reflections of the last 4 articles be self-made millionaire dr. jeffrey lant ceo worldprofit inc dec...

7/30/2019 Reflections of the last 4 articles be Self-made Millionaire Dr. Jeffrey Lant CEO Worldprofit Inc Dec 7, 2012

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Reflections of the last 4 articles be Self-made Millionaire Dr. Jeffrey Lant CEO Worldprofit Inc Dec 7, 2012



Preface / Introduction

A great group of articles to inform and remind you of Christmas Past and present.

Feel free to comment:

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Table of Contents

1. Cost of college degree in U.S. has increased 1,120 percent in 30 years, Bloomberg report says.Here's something practical that will help pay the burgeoning bills.2. For the lonely at the holidays.3. How to move up and up where you work, even in a punk economy. These vital points guaranteeyour success. That's why you should carry them with you everywhere.4. Of principals and principles, my mother at her glorious best, the First Amendment and me.University High School, Los Angeles. High Noon 1963.



Cost of college degree in U.S. has increased 1,120 percent in30 years, Bloomberg report says. Here's something practicalthat will help pay the burgeoning bills.

by Dr. Jeffrey Lant.

Author's program note. His given name was Hubert Prior Vallee, and he was born July 28, 1901 in

Island Pond, Vermont. Boyishly good looking, suave, charming and a real life Yalie, the world(particularly its female moiety) came to know and love him as "Rudy". He was the world's first popstar, barnstorming the country with saxophone, raccoon coat, megaphone, college pennants and beanies galore and a happy-go-lucky disposition that wasn't quite his but suited his moment of maximum glory to the proverbial "t".

Told by his family, friends and even his own band members that he should give up vocalizing because of a voice that was thin and reedy, he listened instead to that inner voice each successful person seems to have. As a result, he blazed a trail many other crooners would follow, Bing Crosby,Frank Sinatra, Perry Como.

He also had a major influence in creating the brand-new American collegiate experience -- now withgirls! College now became the place to go if you were one and twenty; providing suitable youngmen with the skills the Great Republic and all its enterprises needed and the sheepskin to prove it...and young women with access to these reliable males, the world their oyster; just the kind of menthey were expected to impress and bring home for vetting and beaming parental approval.

They were called "Betty Co-ed" and in 1930 Rudy Vallee released the popular song of this name. Itreached #4 on the charts and helped make college and its uniquely American environment the placeto be if you were aspiring, bright, toothsome and ambitious... and so it has remained from that day tothis. Thus, for the musical accompaniment to this article, I give you the bouncy "Betty Co-ed", thegal who "gets the men in rushes by well-cultivated blushes. And she's happy with a fellow on eacharm." You'll find it in any search engine. Oh, yes, college it had to be by all means.

The problem was that paying for the college experience began to take all means... as I myself learned later as I watched my father struggle with the ever increasing financial forms andrequirements dispatched by colleges to ensure he kept his nose to the grindstone the better to keepthree kids in the best possible alma mater. Indeed, it seemed at times that he was working for thecolleges his children attended. And so were all the other parents with children hoping to attendcollege, in college, or having graduated from college leaving a mountain of debt as proof of matriculation and attendance.

Alarming proof on just how bad this situation is and how much worse it is likely to get.

According to a new report just released by Bloomberg, the cost of a college degree in the United

States has increased 1,120 percent over the past 30 years; that's an over 12 fold increase, far outpacing the price inflation of consumer goods, medical expenses, and food. Records used to studythis walloping increase have been kept since 1978 and prove that the rate of increase in college costshas been "four times faster than the increase in the consumer price index". By comparison, the reportnotes that medical costs in this period have climbed 601 percent, while the price of food hasincreased "just" 244 percent.

A flurry of alarming news.

Bloomberg's detailed alarum is not the only distressing intelligence on this subject; not by a longshot. Earlier this year, the Associated Press reported the average tuition at four-year public

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universities increased by15 percent between 2008 and 2010. Private universities were also found tohave had significant price increases.

"Soaring tuition and shrinking incomes are making college less and less affordable," Sen. TomHarkin (D-IA), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, toldBloomberg. "For millions of young people, rising college costs are putting the American dream onhold, or out of reach." Then the punch line, the obvious deduction: as tuition costs continue to riseand the national student loan debt hits $1 trillion, some people have been left wondering if college is

even worth it anymore. And that in the name of Rudy Vallee and his Betty Co-ed is a tragedy in theoffing. Everything, and I do mean everything, must be done to save that paradise of rah-rah and"roguish eyes, telling lies, breathing sighs". And so in due course the matter came to the attention of the Honorable Barack, who in the best traditions of his ilk never met a cream puff he didn't like andcouldn't finesse.

Thus the word came down from on high at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; the President likes colleges;the President is agin' gouging tuitions; the President is shocked by the fast escalating numbers; thePresident particularly wants to assist beleaguered members of the middle class; the President feelsyour pain. You get the picture. He said the same kind of thing for Mom, apple pie and homelesskittens. Gosh, what a guy.

"Details? Who needs details!"

Like all successful politicians the Honorable Barrack knows how to turn a random crumb into a bakery. No where is his undeniable talent for producing gold from straw more evident than in his"plan" to cut the growth of college tuition in half over the next decade. Now if he had stopped toconsider the matter, he would have asked himself, "Self, just how am I going to do this?" He wouldhave responded, "Darned if I know."

But politicians, especially the highest muckety-mucks with a paragraph in history books, aren't likeyou and me. No way! We'd be asked for details, for specifics, for a clear statement and assessment of every assumption and contingency. The Honorable Barack didn't do any of that. He simply said he'd

achieve this goal by using the powers of the Great Republic and his high office to force colleges totoe the line -- or else face the music.

Now I ask you... do you want the federal government intervening in the matter, dictating whatcolleges and universities can charge; what they can and cannot do? The Honorable Barack thinks it'sa swell idea... but he achieved his goal of thumping his chest for middle class votes the minute heopened his mouth on the subject.

He didn't provide any details because he didn't have them and certainly wasn't going to wait toexpatiate on the issue until he did. That was for lesser folks... not presidents of the Great Republic.It's "Mad Magazine What Me Worry?" "trust me", mystery politics at its most insidious. But whatdoes the Honorable Barack care? Helping hard-pressed folks with their whopping college bills was

never the objective; getting the votes of such people was.

A better plan from me right here right now.

Now hear this. Maybe the Honorable Barack can merely trifle with this issue... but you can't. Youneed real money... not deceptive words and false promises. You need to go to any search engine andsearch on categories like "scholarships for college," or "college awards, honors and prizes," "moneysources for college tuitions", etc. (Note: this is where learning how to refine your search is key.Brainstorm your categories, write them down; then search and refine again.) What you find willthrill you... thousands of potential funding sources.

I like Gale's "Awards, Honors & Prizes" and "Winners, the blue ribbon encyclopedia of awards",







edited by Claire Walter.

Your search will garner resources that cover thousands and thousands of possible collegiate (andother) funding sources. Now the real work begins -- familiarizing yourself with each funding sourceand the appropriate entries for you in each. This takes time, patience, and judgement; not preciselythe best traits of adolescents. But if you want the money you cannot simply rely on school guidancecounsellors; you need to be fully engaged with the process yourself, treating it as the priority it is.

Does this work? It most assuredly does. It's what I did starting my junior year of high school and, because I was a fanatic, my labors lead to one gratifying money-making prize after another. I became something of a celebrity at school.

Will this produce enough money for all? Sadly not. But it will produce needed funds for people likeyou; perhaps even the crucial dollars that make the difference between going to college at all, or not.With them you won't miss these crucial moments of your life, the classes, the friendships, the gamesand of course... Betty Co-ed majoring in artful flirtation, oodles of charm and...you!







For the lonely at the holidays.


Author's program note. There are about forty days between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day,depending on just when the first holiday falls... and for millions these can be the most painful days of the year, a time of acute loneliness, isolation, and despair. All you want to do is put on a brave face...and get through them as quickly as possible, wounded and sore just as little as possible.

But this year I want you to have the best holidays you've had in years, maybe decades... I want youto get more, far more, from them, enjoy yourself and spread the maximum joy to the maximumnumber. In other words, I want you to be the impresario of happiness, expecting nothing in return, just the real point of the season: giving joy to the world.

Let's start with music... One of the things that depresses folks at the holidays is the endlessrenditions of unbearably chipper, even nauseating holiday ditties, you know, of the "Frosty theSnowman" variety. So much sugar and fructose is sure to set your teeth on edge. Luckily you canfight back, at least at home by identifying some non-holiday songs you like and filling your abodewith loveliness, just the things to please you.

In this connection, I selected "The Shadow Waltz" from "Gold Diggers of 1933." It's a pre-codeWarner Bros. musical film directed by Mervyn LeRoy with songs by Harry Warren (music) and AlDubin (lyrics), staged and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. It's the perfect film, with the perfectmusic to take you out of your sad state and self-pitying condition and set you... dancing. In aninstant your feet will start an insistent tapping that means you must get up and whirl a pillow aroundthe room.

"In the Winter let me bring the Spring to you/Let me feel that I mean everything to you/ Love's oldsong will be new/ In the shadows when I come and sing to you."

One after another, Hollywood's most popular male vocalists (Dick Powell, Bing Crosby, Rudy

Vallee) had a go at this haunting tune and its lilting message,"Let me linger long/Let me live my song."

Go now to any search engine and see which version you prefer... they're all wonderful.

Now let's get started crafting the holidays you want and which will make you as happy as possible.

1) Plan yourself "Merrie Little Holidays".

Each of us needs a highly personal quantity of the holidays; this can range from 24-hour-a- dayimmersion, or just a little bit Christmas morning. You need to determine just how much you need...and arrange matters accordingly. Remember, there is no "right" answer, no "right" amount. It all

depends on you. Thus, honesty is essential.

Far too many people arrange their holidays according to what others want and expect from them.But here you're arranging for the precise amount that is perfect for -- you!

2) To make sure you get the proportions just right, write down what you want in priority order andwhat you don't. Don't fib... and don't consider any one's wishes but your own. This in itself willmake these holidays distinctive. And if somebody you know doesn't like your choices, advise themto go to any search engine and find George Gershwin's grand tune "Who Cares?" (lyrics by IraGershwin) from the 1931 musical "Of Thee I Sing".







Offer them one of your least favorite bon-bons; you know, the one you sampled and put back in the box. Serves 'em right. I think you're catching the right spirit now... Now kick up your heels and singout...

"Who cares?/ So long as I care for you and you care for me". Oh, mama! The holidays will never bethe same. And isn't that the idea?

3) Plan how many decorations you want. Remember, this is entirely your call. You decide whether you want a huge display in and out or just one little candle in the window. Again, write down whatyou want... and what you don't. Feels good doesn't it? Yeah, I thought you'd like this new approachto the holidays.

Then do what you've done every year of your life; dig into the attic, basement and closets to reviewyour decorations. But with a brand-new eye and purpose this year. You are going to use only whatYOU want. Remember, these are YOUR holidays... and the decor must suit but a single person. Andif others don't like it? Revert to George and Ira Gershwin above. "Who cares?"

4) Now food. This is crucial. We all have our holiday favorites, of course; mine are too numerous tomention. But the holidays wouldn't be the holidays without them. Again, it's time for a list. What"must" you have? What don't you want under any circumstances. And, yes, complete and total

honesty is required. (Admit it, Aunt Annie's dishes you so extravagantly praised in years past madeyou sick to your stomach. Now you don't have to eat them, like them, or praise them. Delicious.)

Having written your list and prioritized what you want, it's time for The Search. Of course this must be done online. Search under such categories as "comfort food", "comfort food baskets" and theactual name of particular comfort foods you loved but are not available in your neighborhood now.

In my case, one of my several once loved (and never forgotten) special foods was Jay's Potato Chips.55 years ago and more, my darling grammie used to give them to me every afternoon when my paper route ended in her kitchen. Now you may not regard these beloved chips as holiday fare... but I mostassuredly do; along with a bundle of others. You can bet that I'll get a gift basket of them -- for myself of course -- long before the holidays are over. Will I share it? Don't bet the ranch.

Now choose... alone, a little less alone, not at all alone.

It's time to consider your holiday people options. Do you want a lot, some, or none at all?Remember it's your choice. Use the tango principle for making it. And thus I give you one of thegreatest tangos ever written: "Orchids in the Moonlight", written for the 1933 film "Flying Down ToRio". I like Rudy Vallee's seductive version best.

What to wear... or dispense with. Always your choice.

You may think that you've been alone in past years because you're too old, but you're wrong. Anyage is the right age if you have the right attitude and are willing to pull out all the stops. "Orchids in

the Moonlight" will help.

To ignite its smouldering passion, what you need is a broad red ribbon, tied on like the contestantsin the "Miss America" pageant. You'll also need a red, red rose (clenched in your teeth in theapproved manner) and you'll need that all-important melody, the melody Rudy Vallee renders sowell. One more thing: for the ultimate look add a Santa cap. It's such a chic, unutterably alluringchapeau. Can you really afford to go without it?

Now, dance alone or dance with any number of visitors who accept your invitation. Be sure to keepsome extra ribbon on hand, and some extra roses, too. Some people, imagine, will come unprepared.Overlook such faux pas, the better to achieve the greater good.







"When orchids bloom in the moonlight/And lovers vow to be true I still can dream in themoonlight/Of one dear night that we knew."

Lovely, isn't it? Seductive... enchanting. So YOU!

And now it's time for the grand finale, compliments of one of the Great Republic's most scandalous performers, Josephine Baker. In 1927 she had a hit on her hands, a hit entitled "Then I'll Be Happy."You'll be happy, too, if you rethink your entire approach to the holidays; indeed, your entireapproach to life. Don't wait for miracles to occur... make your own miracles and share them withfolks less inventive than you are. Here's how this one works: Give these lyrics to each person whovisits you and make them serenade you with them before they leave:

"I wanna go where you go do what you do/Love when you love then I'll be happy I wanna sighwhen you sigh cry when you cry/ Smile when you smile then I'll be happy."

Oh, just one more thing...

... the doorbell just rang. There was a delivery gal with a look of profound respect in her eyes and theloveliest holiday bouquet. "Dr. Lant," she said, "It's from the President, President Obama, sir." Andshe all but saluted. Now you and I know who ordered the flowers and wrote such a fulsome greetingon the card... but I assure you if he weren't so busy just now he would have sent this colorful andrespectful ensemble himself.

... I wonder if he likes to tango...







How to move up and up where you work, even in a punkeconomy. These vital points guarantee your success. That'swhy you should carry them with you everywhere.


Author's program note. I'm writing this article at 5 a.m. Sunday morning, the time when my more

leaden-footed competitors are still fast asleep dreaming of the next Jimmy Buffett concert they justcan't wait to attend. Yes, per usual, I have stolen a march, maybe two, on those who may say theyvalue time managed for maximum effect... but show by their every word and action that they justdon't get it... and that's very good news for you who adhere to the "lead, follow, or get out of theway" School of Upward Mobility. After all, the less they understand, know and do about the matter,the faster you ascend to greatness -- if and only if you follow these recommendations.

You are your chief cheerleader. Better start acting like it.

Riddle me this, bat person. When you last entered the parking lot at your place of employ were there beaming colleagues strategically positioned to wish you well, Godspeed and up, up and away? Of

course not... you got the same lame greetings and comments (if those) you always get... pathetic,forgettable, pitiful. It was hardly like the great Pasadena Rose Parade, a celestial flurry of flower petals to provide just the right effect for you.

Fast Breaking News: The off-handed way you were treated today when you arrived at your place of (not nearly gainful enough) employment is what you can expect in the interminable days, months,and years ahead... and if this doesn't motivate you to take your so-called career in hand and makeradical changes in how you'll approach it, maximum success being the only acceptable goal, thenshame on you.

I want you to grasp one fundamental truth about you, your career and your trek for succeess. NOONE (even sometime spouses and adult children who, to your acute exasperation, still live with you

at age 45); NO ONE, I aver, asseverate and decidedly assert, cares about your current career and theradical retooling you must begin at once so as to achieve goals which are of prime importance onlyto you. In short, you need to station yourself in front of the mirror and take a good, close look at theonly person in your life who will sincerely and from the heart welcome your constant success...instead of greeting it with two of the most dismissive and disdainful words in the language: "WHOCARES?"

"Who cares if the sky cares to fall in the sea? / Who cares what banks fail in Yonkers? Long asyou've got a kiss that conquers?"

You care, and that must be enough to begin the beguine.

Thus, for the tune to accompany this most important article, I give you a pair of Gershwins, Georgeand Ira, geniuses both, who respectively in 1931 wrote the dazzling music and peppy lyrics for "Who Cares?"; found in the hit Broadway production of "Of Thee I Sing." Go to any search engineand find the version that most appeals to you. There are many to choose from. Then make G.Gershwin's sophisticated, quick-stepping melody your particular and long-overdue theme song.

Study the company that pays you... do you really understand it and its mission?

Chances are that the lower you go in the personnel ranks of the enterprise which values you so muchthat it actually pays you, the less those personnel know about that enterprise. But this is not the casewith those who aim for upward advance. These people make it a point not merely to have (at least)







the last five years of annual reports and other useful findings and revelations but actually toscrutinize them. Such people come clearly to know how valuable such information can be -- to you.

In addition, gather current expert analyses of the company's stock and overall business situation, benefits, problems, data which top officers have and the lower ranks don't. The more such timely,strategic data you gather and master, the more clearly you mark your place amongst the great onesof your business. The faster you wish to advance, the more assiduous you will be not merely incollecting such data... but truly understanding them.

Next, search the greatest repository of business information in the history of ambitious human kind,the 'net. Make it a point to locate valuable intelligence, on its products, services, biographies of keyemployees, executives, directors, etc. Nothing that a senior executive would find helpful should failto find its way into your bulging portfolios.

Meet the boss, understand the boss, help the boss.... and the boss will help you.

Generations of sad sacks and the terminally clueless have wasted untold millions of hourscomplaining about the boss, making sure that not a single blemish or imperfection goes unnoticedand commented upon. This is helpful to no one. Humbly, I am here to offer a better, more sensible policy. Help your boss. Here's how to do it:

First, resolve that you will forego the thrill of shredding your boss. Generations of employees haveturned this into a rite of passage; you can't be "one of us" they say unless you turn the boss intodross. YOU, reader, must rise above this and keep YOUR objective always in mind. This meansworking with, not working against, your boss.

Open a file called "helping the boss." On Day 1 you've got nothing in that file. Make sure thissituation is as short as possible. Keep your eyes open for aspects of the company that needimprovement, immediate, intermediate, and long-term. Your job is to see... and report.... on problems... and possible solutions. How do you do this? By not merely walking through things but perceiving them, perhaps for the first time.

Thus, even as you drive into the parking lot, go into improvement mode. See it as a discerning criticwould see it. Is it clean, for instance? Does it make a good impression on visitors as well asworkers? In short, is it a credit to your company... or a certain demerit?

Now do this with every aspect of the company, your company, the company YOU want to improveyour life by joining its leadership team, even becoming El Jefe Maximo.

Slow and steady wins the race.

It is very important that you approach this project slowly and deliberately, always keeping your objective clear in mind. Thus, be discrete. Do not draw attention to yourself and never, ever tellanyone what you're doing or your ultimate goal. Mum's the word.

"Only those who look can see."

Every working day you and your fellow employees go through a series of steps, all supposed toassist in the company's growth and development. The longer you have been going through thesesteps the more likely you do them automatically, without thinking, without seeing, and certainlywithout the idea of scrutinizing and improving. If you mean to move up, you must be different. Youmust not pass by casually without actually considering what you've seen. You must see with theeagle-eye of someone determined to move up by pointing out and eradicating flaws, imperfections,errors, and money draining problems.

Pay dirt.







Now hear this! Every time you see a problem, see it as an opportunity for you to shine by improvingthe company and its operations whilst giving you a leg up on your flat-footed competitors. What todo now calls for determination, delicacy, discretion and action. As you mean to become a leader, sonow must you act like one.

Once you have found something that needs correction (and, remember, every company has a plethora of such matters) write it down. Then consider whether you can solve the matter yourself, or not. In short, once you have identified the problem what comes next?

If you can solve the problem, do so. Then send a short note to the CEO indicating the problem andwhat you did. Please note that solving the problem yourself without notifying the CEO or proper authority within the company is only recommended when the problem is small and easily fixed.

Otherwise...

Write to the CEO.

I must say and say strongly that this message must be a minor work of art. Your job is merely to point out the problem. No criticism of any kind, much less criticism that might fall upon the CEOand his "watch" must ever be made. You want to be a member, and a respected one, of the

leadership team. This means picking your shots and always being chary about what you write andhow you write it.

No answer?

Once you have identified the problem and so advised the CEO (or appropriate company officer if you know who that may be) sit back and relax. Be patient. Give it two-three weeks for response. Donot follow up prematurely or give the CEO the feeling you are pushing or pressuring. That defeatsyour purpose. And if you must follow up just do so in a line or two.

More likely the CEO will send you a brief note of acknowledgement and thanks. Eureka! When hedoes, put this golden missive in your hope chest. You are now on the blissful ladder of success. Wait

three or four weeks, then do it again. Soon the CEO will get the point of you, golden guy or gal thatyou are, and you'll be singing Gershwin in the shower. After all, your lunch with the CEO must soonoccur...

"Life is one long jubilee/So long as I care for you/ and you care for me!"







Of principals and principles, my mother at her glorious best,the First Amendment and me. University High School, LosAngeles. High Noon 1963.


Author's program note. In 1962, my father Donald Marshall Lant was invited to accept a better job in

West Los Angeles... and as a result, having removed ourselves from Downers Grove, Illinois, wherewe either knew or were related to absolutely everyone, we found ourselves in the City of Angelswhere the only people we knew were my father's boss and his numerous progeny.

Thus, for the first time, but no where near the last, I entered a place where I knew no one and no oneknew me. It was do or die... sink or swim... up or out. It was University High School.... and here, indue course, I discovered some very useful things about who I was and what I could do, not the leastof which being a certain talent for mastering communications media and influencing people, skills Iam putting to work right here, right now.

Telstar.

On October 4, 1957, the Great Republic and its comfortable verities were challenged by a devicecalled "Sputnik". In it we saw the end of civilization as we understood it, "Leave It To Beaver" andall. Yes, we saw the future (or surely thought we did) , and it was ominous, threatening, and Red.

This hysterical vision of living hell, more lurid than Dante, got more insistent, likely and proximatewhen just a few weeks later in November 1957 the Russkies launched a dog named Laika. If theycould launch a pooch, surely they could -- and lickety-split, too -- launch a man with The Bomb.This vision developed further when the infernal Soviets put cosmonaut Yuri Gagaran into orbit.From that date, April 12, 1961, we were sure, absolutely, positively that Armageddon was nigh...

but it wasn't... not by a long shot.

One big reason why was the first active, direct relay communications satellite Telstar 1, launched ontop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully provided the first television pictures,telephone calls, fax images and the first live transatlantic television feed. Unwittingly it was themost effective weapon the Great Republic could have lobbed at Moscow and company... for itenticingly showed its oppressive regimes and oppressed millions what awaited them if only they hadthe good sense to surrender and stop spooking us.

Of how sweet life could be with... Coca Cola...Skippy Peanut Butter... Swanson TV Dinners ... KraftMac and Cheese... Chevrolet (with Dinah Shore's sweet down-home invite) ... Kool Aid ...LuxLiquid... and, of course, Mr. Ah-Wunnnerful, Ah-Wunnerful himself, Lawrence Welk and hisirresistible "Champagne Music Makers" and their impossibly immaculate lives.

Those Commies with their grim KGB realities and gelid gulags never had a chance despite the stolidattributes of Laika, Juri, and a commissar named Kruschchev whose abiding dream was to bury us.Kinky. None of it worked against the verdant lawns and anti-BO aerosols of "American Graffiti".They were omnipotent.

And thus for the music accompanying this article I give you "Telstar" the 1962 novelty instrumentalrecord performed by The Tornados. It was the first single by a British band to reach number one onthe U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Written and produced by Joe Meek, it worked because its over 5 million purchasers heard in its eerie space-like sound effects a future that was sure to be good for them andthe world.







Sadly, that wasn't true for Meek who killed himself just three weeks before a court awarded him thewhopping royalties from this very popular hit. It was all about the money... as it always is. Go to anysearch engine now and listen to Meek's signal contribution to culture... its distortions and background noises the authentic music of the spheres. Telstar satellite up. Telstar song up. Me onthe launching pad.

I knew very early in life that I wanted a career with words, a career which would pay me for thinking, writing, talking, influencing not just mankind but the galaxy and beyond. In short I wanted

to put the universe under my microscope and report on what I saw, good, bad, absurd, painful,whatever, just so I got it right, got it first, got it the most beautifully written, no holds barred. Assuch I naturally gravitated to the journalism department where being new and friendless didn't matter at all; all that counted was being able to use words properly and meet deadlines. Everything elsewould follow.

Mr. Germain.

I think I understand Mr. Germain now; I'm much older after all than he was when I knew him. Isuspect he wanted to be a journalist... wanted to move multitudes and influence the course of humanevents with words, powerful, motivating, challenging, demanding words. But he had bills to pay, perhaps a family to support, and he couldn't just give up a good job cold turkey... yet the evenings

and week-ends that he had didn't seem enough time to write. And so he became the most unhappy of people... the writer who could not write... and perhaps it was this which accounted for the whiff of sadness and resignation about him for otherwise he was likable indeed.

We got along at once. I saw in him what I needed... a place where I could write, find supportivecriticism and rewrite to perfection. He found what every teacher wants... a bright student who willlisten and justify their career choice. And so on this basis I became a cub reporter and in short order Irequested and was given what every commentator must have -- a designated space in the newspaper (called "the Warrior") that was mine, all mine. It was my launching pad... and so the boy whoentered University High School knowing absolutely no one, quite literally without pal or buddy, wasshortly known by all.

In hot pursuit of the story.

I could be found roaming the expansive campus that "Uni" provided talking to people, taking notes,always scribbling. One aspect of my column concerned favorite tunes and who was listening towhat. "Telstar" popped up again and again on the most popular list. So did my interviews withHollywood stars, reviews, etc.. One of the great perquisites of my office was access to an unendingstream of "comp" tickets sent to "The Warrior" by every movie and television studio. I didn't drivethen and so I bribed my friends like Norman Leavitt with a free pass if he'd chauffeur me andgenerally be my good gofer. It was a system that worked.

I particularly liked events that took place during school hours. We had a pre-authorized pass

available to hand to the teachers whose classes we would miss... I loved using it with the gymteachers whose petty brutalities affronted me. I knew where I needed to be and sweating profuselywith adolescent boys wasn't it. Cruising down Sunset Boulevard in Norman's bright red sports car enroute to one studio or another was.

Editor-in-Chief.

In due course, I rose to the position which might have been created just for me... Editor-in- Chief. Iwas, I think, still a Junior when I was elevated. I had no precise agenda, certainly no list of abuses toexpose with the power of the press. Still, newspapers have editorials for a reason, and therefore Imust have editorials, too. And thus came trouble... its name was Hugh Foley, Principal. He might







have come straight from central casting, tailor-made for the roll of petty bureaucrat, porcine, tyrant, prig. You know the type. We hated each other on sight. And so we both bided our time, wary,guarded, certain something would happen .

The editorial, the reaction, just the bare facts.

Let me be clear with you. I was not an editorial fire brand like, say, William Lloyd Garrison and"The Liberator". I liked my life as it was, perks and all, and didn't mean to rock too many boats. Still,I thought then what I continue to think today; that each of us has the duty to improve matters wherewe can do so. And on this basis, I typed an editorial that urged certain positive (in my opinion)changes, including changes in Principal Foley's administration.

He learned of this (mild) editorial from his snitch, the print shop teacher. He alerted Foley who lefthis throne long enough to march to the print shop, rip the editorial off the printing press and order the paper printed with a blank space where my article had been.

A sensation.

Of course, the entire school, administrators, teachers, staff, students, were immediately a buzz. Myname was on everyone's lips... and, to many, I became an instant celebrity, the truthful manoppressed by wanton authority. This opinion surged when Foley cashiered me as editor, therebyestablishing me as akin to Joan of Arc or Martin Luther. This was Big... and I would have savoredthe story except for the fact that it was about me.

It was at this point that my mother Shirley Mae Lant (nee Lauing) intervened in the matter. Parentsin those days were, it seems to me, much more actively involved with their children's education andschool in general. My parents surely were and in no case more than this one. And so she went to seeMr. Foley. The matter was about me, but I was largely an onlooker, almost the fly on the wall everycommentator wishes to be.

Adamant mother, adamant principal.

My mother was a formidable woman, a fact Principal Foley was about to discover. She also had the better case, buttressed as it was by the Constitution of the Great Republic and its sacred FirstAmendment. For she had been a cub reporter once upon a time and for her the Amendment meantexactly as stated... "Congress shall make no law...." And so Hugh Foley, to his acute chagrin, foundhimself defending the indefensible against a practiced foe who wasn't about to let him get away witha grave injustice that besmirched my name and record. I never admired her more than then.

And so Hugh Foley, the most petty of tyrants, backed down, reinstating the culprit, but vowingrevenge in his heart, all done with the most ill grace possible. But here he was wrong. I was norevolutionary, no trouble maker. He would have done far better to make a friend, an ally. My mother and I would have welcomed such an amiable solution, and it is that which shows that 1963, itsmanners, its mores, are those of the old regime, about to be swept away, collateral casualties of

Vietnam and all its consequences, including pictures of carnage, napalm and death transmittedworldwide by Telstar, a revolutionary machine which in every aspect changed the world, one eerie beep at a time.







Resource

About the Author Harvard-educated Dr. Jeffrey Lant is CEO of Worldprofit, Inc., providing a widerange of online services for small and-home based businesses. Services include home businesstraining, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting,hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online

Home Business Training program by getting a free Associate Membership today.

Republished with author's permission by Howard Martell http://HomeProfitCoach.com.


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