo which remains even to this day. Every time over the hundreds of years someone tried to move the shrine or negatively affect the shrine bad fortune came to them. In WWII, General McArthur tried to move the shrine and put in a truck facility until a local Japanese businessman went to General McArthur and explained that the shrine was a sacred Shinto shrine for a great deity and disturbing it was a disgrace and bad fortune. General McArthur apologized and stopped the building of the truck garage and restored the Masakado shinto shrine to it’s original glory. It stands today in the financial district of Tokyo and Masakado has a holiday once a year celebrating his greatness and kindness to the Japanese farmers.LikeCommentShare
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Phases
Teacher Guide
Student Guide
Objectives
1-Learn the life of Hamilton.
1-Watch the Broadway play called, “Hamilton.”
Information
In class Discussion. Who is Alexander Hamilton and what was his contribution to the 13 Colonies?
What are the names of the songs in Hamilton? Who sings the songs? Make a list and submit when finished. Discuss.
Verification
Federalism vs States Rights.Hamilton supported Federal control of the colonies and established what part of the government?Federalism and States rights exists today with President Trump. What are five States rights issues the President Trump had tried to override?
Racism and Hamilton. What country was Alexander Hamilton born in? How did he get an education?How did Hamilton feel toward slavery? Where did Hamilton live?Is his house still in existence? Where is the house located if it exists?
Fast forward Project
What President was responsible for helping to pass the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in the 1960’s?What does the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provide for.
Discussion.Would Alexander Hamilton approve of the Elementary and Secondary act? Is that act a form of federalism or not?
Summary
Discussion.Who wrote the play, Hamilton?What type of song style is used in the play?Who shot and killed Hamilton?Was the killer ever tried for his crime?Who was the killer’s daughter?
Hamilton Puzzle tg solve.One week single person project.Find a free crossword puzzle app on the internet and create a 20 word cross-word puzzle using 20 names or terms from the Hamilton bio or play.Create answer sheet and submit both to teacher in one week.No pasting or cutting or copying.
Letter of Anne of Cleves to her husband, King Henry VIII11 July 1540
Soon to be finished my movie script called, “Anne of Cleves Personal Diary.” In my research I came across Anne’s letter to her six month husband King Henry VIII that probably saved her from having her head cut off. She let the King off easy and he rewarded her with many castles and a monthly stipend. She became one of the richest women in the court.
Pleaseth your most excellent majesty to understand that, whereas, at sundry times heretofore, I have been informed and perceived by certain lords and others your grace’s council, of the doubts and questions which have been moved and found in our marriage; and how hath petition thereupon been made to your highness by your nobles and commons, that the same might be examined and determined by the holy clergy of this realm; to testify to your highness by my writing, that which I have before promised by my word and will, that is to say, that the matter should be examined and determined by the said clergy; it may please your majesty to know that, though this case must needs be most hard and sorrowful unto me, for the great love which I bear to your most noble person, yet, having more regard to God and his truth than to any worldly affection, as it beseemed me, at the beginning, to submit me to such examination and determination of the said clergy, whom I have and do accept for judges competent in that behalf. So now being ascertained how the same clergy hath therein given their judgment and sentence, I acknowledge myself hereby to accept and approve the same, wholly and entirely putting myself, for my state and condition, to your highness’ goodness and pleasure; most humbly beseeching your majesty that, though it be determined that the pretended matrimony between us is void and of none effect, whereby I neither can nor will repute myself for your grace’s wife, considering this sentence (whereunto I stand) and your majesty’s clean and pure living with me, yet it will please you to take me for one of your humble servants, and so determine of me, as I may sometimes have the fruition of your most noble presence; which as I shall esteem for a great benefit, so, my lords and others of your majesty’s council, now being with me, have put me in comfort thereof; and that your highness will take me for your sister; for the which I most humbly thank you accordingly. Thus, most gracious prince, I beseech our Lord God to send your majesty long life and good health, to God’s glory, your own honor, and the wealth of this noble realm. From Richmond, the 11th day of July, the 32nd year of your majesty’s most noble reign. Your majesty’s most humble sister and servant, Anne the daughter of Cleves.
I have always believed in Dewey’s position on Education on “pragmatism” since I am a pragmatist. I believe in God, and that he/she has a purpose for our lives. Of the idea of God, Dewey said, “it denotes the unity of all ideal ends arousing us to desire and actions.”
I agree with Dewey that education and learning are social and interactive processes. Education or schooling is where a child spends 6 ½ hours a day. It becomes their social focus. Thus as Dewey has stated, the school itself is a social institution through which social reform can and should take place. It is also my firm belief that students do well in an environment in which they are allowed to experience things and interact with the curriculum. This is another tenet of Dewey, and still today we are striving to allow students to actively engage in their learning in lecture halls in colleges, and in classrooms in elementary and secondary education.
Being a pragmatic teacher I believe programs that arise in education can be worked out. I also believe in Existentialism in which students learn in their own way. I believe students to be unique and no set curriculum will work unless it allows for their individualism to exist. Dewey believed, as do I that a teacher needs to model the right way of doing things and to prepare a student not only for the subject being taught, but also for the future where their values will continue.
Today, I received an e-mail letter from a student I had in my physical education classes and my Boys Gymnastics team over 40 years ago, thanking me for all I did for him. When I first saw the name, I had to think, “Who was this student.” Then it occurred to me it was one of my smallest gymnasts that I always gave encouragement to, that one day he would grow taller, and become stronger. He never forgot that modeling, and even though it took 40 years, he finally thanked me. Thanks were not needed because I was doing my job, and then some. I was being not just a teacher or a leader, but an adult role model, something which had stuck with this student even though after he graduated from high school I never saw him again.
Satisfactions and Challenges of the Teaching Profession
The satisfactions of teaching are when like the student just mentioned comes back or contacts me, and says thanks. I use to always get excited when my students who had graduated from high school would come back, and tell me how they were doing in college, and how gymnastics or physical education in knowing me made a difference for them. I recruited a great deal of students to the profession of teaching even at the young ages of 14, 15, and 16. When I saw that special talent in working unselfishly with others I knew this student would one day make a great teacher. I gave them opportunities to teach by becoming what I called Junior Instructors, and when they went off to high school from Junior High, I asked them to come back and help me after-school in the gymnastic practice sessions. After a few years I had over 30 Junior Instructors helping my gigantic team of 110 students. Out of the 30 students 19 went on to become teachers, which is quite a record. Many became Gymnastic Captains at their College teams. Three such students became Captains of the Springfield College Gymnastic Team, my Alma Mata. These successes were very satisfying rewards for me in my career in teaching.
There are always cons in all professions, however despite the politics of my school where I taught for 31 years, I managed to survive. We had three major strike threats in which our Union tried to force the Board of Education to give us at least a 3% pay increase every four years that was below the cost of living.
Student diversity seems to be a key word in today’s education, however when I started teaching I saw no diversity in having as many black students on my gymnastic team as white students. I did not see the difference between special students, and normal students. I remember going out of my way to encourage a tall black student who was considered a special education student to succeed in gymnastics, when his friends all wanted him to play Basketball. My support of this student paid off because he actually became a NY State Gymnastic finalist. After high school graduation he attended the local community college, and started a Gymnastic Club there. He went on to transfer after two years to SUNY Cortland University, where he became a star male gymnast. Even though he was a special education student with a reading level of second grade in eighth grade and being a black American in a generally “white” sport, he achieved. My major philosophy in my Gymnastic Exhibition Team was that everyone that kept up their attendance and show motivation and effort would participate in some way in all of our traveling gymnastic shows at other elementary and secondary schools in our district and later on in other school districts. If they weren’t good at tumbling, I put them in the parachute event. If they are too weak for the parallel bars or uneven parallel bars I made them a vaulter so they could be a part of the “Elephant Vaulting” event. (Vaulting over parallel bars with a mat laid over the rails using a springboard or trampolette, with me on the other side catching many of them as they cleared the mat.)
It never occurred to me that there was diversity of religious backgrounds, or ethnic backgrounds until my school had an International Day, and I noticed that all of my students came from 21 different countries, and spoke 21 different languages at home. In the 1960’s and the 1970’s my school district was 60% Jewish students from Spring Valley, Monsey, Pomona, and Montebello, NY. Monsey itself was a self-sufficient Ultra-orthodox Jewish community where Jewish people owned all of the stores, and all the schools were Jewish Yeshivas. By the 1980’s the population changed, and Haitian students became the next population to move into Spring Valley bringing the overall Haitian student population to almost 40% by the end of the decade.
Much of the liberal and conservative Jewish population moved out of Spring Valley to New City. Out diversity increased more and more each decade with an influx of different nationalities moving out of New York City to the suburbs where the schools were better than the city and housing was available for a cheaper amount. By the 1990’s the Indian population and the Russian population had become larger along with Chinese families. Our diversity became out strength as we struggled to learn from one another and to identify with the ethnic cultures that had moved into our community over 30+ years. Diversity was the keyword then as it is now and it meant treating students equally and fairly with sensitivity for their religious and ethnic cultural values.
Scope of my Teaching Profession
My first teaching experience other than my field-teaching placement was as a Graduate Teaching Fellow in Biology, Botany, and Anatomy at Springfield College. In my senior year I was fortunate to get a part-time position as a Teaching Fellow in Botany when another Teaching Fellow left suddenly. Because of this opportunity I stayed on as a Graduate Teaching Fellow in Botany and Zoology the next year. I was in charge of four Biology labs a week and had to teach once a month using 35 mm slides to a lecture hall of 350 Freshman Students.
After a summer in Los Angeles as Assistant Director of the LA Board of Education “School Camp” experience at Point Fermin Park, I concluded my graduate field experience, and headed back to New York. I started teaching Physical Education and Health that fall of 1967 and Coach of Cross Country, Track and Field, and Assistant to the Wrestling coach. After one year of teaching Physical Education I realized the school was in the “ice age” when it came to Gymnastics. The Men’s Physical Education staff had no clue what gymnastics really was as a sport. They called rope climbing and obstacle course-gymnastics. I had to demonstrate everything and strive to up grade the equipment, which was 20 years out of date. After I developed an intramural gymnastics program for the boys that were too small to play basketball in the winter, I inherited the girls gymnastic program the second year of my job when the girl’s coach left for a college job. I knew nothing about Girls gymnastics since in the 1960’s and early 1970’s before the Federal Title 9 rule came into effect demanding equal programs and equipment for girls. I went to gymnastic clinics every year. I bought records for Floor Exercise, and read books on Girls Gymnastics. I later became a Nationally Certified USGF Safety Gymnastic Instructor and Coach. I went on to pass the Men’s USGF National Judging test and was certified as a Men’s Gymnastic Judge for ten years.
My teaching experience was diverse in public school with 31 years at a Physical Education Teacher, Health Education teacher, Darkroom Photography Teacher, and Dean of Students for grades 7,8, and 9, called Junior High in New York State. I coached practically every sport that existed including Girls Softball but no Field Hockey. I coached French Foil fencing on a club basis and Lacrosse that was a new and upcoming sport at the time. I was supposed to be the Swimming Coach but the pool in my building was turned down by public vote and we never got a swimming pool and instead had to rent a college pool for the team to practice.
As I was retiring in 1998 the junior high system of education was being replaced by a Middle School concept of grades 6,7, and 8, leaving the 9th grade in High school where it belonged. In the 1970’s Physical Education which used to teach separate gender classes. Getting my Doctoral degree in 1992 opened a future door for me since I knew that I could not be a Physical Education Teacher forever and keep the same stamina and energy I had when I was younger. When I retired in 1998, it was just the beginning of another wonderful career in higher education where my Doctoral degree opened the doors to college and university jobs. My Dewey and James philosophy had stayed with me all my career and always made me reach out to the underdog, the underserved, the small the large, the slow and the fast students that came across my career path.
Responsibilities and Requirements of Teaching
My legal responsibilities as a teacher were “en loco parente,” in Latin, in place of the parent. It was my responsibility to prepare my lesson plans in advance, both for Health Education and Physical Education and have it approved by the Department Chairman. It was my job as a teacher and leader to present a moral presence to my students and to show them by my actions that act of kindness, good sportsmanship, good ethical values and fairness in judgment mattered both in school and in society.
My skills as a gymnast in high school and college gave me an edge in teaching Physical Education since most Physical Education teachers were poorly educated in Gymnastics and other minor sports like Fencing, Lacrosse, and Judo. These specialty areas made the difference between an average Physical Education teacher and a great Physical Education teacher. I found that in my first ten years on the job, I not only had to introduce real gymnastics to my colleagues, but I had to also educate other Physical Education teachers at the two high schools, the other two Junior High schools and the 13 elementary Schools. This opportunity came around once a year when we started off the year with the first Day of the year with the Superintendent’s Conference. I contacted several Olympic Gymnasts and one National Trampoline Expert that were employed by the Nissen Corp. and American Gymnastic Equipment Corp. as field reps and good will ambassadors. They came and put on demonstrations and clinics on three different occasions that sparked a lot of interest on the elementary school level in proper gymnastic progressions.
In 1975 I was asked to serve on the District-wide Curriculum Committee for Physical Education. I had the opportunity to write the complete Gymnastic Curriculum from K-12 grade with the skills progressions that were appropriate for each age and skill level. Later on in 1982, I was again invited to join the combined Health and Physical Education Curriculum rewrite committee to meet State requirements that had changed in Health Education and Physical Education. Trampoline has been outlawed and dropped due to insurance rates and local Doctors lobbying to drop it. Health Education was fighting with the AIDS/HIV curriculum which little was known at the time and was changed each year beginning in 1985 until 1992. These curriculum writing experience would go on to help me later in my second career in higher education where I wrote curriculums for instructional technology in the classroom, and in software programs like Powerpoint, MS Publisher, Podcasting, Electronic Whiteboards, and Student Response clickers. Still to this day my concern for the social life of the student, their learning environment, and getting them to participate in their education as Dewey and James advocated so many decades ago.
Conclusion
In conclusion I have tried to demonstrate how my philosophy of life with the tenets of Dewey and James in mind, have helped me to be a good lifelong teacher. I have shown by example how I deal with diversity in students and how I have always attempted to treat every student equally and with sensitivity to their cultural and religious backgrounds. I have tried in my teaching career to model what a highly motivated person would be like. I have tried to demonstrate that I achieve above the norm and that I have always tried to do more than expected and more than anticipated by my peers and colleagues, as well as my students. Proudly I have always remembered my College’s motto “spirit, mind, and body.” Treat the whole person was the theme at Springfield College, former YMCA Training School and the college where Basketball and Volleyball were invented. In retrospect I have been fortunate to have had two teaching careers, one in the New York State Public school Secondary level for 31 years, and after retirement for 12 years of higher education experience at some of the best Universities in the Northeast; New York University, St. Johns University, the NY College of Osteopathic Medicine and the College of Mount Saint Vincent.
References
Alfred, A. (2010). Surviving the APA requirement. American Research Journal, 47 (2), 75-83.
Curz, M.J. & Smith, C.D. (2009). APA format for dummies. American Psychological
Association Journal, 58. Retrieved July 1, 2010, from Academic Search Premier.
Dewey, John, “My Pedagogic Creed” (1897), “The School and Society “(1900), “The Child and the Curriculum,” (1902), Democracy and Education, (1916) Experience and Education (1938).
Henniger, M.L. (2004). The teaching experience: An introduction to teaching. Upper Saddle
Chapter one- Departure from Springfield College, Springfield, Mass.
It was June 1, 1967, a Thursday, and I was trying to finish grading the final exam for the four Botany lab sections I was responsible for. It was a blisteringly humid day in Springfield, Massachusetts, however the cool basement air in the Botany labs that were under Alumni Hall helped make the weather more bearable. Dr. Brainerd the Director of the Botany program at Springfield College had given a particularly hard final exam to the freshman taking, “Introduction to Botany,” for the spring tri-semester. I was a graduate teaching fellow in the Biology department at the time making $2,000 a year and receiving free tuition toward my Masters Degree in Outdoor Education. Dr. Brainerd liked to give lectures using 35mm slides from the thousands he had stored in his office and at his home. If a student missed a Botany lecture, then it would have been extremely difficult to recognize the same slide during the final exam when Dr. Brainerd repeated some of his favorite slides and asked the standard question. “What does this slide represent? Or he might ask, “The burrow holes in the sides of this clay river wall were caused by what animal? As I checked off the right and wrong answers on each answer sheet my mind began to wander off to my big summer adventure. Dr. Charles Weckwerth, my advisor and Department Chairperson for Recreation had arranged for me to do my Masters Field work in Los Angeles board of education School camps in Clear Creek camp, high in the Los Angeles mountains, and the Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp on the palisades of the Pacific ocean in San Pedro, California. Fortunately for me, Dr. Weckwerth had a personal friend who just happened to be the Superintendent of the Los Angeles Board of Education. As a favor for me, Dr. Weckwerth called his friend in Los Angeles and asked if he could do him a favor by allowing me to serve my master’s field experience at Clear Creek School Camp, and Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. The deal was made, and I was to report to Clear Creek on June 12, 1967, Monday. It was only 3500 miles away from Springfield, Mass.
In anticipation of having to drive to California with my wife Jeri and my two-year-old son Dean Michael I decided to trade in my Chevy Corvair that was not running at the time anyway. Jeri and I had looked at a brand-new Volkswagen Camper in the dealer on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield. The dealer offered me a few thousand for my used Chevy Corvair sight unseen if I put down $500 deposit to purchase the brand new 1967 VW Camper. The camper was white and had stick shift. The inside of the camper had a bunk for sleeping two adults, a ice box refrigerator, a small sink with a small water tank and cabinets all around the top and bottom of the camper. For my son, a canvas hammock stretched over the front two seats. Curtains could be pulled across the inside of the front windshield. The side windows had curtains also with louver opening windows with screens to keep out the bugs. The camper was expected to get 30-35 miles to a gallon that cost $.28 a gallon. We were picking up the camper this Saturday June 3rd and I was already getting excited to have my first new car. Being a graduate student at Springfield College gave me potential credit that was good enough for the Volkswagen dealer. I had already signed for a full-time position as a Physical Education teacher in the East Ramapo School District in Spring Valley, New York (exit 14 on the New York State thruway). With the guarantee of a full-time job and the reputation of Springfield College in the community my credit was good.
I finished grading all the final exams that afternoon and turned them into the Botany office secretary for Dr. Brainerd to review and got on my 50cc Yamaha motorcycle and headed home. I live in a four-story walkup apartment on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield Mass. It was cheap at $135 dollars a month with a balcony and large bedrooms, living room, Kitchen and bathroom. My two-year old son Dean Michael had his own bedroom that was 15 feet long by 12 feet wide. His room was filled with toys and a child’s crib bed. The kitchen was very room and had a table to eat in the kitchen. The pantry was walk in size with plenty of room for storage. Walking up the four floors of steps was very tiring, but I was in the best physical shape of my life at the time at the ripe old age of 23 turning 24 the end of the month. Jeri was cooking spaghetti and meatballs one of our family favorites. I collapsed on the couch in the living room and looked at the brochure showing pictures of the VW camper. I could not wait until Saturday.
I yelled to my wife from the living room that I had to go into work tomorrow on Friday to pick up my final paycheck for my graduate teaching fellow position and have Dr. Brainerd sign off on my graduate teaching fellow duties. My office was cleaned out already and I had packed up my files and put them in storage until I had time to have them sent to Spring Valley New York next fall. We watched television that evening and packed clothes into boxes for the trip to California. I made sure we had trip insurance with the Automobile Association of American and a trip-tek book and a map of the southern route to Los Angeles from Springfield Mass.
Friday came quickly and I met with Dr. Brainerd that day and he signed off on my final exam grades and my lab grades for the four sections I was assigned. I told him I would be leaving for Los Angeles the following Monday since I had to be in California at Clear Creek camp on June 12th. He wished me well and told me some of the stories he often repeated of his trips around the USA. My greenhouse duties were all completed, and the greenhouse was clean enough to pass his rigorous standards. Dr. Brainerd thanked me for the work I had done in the Biology and Botany departments in the last two years and shook my hand and wished me well. I felt a twinge of sadness when I left the underground labs in the Alumni Hall dormitory that day.
I headed for the administration building after meeting with Dr. Brainerd to pick up my final teaching fellow paycheck. After getting the check I would take it to our bank in downtown Springfield and deposit it so that we would be able to withdraw a large amount on Monday when we were planning to leave. I sold the trusty 1966 50cc Yamaha motorcycle to another Springfield College student and he would be coming by on Sunday to pay $400 for the motorcycle.
When I got back to my apartment on Worthington Street, I parked my motorcycle next to my Chevy Corvair and got in it and tried to start it. The motor turned over and then died. I tried several times and succeeded in flooding the engine. I guess getting the car to the VW dealer was going to be a problem tomorrow when I was supposed to pick up the VW camper and trade in the Corvair. Luckily, the VW dealer was at the bottom of Worthington Street and if I rolled the car down the hill in neutral, I could probably make it to the dealer’s parking lot. I hope to hell he doesn’t demand to check out the car at the last minute. He told me he was selling the car to a wholesaler as soon as I trade it in, so the chances of him caring what condition the engine was in might not matter?
The next morning, I had an appointment at 11:00 in the morning to pick up the VW Camper, and trade in the Corvair, and sign all the final papers. I was nervous, because I wasn’t sure if I could get the car to roll safely down Worthington Street to the dealer at the bottom of the hill. I got in the car and tried to start it, but it was still not turning over. I put on the emergency blinkers and released the hand brake and slowly the car began to move down the hill to the dealer’s parking lot at the bottom. I made it halfway up the driveway to the parking lot and had to leave the Corvair there where it came to a stop. I walked inside the dealer’s office and there he was standing next to the VW Camper in the giant showroom. It was a tan color and it looked great under the showroom lights. Wow, I remarked it looks better than I had imagined. The dealer had just gotten the VW Camper from another dealer in Connecticut a few days before and had the mechanics change the oil and set the car up, ready to go. I signed the final loan papers and pointed to the Corvair sitting in the driveway of the parking lot. The dealer didn’t even look out the showroom windows at the Corvair. He handed me the keys to the VW Camper and wished me good luck. A mechanic slid the glass showroom doors apart and before I knew it I was driving the camper out of the showroom and up Worthington Street to my apartment at the top of the hill. When I got home, I ran up the stairs to get my wife Jeri and son Dean to give them a ride in our new family car or camper.
Shifting with a floor shifter takes some getting used to but I managed to adjust to clutching and easing on the gas pedal. Jeri sat in the other front seat and Dean sat on the couch in the back of the camper. We were all excited as I drove the camper out of Springfield toward Wilbraham out in the country. The engine was noisy but pulled up the hills easily. We drove around for a few hours, and then headed home for Dean’s afternoon nap. Two-year-olds must have their rest.
The weekend went by fast and on Monday morning we were at the bank at 9:00 withdrawing enough money to get through the summer in California. I had saved money all year for this trip across the country and the stay in Los Angeles for the summer. As soon as we left the bank we gassed up the VW camper and we were off on our big journey.
I took route 91 down to Hartford and then route 95 south to New York City. We made it to New York City and the George Washington Bridge in just three hours which is amazing because the VW camper does not travel that fast. Before we knew it we were on the New Jersey turnpike headed for Delaware. We stopped for lunch and to get gas at one of the rest stops on the turnpike. By late afternoon we were crossing Delaware entering Maryland. We stopped again for dinner and more gas and continues onto Washington, D.C.. We went around D.C. to avoid the traffic and entered Virginia. Our destination was Wheeling West Virginia. We took the turn suggested on the map and headed across Virginia to West Virginia. It was dark now and getting late. We got to Wheeling, West Virginia around midnight and got lost in the many hills that dotted the geography. Feeling to tired to continue we pulled over on the side of the road and went to sleep. About 4:00 am that morning there was a tapping sound on the side of the camper. I woke up and looked out the window to see a State Trooper standing there. It was still dark and he had a flashlight shining on the camper. I got up and went out to talk to the State Trooper. He informed me that I was right in the middle of an off-ramp on the highway and had to move the camper immediately. I complied and got in the camp and drove for the horizon. Eventually we reached the wooden bridge in Wheeling that crosses the Ohio river. It seemed like the bridge would fall into the river at any moment. I drove very slow over the wooden planks of the ancient bridge, holding my breath the entire way.
Finally, we made it into Ohio and stopped for breakfast sometime in the morning. Dean was keeping busy looking at the cows in the fields as we drove by. It was as if he had never seen so many cattle before. I was exhausted having driven since 4:00 am that day. We were headed toward Columbus, Ohio where we would connect with route 70 which would eventually take us south to connect with route 66. Once we got off the interstate highway in Ohio and headed south on route 71 south, the trip slowed down due to single lane roads with speed traps everywhere. We stopped at some burger places and ate a burger for breakfast. Bathroom stops were far and few between, so it was good to stop occasionally. That night we stayed at a State roadside rest area which was full of RVs and campers. We left the next morning headed for Cincinnati, Ohio. The sun glare on the flat dash of the Camper was so bad we had to stop at a Convenience store and buy some dark cloth to tape to the inside of the windshield to absorb the bright reflection off the white dash. Not having air-conditioning in the camper made it difficult when it got hot. We had all the windows open in the camper to cool it off when driving. Several hours later we went by Cincinnati and headed for Memphis, Tenn. on route 71 south. We stopped at another rest stop that evening and cooked our first dinner of hotdogs over a portable charcoal grill we brought with us. Dean was thrilled to be cooking outdoors and sitting at a picnic bench in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning, we reached Memphis, Tenn. and continued around it to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was getting very windy on the open flat plains of Oklahoma, so we stopped to get a soda and some soft ice cream. I got out of the camper and when to order three sodas for us and three soft ice cream cones. It was so windy that the wind blew the soda out of the cups, and I had to go back and ask for a refill. Wow I thought to myself, it was windy here in Oklahoma. Next, I got the soft ice cream cones, and half the ice cream blew off before I could get back to the camper. I turned on the radio to the local AM stations to hear that a tornado had just hit the area where we were 20 minutes before we got there. No wonder it was so windy? Trucks and RVs were laying on their sides as we drove down the road. It was a scary looking aftermath of a tornado. I drove as fast as I could to put the tornados behind us. We drove late into the night headed for Amarillo, Texas. We stopped and rested for the night and left early the following morning after eating some dry cheerio oats cereal. We were out of milk at the time. We stopped at the next gas station to get more ice for the ice box and a quart of milk for cereal. We were supposed to stop in a Canyon Park for campers somewhere near Amarillo. As we approached the turnoff for the campgrounds, I noticed we were on empty with the gas gauge. Feeling very nervous we drove down into the canyon with no gasoline feeling we would stall at any minute. Fortunately, we got to the bottom and found a campsite for the night. The next morning, I told Jeri to pray that we make it back up to the rim of the canyon and find a gas station somewhere. We creeped up the steep canyon road in second gear until we reached the top and headed west. Twenty miles down the road we pulled into a gas station and filled up the tank. Apparently, there was some reserve gas that didn’t show on the gas gauge that the VW camper had. We stopped at a Texas breakfast place where I had hash browns, steak , and eggs for the first time in my life. I had never had hash browns before or steak with my eggs, so it was a big treat for me.
We traveled on toward Albuquerque, New Mexico slowly traveling down the single lane route 66. It was impossible to pass the big 18-wheeler trucks because the camper did not have the horsepower to pass them. We drove behind some trucks for hundreds of miles sometimes until they finally pulled off for gas. By the fourth day we had reached Flagstaff, Arizona where I had a gas station change the oil on the air-cooled VW engine. After that one-hour break, we headed for Grand Canyon on rt. 180 north. We arrived several hours later at the south rim of the Grand Canyon and took many pictures. Being that it was getting late we drove down to south to the desert view stone tower where there was a camping area. We camped out there for the night at this beautiful site where we could see the painted desert in the distance. Early the next morning we were awakened by the sound of dirt bikes starting up. I looked out the door of the camper to see many people on dirt bikes (motorcycles) headed out into the desert. Off they went in a cloud of dust not to return until later that morning. We rested and took pictures and planned our return to Flagstaff and then onto Kingman, Arizona.
We arrived at Kingman late that afternoon and headed north toward Las Vegas where we would pick up rt. 15 to cross over the mountains into California. We had to stop at a rest stop in the Mohave desert that night. It was freezing cold that night but when the sun came up the temperature jumped into the 90’s quickly. We arrived at Las Vegas later that day where I had my first burrito. The lady asked me whether I wanted red or green sauce and since I was not familiar with Mexican sauces, I choose the green chili sauce. I took one bike, and it was so hot I had to spit it out in the parking lot. So much for my first real Mexican food. I guess I had much to learn.
By the seventh day of our journey, we were crawling up route 15 over the mountains heading toward Los Angeles. Everyone passed us climbing up the mountains. VW campers had no hill climbing ability whatsoever. When we finally reached the top of the interstate road, we flew down the other side at 70 miles an hour. Los Angeles county was in the distance, and we were finally nearing our goal. I must make some turns to get to the road into the Los Angeles mountains where at 5500 feet above sea level the Clear Creek School camp was situated. The Los Angeles Board of Education sponsored this year-round School camp for their students in grades 4-8. They also had a marine theme School called the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp in San Pedro, California right on the palisades of the Pacific Ocean. After climbing back into the mountains for another hour or so we saw the sign for the LA Clear Creek School Camp. We turned off at that point and drove up a dusty dirt and asphalt road to the cabins high on a hill in the mountains. Finally, we had arrived. Chapter two- Clear Creek School Camp, Los Angeles mountains 5,000 feet above sea leve.
(The approach road to Clear Creek) (The Hawks cages at Clear Creek)
The approach road to Clear Creek School Camp in the Los Angeles Mountains at 5500 feet above sea level. As we approached the Clear Creek School Camp the director came out to meet us and welcomed us. He showed us a log cabin that we would be staying in for the next two weeks. My first impression as well as my wife’s was, “God it is hot here.” For the most part there were some trees to provide shade, however the majority of the campgrounds was exposed to the elements and the sun. Nearby on another mountaintop a beekeeper was raising bees that flew over to the camp area and alloyed the Hawks that were in cages.
In the picture above my wife Jeri and son Dean, n the background are seeking shelter from the broiling sun in the cabin. A view of the mess hall from the back of the building is in the next photo.
After we had unpacked and settled in we joined the Director and the staff in the mess hall where they were serving dinner. The Director and I talked about the philosophy of School Camps and about my major in Outdoor Education at Springfield College. My advisor, Dr. Charles Dr. Charles Weckwerth was well known nationally in the field of Recreation because he was the President of the National Recreation Association that accredits day and resident camps around the U.S.A. We talked about the Curriculum that was to integrate different academic subjects together. Combining Science and history together or Math and Outdoor survival skills. At night since the sky was so clear the camp offered Astronomy for lots of School groups. The overall theme at the camp was Ecology of natural resources. Unlike the Point Fermin Lighthouse School camp, Clear Creek had established permanent buildings and operated year-round. The Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp was only open in the summer for 8 weeks. Clear Creek also kept Hawks in captivity and many other local animals in cages for the campers to see. Point Fermin had no animals in cages at all. Clear Creek in addition to the camper log cabins had staff cabins, a mess hall, a classroom building and an outdoor pool.
The second day at Clear Creek the Director invited me to take a hike in the canyon with him and a camper group. He told me to wear high boots and pants because of the threat of rattlesnakes along the trail. I thought to myself, “rattle snakes,” I guess I will not be bringing my son or wife along the hike. We met after breakfast the following morning, and the Director and two staff members explained the rules for hiking into the canyon and the danger of rattle snakes. Campers were forbidden to bother the rattlesnakes or provoke them in any manner. If they saw a rattler, they were to yell SNAKE loud enough for everyone to hear. Then remain in place until a staff member did something about the snake. The side of the trail was surrounded by chaparral that is a woody bush that grew as high as four to six feet and was extremely dry in the summer months that caused a fire hazard. The director explained to the camper group that it only took a small spark or a streak of lightening to ignite a forest fire in a matter of minutes. We were five minutes down the trail when the first rattlesnake was spotted. SNAKE someone yelled and a staff member with a hiking stick that had a curled wire on one end came back to inspect the snake. He felt the snake was out of range and the entire group of campers slowly gave the snake a wide birth and continued down into the canyon where the stream ran through the mountains. We spotted twelve more rattlesnakes that day and I was a nervous wreck. Four of the snakes had to be removed from the hiking trail by a staff member using a snake stick which had a loop on one end that could ensnare the snake around the head and lift it and drop it some where away from the camper group. The chaparral was sharp and could cut you easily you so long sleeves were a form of protection.
(Reforestation of trees on the slopes) (Stone amphitheater at Clear Creek Camp)
(Stream coming down the mountain) (The outdoor Pool at Clear Creek)
The stream running down the mountain in the canyon. The photo on the fight is actually a white glare of a wide-open outdoor pool area. Over the past 40 years when this photo was taken the silver nitrate in the photo has faded making the picture look greenish.
While in the canyon the director and one of his interpretative staff members explain the ecology of the mountains and the importance of preventing erosion and fires. The stream ran down some steep rocks and often froze in the cold winter months of January and February. She shade from the trees was a welcome break. When we finished with the hike, we started back up the hill to the camp and of course spotted several more rattle snakes.
When I got back to my cabin, I informed my wife that are was infested with rattle snakes and to be careful about her and Dean. Wearing high ankle boots was a safety measure that we would have to abide by. Fortunately, we had brought high ankle hiking boots for all of us. I instructed Jeri and Dean to wear only high ankle boots at the camp because there were a lot of rattle snakes.
In the afternoon we went to look at the Hawks that were kept in cages on the campgrounds. Most of the Hawks had been injured at one time or another and were recovering or had been raised from chicks in abandoned nests. When it got real hot the staff would hose the Hawks down to cool them down from the high 90’s heat. I noticed that several Eagles were soaring overhead looking for prey.
At dinner that night staff members introduced some songs after eating and short skits about nature. It was standard procedure to have a pre-hike session in a classroom to introduce the campers as what they should be looking for in terms of plants and animals. The classroom building was another well-constructed log cabin building that could hold fifty campers at a time. Most groups were ten or so at a time.
When the groups were not doing Astronomy there were campfire activities, singing, skits and lots of fun for the staff and campers. By 10:00 pm each night was lights out time. There was no television at the camp or radios except an emergency weather and fire radio the Director kept in his cabin. Basically, the camp was as primitive and free from modern conveniences as possible. Oil lanterns were used at night and flashlights to navigate the paths from building to building. The campers were warned not to bring any food to camp or leave any papers or food outside their building because many animals came through the camp at night in search of food. Skunks, raccoons, possums, porcupines, wildcats, and sometimes bears had been known to tear apart garbage cans that were locked up in woodsheds.
After a week of the excessive heat and the fear of rattle snakes my wife had enough of our stay at Clear Creek and wanted to leave early. She was afraid Dean would be bitten by a snake and die. I tried to calm her fears but spoke to the Director the second week asking him if we could leave early because my wife was very uncomfortable at the altitude, heat, and fear of snakes. He agreed since I had to report to Point Fermin Lighthouse camp the next weekend on Sunday anyway. We agreed to let me leave early on Thursday and I would take my wife and son and visit my aunt
(Clear Creek Weather facility sign) (Weather Station at Clear Creek)
Penny who lived in Apple Valley, California.
(Camp Hi-Hill belonging to the Long Beach (Camp Hi-Hill Modern Mess Hall) School District outdoor education association)
On Monday of the second week, I was invited to travel to Hi-Camp School Camp for the Long Beach School District outdoor education program. The Director of Clear Creek had a staff member drive us over to the Long Beach camp after breakfast. I took Jeri and Dean with me to keep them busy. The buildings at Hi-Camp were more modern than Clear Creek and the whole campsite was newer with a good size mess hall and many modern cabins for the staff and campers. We had lunch at the mess hall of Camp Hi-Hill, and I had an opportunity to talk with the Director. He was very impressed that I was completing a Master’s Degree in Outdoor Education and that I and my family drove from Springfield, Mass. To do my field work at the LA Board of Education School Camps. He was so impressed that he offered me a job after I finished my summer field experience. I was very excited about the offer, but I had already signed a contract with the East Ramapo Central School district in Spring Valley to work full-time at Kakiat Junior High School as a Physical Education Teacher and Health Education Teacher. I had a dual degree in both areas when I received my Bachelor of Science degree from Springfield College. The Director at Camp Hi-Hill was most impressed with the fact that I was an Eagle scout when I was in the Boy Scouts of America. I told him about the many interesting camping experiences I had in the Boy Scouts in Winter and Summer camping. I spent one summer when I was 16 at a Boy Scout Camp called Onterora in the Catskills mountains of New York as a Nature and Survival Counselor. I had to take Boy Scout troops for a three-day survival trip on weekends at the camp where all we had to survive was a knife and a survival kit.
After lunch we returned to Clear Creek camp, and I told my wife about the offer for a full-time position as Director of the Hi-hill camp for the Long Beach school district in the fall. My wife’s response was that I could take the job if I wanted it but she would be returning with my son Dean to her home in Freeport, New York without me. She would then send me the divorce papers from New York. I got the message which was a definitive NO. I was disappointed but realized that she did not sign on to live in the mountains of the Los Angeles mountains with me when she married me. I dropped the issue after that discussion.
The Clear Creek Director asked me how I liked the Hi-Camp School Camp and I told him I was most impressed with their modern buildings and shady environment. I told me that Clear Creek had been around a lot longer than Hi-Camp and that the Long Beach school district floated a bond issue to build the camp from scratch just a few years ago. I figured that the Hi-Camp was newer because all the buildings and facilities were much more modern and larger than Clear Creek Camp. I did not tell the Clear Creek Director that I was offered a director’s position at Hi-Camp in the fall. I figured it was a personal matter and would do no good to mention it since I was a dead issue as far as my wife Jeri was concerned.
We departed the Thursday of the second week to stay at my Aunt Penny’s ranch in Apple Valley for a few days and then continue onto Point Fermin Lighthouse camp on that weekend on Sunday when I was supposed to arrive and meet with the Camp Director of the Point Fermin School Camp.
The stay at my Aunt Penny’s was great. We had an opportunity to ride horses and visit Roy Rogers Museum down the road and personally meet Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at an Episcopalian church service in which my aunt and uncle were parishioners. Roy was a lot shorter in person than I had imagined but he was a real gentlemen and leader of the church parish in Apple Valley. Sunday morning came faster than we had imagined and after checking the map and getting directions from my Aunt Penny and Uncle Johnny, we departed for Point Fermin School camp in San Pedro, California. San Pedro was down on the ocean next to Long Beach Harbor. In fact we took the Long Beach harbor freeway down from Los Angeles to get to San Pedro. It took us several hours and we stopped for lunch at a Taco shop to sample some real Mexican food. Eating Tacos and burritos was a real treat for us Easterners.
(Rocky trail down into the canyon) (Our cabin at Clear Creek Camp)
(Field trip by campers into the canyon (My son Dean entering the cabin) where the stream was located)
Chapter THREE- Arrival at Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp in San Pedro, California
After leaving my Aunt Penny’s ranch in Apple Valley we headed to San Pedro, California to meet the Camp director of the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. After several hours driving we finally arrived at San Pedro. I checked the map and it appeared that the Lighthouse Park was a public park on the palisades of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, we arrived at the park and drove in looking for the camp buildings. All I noticed were picnic benches and a playground in a nicely shaded park where you could see Catalina out in the ocean. As we drove around the park, I noticed a maintenance man cutting grass and I stopped and asked him where the School Camp was. He pointed to an area near the base of the Victorian style Lighthouse on the edge of the ocean. As we drove into the driveway, I noticed there were three garages and a mobile trailer. I still did not see any classrooms or permanent building like they had in Clear Creek. After I parked the Camper and got out, I noticed a man getting out of the mobile home parked in the circular driveway. I introduce myself and realize I was talking to the Director of the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. The director was Chris Lambu, and he was living in the mobile home with his wife Jenny. He welcomed me to the camp and gave me a tour of the facilities. He explained that the Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp was much different than the Clear Creek camp because the land did not belong to the LA Board of Education. It was leased from the California State Parks Association and everything on the public parks grounds was temporary and set up only for the summer and then removed after the summer season. The only thing permanent was the three garages that became storage areas for the army tents when the season was over. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in the appearance and lack of permanent facilities. I tried to hide my displeasure with the lack of permanent structures. Chris the Camp director sensed my displeasure. “I guess you are in shock after visiting Clear Creek,” he said. “Yes, quite a bit,” I responded. “Well this camp is all about location, location, location, “he said. It was the only way the LA Board of Education could get a Marine Camp concept on the ocean. The partnership with the US Coast Guard and the California State Department of Parks made this camp all possible. Chris showed me what was in the three garages. The first garage was the camp store. The second garage was a classroom setup and the staff lounge. The third garage was a storage area for equipment, supplies, etc. Behind the garages were a dozen or so large green Army tents that had 10 metal cots with mattresses in each tent. He showed me to one smaller tent was to be my home for the next eight weeks. I could tell from the look on my wife’s face that she was not happy, but she said nothing as we toured the camp. Chris explained that each week a different area of Los Angeles County would come to the camp, 80 campers in all with 10 to a tent. The uniqueness of this camp he explained was the dedication to marine life and the ecology of marine life. We walked over to the edge of the fence with warning signs that the public was prohibited from going beyond the fence and down the sandy trails to the ocean below. Chris told me that only the camp staff with campers were permitted to use the eroded trails and that they had special permission from the Coast Guard and the State of California to use the trails. Special care had to be exercised using the trails because it was washed out in many sections and the campers had to be careful not to fall or damage the trails. “We do tide pooling twice a week,” Chris said. “It is one of our favorite camp activities,” he explained. Pointing over to a small restaurant in the middle of the park he explained that the local school that provided us with heater-stacks of food did not provide coffee because the menu is designed for children and not adults. If we wanted coffee in the morning we would have to go to the restaurant and buy our own cup of coffee before the campers got up at 8:00 in the morning. I was shocked that there was no coffee. They did not even have a coffee machine in the camp store or staff lounge. Chris pointed out that there were no showers in the camp except for the staff at the back of the restaurant in an outdoor enclosure. Women had Tuesdays and Thursdays to use the shower and Men had Wednesday and Fridays. The campers had to shower at the local public beach when on beach trips. The only place the campers could eat was on the public benches right in the middle of the park. I asked what happened if it rained? Chris told me it never rains in LA. I doubted that statement, but after eight weeks at the camp I learned he was right, “it never rains in LA in the summer.” It did, however, have fog in the morning or a marine layer as it was called. The campers came in each Monday morning sometime between 9:00 and 11:00 depending on how far away their school district was located from the park. The staffs were called Skippers or Mates would unload the luggage that came in trucks in advance of the busses by 30 minutes. When the campers arrived the Camp Director would assign each Skipper to a group of campers for the entire week. There would be four female Skippers and four male Skippers, all college students from local colleges. Chris and I were the only Directors or administration of the camp. There was no camp Nurse or Doctor or custodian on the staff. Chris also mentioned that for the entire summer the Skippers and Directors were to assume a marine style name that fit the theme of the camp. He told me he had chosen the name Captain Flogg and his wife Jen would be called Mrs. Flogg to the campers and staff. I thought about it and decided I would choose a name like Sharkie. I would be Captain Sharkie for the entire summer and Jeri; my wife would be Mrs. Sharkie. Dean would be the camp mascot as it turned out and he used just his name, Dean. The skippers would be reporting to camp around 6:00 pm that evening for an orientation session and to receive their camper group assignments and learn the rules and policies of the camp. The schedule for the week was flexible as follows:
That night when Jeri, Dean and I were eating at Jack in the box nearby we talked about the camp and it’s lack of permanent facilities. I explained that this was my master’s degree fieldwork worth ten credits toward my degree and mandated by the master’s degree Program. I explained we would have to make it work no matter how primitive the camp appeared to be.
The camp director explained that I had some very specific duties to do each week because he was responsible for the weekly staff evaluations and all the camp paperwork. I was to take all the groups to the beach-on-beach days. I was to also learn the harbor tour talk and give that talk once a week when the camp went on the harbor tour on Wednesdays. I would also assist in evaluating the Skippers and fill the Camp Director in on situations where he was not present. The effort as he explained was a team effort and everyone pitched in on feeding the campers at meals, unloading, and loading suitcases, and supervising campers on field trips in and out of camp.
The lack of privacy was difficult to get use to at the camp. The only thing that separated the camp from the public was a ten-foot-high hedge that hid the tents from view of the public in the park. During the week we had reserved signs on the ten tables we needed to feed the campers and staff. On the weekends the signs were removed, and the park filled up with adults and children. On the weekends the camp closed however, Chris or Capt. Flogg, and I were responsible to watch out for anyone from the park going through the tents or trying to access one of the garages. As it turned out I had to lock up my stuff in my camper on the weekends because there was no security in leaving stuff in our tent. I had some concerns about the 300-foot-high cliffs and keeping my two-year old son Dean away from those cliffs. We did not take the campers down the steep cliffs fortunately. We used a sandy trail off to the side of the park where there were no rocky cliffs and only a sandy eroded dirt cliff to the tide pooling area.
6:00 that night the staff/Skippers began to arrive, and Capt. Flogg had everyone meet and sit down in the staff lounge where we could have an orientation meeting. He explained all the rules and policies that he told me and had each staff member select their marine theme name for the summer. The names selected were:
Each of the Skippers explained what college they were attending and what their major was at that school. They also explained why they choose to work at the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp for the summer. Most of the counselors were in Teacher education, Biology, Marine Biology and Communications. We did a survey of personal skills, and we had some surfers, guitar players, singers, painters, and storytellers on the staff. After the formal orientation the Skippers set up their tents and bunks and came back to the staff lounge to chat and relax the rest of the evening. Captain Flogg posted the schedule for the entire week and the Camper group assignments. He pointed out the team effort concept with serving food to the Campers before eating themselves. Unloading the suitcases of the campers before they arrived and giving a general orientation of the rules and policies and tent assignments when the campers arrived. It looked like we had a really motivated and talented group of Skippers for that summer, and everything seemed positive. None of the Skippers had every been a Skipper before but a few had come to the camp when they were in elementary school many years before.
And so the sun went down over the pacific and the view of Catalina Island faded in the fog. We sat around the lounge telling stories and jokes. Dean amused himself with some of the toys that were lying around the staff lounge while we talked and laughed. Captain Flogg explained that he was a professor at UCLA and that Jenny was one of his graduate students whom he married the spring before the summer of 1967. What a honeymoon at the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. Paychecks were discussed and Capt. Flogg explained that the checks would be delivered every other week. My paycheck situation he explained was not clear since I was doing fieldwork for my degree. I informed him that my advisor arranges for me to get the standard assistant Director paycheck because I assumed all the travel expenses driving across the country with my family in my own vehicle. The LA Board of Education was supposed to pay me on the same schedule as the Skippers. That however, as time went, by never happened.
Chapter 4- The First Week of Camp, July 1967.
The first Monday began bright and early at the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp. Everyone on the staff was nervous since this was the first time, they had a camp group arrive. The orientation yesterday on Sunday covered a lot of rules and policies and the counselors or Skippers as they would now be called had a lot to absorb and memorize. Captain Flogg was up early and his wife Jen, Mrs. Flogg camp out of their mobile home and headed directly to the coffee shack in the middle of the park. Jeri, Dean, and I joined them since there would be no breakfast delivered on the first Monday of each week. I sat down and ordered some coffee and a donut for Jeri and I, and a bowl of milk and shredded wheat for Dean. We talked about the first day and how we were going to organize it. Capt. Flogg had made up a schedule of Skipper assignments for each of our counselors to one of the eight groups of ten campers arriving this morning. The schools had already tagged the campers with a number to indicate what tent they will be assigned to and what Skipper they will report to when they arrive. The first thing we had to do this morning was unloading the trunks and suitcases that will arrive an hour earlier than the campers around 9:00 am that morning. This would give us time to arrange the suitcases according to the predetermined number code of 1-8. By the time the campers arrived in busses we would be able to line them up by group number and show them where their luggage was located and introduce them to their assigned Skipper for the week. Capt. Flogg would introduce all the skippers and me first thing and then we would have each Skipper get their assigned group together with their luggage. The next thing would be the raising of the American flag by two Skippers appointed by Capt. Flogg. Skippers Kip and Windy would raise the flag this morning. Capt. Flogg gave me a checklist he prepared to make sure we cover all the rules and regulations before we sent the campers to their tents. He said we would share telling the rules to the campers so that they realize him, and I will be working together as directors of the camp. The coffee never tasted so good that morning. Dean and Jeri were anxious to see how the morning kicked off with the campers since they would be observers and nothing more. This was all new for Dean, like a big adventure. For Jeri it was just something new since she had never been to a camp as a child.
(Captain Flogg assigning the Campers to the Skippers) ( Skippers unloading the suitcases)
9:00 are that morning the trucks with the luggage arrived on time and all the Skippers and myself began unloading the luggage. Once we got the luggage off the trucks they left and we sorted the baggage according to the number code. Numbers 1-4 were the first four girls’ groups and Numbers 5-8 were the boys groups. Captain Flogg announced the Windy had group 1; Jimmer group 2; Sandy group 3 and Jen or Mrs. Flogg had group 4. For the boys, Kip had group 5; Splutz had group 6; Kip had group 7 and Ketch had group 8.
A few minutes after 10:00 the school busses rolled into camp. The morning fog or marine layer was beginning to burn off and the sun was starting to come out. The campers began pouring out of their busses excited to be at the seashore and at a camp dedicated to Marine shore ecology. This week’s group was from Lincoln School District in the Los Angeles Board of Education system. Camp Flogg had a portable bullhorn that he used to project his voice over the excited noise of the campers. “Welcome to the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. My name is Captain Flogg, and I am the camp director here at the camp. To my right is the Assistant Camp director, Captain Sharkie. Shortly, I will call out your pre-assigned group number and the Skipper or counselor you will be assigned to for the entire week. All the counselors are called Skippers at the camp and all of them have a seaworthy nickname they will use the entire summer. Let me introduce Skipper Rip from UCLA, Skipper Windy from USC, Skipper Jimmer from Long Beach City College, Skipper Splatz from Long Beach City College, Skipper Kip for Los Angeles College of Technology, Skipper Sandy from California State at Northridge, Skipper Ketch from USC and finally Skipper Jen or Mrs. Flogg from UCLA.
Now when I call your number you will line up behind the Skipper that has a cardboard number that they are holding. After you find your assigned group, we will raise the American flag. Following that each Skipper will take their group to get their baggage and trunks and carry their trunks to their assigned tent. While at the assigned tent your Skipper will go over the schedule for the day and week and review some of the camp rules and policies.
So, the roll call went smoothly, and campers lined up behind their Skipper. Let’s all sit down for a few minutes while Capt. Sharkie and I review the camp rules and policies you must while attending this camp. First and foremost, no one should have any money or candy on them. We have a credit system already set up at the Camp store for you to buy candy, popcorn or treats. As for food, please do not store or take any food to your tent because it will attract animals at night such as possums and mice. Secondly, all boys are to remain in their tent area and not to visit any of the girls’ tents. If you violate this rule or any other rules you may be sent home to your parents. The Coffee shop in the middle of the park is off-limits to any Campers. We are on the edge of a 300-foot cliff above the ocean that could be very dangerous. Do not go over the fence near the cliff at any time. When we go tide pooling, we will guide you down the sandy trail on the side of the park away from the steep cliffs. The public is not allowed to use these trails; however, we have special permission to use the trails to go tide pooling. When you are tide pooling you may see and touch the animals and shells but no shells, starfish, crab or any animal is to be brought back to camp. Rotting starfish, live shells or any animals can stink up an entire tent and make it unbearable for anyone in the tent to sleep at night. Also ants are attracted to these shells or animals and will come by the thousands to eat the specimen you brought up from the sea. We go to Cabrillo beach in the afternoon when the sun comes out and you must wear your Point Fermin t-shirt and Hat and your Skipper will put zinc oxide on your nose to prevent you from burning and to make it easy for us to identify you at the crowded public beach. Out food is delivered right here to the park beginning today at noon for lunch and ending on Friday at noon lunch. The Skippers will serve every camper and each group 1-8 will sit together with their Skipper and fellow campers or Mates as we call them. After the meals each group will clean up its table and surrounding area and throw the trash in the garbage cans provided. We are using a public park by permission and must leave the park nice and clean after our meals just the way we found it.
Regarding cuts or scratches or any illnesses at Point Fermin Lighthouse camp. We do not have a Nurse on duty. Skippers will take care of cuts and scratches and upset stomachs. If you are really sick we will call an ambulance and have you taken to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. Do not hide your illnesses or injuries and report them immediately to your Skipper so that they can provide the proper care.
The Camp Store is open on Monday, Wed., and Thursday nights after dinner from 6:00-8:00 pm. No money is used, only credit accounts. Every camper has five dollars in their account and can buy whatever they want with the five dollars all week. Any balances left over after your departure on Friday will be erased and returned to the general fund. No refunds in real money will be allowed at any time.
Now I am going to dismiss each group that will go with their Skipper to get their luggage and take the luggage to their assigned tent for the week. So each of the Skippers and their groups were called out and went and got their luggage and carried their bags to their tents. In the tents were ten army metal frame beds and cots. With each bed came a pillow and pillowcase and one sheet to cover the cots. Each camper was to store their luggage under their bed or at the foot of the bed. Skippers reminded each Mate that they must keep their luggage or trunks always locked. Skippers asked if everyone understood the rules and if they had any questions.
The Skippers then walked the Mates around the park for a tour. They were shown the Camp Store which was garage number one and the classroom which was garage number two which also doubled as a staff lounge at night or when it was not being used by Mates. The Lighthouse was manned by the US Coast Guard and was off-limits. The Mates were then shown the fence along the sea wall and warned not to go over the fence at any time. As they walked south along the sea wall fence the groups came to a large sign Warning, No Public us of Trails permitted. Here is where the camp would access the tide pooling ledges along the ocean edge at low tides. No public people were allowed down the trails because they were eroded, sandy and dangerous enough for someone to trip and fall. Cabrillo beach was a mile away from the entrance to the beach and the water taxi was two miles away at the San Pedro docks. School busses would come to the park and pick up all the mates and take them to the Harbor tour that was on Wednesdays and on beach days.
All the tours were completed by 12:00 and the heater-stack truck arrived at the park for the Skippers to unload and setup for lunch. Once the food and drinks were set up the Skippers served the mates the lunch meal and drink. Once they had their meals they went and sat down at their group table. Sometimes one of the Skippers would lead the camp in a song or story while they were waiting to be fed. After all the mates were fed the Skippers were allowed to get their lunches and sit down with their assigned groups. After lunch each group policed the area or cleaned up their tables. In the afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00 there would be a pre-tide pool discussion in the classroom garage for each assigned group. Skipper Jen would lead the pre-tide pool discussion regarding the ecology of marine life and what to look for when tide pooling. The camp had a shell identification board that was helpful in identifying different shells. Mates were reminded not to pick up or bring back any live or dead shells, starfish, crabs, or animals to their tents. While some of the groups were in the pre-tide pool classes other groups were introduced to camp songs that would be sung at night at the campfires. Almost all of the Skippers could play a guitar or sing well enough to lead a group. Some Skippers like Splutz had special story songs to teach that all the mates got to act out as they all went Walrus hunting. Skipper Windy had her own guitar and a whole list of camp songs she could play. Every Skipper had their own set of skills, stories and songs that made every campfire at night a fun event.
5:00 rolled around quickly and the entire camp assembled to take the flag down. Soon after that the heater-stacks truck pulled in and the Skippers unloaded the heater-stacks onto the picnic tables and set up the serving trays for the hot meal for dinner and the drinks. The header-stacks were pressurized under steam to keep the food warm from the Elementary school several miles away and when the food was delivered to the park. Milk containers and cool aide were always available for drinks. The Skippers dished out the food to each mate as they went down the line with their paper plates. After dinner Capt. Flogg announced the schedule for the evening that was a Campfire in the middle of the park at 8:30 when it got dark. Until then, the groups could go to the Camp store and buy something from their credit account. The Camp Store was open from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights only.
On days when the camp was going to Cabrillo beach, box lunches were provided, and each Mate took his or her box lunch and drink to the beach when they got picked up on the school busses to go to the beach. It was my job to supervise the loading and unloading of the busses and to go and stay the entire afternoon with the groups at the beach. Tuesday and Thursday were tide pooling days if we could match the low tide to our schedule. Every Wednesday was the Harbor cruise in which all 80 campers got to go on a water taxi for a two-hour tour of the Long Beach harbor. Forty campers went on a trip at one time, and it was my job to do the speaker talk about parts of a boat, types of ships in the harbor, maritime terms, flags of foreign countries and special places around the harbor. At first, I had to work off a list Capt. Flogg gave me and after the second harbor tour the first week I was much more proficient at the two-hour harbor tour. After eight weeks of two tours every Wednesday I was an expert at the Harbor tour. We went over the bow and stern of the water taxi, the fore and aft terms, the head, the galley, starboard side and port side of the ship and many other terms. I showed the mates how to determine if a ship was full of cargo or oil or not by looking on how low they were in the water. We searched for US Coast guard cutters and boats and pointed out the Harbor Master’s house and his job in the Long Beach harbor. We talked about the international quarantine area for ships to remain at anchor until cleared by the Coast Guard and the difference between the Coast Guard and the Navy. Each week as I got better and better with the dialogue the two-hour tour got easier. The key to success was keeping the mates involved with answering questions and keeping alert for certain types of ships and vessels.
The harbor tours by Water Taxi Every Wednesday
(Here is the actual Captain of the Water Taxi)
(I learned to do the Harbor cruise the first Wednesday of camp for two trips and every Wednesday after that for eight weeks. By the time the summer was over I had become an expert on Long Beach harbor. That is my two year old son Dean Mead sitting behind me.)
When the first group camp back from the Harbor tour the second 40 mates got aboard the water taxi for their tour. The group that just finished the tour went back to the camp where Capt. Flogg was waiting for them, and lunch would be served. The second group would eat their lunches before they departed for the San Pedro docks for their Harbor tour. The excitement of the harbor tours and the exposure to sun burn on the boats usually tired the mates out and they had some free time when returning to camp with their Skippers. Tuesday night was mates’ skit night and their skippers would teach them the skit to perform after or before the Harbor tour.
Dinner was at 5:00 again with the heater-stacks coming in on time and the Skippers unloading the stacks and serving the mates. The flag ceremony was just after dinner after which the mates returned to their tents to practice their skits one more time before they got to perform at the campfire that night. A special treat was to occur that night after the campfire. The camp was all taking school busses down to Cabrillo beach to witness the Grunion fish run. The Grunion fish come up on the beach by the thousands around 11:00 pm and the Mates get to see and touch the fish during this incredible event. Needless to say the following morning many Mates were so tired they found it difficult getting out of bed.
Sometimes if the schedule permitted, we ran half the camp down the trail for tide pooling at low tide while the other half were engaged in another activity or the Harbor tour. Everything depended on when low tide occurred, and we had to stay flexible to work around when low tide occurred to access the tide pool area. The weather was always a marine layer of fog until 10:00 or so and then out came the sun for a hot day. The beach trips were always scheduled for the afternoons after lunch or with a box lunch to take because it was always sunny and warmer at the beach at the afternoon. When the campers got back from Cabrillo beach they relaxed for a while in their tents until flag time and then dinner.
Some nights some Astronomy was planned when it got dark before the nightly campfire. One or more of the Skippers who were acquainted with the stars and planets would do a presentation. Other Skippers learned from the first talks and eventually got to do their own introduction to the stars. We had a few charts and books in the classroom garage for them to study from in their free time.
(Camp Fire at Cabrillo beach. Notice the sailboats in the bay)
The Typical Weekly Schedule of the Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp 1967 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Weekend survival Arrival of Camper busses Staff wakeup 7:00 am- coffee at coffee shack (public)
Wakeup time 8:00 am Washup at faucet in campsite Staff wakeup 7:00 am-shower optional behind coffee shack-female day- coffee at shack
Wakeup time campers 8:00 am, washup at faucet in campsite Staff wakeup-7:00 am- Men shower day-coffee in shack
Wakeup time campers 8:00 am Washup Staff wakeup=7:00 am No showers; coffee in shack
Wakeup time campers 8:00 am; washup, Wakeup optional for Capt. Flogg and Capt. Sharkie, etc. Mates unpack luggage Breakfast-9:00 am outdoors on picnic benches- Mates serve breakfast Breakfast 9:00 am outdoors on picnic benches. Mates serve food Breakfast 9:00 am Outdoors on picnic benches. Mates serve food. Breakfast 9:00 am Outdoors on picnic benches in the park. Mates serve food Breakfast not provided by camp on Sat. or Sun. Eat foods saved in refrig or buy breakfast out. Boys orientation and Girls orientation separately Pre-trip Orientation for Tide Pooling with Sandy or Skipper assigned that week 10:00 Depart busses for Water Taxi tour of Long Beach harbor 10:15 arrive docks for water taxi tour given by Capt. Sharkie 10:00 am Tidepooling or Beach day depending on low tide schedule. If low tide, then tidepooling 10:00- Operation cleanup the tents, take out all mattress and stack in the sun, Pack all camp bags, Move camp bags to one central location Monday Breakfast not provided by camp. Provide own breakfast or eat out before campers arrive at 10:00 am. 12:30 -Lunch-Heater stacks- Mates serve lunch to campers and then eat 12:30-Lunch-Heater Stacks-Mates serve Lunch Return for Lunch 12:30 Mates serve lunch Return for Lunch 12:30. Mates serve lunch 11:00- Mates load Truch with camp bags before lunch Assigned tents and Skippers to each group Tide Pooling if low tide in the afternoon. Alternate activity shell crafts 1:30- Beach day at Cabrillo beach, swimming, all campers must wear camp t-shirts, camp hat and white zinc oxide on their nose for ID purposes 1:30 Tidepooling or beach day depending on low tide. 12:00- Lunch early- Final assembly..Good bye songs. Final inspection of all camper tents.
Busses arrive 2:00 Campers depart 2:30-3:00 pm Lunch not provided Sat. or Sun. Eat out Jack in the box or Taco Bell. Some milk in the refrigerator in camp. Camper setup time 4:00-5:00 Rest period 4:00-5:00 return from beach day 4:00-5:00 Follow-up Ecology talk for tide pooling. Identifying specimens. 3:30 Skippers meeting, Evaluation of Skippers weekly evaluation by Capt. Flogg and Capt. Sharkie. 5:00-Dinner-Heater Stacks- Mates serve dinner
Monday night Camp Store open
Monday Night Campfire- songs, guitar, skits, funny stories, marshmellow roast 5:00-Dinner Heater Stacks-Mates serve dinner Camp Store closed Tuesday night
Table games, checkers, chess, cards
Tuesday Night Campfire
Late night Grunnion run (fish laying eggs on beach) 5:00-Dinner-heater stacks. Mates serve dinner.
6:00-Camp outdoor movies
8:30-Darkness-Camp fire activities
10:00 pm-All campers lights out in their tents 5:00 Dinner heater stacks. Mates serve dinner
Camp Store Open 6:00-8:00 pm
8:30 Darkness Last Night Mates Night campfire, special events, awards, summary of week 10:00 pm lights out Review problems and solutions and make corrections for the next camper group.
4:00 Skippers leave camp for home
5:00 No Heater stacks dinner
5:00 pm Camp Closed except for Capt. Flogg and Jen who live in Mobile trailer and Capt. Sharkie and Mrs. Sharkie and Dean Mead Dinner not provided by Camp Sat. and Sun. Eat off campus.
Chapter 5- The Second Week of Camp Monday morning
The second week things began to run more smoothly. The Skippers were getting used to the routine and knew what to expect. At 9:00 a.m. the trucks arrived with the suitcases and the Skippers eagerly began unloading the suitcases and organizing them by assigned groups 1-8. Everything was neat and ready for the campers from the Watts School District to arrive. At 10:05 the school busses arrived and the excited campers got off the buses and waited to see what was going to happen. Capt. Flogg got on the portable bull horn and had the entire group sit down while he explained the names of the Skippers and what number tent they would be supervising. When he finished the Skippers held up their numbers and the campers all headed toward their assigned tent number.
Captain Flogg selected two campers/mates at random and two skippers to help raise the flag of the United States of America. Right after the salute to the flag each skipper took their group to get their suitcases and then took them to their tent. I remember commenting to Captain Flogg how well the first morning went and he agreed. This time each Skipper explained the rules and policies to their own group in their tent after they set up their bunks with new sheets and pillows. This more personal approach allowed for questions and answers. By 12:00 the lunch heater-stack truck had arrived, and the Skippers marched their groups out of the tents to the picnic tables set aside for the camp in the middle of the park. The Skippers all pitched in and served the food to the mates and rejoined their groups after dishing out all the food. Cleanup followed lunch and the mates were most helpful. Each Skipper then took their groups on a tour of the park, the Camp Store, the pre-trip classroom, the lighthouse, the 300 foot cliff and restrictive railing and stay off sign, the sandy trail down to the tide pooling, the bathrooms, and the view of Long Beach harbor from the south end of the park. That night around 5:00 the heater-stack food truck arrived again and the Skippers organized their group at the picnic tables and the Skippers began serving food to the mates. By know every Skipper knew the other Skipper’s marine theme nickname and real names were no longer used. The Camp store opened at 6:00 p.m. that evening and the Skippers took their groups to line up for buying candy and other snacks at the store. While the mates were waiting on the line for the Camp Store, some of the Skippers took some wood and carried it to the concrete campfire circle in the park for the Monday night campfire. Some of the Skippers had brought guitars the second week and a few were practicing new songs and skits for the campfire. I personally learned how to finger pick a guitar from Skipper Windy who was an excellent musician. I played guitar a little in High School but lost interest in taking lessons. Now I had an opportunity to relearn the cords on the guitar so that I could contribute at the nightly campfires. Some of the Skippers taught the other Skippers short little skits and mate participation games. The Monday night campfire for the second week was one of the best campfires we had since camp began the week before. The Skippers learned at night in their free time to work on their music, routines and group presentations for the campfires to improve the experience for the mates and to get a better evaluation from Captain Flogg at the end of the week. Each week for all eight weeks of the summer Captain Flogg had to do the Skipper evaluations which were important for being rehired the next year or using as a reference for school or a job. Captain Flogg asked me on Tuesday to take notes on the Skipper’s performance levels especially at field activities where Captain Flogg was not in attendance. At the beach and the Harbor Tour I had to take notes on how well Skippers controlled their groups and whether there were any problems or not. When Thursday night came around Captain Flogg told me it took forever to do the Skipper evaluations and asked if I would help him for the rest of the summer. I agreed to help not realizing how difficult the process was on an evaluation form set up by administrators from the L.A. Board of Education. Carbon copies of all the evaluations had to be kept and sent to the main office at the L.A. Board of Education each week by Friday morning. Every Friday afternoon after the last mates bus left Captain Flogg handed out the Skipper evaluations and then spent two hours discussing each evaluation for five minutes or so with each of the eight Skippers. Some Skippers did not take the evaluations easily and sometimes a few of them did not agree with the evaluation. We tried not to give to high an evaluation grade in the first few weeks so they did not get to confident in their duties. Sometimes a low evaluation was a way in motivating a Skipper to improve and not sit back and do the minimum. We also wanted “Team” workers so that things went smoothly and if a problem or emergency occurred a team effort could resolve it better than a one-person attempt.
Tuesday morning of the second week low tide was late in the morning which meant we had to give pre-trip talks right after breakfast and then save time to go tide-pooling before lunch. It made the schedule a little rushed but we managed to pull it off. One mate was caught stuffing a Starfish in his pocket. He was warned and the Starfish was released back into the ocean. The rest of the day went well. Heater-stacks arrived on time and lunch was served. In the afternoon the entire camp when to Cabrillo beach by school busses Captain Flogg called up and ordered. The mates always loved being at the beach and it made for an easy afternoon for the Skippers also. Wednesday the busses arrived for the first group to go on the Harbor tour and off they went. I had prepared notes I researched after giving last week’s Harbor Tour. Two Harbor Tours in one day was tiring and difficult but I felt much more confident the second week when I gave my guide talk about the Long Beach harbor. Wednesday night we prepared for a new format for the Campfire by having it at Cabrillo beach. We had permission from the Parks department to set a campfire in a concrete fire pit for our entire camp. It was breezy and cool that evening, yet we had the greatest time. I sang a duet with Windy as she played the guitar about a French folk song. We taught the song to the mates and had them sing along with us. Better organization of Skippers Improved Campfire activities Improved Harbor Tour Camp Store better equipped Daily routine better organized Keeping up the morale of the staff End of the Week Staff Evaluation Thursday night Staff Evaluations with Capt. Flogg
Diagram of Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp 1967
(Picnic benches)
CHAPTER 6- Looking back 50 years later at the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Marine Ecology Summer Camp
In looking back at the summer of 1967 and comparing it to where the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp should be today, I would make the following recommendations:
1-Safety must come first regardless of rationalizations. If the tide-pooling trail ever became unsafe for children to walk down to the ocean at any time then the trail must remained unused. Conversely, the trails should be repaired by putting in stone barriers to prevent erosion and wooden railroad ties as path guides by the State Park Association. The tide pooling was the main ecological opportunity for the students/mates to experience live and Dead Sea animals, plants and fish firsthand. I can still remember 40 years later the excitement the mates had every trip we made down to the tide-pooling area each week. 2-Health- the single public bathroom for 40 males and another for 40 females was a Health hazard then and still is today. Portable bathrooms should be rented by the week and be cleaned out each week. The risk of students meeting the public in the bathrooms is great and there is always the risk of perverted adults using the bathrooms as their place of refuge. 3-Technology- in the summer of 1967 portable tape recorders had just come on the market. A portable tape recorder was most helpful in recording the sounds of the waves and ocean for the marine diorama that was created in the basement of the lighthouse. Fast speed forward, today at lease one laptop computer with internet access and a compact project would be a great education took for showing PowerPoint slide shows of ecology themes daytime or nighttime. 4-Weather protection- There is no weather protection if it breaks the mold and rains despite many summers without rain in the past. A large tarp could be permanently set up for the summer over the picnic tables to shade the students or protect them against the rain. This did not exist in the summer of 1967 and there was always a risk and a chance that rain could easily ruin the day since there were no places for the students to hide from the rain except in their tents. 5- Assessment follow-up and marketing- In the summer of 1967 the assessment was all about the Skippers and their function as a Camp Leader. There was no assessment of the curriculum or the summer program to support future funding for continuing the program for many years to come. Fast forward to today, cameras should be provided to the staff of temporary loaner cellphones to continually take digital pictures of all the aspects of the camp experience to use for PowerPoint Marketing promotions at all of the participating School districts during the off season. 6-Movies of Point Fermin lighthouse School camp- along the theme of using PowerPoint slide presentations for marketing the curriculum and school camp experience at Point Fermin Lighthouse school camp, which is so unique, digital movies can provide an even more exciting opportunity for potential students and parents to see the opportunities offered at the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. 7- Archival after 40 years- I have tried to tie together 2014 and the summer of 1967 and bring forward the valuable experience that all LA Board of Education students should have at least once in a lifetime. Recently, I read on the Internet that the funding for the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp was in jeopardy and that was a sad moment because anyone who has ever experienced this program firsthand would support keeping it well funded for all time. 8-The lighthouse as a major resource- 40 years ago in the summer of 1967 the lighthouse was owned and operated by the US Coast Guard who had no interaction with the Camp program. Students were not allowed to tour or view the inside of the lighthouse at any time. Several years later in the early 1970’s I have read that the Lighthouse was abandoned or closed by the US Coast Guard that is typical of their mission in the 21st Century. A private group has taken over the Lighthouse and preserved it as a historical site. If campers were allowed to tour the inside of the Lighthouse and use it for educational purposes in learning navigation, marine ecology, Astronomy, and other academic subjects, it would greatly improve the curriculum of the LA Board of Education School Camp at Point Fermin Park. Had we had the opportunity to tour the Lighthouse back in 1967 that would have been one of the highlights of the camp with the same interest level as tide pooling? I would strongly recommend that the LA Board of Education supervisors of the School Camp program at Point Fermin Park work in cooperation with the private preservation group that now owns the Lighthouse to provide expanded educational opportunities for the summer campers. A similar lighthouse located on the Hudson River was slated to be destroyed after the US Coast Guard abandoned using it until the local private citizens, as in the Point Fermin park, stepped in and saved the little lighthouse on the Hudson river in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester county, New York. Schools now visit the lighthouse museum on a regular basis during the school season and Earth science students get to examine Marine Ecology and Navigation on the Hudson River as well as other Social Studies classes and Science classes. The little lighthouse is in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge by the way and can be seen from the bridge by the thousands of cars that travel across the bridge everyday.
Nautical terms-Harbor Cruise Long Beach Word Definition abaft – toward or at the stern of a ship; further aft affreightment – hiring of a vessel afterdeck – deck behind a ship’s bridge afterguard – men who work the aft sails on the quarterdeck and poop deck ahull – with sails furled and helm lashed to the lee-side amidships – midway between the bow and stern of a ship astern – at the stern of a ship backstay – stay extending from ship’s mastheads to the side of the ship ballaster – one who supplies ships with ballast bargemaster – owner of a barge bee – hardwood on either side of bowsprit through which forestays are reeved belay – to secure a rope by winding on a pin or cleat bilge – lower point of inner hull of a ship binnacle – case in which a ship’s compass is kept bitts – posts mounted on a ship for fastening ropes bluepeter – blue flag with white square in centre used as ship’s signal boatswain – ship’s crewmember in charge of equipment and maintenance bobstay – rope used on ships to steady the bowsprit bollard – short post on a wharf or ship to which ropes are tied boltrope – strong rope stitched to edges of a sail bosun – boatswain bottomry – using the ship as collateral to finance a sea voyage bow – front of a ship bower – anchor carried at bow of a ship bowline – rope used to keep weather edge of a sail taut bowsprit – spar that extends at bows of a ship brails – ropes on edge of sail for hauling up bream – to clean a ship’s bottom by burning off seaweed bulwark – the side of a ship above the deck bumpkin – spar projecting from stern of ship bunt – middle of sail, fish-net or cloth when slack buntline – rope attached to middle of square sail to haul it up to the yard burgee – small ship’s flag used for identification or signalling cable – heavy rope or chain for mooring a ship cabotage – shipping and sailing between points in the same country camber – slight arch or convexity to a beam or deck of a ship capstan – upright device for winding in heavy ropes or cables careen – to turn a ship on its side in order to clean or repair it cathead – projection near the bow of a ship to which anchor is secured chine – the intersection of the middle and sides of a boat chock – metal casting with curved arms for passing ropes for mooring ship clew – corner of sail with hole to attach ropes coaming – raised edge around ship’s hatches to keep water out cocket – official shipping seal; customs clearance form cofferdam – narrow vacant space between two bulkheads of a ship cog – single-masted, square-sailed ship with raised stern companionway – stairs from upper deck of ship to lower deck cordage – ropes in the rigging of a ship cringle – loop at corner of sail to which a line is attached crosstrees – horizontal crosspieces at a masthead used to support ship’s mast davit – device for hoisting and lowering a boat deadeye – rounded wooden block with hole used to set up ship’s stays deadwood – timbers built into ends of ship when too narrow to permit framing demurrage – delay of vessel’s departure or loading with cargo dodger – shield against rain or spray on a ship’s bridge dogwatch – a short, evening period of watch duty on a ship downhaul – rope for holding down or hauling down a sail or spar dromond – large single-sailed ship powered by rowers dyogram – ship’s chart indicating compass deflection due to ship’s iron earing – line for fastening corner of a sail to the gaff or yard ensign – large naval flag escutcheon – part of ship’s stern where name is displayed fairlead – ring through which rope is led to change its direction without friction fardage – wood placed in bottom of ship to keep cargo dry fiddley – iron framework around hatchway opening figurehead – ornament or (usually female) bust attached to the bow of a ship flagstaff – flag pole at stern of a ship fluke – part of an anchor that fastens in the ground forebitt – post for fastening cables at a ship’s foremast forecabin – cabin in fore part of ship forecastle – short raised deck at fore end of ship; fore of ship under main deck forefoot – foremost end of ship’s keel foremast – mast nearest the bow of a ship foresail – lowest sail set on the foremast of square-rigged ship forestay – stay leading from the foremast to the bow of a ship frap – to draw a sail tight with ropes or cables freeboard – distance between waterline and main deck of a ship futtock – rib of a ship gaff – spar on which head of fore-and-aft sail is extended gaff-topsail – triangular topsail with its foot extended upon the gaff gangway – either of the sides of the upper deck of a ship garboard – plank on a ship’s bottom next to the keel genoa – large jib that overlaps the mainsail grapnel – small anchor used for dragging or grappling groundage – a charge on a ship in port gudgeon – metal socket into which the pintle of a boat’s rudder fits gunnage – number of guns carried on a warship gunwale – upper edge of the side of a ship gybe – to swing a sail from one side to another halyard – rope or tackle for hoisting and lowering sails hank – series of rings or clips for attaching a jib or staysail to a stay hawse – distance between ship’s bow and its anchor hawsehole – hole for ship’s cable hawser – large rope for mooring or towing a ship headsail – sail set forward of the foremast of a ship helm – ship’s steering wheel holystone – sandstone material used to scrape ships’ decks inboard – inside the line of a ship’s bulwarks or hull jack – ship’s flag flown from jack-staff at bow of vessel jack-block – pulley system for raising topgallant masts jack-cross-tree single iron cross-tree at head of a topgallant mast jackstaff – short staff at ship’s bow from which the jack is hoisted jackstay – iron or wooden bar running along yard of ship to which sails fastened jackyard – spar used to spread the foot of a gaff-topsail jib – small triangular sail extending from the head of the foremast jibboom – spar forming an extension of the bowsprit jibe – to change a ship’s course to make the boom shift sides jurymast – mast erected on ship in place of one lost kedge – small anchor to keep a ship steady keelhaul – to punish by dragging under keel of ship keelson – lengthwise wooden or steel beam in ship for bearing stress kentledge – pig-iron used as ballast in ship’s hold lagan – cargo jettisoned from ship but marked by buoys for recovery lanyard – rope or line for fastening something in a ship larboard – left side of a ship lastage – room for stowing goods in a ship lateen – triangular sail rigged on ship’s spar laveer – to sail against the wind lazaret – space in ship between decks used for storage leeboard – wood or metal planes attached to hull to prevent leeway leech – a vertical edge of a square sail loxodograph – device used to record ship’s travels luff – windward side of a ship; forward edge of fore-and-aft sail lugsail – four-sided sail bent to an obliquely hanging yard lutchet – fitting on ship’s deck to allow mast to pivot to pass under bridges mainmast – sailing ship’s principal mast mainsail – principal sail on a ship’s mainmast mainsheet – rope by which mainsail is trimmed and secured mainstay – stay that extends from the main-top to the foot of the foremast manrope – rope used as a handrail on a ship martingale – lower stay of rope used to sustain strain of the forestays mizzen – three-masted vessel; aft sail of such a vessel mizzenmast – mast aft or next aft of the mainmast in a ship moonraker – topmost sail of a ship, above the skyscraper oakum – old ropes untwisted for caulking the seams of ships orlop – lowest deck in a ship having four or more decks outhaul – rope used to haul a sail taut along a spar outrigger – spar extended from side of ship to help secure mast painter – rope attached to bow of a boat to attach it to a ship or a post pallograph – instrument measuring ship’s vibration parrel – band by which a yard is fastened to a mast patroon – captain of a ship; coxswain of a longboat poop – enclosed structure at stern of ship above main deck port – when facing forward, the left side of a shift primage – fee paid to loaders for loading ship purser – ship’s officer in charge of finances and passengers quarterdeck – part of ship’s deck set aside by captain for ceremonial functions quartering – sailing nearly before the wind rake – the inclination of a mast or another part of a ship ratline – small rope forming a rung of a rope ladder on a ship reef – to reduce area of a sail by rolling or folding part of it reeve – to pass a rope through a ring roach – curved cut in edge of sail for preventing chafing roband – piece of yarn used to fasten a sail to a spar rostrum – spike on prow of warship for ramming rowlock – contrivance serving as a fulcrum for an oar royal – small sail on royal mast just above topgallant sail scud – to sail swiftly before a gale scupper – hole allowing water to drain from ship’s deck scuttlebutt – cask of drinking water aboard a ship; rumour, idle gossip scuttles – portholes on a ship sheer – fore-and-aft curvature of a ship from bow to stern shrouds – ropes supporting the mast of a ship sidelight – coloured lights on side of a ship under way at night skeg – part of ship connecting the keel with the bottom of the rudderpost skysail – sail above the royal sail skyscraper – triangular sail on a ship above the royal slipway – ramp sloping into water for supporting a ship snotty – naval midshipman spanker – sail on the mast nearest the stern of a square-rigged ship spar – any ship’s mast, boom, yard, or gaff spinnaker – large triangular sail opposite the mainsail spirketting – inside planking between ports and waterways of a ship sponson – platform jutting from ship’s deck for gun or wheel sprit – spar crossing a fore-and-aft sail diagonally spritsail – sail extended by a sprit starboard – when facing forward, the right side of a ship starbolins – sailors of the starboard watch stay – large rope used to support a mast staysail – fore-and-aft sail hoisted on a stay steeve – to set a ship’s bowsprit at an upward inclination stemson – supporting timber of a ship stern – back part of a ship sternpost – main member at stern of a ship extending from keel to deck sternway – movement of a ship backwards stevedore – dock worker who loads and unloads ships stokehold – ship’s furnace chamber strake – continuous band of plates on side of a ship stunsail – light auxiliary sail to the side of principal sails supercargo – ship’s official in charge of business affairs taffrail – rail round the stern of a ship thole – pin in the side of a boat to keep oar in place tiller – handle or lever for turning a ship’s rudder timberhead – top end of ship’s timber used above the gunwale timenoguy – rope stretched from place to place in a ship topgallant – mast or sail above the topmast and below the royal mast topmast – ship’s mast above the lower mast topsail – ship’s sail above the lowermost sail tranship – to transfer from one ship to another transire – ship’s customs warrant for clearing goods transom – transverse timbers attached to ship’s sternpost treenail – long wooden pin used to fix planks of ship to the timbers trice – to haul in and lash secure a sail with a small rope trunnel – wooden shipbuilding peg used for fastening timbers trysail – ship’s sail bent to a gaff and hoisted on a lower mast tuck – part of ship where ends of lower planks meet under the stern turtleback – structure over ship’s bows or stern unreeve – to withdraw a rope from an opening walty – inclined to tip over or lean wardroom – quarters for ship’s officers washboard – broad thin plank along ship’s gunwale to keep out sea water watching – fully afloat waveson – goods floating on the sea after a shipwreck wear – to turn a ship’s stern to windward to alter its course weatherboard – weather side of a ship weatherly – able to sail close to the wind with little leeway wheelhouse – shelter where ship’s steering wheel kept whipstaff – vertical lever controlling ship’s rudder windbound – hindered from sailing by contrary winds windlass – winch used to raise a ship’s anchor xebec – small three-masted pirate ship yard – tapering spar attached to ship’s mast to spread the head of a square sai yardarm – either end of the yard of a square-rigged ship yawl – ship’s small boat; sailboat carrying mainsail and one or more jibs zabra – small Spanish sailing vesse Foul weather flags Queen Mary ship Buoys Sites in the Harbor Harbor Masters headquarters Coast Guard Headquarters Channel markers red and green Piers Breakwater Quaranteen area Parts of the Water Taxi Bow Stern Starboard Port Keel rudder propeller helm galley poopdeck midship fore aft SAILBOATS schooner ketch sloop Britain France Japan Ships sighted 1-US Coast Guard Cutter 2- Tanker- housing at the rear 3- Cargo Ship-housing in the middle 4- Flags of foreign ships USA Panama Day-
Grunion fish run at night. Staff checks out the fish.
Water taxi and Disney World mountain
Point Fermin Lighthouse and the 300 foot clifts
My son Dean Michael Mead at age two at the Point Fermin Camp
Jeri Mead walking away from skippers unloading camper trunks
Food came from heater stacks cooked at a local Elementary School. Skippers served the Campers first. Other pictures of weekend staff trips to Disney World in LA.
The scene opens with a Fox in the snow on Mount Fuji, Japan. The red fox is curled up in the snow sleeping. Foxes are consider sacred in Japanese mythology. The Kitsune fox has magical properties and can live for hundreds of years. As he ages, he can grow up to nine tails. The more tails a Kitsune has the more magical abilities the fox has. he can take over the personality of a person or change their mind. This is the life long story of a Kitsune that affected the History of the American Colonies in the 1600’s and the 1700’s. Few people realize that a Kitsune may have change the history of America.
ACT TWO- WITCHCRAFT
NARRATOR
In Japanese folklore many stories depict legendary foxes or Kitsune, as intelligent beings that have paranormal abilities to turn themselves into humans and back again. As the foxes get older and wiser they develop the ability to shapeshift into humans. This is the story of one Kitsune named Aero Long Kitsune and how he blended into American Colonial history.
SCENE 1- INT. DAY- BASEMENT OF FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
Aero Long Kitsune is chained to a brick wall in the basement of the First Congregational Church of Salem, Mass. Water dripped down the damp wall as Aero struggled to get free. A cockroach ran across his hands which were strung high above his head. A beam of light came through the cracks in the bricks and a mouse scurried across the moldy floor.
Aero Long Kitsune is a Japanese Kitsune or fox possessing paranormal abilities that help him change his body into a human being. He had red hair and a long face like a fox and speaks in a high pitched voice. If stressed Aero can change into a red Kitsune Fox. He can also read some people’s minds or influence their mind. Kitsune foxes live for hundreds of years growing up to nine tails over two or three hundred years. When a Kitsune fox develops nine tails it is called kyubi no kitsune. Good Kitune foxes are called zenko and that is what Aero Long Kitsune Kitsune is, however bad or field foxes are called yako Kitsune tend to be mischievous or even malicious.
FADE IN:
FADE TO BLACK.
2.
AERO LONG KITSUNE (23) SHAPE SHIFTER
I don’t know how much longer I can bear this pain.
In the basement across from Aero is John Alden Jr. Jr. John is the son of Pilgrim John Alden Jr. and Priscilla Mullins.
JOHN ALDEN JR. (22) JR.
You may not have to worry much longer if these crazy witch hunters have their way. They will tie you to a chair on a pole and put you under water again and again until you drown.
AERO LONG KITSUNE How is it you were arrested for
witch craft stranger?
JOHN ALDEN JR. JR. I was in Canada trying to get some
hostages released and when I returned a woman name Isabel told everyone I was a witch. I rejected her a few years ago when she thought she was in love with me.
AERO LONG KITSUNE Ahh, a woman scorned. Now you have
your reward.
JOHN ALDEN JR. I plan to escape. My family on the
outside is going to bribe someone to let me out of this church basement.
AERO LONG KITSUNE Perhaps you can take me with you
stranger?
JOHN ALDEN JR. I will let you know when the time
is right.
When the time came for John Alden Jr. Jr. to escape his friends appeared at the stairway to the basement. Quickly they unlocked John Alden Jr. Jr. From his chains.
JOHN ALDEN JR. (CONT’D) See to the stranger on the other end of the basement. Unlock him.
3.
SAMUEL SEABURY JR. (30)
What stranger? The chains on the wall are empty, and there is no one there. Wait, there is a red fox. What the hell is a red fox doing in the basement?
JOHN ALDEN JR. We have no time to figure it out.
Run for daylight before we are discovered.
Right behind the group of men the red fox scampered up the stairs and into the church courtyard never to be seen again.
SAMUEL SEABURY We are free. Grab your horse John
and let us be gone.
JOHN ALDEN JR. Finally, a horse to freedom. Ride
on steed.
Running behind the men on horses a red fox scampered off into the woods, free at last.
FADE TO BLACK.
ACT TWO- DUTCH GIANA
SCENE 1-INT. DAY- JULY 14, 1763, ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER.
Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune runs away from his physician apprentice at age 16 and sails for Dutch Giana to seek a new life.
FADE IN:
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE (17) PHYSICIAN’S APPRENTIST AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE.
Ahh the smell of the sea and the endless horizon of the ocean is the life to be.
BEN ROGERS (44) SEAMAN
It doesn’t smell so great when you have to climb them masts high in the air to drop the sails.
(MORE)
4.
BEN ROGERS (44) SEAMAN (CONT’D)
I have been a seaman all my life and I can’t smell the ocean from the deck varnish.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Well it is all new to me after
living in New England all my life.
Note: The next day a storm hit and most of the crew and passengers had to stay below because of the waves splashing over the deck and washing everything no tied down into the ocean. The ship swayed from side to side in an unnatural rocking motion. Every other wave the ship would life out of the waves and come thundering down with a loud clapping sound in the trough of another wave. Most of the passengers including Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune were all heaving their guts out.
BEN ROGERS, SEAMAN How is that ocean smell treating you matey? Ha…storms like this
make a man out of you in no time. Just hold onto the posts for dear life. The storm should be gone by tomorrow. Bear with it matey.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I think my insides are going to
turn themselves inside out. How much longer is this storm going to last?
CHARLIE PIKE (50) FIRST MATE
Here eat some of this ginger. It will settle your stomach and help you feel better during the storm.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Thank you Mr. Pike.
FADE TO BLACK.
Sometime during the storm seaman Rogers went to look for Mr Bancroft who seemed to have disappeared from below deck.
BEN ROGERS, SEAMAN Mr. Pike have you seen Mr. Bancroft lately? I looked below and I cannot
find him. Do you know where he is?
FADE IN:
5.
CHARLIE PIKE, FIRST MATE Nope, I haven’t seen him for
several hours Mr. Rogers.
BEN ROGERS Wait what is that over there in the
corner of the storage? It looks like a red fox. How the hell could a red fox get aboard this vessel? Pike call the Quartermaster. We have a red fox on board.
CHARLIE PIKE, FIRST MATE There are no red foxes on board
matey. You must have been drinking too much rum.
BEN ROGERS, SEAMAN I swear it was a red fox. I saw.
Now it has disappeared. I must have imagined it. Ahhh Mr. Bancroft I have been looking for you.
FADE OUT. The storm departed after a day. Several weeks later the brig
named Success arrived in Dutch Guiana.
FADE IN:
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE (50) WHITE DUTCH
LAND OWNER
Welcome Mr. Bancroft. We don’t get many white settlers here in Dutch Guiana. What do you plan to do for a living sir?
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I am well read in medicine, and
plan to provide medical services on the plantations. I was a Physician’s apprentice for two years.
SAMUEL BILSBERRY, DUTCH PLANTATION
OWNER, (50)
We are in great need of medical services since we have no doctors on the island. I recommend you try the plantations on the Canoe river near Berbice sir.
6.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE That I will do. Than you sir.
FADE OUT.
After a short boat ride down the Canje river, Bancroft arrived at a plantation owned by Abraham Van Peere.
FADE IN:
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE (50) PLANTATION
OWNER
Well, who do we have here today? A white man? Where do you come from son, and why are you here in Dutch Guiana?
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I am a student of the medical
profession and I have come to offer my services to you and your family, and your slaves.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE, PLANTATION OWNER. We are in need of a doctor. Malaria
and many other disease are common in the jungles of Guiana. You are welcome Mr. Bancroft. The maid will show you to your bedroom on the second floor of the manor house. When you get settled I want you to look after a dozen of my slaves who have malaria.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I have a small amount of quinine
with me , but we will need to import some more quinine to fight malaria.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE, PLANTATION OWNER I will see to it that you get all
the quinine you need. Malaria is killing off half of my slaves.
FADE OUT.
With only two years of experience as a physician’s apprentice Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune began treating plantation slaves and Dutch colonists. The slaves could not pronounce Bancroft so they called Edward Master. He did not like being called Master so he asked the saves to call him Mr. Fox. The saves made Mr. Fox into mitta-fox.
7.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Samuel my name is Edward Bancroft
aka Aero long Kitsune and I am the doctor for Master Peere’s slaves.
SAMUEL (60) SLAVE LEADER
Yes, m-sob you Doctor. Me head man.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE You tell the other slaves that I am
here to help them. I am not master. I am doctor here to help them.
SAMUEL SLAVE LEADER Yes, M-sob. What you name?
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Bancroft is a hard English word to
say so just call me Mr. Fox.
SAMUEL, SLAVE LEADER Mitta Fox, yes small smart animal.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Yes very smart. Do you have any
slaves that are sick? I would like to cure them
SAMUEL, SLAVE LEADER Yes m-sob, mitta Fox come with me.
Samuel and Edward entered a run down shack with a palm Thatched roof, and a dirt floor. Lying on a bed sweating, and in pain
was a male slave named Jumbo. He had malaria Edward could tell from the symptoms.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Here is some medicine to mix with a
glass of water. Samuel tell him to take the medicine three times a day, and it will make him well.
SAMUEL SLAVE LEADER (50)
Yes mitta fox. I do. Jumbo you take medicine from Doctore.
FADE OUT. Two weeks later Jumbo recovered and was working in the
plantation again. Plantation owner Van Peere was impressed how efficient Edward was with the slaves. Edward also cured Van Peere’s wife of malaria.
FADE IN:
8.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE I am indebted to you Mr. Bancroft
for saving my wife Maria’s life. She was dying of malaria until you gave her medicine. I understand you also saved my slave Jumbo’s life too. You are welcome to join me at the dinner table when ever you wish.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Thank you Mr. Van Peere. I was just
doing my job as plantation Doctor.
MARIA VAN PEERE, (30) WIFE
Doctor Bancroft or Mr. Fox as the slaves call you. You are a God-sent with your medicine and modern knowledge of curing diseases. I too am indebted to you for saving my life from malaria.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Quinine is the cure for quinine
Mrs. Van Peere. I had your husband order more of it from America.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE I have more plantations further up
the Canje and Berbice rivers if you want to treat my slaves on those plantations? For now feel free to enjoy the life of a gentlemen in Dutch Guiana.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Thank you Mr Van Peere.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE You will be paid in sterling silver each month which you can save since
all your food and housing will be provided for by me.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I ask only that you purchase some
medical manuals for me to read while I am treating the slaves and colonists.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE What every medical books you want I
will have shipped directly from Britain for you.
9.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Thank you Sir.
FADE OUT. Several months later Edward came into conflict with the slave
shaman named King John.
FADE IN:
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I am glad to meet you King John. I
am doctore here to help cure sick slaves. I do not wish to interfere with your healing practices. Me heal.
KING JOHN,SHAMAN I see in dream that you have
special healing powers Doctore Fox Why do you call yourself mitta Fox? Are you really a Fox?
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Most slaves cannot say my English
name Bancroft so I chose a simple name Fox for them to use. Mitta fox is all they could pronounce.
FADE OUT. King John, being a shaman, felt that was something unusual
about this Englishman called Fox, and he was right. When stressed Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune could change he shape from a man into a red fox. It was his method of escape, and as a fox he was able to easily go undetected in the night or day. One night Edward was called out to deliver a child to a slave woman named Buela. It was a difficult birth and the slave was in much pain. The shaman King John appeared, and gave Buela some herbs that helped in the pain. Edward was upset that King John had upset his delivery of the baby. Edward was so stressed that he went outside the shack and turned into a Fox and ran away into the forest.
KING JOHN, (60) SLAVE SHAMAN
mitta-fox. I am King John, shaman for all slaves on plantation.
KING JOHN,SHAMAN Mitta Fox, we missed you last night. Buela had a healthy boy
after I gave her herbs to kill the pain. Where did you go mitta Fox?
(MORE)
FADE IN:
10.
KING JOHN,SHAMAN (CONT’D) The baby came and I had to deliver
it. It was a boy, and then named him Uriel.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I was not feeling well and had to
return to the manor house to rest. I am sorry I was not there for the birth.
KING JOHN,SHAMAN You are strange English. There is something about you that makes me
nervous.
Edward said nothing. From that day on King John was always asking questions about Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune alias Mr. Fox.
FADE OUT.
SCENE 2-EXT. DAY- BERBICE RIVER PLANTATION.
A year after Edward began as plantation Doctor he decided to move up the Berbice river to two other plantations owned by Van Peere.
FADE IN:
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Mr. Van Peere, I have decided to
move further up the Berbice river to assist the slaves on your two plantations there.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE I would be most grateful for you to
treat my slaves on the Berbice river plantations. Many slaves have died of many jungle diseases, and I need you to cure them.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I will leave tomorrow then.
FADE TO BLACK. The next day Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune alias Mr
Fox took a boat headed upriver on the Berbice river to the two plantations that Mr. Van Peere owned. When He got there tension was in the air and a slave revolution was about to begin.
11.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE (CONT’D) The slaves are acting very
strangely on these Berbice plantations. They wouldn’t talk to me for some reason.
Big Tom was a big 280 pound black slave with many scars on his back from whippings. His hair was close cut and he had a huge nose and very dark skin.
BIG TOM, SLAVE (40)
English man, you go back to the coast. Bad things about to happen. Slaves unhappy here.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I bring medicine to cure jungle
disease.
BIG TOM, SLAVE Not want medicine English. You go
back to the coast now.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Does anyone know what is going on
here on these plantations? The slaves seem like they are hiding something. They are very angry for some reason.
BIG TOM, SLAVE Many whippings English.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I have a letter of introduction to
the plantation Master to allow me to treat colonists and slaves, and to provide me room and food during my stay.
THOMAS VON HEDDING (40) PLANTATION
MASTER.
I see Mr. Von Peere sent you. Welcome Mr. Bancroft or shall I say Doctor Bancroft? We are having a situation here on the plantations which may require the military to assist us. Word is that the slaves are going to revolt. We cannot allow that.
FADE OUT.
12.
The next day a slave was tied to a pole and whipped with a leather bull whip.
FADE IN:
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Why is that slave being whipped?
THOMAS VON HEDDING He attempted to escape and we
caught him in the jungle.
SCENE 3-EXT. DAY- PLANTATION HOUSE.
FADE TO BLACK.
A week after Edward arrived at the Berbice river plantations inland, several hundred slaves raided the manor house on one of the plantations. The Plantation owner had to call in the military from neighboring counties.
FADE IN:
RICHARD VAN WATERS, PLANTATION
SUPERVISOR . (45)
Sound the alarm and break out the rifles. Several hundred slaves have walked off the plantation and are headed to the manor house. We must protect the manor house. Petre you take a boat downriver to Mr. Van Peere and tell him we need an Army of soldiers to put down this rebellion immediately.
PETRE, FIELD BOSS FOR THE PLANTATION
(50).
Yes Boss. I take the boat.
STUBBS, SLAVE (40)
The army is coming. The army is coming. Run for ya life.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE What is going on sir?
JOSIAH VON PEEBLES (50) PLANTATION
OWNER
The slaves are revoting. You need to stay indoors Mr. Bancroft.
(MORE)
13.
JOSIAH VON PEEBLES (50) PLANTATION
It isn’t safe for white folk to go out until the slaves are subdued.
FADE OUT.
Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune had a perfect view of the plantation from his bedroom window on the second floor of the manor house.
FADE IN:
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I can’t believe the army cut the
slaves down with machetes like they were cutting meat. It is a bloody revolution the slaves were losing. The slaves had only farm tools and the army had guns, cannons, swords and machetes. They cut the runaway slaves down like wooden pegs. Dead bodies of slaves were lying all over the plantation fields. It was a massacre. The slaves quarters and part of the coffee field had turned into a lake of blood. Slave body parts were everywhere. It was a scene from Hell, and beyond. Edward felt sick to his stomach. Turning into a red Fox, Edward ran to the slaves quarters to warn them an army of mercenaries was coming up the river to kill anyone who resisted. He never considered that a talking Fox would scare the wits out of the slaves. He ran as fast as he could run toward the slave huts. Run, run for your lives soldiers are coming up the river to put down the revolution. Put down your weapons and surrender or run into the jungle. You cannot win, there are too man soldiers.
Sarah was a tall thin negro slave with light brown skin and a wide African nose with a ring through it. Her hair was short and kinky and black.
SARAH, (20) SLAVE WOMAN
Look it is a Fox, and it talks. This is an omen from the Devil. We are doomed. Run for your lives.
14.
KING JOHN, SHAMAN So you have appeared again Red Fox?
Why do you warn us? Do I know you Red Fox? We will be successful in our revolt. We outnumber the whites by ten to one. They cannot win.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE
AS THE FOX (In the shape of a Red Fox) You are
wrong wise one. The soldiers have field cannons that can kill 50 slaves at a time. The Dutch can always replace the slaves by buying more slaves at the market. Out of fear the white man has to put down this rebellion. You can run into the jungle, and hide there or surrender with a white flag. Do you hear the cannon in the distance. The cannon balls will flatten every slave hut here, and cut down 30-50 slaves at a time. You cannot win. Surrender. I will leave you now to decide your fate.
FADE OUT. Edward returned to the manor house and when he got back to
his bedroom he changed back into his human form.
FADE IN:
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I am a Doctor, and there is nothing
I can do here in this slave rebellion. I will leave tomorrow at Sun rise.
FADE TO BLACK. The next day Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune fled back
down river from the Berbice river plantations to the coast plantations of Abraham Von Peere.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE Welcome back Mr. Bancroft. I heard
there was a slave revolt on my plantations. I had to sent in the Army to tame the slaves.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Your army sir killed hundreds of
unarmed slaves. (MORE)
FADE IN:
15.
16.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I watched the bloody massacre from
my bedroom window.
ABRAHAM VAN PEERE The slaves outnumber the whites ten
to one and we cannot allow the to take over or they will kill every white in Dutch Guiana. We have to come down hard on slave revolts or they will kill us all.
FADE TO BLACK.
SCENE 4-INT. EXT. -BRITISH GIANA.
Having saved several hundred British pounds, Bancroft takes a year off as a Doctor and travels around Dutch Giana observing and collecting the plant life, animals and natives. He begins writing a three volume book about his research in Dutch Giana. While traveling around Dutch Giana Bancroft comes across the Macusi tribe in the jungles of Dutch Giana. The Macusi were known to have the strongest poison for their arrows. Bancroft wanted to learn how to make the curari poison but the shaman would not reveal the plant or process.
FADE IN: In a local Macusi tribal village deep in the jungles of Dutch
Giana. Edward with a local guide enter a Macusi village. A macusi native approaches them with a head piece of beautiful bird feathers. His body is marked with many tattoos and he is wearing only a breech cloth.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I am Doctore Bancroft. I want to
meet your shaman.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN (60)
What do you want of me white man?
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I have beads as a gift to you. I
want to learn about your tribe and it’s medicines, and the poison you use on your arrows and blow guns.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN Macusi arrow poison is a tribal
secret that cannot be told, white man.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Perhaps if I give you some gifts
for you to tell me the secret of your arrow poison.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN No gifts. Secret and very
dangerous. Gods of Macusi protect poison.
Jim Bob is a large black man who is half negro slave and half local indian. He has a large African nose and big lips with several scars across his face.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE (40)
The shaman is not going to give you the secret to the Macusi arrow poison no matter how many gifts you give him. He wants you to sit at the fire and drink native drink masato. Be careful boss the drink is very powerful. To refuse it is considered an insult.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Thank you Jim Bob for keeping me
informed. Tell the shaman I accept his invitation to sit down with him and drink his masato.
Note: Masato is an alcoholic drink made from yuca which is chewed and then spit into a container to ferment.Many Amazon Indians drink masato.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE We sit. Drink Masato.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN Good. White man drink. We talk.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE What did he say Jim Bob?
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE He invites you to sit and drink
masato with him.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I will try the masato. It really
has a kick to it. Wow, I just got a rush to my head after one sip. This drink is really strong.
JIM BOB The Macusi make the drink from
fermented yucca. After several hours Edward felt drunk from drinking the masato.
17.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Ask the shaman if we could stay for
a few days to observe their tribe.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE (In Macusi language) White man
thanks the shaman for his drink. May we stay tonight and learn the ways of the Macusi?
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN (In Macusi language) White man, and
maroon welcome to say. We have empty hut for you to sleep tonight.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE What did he say Jim Bob?
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE He welcomes us and has an empty hut
for us to stay tonight.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Thank God. I am very drunk and
cannot even focus my vision. That drink was very powerful. Let’s thank the shaman and retire for the night. I feel sick.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE (In Macusi language) Thank you
shaman. We accept your offer and will stay here tonight in your empty hut.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN (In Macusi language) Come follow me
white man and maroon and I will
show you to your hut. The next morning Edward woke up with a tremendous headache.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE My head is killing me. That macusi
drink was very powerful. I need to learn how the natives make it. Most important I need to find our what the arrow poison is made of and how to make it.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE The shaman will never give up the
secret to their arrow poison.
18.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE We will see about that. I have some
magic of my own. Come let’s see what the shaman is up to today.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE (In macusi language) Good morning shaman. Thank you for the lodging
last night.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN (In Macusi language) Come maroon. You and white man will join us in
eating. We killed a wild pig the other day and roasted it for the whole village to eat. Come, you are welcome.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE What did he say?
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE He wants us to join him in eating a
wild boar they roasted.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Fine I am starved.
FADE TO BLACK.
About 40 macusi men and women sat around a huge fire spit with a wild boar being roasted. Various jungle fruits and plants were also being cooked on the fire.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO This wild pig is delicious, and I
am starved. I gave the shaman some beads and other gifts.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE Gifts will not get the shaman to
give up the secret of their arrow poison. You need to do something amazing that will scare the shaman showing you have magic. More magic than the shaman has.
FADE IN: LONG KITSUNE
(CONT’D)
LONG KITSUNE After the dinner the shaman, Bancroft, and the maroon guide
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO I am going to have to think about
it. Eat up this pig is delicious.
19.
sat and talked macusi tribal life. It was then that Edward realized that the only way to get the secret arrow poison was to scare the hell out of the shaman. He would have to reveal that he was a shape-shifter who could turn into a Kitsune red fox at will and back again. Edward realized that he could not let Jim Bob see this secret, so he waited until Jim Bob went back to the hut to rest that night. It was then that Edward would reveal himself as a white man magician.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE I am going to the hut to lay down
master.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I will be along shortly. I have a
few things to discuss with the shaman.
JIM BOB, MAROON GUIDE OK, Master. I will wait in the hut.
After Jim Bob left, Edward attempted to communicate with the shaman with sign language.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Shaman, I am a white man wizard
with many magical powers which I will show to you, if you promise to reveal the secret of the arrow poison.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN Shaman cannot reveal secret of
poison. Upon realizing the shaman was not going to change his mind Edward focused his mind and turned himself into a Kitsune red fox in front of the shaman.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE
AS THE FOX You see shaman my magic is more
powerful than your magic. I am a fox now that can talk like a white man. As a fox I can run faster, see farther and smell 10x better.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN Gods above, you are a devil
creature. Do not eat me.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE (A small popping sound) I will not
eat you. See I am back in the shape of a white man again. Did my magic impress you shaman?
20.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN You have the power of black magic
white man. I will show you the secret of the arrow poison. After we make the poison from a local vine you can carry the black tar like substance in a bamboo tube safely. You cannot touch or inhale the fumes of the poison or it will kill you. There is no medicine to stop the poison.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE You have no medicine to stop the
poison?
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN We gather the bark of this vine and
it’s apples and cook it over a fire. We add some other tree bark and the crushed fangs of a snake along with ants that bite. Mixed together the poison is spread on a leaf and rubbed on an arrow. At no time can you touch the poison or you will die. Now you can keep your fox magic away from me.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE You are safe my friend. I want to
bring some bamboo tubes of poison back with me. I offer you some knives made by white men to trade for the arrow poison.
SELNA WALAYZO, MACUSI SHAMAN This is a good trade white man. Now
you must take the poison and go from this village before the Gods are angry with me for revealing the secret to our poison.
ACT THREE- SILAS DEANE IN PARIS
FADE OUT.
SCENE 1- INT. -DAY- PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, JUNE 1776.
FADE IN:
21.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (70) AMERICAN
DIPLOMAT.
Silas before you leave for Paris, France, I have a list of several men I want you to look up when you get to France to help you achieve your goals. Since you cannot speak French, I highly recommend Dr. Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune of London to help interpret any French correspondence. Arthur Lee a true Virginian is another man than can be helpful. Others friends of mine are on this list I am giving you.
SILAS DEANE Thank you Dr. Franklin. I realize I
am taking on a great responsibility seeking credit in France for military supplies and perhaps Spain also. I am grateful for your assistance Dr. Franklin.
SCENE 2- EXT. DAY- SILAS DEANE ARRIVES IN BOURDEAUX FRANCE.
Letter to Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune
SCENE 3- INT. DAY- ARTHUR LEE ARRIVES FROM LONDON.
SCENE 4-INT. DAY- JUNE 5, 1776, EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE BECOMES ILL IN LONDON
Turns into a Fox to avoid the pain from malaria
SCENE 5- EXT. DAY- JUNE 25, 1776 EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE ARRIVES IN PARIS, FRANCE TO MEET WITH SILAS DEANE.
Gets sick again. Turns into a Fox again
SCENE 6- INT. DAY- DEANE AND BANCROFT MEET VERGENNE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT VERSAILLE.
Deane discusses needs of the colonies. Bancroft waits outside.
22.
SCENE 7- EXT. DAY- AUGUST 1776, BANCROFT RETURNS TO LONDON.
Paul Wentworth recruits Bancroft as a spy for the British. Offers payment. Bancroft sends Lord North and Lord Egan a long report on his activities with Silas Deane in Paris, France.
ACT FOUR- THE COMMITTEE OF THREE.
SCENE 1-INT. DAY- PARIS, FRANCE, 1776.
After Silas Deane was sent to France in June 1776, Congress decided to send a committee of three to represent the Colonies with a treaty with France and Spain. Benjamin Franklin was sent from Philadelphia and Arthur Lee, a Virginian, was living in London, England at the time. He was instructed to meet Deane and Franklin in Paris, France as soon as possible.
THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS,
PHILADELPHIA, PA.
It is hereby decided by Congress to send a committee of three delegates to Paris, France. Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Arthur Lee, and…. It will be their duty to secure supplies for the Continental Army and to establish credit in France, Prussia, and Spain.
Later that day in Franklin’s home.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. Sarah, I have been called by the
Continental congress to travel to France to help direct the negotiations between France and the American Colonies. I would like to take my Grandson Temple, and your son William with me to get a good Continental education at the private schools in France and Switzerland.
(MORE)
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
23.
24.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. (CONT’D) I hope you are agreeable to let you
six year old son accompany me to Europe. It will be an opportunity of a life-time to see Paris, and all of Europe. No school or tutoring in the Colonies with the treat of War can match the life experiences of being in France.
Sara Franklin was a beautiful young lady raised by her father to be a shining example of the rich, and wealthy in the Colonies. She wore many different wigs, and had a thin face with a long nose and stood five feet four inches tall.
SARA FRANKLIN (28) DAUGHTER OF DR.
FRANKLIN.
I am sure William would love to sail in a boat across the ocean to France with you father. I am sure you will take good care of him, and ensure a good education in France. You have my permission to take William to Paris, France, father.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Thank you Sarah. Start packing
William. We depart tomorrow at high tide.
FADE TO BLACK.
ACT FIVE- DECEMBER 1776-BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ARRIVES IN FRANCE.
SCENE 1-EXT. DAY- FRIGATE …… ARRIVES OFF THE COAST OF FRANCE.
Delays in ship arriving. Takes a small fishing boat to port in France. Travels overland to Paris.
FADE IN:
SCENE 2-EXT. DAY- IMPATIENT FRANKLIN ARRIVES IN FRENCH PORT..?
FADE IN:
SCENE 3- EXT. DAY- FRANKLIN TRAVELS WITH GRANDSONS OVERLAND TO PARIS FRANCE. ARRIVES ON DEC. 23, 1776.
FADE IN:
SCENE 4- INT. DAY- FRANKLIN MEETS RICH FRENCH MERCHANT WHO OFFERS HOTEL DE VALENTINOIS FOR FRANKLIN TO LIVE IN DURING NEGOTIATIONS.
ACT SIX- THE TREATY OF PARIS SCENE 1- Int.-Day- Franklin’s Office Paris.
FADE IN:
FADE IN:
ACT SEVEN THE TULLERIES GARDENS, PARIS FRANCE, JANUARY 1777.
Paul Wentworth and Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune stroll through the Tulleries gardens in Paris, France deciding how Bancroft will get his messages to Wentworth without any French or American spies knowing it.
SCENE 1-EXT. DAY-TULLERIES GARDENS, PARIS.
Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune and his spy handler Paul Wentworth were strolling in the Tulleries gardens in Paris, France deciding how Bancroft will communicate with Wentworth.
FADE IN:
PAUL WENTWORTH, BRITISH SPY (45)
Edward, I am afraid I will have to leave Paris and return to London, England. There are many French spies that might soon arrest me for spying. I am often followed by strangers who are following my every move. We need to find a way for you to communicate with me after I leave Paris.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE,
DOUBLE SPY I am sorry to see you leave. We
made a good team spying on the Americans here in Paris. What do you suggest for a new method of communicating valuable information to you after you depart for London?
25.
PAUL WENTWORTH, BRITISH SPY Do you see that tree over there? It is hollow down toward it’s roots. I
will have a jar placed in the hollow portion of the tree and a string will be tied around the jar so you can retrieve it. When you have valuable information you are to come to the gardens and seek out this tree. Look for the string which will have a stick on the end to prevent the jar from falling to far inside the hollow tree. Pull the string up and take the jar out and put your message in the jar. Secure the lid and lower the jar back down inside the tree. My operatives will come by once a week to pick up the messages and to also leave messages from me. Use the premise of writing to your mistress in London as an excuse for the letter just in case the letter is intercepted. Use the invisible ink and write between the lines the real information about the Americans that you have. I will then use lemon juice to decipher the invisible ink in London when I get the letter. I am departing for London tomorrow on a frigate. You are on your own from this point on in Paris and you will be our only spy in France due to the recall of all British spies to London by Lord Eden.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE,
DOUBLE SPY When will you have the jar in the
tree in place?
PAUL WENTWORTH, BRITISH SPY My secretary will place the jar in
the tree on a string tomorrow before we depart for London. Feel free to use this method of reporting, but be careful because you may be watched by French or American spies.
26.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE,
DOUBLE SPY I wish you well on your voyage back
to London. I will remain in Paris as long as needed. Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane all trust me completely and I have made myself an important contribution to the American delegation by translating French documents into English for them and helping to secure supplies for the Continental American Army.
PAUL WENTWORTH, BRITISH SPY We need to know everything about
the Franco-American alliance, what ships are leaving French ports bound for the American Colonies, any trade between the Americans and the Caribbean islands. In addition we need to be aware of any credit the French and or Spanish give to the Americans to buy arms. Sent us any copies or summaries of Silas Deane’s letters to the Colonies or Benjamin Franklin. I must leave you now to pack my bags in preparation for my departure tomorrow to return to London. Just in case we are followed I will take another path to return to my hotel as should you.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE,
DOUBLE SPY I will do the best I can in
reporting Silas Deane’s activities in securing credit for the Colonies to purchase artillery and guns from the French and Spanish. Have a safe voyage Paul.
At this point Bancroft and Wentworth parted ways in the park. FADE TO BLACK.
SCENE 2- EXT. NIGHT- TUILLERIES PARK, 9:00 P.M..
One week later, Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune is about to make his first letter drop into the jar in the hollow tree in Tuilleries gardens. He is paranoid about French spies seeing him leave the hotel at night. The fear of being caught and shot as a spy intensifies to the point that he changes into a kitsune red Fox and runs off into the night
27.
in the direction of the Tuilleries gardens.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I must change into a Kitsune Red
Fox to avoid being seen by any French Spies. My nerves are killing me, but I must inform Paul that Deane has received over a million livre from the French government and a million from the Spanish government to purchase canons and rifles for the Continental army. Let me see if I got everything right in my letter. Dearest beloved, I have missed you very much over these past months. I hope to return to London soon so we can meet and make love again. You are always on my mind. Love and kisses. John. I must address the envelop to M. Richards. Now for the invisible ink.(Invisible Ink between the lines of the letter) Deane has secured credit 1 mil. To purchase 100 canons and 300 rifles from the French and Spanish government. He is traveling to Holland to secure the purchases in two days. Now to become a Kitsune Red Fox. I will place the envelope in my mouth and carry it to the hollow tree. Now I must depart. It is only 3.7 Kilometers from the Valentinois hotel to the Tuilleries Gardens. I will run along the Seine river, and then cross over one of the bridges to the other side to get to the gardens. It will be a short run for a Fox.
The red fox jumps out the window onto the balcony and down to the ground and runs off into the darkness.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE
AS THE FOX No one has noticed me and that is
good. Now to pull the string out of the hollow tree. Wait I hear something. No, it is just the wind in the trees. Taking the lid off the jar is harder than I thought.
(MORE)
FADE IN:
28.
29.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Now to put the letter in the jar
and put the lid back on and lower the jar into the tree using my mouth. Ahh it is done. Time to run back to the hotel.
Edward returns to the hotel undetected around 10:00 p.m.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE
AS THE FOX (CONT’D) And now I must return to my human
self. My mission is complete. I am exhausted now, and must rest. Tomorrow Paul’s operative will get the message and send it by boat to London.
ACT SEVEN- JOHN PAUL JONES COMES TO PARIS. SCENE 1-INT. DAY- PARIS, FRANCE.
Fill in John Paul Jones story here and the ships he was promised.
ACT EIGHT- 1778 THE TREATY OF PARIS.
SCENE 1- INT. DAY- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S OFFICE.
Debates over Article 11 and 12 in the draft version of the treaty with France continue.
FADE IN:
ARTHUR LEE, AMERICAN DIPLOMAT I agree Benjamin. We must protect our territorial interests now and
after the war.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. Articles 11 and 12 are critically
important to the American Colonies. We must hold the French to our land claims now and in the future.
FADE IN:
FADE OUT.
SILAS DEANE, DIPLOMAT I too agree, but the French
Ambassador is looking out for the interests of the French and he does not want articles 11 and 12 as part of the treaty.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. We must push our position and not
waiver. Eventually, the French Ambassador will see it our way.
SILAS DEANE, DIPLOMAT
We must have France Pledge to honor land claims in Article 11 France pledges to honor the lands claims of both nations forever into the future with the United States guaranteeing full support of France’s current land claims, and any lands they may acquire during the war, against all other nations, and France in turn pledging support for the United States land claims and guaranteeing to help preserve the country’s “liberty, Sovereignty, and Independence absolute, and unlimited, as well in Matters of Government as commerce.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. Sovereignty is a keyword for the
French Ambassador. He is not sure whether he can trust us.
Silas Deane, Diplomat
(MORE)
30.
31.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. (CONT’D) As I see it, Article 12 establishes
the agreement as a conditional treaty which will only take effect upon a declaration of war between France and Britain, and further makes the land, and diplomatic guarantees laid out in the treaty dependent upon the completion of The American Revolutionary War and a peace treaty which formally establishes each nation’s land possessions. Do you agree Mr. Franklin?
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, DIPLOMAT. (CONT’D) Yes, I am in agreement. We must
protect our interests at all costs. Now to convince the French Ambassador.
Rumors About the Franco-American alliance were spreading around Paris. Vergennes the French minister realized that he could no longer keep the alliance secret so in March, 1778, he makes the treaties with the American colonies public.
FADE IN:
VERGENNES, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER
(50)
I will announce today our treaty with the American colonies to quiet down all the gossip in Paris. This will allow me to expel the English Ambassador Stormont and his staff back to London. It gives me great pleasure to get rid of all the British spies finally.
FADE TO BLACK. Later on the British Ambassador to France, English Ambassador
Stormont receives the correspondence from Vergennes the French Minister to leave France immediately.
FADE IN:
STORMONT, ENGLISH AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE
(50)
Damm the French have signed a treaty with the American Colonies and Vergennes the French Minister is ordering us out of the country immediately. Inform the staff to pack up all our documents. We are leaving for London tomorrow on March 22, 1778. Burn any unnecessary documents immediately. It is over. I just received a formal notice from the Crown to vacate our hotel immediately.
FADE TO BLACK.
The scene switches to King Louis XVI in the Versailles castle which is twenty miles outside Paris, France.
FADE IN:
VERGENNES, FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER You majesty may I introduce the
ambassadors from the American Colonies: Mr. Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Silas Deane, Mr. Arthur Lee, Mr. William Lee, and Mr. Ralph Izard along with their entourage.
Benjamin Franklin is 70 years of age and well known in France thanks to his Electrical experiments which were published several years before. His hair is completely white and thin and balding at the top.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (70) AMERICAN
AMBASSADOR TO FRANCE.
You majesty, we thank you for granting us a private audience. We welcome and rejoice in our treaty with France and your majesty. Your support will greatly help us to defeat the British.
King Louis XVI is an young man of 23 at the time, and due to his political troubles in Paris chose to move to the country to his palace known as Versailles.
KING LOUIS XVI, KING OF FRANCE (23)
Bienvenue Americans.
COUNT VERGENNES, FRENCH MINISTER
Come and join us in a small banquet we prepared for our new American allies.
32.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Amazing how big this banquet is the
French have provided us with. Thank you Mr. Franklin for inviting me to this special occasion.
King Louis XVI had table after table of fabulous French food served for the American guests. It was a celebration beyond all imagination.
FADE TO BLACK.
SCENE 4-INT. DAY- SEPTEMBER 1778.
As France signs a treaty with the Colonies, they also declare war against the British. All British diplomats are asked to leave the country. Likewise Paul Wentworth must also leave for fear of being discovered as a spy leaving only Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune in Paris to report on the Americans.
FADE IN:
PAUL WENTWORTH, BRITISH SPY. (Sitting at a desk, writing a
letter) Dear Mr. Jones, I am forced to return to London since the French signed a treaty with the American Colonies. All British diplomats have been asked to leave the country and that leaves me in a dangerous position remaining in Paris. Thus I must depart for London. Continue to use the tree drop for messages and I will have my assistants pick up you letters. Good Luck. PW. There Bancroft will be our only spy in Paris now which makes him more valuable than ever. I will report this to Lord Egan in London.
Later that day Bancroft aka Mr. Jones gets the letter from Wentworth.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE Ahh, a letter from Wentworth. What
he is leaving Paris? That leaves only me to spy on the Americans. Damm it is going to be more dangerous than ever to get messages to Wentworth. Someday, I hope to return to London and live a normal life.
(MORE)
33.
34.
EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG KITSUNE I will drop another note tonight
regarding the Dutch and the Americans receiving unlimited credit for building ships and shipping military supplies to the Colonies.
FADE OUT. Later Paul Wentworth dispatches a letter to London to Lord
Egan who was in charge of the British secret service. FADE IN:
PAUL WENTWORTH< BRITISH SPY. Lord Egan, I am departing Paris
since the French have signed a treaty with the Americans and expelled all British Diplomats. This puts me in a risky and unusual position and I must return to London for my own safety. Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune aka Mr. Jones will be our only remaining British Spy in Paris upon my departure. He will continue to send letters in invisible ink to me via diplomatic courier out of Holland. Respectfully yours, P.W.
FADE OUT.
Several weeks later in London, England, Lord Egan receives Wentworth’s letter.
FADE IN:
LORD WILLIAM EGAN, DIRECTOR OF BRITISH
SECRET SERVICE. (40)
I am in receipt of a letter from Wentworth. He is returning to London after the French treaty with the Americans. Our only British spy in Paris is Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune now. Correspondence will be more difficult now. Damm. His majesty will not be happy to get this news.
ACT SEVEN- A SPY IN OUR MIDST.
FADE OUT.
SCENE 1-INT. DAY- FRANKLIN’S LIBRARY, JAN. 19,1777.
Benjamin Franklin begins to suspect he has a spy in his midst and writes to Julian Ritchie a woman living in a Benedictine Convent in Cambrai.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (Sitting at his desk writing a
letter) Dear madam Ritchie, I hope this letter finds you well. I am engaged in writing a treaty for the American Colonies and France to help us become independent from Britain. These have been difficult time with spies everywhere. Even my vale is suspect. I cannot trust anyone here in Paris, France. I cannot speak or read French which puts me at a disadvantage, but Sir Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune a Doctor and Scientist has been most helpful in reading French documents and writing French letters in return. Even Dr. Bancroft had been accused of being a spy due to his relations in London, England. I have invited Dr. Bancroft to Paris to continue to help me communicate with the French officials in French. I mention this to you now in the utmost confidence. How do I follow up on my suspicions I ask? Perhaps you have an opinion on my situation? I look forward to your reply. Your servant, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Envoy to France.
SCENE 2-INT. DAY- APRIL 1778.
Arthur lee suspects Edward Bancroft aka Aero long Kitsune is a British spy. Arthur Lee writes a letter to Benjamin Franklin warning him that his continued reliance on Bancroft could turn out to be a disaster.
FADE IN:
FADE IN:
FADE TO BLACK.
35.
SCENE 1-INT.-DAY- ARTHUR LEE’S OFFICE, PARIS, FRANCE.
FADE IN:
ARTHUR LEE, AMERICAN DIPLOMAT (60)
Dear Dr. Franklin, It has come to my attention that Edward Bancroft is a British Spy. You need to be cautious in using his services for everything you do is being reported to the British.
FADE TO BLACK. Benjamin Franklin writing at his desk in the hotel Valentine.
FADE IN:
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, AMERICAN
DIPLOMAT Dear Mr. Lee, I have taken your
letter under consideration and find it wanting in facts. Mr. Bancroft has often provided his services at no charge and has moved his family to Paris to help support the American committee here. I cannot justify accusing him as a spy.
Arthur Lee at his desk.
FADE OUT.
ARTHUR LEE, AMERICAN DIPLOMAT Congress, I have evidence that on
of our colleagues in Paris is a British spy. Dr. Edward Bancroft is a criminal with regard to the United States, and I shall have him charged as such, whenever he goes within our jurisdiction. Bancroft was recruited by the British Secret service in 1776 for the sum of 200 pounds per year. I have pleaded with Dr. Franklin to stop using Dr. Bancroft as an interpreter and consultant for he truly spies for the British.
Later when Dr. Bancroft learns of Arthur Lee’s accusations.
36.
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG
KITSUNE (Writing from his desk in London,
England) Dear Paul, I recommend you inform Lord Eden that I am being accused of spying by Arthur Lee, Diplomat for the American committee in Paris. I suggest you have the local police arrest me, and other suspects and put me in jail for a night to thrown the suspicion of my being a spy off. Benjamin Franklin will be impressed that I fled London to go to Paris after being jailed by the British. I await your response.
PAUL WENTWORTH Dr. Bancroft, I received Be ready for tonight the London police will be at
your note. local your door
and you will be arrested for spying. You will be released after one night to return to Paris to spy on the Americans. Lord North is impressed with your spying reports to date.
That night the local Police come knocking.
LONDON POLICE (Knock, knock) Open the door in the
name of the Constable of London. Dr. Bancroft you are under arrest for spying. Tie him up gentlemen.
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG
KITSUNE But I must protest. I am a
Scientist and Author, and not a spy. I am an American citizen, you cannot arrest me.
CONSTABLE OF LONDON (45)
Take him away and lock up this spy and make sure he gets no food tonight.
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
37.
The next day.
CONSTABLE OF LONDON (CONT’D) Dr. Bancroft, prisoner 3440, you
are to be released on the orders by Lord Eden. Take your coat and be gone with you.
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG
KITSUNE Thank you Constable. You will not
see me again. Bancroft boards a ship and flees to Paris, France.
FADE TO BLACK.
SCENE 2-INT. DAY- ON BOARD THE SHIP VENTURE BOUND FOR PARIS, FRANCE.
Edward Bancroft arrives in Paris, France and takes a horse and carriage to Benjamin Franklin’s office in Hotel Valentine.
FADE IN:
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG
KITSUNE Dr. Franklin, I have fled to Paris
to help support you and the American committee. Edward Lees charges are of course false. I was arrested as a spy in London, but manage to escape by paying off the jailer. I will not be permitted to return to London, now that I am a criminal on the run from the British.
DR BENJAMIN FRANKLIN You are welcome as always Dr.
Bancroft. Come sit down, and have some tea with me and tell me about the prisons in London.
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG
KITSUNE Thank you Dr. Franklin, you are
most kind. I will be writing my wife and requesting that she and my children come to Paris to live with me.
(MORE)
38.
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG If you would I am short of funds at
this time, may I borrow a small amount to pay for ship passage for my family?
DR. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, AMERICAN
DIPLOMAT Of course, by all means. I will
extend you credit to purchase ships passage for your wife and family to come to Paris. They can stay at the Hotel de Valentois.
DR. EDWARD BANCROFT AKA AERO LONG
KITSUNE Thank you Dr. Franklin. You are
most gracious.
ACT NINE-THE END OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR. SCENE 1-INT. DAY-
During the Roman Civil wars Pompey brought an Army of 6,000 to defeat Caesar in Gaul. Caesar left his fort in Gaul with 500 Soldiers and Centurian to defend it should Pompey attack. Meanwhile, Caesar too the fight to Pompey chasing his larger army around Gaul. While Caesar was seeking Pompey elsewhere, Pompey’s army of 6,000 soldiers and cavalry attacked Caesars fort protected by only 500 soldiers. The Centurians were in the front line and all of them were either killed or wounded. Marcus Scaeva seeking that all of his fellow Centurians were eight dead or wounded stepped up to the front line and led his fellow soldiers against the overwhelming numbers of Pompey’s army. More than 230 arrows hit or stuck in Marcus’ shield. He was hit in the eye with an arrow which he pulled out with his hand and shouted to his comrades to keep fighting. A javelin hit him in his shoulder and an arrow hit him in the knee. Finally from a loss of blood he collapsed to one knee behind his shield. He held his hand high when he went down and Pompey’s Centurians seeing the Centurian Scaeva finally collapse thought that he was signaling the he wanted to surrender. Two Centurians from Pompey’s army rode out to meet Marcus. When they asked him if he wanted to surrender he responded by stabbing on Centurian in the throat with his sword and cutting the other Centurian’s arm off. Immediately afterward hostilities commenced once again. Finally, Pompey’s army was driven back and could not take Caesar’s fort. Late Caesar returned to find all 500 soldiers in the fort wounded. Many Centurians were shot in the eye, and many died. The soldiers brought to Caesar the shield of Marcus with 230 holes and arrows stuck in it. They told Caesar of the bravery of Marcus fighting at the front of the army and never giving up. Caesar was so impressed that he rewarded Marcus many copper coins and promoted him from 8th level Centurian to 1st Level and put him in charge of the Tenth Legion.
Chapter one- Departure from Springfield College, Springfield, Mass.
It was June 1, 1967, a Thursday, and I was trying to finish grading the final exam for the four Botany lab sections I was responsible for. It was a blisteringly humid day in Springfield, Massachusetts, however the cool basement air in the Botany labs that were under Alumni Hall helped make the weather more bearable. Dr. Brainerd the Director of the Botany program at Springfield College had given a particularly hard final exam to the freshman taking, “Introduction to Botany,” for the spring tri-semester. I was a graduate teaching fellow in the Biology department at the time making $2,000 a year and receiving free tuition toward my Masters Degree in Outdoor Education. Dr. Brainerd liked to give lectures using 35mm slides from the thousands he had stored in his office and at his home. If a student missed a Botany lecture, then it would have been extremely difficult to recognize the same slide during the final exam when Dr. Brainerd repeated some of his favorite slides and asked the standard question. “What does this slide represent? Or he might ask, “The burrow holes in the sides of this clay river wall were caused by what animal? As I checked off the right and wrong answers on each answer sheet my mind began to wander off to my big summer adventure. Dr. Charles Weckwerth, my advisor and Department Chairperson for Recreation had arranged for me to do my Masters Field work in Los Angeles board of education School camps in Clear Creek camp, high in the Los Angeles mountains, and the Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp on the palisades of the Pacific ocean in San Pedro, California. Fortunately for me, Dr. Weckwerth had a personal friend who just happened to be the Superintendent of the Los Angeles Board of Education. As a favor for me, Dr. Weckwerth called his friend in Los Angeles and asked if he could do him a favor by allowing me to serve my master’s field experience at Clear Creek School Camp, and Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. The deal was made, and I was to report to Clear Creek on June 12, 1967, Monday. It was only 3500 miles away from Springfield, Mass.
In anticipation of having to drive to California with my wife Jeri and my two-year-old son Dean Michael I decided to trade in my Chevy Corvair that was not running at the time anyway. Jeri and I had looked at a brand-new Volkswagen Camper in the dealer on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield. The dealer offered me a few thousand for my used Chevy Corvair sight unseen if I put down $500 deposit to purchase the brand new 1967 VW Camper. The camper was white and had stick shift. The inside of the camper had a bunk for sleeping two adults, a ice box refrigerator, a small sink with a small water tank and cabinets all around the top and bottom of the camper. For my son, a canvas hammock stretched over the front two seats. Curtains could be pulled across the inside of the front windshield. The side windows had curtains also with louver opening windows with screens to keep out the bugs. The camper was expected to get 30-35 miles to a gallon that cost $.28 a gallon. We were picking up the camper this Saturday June 3rd and I was already getting excited to have my first new car. Being a graduate student at Springfield College gave me potential credit that was good enough for the Volkswagen dealer. I had already signed for a full-time position as a Physical Education teacher in the East Ramapo School District in Spring Valley, New York (exit 14 on the New York State thruway). With the guarantee of a full-time job and the reputation of Springfield College in the community my credit was good.
I finished grading all the final exams that afternoon and turned them into the Botany office secretary for Dr. Brainerd to review and got on my 50cc Yamaha motorcycle and headed home. I live in a four-story walkup apartment on Worthington Street in downtown Springfield Mass. It was cheap at $135 dollars a month with a balcony and large bedrooms, living room, Kitchen and bathroom. My two-year old son Dean Michael had his own bedroom that was 15 feet long by 12 feet wide. His room was filled with toys and a child’s crib bed. The kitchen was very room and had a table to eat in the kitchen. The pantry was walk in size with plenty of room for storage. Walking up the four floors of steps was very tiring, but I was in the best physical shape of my life at the time at the ripe old age of 23 turning 24 the end of the month. Jeri was cooking spaghetti and meatballs one of our family favorites. I collapsed on the couch in the living room and looked at the brochure showing pictures of the VW camper. I could not wait until Saturday.
I yelled to my wife from the living room that I had to go into work tomorrow on Friday to pick up my final paycheck for my graduate teaching fellow position and have Dr. Brainerd sign off on my graduate teaching fellow duties. My office was cleaned out already and I had packed up my files and put them in storage until I had time to have them sent to Spring Valley New York next fall. We watched television that evening and packed clothes into boxes for the trip to California. I made sure we had trip insurance with the Automobile Association of American and a trip-tek book and a map of the southern route to Los Angeles from Springfield Mass.
Friday came quickly and I met with Dr. Brainerd that day and he signed off on my final exam grades and my lab grades for the four sections I was assigned. I told him I would be leaving for Los Angeles the following Monday since I had to be in California at Clear Creek camp on June 12th. He wished me well and told me some of the stories he often repeated of his trips around the USA. My greenhouse duties were all completed, and the greenhouse was clean enough to pass his rigorous standards. Dr. Brainerd thanked me for the work I had done in the Biology and Botany departments in the last two years and shook my hand and wished me well. I felt a twinge of sadness when I left the underground labs in the Alumni Hall dormitory that day.
I headed for the administration building after meeting with Dr. Brainerd to pick up my final teaching fellow paycheck. After getting the check I would take it to our bank in downtown Springfield and deposit it so that we would be able to withdraw a large amount on Monday when we were planning to leave. I sold the trusty 1966 50cc Yamaha motorcycle to another Springfield College student and he would be coming by on Sunday to pay $400 for the motorcycle.
When I got back to my apartment on Worthington Street, I parked my motorcycle next to my Chevy Corvair and got in it and tried to start it. The motor turned over and then died. I tried several times and succeeded in flooding the engine. I guess getting the car to the VW dealer was going to be a problem tomorrow when I was supposed to pick up the VW camper and trade in the Corvair. Luckily, the VW dealer was at the bottom of Worthington Street and if I rolled the car down the hill in neutral, I could probably make it to the dealer’s parking lot. I hope to hell he doesn’t demand to check out the car at the last minute. He told me he was selling the car to a wholesaler as soon as I trade it in, so the chances of him caring what condition the engine was in might not matter?
The next morning, I had an appointment at 11:00 in the morning to pick up the VW Camper, and trade in the Corvair, and sign all the final papers. I was nervous, because I wasn’t sure if I could get the car to roll safely down Worthington Street to the dealer at the bottom of the hill. I got in the car and tried to start it, but it was still not turning over. I put on the emergency blinkers and released the hand brake and slowly the car began to move down the hill to the dealer’s parking lot at the bottom. I made it halfway up the driveway to the parking lot and had to leave the Corvair there where it came to a stop. I walked inside the dealer’s office and there he was standing next to the VW Camper in the giant showroom. It was a tan color and it looked great under the showroom lights. Wow, I remarked it looks better than I had imagined. The dealer had just gotten the VW Camper from another dealer in Connecticut a few days before and had the mechanics change the oil and set the car up, ready to go. I signed the final loan papers and pointed to the Corvair sitting in the driveway of the parking lot. The dealer didn’t even look out the showroom windows at the Corvair. He handed me the keys to the VW Camper and wished me good luck. A mechanic slid the glass showroom doors apart and before I knew it I was driving the camper out of the showroom and up Worthington Street to my apartment at the top of the hill. When I got home, I ran up the stairs to get my wife Jeri and son Dean to give them a ride in our new family car or camper.
Shifting with a floor shifter takes some getting used to but I managed to adjust to clutching and easing on the gas pedal. Jeri sat in the other front seat and Dean sat on the couch in the back of the camper. We were all excited as I drove the camper out of Springfield toward Wilbraham out in the country. The engine was noisy but pulled up the hills easily. We drove around for a few hours, and then headed home for Dean’s afternoon nap. Two-year-olds must have their rest.
The weekend went by fast and on Monday morning we were at the bank at 9:00 withdrawing enough money to get through the summer in California. I had saved money all year for this trip across the country and the stay in Los Angeles for the summer. As soon as we left the bank we gassed up the VW camper and we were off on our big journey.
I took route 91 down to Hartford and then route 95 south to New York City. We made it to New York City and the George Washington Bridge in just three hours which is amazing because the VW camper does not travel that fast. Before we knew it we were on the New Jersey turnpike headed for Delaware. We stopped for lunch and to get gas at one of the rest stops on the turnpike. By late afternoon we were crossing Delaware entering Maryland. We stopped again for dinner and more gas and continues onto Washington, D.C.. We went around D.C. to avoid the traffic and entered Virginia. Our destination was Wheeling West Virginia. We took the turn suggested on the map and headed across Virginia to West Virginia. It was dark now and getting late. We got to Wheeling, West Virginia around midnight and got lost in the many hills that dotted the geography. Feeling to tired to continue we pulled over on the side of the road and went to sleep. About 4:00 am that morning there was a tapping sound on the side of the camper. I woke up and looked out the window to see a State Trooper standing there. It was still dark and he had a flashlight shining on the camper. I got up and went out to talk to the State Trooper. He informed me that I was right in the middle of an off-ramp on the highway and had to move the camper immediately. I complied and got in the camp and drove for the horizon. Eventually we reached the wooden bridge in Wheeling that crosses the Ohio river. It seemed like the bridge would fall into the river at any moment. I drove very slow over the wooden planks of the ancient bridge, holding my breath the entire way.
Finally, we made it into Ohio and stopped for breakfast sometime in the morning. Dean was keeping busy looking at the cows in the fields as we drove by. It was as if he had never seen so many cattle before. I was exhausted having driven since 4:00 am that day. We were headed toward Columbus, Ohio where we would connect with route 70 which would eventually take us south to connect with route 66. Once we got off the interstate highway in Ohio and headed south on route 71 south, the trip slowed down due to single lane roads with speed traps everywhere. We stopped at some burger places and ate a burger for breakfast. Bathroom stops were far and few between, so it was good to stop occasionally. That night we stayed at a State roadside rest area which was full of RVs and campers. We left the next morning headed for Cincinnati, Ohio. The sun glare on the flat dash of the Camper was so bad we had to stop at a Convenience store and buy some dark cloth to tape to the inside of the windshield to absorb the bright reflection off the white dash. Not having air-conditioning in the camper made it difficult when it got hot. We had all the windows open in the camper to cool it off when driving. Several hours later we went by Cincinnati and headed for Memphis, Tenn. on route 71 south. We stopped at another rest stop that evening and cooked our first dinner of hotdogs over a portable charcoal grill we brought with us. Dean was thrilled to be cooking outdoors and sitting at a picnic bench in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning, we reached Memphis, Tenn. and continued around it to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was getting very windy on the open flat plains of Oklahoma, so we stopped to get a soda and some soft ice cream. I got out of the camper and when to order three sodas for us and three soft ice cream cones. It was so windy that the wind blew the soda out of the cups, and I had to go back and ask for a refill. Wow I thought to myself, it was windy here in Oklahoma. Next, I got the soft ice cream cones, and half the ice cream blew off before I could get back to the camper. I turned on the radio to the local AM stations to hear that a tornado had just hit the area where we were 20 minutes before we got there. No wonder it was so windy? Trucks and RVs were laying on their sides as we drove down the road. It was a scary looking aftermath of a tornado. I drove as fast as I could to put the tornados behind us. We drove late into the night headed for Amarillo, Texas. We stopped and rested for the night and left early the following morning after eating some dry cheerio oats cereal. We were out of milk at the time. We stopped at the next gas station to get more ice for the ice box and a quart of milk for cereal. We were supposed to stop in a Canyon Park for campers somewhere near Amarillo. As we approached the turnoff for the campgrounds, I noticed we were on empty with the gas gauge. Feeling very nervous we drove down into the canyon with no gasoline feeling we would stall at any minute. Fortunately, we got to the bottom and found a campsite for the night. The next morning, I told Jeri to pray that we make it back up to the rim of the canyon and find a gas station somewhere. We creeped up the steep canyon road in second gear until we reached the top and headed west. Twenty miles down the road we pulled into a gas station and filled up the tank. Apparently, there was some reserve gas that didn’t show on the gas gauge that the VW camper had. We stopped at a Texas breakfast place where I had hash browns, steak , and eggs for the first time in my life. I had never had hash browns before or steak with my eggs, so it was a big treat for me.
We traveled on toward Albuquerque, New Mexico slowly traveling down the single lane route 66. It was impossible to pass the big 18-wheeler trucks because the camper did not have the horsepower to pass them. We drove behind some trucks for hundreds of miles sometimes until they finally pulled off for gas. By the fourth day we had reached Flagstaff, Arizona where I had a gas station change the oil on the air-cooled VW engine. After that one-hour break, we headed for Grand Canyon on rt. 180 north. We arrived several hours later at the south rim of the Grand Canyon and took many pictures. Being that it was getting late we drove down to south to the desert view stone tower where there was a camping area. We camped out there for the night at this beautiful site where we could see the painted desert in the distance. Early the next morning we were awakened by the sound of dirt bikes starting up. I looked out the door of the camper to see many people on dirt bikes (motorcycles) headed out into the desert. Off they went in a cloud of dust not to return until later that morning. We rested and took pictures and planned our return to Flagstaff and then onto Kingman, Arizona.
We arrived at Kingman late that afternoon and headed north toward Las Vegas where we would pick up rt. 15 to cross over the mountains into California. We had to stop at a rest stop in the Mohave desert that night. It was freezing cold that night but when the sun came up the temperature jumped into the 90’s quickly. We arrived at Las Vegas later that day where I had my first burrito. The lady asked me whether I wanted red or green sauce and since I was not familiar with Mexican sauces, I choose the green chili sauce. I took one bike, and it was so hot I had to spit it out in the parking lot. So much for my first real Mexican food. I guess I had much to learn.
By the seventh day of our journey, we were crawling up route 15 over the mountains heading toward Los Angeles. Everyone passed us climbing up the mountains. VW campers had no hill climbing ability whatsoever. When we finally reached the top of the interstate road, we flew down the other side at 70 miles an hour. Los Angeles county was in the distance, and we were finally nearing our goal. I must make some turns to get to the road into the Los Angeles mountains where at 5500 feet above sea level the Clear Creek School camp was situated. The Los Angeles Board of Education sponsored this year-round School camp for their students in grades 4-8. They also had a marine theme School called the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp in San Pedro, California right on the palisades of the Pacific Ocean. After climbing back into the mountains for another hour or so we saw the sign for the LA Clear Creek School Camp. We turned off at that point and drove up a dusty dirt and asphalt road to the cabins high on a hill in the mountains. Finally, we had arrived.
Chapter two- Clear Creek School Camp, Los Angeles mountains 5,000 feet above sea leve.
(The approach road to Clear Creek) (The Hawks cages at Clear Creek)
The approach road to Clear Creek School Camp in the Los Angeles Mountains at 5500 feet above sea level.
As we approached the Clear Creek School Camp the director came out to meet us and welcomed us. He showed us a log cabin that we would be staying in for the next two weeks. My first impression as well as my wife’s was, “God it is hot here.” For the most part there were some trees to provide shade, however the majority of the campgrounds was exposed to the elements and the sun. Nearby on another mountaintop a beekeeper was raising bees that flew over to the camp area and alloyed the Hawks that were in cages.
In the picture above my wife Jeri and son Dean, n the background are seeking shelter from the broiling sun in the cabin. A view of the mess hall from the back of the building is in the next photo.
After we had unpacked and settled in we joined the Director and the staff in the mess hall where they were serving dinner. The Director and I talked about the philosophy of School Camps and about my major in Outdoor Education at Springfield College. My advisor, Dr. Charles Dr. Charles Weckwerth was well known nationally in the field of Recreation because he was the President of the National Recreation Association that accredits day and resident camps around the U.S.A. We talked about the Curriculum that was to integrate different academic subjects together. Combining Science and history together or Math and Outdoor survival skills. At night since the sky was so clear the camp offered Astronomy for lots of School groups. The overall theme at the camp was Ecology of natural resources. Unlike the Point Fermin Lighthouse School camp, Clear Creek had established permanent buildings and operated year-round. The Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp was only open in the summer for 8 weeks. Clear Creek also kept Hawks in captivity and many other local animals in cages for the campers to see. Point Fermin had no animals in cages at all. Clear Creek in addition to the camper log cabins had staff cabins, a mess hall, a classroom building and an outdoor pool.
The second day at Clear Creek the Director invited me to take a hike in the canyon with him and a camper group. He told me to wear high boots and pants because of the threat of rattlesnakes along the trail. I thought to myself, “rattle snakes,” I guess I will not be bringing my son or wife along the hike. We met after breakfast the following morning, and the Director and two staff members explained the rules for hiking into the canyon and the danger of rattle snakes. Campers were forbidden to bother the rattlesnakes or provoke them in any manner. If they saw a rattler, they were to yell SNAKE loud enough for everyone to hear. Then remain in place until a staff member did something about the snake. The side of the trail was surrounded by chaparral that is a woody bush that grew as high as four to six feet and was extremely dry in the summer months that caused a fire hazard. The director explained to the camper group that it only took a small spark or a streak of lightening to ignite a forest fire in a matter of minutes. We were five minutes down the trail when the first rattlesnake was spotted. SNAKE someone yelled and a staff member with a hiking stick that had a curled wire on one end came back to inspect the snake. He felt the snake was out of range and the entire group of campers slowly gave the snake a wide birth and continued down into the canyon where the stream ran through the mountains. We spotted twelve more rattlesnakes that day and I was a nervous wreck. Four of the snakes had to be removed from the hiking trail by a staff member using a snake stick which had a loop on one end that could ensnare the snake around the head and lift it and drop it some where away from the camper group. The chaparral was sharp and could cut you easily you so long sleeves were a form of protection.
(Reforestation of trees on the slopes) (Stone amphitheater at Clear Creek Camp)
(Stream coming down the mountain) (The outdoor Pool at Clear Creek)
The stream running down the mountain in the canyon. The photo on the fight is actually a white glare of a wide-open outdoor pool area. Over the past 40 years when this photo was taken the silver nitrate in the photo has faded making the picture look greenish.
While in the canyon the director and one of his interpretative staff members explain the ecology of the mountains and the importance of preventing erosion and fires. The stream ran down some steep rocks and often froze in the cold winter months of January and February. She shade from the trees was a welcome break. When we finished with the hike, we started back up the hill to the camp and of course spotted several more rattle snakes.
When I got back to my cabin, I informed my wife that are was infested with rattle snakes and to be careful about her and Dean. Wearing high ankle boots was a safety measure that we would have to abide by. Fortunately, we had brought high ankle hiking boots for all of us. I instructed Jeri and Dean to wear only high ankle boots at the camp because there were a lot of rattle snakes.
In the afternoon we went to look at the Hawks that were kept in cages on the campgrounds. Most of the Hawks had been injured at one time or another and were recovering or had been raised from chicks in abandoned nests. When it got real hot the staff would hose the Hawks down to cool them down from the high 90’s heat. I noticed that several Eagles were soaring overhead looking for prey.
At dinner that night staff members introduced some songs after eating and short skits about nature. It was standard procedure to have a pre-hike session in a classroom to introduce the campers as what they should be looking for in terms of plants and animals. The classroom building was another well-constructed log cabin building that could hold fifty campers at a time. Most groups were ten or so at a time.
When the groups were not doing Astronomy there were campfire activities, singing, skits and lots of fun for the staff and campers. By 10:00 pm each night was lights out time. There was no television at the camp or radios except an emergency weather and fire radio the Director kept in his cabin. Basically, the camp was as primitive and free from modern conveniences as possible. Oil lanterns were used at night and flashlights to navigate the paths from building to building. The campers were warned not to bring any food to camp or leave any papers or food outside their building because many animals came through the camp at night in search of food. Skunks, raccoons, possums, porcupines, wildcats, and sometimes bears had been known to tear apart garbage cans that were locked up in woodsheds.
After a week of the excessive heat and the fear of rattle snakes my wife had enough of our stay at Clear Creek and wanted to leave early. She was afraid Dean would be bitten by a snake and die.
I tried to calm her fears but spoke to the Director the second week asking him if we could leave early because my wife was very uncomfortable at the altitude, heat, and fear of snakes. He agreed since I had to report to Point Fermin Lighthouse camp the next weekend on Sunday anyway. We agreed to let me leave early on Thursday and I would take my wife and son and visit my aunt
(Clear Creek Weather facility sign) (Weather Station at Clear Creek)
Penny who lived in Apple Valley, California.
(Camp Hi-Hill belonging to the Long Beach (Camp Hi-Hill Modern Mess Hall)
School District outdoor education association)
On Monday of the second week, I was invited to travel to Hi-Camp School Camp for the Long Beach School District outdoor education program. The Director of Clear Creek had a staff member drive us over to the Long Beach camp after breakfast. I took Jeri and Dean with me to keep them busy. The buildings at Hi-Camp were more modern than Clear Creek and the whole campsite was newer with a good size mess hall and many modern cabins for the staff and campers. We had lunch at the mess hall of Camp Hi-Hill, and I had an opportunity to talk with the Director. He was very impressed that I was completing a Master’s Degree in Outdoor Education and that I and my family drove from Springfield, Mass. To do my field work at the LA Board of Education School Camps. He was so impressed that he offered me a job after I finished my summer field experience. I was very excited about the offer, but I had already signed a contract with the East Ramapo Central School district in Spring Valley to work full-time at Kakiat Junior High School as a Physical Education Teacher and Health Education Teacher. I had a dual degree in both areas when I received my Bachelor of Science degree from Springfield College. The Director at Camp Hi-Hill was most impressed with the fact that I was an Eagle scout when I was in the Boy Scouts of America. I told him about the many interesting camping experiences I had in the Boy Scouts in Winter and Summer camping. I spent one summer when I was 16 at a Boy Scout Camp called Onterora in the Catskills mountains of New York as a Nature and Survival Counselor. I had to take Boy Scout troops for a three-day survival trip on weekends at the camp where all we had to survive was a knife and a survival kit.
After lunch we returned to Clear Creek camp, and I told my wife about the offer for a full-time position as Director of the Hi-hill camp for the Long Beach school district in the fall. My wife’s response was that I could take the job if I wanted it but she would be returning with my son Dean to her home in Freeport, New York without me. She would then send me the divorce papers from New York. I got the message which was a definitive NO. I was disappointed but realized that she did not sign on to live in the mountains of the Los Angeles mountains with me when she married me. I dropped the issue after that discussion.
The Clear Creek Director asked me how I liked the Hi-Camp School Camp and I told him I was most impressed with their modern buildings and shady environment. I told me that Clear Creek had been around a lot longer than Hi-Camp and that the Long Beach school district floated a bond issue to build the camp from scratch just a few years ago. I figured that the Hi-Camp was newer because all the buildings and facilities were much more modern and larger than Clear Creek Camp. I did not tell the Clear Creek Director that I was offered a director’s position at Hi-Camp in the fall. I figured it was a personal matter and would do no good to mention it since I was a dead issue as far as my wife Jeri was concerned.
We departed the Thursday of the second week to stay at my Aunt Penny’s ranch in Apple Valley for a few days and then continue onto Point Fermin Lighthouse camp on that weekend on Sunday when I was supposed to arrive and meet with the Camp Director of the Point Fermin School Camp.
The stay at my Aunt Penny’s was great. We had an opportunity to ride horses and visit Roy Rogers Museum down the road and personally meet Roy Rogers and Dale Evans at an Episcopalian church service in which my aunt and uncle were parishioners. Roy was a lot shorter in person than I had imagined but he was a real gentlemen and leader of the church parish in Apple Valley. Sunday morning came faster than we had imagined and after checking the map and getting directions from my Aunt Penny and Uncle Johnny, we departed for Point Fermin School camp in San Pedro, California. San Pedro was down on the ocean next to Long Beach Harbor. In fact we took the Long Beach harbor freeway down from Los Angeles to get to San Pedro. It took us several hours and we stopped for lunch at a Taco shop to sample some real Mexican food. Eating Tacos and burritos was a real treat for us Easterners.
(Rocky trail down into the canyon) (Our cabin at Clear Creek Camp)
(Field trip by campers into the canyon (My son Dean entering the cabin)
where the stream was located)
Chapter THREE- Arrival at Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp in San Pedro, California
After leaving my Aunt Penny’s ranch in Apple Valley we headed to San Pedro, California to meet the Camp director of the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. After several hours driving we finally arrived at San Pedro. I checked the map and it appeared that the Lighthouse Park was a public park on the palisades of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, we arrived at the park and drove in looking for the camp buildings. All I noticed were picnic benches and a playground in a nicely shaded park where you could see Catalina out in the ocean. As we drove around the park, I noticed a maintenance man cutting grass and I stopped and asked him where the School Camp was. He pointed to an area near the base of the Victorian style Lighthouse on the edge of the ocean. As we drove into the driveway, I noticed there were three garages and a mobile trailer. I still did not see any classrooms or permanent building like they had in Clear Creek. After I parked the Camper and got out, I noticed a man getting out of the mobile home parked in the circular driveway. I introduce myself and realize I was talking to the Director of the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. The director was Chris Lambu, and he was living in the mobile home with his wife Jenny. He welcomed me to the camp and gave me a tour of the facilities. He explained that the Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp was much different than the Clear Creek camp because the land did not belong to the LA Board of Education. It was leased from the California State Parks Association and everything on the public parks grounds was temporary and set up only for the summer and then removed after the summer season. The only thing permanent was the three garages that became storage areas for the army tents when the season was over. Needless to say, I was very disappointed in the appearance and lack of permanent facilities. I tried to hide my displeasure with the lack of permanent structures. Chris the Camp director sensed my displeasure. “I guess you are in shock after visiting Clear Creek,” he said. “Yes, quite a bit,” I responded. “Well this camp is all about location, location, location, “he said. It was the only way the LA Board of Education could get a Marine Camp concept on the ocean. The partnership with the US Coast Guard and the California State Department of Parks made this camp all possible. Chris showed me what was in the three garages. The first garage was the camp store. The second garage was a classroom setup and the staff lounge. The third garage was a storage area for equipment, supplies, etc. Behind the garages were a dozen or so large green Army tents that had 10 metal cots with mattresses in each tent. He showed me to one smaller tent was to be my home for the next eight weeks. I could tell from the look on my wife’s face that she was not happy, but she said nothing as we toured the camp. Chris explained that each week a different area of Los Angeles County would come to the camp, 80 campers in all with 10 to a tent. The uniqueness of this camp he explained was the dedication to marine life and the ecology of marine life. We walked over to the edge of the fence with warning signs that the public was prohibited from going beyond the fence and down the sandy trails to the ocean below. Chris told me that only the camp staff with campers were permitted to use the eroded trails and that they had special permission from the Coast Guard and the State of California to use the trails. Special care had to be exercised using the trails because it was washed out in many sections and the campers had to be careful not to fall or damage the trails. “We do tide pooling twice a week,” Chris said. “It is one of our favorite camp activities,” he explained. Pointing over to a small restaurant in the middle of the park he explained that the local school that provided us with heater-stacks of food did not provide coffee because the menu is designed for children and not adults. If we wanted coffee in the morning we would have to go to the restaurant and buy our own cup of coffee before the campers got up at 8:00 in the morning. I was shocked that there was no coffee. They did not even have a coffee machine in the camp store or staff lounge. Chris pointed out that there were no showers in the camp except for the staff at the back of the restaurant in an outdoor enclosure. Women had Tuesdays and Thursdays to use the shower and Men had Wednesday and Fridays. The campers had to shower at the local public beach when on beach trips. The only place the campers could eat was on the public benches right in the middle of the park. I asked what happened if it rained? Chris told me it never rains in LA. I doubted that statement, but after eight weeks at the camp I learned he was right, “it never rains in LA in the summer.” It did, however, have fog in the morning or a marine layer as it was called. The campers came in each Monday morning sometime between 9:00 and 11:00 depending on how far away their school district was located from the park. The staffs were called Skippers or Mates would unload the luggage that came in trucks in advance of the busses by 30 minutes. When the campers arrived the Camp Director would assign each Skipper to a group of campers for the entire week. There would be four female Skippers and four male Skippers, all college students from local colleges. Chris and I were the only Directors or administration of the camp. There was no camp Nurse or Doctor or custodian on the staff. Chris also mentioned that for the entire summer the Skippers and Directors were to assume a marine style name that fit the theme of the camp. He told me he had chosen the name Captain Flogg and his wife Jen would be called Mrs. Flogg to the campers and staff. I thought about it and decided I would choose a name like Sharkie. I would be Captain Sharkie for the entire summer and Jeri; my wife would be Mrs. Sharkie. Dean would be the camp mascot as it turned out and he used just his name, Dean. The skippers would be reporting to camp around 6:00 pm that evening for an orientation session and to receive their camper group assignments and learn the rules and policies of the camp. The schedule for the week was flexible as follows:
That night when Jeri, Dean and I were eating at Jack in the box nearby we talked about the camp and it’s lack of permanent facilities. I explained that this was my master’s degree fieldwork worth ten credits toward my degree and mandated by the master’s degree Program. I explained we would have to make it work no matter how primitive the camp appeared to be.
The camp director explained that I had some very specific duties to do each week because he was responsible for the weekly staff evaluations and all the camp paperwork. I was to take all the groups to the beach-on-beach days. I was to also learn the harbor tour talk and give that talk once a week when the camp went on the harbor tour on Wednesdays. I would also assist in evaluating the Skippers and fill the Camp Director in on situations where he was not present. The effort as he explained was a team effort and everyone pitched in on feeding the campers at meals, unloading, and loading suitcases, and supervising campers on field trips in and out of camp.
The lack of privacy was difficult to get use to at the camp. The only thing that separated the camp from the public was a ten-foot-high hedge that hid the tents from view of the public in the park. During the week we had reserved signs on the ten tables we needed to feed the campers and staff. On the weekends the signs were removed, and the park filled up with adults and children. On the weekends the camp closed however, Chris or Capt. Flogg, and I were responsible to watch out for anyone from the park going through the tents or trying to access one of the garages. As it turned out I had to lock up my stuff in my camper on the weekends because there was no security in leaving stuff in our tent.
I had some concerns about the 300-foot-high cliffs and keeping my two-year old son Dean away from those cliffs. We did not take the campers down the steep cliffs fortunately. We used a sandy trail off to the side of the park where there were no rocky cliffs and only a sandy eroded dirt cliff to the tide pooling area.
6:00 that night the staff/Skippers began to arrive, and Capt. Flogg had everyone meet and sit down in the staff lounge where we could have an orientation meeting. He explained all the rules and policies that he told me and had each staff member select their marine theme name for the summer. The names selected were:
Rip
Windy
Jimmer
Splutz
Kip
Sandy
Ketch
Mrs. Flogg (Jen)
Captain Sharkie
Captain Flogg
Mrs. Sharkie (Jeri)
Each of the Skippers explained what college they were attending and what their major was at that school. They also explained why they choose to work at the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp for the summer. Most of the counselors were in Teacher education, Biology, Marine Biology and Communications. We did a survey of personal skills, and we had some surfers, guitar players, singers, painters, and storytellers on the staff. After the formal orientation the Skippers set up their tents and bunks and came back to the staff lounge to chat and relax the rest of the evening. Captain Flogg posted the schedule for the entire week and the Camper group assignments. He pointed out the team effort concept with serving food to the Campers before eating themselves. Unloading the suitcases of the campers before they arrived and giving a general orientation of the rules and policies and tent assignments when the campers arrived. It looked like we had a really motivated and talented group of Skippers for that summer, and everything seemed positive. None of the Skippers had every been a Skipper before but a few had come to the camp when they were in elementary school many years before.
And so the sun went down over the pacific and the view of Catalina Island faded in the fog. We sat around the lounge telling stories and jokes. Dean amused himself with some of the toys that were lying around the staff lounge while we talked and laughed. Captain Flogg explained that he was a professor at UCLA and that Jenny was one of his graduate students whom he married the spring before the summer of 1967. What a honeymoon at the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. Paychecks were discussed and Capt. Flogg explained that the checks would be delivered every other week. My paycheck situation he explained was not clear since I was doing fieldwork for my degree. I informed him that my advisor arranges for me to get the standard assistant Director paycheck because I assumed all the travel expenses driving across the country with my family in my own vehicle. The LA Board of Education was supposed to pay me on the same schedule as the Skippers. That however, as time went, by never happened.
Chapter 4- The First Week of Camp, July 1967.
The first Monday began bright and early at the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp. Everyone on the staff was nervous since this was the first time, they had a camp group arrive. The orientation yesterday on Sunday covered a lot of rules and policies and the counselors or Skippers as they would now be called had a lot to absorb and memorize. Captain Flogg was up early and his wife Jen, Mrs. Flogg camp out of their mobile home and headed directly to the coffee shack in the middle of the park. Jeri, Dean, and I joined them since there would be no breakfast delivered on the first Monday of each week. I sat down and ordered some coffee and a donut for Jeri and I, and a bowl of milk and shredded wheat for Dean. We talked about the first day and how we were going to organize it. Capt. Flogg had made up a schedule of Skipper assignments for each of our counselors to one of the eight groups of ten campers arriving this morning. The schools had already tagged the campers with a number to indicate what tent they will be assigned to and what Skipper they will report to when they arrive. The first thing we had to do this morning was unloading the trunks and suitcases that will arrive an hour earlier than the campers around 9:00 am that morning. This would give us time to arrange the suitcases according to the predetermined number code of 1-8. By the time the campers arrived in busses we would be able to line them up by group number and show them where their luggage was located and introduce them to their assigned Skipper for the week. Capt. Flogg would introduce all the skippers and me first thing and then we would have each Skipper get their assigned group together with their luggage. The next thing would be the raising of the American flag by two Skippers appointed by Capt. Flogg. Skippers Kip and Windy would raise the flag this morning. Capt. Flogg gave me a checklist he prepared to make sure we cover all the rules and regulations before we sent the campers to their tents. He said we would share telling the rules to the campers so that they realize him, and I will be working together as directors of the camp. The coffee never tasted so good that morning. Dean and Jeri were anxious to see how the morning kicked off with the campers since they would be observers and nothing more. This was all new for Dean, like a big adventure. For Jeri it was just something new since she had never been to a camp as a child.
(Captain Flogg assigning the Campers to the Skippers) ( Skippers unloading the suitcases)
9:00 are that morning the trucks with the luggage arrived on time and all the Skippers and myself began unloading the luggage. Once we got the luggage off the trucks they left and we sorted the baggage according to the number code. Numbers 1-4 were the first four girls’ groups and Numbers 5-8 were the boys groups. Captain Flogg announced the Windy had group 1; Jimmer group 2; Sandy group 3 and Jen or Mrs. Flogg had group 4. For the boys, Kip had group 5; Splutz had group 6; Kip had group 7 and Ketch had group 8.
A few minutes after 10:00 the school busses rolled into camp. The morning fog or marine layer was beginning to burn off and the sun was starting to come out. The campers began pouring out of their busses excited to be at the seashore and at a camp dedicated to Marine shore ecology. This week’s group was from Lincoln School District in the Los Angeles Board of Education system. Camp Flogg had a portable bullhorn that he used to project his voice over the excited noise of the campers. “Welcome to the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp. My name is Captain Flogg, and I am the camp director here at the camp. To my right is the Assistant Camp director, Captain Sharkie. Shortly, I will call out your pre-assigned group number and the Skipper or counselor you will be assigned to for the entire week. All the counselors are called Skippers at the camp and all of them have a seaworthy nickname they will use the entire summer. Let me introduce Skipper Rip from UCLA, Skipper Windy from USC, Skipper Jimmer from Long Beach City College, Skipper Splatz from Long Beach City College, Skipper Kip for Los Angeles College of Technology, Skipper Sandy from California State at Northridge, Skipper Ketch from USC and finally Skipper Jen or Mrs. Flogg from UCLA.
Now when I call your number you will line up behind the Skipper that has a cardboard number that they are holding. After you find your assigned group, we will raise the American flag. Following that each Skipper will take their group to get their baggage and trunks and carry their trunks to their assigned tent. While at the assigned tent your Skipper will go over the schedule for the day and week and review some of the camp rules and policies.
So, the roll call went smoothly, and campers lined up behind their Skipper. Let’s all sit down for a few minutes while Capt. Sharkie and I review the camp rules and policies you must while attending this camp. First and foremost, no one should have any money or candy on them. We have a credit system already set up at the Camp store for you to buy candy, popcorn or treats. As for food, please do not store or take any food to your tent because it will attract animals at night such as possums and mice. Secondly, all boys are to remain in their tent area and not to visit any of the girls’ tents. If you violate this rule or any other rules you may be sent home to your parents. The Coffee shop in the middle of the park is off-limits to any Campers. We are on the edge of a 300-foot cliff above the ocean that could be very dangerous. Do not go over the fence near the cliff at any time. When we go tide pooling, we will guide you down the sandy trail on the side of the park away from the steep cliffs. The public is not allowed to use these trails; however, we have special permission to use the trails to go tide pooling. When you are tide pooling you may see and touch the animals and shells but no shells, starfish, crab or any animal is to be brought back to camp. Rotting starfish, live shells or any animals can stink up an entire tent and make it unbearable for anyone in the tent to sleep at night. Also ants are attracted to these shells or animals and will come by the thousands to eat the specimen you brought up from the sea. We go to Cabrillo beach in the afternoon when the sun comes out and you must wear your Point Fermin t-shirt and Hat and your Skipper will put zinc oxide on your nose to prevent you from burning and to make it easy for us to identify you at the crowded public beach. Out food is delivered right here to the park beginning today at noon for lunch and ending on Friday at noon lunch. The Skippers will serve every camper and each group 1-8 will sit together with their Skipper and fellow campers or Mates as we call them. After the meals each group will clean up its table and surrounding area and throw the trash in the garbage cans provided. We are using a public park by permission and must leave the park nice and clean after our meals just the way we found it.
Regarding cuts or scratches or any illnesses at Point Fermin Lighthouse camp. We do not have a Nurse on duty. Skippers will take care of cuts and scratches and upset stomachs. If you are really sick we will call an ambulance and have you taken to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. Do not hide your illnesses or injuries and report them immediately to your Skipper so that they can provide the proper care.
The Camp Store is open on Monday, Wed., and Thursday nights after dinner from 6:00-8:00 pm. No money is used, only credit accounts. Every camper has five dollars in their account and can buy whatever they want with the five dollars all week. Any balances left over after your departure on Friday will be erased and returned to the general fund. No refunds in real money will be allowed at any time.
Now I am going to dismiss each group that will go with their Skipper to get their luggage and take the luggage to their assigned tent for the week. So each of the Skippers and their groups were called out and went and got their luggage and carried their bags to their tents. In the tents were ten army metal frame beds and cots. With each bed came a pillow and pillowcase and one sheet to cover the cots. Each camper was to store their luggage under their bed or at the foot of the bed. Skippers reminded each Mate that they must keep their luggage or trunks always locked. Skippers asked if everyone understood the rules and if they had any questions.
The Skippers then walked the Mates around the park for a tour. They were shown the Camp Store which was garage number one and the classroom which was garage number two which also doubled as a staff lounge at night or when it was not being used by Mates. The Lighthouse was manned by the US Coast Guard and was off-limits. The Mates were then shown the fence along the sea wall and warned not to go over the fence at any time. As they walked south along the sea wall fence the groups came to a large sign Warning, No Public us of Trails permitted. Here is where the camp would access the tide pooling ledges along the ocean edge at low tides. No public people were allowed down the trails because they were eroded, sandy and dangerous enough for someone to trip and fall. Cabrillo beach was a mile away from the entrance to the beach and the water taxi was two miles away at the San Pedro docks. School busses would come to the park and pick up all the mates and take them to the Harbor tour that was on Wednesdays and on beach days.
All the tours were completed by 12:00 and the heater-stack truck arrived at the park for the Skippers to unload and setup for lunch. Once the food and drinks were set up the Skippers served the mates the lunch meal and drink. Once they had their meals they went and sat down at their group table. Sometimes one of the Skippers would lead the camp in a song or story while they were waiting to be fed. After all the mates were fed the Skippers were allowed to get their lunches and sit down with their assigned groups. After lunch each group policed the area or cleaned up their tables. In the afternoon from 1:00 to 4:00 there would be a pre-tide pool discussion in the classroom garage for each assigned group. Skipper Jen would lead the pre-tide pool discussion regarding the ecology of marine life and what to look for when tide pooling. The camp had a shell identification board that was helpful in identifying different shells. Mates were reminded not to pick up or bring back any live or dead shells, starfish, crabs, or animals to their tents. While some of the groups were in the pre-tide pool classes other groups were introduced to camp songs that would be sung at night at the campfires. Almost all of the Skippers could play a guitar or sing well enough to lead a group. Some Skippers like Splutz had special story songs to teach that all the mates got to act out as they all went Walrus hunting. Skipper Windy had her own guitar and a whole list of camp songs she could play. Every Skipper had their own set of skills, stories and songs that made every campfire at night a fun event.
5:00 rolled around quickly and the entire camp assembled to take the flag down. Soon after that the heater-stacks truck pulled in and the Skippers unloaded the heater-stacks onto the picnic tables and set up the serving trays for the hot meal for dinner and the drinks. The header-stacks were pressurized under steam to keep the food warm from the Elementary school several miles away and when the food was delivered to the park. Milk containers and cool aide were always available for drinks. The Skippers dished out the food to each mate as they went down the line with their paper plates. After dinner Capt. Flogg announced the schedule for the evening that was a Campfire in the middle of the park at 8:30 when it got dark. Until then, the groups could go to the Camp store and buy something from their credit account. The Camp Store was open from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights only.
On days when the camp was going to Cabrillo beach, box lunches were provided, and each Mate took his or her box lunch and drink to the beach when they got picked up on the school busses to go to the beach. It was my job to supervise the loading and unloading of the busses and to go and stay the entire afternoon with the groups at the beach. Tuesday and Thursday were tide pooling days if we could match the low tide to our schedule. Every Wednesday was the Harbor cruise in which all 80 campers got to go on a water taxi for a two-hour tour of the Long Beach harbor. Forty campers went on a trip at one time, and it was my job to do the speaker talk about parts of a boat, types of ships in the harbor, maritime terms, flags of foreign countries and special places around the harbor. At first, I had to work off a list Capt. Flogg gave me and after the second harbor tour the first week I was much more proficient at the two-hour harbor tour. After eight weeks of two tours every Wednesday I was an expert at the Harbor tour. We went over the bow and stern of the water taxi, the fore and aft terms, the head, the galley, starboard side and port side of the ship and many other terms. I showed the mates how to determine if a ship was full of cargo or oil or not by looking on how low they were in the water. We searched for US Coast guard cutters and boats and pointed out the Harbor Master’s house and his job in the Long Beach harbor. We talked about the international quarantine area for ships to remain at anchor until cleared by the Coast Guard and the difference between the Coast Guard and the Navy. Each week as I got better and better with the dialogue the two-hour tour got easier. The key to success was keeping the mates involved with answering questions and keeping alert for certain types of ships and vessels.
The harbor tours by Water Taxi Every Wednesday
(Here is the actual Captain of the Water Taxi)
(I learned to do the Harbor cruise the first Wednesday of camp for two trips and every Wednesday after that for eight weeks. By the time the summer was over I had become an expert on Long Beach harbor. That is my two year old son Dean Mead sitting behind me.)
When the first group camp back from the Harbor tour the second 40 mates got aboard the water taxi for their tour. The group that just finished the tour went back to the camp where Capt. Flogg was waiting for them, and lunch would be served. The second group would eat their lunches before they departed for the San Pedro docks for their Harbor tour. The excitement of the harbor tours and the exposure to sun burn on the boats usually tired the mates out and they had some free time when returning to camp with their Skippers. Tuesday night was mates’ skit night and their skippers would teach them the skit to perform after or before the Harbor tour.
Dinner was at 5:00 again with the heater-stacks coming in on time and the Skippers unloading the stacks and serving the mates. The flag ceremony was just after dinner after which the mates returned to their tents to practice their skits one more time before they got to perform at the campfire that night. A special treat was to occur that night after the campfire. The camp was all taking school busses down to Cabrillo beach to witness the Grunion fish run. The Grunion fish come up on the beach by the thousands around 11:00 pm and the Mates get to see and touch the fish during this incredible event. Needless to say the following morning many Mates were so tired they found it difficult getting out of bed.
Sometimes if the schedule permitted, we ran half the camp down the trail for tide pooling at low tide while the other half were engaged in another activity or the Harbor tour. Everything depended on when low tide occurred, and we had to stay flexible to work around when low tide occurred to access the tide pool area. The weather was always a marine layer of fog until 10:00 or so and then out came the sun for a hot day. The beach trips were always scheduled for the afternoons after lunch or with a box lunch to take because it was always sunny and warmer at the beach at the afternoon. When the campers got back from Cabrillo beach they relaxed for a while in their tents until flag time and then dinner.
Some nights some Astronomy was planned when it got dark before the nightly campfire. One or more of the Skippers who were acquainted with the stars and planets would do a presentation. Other Skippers learned from the first talks and eventually got to do their own introduction to the stars. We had a few charts and books in the classroom garage for them to study from in their free time.
(Camp Fire at Cabrillo beach. Notice the sailboats in the bay)
The Typical Weekly Schedule of the Point Fermin Lighthouse Camp 1967
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Weekend survival
Arrival of Camper busses
Staff wakeup 7:00 am- coffee at coffee shack (public) Wakeup time 8:00 amWashup at faucet in campsite
Staff wakeup7:00 am-shower optional behind coffee shack-female day- coffee at shack Wakeup time campers 8:00 am, washup at faucet in campsite
Staff wakeup-7:00 am- Men shower day-coffee in shack Wakeup time campers8:00 amWashup
Staff wakeup=7:00 am No showers; coffee in shack Wakeup time campers 8:00 am; washup,
Wakeup optional for Capt. Flogg and Capt. Sharkie, etc.
Mates unpack luggage
Breakfast-9:00 am outdoors on picnic benches- Mates serve breakfast
Breakfast9:00 amoutdoors on picnic benches. Mates serve food
Breakfast9:00 amOutdoors on picnic benches. Mates serve food.
Breakfast9:00 am Outdoors on picnic benches in the park. Mates serve food
Breakfast not provided by camp on Sat. or Sun. Eat foods saved in refrig or buy breakfast out.
Boys orientation and Girls orientation separately
Pre-trip Orientation for Tide Pooling with Sandy or Skipper assigned that week
10:00 Depart busses for Water Taxi tour of Long Beach harbor10:15 arrive docks for water taxi tour given by Capt. Sharkie
10:00 amTidepooling or Beach day depending on low tide schedule. If low tide, then tidepooling
10:00- Operation cleanup the tents, take out all mattress and stack in the sun, Pack all camp bags, Move camp bags to one central location
Monday Breakfast not provided by camp. Provide own breakfast or eat out before campers arrive at 10:00 am.
12:30 -Lunch-Heater stacks- Mates serve lunch to campers and then eat
12:30-Lunch-Heater Stacks-Mates serve Lunch
Return for Lunch 12:30Mates serve lunch
Return for Lunch 12:30.Mates serve lunch
11:00- Mates load Truch with camp bags before lunch
Assigned tents and Skippers to each group
Tide Pooling if low tide in the afternoon. Alternate activity shell crafts
1:30- Beach day at Cabrillo beach, swimming, all campers must wear camp t-shirts, camp hat and white zinc oxide on their nose for ID purposes
1:30 Tidepooling or beach day depending on low tide.
12:00- Lunch early- Final assembly..Good bye songs. Final inspection of all camper tents. Busses arrive 2:00 Campers depart 2:30-3:00 pm
Lunch not provided Sat. or Sun. Eat out Jack in the box or Taco Bell.Some milk in the refrigerator in camp.
Camper setup time
4:00-5:00 Rest period
4:00-5:00 return from beach day
4:00-5:00 Follow-up Ecology talk for tide pooling. Identifying specimens.
3:30 Skippers meeting, Evaluation of Skippers weekly evaluation by Capt. Flogg and Capt. Sharkie.
5:00-Dinner-Heater Stacks- Mates serve dinner Monday night Camp Store open Monday Night Campfire- songs, guitar, skits, funny stories, marshmellow roast
5:00-Dinner Heater Stacks-Mates serve dinnerCamp Store closed Tuesday night Table games, checkers, chess, cards Tuesday Night Campfire Late night Grunnion run (fish laying eggs on beach)
5:00-Dinner-heater stacks. Mates serve dinner. 6:00-Camp outdoor movies 8:30-Darkness-Camp fire activities 10:00 pm-All campers lights out in their tents
5:00 Dinner heater stacks. Mates serve dinner Camp Store Open 6:00-8:00 pm 8:30 Darkness Last Night Mates Night campfire, special events, awards, summary of week10:00 pm lights out
Review problems and solutions and make corrections for the next camper group. 4:00 Skippers leave camp for home 5:00 No Heater stacks dinner 5:00 pm Camp Closed except for Capt. Flogg and Jen who live in Mobile trailer and Capt. Sharkie and Mrs. Sharkie and Dean Mead
Dinner not provided by Camp Sat. and Sun. Eat off campus.
Chapter 5- The Second Week of Camp
Monday morning
The second week things began to run more smoothly. The Skippers were getting used to the routine and knew what to expect. At 9:00 a.m. the trucks arrived with the suitcases and the Skippers eagerly began unloading the suitcases and organizing them by assigned groups 1-8. Everything was neat and ready for the campers from the Watts School District to arrive. At 10:05 the school busses arrived and the excited campers got off the buses and waited to see what was going to happen. Capt. Flogg got on the portable bull horn and had the entire group sit down while he explained the names of the Skippers and what number tent they would be supervising. When he finished the Skippers held up their numbers and the campers all headed toward their assigned tent number.
Captain Flogg selected two campers/mates at random and two skippers to help raise the flag of the United States of America. Right after the salute to the flag each skipper took their group to get their suitcases and then took them to their tent. I remember commenting to Captain Flogg how well the first morning went and he agreed.
This time each Skipper explained the rules and policies to their own group in their tent after they set up their bunks with new sheets and pillows. This more personal approach allowed for questions and answers. By 12:00 the lunch heater-stack truck had arrived, and the Skippers marched their groups out of the tents to the picnic tables set aside for the camp in the middle of the park. The Skippers all pitched in and served the food to the mates and rejoined their groups after dishing out all the food. Cleanup followed lunch and the mates were most helpful. Each Skipper then took their groups on a tour of the park, the Camp Store, the pre-trip classroom, the lighthouse, the 300 foot cliff and restrictive railing and stay off sign, the sandy trail down to the tide pooling, the bathrooms, and the view of Long Beach harbor from the south end of the park.
That night around 5:00 the heater-stack food truck arrived again and the Skippers organized their group at the picnic tables and the Skippers began serving food to the mates. By know every Skipper knew the other Skipper’s marine theme nickname and real names were no longer used.
The Camp store opened at 6:00 p.m. that evening and the Skippers took their groups to line up for buying candy and other snacks at the store. While the mates were waiting on the line for the Camp Store, some of the Skippers took some wood and carried it to the concrete campfire circle in the park for the Monday night campfire. Some of the Skippers had brought guitars the second week and a few were practicing new songs and skits for the campfire. I personally learned how to finger pick a guitar from Skipper Windy who was an excellent musician. I played guitar a little in High School but lost interest in taking lessons. Now I had an opportunity to relearn the cords on the guitar so that I could contribute at the nightly campfires. Some of the Skippers taught the other Skippers short little skits and mate participation games. The Monday night campfire for the second week was one of the best campfires we had since camp began the week before. The Skippers learned at night in their free time to work on their music, routines and group presentations for the campfires to improve the experience for the mates and to get a better evaluation from Captain Flogg at the end of the week. Each week for all eight weeks of the summer Captain Flogg had to do the Skipper evaluations which were important for being rehired the next year or using as a reference for school or a job. Captain Flogg asked me on Tuesday to take notes on the Skipper’s performance levels especially at field activities where Captain Flogg was not in attendance. At the beach and the Harbor Tour I had to take notes on how well Skippers controlled their groups and whether there were any problems or not. When Thursday night came around Captain Flogg told me it took forever to do the Skipper evaluations and asked if I would help him for the rest of the summer. I agreed to help not realizing how difficult the process was on an evaluation form set up by administrators from the L.A. Board of Education. Carbon copies of all the evaluations had to be kept and sent to the main office at the L.A. Board of Education each week by Friday morning. Every Friday afternoon after the last mates bus left Captain Flogg handed out the Skipper evaluations and then spent two hours discussing each evaluation for five minutes or so with each of the eight Skippers. Some Skippers did not take the evaluations easily and sometimes a few of them did not agree with the evaluation. We tried not to give to high an evaluation grade in the first few weeks so they did not get to confident in their duties. Sometimes a low evaluation was a way in motivating a Skipper to improve and not sit back and do the minimum. We also wanted “Team” workers so that things went smoothly and if a problem or emergency occurred a team effort could resolve it better than a one-person attempt.
Tuesday morning of the second week low tide was late in the morning which meant we had to give pre-trip talks right after breakfast and then save time to go tide-pooling before lunch. It made the schedule a little rushed but we managed to pull it off. One mate was caught stuffing a Starfish in his pocket. He was warned and the Starfish was released back into the ocean. The rest of the day went well. Heater-stacks arrived on time and lunch was served. In the afternoon the entire camp when to Cabrillo beach by school busses Captain Flogg called up and ordered. The mates always loved being at the beach and it made for an easy afternoon for the Skippers also.
Wednesday the busses arrived for the first group to go on the Harbor tour and off they went. I had prepared notes I researched after giving last week’s Harbor Tour. Two Harbor Tours in one day was tiring and difficult but I felt much more confident the second week when I gave my guide talk about the Long Beach harbor.
Wednesday night we prepared for a new format for the Campfire by having it at Cabrillo beach. We had permission from the Parks department to set a campfire in a concrete fire pit for our entire camp. It was breezy and cool that evening, yet we had the greatest time. I sang a duet with Windy as she played the guitar about a French folk song. We taught the song to the mates and had them sing along with us.
Better organization of Skippers
Improved Campfire activities
Improved Harbor Tour
Camp Store better equipped
Daily routine better organized
Keeping up the morale of the staff
End of the Week Staff Evaluation
Thursday night Staff Evaluations with Capt. Flogg
Diagram of Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp 1967
(Picnic benches)
CHAPTER 6- Looking back 50 years later at the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Marine Ecology Summer Camp
In looking back at the summer of 1967 and comparing it to where the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp should be today, I would make the following recommendations:
1-Safety must come first regardless of rationalizations. If the tide-pooling trail ever became unsafe for children to walk down to the ocean at any time then the trail must remained unused. Conversely, the trails should be repaired by putting in stone barriers to prevent erosion and wooden railroad ties as path guides by the State Park Association. The tide pooling was the main ecological opportunity for the students/mates to experience live and Dead Sea animals, plants and fish firsthand. I can still remember 40 years later the excitement the mates had every trip we made down to the tide-pooling area each week.
2-Health- the single public bathroom for 40 males and another for 40 females was a Health hazard then and still is today. Portable bathrooms should be rented by the week and be cleaned out each week. The risk of students meeting the public in the bathrooms is great and there is always the risk of perverted adults using the bathrooms as their place of refuge.
3-Technology- in the summer of 1967 portable tape recorders had just come on the market. A portable tape recorder was most helpful in recording the sounds of the waves and ocean for the marine diorama that was created in the basement of the lighthouse. Fast speed forward, today at lease one laptop computer with internet access and a compact project would be a great education took for showing PowerPoint slide shows of ecology themes daytime or nighttime.
4-Weather protection- There is no weather protection if it breaks the mold and rains despite many summers without rain in the past. A large tarp could be permanently set up for the summer over the picnic tables to shade the students or protect them against the rain. This did not exist in the summer of 1967 and there was always a risk and a chance that rain could easily ruin the day since there were no places for the students to hide from the rain except in their tents.
5- Assessment follow-up and marketing- In the summer of 1967 the assessment was all about the Skippers and their function as a Camp Leader. There was no assessment of the curriculum or the summer program to support future funding for continuing the program for many years to come. Fast forward to today, cameras should be provided to the staff of temporary loaner cellphones to continually take digital pictures of all the aspects of the camp experience to use for PowerPoint Marketing promotions at all of the participating School districts during the off season.
6-Movies of Point Fermin lighthouse School camp- along the theme of using PowerPoint slide presentations for marketing the curriculum and school camp experience at Point Fermin Lighthouse school camp, which is so unique, digital movies can provide an even more exciting opportunity for potential students and parents to see the opportunities offered at the Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp.
7- Archival after 40 years- I have tried to tie together 2014 and the summer of 1967 and bring forward the valuable experience that all LA Board of Education students should have at least once in a lifetime. Recently, I read on the Internet that the funding for the Point Fermin Lighthouse camp was in jeopardy and that was a sad moment because anyone who has ever experienced this program firsthand would support keeping it well funded for all time.
8-The lighthouse as a major resource- 40 years ago in the summer of 1967 the lighthouse was owned and operated by the US Coast Guard who had no interaction with the Camp program. Students were not allowed to tour or view the inside of the lighthouse at any time. Several years later in the early 1970’s I have read that the Lighthouse was abandoned or closed by the US Coast Guard that is typical of their mission in the 21st Century. A private group has taken over the Lighthouse and preserved it as a historical site. If campers were allowed to tour the inside of the Lighthouse and use it for educational purposes in learning navigation, marine ecology, Astronomy, and other academic subjects, it would greatly improve the curriculum of the LA Board of Education School Camp at Point Fermin Park. Had we had the opportunity to tour the Lighthouse back in 1967 that would have been one of the highlights of the camp with the same interest level as tide pooling? I would strongly recommend that the LA Board of Education supervisors of the School Camp program at Point Fermin Park work in cooperation with the private preservation group that now owns the Lighthouse to provide expanded educational opportunities for the summer campers. A similar lighthouse located on the Hudson River was slated to be destroyed after the US Coast Guard abandoned using it until the local private citizens, as in the Point Fermin park, stepped in and saved the little lighthouse on the Hudson river in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester county, New York. Schools now visit the lighthouse museum on a regular basis during the school season and Earth science students get to examine Marine Ecology and Navigation on the Hudson River as well as other Social Studies classes and Science classes. The little lighthouse is in the shadow of the Tappan Zee Bridge by the way and can be seen from the bridge by the thousands of cars that travel across the bridge everyday.
Nautical terms-Harbor Cruise Long Beach
Word Definition
abaft – toward or at the stern of a ship; further aft affreightment – hiring of a vessel
afterdeck – deck behind a ship’s bridge afterguard – men who work the aft sails on the quarterdeck and poop deck ahull – with sails furled and helm lashed to the lee-side amidships – midway between the bow and stern of a ship astern – at the stern of a ship backstay – stay extending from ship’s mastheads to the side of the ship ballaster – one who supplies ships with ballast bargemaster – owner of a barge bee – hardwood on either side of bowsprit through which forestays are reeved belay – to secure a rope by winding on a pin or cleat bilge – lower point of inner hull of a ship binnacle – case in which a ship’s compass is kept bitts – posts mounted on a ship for fastening ropes bluepeter – blue flag with white square in centre used as ship’s signal boatswain – ship’s crewmember in charge of equipment and maintenance bobstay – rope used on ships to steady the bowsprit bollard – short post on a wharf or ship to which ropes are tied boltrope – strong rope stitched to edges of a sail bosun – boatswain bottomry – using the ship as collateral to finance a sea voyage bow – front of a ship bower – anchor carried at bow of a ship bowline – rope used to keep weather edge of a sail taut bowsprit – spar that extends at bows of a ship brails – ropes on edge of sail for hauling up bream – to clean a ship’s bottom by burning off seaweed bulwark – the side of a ship above the deck bumpkin – spar projecting from stern of ship bunt – middle of sail, fish-net or cloth when slack buntline – rope attached to middle of square sail to haul it up to the yard burgee – small ship’s flag used for identification or signalling cable – heavy rope or chain for mooring a ship
cabotage – shipping and sailing between points in the same country camber – slight arch or convexity to a beam or deck of a ship capstan – upright device for winding in heavy ropes or cables careen – to turn a ship on its side in order to clean or repair it cathead – projection near the bow of a ship to which anchor is secured chine – the intersection of the middle and sides of a boat
chock – metal casting with curved arms for passing ropes for mooring ship clew – corner of sail with hole to attach ropes coaming – raised edge around ship’s hatches to keep water out cocket – official shipping seal; customs clearance form
cofferdam – narrow vacant space between two bulkheads of a ship cog – single-masted, square-sailed ship with raised stern companionway – stairs from upper deck of ship to lower deck cordage – ropes in the rigging of a ship
cringle – loop at corner of sail to which a line is attached crosstrees – horizontal crosspieces at a masthead used to support ship’s mast davit – device for hoisting and lowering a boat deadeye – rounded wooden block with hole used to set up ship’s stays deadwood – timbers built into ends of ship when too narrow to permit framing demurrage – delay of vessel’s departure or loading with cargo dodger – shield against rain or spray on a ship’s bridge dogwatch – a short, evening period of watch duty on a ship downhaul – rope for holding down or hauling down a sail or spar dromond – large single-sailed ship powered by rowers dyogram – ship’s chart indicating compass deflection due to ship’s iron earing – line for fastening corner of a sail to the gaff or yard ensign – large naval flag escutcheon – part of ship’s stern where name is displayed fairlead – ring through which rope is led to change its direction without friction fardage – wood placed in bottom of ship to keep cargo dry fiddley – iron framework around hatchway opening figurehead – ornament or (usually female) bust attached to the bow of a ship flagstaff – flag pole at stern of a ship fluke – part of an anchor that fastens in the ground forebitt – post for fastening cables at a ship’s foremast forecabin – cabin in fore part of ship forecastle – short raised deck at fore end of ship; fore of ship under main deck forefoot – foremost end of ship’s keel foremast – mast nearest the bow of a ship foresail – lowest sail set on the foremast of square-rigged ship
forestay – stay leading from the foremast to the bow of a ship frap – to draw a sail tight with ropes or cables freeboard – distance between waterline and main deck of a ship futtock – rib of a ship
gaff – spar on which head of fore-and-aft sail is extended gaff-topsail – triangular topsail with its foot extended upon the gaff gangway – either of the sides of the upper deck of a ship garboard – plank on a ship’s bottom next to the keel genoa – large jib that overlaps the mainsail grapnel – small anchor used for dragging or grappling groundage – a charge on a ship in port gudgeon – metal socket into which the pintle of a boat’s rudder fits gunnage – number of guns carried on a warship gunwale – upper edge of the side of a ship gybe – to swing a sail from one side to another halyard – rope or tackle for hoisting and lowering sails hank – series of rings or clips for attaching a jib or staysail to a stay hawse – distance between ship’s bow and its anchor hawsehole – hole for ship’s cable hawser – large rope for mooring or towing a ship headsail – sail set forward of the foremast of a ship helm – ship’s steering wheel holystone – sandstone material used to scrape ships’ decks inboard – inside the line of a ship’s bulwarks or hull jack – ship’s flag flown from jack-staff at bow of vessel jack-block – pulley system for raising topgallant masts jack-cross-tree single iron cross-tree at head of a topgallant mast jackstaff – short staff at ship’s bow from which the jack is hoisted jackstay – iron or wooden bar running along yard of ship to which sails fastened jackyard – spar used to spread the foot of a gaff-topsail jib – small triangular sail extending from the head of the foremast jibboom – spar forming an extension of the bowsprit jibe – to change a ship’s course to make the boom shift sides jurymast – mast erected on ship in place of one lost kedge – small anchor to keep a ship steady keelhaul – to punish by dragging under keel of ship keelson – lengthwise wooden or steel beam in ship for bearing stress kentledge – pig-iron used as ballast in ship’s hold lagan – cargo jettisoned from ship but marked by buoys for recovery lanyard – rope or line for fastening something in a ship
larboard – left side of a ship lastage – room for stowing goods in a ship lateen – triangular sail rigged on ship’s spar laveer – to sail against the wind lazaret – space in ship between decks used for storage leeboard – wood or metal planes attached to hull to prevent leeway leech – a vertical edge of a square sail loxodograph – device used to record ship’s travels luff – windward side of a ship; forward edge of fore-and-aft sail lugsail – four-sided sail bent to an obliquely hanging yard lutchet – fitting on ship’s deck to allow mast to pivot to pass under bridges mainmast – sailing ship’s principal mast mainsail – principal sail on a ship’s mainmast mainsheet – rope by which mainsail is trimmed and secured mainstay – stay that extends from the main-top to the foot of the foremast manrope – rope used as a handrail on a ship martingale – lower stay of rope used to sustain strain of the forestays mizzen – three-masted vessel; aft sail of such a vessel mizzenmast – mast aft or next aft of the mainmast in a ship moonraker – topmost sail of a ship, above the skyscraper oakum – old ropes untwisted for caulking the seams of ships orlop – lowest deck in a ship having four or more decks outhaul – rope used to haul a sail taut along a spar outrigger – spar extended from side of ship to help secure mast painter – rope attached to bow of a boat to attach it to a ship or a post pallograph – instrument measuring ship’s vibration parrel – band by which a yard is fastened to a mast patroon – captain of a ship; coxswain of a longboat poop – enclosed structure at stern of ship above main deck port – when facing forward, the left side of a shift primage – fee paid to loaders for loading ship purser – ship’s officer in charge of finances and passengers quarterdeck – part of ship’s deck set aside by captain for ceremonial functions quartering – sailing nearly before the wind rake – the inclination of a mast or another part of a ship ratline – small rope forming a rung of a rope ladder on a ship reef – to reduce area of a sail by rolling or folding part of it reeve – to pass a rope through a ring roach – curved cut in edge of sail for preventing chafing roband – piece of yarn used to fasten a sail to a spar
rostrum – spike on prow of warship for ramming rowlock – contrivance serving as a fulcrum for an oar royal – small sail on royal mast just above topgallant sail scud – to sail swiftly before a gale scupper – hole allowing water to drain from ship’s deck scuttlebutt – cask of drinking water aboard a ship; rumour, idle gossip scuttles – portholes on a ship sheer – fore-and-aft curvature of a ship from bow to stern shrouds – ropes supporting the mast of a ship sidelight – coloured lights on side of a ship under way at night skeg – part of ship connecting the keel with the bottom of the rudderpost skysail – sail above the royal sail skyscraper – triangular sail on a ship above the royal slipway – ramp sloping into water for supporting a ship snotty – naval midshipman spanker – sail on the mast nearest the stern of a square-rigged ship spar – any ship’s mast, boom, yard, or gaff spinnaker – large triangular sail opposite the mainsail spirketting – inside planking between ports and waterways of a ship sponson – platform jutting from ship’s deck for gun or wheel sprit – spar crossing a fore-and-aft sail diagonally spritsail – sail extended by a sprit starboard – when facing forward, the right side of a ship starbolins – sailors of the starboard watch stay – large rope used to support a mast staysail – fore-and-aft sail hoisted on a stay steeve – to set a ship’s bowsprit at an upward inclination stemson – supporting timber of a ship stern – back part of a ship sternpost – main member at stern of a ship extending from keel to deck sternway – movement of a ship backwards stevedore – dock worker who loads and unloads ships stokehold – ship’s furnace chamber strake – continuous band of plates on side of a ship stunsail – light auxiliary sail to the side of principal sails supercargo – ship’s official in charge of business affairs taffrail – rail round the stern of a ship thole – pin in the side of a boat to keep oar in place tiller – handle or lever for turning a ship’s rudder timberhead – top end of ship’s timber used above the gunwale
timenoguy – rope stretched from place to place in a ship topgallant – mast or sail above the topmast and below the royal mast topmast – ship’s mast above the lower mast topsail – ship’s sail above the lowermost sail tranship – to transfer from one ship to another transire – ship’s customs warrant for clearing goods transom – transverse timbers attached to ship’s sternpost treenail – long wooden pin used to fix planks of ship to the timbers trice – to haul in and lash secure a sail with a small rope trunnel – wooden shipbuilding peg used for fastening timbers trysail – ship’s sail bent to a gaff and hoisted on a lower mast tuck – part of ship where ends of lower planks meet under the stern turtleback – structure over ship’s bows or stern unreeve – to withdraw a rope from an opening walty – inclined to tip over or lean wardroom – quarters for ship’s officers washboard – broad thin plank along ship’s gunwale to keep out sea water watching – fully afloat waveson – goods floating on the sea after a shipwreck wear – to turn a ship’s stern to windward to alter its course weatherboard – weather side of a ship weatherly – able to sail close to the wind with little leeway wheelhouse – shelter where ship’s steering wheel kept whipstaff – vertical lever controlling ship’s rudder windbound – hindered from sailing by contrary winds windlass – winch used to raise a ship’s anchor xebec – small three-masted pirate ship yard – tapering spar attached to ship’s mast to spread the head of a square sai yardarm – either end of the yard of a square-rigged ship yawl – ship’s small boat; sailboat carrying mainsail and one or more jibs zabra – small Spanish sailing vesse
Foul weather flags
Queen Mary ship
Buoys
Sites in the Harbor
Harbor Masters headquarters
Coast Guard Headquarters
Channel markers red and green
Piers
Breakwater
Quaranteen area
Parts of the Water Taxi
Bow
Stern
Starboard
Port
Keel
rudder
propeller
helm
galley
poopdeck
midship
fore
aft
SAILBOATS
schooner
ketch
sloop
Britain
France
Japan
Ships sighted
1-US Coast Guard Cutter
2- Tanker- housing at the rear
3- Cargo Ship-housing in the middle
4- Flags of foreign ships
USA
Panama
Day-
Grunion fish run at night. Staff checks out the fish.
Water taxi and Disney World mountain
Point Fermin Lighthouse and the 300 foot clifts
My son Dean Michael Mead at age two at the Point Fermin Camp
Jeri Mead walking away from skippers unloading camper trunks
Food came from heater stacks cooked at a local Elementary School. Skippers served the Campers first. Other pictures of weekend staff trips to Disney World in LA.
a TV Pilot movie script about the good old days 1960-1970’s at Kakiat Junior High, Spring Valley, New York. East Ramapo Central School District.
Disclaimer: The follow people are fictions despite any similarity to real people. The names are purely fictional. This is two scenes from the TV pilot movie script from Don’t Be Square.
ACT THREE- A MAJOR DRUG PROBLEM
SCENE 1- INT.-DAY -DRUGS AT KAKIAT JUNIOR HIGH.
FADE IN:
Note: Mark Katz, Physical Education and PELHAM MEAD, Physical Education, go out for lunch at the local Jewish Deli in Hillcrest, NY, to have a corn-beef sandwich. Mark is a large muscular man six feet tall with dark brown hair. Pelham is also tall and thin with light brown hair.
MARK KATZ, (24) PHYSICAL EDUCATION
They make a great corn-beef sandwich here. So how is your wife and son doing?
PELHAM MEAD (23) PHYSICAL EDUCATION
We’re fine. Money is a little tight since JEANINE isn’t working. She wants to be home when little DEAN comes home from pre-school.
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
My wife is feels the same way about our daughter LAUREN. She is home all day with the cat and Lauren.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
It is not easy being a teacher with such low pay. I am at Masters level, plus one year salary level, and I still cannot make ends meet. We drink Cool-aide on a regular basis. My son gets the milk. My wife even puts rice in the hamburgers to fill us up. Can you imagine that?
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER
I am an only child and my father is a retired barber, and we have to borrow money from him all the time for my daughter Lauren’s toddler clothes, and furniture for the apartment.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Some day it will get easier I hope. It is getting late, let’s go or we will be late for the next class.
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER
OK, You drive.
FADE OUT.
Note: Pelham Mead and Mark Katz, return to school and enter through the side door of the building.
FADE IN:
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Hey, RICHARD what are you doing, sharing your lunch?
What is in the bag RICHARD?
RICHARD FLYNN(12) STUDENT
None of your business COACH MEAD.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Really, give me that bag.
RICHARD FLYNN, STUDENT
No it’s mine. Run DAVID.
Note: RICHARD FLYNN and his friend DAVID HALLAS attempt to run, but Mark Katz grabs both of them before they could get down the hallway.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
What the hell is going on here? (Talking to RICHARD FLYNN’s friend) What is your name son?
DAVID HALLAS(12), STUDENT
My name is David Hallas.
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
I think we have a problem here, (He quickly picks up the paper bag on the floor. Looking in the bag he sees what he thinks is tobacco, until he smells it.)
Phew, what an odor. I think this stuff is marijuana. Take a whiff BILL.
PELHAM MEAD , PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Wow, what a smell. JOHN you hold onto DAVID HALLAS, and I will take RICHARD FLYNN with us down to the main office.
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
(Talking to the Secretary, Mrs. GREY). Can you get Principal SHAW for me please? Thanks you.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
(Talking to the two students) You two sit down, and glue yourself to the chairs.
BOB SHAW, PRINCIPAL
Pel and Mark, What do we have here?
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Pel, and I caught RICHARD FLYNN, and DAVID HALLAS in possession of a bag of marijuana in the school in what appeared to be cash transaction between the two of them. We surprised them when we entered the school by the side door. They were hiding behind the door at the time with the paper bag of marijuana.
BOB SHAW, PRINCIPAL
Really, let me see this paper bag.
(Examining the paper bag of marijuana)
Well you may well be right Mark. Take this student into my office. Mrs. GREY and call the Ramapo police please.
Mark and Pel, I will need a written copy of this incident right away. Go back to your offices and I will have someone cover your classes. As soon as you write your incident report bring it to me immediately so that I can make a copy for the Police.
Thank you Gentlemen
FADE TO BLACK.
FADE IN:
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Can you believe it coach? We actually caught two kids in the process of selling marijuana in the school?”
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
I am not surprised, since there seems to be a lot of pot heads in our classes these days.
FADE OUT.
SCENE 2- INT. DAY -ONE WEEK LATER IN THE TEACHER CAFETERIA.
FADE IN:
Note: JOHN CARUCCI, MARK KATZ, PELHAM MEAD, and RICK KNAPP are having lunch together and the discussion switches to RICHARD FLYNN.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
What ever happened to that kid you and Mark caught selling drugs Pel?
MARK KATZ, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
You are never going to believe this. They never suspended him because the psychologist felt it would affect his midterm grades. The other kid got off when his parents came into Mr. Shaw’s office with their lawyer. They placed all the blame on RICHARD FLYNN, and threatened to sue Mr. Shaw and the School District. Their son got off with a warning.
PELHAM MEAD, PHYSICAL EDUCATION
Incredible, no wonder they cannot control drug abuse in this school? I am disgusted with this crap.
RICK KNAPP, SCIENCE TEACHER
(Hearing the name RICHARD FLYNN) Rick says, that little punk. I had a run in with him a month ago. Yeah, ADRIANNE WASSERMAN came to me a month ago to warn me about this kid RICHARD FLYNN. He is a real trouble maker.
(Camp Fire at Cabrillo beach. Notice the sailboats in the bay)
Diagram of Point Fermin Lighthouse School Camp 1967
