The Last Chalkboard Lesson

"Bonds we make through other people can help us through any setback."
-as heard while watching
KYLE-XY, Season I

On the last day of my stay at the W Hotel in San Diego I wrote a final excerpt of words by Franz Kafka on the chalkboard. This time I chose to write the following thought-provoking words:

“We are like tree trunks in the snow. They lie there apparently flat on the ground and it looks as though one could push them away with a slight kick. But no, one can’t for they are firmly stuck to the ground.”


PHOTO: Snow Falling
by Karen Kouhi Mellor,
Winnipeg, Canada

It is coincidental because while in San Diego Alan and I met with our dear friend (of family), Kate Gatlin, who attends San Diego State University (SDSU). I learned the following just ‘today’ about Franz Kafka and his tie-in with San Diego State:

There is a Kafka Project based at San Diego State University, which began in 1998 as the official international search for Kafka's last writings. Consisting of 20 notebooks and 35 letters to Kafka's last companion, Dora Diamant (later, Dymant-Lask), this missing literary treasure was confiscated from her by the Gestapo in Berlin 1933.

The Kafka Project's four-month search of government archives in Berlin in 1998 uncovered the confiscation order and other significant documents. In 2003, the Kafka Project discovered three original Kafka letters, written in 1923. Building on the search conducted by Max Brod and Klaus Wagenbach in the mid-1950s, the Kafka Project at SDSU has an advisory committee of international scholars and researchers, and is calling for volunteers who want to help solve a literary mystery.

PHOTO: August 19, 2009, San Diego
Left to Right: Michael J Armijo, Kate Gatlin, Alan Freiman

I wonder if the cards, letters and postcards I have written all over the world will somehow be collected in two-hundred years and made into a giant collection by the 'Armijo University' of a future world. If you want me to send you a significant 'Armijo' card/letter, please send me your postal mailing address. That’s a cool ‘I wonder if’ as I imagine someone out there trying to collect my words in the centuries ahead. I better start writing more like Kafka now....long sentences and 'thought-provoking' lines. It is what I love to do.

Twenty-five years ago today:

August 26, 1984
Sunday

I woke up at 8AM and rode my bike (after my short visit to mom at the Alameda Hospital). Mom seemed to be doing just fine. I bicycled around Bay Farm Island until about 1PM when Chris Cordellos finally made his appearance.

Chris looked ready to go out to the Black Flag concert with his black striped pants and thick black belt. He looked good. And the ‘black tank top’ I gave him only helped fashionable matters.
We went to the Harbor Bay Landing Deli and then on to Lake Chabot where we ate on a bench in a serene, quiet area. If it were not for the insistent ‘yellow jacket bees’ we would have had a much better time.

Chris kind of ‘teed me off’ with some of his words but I chose to control myself. Maybe he kind of wants to see me get mad. I seem NEVER able to show outright anger. I choose not to do that (why hurt my internal organs?). Chris was walking way ahead of me and would not stop to wait for me. So, I stopped and hung out alone under a shady tree to collect my thoughts as I simply looked on at the beautiful lake.

I decided to go home and just not speak to him. What is it called? The silent treatment is the name, right? Chris’ body was with me but his mind and spirit were not. Perhaps his mind and spirits were with Clay, looking forward to tonight’s concert venture.
When I got into my car he was waiting.
“I got stung by a bee,” Chris said in hopes that I would laugh or show concern.
I didn’t even comment.

I gave in a little and went to Macy’s at Bay Fair Shopping Center. We followed that brief stop at my place where I made homemade coffee milkshakes. We decided to lay down for an afternoon movie when suddenly Chris says, “I’m sorry about my actions this morning when you tried to touch me.”
It’s true. I had forgotten I touched him gently at one point and he pulled away. After making this comment he came over to me and touched me. We proceeded to go upstairs to my bedroom. We napped closely together and then ‘one thing led to another’. I still wanted to nap a bit but Chris was getting prepared to see Clay at 5PM.

Chris and I talked for a while (before he left at 4:30PM). It seemed to be a fairly good talk. Then I decided to take a nap but I chose to pleasure myself before I did.

When I woke up at 6PM I telephoned mom to see how she was feeling. I watched ‘The Hot Rock’, starring Robert Redford. At about a quarter to eight the telephone rang. It was Bruce!

Coincidentally, Bruce explained that his own mother was admitted to the hospital on Friday also. Then, the doorbell rang. To my utter surprise, it was Chris Cordellos once again!

I don't know why but it was a great feeling to see him return. He did not tell me about it and I did not want to talk about it either. He mentioned only a few tidbits.
“Clay is going to the concert. We drove into The City and I’m not going. I am just glad that I know you because you are the only one who never really bums me out…that bad,” Chris explained.
I think I made a half smile.

Chris wanted to go out dancing but I did NOT want to go to some weird bar. We were going to go to ‘The Red Robin’ at Bay Fair Shopping Center when we detoured to Kentucky Fried Chicken. After the nibble we went to ‘The Spoiled Brat’, a weird bar in Hayward, CA. We did not stay there for very long as we were back at my place by 10:45PM. Chris drove himself back to Concord.
“I’ll probably just watch ‘Oxford Blues’ tonight,” I said as we gave affectionate goodbyes.
“I’ll probably see you before the weekend when we go to Monterey and more,” Chris suggested with a smile.

At 11PM I made an impromptu move with a phone call to Bill Helbush who also lives in Concord. I was thinking about what ‘good fun’ he was and I told him so.
He was happy to hear from me.