Mr. Lyons

                     My mother barely got out of the 6th Grade, my father made it to 11th-- and that's it.    She worked in factories her entire adult life, my father DID manage to "have" his own excavating business == Chevy C60 Dump, International 500 Crawler Loader (with 4 in 1 Bucket) and trailer of course .   He dug cellars and back-filled them--we 'put in' lawns, 'did' asphalt driveways ,, and installed septic tanks and leach fields .   There was NO FUCKING WAY  they were gonna let me shadow them-- to be as they, factory anesthetized, and  constantly 'dirty' with soil, Diesel fuel, oil and grease -hands swollen with callus, fingers pock-marked with scabs and scars .... no  I was to be a "Scholar Athlete" ~~~ I was to attend University or College simply because my 6th Grade Teacher, Mr. Lyons, had "seen" me as in possession of certain traits and characteristics of said Scholar Athlete---------here now Mr. Lyons 4 year Starter in the Football Program of Brown University .   

          He had given us an Assignment-- to write "What I Want To Be When I Grow Up".   I wrote that I wanted to be like my Uncle Charlie--- a Pig Farmer [and] that it was OK to be a "Garbage Man".   Within seconds, he had written a note to my parents which I delivered unwittingly.  Next thing I know, I was moved from the Perfect Day Dreamer's Location, right beside the Bank of Windows, from  phuqing PARADISE    to the INMOST Interior with a seat at the FRONT of the class .

          2 words =  there was NO 'going back' .   Something had changed ......... .