Of Agoraphobia And Pogo -More On My Early Battle WithAgoraphobia

Of Agoraphobia and Pogo - More on my early battle with Agoraphobia 

Pictured above is the adorable cartoon character, Pogo, by Walt Kelly with a balloon quote appropriate to this story. There truly is no greater enemy than one's own self, as any good and learned agoraphobic will advise you.

I loved the newspaper comics. They’re easier reading for dyslexics and those w ADD. Besides, they have pictures! I loved Beetle Bailey, Our Boarding House and, my favorite, Pogo. I subscribed to the local newspaper which was delivered right to my door each day. But getting to the comics was a problem. It meant that I had to go outside. Oh dear. But I wasn’t daunted. I was determined and became creative.

Step One, Getting to the newspaper: I would stand w my back to the front door, reach for the door knob behind me and open the door. Being careful not to go to far, I would step out backwards until I could grab the newspaper, quickly step back inside and close and lock the door. Walla! I had my newspaper w the least amount of anxiety possible. I couldn’t look at the front page or any of the other sections, only the comics section, soooo…

Step Two, Getting to the comics: To solve this problem I would roll the rubber band off the newspaper, keeping the newspaper rolled up, and then thumb through the edges until I found the distinctive borders of the comics section. I would then pull and hold on to the comics section as the rest of the newspaper unrolled and hit the floor. Wow! I had my comics and little damage done to my fragile nerves. I’d gather the undesirable sections off the floor and throw them away, then indulge myself in my comics. Whew! ~ Trabue Gentry

Kevin Sterner, my former songwriting partner. Taken in our hotel room in Nashville, Tennessee the day Pete Drake agreed to produce us. Actually, our partnership was more like Lennon and McCartney in that we never wrote a single song together. We were more collaborators and singing partners for each other’s individual songs. However, in 2007, 30 years after we broke up, we reunited and actually wrote four songs together. The four songs we did write together were better than anything that we ever did individually. They have not been published and only a few close friends and family have heard them. I was very pleased w the lighting of this picture. Kevin was seated next to a window which allowed me the luxury of natural light. No artificial lighting was used. Note that the corner of the room, about three feet behind him, is the dividing line of shadow and light in the background which is in perfect contrast to the dark and light side of Kevin’s head. ~ Trabue Gentry Photography by Trabue Gentry, 1978

The Boogie Man

This is not fiction. This is a true story that happened to me. This sort of thing, and much worse, goes on all over the world every day. We’re supposed to protect our children, not abuse them.

I think the most amazing thing my father did for me was to teach me to be unmaterialistic. When I was 12, dad told me to clean my room. But I was busy doing kid stuff. A little later he told me once more. But still I was busy doing kid stuff. The third time did the trick. He ordered me to remove all personal items from my room leaving only my furniture, clothes and school materials. He then ordered me to take all these silly materialistic things down stairs and outside to the burn barrel and set them on fire. I learned not to be materialistic as I watched all my model cars, books, fan magazines, National Geographics, records, drawings, carvings, bug collection, indian arrow head collection, museum souvenirs, transistor radio, photographs, post cards, pen pal letters…all those those material things that I “thought” were important to me, go up in smoke. I also quickly learned to become very philosophical that day. And yes, my room was spotless and much easier to take care of after that. It was that day that I found out the boogie man didn’t live under my bed. He was married to my mother.

Footnote: Unfortunately, my father was a cruel and sadistic man who thoroughly enjoyed his perversion. What I find unbelievable is that I truly loved him and did everything I could to gain his approval. ~ Trabue Gentry

This is the full and unaltered photograph from which my iconic avatar and most widely published photograph “Half Pic” came from. This is the first and only time it has ever been published. ~ Trabue Gentry

The Miracle of Life?

We all look at life as a miracle. But it's a miracle compared to what? Everything we experience in life is a part of the "miracle" of life, so where is the comparator that makes us look at life as a miracle? Considering this, it can easily be said that there is nothing so fantastic as to compare to our own existence. ~ Trabue Gentry