Did you know I'm a very positive person? My workshop Conquering Bipolar Disorder and Depression went very well at the Doylestown Hospital Health & Wellness Center. I asked the audience of about 35 to give director Bruce Uhrich, a big round of applesauce for being the host and arranging things so well. I also promoted Mark Amos at Bux-Mont Stationers in Hatboro who printed up 100 new copies of my Yes I Can: Taking Charge of Your Bipolar Disorder.
While speaking I strode across the room, so I could make eye contact with everyone, and told them, "Make your new motto be Yes I Can." Methinks I actually cribbed this title from the late great Sammy Davis Jr's book of the same name which I could not find on the web. Davis converted to Judaism after Eddie Cantor visited him in the hospital after Davis lost an eye in a car accident. Cantor told him of the numerous similarities between blacks and Jews, including the prejudice and the tenacity.
Later in life, when asked what his handicaps were, Davis answered, "I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." Active in the Civil Rights Movement, he was responsible for helping integrate audiences in clubs where he played.
I thought perhaps Davis converted to Judaism for the very reason that I suggest you become a Jew. This morning, while getting ready for the show -- here's my To Do List --
I must've said the word OY a million times. Then I went into Oy oy oy when I was having problems choosing an outfit to wear. I have a tendency to put on clothes backwards or inside out -- oy oy oy -- which doesn't matter when I work from home. I looked quite terrific wearing the same black n white outfit I wore when I was photographed for a profile in the Jewish Exponent.
Did you know I'm Jewish?
After my 90 minute talk, which was extended an hour since one woman came in 90 minutes late, so I held a private audience with her upstairs in the pharmacy area, my stomach grrrowling like a lion from hunger, I drove home to eat, and then it was off to the Abington Library to dismantle our April is Poetry Month Display Case.
I'd gotten a call from the libe relaying a message from a woman who wanted to PURCHASE one of the original poems in the case. It was our own lovely Linda Barrett whose poem is reproduced below. She came over my house to type it up.
She wanted to do it on colored paper, so I gave her a lilac sheet, the back of a sheet of Suicide Warnings from MCES. In the case I featured it leaning on my typing stand. So that's where my typing stand had got to. I accidentally stole it when I worked at the Intelligencer 20 yrs ago.
On today's To-Do list it says, Ride bike and read. I rode it for 20 minutes while reading a book due at the library. While doing so, I came up with an idea for my next poem, which will about my work at the US Census Department.
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