Gifted, eccentric and creative people can be found anywhere but let
me reinforce the California sterotypes.
In 1969 I had the "privilege" of attending KM School in Pittsburg, PA
for the two week course. School attendees were not local as now,
but came from all over the U.S. In our class we had four Californians.
Two were by-the-book JW's.
One of the other two Californians was in my car group. He was very
particular about his appearance and seemed a sensitive soul. He told
us that he was an opera singer and commented on a few of his per-
formances. We all just listened.
One of the assignments in this older version of the KM School was to
put on a Service Meeting. We were assigned the same parts in the
Kingdom Ministry as the typical congregation. The only change was
that everything was to be modified, slanted to appeal to a congregation
of overseers, which we were.
Bro. Opera Singer followed me on the program. He introduced his part
appropriately and then, without furthur adieu burst into an operatic
aria, pacing the stage, arms uplifted bellowing the words in Italian.
On the ride back to our accommodations, Bro. O. Singer pressed us all
to assess his performance, not in musical terms, but "Do you think the
brothers understood where I was coming from?" The car group was
silent. Finally, I said: "I think they did!"
tms
If this thread lives on a little, I may comment on the other Californian in our class