I remember reading Dick and Jane books as a child. In particular, I have long remembered one red Dick and Jane book with a recursive cover illustration: Dick and Jane reading the very same Dick and Jane book whose cover shows Dick and Jane reading the same Dick and Jane book, and so on.
But I can find no such Dick and Jane book cover. Did I imagine it? Did I dream it? If it doesn't exist, how in the world did I come up with that at such a young age? Maybe I really was born to be a math and computer software guy.
Update (9 March). Found it! Thanks to Richard Tamez. The cover is even red, as I remembered. OK, so it's not quite Dick and Jane. Published in 1948:
And, having found that, I now find this one, too:
And, probably finally, this:
That last was from a seller on eBay. I made an offer and bought the set of three books.
In November, I read that Dave Kopay lived near Occidental and frequently walked his dog on campus. I bought his book and hoped to catch him and get his autograph. I had read the book when it first came out, but I had not bought it at the time.
I kept the book in my car. When I stopped by Oxy this morning to pick up several newspapers, I saw him and his dog; he was talking to someone. I hoped he would keep talking long enough for me to run back to my car and get the book.
It all worked out. He said he had just mentioned the book to the woman he was chatting with, and here I was with it.
When his book came out in 1977, I was an officer of the gay student group at USC, and we arranged for him to speak on campus. I think it was his first public speaking engagement; I remember he was a bit nervous before the talk. It was an overflow crowd. Here is the ad:
(I always thought that was a great illustration, too. I don't know who the artist was.)
(Index of autographs)
The Los Angeles Times ran a story last week about how some in Marin County want to change the name of the Dixie school district. The controversy has split the community. I sent this letter:
If the name came from Mary Dixie, simply use her full name. Change the name from 'Dixie' to 'Mary Dixie'.
My letter was not printed, but another with the same idea was:
Here is a simple solution to the problem: The school district should take the full name of the person for whom it was named.
It would then be called the Mary Dixie School District, more clearly honoring the woman for whom it was named.
Susan Sherman, Covina
