After OCS - June 1972 to August 1973, Finding My Way Part Three

From 1964 to 1970, local L.A. personality Ralph Story hosted a popular show called Ralph Story's Los Angeles.  Starting in February 1971, he was host of a new morning show called AM Los Angeles along with Stephanie Edwards.  They looked at all kinds of phenomena and products, personalities and local experiences, and unique events and places.  One woman guest touted the benefits of bathing using citrus fruit instead of soap, for your skin and for the environment.  Since we had a grapefruit tree in our backyard that we did not otherwise draw from, I used grapefruits to bathe with after watching one episode of the show.  Here is the tree that apparently was cut down years later when the owners paved over any remaining plants or grass with cement and used that space to park a car.
   

I don't remember when I became aware of, and soon addicted to, the show in 1972-3.  But it was something I looked forward to watching every weekday morning when I had days off while unemployed or working the swing shift as a security guard.  I found it a great way to start the day, especially when I had nothing else to do or nowhere else to go.

One show featured a new process to self-publish from a brand new company called VeloBind.  Obviously, I have had from early on the desire to publish my collection of poetry that I had been writing since I got an honorable mention for my first serious poem, Tourist Trap, at East LAJC.  The VeloBind process seemed the perfect means to do so.  I contacted them and eventually came up with enough money to print and bind 50 copies.  I may have sold a few copies to friends and family, but I gave away several more over the years.

Of course, another significant national event that occupied my time and interest was the Watergate hearings that began in May of 1973 and continued through the summer and into the fall, ending in November with the eventual resignation of Nixon.  This was something that McGovern had warned about in the Fall of 1972, though it benefitted him not at all at the ballot box that November; but finally the truth was exposed regarding what Nixon and his minions had been up to so as to ensure his re-election in 1972.  At the time, I am sure I never imagined that this would not be the only impeachment I would witness in my lifetime.