DONALD Clarke

Worked at AMC for ten years; attended U. of Wisconsin; lived in England 25 years, Texas five years, Iowa six years, five years in Pennsylvania, and moved to Colorado Springs in 2014. (I hope it's the last time I have to move - we have a view of Pikes Peak from our yard.)
Ethne and I have been together for 37 years (in 2015); she was born in Milwaukee, and we met in London. That we were both expats was a big thing to have in common.
Just before I left the east I re-established contact with Bill Perry, my oldest friend, who I hadn't seen for about 50 years. We had a never-to-be-forgotten lunch in the lovely little historic town of Lititz, Pennsylvania.

I was pretty good at a comic monologue, so Miss Jonas asked me to do it for another one of her classes. Unfortunately that class included a girl I had a terrible crush on, and I was a shambles!

English was always my best subject and my favorite subject; I had Miss Breiseth for Senior English and almost didn't graduate at all. Later I wrote several books.

Rosemary Jonas and Charlotte Moody were the two best teachers I ever had.

Canada, Mexico, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Scotland, Wales, Ireland. I passed through Zurich on a Sunday once but it was closed.

Talking about books with Charlotte Moody. Editing a tape recording of ballet music for the football team to dance to, at the suggestion of Rosemary Jonas. Moody and Jonas did the best they could, but I was not prepped to learn anything. From about 2nd grade I was mostly taught that I would never be able to do anything right anyway, so I had to follow my own way. I stumbled a lot.

There is no better way to get to know your own country than to live and work in another country long enough to become a native (reading the papers, watching the TV, paying the taxes), all the while watching your own country from that vantage point. People in other countries know a lot more about us than we know about them.