GARGOZO MANUSCRIPT

Beginning in 1953 when I was 9, my dad and I would spend a few weeks every summer hiking and climbing in the High Sierras.  A couple of years later we became involved with a Boy Scout Troop in Eagle Rock.  Meetings were held in the basement of the church that still sits on the corner of Maywood Avenue and Colorado Blvd.  We were an official Boy Scout Troop but functioned more as a club for backpackers.  There were always several trips in the planning stages for outings that ranged from a weekend in the desert to 3 weeks hiking the John Muir Trail.  The trips were strictly hiking and climbing with some occasional fishing.  With the longer trips, arrangements were made to have our supplies brought in to the back country by mules to scheduled rendezvous points.   Unlike today, except for the John Muir Trail there were no permits required, nor were there restrictions on where you could go, or how long you could stay.  We would ofte...

In the Los Angeles Unified School District during the 1950s, each student was supposed to follow a program consisting of required courses and electives in their last 4 years of school (9 th through 12 th grades).  For planning purposes, each student was matched up with a program (math, music, science, etc.) while they were still in the 8 th grade.    Clearly, 95% of all 8 th graders haven't the remotest idea of what they want to be when they grow up.  This 95% group is most fortunate as no shattering of dreams will come to pass.  As for the 5% that think they do know what they want to be when they grow up, they're all headed for tragic disappointment.  All but a few will never come close to doing what they wanted to do.  The very few that actually get a chance to do what they thought they wanted to do, will discover they were dead wrong.   Just how were kids lined up with a program?  It's possible each student met with a guidance counselo...