Great thread -
I am 9 days post-op from 3 ACDF's with autograft bone donation (from my left hip) and 3 titanium plates to my neck - and am not allowed to drive for at least 6 weeks - so, am able to catch up on my reading here.
Glad to have had the time to read your posts, All -
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My 2 bits, having met him twice, and spent 3 days straight with him the second time, and spoken on the phone with him various times:
Dan IS extremely intelligent - and, this is not at all unusual for severe manic depressives. My own sis was a National Merit Scholar in high school, and is also severely manic depressive...but, she is NOT a genius, nor anywhere near as creative as Dan.
Dan is also, from my experience with him, very courageous in his honesty - even within his family...
I do believe that the love his family gave to him in his early years, AS THE Endearing BABY...the youngest of five...helped allow his 'unusual' creativity to be tolerated, and to flourish...
Just think, if he were the eldest son...he would still be manic depressive, but I think that family position would have taken a BIGGER toll on him, as it would have put more pressure on him to be 'the believer' and the model son for the younger ones...I believe that if that had been the case, he would never have been who he is...that is, considering his particular family...
But, it is just my opinion that I think he was 'a bit blessed' to end up as 'his Mom's baby' .... Still, it's not just based on meeting his folks, his older bro, and one older sis...I also 'feel this' from my own experience, in a large 'religious family'...
I know both the eldest son and daughter in my family of 8 (My Catholic parents, me and 5 siblings) have had the most pressure on them to replicate my parents...Lucky, for me, I ended up a middle child
My older bro is SO Catholic he goes to mass in Latin (and is probably still thinking of whether or not to become a priest!), and my oldest sis is the next most religious (and the manic-depressive)...I was the first kid to get away with not going to church, and to not have to become what my parents so admired about themselves...
Oldest bro went to all-boys Catholic high School, and got special music teachers from Russia...he now teaches classical music (important to note that my Dad taught himself piano, and would have LOVED to get the lessons he gave to Gary), and older sis went into modern dance (then show dancing when the mania set in)...It is also important to note that my parents prided themselves on being great social dancers... and therefore 'wanted' one of the kiddos to be a dancer...
I got away with ditching dance and taking horse-back riding lessons instead when I was 11
In high school, I wrote editorials and features, none of which my parents ever even asked to read...even when they knew I was getting an award for my editorial writing at Pepperdine University in Malibu from Women In Communications, Inc! IF they'd read that particular article, they would have hit the roof, as i defended the rights of a PSA stewardess to pose nude in Playboy, after she got fired by PSA...keep in mind, this was 1974, and I was 15 way back then, so that was unusal behavior, and would have been viewed by my folks as 'naughty' so, THAT would never have been allowed, nor do I think I would I have ever even thought to write the article (entitled, "Are We puppets in the Hands of Employers"), if I'd been 'a first born,' in my particular family...In fact, each next kid got more and more freedom...and the last born got anything she wanted...which, thank goodness, she has now outgrown
Anyway...I think birth order is just one more 'thing' that has contributed to Dan being able to develop his talents - his birth order, and the concomitant lack of pressure to replicate the life of his parents... Ironically, you see Dan's mom 'giving it to him' in the doc, but you also see Dan getting away with mimicking her/making fun of it...I do not believe the first born would have had it so good... but, again, just my intuition...
...and, perhaps, just one more possible little insight into understanding the lovely puzzle known as, 'Dan Johnston'...
Gee, we all the love that guy
Hoping he gets lots of birthday cards! (1/22)
Gina
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