---"Go East, Young Man!" -- Professor Donald Gillmor, a Media Law Scholar at The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, in cheerful in-person oral advice he kindly offered me in 1984 inside his faculty office in Murphy Hall on the campus of that public university in Minneapolis. The Canadian-born Professor Gillmor in his advice to me was borrowing and modifying "New York Tribune" editor Horace Greeley's famous "Go West, Young Man!" advice, but with an Eastern Seaboard Emphasis in Professor Gillmor's own witty advice to myself.
----"Don't live your life with the intent of striving to be 'popular'. You don't need to be popular with anyone." --- Dr. Calvin McMillan, my biological father, in an emphatic statement he made to me in the 1970s inside our family ome in Westlake Hills, Texas. Father took pride in giving his own often-blunt and very candid opinions about a wide range of topics, including deplorable destruction of the environment in Texas for which my professional ecologist Father faulted many Texans as having an alarming role in that damage to the environment in our state.
----"Whenever you travel out of town on a business trip, always try to accomplish at least two career-related objectives on your trip (approximate quote)." -- Steve Fox, the managing editor at "The Journal" daily newspaper in New Ulm, Minnesota, in emphatic oral advice he offered me in 1980 on how I could increase the number of feature stories and news stories I was writing as a regional-beat reporter for that New Ulm-based newspaper. If I was planning a trip to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, in order to interview a former nun there, for instance, I should make a point of also identifying and scheduling an interview with some other resident of Sleepy Eye who also might make for a good feature story, Steve Fox's helpful advice reminded me.
----"Never quit a job until you have been hired for a new job!" -- Ann Rotramel, a podiatrist and former landlady of mine with the nickname of "Doc Ann," during a long-distance phone call I made in 1986 to her home in New Ulm, Minnesota, from my rental apartment unit in Quincy, Massachusetts.
----"I (Doc Ann Rotramel) recommend that you lead a completely celibate life and remain single throughout your entire life. Living alone and being single are preferable to living with or being married to someone you are not compatible with! (approximate quote)." --- Ann Rotramel, a lifelong single lady and landlady of mine in New Ulm, Minnesota, in helpful advice she offered me in 1980 or 1981 during an in-person meeting I had with her inside her podiatry office in downtown New Ulm. Her medical clinic was situated directly below my apartment unit, and was situated virtually next door to the newspaper office building where I was employed full-time as a regional-beat reporter in the newsroom of "The (New Ulm Journal" daily newspaper.
----"As a private attorney and regular reader of 'The Journal' here in New Ulm, I urge you to move from New Ulm, Minnesota, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, as soon as posssible! It seems to me (attorney Roger Hippert of New Ulm, Minnesota) that you have not lived very much. If you move to Minneapolis, that will give you lots of valuable life experience that will be very helpful to you in your career ambition to write fiction!" --- Roger Hippert, a youthful German-American gentleman and married man and kindly father, and a personal friend of "The (New Ulm) Journal" daily newspaper managing editor Steve Fox, during a 1981 visit that Roger Hippert made on his own initiative into the newsroom of "The Journal", a visit in which Mr. Hippert then chose to approach me in the newsroom of that workplace for me and urge me to move to Minneapolis as soon as possible for the sake of my thereby enhancing my own ability to become a successful fiction-witer for my expected eventual career, Mr. Hippert suggested.
----"I don't care what you write, as long as it is well-written!" --- Mrs. Phyllis Gardner McMillan, my kindly mother, in advice she offered me in 1986 inside her and her husband's family home in Westlake Hills, Texas.
----"Since you are definitely a direct descendant of the Rev. William Brewster, head chaplain on the Mayflower, and you are also a gentleman of good character, you should easily qualify as an individual dues-paying member of the William Brewster Society that's headquartered in New England (approximate quote)." --- Cousin Jack Dane, a first-rate private attorney in the Quad cities region of Iowa, in a long-distance phone call I made to Cousin Jack Dane in the first decade of the 21st Century from my rental apartment unit at Wind River Crossing Apartments in Austin, Texas. Shortly after that helpful telephone conversation of mine with Cousin Jack, I was officially approved that same year for individual membership in the William Brewster Society honoring the first full-term Puritan Governor of what is now the U.S. Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
----"The key to life is to adapt successfully to changing circumstances in your life.(a very rough approximate quote, recalled strictly from memory)." --- First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, in one of the books she wrote that I enjoyed reading several decades ago.
---"The Mormon Church opposes thought-control projects, so I urge you to develop friendly dialogues with Mormons. The Mormons would feel comfortable with your own emphatic opposition to thought-control projects (approximate rough quote)." --- Dr. Michael Kim McMillan, an older brother of mine who is himself a chemistry researcher and medical researcher at Keck Medical School of the University of Southern California in the Los Angeles area of southern California, in an E-mail letter that Dr. Michael Kim McMillan wrote and sent to me from his official USC Medical School professional E-mail address in 2013, I believe it was.
---"The two nationalities in the entire world that I personally regard as the friendliest and I (Dr. Calvin McMillan) recommend to you the most are the people of Scotland and of Australia. I learned this through my extensive travels throughout the entire world as a Botany researcher. I might add that the Asian Indians I met in India were quite warm to me, which was particularly impressive in view of the widespread extreme poverty that can be found in India of the 1970s (approximate and very rough composite quote combining several separate comments that Father made to me in the 1970s)." --- Dr. Calvin McMillan, my biological Father, himself with an exclusively Scottish and English ancestry, who in the summer of 1991 made a point of himself volunteering to me on the telephone from his home in Westlake Hills Texas, that he was very dismayed by a reported scandal about an "unethical British media company" apparently headquartered (?) in England that Father complained to me about on his own initiative during a long-distance phone call I made to Father's and Mother's home in Westlake Hills, Texas, from my rental home private residence in Cuero, Texas, a city where I was employed as a full-time regional bureau reporter for the "Victoria (TX) Advocate" daily newspaper.
----"If you want something done right, do it yourself!" -- Dr. Calvin McMillan, my father, a Professor of Botany at The University of Texas at Austin, in advice he frequently offered me in the 1970s during my teenage years in Westlake Hills, Texas.
----"The best neighbor is a fence!" --- Dr. Calvin McMillan, my father, in expressing his own view of neighbors during my childhood. That comment to me from Father helpfully underscored the value of protecting one's own privacy rights inside one's own home.
----"When you feed squirrels outdoors at your apartment complex, I recommend that you only use unsalted nuts for that. If you feed squirrels salted nuts, the high sodium levels could kill those squirrels." --- Kent Neal McMillan, my oldest brother and an Austin-area resident, in helpful practical advice that Kent offered me either on the telephone or possibly in person during one of Kent's early 2006 visits to the apartment complex where I have resided in northwest Austin ever since August 2001.
---"You should never judge the architecture of a building based on the exterior appearance of that architecture. The key additional question should always be: Is the building both attractive and, in addition, comfortable and practical to work in or live in for those persons who actually are employed in that building or who actually live in or visit that building (rough approximate quote)?" ---Kent Neal McMillan, my oldest brother and a former architecture student at The University of Texas at Austin, in oral advice Kent helpfully offered me in person or on the telephone in 1978, I believe it was, during a period in which I wrote and had published a full-page feature-spread article for "The Daily Texan" student newspaper at UT-Austin on the overall caliber and style of architectural contributions to the campus of The University of Texas at Austin by a prominent architect called Bubie (sp?) Jessen.
----"Be a columnist. Novelists are a dime a dozen." --- Mark H. B. Williamson, then an undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, in advice he offered me in 1983 or 1984 on the telephone during a local phone call I made to his private apartment unit in Minneapolis from my own top-floor efficiency apartment unit, also situated near the main campus of the University of Minnesota.
----"Be serious and see what happens. If you are serious enough, the usual fools will accuse you of being funny, and you are on your way to becoming a humorist." (approximate quote, recalled by me from memory)." -- Russell Baker, an oped columnist who wrote satirical humor columns for "The New York Times," in a 1983 or 1984 signed reply letter on official "New York Times stationery" that Mr. Baker in the northeastern U.S. kindly wrote and mailed to me at my top-floor efficiency apartment where I was living alone in that apartment unit near the main campus of The University of Minnesota in 1983 or 1984 in Minneapolis.
----"You are off to a good start (in your pursuit of a column-writing career). Keep writing and re-writing, and remember what Pete Hamill once said. Writing is the most difficult activity in the entire world that does not involve heavy lifting" (approximate quote, recalled strictly from my current 2014 memory of that 1980s letter to me from Ms. Goodman)." --- nationally syndicated and Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper columnist Ellen Goodman of "The Boston Globe" staff, in a 1984 or 1983 signed reply letter on "Boston Globe" stationery that Ellen Goodman very kindly wrote and mailed via the U.S. Postal Service from Boston, Mass., to my second-floor efficiency apartment unit address near The University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
---"I believe in One World. Any contribution you can make to the United States or any other nation in this entire world is admirable." -- Dr. Calvin McMillan, my father, during a December 1990 outing for himself and myself in which Father drove me from his and Mother's home in Westlake Hills, Texas, to the airport in Austin.
---"I recommend that you always live in an English-speaking nation, regardless of whether that ends up being a foreign nation where English is the primary language spoken. Your writing skills in English are so strong that it makes good sense for you to remain in an English-speaking country." -- Dr. Calvin McMillan, my father, during a December 1990 outing for Father and myself in which Father drove me from his and mother's home in Westlake Hills, Texas, to the airport in Austin.
---"You can accomplish whatever you set your mind to do!" --- Mrs. Phyllis Gardner McMillan, my beloved mother, in emphatic advice she repeatedly offered me inside our family's home in Westlake Hills, Texas, during the 1960s and 1970s.
---"Just smile as a new employee at that Whataburger chain-restaurant job you just got hired for along Barton Springs Road in Austin, and act like it's the very best job in the entire world!" -- Mrs. Phyllis Gardner McMillan, my kindly mother, in well-intended advice she offered me in person in 1986 inside her and Father's home in Westlake Hills, Texas.
---"I (Elspeth Rostow) was sorry to hear that you had turned into a desk clerk in Minneapolis. I (Elspeth Rostow) hope you will return to pursuing a professional career, such as newspaper reporting, as soon as possible (rough approximate quote)." --- Elspeth Rostow, then-Dean of the School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, in a 1981 long-distance phone call I made to her faculty office on the east campus of UT-Austin from the lobby of the Parkway Motor Hotel where I was employed as a motel desk clerk in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Parkway Motor Hotel at that that time was situated near Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I am very sure that I would have made that 1981 long-distance phone call to Dean Rostow solely at my own personal expense, and that Parkway Motor Hotel definitely was not billed for that long-distance phone call I made that morning in 1981 upon conclusion of my midnight-to-8-a.m. "graveyard" shift at Parkway Motor Hotel.
----"I recommend that you make sure you have as much health insurance coverage for yourself as you can possibly get (approximate quote)." --- Ernie Motloch, a former work supervisor of mine at Souper Salad Lakeline restaurant (a corporate-owned chain restaurant situated near Lakeline Mall in Williamson County, Texas), who has himself generously offered me very kind and constructive and polite and very helpful advice on the telephone this 21st Century for many years.
---"If something specific and tangible comes up in the way of criminal activity that violates your own legal rights, I definitely recommend that you press criminal-law charges through the Austin Police Department in Austin, Texas." -- Ernie Motloch, a former work supervisor of mine and people-friendly businessman who has very kindly agreed to provide me with a very favorable reference to any prospective employer for myself that might ever at any time contact Ernie in regard to myself. Ernie offered me that helpful advice in 2012 or 2013 on the telephone after I repeatedly complained to Ernie on the telephone and through E-mail letters I wrote and sent to that kindly gentleman and married man that I had myself been victimized by alleged illegal intruders or alleged criminal persons inside my bolt-locked apartment unit who allegedly had subjected me to alleged personal injury crimes during my sleep----and also during periods in which I was conscious and awake in regard to alleged possible contamination of my foods and beverages--- inside that top-floor, vaulted-ceiling, one-bedroom apartment unit where I myself have resided ever since January 2002 in northwest Austin.
---"You should take pride in your very natural and healthy very strong emotional and aesthetic affinity and enthusiasm toward many of the law-abiding heterosexual men your age or younger, and many of the law-abiding heterosexual women (approximate and very rough quote, with some elaboration from myself at this time for the sake of clarification of what the advice means to me today). As a morally and aesthetically straight and law-abiding and permanently alcohol-free and cleancut as well as clean-talking and anti-marijuana-minded and law-enforcement-minded single adult Anglo gentleman, you are a good match for the straighter crowd" (a very rough approximate quote, with some elaboration by me at this time for the sake of clarification about what that advice means to me today)." ---- Michael Crothers, a self-identified fiction writer and English as a Second Language instructor and kindly older gentleman, during a 1991 or 1990 long-distance phone call I made to him at his Mother's home in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from my rental apartment unit in Sweetwater, Texas.
----"All of your own friends can be heterosexual! Just keep on going the way you are going in your civil and law-abiding lifestyle, and you will easily achieve that long-term goal for yourself!" --- Sarah Goodfriend, a former schoolmate of mine at Stephen F. Austin High School of Austin Independent School District and a former varsity cross-examination debate competitor representing Austin High School (along with her debate partner, Carrin Patman), in very reassuring 1990 or 1991 personal advice on the telephone that Sarah Goodfriend kindly offered me from her private residence in the northeastern United States, or possibly in North Carolina, during a long-distance phone call I had made to Sarah's private residence from my rental apartment unit in Sweetwater, Texas.
----"You could be one of the most handsome men on this entire campus at Washington University in St. Louis, if you would just lose some weight!" --- Susan Reynolds, the daughter of a male medical physician in Fort Hays, Kansas, who was herself a female classmate of mine, pre-med student, and college dormitory neighbor of mine, in very helpful and constructive oral advice that Susan Reynolds kindly offered me in 1975 or 1976 on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The diet plan I ended up using shortly after that advice from Susan was a diet plan I already knew about from having myself on my own initiative mail-ordered and purchased and obtained a low-carbohydrate-diet-strategy book during my senior year or junior year of high school in the Austin area of Texas. A matter of weeks after Susan Reynolds offered me that very helpful advice, her college roommate who had been pre-assigned to room with Susan in the fall semester of 1975 by the Washington University administration, Robin Warshawsky, in early 1976 offered me very memorable and inspirational praise when I happened to run into Robin outdoors one day near Wohl Center Cafeteria on that private university campus. "John, you look great!", Robin Warshawsky, a very attractive and articulate female classmate of mine at Washington University in St. Louis and a polite neighbor of mine residing in the same student dormitory as myself on that campus, commented to me. Robin, who was herself from Allentown, Pennsylvania, made the inspirational comment to me that I will always savor as very special after I had reduced my weight to exactly 200 pounds as a student at Washington University (my height was 6-foot, two and one-half inches).
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please Leave Your Comments Here.