Chapter 3 — Ladies of Sorrow

“The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.” — Einstein

Iconic sculpture depicting the Seven Swords piercing the Sorrowful Heart of Mary, on display and venerated in the Church of the Holy Cross, in Salamanca, Spain

I HAD JUST TURNED SIX IN 1964 WHEN MY FATHER made the epoch-defining Disneyland announcement which would divide the remaining twelve years of my youth into the two distinct B.C. (before California) and A.D. (after Disney) dispensations.

In this reckoning, I began 1st grade in New Jersey in the year 6 B.C. and would finish high school in Michigan twelve years later in 6 A.D. My ‘B.C.’ years were split between parochial (K-2nd) and secular elementary schools (3rd-6th). The first half of my ‘A.D.’ years were spent attending Maplewood Junior High (7th-9th), followed by three years in a Michigan public high school …

WORK IN PROGRESS …