Dennis Gary:  

Here I am, sitting in an Internet cafe on Polk Street in San Francisco, surrounded by a curious mix of writers, artists, street prostitutes and druggies. Less than an hour away is UC Berkeley. Maybe another hour and I could be at a Sacramento delta high school I taught in forty some years ago, or Sacramento the city I lived in for ten years and have not been back to since the mid-1970s. I am 70 years old, only semi-retired because Social Security, etc. is not enough to live on and I did not accrue enough savings and pension rights to live any kind of life here. Most recently, I have done telephone interviews for the Field Poll. Except for occasional substituting and tutoring, I have not been involved in education since 1968. I left after seven years and a nervous breakdown and have never gotten back. I considered getting a PhD at one time, but concluded I had other life challenges to face. So I have worked for a hotel, for several government agencies, the old Crocker Bank, Bechtel, the State Judicial Council/Administrative Office of the Courts, the San Francisco district attorney's office (transcribing police interrogation tapes), Tower Records Classical Annex, Providian Financial Corporation, lots of temp agencies. I did a lot of computer stuff, mainly word processing, at one time. I am currently living in an SRO (single room occupancy hotel) in downtown San Francisco, am in apparent good health, and am wondering (hoping) what next? I would dearly like to be doing something worthwhile (rewarding?) which involves my training and experience. I am still single, though I know lots of people. I have not been in contact with family since the early 1970s or seen them since the mid 1960s. My parents have been gone for almost fifty years. I would dearly l...Expand for more