The Different Ones

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree,

it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”   ― Albert Einstein

When I was a little kid, my sister Autumn and I used to watch reruns of The Twilight Zone and yes, I am aware of the fact that it is not exactly suitable viewing for children under 7 years of age but hey - it was the 70s and kids could watch 20 uninterrupted hours of harmful TV and nobody cared.  Mine and Autumn's young, anxious, paranoid minds soaked up every episode of The Twilight Zone, and we were thrilled to discover that Rod Serling had more fantastic terrors in store for us with his other creepier and more disturbing show - Night Gallery.  Even the opening credits of that show scared the bejeezus out of me and Autumn.  There was an eyeball, and some sort of alien, and some groovy and menacing picture frames.  We probably had 22 years of nightmares just from watching the opening of that show, and we loved every minute of it.  

Phil

Written Feb. 2014

When I was in college I was a typical 1980’s arrogant jerk (pause for everyone to ask “So - what has changed?”)  I went from a small college in my hometown to the theatre program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and I thought, with my typical smugness, that I was going to rocket to Broadway stardom even before I finished my first semester.  I was a poor kid on scholarships who was working my way through an expensive education through sheer force of will, and I was determined not to blow it.