I was in the student council at LGHS for a couple of years. Then in my Senior Year I ran for class president.

 I remember that the candidates gave a speech in the auditorium to all the students in the Senior Class... I spoke about protesting against the Vietnam War. The other candidate, Jim Lang, said... "This year, let's just have fun!" and the audience cheered loudly. at that point I knew I had lost. My friend, Rich Field, also ran for Student Body President and he lost also. We were in a crowd of people that always was in the student council and suddenly we were out... It seemed like a big deal at the time... however, I don't actually remember what the student council actually did, if we did anything at all...

Read more of my Autobiography at:
http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

Swimming nude in Butte Creek. Victoria and I went to the OKI Dam area near Chico, California on a hot summer day.

 I wanted to impress her with my strength so I swam Butterfly across the lake. Splashing wildly with my arms. This was one of the most wonderful days of my life. All alone with my woman... It seemed timeless as if we were Adam and Eve in Paradise. 

We attended AA meetings at the Campfire Council Ring in Bidwell Park. It was a large meeting on Sunday that attracted people from Paradise and Chico. One meeting we were discussing the similarity between the concept "Be Here Now" by Ram Dass and the idea of "One Day at a Time" by Bill Wilson. I realized that it was pretty easy to "Be Here Now" when having fun in a beautiful park with friends but it was a little more difficult when doing something unpleasant. Those meetings made me think.

After one meeting Mike Gardner and I played guitars and sang. We did "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles and then "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning" by Hot Tuna. My selection of songs was designed to take the audience into a scary world of witchcraft and the bring them back with a Negro Spiritual.

Another meeting was on Mother's Day. People were speaking of how much they loved their mothers and other pleasant thoughts but when it was my turn I told them that My Mother died of Alcoholism and I was not really sure when because I was drinking heavily at the time. That caused the people to become silent and remember exactly why we were at an AA meeting.

Read more of my Autobiography at:
http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html