that cerebral happening caused by the firing of millions of neutrons. Some
scientists believe that we at times confuse and commingle fragments of
memories, thereby creating new memories that have never occurred except
in our brain. Others believe that before some memories can do us harm,
our brain changes them into something more acceptable or, something that
we cannot recall at all. Apparently, however, we have little or no control
over these neurological events and, although we should temper our beliefs
accordingly, it would be unhealthy, or at least highly impractical, to
maintain this uncertainty upon all that we remember. Mindful of these
prefatory remarks, some of my memories of youth include . . .
-My mother told me that as a young child I would cry every time I
saw a nun. Since my parents were planning to send me to Catholic school,
my Aunt Tessie [Comedian Pat Cooper once said that every Italian had
an Aunt Tessie] made me two nun dolls, one with a black habit and one
with a brown habit. It must have worked because I was not frightened of
nuns by the time I began Catholic school. That changed, however, the
first time I saw Sister Ann slam a kid's head into a blackboard.
my mother escorting me the two blocks to kindergarten
and the morning I was caught misbehaving in the schoolyard
before class
and how the nun made me stand with my back to a concrete column
and how she made me stretch my hands high into the air
and my mother's face as she watched
and feeling bad for her because she was feeling bad for me.
First Holy Communion
and the day we were rehearsing
and one girl repeatedly and frantically raising her hand asking to go
to the bathroom
and how the nuns just ignored her
and how the girl finally peed all over the floor
and how an angry nun grabbed the young girl, who was already
crying from embarrassment, bent her over, and spanked her very
hard as the entire group of communicants-to-be watched.
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