“I want to receive a letter from the president once I turn 100.” Richard
I was born in Union town, but I grew up in Canonsfield, the ex-coke center of the world. All my family members grew really old. My grandpa was the oldest active member on the bowling team, he lived to be 92 with miner’s lungs because he had worked in the coal mines. He also had a big skin cancer that looked like stepped on brown bubble gum from being in the sun too much. My family gave me the yoga gene, my uncle was a yogi and my cousin, too. But unfortunately, they also gave me the alcohol gene, from my mother’s father.
“My family gave me the yoga gene, but also the alcohol gene.”
I didn’t have any siblings, and my parents divorced in my junior year of high school. My mother ran out with the milk man, but I asked her to. I couldn’t stand the bickering and the fighting. I am still in touch with my mum. My father is in the spiritual world. He worked on the railroad and was exposed to bad chemicals. He had some odd cancers.
“My mother ran off with the milk man, but I asked her to.”
I went to Indiana University in Pennsylvania, and studied Spanish at La Universidad de Valladolid in Spain in 1970, when Franco was a dictator. I was there during “Las Fallas”, the traditional celebration that takes place in Valencia, where they burn huge monuments to commemorate Saint Joseph. A Swiss guy had given me LSD. So the whole city is burning, people are burning their hair and their flesh, and they are running, screaming. And I didn’t know if this was real. But it was terrifyingly real, and the LSD just made it more intense. When I came back from Spain I had lost 60 pounds. I used to weigh 240 pounds from drinking beer. But the Mediterranean diet made me lose 10 pounds a month.
“A Swiss guy had given me LSD. I thought the whole city is burning, people are burning their hair and their flesh, and they are running, screaming. ”
After university, I was in Phoenix and I hated it, the people were so republican. My parents don’t understand where my critical free thinking comes from. That is certainly not in the redneck Pennsylvanian psyche I was raised with. So I said “I’m leaving Phoenix.” So in 1976 I called up a friend of mine who had moved to San Francisco, and she invited me and let me stay with her until I found a place. She became an exotic dancer. And we were running around naked all the time anyway. So I started working in the adult theater business, and had some gigs. And of course that was another segway into drugs.
“I started working in the adult theater business, and had some gigs. And of course that was another segway into drugs.”
The 1989 earthquake, now that was a good one. I was working in the Academy of Sciences and we were expecting 1400 guests. I had to make a pyramid of crystal glasses, and I told my boss we shouldn’t do it, because there might be an earthquake. But he said to just stack them up. And then at 5PM the fishes started to act funny and then the whole building was shaking. I started running, because I didn’t want to be eaten by the alligators and the poisonous snakes in the aquariums. When I got home, everything was still fine. Only one dish had fallen over.
“I was working at the Academy of Sciences in 1989. When the earthquake hit, I started running because I didn’t want to be eaten by the alligators and the poisonous snakes in the aquariums.”
But you know what, eventually the whole household died. Shirley underneath me had a heart attack, and I found her. My diabetic roommate shot up insulin and drank martinis. He had his leg cut off and he died. And then my other roommate had a lot of martinis, and then a massive heart attack right in front of me, and he died. So I was left with this lovely apartment paying only 195 dollars rent in 1992. But then I got drunk one night in Castro, and there I was introduced to crack. So I lost my place, because I didn’t pay the rent anymore.
“One night in Castro I was introduced to crack. So I lost my place, because I didn’t pay the rent anymore.”
I was homeless again in 2005, because my roommate let the security guys into our room. They found the plate with some crack equipment. So we got evicted. We stayed with some friends up until we ran out of friends. Then there was a year of going through the system and the shelter and what not. But we still didn’t hit rock bottom. So we ended up in a storage, and we were smoking crack and cigarettes there. And then when we got housing I continued to drink and use cocaine. But then the cocaine stopped working. I just couldn’t get high anymore.
At that time I had fierce heartburns from drinking and smoking cigarettes. I was feeling old, really old. My mother is eighteen years older than me and she was in better shape than I was, you know. I started seeing a doctor at the Curry Senior Center and I quit drinking. Then my energy level went up. They’ve done such a good job at the center, but I did all the work, I made the choices. And now I am their posterboy. And then when I quit smoking, that was the hardest. But my level of energy went up again, quitting smoking was a truly quantum leap in terms of energy. And that was when I realized I have a big hole in my life. Basically, I didn’t have a life. I was smoking and drinking, which is not a life.
“My mother is eighteen years older than me and she was in better shape than I was. Basically, I didn’t have a life. I was smoking and drinking, which is not a life.”
So I started working in a roof garden, and I had been tweaking with yoga a little bit. I am doing sun salutes every day now to maintain good health. It is giving me flexibility in all the other yoga positions, some ease that I probably wouldn’t have had. It makes me resilient. And then after the sun salutes, I go to a yoga class. It’s almost like the universe said to me: “Look, it’s right in front of you.” I found free yoga classes everywhere, like close to the roof garden where I work. It is in your face. You just have to draw the correlation.
I am doing sun salutes every day now to maintain good health. And then after the sun salutes, I go to a yoga class. It’s almost like the universe said to me: “Look, it’s right in front of you.”
And then someone told me there is a volunteer program on Alcatraz. So that was another feather in my cap as I realized that that would be yet another good habit, to pick and prune and water the plants. Then, my neighbor’s friend happened to be the succulent man at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, so I have been volunteering there for three years now. I’m the green geezer, I’ve been called second in command of succulents, epiphyllums and bromeliads, haha.
“I’ve been volunteering at the San Francisco Botanical Garden for three years. I’ve been called second in command of succulents, epiphyllums and bromeliads.”
I never had any real romantic relationships, only puppy love. Maybe I’ll marry somebody now, for the insurance money, haha. But you know, I have another thirty to forty years. I want to receive a letter from the president once I turn 100, if the end of the world doesn’t come before that. I think the end of the world will come before that, we are going to run out of water and food. People are so greedy these days. Greed is our greatest sin, it is going to be our downfall.
This story is in collaboration with our partner Faithful Fools.
