A Tribute to Tim Mackie

     He looked lie a little Buddha man. Short, fat and bald.  His face and head are what give him it away the he isn't.  They looked much more like Mr. Clean, giving the queasily uneasy feeling of a Pirate ordering navel gunfire on some unsuspecting germ island.  Of course neither is the truth, it'd be more accurate to say that he's an ugly little garbage picker.  The kind o guy who gives the homeless a bad name.      He used to spend his time over the corner of 3 rd and 27 th begging for change from the business men there.   That is until the new shelter was built on Pekoe.   Now, he spends his time, tying to perfect his fake limp, drawing sympathy from the rich college boys, and hitting on the young college girls who come to shelter to do charity work.      Father Joseph is always on him about this.    On any given day you can hear the good Father cornering him and exclaiming i...

     If you can imagine being in prison, you can imagine being a victim of some torturous experiment, then maybe you can imagine how I felt about school when I was growing up.  Being dyslexic, I spent most of my time in school away from the regular kids in special classrooms.  The classrooms were small, so you could get one-on-one attention.  It doesn't sound so bad when you I say the teachers were nice, understand and always smiling.  But when your walking down a crowded hallway in school, and you have to enter the doorway, to your special class, it is indescribable.  You know that whoever sees you enter that room is going to label you as inferior.  To say that gives a kid an inferiority complex is such an understatement.  Its like saying that Babe Ruth was an average baseball player.  Dyslexia is not such a serious disability, being segregated from everyone is.      I'm proud of the things I accomplishe...

      I wonder what made people decide being tough and strong is a bad thing?   I wonder why the world neglected to tell me this?   In case the world just happens to be listening to this, I think tough and strong are good qualities.   In case I'm the only one who noticed life ain't easy.   Having these two qualities sure does help in dealing with life.      As for Mr. McMurty, who claims that football romanticizes the mask of the romantic combatant and brings out feelings of violent aggression in spectators, I can only say I'm sorry you had such a bad experience with the sport.   The mask of the romantic combatant.   I have no idea what that means.   The image it brings to my mind is Zorro, and I could not even begin to guess what Zorro has to do with society today.   Let alone football.   Concerning feelings of violent aggression , it is my personal opinion that we all have feelings of violent aggressi...

In the last four years there has been one major change in my life.  Four years ago I was a military policeman in the Marine Corps planning on either staying in the Corp. or getting out and joining the police force somewhere. I am very proud of my service to my country and of the things I accomplished while in the Corp.  However, while I was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina some events occurred that caused me to rethink the plans I made for my life. Neither of the events I'm going to mention to you are earth shattering and are, for the most part, I believe common in the life of a policeman.  The first is the day I and another Marine MP had to search a house that had just been burglarized.  This was not the first house I had, had to search; however while searching this house there was an excellent opportunity to catch the burglar still inside.  For me this elevated my consciousness that I was holding and ready to use...

My reason for transferring is quite simple, I will be graduating in May from the Community College I am presently attending.  I have heard about the programs at Ithaca through some of the students and teachers at Duchess Community College and was interested enough to ask you for a brochure.  After reading it, I have come to the conclusion that I will do very well at Ithaca and wish to attend. The objectives that I would hope to accomplish at Ithaca are very simple.  I would like to learn as much as possible in the field of filmmaking, as to feel comfortable in taking a job in the field of filmmaking upon graduation.  Other things that I would like to accomplish at Ithaca are to work on my fiction writing skills, to make film industry contacts and to basically enjoy the experience of being in College.  The meeting of new people and the learning of new ideas and concepts are just two of the things I look forward to. As for the long-term goals that I ho...

In my life of twenty-five years [written in 1994], I believe I have seen quite a lot.  I have traveled, through the Marine Corps and seen some of the world.  Through my job as a military policeman in the Marine's, I have seen and dealt with some of the more unpleasant parts of life. Since leaving the Marine Corps and coming home to New York I have concentrated on making a living for myself and more importantly on my school work at Duchess Community College.  While at DCC for the last few years I have been regrouping and finding a focus and direction for my life. At DCC I have found new ways to use the skills life and the Marines have taught me.  For myself, I see the things that I once thought of as impossible and now are completely open to me and anyone else willing to try for them. I have been described by people I know as being the strong silent type.  I'm not sure how true that is.  I have always seen myself as being somewhat impatient and I have ce...

Although I fall into the age group you have listed as “generation X” I do not believe myself to be one.  The one definition that I have heard to ex[lain “generation X” is that they are people who have no drive or ambition to do anything and blame other people (ex: their parents, teachers, politicians, etc.) for all their problems.  It's my belief that the name “generation X” is a name given to young people by their parents the baby boomers, a name that was given to them by their parents who held positions of power at the time, where I do see a lack of manners and polite behavior from the young people of today I do not see much of a difference between generations.  This definition is not the reason that I say I do not consider myself to be a member of “generation X”.  My reasons for denying my membership is simple.  I believe to label entire generations is a mistake and it is wrong to try and define or attempt to ring common goals and beliefs to a group of indiv...